The Body Knows: Somatic Grieving

Mirabai danced. Her devotion was not cerebral but full-bodied: ecstatic, physical, uncontained. For grieving children who have been taught to be still and quiet, this offers liberation. Grief lives in the body—in a tight chest, heavy limbs, the urge to move or to freeze. Rather than asking children to think their way through loss, somatic grieving honors how the body processes emotion. Young people might dance to music that matches their grief, practice slow breathing when overwhelmed, or simply move freely without judgment. Mirabai's dancing was her prayer; it released what words could not hold. In supporting children, we can create spaces for embodied grieving: movement, sound, touch, sensation. This approach validates that grief is not a thinking problem but a whole-person experience. When children are given permission to grieve with their whole body, they often access a deeper, more complete healing than words alone provide.