How Does Grief Affect The Physical Body

ByGedalia Genin

Hello!

For learning, let’s understand that what happens in the physical body directly affects energy and vice versa.

Some common types of grief are:
Loss of a loved one
Loss of a pet
Loss of emotional support as a child
Divorce
Financial Loss
Miscarriage
Grief can have significant and quantifiable effects on the body. Beyond the emotional trauma, grief can display itself through various symptoms in the body.

  1. Inflammation: Grief increases inflammation, worsening existing health problems and even leading to new ones. Suppressed emotions can be the root cause of this symptom.
  2. Immune System: Grief can weaken the immune system, leaving you more prone to infections and tiredness.
  3. Heart Health: The heartbreak of grief can lead to elevated blood pressure and even affect the breast tissue.
  4. Stress Response: Chronic stress due to grief can affect the adrenals leaving a person feeling exhausted. The fight or flight response activated through grief can cause shortness of breath, panic attacks, and nausea.

What can you do?

  1. Journal your feelings. Although a particular situation might have occurred many years ago it is helpful to write your feelings out or even write a letter to someone you want closure with.
  2. Take up some form of art. Art distracts the mind from the drumbeat of negative thoughts and brooding- almost like a bath for the mind.
  3. Meditation. Proper meditation can provide some distance from your emotions providing more compassion, self-love, and forgiveness.
  4. Marma. By touching marma points a gentle flow of energy is activated in the body, moving out anything in its way.
    Grief can often leave a person in shock even years later. They almost don’t occupy their physical body. Marma sessions help to ground a person and feel supported to let go of old grief.

Understand that your emotions are a bridge between the mind and body.
While grief is a normal part of loss, depression can mask the deeper feelings of grief. Having sad thoughts, and feeling your feelings comes in waves, however, depression is something that makes you feel stuck, and in a low mood, inciting feelings of worthlessness and guilt.

In either case, seek help to address these feelings as I know from 20 years of healing work that grief and loss undermine optimal health.

with fierce love,
Gedalia