Letting Go With Spacious Awareness

This guided meditation is here to offer a steady pause in the middle of a season that can feel like a lot. As we navigate this time of year, we’ll slow down together, breathe, and tend to the nervous system so it doesn’t have to work quite so hard. This practice invites you back into your body, back into presence, back into that soft place in your heart that remembers what matters.

Find a comfortable position, let your shoulders drop, and allow yourself to arrive at your own pace.

Transcript

So,

Let's drop in and practice together,

But just really wanting to set that intention that let's let this be a time of coming inward,

Of nourishing deeply,

Of tending to what's being let go of,

What has been let go of or lost this year.

And also tending to anything that hasn't let go yet that might serve our deepest well-being to let go of.

There's this really sweet kind of animist Waldorf myth that they put around even when the trees as it gets colder and Jack Frost comes to visit,

The tree leaves keep putting on their warmer and warmer jackets,

So they go from their yellow jacket to their orange jacket.

And when it gets really cold,

They put on their red jacket.

And when it's extra cold,

The roots start to say to the leaves,

I'm so chilly,

Would you please,

You know,

The roots are the most important,

Can we please give all your jackets to protect the roots?

And so all the leaves come down and they spread their warmest jacket all over the roots of the tree,

Knowing that that's what's going to nourish the tree for the rest of the year to come and into the future.

And I think that's so beautiful for so many reasons,

But it's a beautiful metaphor for just that idea of like,

Oh yeah,

What I let go of nourishes my deepest core.

What I'm willing to let fall away or what I'm willing to offer to my deepest well-being in service of my deepest well-being nourishes me at such a foundational level that will carry me the rest of my life.

So letting go is hard.

It's hard for a lot of us in a lot of ways for various reasons,

But it's really beautiful just that idea that like,

Oh yeah,

Whatever I let go of could possibly be nourishing my entire future and what's yet to come and creating space for the new,

But also nourishing my tender parts,

Nourishing the vulnerability that I feel into a new space where I can have more relaxation and space.

So dropping into your grounding cord,

Coming into your breath and in your body,

Giving yourself space and time to just be here right now in this container that we create together,

This precious opportunity to be with others in a shared space of a commitment to presence,

To authenticity,

To tending our inner light,

Inner journey,

And to opening up to support,

Support to heal,

Support to relate to our shadow,

Support to hold and shine our light.

So I call on each of your guides,

Your protectors,

Whatever light and grace and support feels genuine and true for you,

And to really let that come here and surround and support you as you ground and soften and open in this moment,

Letting your roots start to drop deeply.

Our lives have so much momentum and can often feel like we have so much we would need to do in order to counteract that momentum or change,

And it's actually very powerful to just notice that just stopping even for a few moments like we are right now is incredibly powerful,

And that every time you do that,

You're creating a new pattern or the potential for a new pattern to take root by doing something new and different,

By changing how you relate to this moment can change your whole life over time,

Breath by breath.

So coming into awareness of your breath,

Moving in your body,

And starting to let your awareness drop down into your pelvic floor and into your dantian,

That space in the lower belly,

Holds your potential,

And is a deep,

Grounded repository for a lot of your life force in your body.

Feeling your belly,

Your low belly,

Expand on the inhale and soften and ground on the exhale.

And from your root,

Your lower belly,

Your pelvic floor,

Starting to really let your grounding cord drop deeply into the earth,

Down,

Down,

Down,

Into the heart,

Womb,

Space of mother earth,

Into that life force and warmth that is there,

Deep down,

And begin to breathe up from that rooted place into your body.

We're in our body,

We're breathing in our body,

But we're also aware of our awareness deep within the core of the earth,

Rising up into you,

Nourishing you through your roots.

Breathing up from the core of the earth,

Up into your pelvic bowl,

Into the base of your spine.

And we're going to start to let that warmth and vital nourishing energy from the core of the earth,

From your deepest roots,

Rise up into your heart space.

So the heart,

Womb,

Space of mother earth is starting to magnetize and nourish in the heart space of your own human body.

