Author Interviews
Sweta Vikram on ‘The Loss That Binds Us’
Grief and loss are inseparable from humanity. Sweta Srivastava Vikram’s new book The Loss That Binds Us: 108 Tips on Coping with Grief and Loss (Loving Healing Press, 2024) partakes in this journey with over a hundred short but helpful bits of insight into grief and how best to cope with it. – NewsBlaze
RTS had the pleasure to have a chat with Sweta Vikram about her experience of writing this book and its therapeutic value.
Was writing this book challenging in any way or was it a very easy task?
Grieving and healing are rarely linear. I would say that writing this book wasn’t one straight process. Given that I wrote The Loss That Binds Us because and after I lost my father suddenly … the impetus wasn’t joy. That said, it wasn’t sadness alone. Depending on the day and the section of the book, I would say different emotions emerged.
Journaling one’s journey through grief is known to be therapeutic. Tell us a little about your own grief journaling.
I recommend journaling to my clients, but I don’t journal. I write an article, essay, blog post, or book that can be shared with the world. It’s essentially writing but not just for my eyes.
You also practice and teach yoga and meditation. Do you have any tip for people who live with any kind of physical disability to benefit from these practices?
There are different yoga asanas, breath work practices, and types of meditation. Ayurveda teaches us to make recommendations based on a person’s physical and mental wellbeing, age, strength, health conditions, seasons, geographic location, and much more. There is no cookie-cutter approach—meaning, I can recommend a specific practice only when I know more details about a person’s disability and their current condition.
One of your tips in the book, number 91 to be precise, mentions the importance of belief in mystical. Tell our readers briefly about this spiritual side in relation to coping with grief.
Grief is complicated and your world feels shattered when you lose a loved one. It’s natural to want to connect and communicate with those who have moved on. But many people are embarrassed to talk about any strange phenomenon and mystical experiences. Spirituality helps us engage with certain questions and fills those gaps and holes in the foundation of our lives.
Do you have any plans to publish this book in Hindi or any other language for non-English audiences?
I haven’t thought about it quite honestly. But thank you for shaking and stirring the idea.
Thank you Sweta for sharing your thoughts on this important topic.
Thank you for this conversation.