05/21/2026
Have you heard of body mapping? I’m a nerd for grief tools, and anytime I find something that resonates, I get excited to share it here! Last week I attended a yoga for grief and trauma workshop at Essential Yoga Studio. Heather Weddle (Healing Arts Collective Holistic Grief Coach) guided us through a body mapping exercise that I’ve been thinking about since. I don’t know whether it’s neurodivergence, overthinking, trauma, or a fun combination of all three(!), but I sometimes struggle to identify what I’m feeling in a given moment. Grief can be especially slippery because it’s not a singular emotion, and it’s not experienced exclusively in the mind. Maybe that’s why so many of us struggle to express our grief through language—words can feel too small, too limiting, or too tidy to accurately describe grief’s bigness.
Body mapping didn’t ask me to label the emotions I felt with words. It only asked me to slow down, tune in, and rest with them. It gave me permission to use metaphor and imagery to map my grief and allowed me to connect with emotional aches I didn’t know I’d been carrying. I translated the heat, discomfort, and restlessness in my body onto the page using lightning bolts, flowers, and tide pools. The map I made in that workshop was possibly the closest I’ve come to communicating the full spectrum of my grief. It is tattooed on my skin, carved from my muscle and at the same time, draped prettily over my bones. I’m so grateful to holistic grief practitioners who allow space for the full picture.
What would your grief look like if you mapped it on your body?
