This is a fall meditation on release,
Renewal,
And trust.
We begin by finding a comfortable position.
Allow your feet to rest gently on the floor.
And let your hands settle softly.
Allow your shoulders to relax.
Soften your jaws.
And gently close your eyes.
Take a slow,
Easy breath in.
And a gentle breath.
Let's breathe again.
Take in a slow breath.
Hold it for a moment.
And gently release it out.
Allow yourself to arrive here.
In this moment.
Allow yourself to leave the busyness of the day outside.
For these few moments.
You are simply being invited to rest.
To listen.
And to remember the quiet wisdom that surrounds you in nature.
Now imagine yourself standing beneath a beautiful tree.
The season is shifting.
We're moving into autumn.
Perhaps it is a tree that you have known for many years.
Its branches reach outwards and upwards.
And its leaves are beginning to change color.
Go.
Amber Grinsome.
And soft shades of brown.
The air is cool and fresh.
The light is gentle.
All around you,
The Earth is preparing for a new season.
Take a moment to imagine this tree.
Hold it in your mind's eye.
Notice its branches.
Notice the leaves that remain.
And perhaps you can picture a gentle breeze moving through them.
As this breeze moves through.
One by one,
The leaves begin to loosen their hold.
They flutter.
They turn.
They dance in the air.
And then gently they fall to the earth.
Notice how the tree allows this to happen.
It doesn't reach for those leaves,
Trying to save them,
To bring them back.
It doesn't struggle to hold on to what is leaving.
It doesn't mourn each leaf as it drifts away.
The tree simply participates in the rhythm of nature.
There is a time for growing.
A time for blooming.
A time for offering shade and shelter.
And a time for letting go.
The tree doesn't mistake this season of release for failure.
It doesn't believe that losing its leaves means death.
It has lost its beauty.
It doesn't question its worth.
When its branches become bare.
It simply allows the season to unfold.
And perhaps there is some wisdom here for us to consider.
How often do we hold on to things long after their season has passed?
Old disappointments.
Expectations that we have carried for years and years.
Roles that we have outgrown.
Worries about things we cannot change.
Words someone spoke long ago.
Versions of ourselves we believe we still could be.
Sometimes we hold on because we are afraid.
Sometimes because we feel responsible.
Sometimes we hold on because we believe that letting go means we didn't care anymore.
Or that releasing something means that we have failed.
But what if letting go isn't failure?
What if it is simply a part of living?
Bring your awareness back to the breath.
Gently breathing in.
Gently releasing out.
Bring your awareness to your heart.
Bring your hands to your heart.
Feel the warmth of your hand as it rests on the heart space.
Notice the steady presence of your breath.
And imagine that you are offering yourself the same patience.
You would offer the tree.
You don't have to force your next season to arrive.
You don't have to know exactly.
What will grow from this experience you are living right now.
You don't have to make every ending meaningful.
Before you're ready to release it.
You can simply begin.
By loosening your hold.
Simply let it go.
One thought.
One expectation.
One old story.
One burden you no longer need to carry in the same way.
And as you breathe out gently.
Imagine allowing a single leaf to fall.
Not with regret.
Not with judgment.
But with a little more trust.
Silently.
Whisper to your heart.
I honor the season I am in.
I give myself permission to release.
What no longer serves me.
I do not need to hold on to everything.
To honor.
What it once meant to me.
I trust that I can learn and grow from the seasons of my life.
I allow myself to rest,
To renew.
In order to begin again.
With your hands resting on the heart space.
Ask the heart.
What am I ready to release?
And how might letting it go create nourishment?
For the person I am becoming.
Namaste.