And that warmth is starting to melt tension or holding that might be present in the center of your chest.

When we talk about energetic hygiene,

Which I often discuss,

Different ways to support,

Protect,

Enliven,

And tend your empathic nature,

Your tender self,

Your sensitivity.

We can talk about it in different ways.

We often talk about it as a form of protection,

Right?

Like putting a sphere of grace around you,

Getting clear on what's yours and not yours,

Letting go what doesn't belong to you or serve you.

And those aspects of energetic hygiene are incredibly helpful and very important.

And your holiday encounters might include some of that,

Having a healthy boundary or not taking on what's being projected onto you or,

You know,

On and on and on.

Those are all skills.

There's a whole other deep layer of energetic hygiene that I'm going to point to today,

Which is to actually fill yourself up to the brim with your own well-being,

Your own clarity,

Your healthy yes and healthy no,

And to just create a really strong foundation and deep roots to your own enlivened connection with your higher self,

With your healthy sense of self,

And the truth that you're enough already.

And that's what we're going to emphasize today.

So we're looking at what we're letting go of and what's releasing during this time of the fall.

We're also practicing deeply nourishing our system so that we can keep our heart open from a place of resilience,

Empowerment,

And clarity.

And we do that by receiving the totality of our own life force and presence into the core of our heart and into all the layers of our nervous system.

So letting the earth nourish you,

Letting the space start to soften and open up as you breathe into the heart.

Let that expand and illuminate.

It's not effortful.

It's just this natural softening,

Opening,

Receiving,

And expanding breath by breath.

On the inhale,

Receiving that warmth and nourishment into the heart space,

Letting it grow,

Expand,

Open.

On the exhale,

Just offering the willingness to let go of anything that doesn't feel true right now,

Anything that isn't true right now.

Really what we're cultivating is actually a form of profound freedom.

By breathing and expanding into the heart,

Which is the seat of our spirit and our body,

We're making more room for your true self to live through and guide your life.

And your relationships.

My teacher Ajashanti has this quote.

I might have read it to you before.

Until the whole world is free to agree with you or disagree with you,

Until you have given the freedom to everyone to like you or not like you,

To love you or hate you,

To see things differently or to see things as you see them,

Until you have given the whole world its freedom.

You'll never have your freedom.

So we're filling ourselves up with just our own sacred value,

Our wholeness,

And the freedom to be yourself,

No matter what's going on around you.

And to let fall away anything that's not true or doesn't serve who and how you are right now.

And your ability to be a loving presence in this world.

And as we open,

We let go,

We keep releasing and softening.

Also filling up with this vital nutrient of love and warmth and vitality from the earth.

There's more empowerment and light on the inside.

Which makes room for both our resilience and the capacity to feel this bittersweet tenderness of being alive and being in relationship.

I'm going to read you a poem by Jeff Foster.

And as I read it,

I invite you to just stay in this heart space and just keep letting your heart open and let go.

You will lose everything,

Your money,

Your power,

Your fame,

Your success,

Perhaps even your memory.

Your looks will go.

Loved ones will die.

Your own body will eventually fall apart.

Everything that seems permanent is absolutely impermanent and will be dissolved.

Experience will gradually or not so gradually strip away everything that it can strip away.

Waking up means facing this reality with open eyes and an open heart and not turning away.

Right now,

You are standing on sacred and holy ground.

For that which will be lost has not yet been lost.

And realizing that is the key to unspeakable joy.

Whoever and whatever is in your life right now has not yet been taken away from you.

This may sound obvious,

But really knowing it is the key to everything.

The why and how and wherefore of existence.

Impermanence has already rendered everything and everyone around you so deeply holy and significant and worthy of your heartbreaking gratitude.

Loss has already transfigured your life into an altar.

That poem inspires so much love in me.

I'm just reminding the preciousness of it all.

Reminding me of the bittersweet impermanent flow of what it means to love and to let go continuously.

As you tend to what's letting go,

Falling away,

Just let the light of your heart keep filling in all those spaces with more love,

More presence.

