Sitting with Grief & Fear
This guided meditation and accompanying reflection prompts are designed for BIPOC and Latine service providers and survivors of gender-based violence to support them in noticing, naming, and sitting with their experiences of grief and fear. Through a healing centered, trauma-informed and somatic approach, participants are invited to pause, tune into their emotional and physical signals, and recognize where their needs for safety, dignity, agency, rest, and self-care arise. This meditation guides participants in anchoring these insights in the body when experiencing fear. The prompts offer a space for self-inquiry when navigating grief. This is an offering to slow down, tend to emotional and spiritual well-being, and practice remembering our wholeness.
How are you shaped by grief?
Through a healing centered, trauma-informed, somatic approach, participants are invited to pause, tune into their emotional and physical signals, and recognize where their needs for safety, dignity, agency, rest, and self-care arise.
Centered in culturally sustaining practices and the lived realities of participants, this offering fosters self-awareness, empowerment, and resilience—helping healers and survivors alike reclaim agency and create space for restoration amidst demanding roles.
These prompts invite gentle reflection on how you carry and have been shaped by your lived experiences.
Part I: The shape of your body
Vagus Nerve Reset Breath Exercise For Grounding (2-3 minutes)
Find a comfortable seated position and allow your body to settle.
Slowly inhale through your nose for 4 counts.
Gently exhale for 6–8 counts, letting the breath leave your body slowly.
If it feels supportive, add a soft hum on the exhale to deepen the calming effect.
Continue this breathing pattern for as many rounds as feel helpful.
Move at your own pace, and pause or stop at any time if needed.
1. Reflections On Joy
Take a quiet moment to reflect on what brings you joy — past or present, big or small. This might include meaningful moments or life experiences, as well as the people, animals, places, and everyday rituals that nourish you.
As you pause and sense your body, what do you notice? How have experiences of joy settled in your being — physically, emotionally, or spiritually?
What stories, memories, or sensations arise from these experiences of joy?
2. Reflections On Challenges
Take a quiet moment to reflect on some challenges you’ve faced — past or present, big or small, whether singular events or ongoing experiences in your life.
As you pause and sense your body, what do you notice? How have these challenges settled in your being — physically, emotionally, or spiritually?
When you reflect, what stories, memories, or sensations arise from these challenges?
3. Reflections On Grief
Take a quiet moment to reflect on your experiences of grief, or loss.
As you pause and sense your body, what do you notice? How has your grief settled in your being — physically, emotionally, or spiritually?
What stories, memories, or sensations arise from these experiences of grief or loss?
Part II: The shape of your perception and reception
How do these experiences — your joys, challenges, and grief — influence the way you see and experience the world?
In what ways do they guide your intuition, empathy, or understanding of others?
How do your experiences shape the way you allow yourself to receive care, love, or acknowledgment?
Are there parts of yourself you are learning to welcome or trust more fully because of what you’ve lived?
Part III: The shape of your offerings to the world
What have your life experiences taught you that you now offer to others—through your words, presence, or actions?
How do you give care, support, or wisdom differently because of your joys, struggles, or lived experiences?
Part IV: Reflections
What came up for you as you moved through these reflections? In what ways did it feel challenging? Meaningful?
What has the process of grief given you?
What new awareness, insights, or wisdom have grown from the experience of loss?
What ways of honoring your grief (such as altar making, dancing, cooking, writing) can you incorporate into your celebration of your life?
Sitting with fear
