Letting Go

Hello and welcome.

My name is Lou Redman and today's practice is on letting go.

And the inspiration for today is based on something that I chose to let go of recently and that is teaching yoga.

I'll backtrack that I had never really wanted to be a yoga teacher.

I was practicing yoga.

I was teaching meditation at the time but I found that yoga was obviously a complementary practice to meditation and it was an opportunity where I was a scholarship to be a yoga teacher.

And even though I didn't want to necessarily do it,

It just seemed too perfect.

And as I did it and as I started teaching yoga,

I found that I needed to do it.

It was bringing up so much insecurities that I was dealing with as far as being in front of people and facilitating a group of people and I didn't realize that it was exactly what I needed to be doing even though it may not have been my highest calling at the time.

And so I did that for about two years and really grew in my ability to facilitate and to communicate.

And I noted that and I realized that although I had grown so much that there was a time that I needed to let it go.

And where this parallels in a lot of our lives is in a few ways is that sometimes we're in jobs or we're in situations,

We're in roles where we don't realize that we are actually learning skills,

Learning tools that we need to learn in order to develop,

In order to grow.

So even if we're not maybe doing something that we're super in love with right now or our lives we think we can improve somewhere,

We have to see that if we're on this path,

We are learning every single day in ways that we don't even realize.

And so acknowledging that wherever we're at,

Wherever you're at in the things that you're doing that there's skills,

There's tools that we if we align ourselves,

We find ourselves on a path where that we're going to do things that are going to help us to learn these skills.

And with that there also comes a time when we found that something has worn its path,

That we have to make a difficult choice,

Which it was for me very difficult to quit and completely let go of that so I can put all my energy into this,

Into creating meditations,

Into engaging with you all.

And sometimes we have to make difficult choices to let go of something in our life.

And it's tough because we resist change,

We want things to be normal and but we have to let go of things in order to create space.

There's so many examples where we say no to something finally and then all of a sudden the doors open up for us.

So today's practice is going to be about that of letting go and connecting and aligning ourselves.

So go ahead and find your space,

Go ahead and allow yourself to move more into your body if there's any last movements that need to be taken,

Please take them.

Beginning to allow your body to settle.

I'm just scanning right away and relaxing any tension,

Relaxing the shoulders,

Letting yourself ease and release into your into your practice.

Feeling that connecting point of our body,

The floor and finding that sense of wakefulness in our upper body.

And right away just bringing into a rhythm of awareness into our breathing.

Feeling that expansive quality with each breath in as it fills up and then releasing and contracting and rooting with each breath out.

And we're going to use those simple movements to help us to let go of our inner self.

And we're going to use the simple words of let go as a mantra to center ourselves with our breath.

So I'd like you on each inhale you say to yourself silently or out loud let and each exhale say go.

Inhale let,

Exhale go.

Inhale let,

Exhale go.

And allow that phrase to ease your spirit into the space,

Ease your body into the space to receive and connect.

Letting go of the constriction and the tightness that we're so often moving through our lives with.

And if you'd like you can use these words as you scan from head to toe of your body imagining letting go of tension,

Letting go of stuck energy and just doing this on your own scanning head to toe feeling feeling your body further plant and root down into your chair or to your cushion.

Let go.

And then let's go ahead and take a conscious breath in.

And release.

We're going to release the mantra of let go and but still use our breath as a way to bring in positive qualities and release and let go of some negative qualities.

Just continuing with that,

That rhythm that we've cultivated.

So I'd like you to start by imagining inhale positive,

Exhale the negative.

Inhale positive.

Again inhale positive.

And exhale negative.

Inhale lightness and exhale darkness.

Lightness and exhale darkness.

Breathe in lightness and exhale darkness.

Inhale acceptance and exhale judgment.

Inhale acceptance and exhale judgment.

Breathe in love and breathe out fear.

Breathe in love and breathe out fear.

Inhale trust and exhale doubt.

Inhale strength and exhale weakness.

Breathe in strength and exhale weakness.

Inhale joy and exhale lightness.

Inhale sadness and exhale joy.

Breathe in joy and exhale sadness.

Inhale peace and exhale worry.

Breathe in peace and exhale worry.

Inhale and exhale lightness.

Inhale and exhale lightness.

Inhale and exhale lightness.

Inhale and exhale lightness.

Inhale and exhale lightness.

Inhale and exhale lightness.

Inhale and exhale lightness.

Inhale and exhale lightness.

Inhale and exhale lightness.

Inhale and exhale lightness.

Where is your river?

Is it in the desert?

Is it in the forest?

Is it in your town?

I'm noticing any trees,

Birds,

Animal life,

People.

I'm coming into anything that you hear,

The wind,

The rushing of the water,

The creaking in your boat.

Any smells or tastes or any other senses that come from imagining yourself gently floating down a river.

And just taking it all in this 360 degree view.

And this boat that we are on is symbolic for the container of our journey.

We're moving downstream.

And the boat is all that we're holding onto,

All that we're taking with us.

This can include our beliefs,

People in our life,

Jobs,

Dreams,

Identities.

And so just think about what is in your boat right now.

Who are the people in your life,

The beliefs that you have,

The personas that you wear,

The dreams you have,

The feelings you have?

