How Meditation Can Help You Heal From Heartbreak
*“Hearts can break. Yes, hearts can break. Sometimes I think it would be better if we died when they did, but we don’t.”
Stephen King, Hearts in Atlantis
It’s said that it is better to have loved and lost than to never have loved at all. And while that may be true, the pain of a broken relationship can leave you shattered, confused and unable to move forward. If you have ever suffered, or are presently suffering, from Takotsubo Cardiomyopathy (yes, there is even a scientific term for broken heart syndrome), you know exactly what I’m talking about.
It’s called heartbreak for a good reason. The physiological reaction to intense emotional pain can physically hurt and weaken your body. When you are heartbroken or painfully rejected, your body begins an emotional storm, creating a dangerous cocktail of toxic hormones such as adrenaline, cortisol and norepinephrine.
As Dr. Ronald Stram, founder of the Stram Center for Integrative Medicine in Albany, says: “There’s an immediate adrenal stress response. The adrenal gland releases adrenaline. Your cortisol levels go up. Your gut shuts down, your heart rate goes up, blood pressure rises. The emotional wounds of rejection literally hurt. From the perspective of our brain and our body, the emotional distress of heartbreak is the same as severe physical trauma!”
It’s true that time can heal our wounds, but sometimes we want to accelerate the process and get on with our lives. It’s important to heal properly because we could permanently re-wire our brain for sorrow and misery with repetitive negative thoughts (this is known as Hebb’s Law by neuropsychologists).
Meditation can be one effective way for quickly healing and moving on.
Meditation brings you into a relaxing light trance, known as the alpha state. In this pleasant state, you can visualize yourself happy, joyful and loving again. Whilst in this state, you can use mental rehearsal to trick your brain. While you are in the alpha state, your frontal lobe does not recognize the difference between fantasy and reality, which allows you to reverse the physiological effects of your painful heartbreak. Additionally, whilst in the alpha state, your normally locked subconscious mind opens, allowing you to reprogram it by intentionally replacing repetitive negative thoughts with healing and loving ones.
Meditation combined with visualization (mental rehearsal) can help you to rid yourself of toxic emotions, and reopen the possibility for love and joy once again.
Visualization for Healing After Heartbreak
With your eyes closed in a light trance, visualize yourself healed and happy. Picture negative emotions leaving your body and drifting away in a cloud. Visualize yourself embracing and thanking your ex-partner for the lessons learned together. Release your former partner and wish them well. Picture your heart opening and creating space to allow love back into your life again. Feel yourself comforted by the infinite universal love and nurturing that is always around you.
This simple visualization will help you to move through the grieving process more quickly so that you can begin healing; opening your heart to love again.
Additionally, you can enhance and accelerate your healing by taking good care of yourself by committing to your yoga practice, eating a healthy sugar-free diet and surrounding yourself with friends and loved ones.
About the Author
3 Breathing Techniques To Unite Mind & Body
“The mind is the king of the senses, and the breath is the king of the mind.” -Hatha Yoga Pradipka
It was only until I discovered yoga years ago that I started to learn how to breathe properly. First off, I noticed how much I took my breath for granted. It was years of breathing in second-hand smoke as a child and suffering from depression and weight gain, etc. before I realized there was more to my breath than struggle and strife.
There are so many powerful breathing techniques (Pranayama in Sanskrit) that can treat myriad maladies, from depression to mental clarity, energy levels, and weight loss; the list goes on and on.
3 Pranayama that will help unite you in mind and body:
4-Point Yogic Breath
This breathing technique helps open the channel of the energy of the entire spine (Shushumna) and helps to clear blockages, energy spots along the spine (chakras) and the abdominal region, as well as increasing lung capacity. This technique also aids in weight loss, as you focus on bringing energy into the stomach and lungs.
- Sit up straight in a comfortable seated position
- Place your left hand on your belly and right hand on your chest. Breathe in through the nose, filling the belly first then expanding into the chest second.
- Exhale, starting with the chest and then stomach, creating a rippling wave through the hands as they rise and fall with your breath. The whole torso is breathing belly-chest, chest-belly, creating a 4-pointed yogic breath.
