Letting Go

In this exercise you learn how to release tensions you might feel in your body due to a stress response and/or old emotions that are still present in your body. The practice will support you to feel better over time. If the practice brings up too many emotions, take good care of yourself and practice self-gentleness. If overwhelming emotions remain overwhelming for a longer period, then reach out to good friends or even professionals.

Transcript

Hello dear friend,

This is Femke.

This is an exercise to help you to let go of the tensions in your body that sometimes accompany emotions.

Make sure that you're sitting as comfortable as you can,

And if it's more easy for you to lie down then,

Just do that.

When you're comfortable,

Then gently close your eyes and bring your attention for a moment to your breath.

Your breath flowing into your nostrils and flowing out of your nostrils.

In and out through your nostrils.

All your attention on the breath flowing in and flowing out.

You don't have to change your breath,

Let it be natural,

Let it be normal.

Just bring your attention and observe the air flowing in through your nostrils and flowing out of your nostrils.

In and out.

Continue to do this for a minute or so.

Just follow your breath flowing in and out in your own natural rhythm.

You don't have to change anything.

Just observe your breath.

All now.

Skim your body and try to feel where the tension is.

When we get a stress response in our body,

It very often has to do with either something that happened in our past that we are remembering,

Sometimes very consciously and sometimes not so consciously.

Or it is a stress response because we are worrying about our near future,

Thinking about something that might happen,

Thinking of a problem we would like to solve.

And sometimes we simply have a stress response because something is going on right now.

And even so,

If that is the case,

Then the stress response that is triggered can very often have something to do with our past or our future.

By bringing our attention to the here and now,

Like you were just doing,

By observing your breath flowing in and out,

We are generally able to release some of that tension.

If you meditate like that for a few moments longer,

You will feel how that stress will decrease.

But sometimes that response remains,

Especially when we are experiencing emotions,

Sometimes even strong emotions.

And these correspond with a specific tension in our body.

Very common places for people to feel this is your stomach,

Your belly,

The area of your heart or your throat.

Now feel for a moment where do you feel the tension in your body most strongly right now.

It might be that you feel it in all these places and maybe even other places.

If that is the case,

Then just distinguish that place where you feel it most strongly.

All right,

Now bring your attention to that spot of your body.

It is like your attention is a laser beam that you now shine upon that spot.

And you might notice that thoughts are bubbling up around that feeling.

The feeling might remind you of something that once happened and that makes you afraid of the same or something similar is going on right now.

If you notice those thoughts bubbling up,

Then just know that this is your brain that wants to help you,

Your brain that wants to protect you.

And that is okay.

You can say to yourself,

Thank you brain,

But I've got this.

I'm just focusing all my attention on this spot.

It's okay.

I don't have to worry.

I don't have to chew on old memories.

I can just be with this spot right here,

Right now.

And if you find it hard to do,

Then remember how you were just observing your breath just flowing in and out.

And that there is this calm sense of attention that can rest on your breath,

That can also rest on the tension in that spot of your body.

All your attention to that spot.

And yes,

You might feel it even stronger right now,

But that is okay.

If it's overwhelming,

If it's overwhelming,

Then just stop and open your eyes and see,

Take a look around and see that you're safe.

But if you can stick with it,

If you can accept that your body is just telling you something feels off and whether or not your body is right to give this response,

That's not so important.

The most important part is now that you are accepting that feeling in your body.

Let's help your body to release this tension for a moment.

If you bring your hand in front of that spot of your body and you make a fist,

A really strong,

Hard fist,

You can really clench your hand into a really strong fist.

You can squeeze your fingers into the palm of your hand.

Keep that fist in front of that spot and just squeeze,

Squeeze that fist,

Feel how much tension there is.

Take a look at your fist for a moment and see how strong it is.

And now imagine that all the tension that you're feeling in that spot in your body starts to flow into that fist.

It is as if all the tension flows from your body into that fist.

And if you like to give it a color to visualize that flow,

Then do so.

