Mindfulness & Grief Table of Contents & Exercise Guide

The Mindfulness & Grief exercises are based on the 8 week program developed by thanatologist and meditation instructor Heather Stang. Below you can review the topics offered in the program and the book, as well as a list of meditations and other mindfulness-based practices designed to help you live life after loss.

Table of Contents

WEEK TITLE & DESCRIPTION PAGE #
Week 1 Mindful Awareness: How to Find Refuge in the Present Moment will show you how your breath and body can be your safe harbor when you are overwhelmed or unsteadied by grief. 13
Week 2 Conscious Relaxation: How to Care for Your Grieving Body will teach you relaxation techniques that will help you to release tension and steady your mind after a loved one has died. 35
Week 3 Compassion and Forgiveness: Attending to Grief with Loving-Kindness will guide you through meditative practices that will open a closed heart and engage the healing power of loving-kindness towards yourself and others. 49
Week 4 Skillful Courage: The Dance of Strength and Vulnerability will help you cope with the rollercoaster of grief as you move up and down between hope and despair. 67
Daylong Retreat Your Personal Daylong Retreat gives you a “day off” from tending to others and an extended period of time to practice and deepen your newfound mindful awareness. 77
Week 5 Getting Unstuck: Tending to the Five Mental Hindrances will show you how to meet resistance with curiosity and transform barriers into opportunities for
personal growth and awakening.
93
Week 6 Meaning Reconstruction: Learning to Live After Loss will explain how the processes of sense making and benefit finding will help you honor your loved one’s legacy while continuing your own life’s journey. 107
Week 7 Allowing Transformation: Who Am I Now? will help you to rewrite your post-loss narrative and tap into the power of meaning-making in spite of uncertainty and change. 117
Week 8 Perpetual Mindfulness: Practicing Beyond Grief will help you to develop a relationship with your practice so that you can live your life with equanimity and transcend common “practice pitfalls.” 129

Mindfulness & Grief Exercise Index

WEEK EXERCISE PAGE #
1 Three Part Breath 27
Coming To Your Six Senses 29
Breath Meditation 31
Mindfulness Journal 32
2 Body Scan 42
Mapping The Body 45
Conscious Connection 45
Progressive Muscle Relaxation 46
Mindfulness Meditation: Breath Awareness 48
Mindfulness Journaling: My Body’s Story 48
3 Embracing Your Heart With Loving-Kindness 58
Mindfulness Meditation: Breath Awareness 60
Forgiveness Meditation 60
Metta Prayer Of Loving-Kindness 63
Mindfulness Journaling: My Heart’s Story 65
4 Embracing Vulnerability 73
Walking Meditation 74
Mindfulness Meditation: Sitting With Dignity 75
Mindful Journaling: Skillful Courage Letters 76
Retreat Mindful Movement 82
Morning Practice 86
Relaxation Pose 86
Afternoon Practice 87
Mindful Eating 87
Mindful Walk In Nature 88
Landscape Drawing 90
Aspirational Collage 91
Re-Entry and Breaking Your Silence 92
5 Walking Meditation 102
Mindfulness Meditation: Tending To The 5 Mental Hindrances 102
Mindful Journaling: Transforming Roadblocks Into Green Lights 106
6 Mindfulness Meditation: Breath Awareness 116
Mindful Journaling: Assumptive Worldview 116
Continuing Their Legacy 116
7 Mindfulness Meditation: The Theater Of The Mind 126
Mindful Journaling: Letter of Transformation 127
Empowering Action 128
8 Relaxation With Choiceless Awareness 134
Mindfulness Meditation: Choiceless Awareness 135
Mindful Journaling: The Hero’s Journey 135
Sharing Your Journey 136

Get compassionate live online grief support with author Heather Stang


Meditation | Journaling | Self-care | Sharing