February 2022

 

Grief and Grieving

Dear Yoga Friends,

I will continue taking a break from teaching the zoom classes until further notice.

My beloved Steve passed away suddenly on Monday, December 27th in the afternoon. Obviously, I will be taking a break from teaching until further Notice.

The love of family and friends surround me. We are grieving together. I am sharing, again, some *words of the wise South American Shaman, Martin Prechtel whose talks and writings have brought me comfort.

“The ability to weep is a gift. Laughter and weeping are relatives.   Praise and grief live in the same house, sleep in the same bed. Weeping is not depression, not sadness…it is lack of grieving. Tears loosen medicine…Therefore we feel so alive when grief is done…done properly…there is not a right way, but…you look a mess when you are done and feel so alive~!  Grief brings you back to life. Grief is a form of praise of life, the gift of being alive.”

He talked about how important it is to praise young people, all their ideas,” praise them well, all the time, listen to them and teach them how to grieve properly.  Let them see you grieve so they will know how…. The “tough” youth play out our illness, for us to see- they act flat- like they feel nothing…. flat.” (He tells a funny story in the talk)

 “When something dies it is important to grieve, or it is as if it was never alive. You cannot deal with it yourself; it takes a community…To grieve properly takes a lot of people, hundreds of people…  Praise is better that way too.”  

“When the tears roll you have to listen to the person. Nothing to solve… they are in that place, listen to them, let it rock. Same with happiness… let it roll… Grief makes people care for each other…We love expression in the village, the people watch out for you. People praise and grieve in such a way that the village holds them up while they do it”.  ~Martin Prechtel

He has talks on-line   Grief and Praise 

In these talks there is a prayer he spoke in native language, then in English. Here is a prayer he spoke in native language, then in English, then explained it is meaning

Long Line, Honey in the Heart, tears of Gods, white roads, paved with the eyebrows of the moon, which is sea foam, all color roads, which are paved with abundance from the tail of the morning star, which is the deer.    No evils, thirteen thank-you(s).

Steve has been and will always be honey in my heart, even though he is not with me physically and I feel broken now. The connections to him and all my relations are the honey in my heart.

Peace, love and appreciation, Chris

* Quotes are only excerpts and paraphrased here.