Let Go Of Holding It All Together

Sometimes the thing you’re holding isn’t obvious until you notice how much space it has been taking up inside you. It might be a conversation you keep replaying, a person you’re still thinking about, an expectation, a disappointment, a pressure, or something unfinished that seems to travel with you wherever you go.
This gentle practice uses the breath to help you become more aware of the effort involved in holding on, and then begin to experience what it feels like to loosen your grip. Rather than forcing yourself to “just let go,” you’ll give your body a felt experience of releasing, softening and creating a little more space around whatever you’ve been carrying.
You don’t have to stop caring, solve the problem or put it down forever. You’re simply practising the possibility that you may not need to hold it quite so tightly.

Transcript

Hello and welcome to this letting go practice that I would love to share with you. I'm Gabriella Dimori. I'm a clinically registered counsellor and the founder of Gabriella Dimori & Co Counselling, A group private practice here in Perth, Australia. I'm a very passionate meditation teacher and today I'd love to share with you a simple but effective practice to help you to let go. So whatever you want to let go of, Just start to bring that into your awareness now, And I'll guide you through a short practice that will be really powerful. So think of something that you would like to let go of. This can be physical stress, This can be people-pleasing tendencies, This can be worrying about what other people think. This can be a letting go of being a high achiever or setting goals that cause you stress. It can be past love or grief or something or someone you no longer want to bring into your life. The issue you choose to work with can be longstanding or something simply of today that you're ruminating or focusing on that you want to let go of. So hold that in your awareness of what you want to let go of. And then we're going to use our simple breaths. Breathe in and let us feel the weight of holding on to this pressure or this stress. Pause for a moment and then we're going to let go with our exhalation. And practice letting go of this pressure or stress. And then you're going to have this physical experience of letting go. And so often letting go feels unfamiliar. So by using our inhalation to hold the pressure at first, We're going to notice the impact and the effort that it takes to hold on. And then when we let go, It's going to be more obvious in your system what letting go feels like. Whereas if you start from a neutral place, Letting go doesn't seem that impactful or possible. Okay, So call to mind the aspect that you want to let go of. And as we breathe in, What I want you to do is breathe in that problem or stress as much as possible. So take a nice big inhalation with me in through the nose. Let your chest and shoulders become full. Hold this stress or pressure that you know you've been holding onto as much as you can. Pause gently here. And then prepare to let it go with a nice long even exhalation. Okay, So breathe out through the nose or the mouth. Let the shoulders drop, Let the chest drop, Let the ribs come in and really empty that belly. Let go, Breathe out as much as you can. Really exhale completely. Often people get caught up there and they don't exhale completely. When you do that properly it's going to enable you to take a nice big inhalation on the next breath in. So let's do that together. Breathing in the problem or stress that you want to let go of again through the nose Feel the belly first, Ribs, Chest, Shoulders, Full breath. Notice and pause, Notice the stress of holding onto this, And then let's let it go. I let go of this tension or stress. Let the body become free and move. Let the muscles on the face relax. Okay. Breathing in, I hold onto my stress. Breathing out, I let go of my stress and physically let go. Let's practice this together. I breathe in, I hold on to my stress. I let go of my stress. Notice the sensation of letting go, Starting to feel more relaxed already. Breathing in, I breathe in and hold on to my stress. I let go of my stress. And what you might like to do as you continue to do this practice is imagine breathing in a color or a pressure or an image of that stress or that part of you you're holding on to. And as you breathe out, Imagine that visual or that sound or that word or that physical tension come out of the body, Come out of the nose or the mouth, Or come out from down beneath your feet, Letting go, Letting it move on and dissipate into the air. Let's continue to practice. Breathing in, I hold onto my stress. Hold that image. Notice the pressure, The impact, The tension, The effort it takes to hold on. Breathing out, I let go of my stress. Three more rounds with me. I hold on to my stress. I let go of my stress and start to enjoy it. Enjoy letting go. Continue to breathe freely and fully. Let it go. Body become more easeful in its movement, Relax the muscles on the face, Create more space in the body. A few more rounds. I hold on to my stress. Letting go, I let go of my stress. Again, Notice how you feel continuing to hold on to the stress as we continue to breathe in. I hold on to my stress. I like all of my stress. Just practice this two more times in your own time, Saying to yourself, As you breathe in, I hold on to my stress. As you breathe out fully, I let go of my stress. I hold on to my stress. I let go of my stress. Now stay here for as long as you can and just focus on your exhalation. Let the breath settle into a more natural rhythm. Just focus as you breathe out. I let go of my stress. I let go of this pressure I put on myself or others. I let go of this hope or dream. Or expectation. I let go of my need to. I let go of what no longer serves me. I let go. To let go Thank you for practicing with me today. It's been my pleasure to share this with you. I hope that you can stay here for a little bit longer and practice this every day if you can for the next few weeks. Continue to let go and create more space in your mind, Heart and body for that which serves you. It's been my pleasure. I'm Gabriella Demore and we are here to support you in a variety of ways. Be well and have a beautiful free day.