The Body Keeps the Grief: Somatic Practices for Letting Go

Namaste Nesh
5 days ago
3 min read

Grief doesn’t live in the mind alone. It settles into the body.

Sometimes as a lump in your throat that never quite goes away. Sometimes as tension in your jaw, a heaviness in your chest, or a sudden emotional wave that comes out of nowhere.

Grief has memory. And the body remembers what the mind tries to move past too quickly.

We’re often taught to “be strong,” “move on,” or “get over it.” But grief isn’t a task. It’s a relationship.A slow unwinding. A sacred releasing.

Healing grief isn’t forgetting.It’s allowing your body and spirit to catch up with the truth your mind already knows: Something changed. Something was lost. And your body is still holding the echo.

Letting go doesn’t mean letting go of love.It means letting go of the emotional weight that keeps you from breathing fully again.

How Grief Shows Up in the Body

Grief can live in our bodies as:

Tight shoulders and neck
Short, shallow breathing
Fatigue or heaviness
Knots in the stomach or appetite changes
A voice that suddenly shakes
Restlessness or numbness
Tears that sit right behind the eyes but won’t fall

This is not weakness. It's biology. The nervous system stores what it has not yet been allowed to feel through. You don't release grief by thinking harder. You release it by gently giving your body permission to feel safe again.

Three Somatic Practices to Soften Grief

These practices don’t rush emotions. They help you meet your body where it is.

1. Chest-Opening Breath (For the “heavy-heart” grief)

Place a hand on your chest. Inhale slowly through your nose for 4, letting your rib cage expand. Exhale through your mouth for 6, letting your body soften.

As you breathe, whisper gently:"I am allowed to feel this. I don’t have to carry it alone."

Do this 6–8 rounds.

2. Hand-Over-Heart Swaddle (For emotional overwhelm)

Wrap your arms across your torso like a hug, with one hand touching your opposite shoulder and the other resting near your ribs.

Feel your warmth. Your heartbeat. Your existence.

Say to yourself:"I am safe to grieve. My body knows how to heal."

Let yourself sway gently if it feels right.

3. Sound Release (For stuck emotion in the throat)

Breathe in and sigh out with sound. Soft at first, then deeper. Like releasing a weight your voice has been carrying.

Sound is vibration. Vibration moves emotion. Letting yourself vocalize is not dramatic; it’s somatic freedom.

A Gentle Reminder

Grief doesn’t follow timelines. It doesn't respond to pressure. It doesn’t care how many inspirational quotes you read or how many people tell you to “stay positive.” It responds to presence. To breath. To safe spaces where the heart is allowed to tremble and the voice is allowed to crack. You do not need to be “strong” to heal. You need to be held. First by you… and then by community.