Yoga for Grief Relief: Simple Practices for Transforming Your Grieving Mind and Body

by Antonio Sausys, Lyn Prashant (Foreword by)

Overview

If you’ve experienced loss, you may feel intense emotional or even physical pain. In fact, it’s not uncommon for grieving people to experience depression, anxiety, fatigue, and a variety of other physical, mental, and spiritual symptoms. If you’ve tried other ways to move beyond your loss but have yet to find relief, you may be surprised to discover the transformative effects of yoga.

Yoga for Grief Relief combines over 100 illustrations of gentle yogic poses and the power of psychophysiology and neuroscience to help you recapture a true sense of well-being. You’ll also find breathing exercises, cleansing techniques, and self-relaxation tips to help you work through your loss and begin on the journey to self-knowledge and re-identification. At its core, yoga is about accepting change. If you are open to viewing your loss as an opportunity for growth, this book will help transform your grief with gentle clarity and awareness.

To find out more, visit yogaforgriefrelief.com

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781608828203
Publisher:	New Harbinger Publications
Publication date:	06/01/2014
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	216
File size:	24 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Antonio Sausys, MA, IGT, CMT, RYT, is a somatic psychotherapist and yoga instructor specializing in one-on-one yoga therapy for people with chronic and acute medical conditions, as well as emotional imbalance. He studied with yoga masters and teachers such as Indra Devi, Swami Maitreyananda, and Larry Payne. He has continued his professional development with training in integrative grief therapy with Lyn Prashant, foot reflexology, Swedish therapeutic massage, and Reiki. Antonio teaches and lectures periodically at the University of California, Berkeley; at the California Institute of Integral Studies, Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health. He is a member of the World Yoga Council, the International Association of Yoga Therapists, and the Association for Death Education and Counseling. He is the founder and executive director of Yoga for Health—the International Yoga Therapy Conference, and television host for YogiViews. For more information, visit yogaforgriefrelief.com.

The author thanks his freelance editor, Elliott Vogel, for his creative assistance on Yoga for Grief Relief. Vogel is a freelance writer and editor. A student of yoga for over ten years, Vogel’s journey studying the philosophy and practice of yoga originated under the tutelage of the book’s author, Antonio Sausys. He currently resides in Mill Valley, CA.

Foreword writer Lyn Prashant, PhD, FT, IGT, SYVC, is a somatic thanatologist, certified grief counselor, massage therapist, yoga instructor, author, and international presenter. She is the director and founder of Degriefing® (Integrative Grief Therapy) and the Institute of Somatic Thanatology.

Editorial Reviews

03/17/2014
Somatic health practitioner Sausys, a specialist in individual yoga therapy for those with chronic and acute medical conditions and emotional imbalance, shares the practice he developed for transforming grief. This sadhana, or spiritual discipline, comprises breath work, physical movements, cleansing techniques, relaxation, resolve, and mediation—geared to transform the effects of grief by “promoting body, mind, and spirit integration and rejuvenation.” In the first two chapters, Sausys explores the roots and forms of grief, details differing cultural perspectives, and maps physical, mental, social, and behavioral symptoms before discussing ancient practices of yoga and its long-standing relationship with grief. Each exercise in this yoga practice is clearly laid out in easy-to-understand steps, accompanied with numerous photos of Sausys demonstrating each move. In addition, the author addresses parameters and logistics that might pertain to readers in order to help them customize their practice. He concludes with insightful guidance about the process of transformation that each practitioner will undergo. Readers will find solace and relief in this highly informed and compassionate text. Photos. (June)

Publishers Weekly

“Losing a loved one to death pushes us into a series of feelings, beliefs, and behaviors that we try strongly to resist. These are painful and scary, and we fear that these experiences of our brokenness may never end. Antonio Sausys has taken [my] ‘tasks of mourning’ and shows how the simple practices of yoga can help us fulfill these tasks and bring us the re-integration and relief that we seek. Practicing the wisdom of this ancient mind-body discipline can help the mourner begin to integrate [his or her] experiences after loss and to re-establish a sense of wholeness.”
—J. William Worden, PhD, ABPP, author of Grief Counseling and Grief Therapy and Children and Grief: When a Parent Dies

“Provides in-depth understanding of psychosomatic aspects of grief and guides us through somatopsychic methods of yoga that empower us to regain our health, inner peace, and happiness.”
—Ananda Balayogi Bhavanani, chairman of ICYER at Ananda Ashram, Pondicherry, India, and honorary international advisor to the International Association of Yoga Therapists, USA, and various Gitananda yoga associations worldwide

"With compassion and clarity, Antonio Sausys brings dignity to the grieving process as he guides you, step-by-step, through loss to transformation and rebirth. Herein lies an important road map for the difficult rite of passage that we all must face at some point in our lives.”
—Anodea Judith, PhD, author of Wheels of Life: Eastern Body, Western Mind

“In this book, Antonio shows us his skillfulness as a master teacher and skilled yoga therapist who offers us practical and accessible tools to meet the natural process of grieving. His years of experience in working with grief through his personal life and work with students shines through in this very pragmatic manual for how to heal through grief, not by leaving grief behind, but by moving all the way through it with love, kindness, and compassion for ourselves, and for what we have lost.”
—Richard Miller, PhD, psychologist, meditation teacher of nondualism, and author of The iRest Program for Healing PTSD and Yoga Nidra: The Meditative Heart of Yoga

“A loving approach to transforming grief and loss. Antonio’s work is East-West wisdom at its finest.”
—Larry Payne, PhD, founder of Samata International Yoga and Health Institute; coauthor of Yoga for Dummies and Yoga Rx and the Business of Teaching Yoga; and director at Yoga Therapy Rx™ and Prime of Life Yoga™

“The heart of yoga is here in Antonio Sausys’ Yoga for Grief Relief. Sausys understands grief firsthand, as well as yoga’s capacity to help us heal from the inside out. Trust Sausys’ deeply intuitive, compassionate, and authoritative voice as he helps you release the bodily effects of grief, guides changes in your perception, and opens you to greater self-awareness. I fully endorse this practice and this book!”
—Amy Weintraub, founding director of the LifeForce Yoga Healing Institute and author of Yoga for Depression and Yoga Skills for Therapists

From the Publisher