The body remembers: grieving and a circle of time.

Using a phenomenological perspective, the author explored the experience of body memory following a significant loss. Ten women who had experienced the loss of a special loved one participated. Uncovered in this research were the hidden processes involved in grief work, which were cyclical and nonrational. Body memory experienced by each participant was unique in its expression, the common pattern being that it was relived as it was originally lived. This study brings to light processes of grieving that have been hidden and have remained silent in response to a social world that has been unwilling to accept a grieving process that extends out of the boundaries of the expected norm.