We’re looking forward to introducing you to Nancy Watson. Check out our conversation below.
Nancy, we’re thrilled to have you with us today. Before we jump into your intro and the heart of the interview, let’s start with a bit of an ice breaker: What do you think others are secretly struggling with—but never say?
Everyone is struggling with some form of grief. Whether that grief is due to the death of a loved one (human or pet), an estrangement, a job loss, a divorce or other breakup, or the events of our country and world – there is no shortage of things to grieve. And many people are dealing with multiple, complex, and difficult losses. In our grief-illiterate world, nobody talks about loss, or the way a significant loss can impact a body, mind, or spirit. Because our society seems to have this secret pact of not discussing grief-related topics, we’re all left in the dark as to how best to talk about our grief.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
I am a yoga teacher, and my “specialty” is Yoga for Grief. If you’re reading this and thinking to yourself, “I’ve never heard of yoga for grief” – it’s because you’ve never heard of yoga for grief! I’m currently the only person in the North Texas region who is actively facilitating yoga classes specifically geared to grieving individuals.
I came to this work after a significant loss of my own in 2019. I had been a practicing yoga student since the year 2000, and after my adult child died suddenly, continuing to come to my yoga mat was the only thing I did that made me feel just a tiny bit less awful. I remember thinking that if “regular” yoga helped me so much, maybe classes that were specifically geared to grievers would help me even more. But I couldn’t find anyone who was doing that. So when I went through Yoga Teacher Training in 2022, I began to think about what those classes might look like. I completed additional training in Compassionate Bereavement Care Yoga at the MISS Foundation and started offering my own version of Yoga for Grief in January 2024.
Amazing, so let’s take a moment to go back in time. What did you believe about yourself as a child that you no longer believe?
That if I were just really, really good, I could control outcomes and keep bad things from happening. I’m continuing to unlearn this mindset. Yoga helps a lot here.
What have been the defining wounds of your life—and how have you healed them?
My father died when I was 6 years old, and we pretty much never talked about him again. Three grandparents died within six months of each other when I was a freshman in high school, and again, they just never again came up in casual conversation.
So when my kid died, my long-ingrained habit was to not mention it – but if that model had ever worked for other people, it no longer worked for me at all. It took me a few years, but I am now much more comfortable talking about this most recent loss. Leading my Yoga for Grief classes has provided me with the unexpected benefit of the opportunity to talk about my losses and to model for other people what it might look like to say the sometimes uncomfortable truth out loud.
So a lot of these questions go deep, but if you are open to it, we’ve got a few more questions that we’d love to get your take on. What’s a belief you used to hold tightly but now think was naive or wrong?
That “everything happens for a reason.” This sentiment now strikes me as hopelessly naive, and I’m embarrassed at the times I might have said it to someone, hoping to make them feel better. I now believe that things happen, period. If there is some ultimate reason for the randomness of life, I’m not sure we’ll ever know on this side of the veil what those reasons are.
Before we go, we’d love to hear your thoughts on some longer-run, legacy type questions. What is the story you hope people tell about you when you’re gone?
I hope to be remembered as someone who inspired and helped others, and made them laugh. I want people to say that they felt good when they were around me, and that maybe I made them think. I want to be missed.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://yogaforgriefdallas@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/yogaforgriefdallas
- Facebook: https://facebook.com/yoga.for.grief.dallas
