Choosing to Heal: Student’s Story of Grief, Somatic Yin, and Gentle Tools

This story is about one of my students and her daughter. She began coming to my yoga classes around three months ago. In those first few sessions, she was very quiet, and we didn’t really get a chance to speak. She’d practised yoga years ago but had stopped for a long time. She came to the regular classes at first, still quietly making her way back to the mat.

Reaching Out After Loss

When I announced my first Trauma-Informed Somatic Yin Workshop, she contacted me. That’s when she shared what she and her daughter were living through: the loss of her husband, their husband and father, and the weight of grief that followed. Anxiety, disrupted sleep, and changes in eating patterns had become part of their everyday.

Her honesty resonated deeply with me. I remembered my own years of struggling after losing my mum at 53, when I was 30. Back then, I dipped in and out of yoga without the steady tools I lean on now.

I spiralled for many years, with alcohol, domestic violence, some bad life choices and some very dark places at that time. I understand how loss can reshape everything. It’s one of the reasons I chose to train as a trauma-informed yoga teacher.

Why Somatic, Trauma-Informed Yin?

On our call, I explained that when we experience a loss this big, our bodies can hold on to the shock and sadness long after the event. The nervous system can stay stuck in fight-or-flight, and we might not even realise it, with a tight chest, shallow breathing, anxiety, and a general sense that we’re “functioning,” but not truly coping.

A somatic, trauma-informed Yin approach meets the body where it is: slow, gentle, and choice-driven. Blended with meditation and sound healing, it gives the nervous system a chance to settle and the body a safe way to release stored tension.

The student and her daughter missed the first workshop, but they came to the second. The theme was nervous system regulation, practical tools for moments when grief flares, memories flood back, and the body relives the early days of loss.

Simple Tools for Overwhelm

I shared several practices that support regulation:

• Counted (diaphragmatic) breathing for 10 minutes: Inhale for 4 • Pause for 2 • Exhale for 4 • Pause for 2This gentle rhythm helps guide the system back toward rest-and-digest.

• Somatic movement: Small, rhythmic movements, arm swings, tapping, and mindful mobility, to help shift energy and release tension held in fascia and muscles.

• Grounding practices: Mindful movement, breath awareness, and simple stillness cues that bring the body back to a felt sense of safety in the present.

The message was simple: there’s no “magic pill,” and healing cannot be timed. But there are tools that can be returned to, again and again, to soften the edges of grief and make space for breath.

After the Workshop: Realistic Hope

I always follow up with attendees of the trauma workshops. Her feedback was positive. She and her daughter loved the session and felt calmer afterwards. They also began working through the worksheet I provided, designed to help them identify triggers, journal about them, and notice patterns. Many attendees find this written practice surprisingly helpful.

She also shared that her initial expectations were higher than what is realistic in a single session.

We spoke about that: healing is not linear, and it cannot be rushed. In truth, one of the bravest steps is simply choosing to walk through the door, to admit you might need support, and to let your body be guided into softer, steadier states. She and her daughter have booked onto the next workshop, and I’m grateful to hold space for their continued journey.

A Gentle Closing

Grief asks a lot of us. It changes how we breathe, sleep, eat, and move. It can feel like being stuck between worlds, part present, part pulled back to a moment that ended everything. Somatic, trauma-informed Yin doesn’t try to fix grief. It offers permission: to feel, to rest, to steady, and to keep going, one breath at a time.