Letting Go of Grief and Sadness Meditation | Ashok Gupta | Gupta Program |

Hello and a warm welcome to our live meditations here on Facebook provided by the Coronavirus Challenge on behalf of the Gupta Program. So my name is Ashok Gupta and if you haven't joined us for any of these meditations, these are daily meditations to help us through getting through this period of time in terms of the Coronavirus situation. And yesterday we had a wonderful meditation on showing gratitude towards healthcare workers and those on the front line. And I want to thank those of you who've written in, who put comments on the Facebook page. Thank you so much. It was really touching, the comments that you left for us. And we hope that we can spread more of these meditations around the Internet, around Facebook and other social media to let more people know about what we're doing here. So, as many of you know, we have something called the Coronavirus Challenge, which is a 10 day challenge for us to boost our immune systems. Many of us are at home, we're feeling helpless or powerless to influence this situation. And yet there is something that we can do up and above social isolation. We can improve our immune systems, boost our immune systems, and that will mean that we have potentially less chance of getting an infection from the virus and we can reduce the number of days. And if you take the Coronavirus Challenge, some of the tools that we use there have been shown to reduce your chances of getting an infection from any virus by up to 80%. That's a single tool. So these are all lifestyle changes, changes in the mind, etc. So it's all been fully researched and I'd love for you to experience it. Because if we all take the Coronavirus Challenge and boost our immune systems, then we're less likely to have complications ourselves, less likely to pass it on to friends and family, and also less likely to be a burden on healthcare systems around the world. So that's what we can take responsibility for, is our own health and well being to boost our immune system. So you can all take the Coronavirus challenge at www.thecornaviruschallenge.com and it's completely free. So I hope you'll take it yourself and share it with your friends and family and groups you're part of. Now, today we're going to be looking at something that perhaps people aren't fully aware of in terms of what they might be experiencing, the emotions that we're all experiencing as a result of the current pandemic. And that is something that we call grief or loss. So I think many of us are familiar with the idea of feeling anxious, that we're worried about many different things. What's going to happen with the virus? Is it going to spread further? But there's also something. And that's something that we dealt with, obviously, a couple of days ago when we did the anxiety meditation, which is also available on our Facebook page. If you'd like to experience that. This is about loss. What have we lost and what are we experiencing right now? So there's something called the grief cycle that was developed by Elisabeth Kubler Ross and David Kessler. And it says that whenever we experience a shock in our lives or some kind of loss or trauma, there are different stages of emotions that we go through to try and process that experience, or at least our reactions to that experience, which all represent a resistance to what is going on. So as an example, one of the first stages that we all go through when we see what's happening around us is to go into a stage of denial about what is going on.

Okay?

Because there is this grief about what we've lost. We've lost our normalcy in life, you know, what we took for granted. We've perhaps lost the connection to people around us that we got very used to. Perhaps we've lost our livelihood and our way of earning money. So that background discomfort or a feeling of a kind of dark cloud hanging over our heads with this of kind current situation may well be not only anxiety, but actually grief. You know, we didn't see this coming. What on earth is this all about? Look how it's affected my life. And there is a sense of loss. And that grief that you may be experiencing can then transmute itself and relieve itself through going through certain stages. And these stages aren't linear. These are just examples of different emotions that we experience. So we might experience denial at the beginning to say, is this really happening? I can't believe it. I don't understand. And we may deny the importance of what's going on because we really can't face it. So denial is a strategy. It's a strategy to resist what is so right now. And then there's another stage, which is all about anger, that we start feeling angry at the authorities. Why didn't someone sort this out before? Why did it take so long for us to have the shutdown? Look how many people are dying now. That's a stage of anger. And we may notice that we become more irritable to the people around us. And I know that many of you have written in saying that, you know, you're having to live in close proximity to many people that you haven't spent a lot of time with before. And that can also stimulate our anger or annoyance. So that's another thing that we can bear in mind is we have those kinds of emotions, we observe them and let them go. Then that third stage is what we call bargaining, where we say, oh, if only I had taken precautions or if only I had sold that business before this happened, or it might be, well, if I stay indoors and we all do that, it will be over.

Right?

