Part 2: Grief - The Unspoken Weight

I never thought this day would unleash over 50 years of grief that I held within my body.

Grief is a wise, ancient companion, it arrives with our first breath, it lives in the deepest chambers of our being. Grief is one of the deepest, most sacred emotions we carry, yet it’s also one of the least understood. We forget that grief isn’t only born from death, it’s born from every place the soul once reached for light and found darkness instead.

There are many areas in life where grief can make its way into our lives besides the actual loss of someone.

• Grief for the protection you longed for from a father and the pain you received instead.

• Grief for the mother you imagined: warm, nurturing, gentle, not the neglect, manipulation, or emotional hunger you were given.

• Grief for the cheers, the pride, the “I’m so proud of you” your heart ached for instead of being told you were too much, or never enough.

• Grief for the kind of love that holds you in a warm, steady embrace, not the kind that wounded you with its cruelty.

• Grief for the version of you who walked the world without safety or shelter.

•  Grief for the love you offered with an open, trembling heart, love that was never held, honored, or returned.

• Grief for the lifetimes spent surviving instead of truly living.

• Grief for the dreams your soul whispered, the ones you had to abandon just to stay afloat.

  
  

Grief is not frailty, no it is a holy sign of how deeply your soul feels, loves, remembers, and dreams. It is a sacred echo of every truth you’ve ever carried. But when grief is unspoken or buried, it does not disappear. It sinks into the body like ancient stone, settling in the ribs, the breath, the spaces between heartbeat. A quiet gravity pulling you inward until the soul is ready to exhale again.

Grief isn’t here to break you, it’s here to open a doorway back to yourself.

Grief as a Sacred Teacher

Grief is a holy guide, the quiet oracle that rises from the depths to show us what the soul remembers. Grief reveals what mattered. Grief reveals what shaped you. Grief reveals what your heart has been holding in silence, waiting for the moment it can finally exhale.

When we allow ourselves to grieve, we honor:

• our truth, uncloaked• our lived experiences, spoken and unspoken• our inner children who still reach for safety and softness

• our unmet needs that echo through time

• our lost timelines and the paths that could not unfold

• our deepest desires, still glowing beneath the rubble

  
  

Grief is not something to “get over” it is a passage, a rite, a return. It softens what has hardened within us. It opens doors within us that have been closed for many years. Locked and sealed by our own pain. It reconnects you to the most tender, untouched, and truest parts of who you are.

Grief is not your enemy; no, it is the doorway back to yourself. However, that doorway will always wait to be opened. No matter how much you occupy your time, how many things you put in front of that door, the door to grief remains. It will wait for you to open it. It will wait for years.

What Happens When Grief Is Suppressed

Grief that has no outlet becomes heaviness. It settles into the chest, the ribs, the gut, a quiet pressure that bends the body and clouds the mind. It seeps into the bones, embedding itself in the marrow, whispering old sorrows that never found voice. Unspoken grief coils in the heart, compressing joy, dimming light, and slowing the flow of life. It lingers in the spaces between words, in the pauses of breath, in the shadows of memory. As it settles in the body can cause so many physical and mental issues.

Like the following:

• Fatigue and low energy

• Heaviness in the chest

• Chronic sadness or irritability

• Emotional numbness

• Low immune function

• Shallow breathing and tight ribs

• Sleep disturbances

• Digestive sluggishness

  
  

But grief, when acknowledged, spoken, or expressed, becomes movement. It can flow through tears, through the body, and through breath. It transforms weight into release, silence into song, and darkness into a doorway to a much lighter version of you.

Grief left unspoken is a burden; grief honored is sacred medicine.

Energetic Impact on the Chakra System

When grief is not honored, felt, or witnessed, its energy gently sinks beneath the surface and weaves itself into the subtle body. It settles into the chakra system like uncried tears and unspoken prayers, shaping how life force flows through us. The spirit remembers what the mind attempts to release, and the body becomes the sacred vessel that holds what the heart could not yet bear. Within the chakras, grief leaves energetic fingerprints, places where love once moved freely and now pauses, asking to be met with compassion, breath, and presence.

Heart Chakra — The Center of Loss & Love

Grief sits here first. This is why grief often feels like both emptiness and weight. A blocked heart can feel:

• heavy

• closed

• armored

• painfully tender

• emotionally flat

  
  

Lungs & Emotional Breath

The lungs are deeply connected to grief.  When breath becomes restricted, life force does too.

Unprocessed grief may show up as:

• shallow breathing

• frequent sighing

• chest tightness

• difficulty exhaling fully.

  
  

Sacral Chakra — Emotional Flow

When grief stagnates, the sacral becomes sluggish. This is where grief blocks movement and flow. It may show up as:

• reduced creativity

• disconnection from pleasure

• difficulty feeling emotions

• emotional overwhelm

Practices to Honor & Release Grief (Softly & Safely)

These practices meet grief with tenderness, not force. Some of them we do without even knowing we are doing them. However, take what resonates with you and leave the rest. Do not force the honoring of grief, honor it with your soul, with love, and with compassion.

1. The Soft Exhale Practice

Grief responds to gentle breath, not big breath. Place a hand on your chest and lengthen your exhale slowly. This signals safety to the body and opens space for emotion to move.

2. Gentle Weeping Release

Tears are not breakdowns, they’re cleansing. I never used to cry but now I honor my tears and allow them to flow.

Allow tears to rise without judgment. Even 30 seconds of soft crying releases emotional pressure stored for years.

3. Heart-Holding Ritual

Place both hands over your heart and say:

• “I’m here.”

• “It’s safe to feel.”

• “You don’t have to carry this alone.”

Your body responds to your voice like a child being soothed.

4. Sacred Witnessing

Journal or speak aloud. Grief softens when truth is named.

• What am I grieving?

• What never got acknowledged?

• What still needs to be honored or released?

  
  

5. Movement for Emotional Flow

Slow, intuitive movement helps unstick grief stored in the body. This invites the body to release without overwhelm.

• hip circles

• swaying

• gentle stretching

• curling forward and opening up

  
  

Your Grief Is Evidence of Your Capacity to Love

You grieve because you cared. You grieve because you felt. You grieve because something mattered. Grief is not your downfall. It is your depth. It is your humanity. It is your heart showing you where healing is ready to happen.

When you meet your grief with compassion, you reclaim the parts of yourself that once felt too tender to touch. You come home to yourself, more open, more present, more whole.