Whatever you let go of this year or in this moment,

Let it compost down so that it actually nourishes your roots.

If your mind starts to get busy,

Most likely you've disconnected from the sensation of your practice,

Of your body,

Your breath,

And this experience of receiving nourishment as your heart opens.

So you can return to any of those to help come back to your practice of presence and opening.

Everything that seems permanent is absolutely impermanent and will dissolve and will fall away.

You can stand in this sacred and holy moment remembering that that which will be lost has not yet been lost and realizing that is the key to unspeakable joy.

Impermanence has already rendered everything and everyone around you so deeply holy and significant and worthy of your heartbreaking gratitude.

Loss has already transfigured your life into an altar.

So this pointer that whatever you let go of,

Like the leaves and the trees,

End up composting your deepest vitality and nourishing your roots,

Compost and actually vitalize your future.

And this idea that whatever you become aware of that is impermanent and changing just opens you up to more love,

Gratitude,

And the preciousness of it all.

And if we stay in that knowing,

In that truth,

There's so much room to receive the blessing of the beauty and the love and to honor and open to the willingness to grieve and let go.

It's all part of this life.

There's nothing wrong with any of it.

And you can't control any of it,

Try as we might.

But we can allow this whole experience to bless us to tenderize us and to nourish our journey step by step.

If you can open your roots and open your heart to even more nourishment and enlivening arising up into you from the core of the earth.

It also wants to come down through your crown that's also very beautiful.

Coming into the heart.

From your breathing open heart,

Of course,

Just stay and abide in that space if that's where you are and offer a couple of questions to drop into this space if it resonates with you.

You can ask this breathing space of your heart,

It's opening more and more.

Is there anything it's time to let go of that would serve my life journey going forward?

There any leaves that I can let fall away that would be best composted to nourish my roots?

And whatever it showed you,

You can ask for help or clarity about how to do that or what your next steps are.

And if you're not shown,

Or you don't know how,

I'll just offer a prayer that can be really helpful.

More and more every day,

I am willing to let go of this pattern,

This person or this belief that no longer serves my journey.

May I receive the clarity and support necessary to complete this.

The prayer of more and more every day is incredibly helpful as a way to allow yourself to be exactly where you are right now,

Which will also open into the potential for change.

Whatever parts of you are willing or ready to let go,

Just allow yourself to have that,

Allow whatever what you are shown to release,

To drift down,

To compost away.

And the other question,

If you feel inspired to drop into this space of your heart,

Is where do I need to tend to the preciousness of what I love and what's here for me to love?

What's here in my life that's not gone yet,

That hasn't fallen away yet,

That's mine to love and to care for?

Just bring your whole heart to that.

Let it show you.

Not as a should,

But as a gratitude and an opening of just bittersweet,

Tender love and appreciation for what's here.

So we're giving ourselves freedom.

Freedom to love what we love,

To tend to what's so important and precious.

Freedom to let go of what's not in alignment and what doesn't serve.

Freedom to follow what our heart shows us is true.

Freedom to enjoy and savor this life,

Even in the midst of impermanence and loss.

In our last few moments of practice,

Really,

If you can,

Just really open and celebrate that your heart showed you some things to let go of,

To treasure,

To tend.

And perhaps just celebrate that you took this time to drop deep inside and let yourself be rooted and loved.

And as you head into your holiday time,

Whatever that entails or doesn't entail,

Because we often feel overwhelmed or grief about either,

Just feeling that deep-rooted self-connection and resource.

You can drop your roots deep and open your heart,

Whether you're navigating tricky relationships or tricky memories,

Challenging dynamics,

Or unwanted aloneness.

Whatever's here,

These deep roots,

This nourishment,

And this breathing heart are the resilience that can carry you through anything,

And this vessel that holds your goodness and well-being no matter what.

Taking your time,

Staying connected to your breathing heart as you open your eyes and come into our shared space.

Reviews

Thank you so much. So much to let go. So much still here to tend to. Precious moments tapping into the center of the earth and receiving from the heavens above. Namaste 🙏