How the six branches of yoga can guide you through grief
Acknowledgements. Foreword by Chinnamasta Stiles. 1. Why Yoga for Grief. 2. Jnana Yoga: The Path of Knowledge. 3. Bhakti Yoga: The Path of Devotion. 4. Tantra Yoga: The Path of Transformation. 5. Karma Yoga: The Path of Action. 6. Raja Yoga: The Path of Royalty. 7. Hatha Yoga: The Path of Sun and Moon. Bibliography. Index.
Karla Helbert is a certified yoga instructor trained in Integrated Movement Therapy®, a therapy that uses the philosophical, physical and spiritual framework of yoga in conjunction with conventional clinical treatment perspectives. She is also a licensed professional counselor (LPC) and a certified Compassionate Bereavement Care® provider. She operates a private psychotherapy practice with a focus on loss, grief and bereavement and facilitates bereavement support groups for local hospices and for the MISS Foundation. As a bereaved mother and a trained therapist, she has a deep personal, as well as clinical, understanding of the difficult issues facing those grieving the deaths of loved ones. She is the author of Finding Your Own Way to Grieve: A Creative Activity Workbook for Kids and Teens on the Autism Spectrum. She lives in Richmond, VA.
Typically when we are overwhelmed with grief, words can only go so
far in bringing relief and comfort. These words written by Karla
Helbert, however, are the most powerful, useful, insightful, and
comprehensive that I've ever seen. She is presenting something very
special to the world and what she has accomplished is
awe-inspiring. Ms. Helbert has pulled herself up from her own loss,
and is thankfully now generously sharing her wisdom. I hope that
you don't need this book very often in your life, but when you do,
it will be your guide and companion to find your way back from a
broken heart.
*Swami Asokananda, President Integral Yoga Institute of New
York*
Karla Helbert's new book, Yoga for Grief and Loss, is much more
than its mere title. This book contains within its pages the depth
and breadth of grief's nuances, its crevices, its core questions.
It is a navigable, shimmering gift that invites the bereaved reader
through the darkness of mourning. Practical yet deeply numinous, I
recommend Helbert's Yoga for Grief and Loss highly; not as a means
to heal or cure or overcome grief-rather, this book will help
grievers to be with, turn toward, and grow through grief. Few
authors have accomplished this with such honesty and grace.
*Joanne Cacciatore PhD, Professor Arizona State University, Author
of Selah: An Invitation Toward Fully Inhabited Grief, Founder of
The MISS Foundation*
Finally! In a sea of books on grief that fall dismally short, Karla
Helbert skillfully presents a path that companions pain, rather
than trying to solve it. Through the lens of yoga, Helbert
demonstrates that the true teachings of all spiritual traditions
help us find ways to bear the life that's asked of us. We can hold
deeply disparate realities - worlds of pain, worlds of comfort -
without being forced to choose between the extremes of endless
sadness or faux-positivity. Yoga for Grief and Loss is part of a
new paradigm of books helping to change the way our culture tends
to grief.
*Megan Devine, Licensed Professional Counselor, founder of Refuge
in Grief, author of Everything is Not Okay*
This very profound yet practical guide reviews what yoga can offer
to someone grieving a loss. Sensitively written and incorporating
very current understandings of grief, Karla Helbert's Yoga for
Grief and Loss offers wisdom and ways to "adapt, adjust, and
accommodate" to our new, however unwelcome, reality.
*Kenneth J Doka, PhD, Professor, The College of New Rochelle,
Senior Consultant, The Hospice Foundation of America*
In my own grief experiences and sitting with many bereaved students
over many years, I have often marveled at grief's capacity to cut
through all that is unreal and unimportant and to focus a laser
beam of light onto the deepest longings of one's soul, to push
aside all the trivialities of everyday life, until all that's left
is loving. Karla's book reflects and honors this profound gift of
grief.
