healingways


Gentling GRIEF


Remedies to Heal the Heart


by Kathleen Barnes G


rief can arrive suddenly with the death of a loved one, serious illness, loss of a job, parental


dementia or decaying relationship. In any case, it takes a toll.


“Grief encompasses all of our thoughts and feelings. Mourning is when we put them into action by talking, crying, perhaps doing rituals,” explains Tracy Riley, a licensed clinical social worker and grief counselor in Jacksonville, Florida. “Grief isn’t something that’s over


when you wake up one day,” Riley counsels. “It’s ridiculous when an employer gives you three days off and then expects everything to be fine.” She notes that time helps heal all wounds, but even a decade after los- ing a loved one, the pain can remain and life is never the same, although most of us learn to live with loss and move forward.


“Some things can’t be fixed,” concludes Megan Devine, a psy- chotherapist in Portland, Oregon, and author of the audio book, When Everything is Not Okay, who blogs at RefugeInGrief.com. After witnessing the drowning death of her fiancé, she says, “I didn’t need to hear platitudes


that everything would be OK. I need- ed something solid to hold onto when my whole world exploded.”


Physical Aids


An unexpected death and any emo- tional shock is an extreme stressor that causes the adrenal glands to release a flood of adrenaline. Tina Erwin, La Mesa, California author of The Lightworker’s Guide to Healing Grief, explains, “If you get a shock when someone close to you dies, your adrenal glands are blown out almost instantly and you are overwhelmed


with adrenaline, much like we often see in people with post-traumatic stress disorder. You need to rebalance your body chemistry.”


Intense grief can sometimes show


up as chest pain, a classic sign of heart attack, due to a temporary disruption of the heart’s normal pumping action from a surge in stress hormones, according to the National Institutes of Health. Yet Imperial College London scientists now have found that a recognizable “broken heart syndrome” may temporarily pro- tect the heart from being overwhelmed with adrenaline.


“Healing the physical side of grief ultimately helps healing on an emotional level, too,” says Erwin. To assist herself following the death of her 6-year-old niece from a sud- den infection, she uses several Bach flower remedies for trauma—Rescue Remedy, to rebalance the flood of adrenaline; Star of Bethlehem, for shock and loss; and Mimulus, for fear and anxiety. “Combining a few drops of each of these in a water bottle or tea several times a day helps you re- gain a feeling of balance,” Erwin says. She also likes drinking


blood-cleansing noni juice to help wash adrenaline out of the body, and taking salt baths enhanced with laven- der essential oil to literally “wash away the darkness.”


Emotional Aids


Riley views art and music therapy, plus journaling (a “personal roadmap” that helps chart her progress), as pow- erful healing tools. She’s also seen firsthand how animals can play a key role through the mourning process.


Look away from the darkness – find the light in your life.


Connect with me over a FREE Skype visit!


Elda Dorothy | Elda@CompassionateTruth.com CompassionateTruth.com


I will help you obtain clarity so you can feel BETTER.


natural awakenings February 2015 11


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