While many turn to talk therapy to help cope with grief after losing a loved one, yoga instructor Sheena Nancy Sarles, of Marblehead, offers a physical pathway to navigate life’s losses that we all inevitably face.
“There are seven subtle energy centers in our body known as chakras,” said Sarles. “I think of grief as congestion — we pull it all in, and if we can find a way to release it, it does not become so overwhelming.”
Embracing her many years as a yoga instructor helping those who have suffered the loss of a loved one or other grief-inducing experiences, Sarles has written a new book, “Yoga for Living with Loss, Navigating Our Losses Without Getting Lost,” released in November, accompanied by a video series.
A former dancer who grew up in Buffalo, New York, Sarles has made her home in Marblehead for the past 50 years and has taught classes at the Marblehead Y and Yoga Loft. She has offered workshops at the Marblehead JCC, and has also led workshops at the BaliSpirit Festival in Indonesia and will do so again in March.
Sarles began taking yoga classes herself right around the time her dad passed away in 2004 and took solace in attending those classes.
“While in class, I was not in that hollow grief, you know?” said Sarles.
But it was in 2015 when Sarles was faced with two heartbreaking tragedies within a three-month span — losing her best friend and then her older sister – that opened up a new avenue for what yoga could provide. Bereft, she turned to The Bertolon Center for Grief and Healing, an arm of the hospice group CareDimensions in Danvers, and participated in a grief writing class. By that time, she had become a certified yoga instructor.
“I noticed that everyone in the class was sitting with their shoulders slouched down,” said Sarles. “I made a suggestion. How about we bring our shoulders up while opening up our hearts?”
Not long after, she was offered a job at the center teaching yoga for the bereaved.
“What’s wonderful about the yoga program is that it can reach people at all stages of their grief,” said Patrice DePasquale, director of bereavement and pediatric palliative care at CareDimensions. “We always say that everyone grieves differently and some don’t want to be part of a talk therapy group. Some people hold grief within their bodies, so these classes are an incredible resource.”
In her new book, Sarles reviews the seven chakras and how to move through grief physically.
“One of the chakras is the earth, the root, which represents security and trust,” she said. “Another is the heart, where we hold love, grief and compassion. Another is the third eye, which is our intuition,” she said.
With gentle yoga poses for each, Sarles guides her readers to breath and meditate to release the negative energy they may be holding onto.
Judith Despres, who lost her son in 2001, is a neighbor and longtime friend of Sarles. She has attended some of Sarles classes after her devastating loss, which helped her cope with her deeply personal grief.
“I think that after a loss, you see the rest of the world go on, but you are at sea and nothing is normal,” said Despres. “Yoga is a place to focus, a quiet place, and there you don’t have to share with others. Yoga puts you where you are protected and you don’t have to go anywhere, but you are able to put your feelings out there, which is an enormous help.”
Despres said that she is grateful for the support Sarles lent her after losing her son and believes that experience, as well as her own personal losses, came together over several years as she drafted her book.
“She put a lot of herself into this,” said Espres, who also helped edit the book drawing on her own experience as a copy editor. “The book will be very helpful to many people, providing a different way than usual to cope with grief.”
In addition to the book, Sarles offers a seven-part video series, one for each chakra visual of the book, lasting 45 minutes each. Her book is available on her website at yogaforlivingwithloss.com/ and at Shubie’s Marketplace, 16 Atlantic Ave.
Her yoga class is offered one-to-two times a month at The Bertolon Center, said DePasquale. The class, as are all resources at the center, is offered free of charge for all members of the community.
Sarles recently presented at the Hospice & Palliative Care Federation of Massachusetts where she spoke about her yoga and reviewed creative new ideas for hospices throughout the state that might consider offering yoga as part of their services, said DePasquale.
“It takes courage to meet your grief, and I have tried to create a variety of formats to find solace and comfort in different modalities,” said Sarles. She concluded with a notion originating with Swiss psychoanalyst Carl Jung: “What you resist persists.”
