The power of movement as a creative and expressive way to access deep-seated feelings is profound. Evidence for the effectiveness of movement therapy, although based on a relatively small number of studies, has demonstrated treatment effects that are comparable to other psychotherapies.

The statement, “the body says what words cannot,” is attributed to American modern dance pioneer Martha Graham. I expressed the sadness, anger, and even happiness bottlenecked inside of me.

When we lose someone special in our lives, we feel a range of emotions — sadness, loneliness, despair, emptiness, numbness, fear…the list goes on. The compounded effect of so many feelings in addition to navigating life without that special someone can be overwhelming to the point of feeling helpless. Instead of trying to deal with these emotions we look for ways to escape, numb the pain and fill the void with anything we can get our hands on. For some, it’s retail therapy — shopping until the emptiness in our heart is full, if only for a fleeting moment. For others it’s over-eating, sex, drugs, alcohol, or seeking other pleasures to alleviate the pain. The list of coping strategies goes on and on. But what I’ve found through my own personal grief journey is that movement has helped to not only move forward from my grief, but also personally grow and find even more purpose, love and gratitude for my life without those I love who have passed.

Whether we believe that we are capable of moving forward from tragedy or not, the mere act of exercising moves us. Our bodies physiologically change when we move and no matter how devastated, how paralyzed, or how hopeless our circumstances might feel, our biochemistry has shifted!

We know that exercise produces endorphins and endorphins make us happy. But research goes a step further to reveal how exercise specifically benefits victims of trauma, in this case someone special dying. Drawing from this body of evidence and my own personal loss, here’s a closer look at the reasons why moving helps us effectively cope with loss:

1) Grief manifests in our bodies:

*Berkeley professor Robert Levenson explains that organs, tissues, skin, muscle and endocrine glands all have peptide receptors on them and can access and store emotional information. This means that emotional memory is stored in many places in the body, not just or even primarily, in the brain.

2) Exercise creates a flow state:

When people are deep in grief, feeling the sadness, the loneliness, the hopelessness, it’s hard to recall what it’s like to feel happy or even normal again. The total focus on  something, anything else but grief, helps people feel happy. We can experience flow in a lot of ways. For some it’s cooking, or talking to a friend for hours on end, or hiking in nature, or for someone like me, it’s moving.

Flow gives us the glimmers of hope, that light, that temporary relief, and belief that our life really isn’t all that bad. It gets us moving! Yet, the existing doubt, lack of self confidence, and fear that’s still lingering , that’s the grief. All the feelings and thoughts driving those emotions needs to be confronted and felt to truly move forward from tragedy.

3) The act of moving helps us meet our grief:

When we workout, our bodies, mind and breath come together to fight off negative limiting beliefs and feelings of being stuck. This powerful combination helps us feel more in control, empowered and able to move through our pain.

So as much as exercise fosters a state of flow,  an escape to a certain degree, it also provides us with an opportunity to disrupt the negative thought process and really feel the emotions that are brewing just below the surface

4) Movement mimics life:

It’s the realization that there are no certainties in life and when you are truly faced with adversity you have no other choice but to adapt.

To me, fitness is practice for life’s greatest curve balls. These experiences that rattle our world, our notion of safety, comfort and what our life should look like. Movement is proof of our ability to overcome a challenge, so that we are ready when true adversity occurs.

Tragedy and Trauma. The events that shake us so much to the core that we feel completely broken and like our whole world has fallen apart. With these events comes a choice:

• to become a victim of the cards we are dealt
• to rebuild to a new normal
• to rebuild to something stronger.

Dr. Marilyn Mendoza writes: “Yoga helps us loosen the emotional and physical tightness in our bodies caused by grief. It is also a way to find peace and stability during a time when this is missing from our lives”

Moving our bodies gives our grief a place to decongest and loosen the knots that tighten   in our mourning.