Letting Go

The breath is one of the few things in life you can both control and let run on its own. In this practice, we'll spend the first five minutes intentionally deepening the breath, then let go and notice the contrast. It's a small experiment in a bigger life skill. There's a time to bring will and effort, and a time to let things flow. Recorded live with the Healthy Minds Program.

Transcript

And I wanted to sort of start by posing a little bit of a question for you to think about, Which is, Have you ever wondered why the breath, Your senses of breathing, Are one of the most common mindfulness practices that people do? What is it about the breath that seems to be a very common focus object for mindfulness practice? And there's a lot of different answers to that question. I mean, One aspect is that it is, Universal. Another aspect is that is sort of a poetically you could kind of describe it as this rhythm that keeps us alive. And so is the heart, A rhythm that keeps us alive. I think one of the interesting aspects about the breath, And that maybe distinguishes it from the heart, Is that you can directly control the breath but also when you let go of it, It sort of runs on its own accord. So right now, If we all take a nice deep breath together. We can kind of assume control of our breath. But then when we're not intentionally controlling it, It runs of its own accord and it maintains this rhythm and it maintains this life-giving energy at a constant pace. And it's been doing that since you were born. One of the proponents of evidence-based mindfulness over the past 40 years, Jon Kabat-Zinn, He has this thing that he loves to say, Which is that like, If it were up to me to remember to breathe, Every moment, I would have died a long time ago, Right? So it's this kind of sense of of breathing. So in the spirit of letting go, We're going to play with that a little bit. And so what we're going to do is we're actually going to do a 10 minute practice. We're going to take the first five minutes to breathe intentionally. And then we're going to let go of the breath and let it sort of, You know, Let go of it, Let it happen on its own accord. And we're going to notice the contrast between the first five minutes and the second five minutes of the practice. So. Hi, Everyone, I see there, Buenos Aires and the Czech Republic. My wife, My wife's mother, My mother-in-law's from the Czech Republic, Wisconsin, Madison. Good to have you all here. Hi, Denise, Kate, Caitlin, Liz, Jerry, Centro, Robert. Nice to have you all here. Thank you for that. It's nice to feel together. So let's get started. Find yourself a comfortable position that feels safe but natural for you, Feels awake yet relaxed. Thanks. If it's possible for you, I recommend seated upright. If you're lying down, As always, I recommend not being so comfortable that you might fall asleep. If you're on a chair, I recommend kind of scooting forward on the chair a little bit so that you're not resting on the back and you're really in that kind of upright position. But don't go too overboard. You need to let go a little bit. So make sure to sit upright, But then relax into that position so you're not holding any unnecessary tension. Other than this subtle flexion that you need to keep yourself upright. And when you're ready, You can close your eyes if you prefer. You can keep them slightly open, Just letting a little bit of light in. Or if you want to keep them wide open, I recommend you find a place to fixate your gaze and you gently rest it there. Not really looking at anything, But just letting it rest. Let's take a moment to just be as we are before we get started. And now I want you to just drop and let go of any idea that you're doing some special thing called meditation here. And instead take the opportunity to bring a sense of release into this practice, Just letting yourself be. Letting yourself practice with a playful openness and curiosity as opposed to attention or a driving, Striving productivity. Just letting yourself be and explore. Whenever you're ready. Gently placing your attention. On the sensation of breathing, Wherever you might feel it. Most clearly. You might feel it in your nose or the air rushing through your throat. Or the gentle rise and fall of your chest. Or stomach. Just pick whatever place feels natural. Whatever place stands out to you. And notice each breath as it comes and goes. Whenever you're ready, See if you can bring a little bit of intention and effort to your breathing. So taking a few deeper breaths. This can be subtle, Just slightly deepening the breath. Or if you feel called to take kind of more intentional deep breaths. And even vocalizing on the exhale. Whatever feels natural to you, But the instruction here is to bring some intention. To your breath. Intentionally deepen it. Take control. Of your breathing. On that note then. You want to do this without bringing any unnecessary tension. So even if you're putting a little effort into deepening your breath, That doesn't necessarily mean you need to tighten everything up. So you still want to stay relatively loose. In open. It might be just as simple as extending the inhale. Holding the air in for a few moments. Letting the exhale release and then potentially extending that a little longer. And holding the air out for a few moments. And then inhaling again, And just repeating like that. Okay, Now take one last deep intentional breath. And after that, Just let go of the instruction to control your breath and see what happens as you release that control and let it flow naturally. Notice what it feels like to let go of controlling. Let it happen. This might feel tricky, Like it's hard to stop controlling. That's perfectly natural. You may also find yourself caught up in thought and losing track, Also perfectly natural. Whenever you do notice, Just see if you can get out of your own way. And let the breath flow as it does. In every moment of your life. Sometimes I find people get a little bit confused about this. Am I controlling my breath? It feels like I'm not controlling my breath, But maybe I am. That's a perfectly reasonable line of questioning. The question of who's controlling the breath, It's perfectly reasonable. There's no need to fight that question. Just let the question be here along with the breath. Just let it happen. Notice what comes up. Again, We're being open, We're being playful, We're being curious. Don't have to take it too seriously. Unless you want to take it seriously, Then you can. It's up to you. For this last minute or two, I want you to continue with your awareness on your breath. But see if you can bring a subtle flavor of gratitude and thankfulness and maybe even love into that awareness of your breath. So we're not transitioning to a separate practice here. We're still letting our breath flow naturally. Letting go of trying to control it. We're staying aware of each breath, But we're just bringing in a slight flavor of gratitude, Of thankfulness for this breath that sustains us in the air. It's provided by our environment. And just bringing gratitude on each breath. If it feels natural, You can say a phrase like, Thank you. If that feels awkward, You can smile a little bit or just feel the gratitude in each breath, Whatever feels accessible and comfortable to you. Beep. It doesn't matter about any breaths that have come before this or any breaths that will come after this. All you need to do is be aware of and be thankful for this breath right now. Okay, Take your time transitioning out of the practice. Take a moment to give your body whatever it needs. My shoulders want to roll for some reason, So whatever you need. If your eyes were closed, You can slowly open them, But there's no rush.