If it helps you to see it leave your body as some kind of smoke or fog,

Also perfectly fine.

Just use your own imagination,

Your own fantasy to imagine that all the tension from that spot in your body that was generated by a stress response is now flowing out of your body and into that fist.

Feel how that fist is clenching,

Feel how that fist is filling itself up with the tension from your body.

Together with that,

All the emotions,

All the feelings,

All the pain,

All the sorrow that belongs to it now goes into your fist.

And when you feel that the squeezing of your fist starts to be really,

Really heavy,

You cannot hold it anymore,

Then we know that your fist is ready to release.

Now don't open it yet.

I want you to stick your hand out in front of you and take a look at this fist.

This fist fills with all these old tensions,

All these worries,

And just know that when you are going to open your fist in a minute,

It will release.

All right,

Are you ready?

Now just open your fist.

Ah,

Can you feel the release?

Can you feel how good it feels to open your hand,

To feel that all the tension from your fist is now released?

And your hand is open and soft,

Your palm up to the sky.

And with this release,

You just released a lot of tension from your body,

Because when you bring your attention back now to that spot,

It feels a little bit better.

There might still be some tension,

That's okay.

This tension was built up over the days and probably years,

So you cannot expect it to just go like that.

Most importantly,

Do you feel a sense of relief?

Let's do this one more time,

Maybe in the same spot,

Maybe you now feel a different spot in your body that needs some attention.

Just bring your hand there and make that fist.

Squeeze that fist as hard as you can and use your fantasy to see all the tension from your body and everything that is connected with the tension flow into that fist.

Keep on squeezing your hand and just imagine how this tension is uploading into that fist,

Ready to be released,

Ready to relieve you from all those feelings and emotions.

Now when you feel the fist is really,

Really filled,

Really,

Really hard,

And again,

Put it in front of you,

Take a conscious look.

This is how a fist full of tension looks like.

And then open it.

Feel the release,

Feel the relief,

And take a look at your hand.

It's open,

It's soft,

It's welcoming,

It's gentle.

Well done,

Really well done.

If at this moment you feel overwhelmed or maybe you even feel that you need to cry,

That's okay.

Be kind to yourself,

Be gentle with yourself.

If you have now emotions flowing out of you,

That's okay.

They're coming here to be released.

You can hug yourself,

You can caress yourself,

You can also open your eyes and take a look around and see that you're just in your own house sitting here.

It's okay.

And if you notice that too many things are released now and you need to reach out and touch them,

Call a friend,

Call someone you trust and share what you are feeling right now.

And if you notice that the feelings are still there,

Then do the exercise again.

See how much you can release.

And most importantly,

Remain self-gentle.

Be gentle with yourself.

Be gentle with yourself.

It's not an easy job that you're doing,

Releasing this tension from your body.

And if at any point in time you feel it's too hard for you,

Then consider finding some professional help to help you with that.

When we start to commit to practices like this,

To release whatever's going on in our body,

Whatever our body is still remembering,

Sometimes we hit upon layers that need some help to be released.

And there is no shame in that.

This exercise can support you.

But never be shy to ask for help,

Especially if you feel that you need some professional help.

That's okay.

That's okay.

You're doing it so well.

I'm really proud of you.

Right now,

You're helping yourself to feel better.

Reviews

This was so helpful this morning. I had a lot of stress and I feel so much better. Thank you 🙏🏼

So helpful, Femke, thank you. I released substantial stress and trapped emotion from my sacral and heart charas with this guided meditation. I will return to it again.

Brilliant and effective practice.
Thanks for your guidance

A reassuring practice in which I feel safe to release my stories🫧

Thanks so much for this soothing meditation and your calming voice and helpful guidance 💜🌸💜🙏🙏

Nice gentle practice. Her voice is so soothing. I did end the practice feeling sad. I'm pretty sure it's because the practice has you visually collect and let go of your tension. I was hesitant because releasing my tension meant releasing someone I love. That was hard.

I did cry and release some shame. And told myself it’s ok. Thanks