What is being carried right now?

And just take a moment to note,

Without judging,

Just acknowledging what is in your boat.

And as you're floating down,

You're going to notice that on your left,

You see this little dock that wants you to take a stop at it.

And this dock is here to help you lose some of the weight and take on some new.

So go ahead and move your boat over to this dock and tie it up for a second.

And this first dock is asking you to leave any beliefs or feelings or habits that may not be serving you right now.

This could be releasing fear or worry or doubt,

Could be releasing a feeling or belief of unworthiness or lack.

It could also be letting go of a job or letting go of an obligation to create space for something new.

And imagining that you're kind of taking this out of your boat and you're moving this energy out and leaving it on the dock.

You can see it as an object.

You can see it just as like an energy that's moving out.

So feel yourself releasing it from your boat,

Letting it go and leaving it on this dock.

And after you've gotten everything out,

You notice that also on this dock is a gift for you.

It's a gift that's wrapped nicely.

And what this gift represents is all those qualities and beliefs that you want to take with you.

It could be the people that are waiting for you,

The job that's waiting for you,

The joy that's there for you,

The hope,

The love.

So I'd like you to grab the gift and open it and see what are those energies for you that you want to bring in.

Is it trust?

Is it faith?

Is it compassion?

What would you like to keep with you on this journey?

Breathe that in here and go ahead and take it back to your boat and continue to float downstream.

I'm floating along for a little bit.

And then on the right side of the river,

You notice that there's another dock that's asking you to stop.

So you go over there and you park and you get out.

And this dock is asking you to leave a person in your life behind.

And I know that may sound extreme.

And I thought we're looking to cultivate and be compassionate towards all which we are.

And we're not doing this with contempt.

We may not actually leave them behind,

But what it's doing is just creating space for us.

Because there's some people that are taking energy or are toxic in our life,

That aren't supporting our journeys.

It's not saying that we let them go like they're bad people.

It's really about understanding our space and moving deeper into our hearts,

Into what's going to serve us and serve everyone for the best.

Sometimes we just need boundaries.

And they may not see the same way we do.

Maybe someone that's close to us or someone that you don't know.

I'd like you to see this person get out of your boat.

And what you don't know is this is exactly what they need as well.

If you can't think of someone new,

Maybe you think of someone in your life who has left already,

Or maybe you have left behind.

Seeing you sending them off with this compassion.

And seeing them on the dock and sharing some of these words with them.

Thank you for being on my journey.

Our relationship in its current form is no longer serving the highest good.

May you go on and be happy.

May you feel loved and supported.

And may you find peace and truth.

So go ahead and send them off thanking them,

Get back into your boat and see yourself floating back down the river.

Until there's just one last dock for us to stop at over on the left side of the river again.

And go up to it,

You park your boat.

And what this dock is asking you to let go of is the need for control.

And this may be where we let go of our worry and anxiety and our forcefulness to manipulate the circumstances of our life to try and fit some idea of how it should look.

Because truly like a river floating downstream,

We don't know what rocks and bumps we're going to come across.

We just have to allow our boats to float and surrender,

Navigate the current the best we can.

See if you can let go of that need to control.

Let go of the attachment,

The clingingness that we so often have.

It has to be like,

Oh,

We attune with a higher source and a more aligned way of being in the world.

And so to represent this,

Grab a white flag that's in your boat and you're going to put this white flag on the dock as this memento of surrender.

And then go ahead and get back in your boat,

Back downstream.

And just repeat those words,

I surrender.

I surrender.

I surrender.

Let's go ahead and float downstream,

Repeating that to yourself for a few.

And each time you say that,

Each time you let go a little bit more,

You're coming deeper into a place of trusting.

Trusting this journey,

Trusting in your process.

So imagine that the boat's coming to the edge and you see it's about to go off of a waterfall.

But you know that there's nothing to worry about.

And just continue to say,

I surrender.

Maybe I let go.

I surrender.

I let go.

And as your boat comes over to the waterfall,

When you feel ready,

Imagine yourself just floating down with the boat into a beautiful pool of white light.

This white light that goes all the way down,

All the way up.

And feel yourself suspended in that beautiful light.

Enjoy that light as you let go.

And allow yourself to connect with that flow of energy that is moving you.

Moving you toward where you need to be.

Breathe that light in.

And slowly start to let go of any image or visualization and start to come back into your body.

Back into your room.

When it feels right for you,

Go ahead and open your eyes and come back to this space and this day.

And I thank you so much for practicing with me and being willing to let go and surrender to the current that life has us on.

I myself have had to recently really practice this in a way to trust that things were in my favor and a negative thing that happened to me.

And I wanted to just mention this at the end here because some of you may have been connected with me.

Long story short,

Which I'll talk about on another practice,

I accidentally deleted my entire mailing list.

And so if you were on that and you haven't heard from me in a while,

It's probably because you got deleted.

So it was a devastating experience,

But one that we let go and we bounce back from.

So if you were on that,

I'd love to reconnect with you.

So just find me through how you find me.

So thank you so much and I'm wishing you all so much love as you connect and trust and surrender to what this life is bringing forth for us.

Namaste.