Unlike so many well-meaning "Yoga for ...." books, this book is not
about a prescription to do anything. It is not the disconnected (or
misdirected) directive of the therapist or yoga teacher. Rather it
is a profound and profoundly loving acknowledgement of grief as an
individual process, born out of, and in fact, a form of, love.
This book will absolutely become required reading for trainees in
my Integrated Movement Therapy training program - it is not only
packed with wisdom on yoga, it is truly an invitation for all of us
to meet the grieving, and grief itself with a humble sense of
spaciousness and allowing. This book is truly a gift.
*Molly Lannon Kenny, MS-CCC, Vice President of the International
Association of Yoga Therapists, founder and director of the Samarya
Center in Seattle WA, and developer of Integrated Movement
Therapy®.*
Raja Yoga has been defined as the Psychology and Philosophy of
yoga, two relevant sciences that help us deal with the unknown,
such as loss and death. How we deal with them in a way that helps
us grieve and find meaning, minimizing suffering and transforming
it into wisdom, is the focus of this book.
It is deep and authentic, coming from Karla's personal experience
with the loss of her firstborn baby, and from her intense study of
Raja Yoga, the study of the mind and human behavior, also the
foundation of her Integral Yoga teacher training.
I am in awe of her amazing gift of transforming and making
available to all, what could be a dry academic study of the ancient
texts into a very practical yoga therapy tool that addresses the
devastating effects of grief and loss through Yoga. Such a
refreshing, effective and inspiring approach!
*Nora Vimala Pozzi, e-RYT500, PRYT, YCaT, Director of Integral
Yoga® Center of Richmond and Teacher Training, Yoga
Therapist/Trainer, Raja Yoga Teacher & Senior Faculty at
Yogaville.*
As a Board Certified Chaplain working in hospital, hospice, nursing
and aging facilities since 1998, I find Karla's book a very useful
tool for those in grief, I believe Karla's explanation of the yogic
life style and its many paths, to be very inclusive, easy to read,
study, and incorporate into anyone's own life. I congratulate Karla
Helbert for presenting to the public this useful tool for dealing
with grief from the yogic perspective.
*Swami Sarvaananda, PHD, BCC, PHD in Education Administration,
University of Connecticut, 1980, BCC: board certified chaplain,
Association of Professional Chaplains*
What a treasure! This is the book that my heart longed for when my
own child died and I cast about for something to both acknowledge
and bless the transformational fire sweeping through the landscape
of my soul. With deeply grounded wisdom, Karla Helbert
simultaneously affirms the unmitigated pain of losing someone we
love and offers trustworthy tools to help us navigate the
wilderness of loss. By engaging the ancient systems of Yoga, we are
guided to embrace our grief as the sacred state it is and allow
ourselves to connect with the Love that "yokes" us together for all
of time.
*Mirabai Starr, Translator of Teresa of Avila and John of the
Cross, author of Caravan of No Despair: A Memoir of Loss and
Transformation (Sounds True)*
Karla Helbert knows the territory of grief. Her deep spiritual
understanding, through the philosophy and practice of Yoga, is the
GPS that helped her navigate the death of her infant son. This is
not a book of postures, although they are included. Through the
essential teachings of yoga, Helbert's Yoga for Grief and Loss
shines a light through the clouds of unknowing that follow loss.
Let the gift of these teachings be your ultimate guide to welcoming
all that arises through bereavement. Read the book and practice the
many self-inquiry exercises, meditations, mantras, mudras, yoga
breathing exercises and postures, and you will ride the waves of
your loss home to who you truly are.
*Amy Weintraub, founder of the LifeForce Yoga Healing Institute,
author of Yoga for Depression (Broadway Books) and Yoga Skills for
Therapists (W.W. Norton)*
A wonderful book that helps to unite our physical, mental,
emotional and spiritual states during times of grief and loss. It
offers a practical guide to yoga so we can move close to wholeness
and harmony. The book contains practical tips and almost 100
asanas, meditations, breathwork, journaling and the creation of
rituals to find our unique path through grief towards peace and
connection. Highly recommended.
*Yoga Magazine*
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