When Your Heart Is Heavy

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A lot is going on in the United States right now.
There’s grief, fear, heartbreak—visible and invisible.
Many are carrying emotions that don’t yet have words.

Today was no king’s day. And maybe tonight it is time to tend to the heart.


There’s an ancient story of Lord Shiva, who, after emerging from deep meditation, was so moved by the suffering of humanity that tears welled in his eyes. When the first tear fell, it became the first rudraksha seed.

🌿 Every unresolved emotion must liquefy—like Shiva’s tears—so it can become compassion.

Below is a gentle 4-step offering to help hold space for what is arising—in yourself, your clients, your beloveds, your community:

1. Feeling is the First Alchemy

Unresolved emotions become stored in the body when they are unfelt, invalidated, or cut off.

To liquefy them, they need to be felt in a safe way—not necessarily all at once, but in gentle waves.

“Liquefy” = turning frozen, hardened, or stuck emotion back into flow.

This can look like:

  • Crying (tears = literal liquefaction)

  • Breathing deeply into the emotion

  • Journaling or speaking what’s true

  • Letting the body move it—shaking, dancing, curling up, swaying

2. Create Containment (Ritual, Warmth, Safety)

Water only flows when there is a container. Without it, it floods or evaporates.

In Ayurveda, this means:

  • Warm oiling (sneha = love)—touching the body with ritual and rhythm

  • Shirodhara or marma therapy—to soothe the mind and re-regulate the nervous system

  • Tulsi or rudraksha in physical contact with Hridayam heart marma—balances the heart’s energy

  • Sacred space—lighting a candle, invoking intention, calling on ancestors or divine support

3. Breathe into the Heart

The prana vayus regulate the movement of energy in the body.

When we are heavy-hearted, prana is stagnant, especially in Udana Vayu and Vyana Vayu (related to the heart and chest).

Simple practice:

  • Sit with hand over Hridaya marma (center of chest)

  • Breathe slowly in and out of the heart space

  • Imagine the emotion as a solid block, melting with each breath

You can also whisper:

“May this sorrow flow. May this emotion become compassion.”

4. Let the Emotion Have Somewhere to Go

This is where transformation happens.

Emotion, once softened, wants to express itself in service:

  • Grief becomes tenderness

  • Anger becomes boundary

  • Sorrow becomes devotion

  • Helplessness becomes prayer or action

Ask:

“What does this emotion want to become?”

“What truth or offering is hidden inside this pain?”

Sometimes the answer is simply: a tear, a gesture of care, a new boundary, a poem, a prayer.

Sometimes it is much more.

🌹 What You Can Teach Others:

To my fellow practitioners, space holders, caregivers, & healers:
We may not be able to remove the suffering from this world,
But we can hold sacred containers where the pain can begin to soften.
We can be a gentle rhythm, a steady breath, a warm hand, a safe space.

You, as a healer, can offer:

  • Practices for breath, touch, and ritual

  • Emotional literacy through the body (not just talk)

  • A safe container for others to soften into

—

If you are called to deepen your ability to offer this kind of support to your community—

Our Shirodhara Ritual Training is a sacred path for practitioners who want to:

  • Support emotional alchemy through Ayurvedic oil pouring

  • Re-regulate the nervous system with ancient rhythms

  • Offer ritual and heart-soothing care in a time when it’s so needed

Shirodhara Ritual Training → https://innersunandmoon.com/shirodhara-ritual-training

 
Sarva