A significant part of the human experience is loss. Inevitably, every individual will have lost someone or something of value to death, disaster, displacement, or fallout. We grieve the tangible and the intangible: a person, a place, a possession, a relationship, an identity, a future.
Healing is widely recognized as a gradual, nonlinear journey because the impact of grief extends far beyond our psychological well-being, significantly affecting our physical health, finances, and social relationships. Yet, despite the long-term impact of grief, bereavement leave in the United States is typically limited to 3 to 5 business days. This societal expectation to rapidly return to “normalcy” after experiencing a devastating tragedy is exclusionary in practice. It fundamentally fails to account for the profoundly all-encompassing reality of grief.
It glosses over how grief is stored in the body. According to Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), it is stored in the lungs specifically.¹ When left unresolved, it can weaken immunity and cause chronic coughing in addition to other psychosomatic symptoms.² It can lead to stress, anxiety, or depression that manifests into physical pain. Western medicine of the 21st century has begun to echo Eastern medicine stemming from the 11th century. Recent neuroimaging studies suggest trauma can physically reshape brain function and memory, leading to long-term conditions such as Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).³ Given the way grief impacts both our mental and physical capacity, holistic practices such as acupuncture, yoga, and tai chi are increasingly recommended alongside traditional therapy and counseling.
The growing acceptance of these practices highlights a fundamental difference in medical philosophies: while western medicine heavily revolves around reactive care, eastern medicine focuses on preventive care. These differing approaches highlight a much broader divergence in how societies view mortality. When English-speaking communities navigate loss, how much of their suffering may be attributed to their worldview? In American culture, death is inextricably tied to grief. However, in other cultures, death is not only embraced but also celebrated with humor and vibrance. Mexico celebrates Dia de Los Muertos⁴; Japan celebrates the Obon Festival; South Korea celebrates Chuseok. By embracing death rather than resisting it in their culture, these communities may be more equipped to alleviate some of the physical and psychological toll that grief takes on the body.
¹ The Role of Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine in Navigating Grief² Matos LC, Machado JP, Monteiro FJ, Greten HJ. Understanding Traditional Chinese Medicine Therapeutics: An Overview of the Basics and Clinical Applications. Healthcare (Basel). 2021 Mar 1;9(3):257. doi: 10.3390/healthcare9030257. PMID: 33804485; PMCID: PMC8000828. ³ The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma by Bessel van der Kolk
⁴ Gutiérrez IT, Menendez D, Jiang MJ, Hernandez IG, Miller P, Rosengren KS. Embracing Death: Mexican Parent and Child Perspectives on Death. Child Dev. 2020 Mar;91(2):e491-e511. doi: 10.1111/cdev.13263. Epub 2019 May 29. PMID: 31140591; PMCID: PMC6883122.