Hi friend.
I want you to take a slow deep breath in for me.
Find a place where your body can actually rest.
Grab your favorite blanket,
Sweatshirt,
Plushie,
And allow yourself to just be.
Let your shoulders fall,
Unclench your jaw,
And let your breath soften without the need to perform.
Take a slow inhale,
And as you exhale,
Release the load because you are so tired of being the strong one.
Now imagine a door,
Old,
Wooden,
Slightly cracked.
A door you stood in front of a thousand times.
Each time you tried to cry,
Or you almost did,
But didn't.
This meditation is you opening that door,
Not breaking it down,
Not forcing anything.
Just letting the hinges remember how to move,
How to unlock,
And how to release.
Take a moment now,
Look at this door,
Watch as it opens slightly and step through it.
You enter a dim,
Quiet room.
The air is thick in a way that it gets right before a storm.
This is the room where every almost cry you've ever had lives.
The swallowbacks,
The that's not productive,
The it's fine,
I'm fine,
The I'll deal with this later,
That never actually became later.
So look around.
You see so many jars on the shelves,
Each one holding a tear that you never let fall.
Labeled with old survival strategies like be good,
Be calm,
Be strong,
Don't burden,
Stay logical,
Stay steady,
And stay small.
You've survived with these and honor that.
But you're not here to live in these jars anymore.
You are here to release them.
Place your hand over your chest now and breathe.
Slowly allowing your belly to expand.
Like you're telling your body that you're allowed to be human now.
With every inhale,
Imagine a warmth gathering behind your ribs.
And with every exhale,
Imagine the tiniest crack forming.
The crack where a tear could escape without permission.
Now,
Here's the important part.
You may notice your mind trying to help.
It might offer explanations,
Reframes,
Reassurances,
Distractions,
Maybe even an entire TED Talk.
And when that happens,
Whisper to your mind,
Thank you.
Thank you for trying to protect me,
But right now,
We're letting my body speak.
Your thoughts are not the villain.
They're just the bouncer at the club whose only job has ever been to keep the soft parts of you from getting hurt.
So thank the bouncer,
Then step past them.
Take another deep breath in and exhale through your mouth,
Letting out a sigh.
And on your next breath,
Breathe into the center of your chest again,
Noticing the ache,
The tightness,
Maybe the lump in your throat,
The heaviness behind the eyes,
Or even the numbness that feels like nothing at all.
All of this is valid.
And say softly inside your mind,
Body,
If you need to cry,
I'm listening.
Feel the invitation.
Feel the invitation open like a broken window letting in rain.
You don't force it.
You allow it.
You make space for it like you would make space for a shy kid who wants to tell you a story but is nervous to speak.
You create the safety,
The permission,
Free of shame,
Judgment,
And story.
So if a tear rises,
Don't analyze it.
Don't ask why.
Don't decide if it even makes sense.
Just let it fall like it's been waiting its entire life to be unburied,
Discovered,
And released.
And if nothing comes up,
That's okay.
You're warming the room.
You're waking the storm.
You're safe here.
So create the safety,
The space,
And the release will come with time.
Now imagine this.
A tear shows up.
A real one.
A wobble in your breath.
A crack in your voice.
This is the moment you usually shut it off.
The moment your mind jumps in and says,
No,
No,
No,
No.
We don't need to do that.
We rationalize it.
We rise above it.
We cope neatly.
But not today.
Today,
When the urge comes,
We don't stop it.
You pause.
You breathe.
And you say,
I am not abandoning myself this time.
Let the tear continue.
Let the breath shake.
Let your shoulders and hands tremble.
And let the storm have a moment to be the storm.
Crying is not a malfunction.
It's a therapeutic release.
A biological completion cycle.
A pressure valve.
A reset switch.
Your nervous system rainstorm of release.
And you,
My friend,
Are letting your weather happen here free of shame and self-hate.
Now imagine yourself sitting on the floor of this haunted little room.
Back against a bookshelf.
Head bowed.
Allowing whatever wants to rise to rise.
There's no story attached here.
No meaning required.
No lesson demanded.
Just sensation.
Just sound.
Just saltwater in the air.
Just release.
If tears fall,
Let them.
If your face scrunches,
Let it.
If your body shakes,
Let it.
If your breath stutters,
Let it.
Let your system run its beautiful,
Ancient script.
The script written long before language ever existed.
The script.
This needs to be released from my body.
Stay with it.
Don't run.
Let the cry crest.
Let the waves break.
And let the tear run all the way down.
Instead of stopping it at your cheekbone of shame.
And when your body finally begins to settle,
Do not rush it.
Let the storm finish its sentence.
Let the cry complete.
The way thunder completes lightning.
When the crying slows.
When the breath begins to deepen.
And when the trembling softens.
Just notice the air around you.
It feels different.
Cleaner.
Cooler even.
Like the pressure has finally dropped.
Look at the sky again.
Some jars broken.
Emptied.
Released.
Some remain.
But you'll get to them when your body is ready.
But right now,
You feel lighter,
Steadier,
More honest with yourself and your body.
This is emotional completion.
This is a nervous system relief and release.
This is what happens when you stop thinking your feelings and start feeling them.
Whisper to yourself now,
I survived the storm inside me.
And then say,
I am proud of me.
Inhale now.
Feeling the lungs like a newly cleared field after a storm.
Exhale,
Releasing the last bits of pressure.
Place your hand on your chest.
Another on your belly.
And say,
My tears are not weaknesses.
They're weather and I'm allowed to release my rain.
Again,
My tears are not my weaknesses.
They're weather and I am allowed to release my rain.
Another deep breath in.
And when you're ready,
Only when you are ready,
Open your eyes slowly.
Softly.
As if returning from a haunted house that weathered the storm of release.
Remember that logical keys can't unlock emotional doors.
So revisit this meditation anytime you find yourself over intellectualizing,
Overthinking,
Stopping yourself and preventing yourself from crying and releasing.
When you feel that build inside your body,
Just come back.
Create that safety and that space.
And release and let go.
Complete.
The cycle.
Because if we do not allow it to come up,
They cannot go.
Walk away from this meditation lighter,
If not better,
At least lighter.
And as always,
Stay steeped in love and gratitude.