Episode 07: Emotions in Motion - How to let grief move through you - with Paul Denniston
Feelings are funny things. We think we experience them mostly on a mental level. Our brain makes sense of the things we feel, and we label them – as in “I feel happy” or “I feel sad, or anxious, or angry.” But it is in our body that most of these feelings settle in the end. How do we get rid of those tight muscles caused by anger, or the weight on our shoulders, where grief holds us down? This is what we will tackle in today’s episode.
I had a chat with Paul Denniston, the founder of grief yoga and author of the book “Healing through Yoga: Transform Loss into Empowerment.” Paul and I met at a workshop years ago and his teachings touched something inside of me that I really wanted to share with you all here.
Not only will we talk about how what we label as “negative” feelings settle in our bodies but we will also get a few hands-on tips on how to get things moving, releasing grief, pain, anxiety, fear, and anger that might have settled in our bodies for a long time.
Paul Denniston
Paul Denniston is the founder of Grief Yoga® which uses yoga, movement, breath, and sound to release pain and suffering to connect to empowerment and love.
Paul is certified in Hatha Yoga, Vinyasa Flow, Kundalini Yoga, Restorative Yoga, Laughter Yoga, and Let Your Yoga Dance. He has also taught movement at the Stella Adler Academy in Hollywood.
His intention with Grief Yoga is to combine many different forms of yoga to channel and release anger and allow unresolved grief a compassionate space to breathe and be released. His compassionate work is a space of movement, transformation, and healing.
Paul has taught and trained this practice to thousands of therapists, counselors and health care professionals around the world and teaches workshops around the US. He teaches at Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health, Esalen, 1440 Multiversity, the Afterlife Conference, Alternatives in London, Cancer Support Centers, addiction groups, workshops on healing after a breakup, divorce, or betrayal, and also teaches to bereavement groups in one of the largest hospices in Los Angeles, as well as offering Heart Touch to the dying.
His is the author of “Healing Through Yoga: Transform Loss into Empowerment” Find out more.
Links and Resources for this episode:
Gurmukh
Gurmukh Kaur Khalsa is a teacher of Kundalini Yoga as taught by Yogi Bhajan and a pioneer in the field of pre-natal yoga. She is the co-founder and director of the Golden Bridge Yoga Center in Los Angeles, the author of two books and three DVDs. She has become a yoga guru for Hollywood film stars. Find out more.
Seane Corn
Seane Corn is an internationally acclaimed yoga teacher and public speaker known for her social activism, impassioned style of teaching, and raw, honest and inspired self-expression. Over her 25-year teaching career, Seane has created many instructional DVDs, including her groundbreaking series The Yoga of Awakening with Sounds True. Featured on over 40 magazine covers and countless media outlets, Seane has chosen to use her platform to bring awareness to global issues including social justice, sex trafficking, HIV/AIDS awareness, generational poverty, and animal rights. Her first book Revolution of the Soul was published in Fall 2019. Find out more.
Bessel van der Kolk, MD
Bessel van der Kolk, MD, is arguably the world’s leading expert in the treatment of trauma – especially when it comes to how trauma affects the brain, body, and nervous system.
Throughout his career, Bessel has been at the forefront of research on traumatic stress and the development of clinical therapies to treat it. He has pioneered approaches that focus on calming the nervous system, increasing self-regulation skills, and grounding patients in the present. In his research, Bessel has worked with a variety of clinical approaches, including neuro-feedback, EMDR, psychodrama, and yoga.
Peter Levine
Peter Levine, PhD, is a psychologist, researcher, and developer of Somatic Experiencing. The approach was inspired by Peter’s observation of trauma recovery behaviors in nature.
Much of Peter’s work involves understanding the nature of traumatic memory, helping clients get in touch with their bodily responses, and helping clients come out of the freeze response.
He is the author of several books on the treatment of trauma, including Waking the Tiger and In an Unspoken Voice. He is also the director of the Somatic Experiencing Trauma Institute. Find out more.
Books to dive deeper into the subject