We have this sense of trying to bargain with ourselves or the situation as a way of trying to deal with it, as a way of actually not fully accepting it, but just resisting it by saying, if I do this, then it'll be okay. Right? But there's still an element of non acceptance. And then we move on to that fourth stage, or as I said, it's not linear of sadness and depression. So if you're experiencing low mood, a lot of sadness, a lot of pain almost from what's going on, please remember that you're not alone. Many people are going through those types of emotions right now. And that sadness can be about what is happening. Perhaps people around you that you've lost or this, the sadness of the loss of normal life and all of these different emotions that and things that come up when we're aware of the grief cycle, then it's much easier to acknowledge them and validate them. So our first stage is to really acknowledge and validate our emotions and recognize them as a very normal part of a reaction to what is going on. Very normal. And, you know, I remember there was a friend of mine recently who called me up and confided in me to say, you know, Ashok, really finding the current situation hard. You know, I'm finding myself with palpitations and anxiety. I can't sleep at night. You know, I thought I was a strong person, but look at me, I'm falling apart from what's happening. And I know that a lot of you experiencing things like this and the first port of call is to really go into that place of acceptance to say it's okay to have these emotions and validate those emotions. It doesn't make you a weak person for experiencing grief or anger or sadness or anxiety. Right now, what does matter is taking responsibility for those emotions and say, okay, I understand this is a very normal part of a human experience. Let me validate it and then let me observe them. Because sometimes we indulge the emotion, right? We say, oh God, everything is lost. It is really bad. But that makes the emotions worse. Or another strategy we employ is to deny them, push them away as part of the denial stage of the grief cycle. Pushing all those emotions away, and neither of those is going to work, makes things worse. But instead, what we can do is to meditate more, observe our emotions without reacting to them. And that will mean that we gradually start getting the energy moving and we.

Can move through the situation with grace.

So we're going to be doing a meditation today called the grief meditation to allow us to let go and process some of these emotions around loss and grief of our normal way of being and any sadness that you may be experiencing as well. Now, obviously, as a result of this meditation or anything else you're experiencing, if you do experience intense emotions, it's very important that you get in contact with your doctor or health practitioner to help you through what you're experiencing. And at our clinic, we also have many practitioners that I've trained and coaches who can support you through any anxiety that you may be experiencing. And you can find Those coaches@guptaprogram.com coaches and they can work through Skype or Zoom or whatever to help you with the anxiety that you might be experiencing right now. And they've all been personally trained by me, so they understand a lot of the Gupta program tools and the MEND protocol and things that we've been talking about. So what can we do for ourselves in terms of releasing this grief? Well, I'd love for you to take the Coronavirus Challenge and watch day six, because in day six, we talk about all the different strategies, like making sure you switch off the negative news and social media posts and just focus on creative, uplifting hobbies, or releasing and letting go of your emotions, all of those kinds of things can help, as well as reframing this in terms of rather than what have I lost? Looking at what have I gained, and when we look at what could I have, what have I gained that enables us to move through this set of emotions? And of course, physical exercise supports the movement of energy in our bodies. So if you want more information on how you can overcome anxiety and grief about coronavirus, then please do watch day six of the Coronavirus Challenge at the coronavirus challenge.com now, before we start our meditation, I'd love for you to share this on your social media feeds right now. So if I can ask you all to share today's meditation right now, you can click the share button, share it on your personal pages, on groups that you're members of, and we get more people to be able to release their negative Emotions boost their immune system and then we are supporting humanity through this process. Good. Great. So if we're sitting comfortably, if you'd like to switch off your phone, make sure that you're not going to be interrupted. And then we can begin just making sure that you can either sit cross legged or you can sit on a chair. Whatever is comfortable for you. Okay, so let's just close our eyes now.

And let's take a slow deep breath in. And breathe out. Let's take another slow deep breath in. And breathe out.

And let's keep our eyes closed for.

The rest of this session. Now, as we let go of the outside world. And dive deep within, Let's become aware of our toes and let's just wiggle our toes to get the energy moving. Let's become aware of our feet and ankles. Let's just tighten our feet.

So tense up your feet and ankles.

Take a slow deep breath in.

And breathe out through the mouth with a.

Letting go sound and release your feet. Notice the sensations in your body. And let's become aware of our legs. And let's tighten up the muscles of our legs. So just squeeze your legs. Tighten up all the muscles of your legs. Take a slow deep breath in. And breathe out with a and release your legs and loosen your legs. And notice what's different. Notice the sensations in your legs. Let's bring our awareness to our stomach. Center of our stomach. And let's tighten up the muscles of our stomach. Just tighten them gently. Tense them up. Take a slow deep breath in and breathe out and let go of your stomach. Notice any sensations of feeling more relaxed. Bringing your awareness to your shoulders and your arms. Just tense up your shoulders and your arms and your fists. Tense them up. Slow, deep breath in and with a.

Smile.

