(Originally published on Brainz Magazine)
Grief is often associated with death. But grief can accompany many kinds of endings: leaving behind an identity, a relationship, a familiar way of living, or even a version of ourselves we once needed.
Traditional Chinese Medicine offers a broader understanding of grief. Through the lens of the Metal element, grief is connected with both loss and the ongoing process of letting go—making space for what’s changing, while remaining connected to what matters.
In this Brainz Magazine article, I explore the quieter forms of grief that can emerge during healing, growth, and transformation.
Understanding Grief Beyond the Five Stages
The familiar five-stage model can make grief seem like a linear process with a beginning, middle, and end.
But grief rarely moves that neatly. It can return unexpectedly, change shape, or emerge long after we thought we had moved through something.
Looking beyond stages allows us to recognize grief as a deeply individual experience rather than something we need to complete or overcome.
Letting Go and Letting Life In
Letting go isn’t simply about releasing what we no longer need. It can also mean creating enough space to receive what’s new.
In TCM, the lung and large intestine meridians are associated with this dynamic of taking in and releasing. Grief can therefore be understood not only as the pain of loss, but as part of the body’s ongoing rhythm of holding, releasing, and making space for life.
The Grief Inside Growth
Growth is often portrayed as something entirely positive: becoming stronger, healthier, more authentic, or more fully ourselves. But transformation can carry loss alongside it.
When we change, we have to leave behind familiar identities, coping strategies, relationships, expectations, or ways of moving through the world. Even when the change is deeply wanted, there can still be grief for what we are no longer.
Recognizing this can make the process of healing feel less confusing. We can be grateful for where we’re going while still grieving what we’re leaving behind.
Supporting the Body Through Grief
Grief isn’t only something we think about. It’s something we experience physically.
It can impact breathing, energy, digestion, sleep, tension, and our capacity to connect with ourselves and others. Supporting the body doesn’t mean trying to make grief disappear. It means creating enough safety and nourishment to allow the experience to move through us.
Gentle movement, breath, rest, nourishment, and somatic practices can offer the body somewhere to place what words cannot always express.
Grief As Part of Becoming
Grief isn’t a sign that healing has gone wrong. It’s part of becoming.
When we grow and transform, we inevitably encounter endings alongside beginnings. Making space for that grief allows us to honor where we’ve been without needing to remain there.
Healing isn’t always about getting back to who we were. It’s about making room for who we’re becoming.
Read the full article on Brainz Magazine →
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20-Min Somatic Yin Yoga for Grief & Sadness (Lung Meridian Support)
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