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Grief is one of the most profound emotional experiences a person can endure. It has a way of settling deep into the body, manifesting as tension, anxiety, fatigue, or even physical pain. As someone who has walked this path both personally and professionally, I’ve seen firsthand how unresolved grief can affect every aspect of life. From my time as a social worker, supporting people through losses of all kinds — sudden, expected, traumatic — I’ve witnessed the many ways we try to cope. Whether it’s through therapy, support groups, staying busy, or doing nothing at all, grief has a way of lingering, sometimes making it difficult to fully process.
My personal journey through grief began when I was sixteen years old. In a car accident we were both in, I lost my sister, Stacy, who was eighteen. That loss became a defining moment in my life. At the time, I didn’t fully understand the extent to which the trauma and grief would shape me. Like many people, I turned to what was available to survive the pain. At the age of sixteen, I didn’t know what to do other than continue going to school, practice, and work. It wasn’t until decades later that I discovered a deeper path to healing — one that allowed me to not only confront my grief, but to release it from the place where it had taken up residence: my body.
This path was somatic breathwork.
The mind-body connection in grief
When we think of grief, we often imagine it as an emotional experience, one tied to sadness, tears, and reflection. But grief also lives in the body. It shows up as tightness in the chest, heaviness in the limbs, or that lump in the throat that just won’t go away. Our culture doesn’t always recognize the physical toll that grief takes, so we’re often left addressing only part of the experience.
Somatic breathwork offers a way to access that physical component of grief and move through it. By engaging in intentional breathwork, we can help the body release stored emotions and trauma that we may not even be aware of. It’s not about bypassing the emotional work, but rather working with the body as an ally in the healing process.
My journey with somatic breathwork
After years of working in the mental health field and supporting others through their own grief, I felt a pull to do more. I knew from my personal journey that grief was more than just an emotional experience; it was a physical one. That’s when I sought certification as a Soma+IQ Breathwork Practitioner.
The process of becoming certified was as transformative as the practice itself. I learned how to guide others through breathwork sessions that bring the body into alignment with the mind, creating space for emotional release that feels safe and supported. The breath acts as a bridge, connecting us to parts of ourselves that words often can’t reach. It allows us to release the tension and pain that our bodies hold onto when we experience loss.
The breath as a tool for healing
Breathwork is about more than simply breathing deeply. It’s about creating an intentional practice where we use the breath to access stored emotions and trauma in the body. For someone moving through grief, this can be a powerful way to shift the stagnant energy that often accompanies loss. The breath becomes a tool for transformation, a way to free the body and, by extension, the mind.
In the somatic breathwork sessions I offer through Embrace The Darkness LLC, I guide individuals to go inward, allowing their breath to lead the way. For many, this brings a sense of relief that goes beyond the mental processing of grief. It taps into the physical body, encouraging transformation in ways that traditional talk therapy or support groups may not.
Moving beyond talk therapy: A holistic approach to grief
While therapy and support groups can be crucial tools for healing, they often focus on the mental and emotional aspects of grief, leaving the body’s experience unaddressed. That’s where somatic breathwork comes in. It complements these methods by addressing the ways in which grief manifests physically.
People I work with have gone to therapy, kept themselves busy, or even chosen to avoid their grief altogether. These are common and valid coping mechanisms, but they often leave something unresolved. Somatic breathwork provides another avenue, one that honors the body’s role in healing from grief. It doesn’t require verbalizing feelings or recounting painful memories — it simply requires the breath.
A new way forward
Whether you’re someone who has felt stuck in your grief, or you’re searching for a more holistic way to process your emotions, somatic breathwork can offer a new way forward. Through intentional breathing, we can begin to move the energy of grief out of the body, creating space for transformation, growth, and renewal.
For me, this practice has been an eye opener. It allowed me to truly connect with my grief in a way that words could not. Helping others discover the profound healing of somatic breathwork is the foundation of the work I do with Embrace The Darkness LLC.
Grief might be something that lasts until we die, but that does not mean it has to stay stuck, leaving us to feel there is nothing we can do about it. By bringing it into motion — by breathing through it — we can find freedom, not just emotionally, but physically. Somatic breathwork offers that transformation, giving our bodies permission to heal in ways we may not have thought possible.
Stephen Stott, LICSWA, MHP, is the Founder of Embrace The Darkness LLC and a certified Soma+IQ™ Breathwork Practitioner. Through his own experience of grief, loss, and trauma, he is offering somatic breathwork as a path to help the body release the grief and stress that gets stuck. Based in Tri-Cities, Washinton, Stephen brings his personal and professional experience to his work, helping others find transformation and renewal through the power of breath.
