Mapping Grief in the Body: A Guided Movement Meditation

Grief has its own topography which can be jagged and unpredictable. In this guided movement meditation participants will explore the concept of mapping where and how grief takes up residence in our bodies. Beginning with breath-work and visualization and then expanding toward expressive movement, we will transform and re-route the internal pathways of grief. We give shape to the images in our minds eye – some participants have talked about feeling as if something heavy was bearing down on their chest…we are compelled to make sense of the unimaginable, the unspeakable, through images that translate into gestures. Once located, these sites of physical memory become the focus for the creation of movements to transform our pain. We conclude this session with an activity that reimagines our bodily terrain as supple, energized and healthy - a body that has truly integrated our experience of grief.

No prior experience in necessary and participants can participate in any way they wish, from a chair, on the floor or standing. The movement work is accessible and inclusive. Together we will explore what and how the body communicates, expresses and transforms grief creatively from the inside out.

J'aime Morrison Ph.D is a Professor of Movement at California State University, Northridge and has been teaching dance and somatics for over 25 years. With Mourning Surf, she has turned her attention to grief and the body, specifically how grief is expressed physically and how movement is an essential part of the grieving and healing process. Her award-winning short film Upwell expresses the power of movement - dance and surfing - to offer hope amidst the storm of loss. J'aime was inspired to make Upwell after the death of her beloved husband Jim to brain cancer.

Image: Topography of Tears. Rose-Lynn Fisher