Let go and release your arms and your shoulders. Make your body loose, limp and relaxed. Feel the peace and relaxation that comes with that. Bring your awareness to your neck and your face. Notice how any muscles in your face aren't yet relaxed. Relaxed. So let's tighten our face muscles. Let's squeeze our eyes. Tighten up our face muscles. Take a slow deep breath in, Breathe out. Let go and loosen the muscles of your face. Sa. Keeping your eyes closed. Let's become aware of our whole body. Our legs, our stomach, our arms and our face. Let's tense them all up again. Tensing up your shoulders, your legs, your stomach. Take a deep breath in. Loosen your body. Consciously loosen your legs and your arms, feeling more and more relax. Become aware of any emotions of grief or loss or sadness about the coronavirus pandemic. When you think of the pandemic, where do you notice that agitation or emotion in your body? Perhaps it's in your chest or perhaps in your throat region or somewhere else. Think of any feelings of loss about this pandemic and what you are sad about. And if any tears come, let them come. And just observe those emotions without any judgment. Sa. Of a representation of love that is floating in front of you or sitting before you. This might be a figure from your religion or from your spirituality or someone.

That you feel loved by.

Or a pet or nature. A beautiful nature scene. Anyone that makes you feel reassured and safe and comforted, knowing that you're being looked after. Become aware of those feelings of grief, any feelings of loss, Or any feelings of sadness about the epidemic. Feel those emotions without judgment. And in a moment, we're going to take a slow, deep breath in, in a moment and breathe them out and release them. Handing them over to our representation of love. Saying that we feel reassured and we choose to release the emotions when we're ready. So noticing any sadness or grief, Just breathe slowly and deeply. Noticing the feelings without judgment. And if any tears come, let them come. Sam. Feeling those feelings of sadness or loss or grief, Feeling them fully, we're going to release them to our representation of love. And if they don't let go, if they're not released, that's okay. You can accept those emotions for being there. Let's feel those emotions now. Let's take a slow, deep breath in. And breathe them out through the mouth, letting them go to your representation of love. Knowing that you are being taken care of by a higher power. And you are blessed. Come back to these emotions again. Feeling those emotions of sadness or grief only about the current situation. Just become aware of them without judgment. Take a slow, deep breath in. And with a smile, just let them go. And release. And let go. Sa. Becoming aware of those emotions again, if any. Taking a slow, deep breath in. With a smile. Looking at your representation of love.

Let go.

Go. Noticing what feels different in your body now. And one final time, let's become aware of our emotions about the pandemic. Take a slow, deep breath in. And with a smile, release. And let go. Enjoying the peace and stillness of this present moment right now. Imagine a feeling of acceptance. If you had a feeling of acceptance, imagine how that would feel right now. You'd notice your body more relaxed and your breathing slower and deeper. If you had a feeling of acceptance. Sam. And now nurture that feeling of acceptance. Imagine if you were to accept the pandemic, how do you imagine that would feel right now and nurture that feeling of acceptance? Let's take a slow, deep breath in.

And as we breathe out in our.

Minds, we say, I accept. With a smile. Imagine a feeling of peace. If I were at peace with the pandemic, how would I imagine that would feel? Breathing slowly and deeply. Take a slow, deep breath in. As you breathe out, just imagine that feeling. I am at peace. Sam. Finally think of what meaning, what opportunity this pandemic has for you personally. Instead of looking at what you have lost, Think about what you have gained from from this experience. Let's take a slow, deep breath in. And breathe out slowly through the nose. Finally, just spend a moment giving yourself some loving messages. What loving messages would you like to give yourself that can help you get to a place of acceptance and peace about the situation? You can just tell your mind, speak to your mind in a loving way in your mind now with I am, I feel statements, Sa. Give yourself a big virtual hug. With a smile. Now. Coming back into your body. Take a slow, deep breath in with a smile. And breathe out slowly through the nose. Feeling that peace as we breathe out. Another slow, deep breath in. And let go with a smile. And once you feel complete, once you're ready, you can just gently open your eyes. Good. Welcome back. So I hope you enjoyed our grief meditation today.

And if you're still having challenges in terms of anger or fear or finding it hard to understand what's happening around us, what I'd love for you to do is, as I said, take the Coronavirus Challenge, which is a series of videos, exercises and meditations that can help us make sense of what's going on and also can help us boost our immune system so we can be the strongest that we can be to support stretched healthcare systems around the world. So please do share today's meditation with everybody on your social media groups and please join us tomorrow. So tomorrow we will be doing a special meditation on spreading compassion around the world. Compassion for those in need, compassion for those suffering with the condition, and compassion.

For those who are finding it difficult to get through this.

So we're doing that at the Same time tomorrow, 5pm UK time, 12pm Eastern time, here live on Facebook. And to make it easier to find the feed, you can come to the Gupta Program Facebook page and click on live videos and there you will find our meditation live. So, once again, it's been wonderful to be with you. Please do share this meditation with everyone. You know, we really want to spread this message that there are ways that we can handle our emotions during this pandemic and look forward to seeing you tomorrow on Sunday. And that's when we'll be doing the compassion meditation together. So thank you for watching. Please do once again do the coronavirus challenge@the coronaviruschallenge.com thank you and goodbye.