Letting Go

This guided mindfulness meditation with music is a beautiful practice of letting go. We begin by focusing on the breath, relaxing the body, getting grounded, and releasing physical tension. We then progress to the emotional realm and allow challenging emotions to arise and be released.

Transcript

Come into a comfortable seated position,

Cross-legged,

Propped up on a blanket or a cushion on the floor,

Or sitting up in a chair with your feet firmly planted on the ground.

Close your eyes,

Lengthen your spine,

Sitting up nice and tall,

And begin to deepen your breathing.

Breathing and exhaling slowly through the nose,

Breathing in that life force energy,

Prana,

Chi,

That enlivens the whole system,

Bringing energy to every cell in your body.

And on the exhale,

Releasing toxins,

Releasing thoughts,

Releasing tension in the body.

On the inhale,

Really letting the belly expand nice and big,

And then watching it contract on the exhale.

Roll your shoulders back,

Circling a few times to bring some nice relaxation to any tension that you might be holding there.

Relaxing your jaw,

Relaxing the eyes,

Feeling the buttocks just dropping down towards the earth,

Both sides equally planted into your seat.

And again,

Just making sure your spine is nice and upright,

Unless you're lying down on your back,

Which is also okay if that's more comfortable for you.

Just let your body be long and relaxed,

Bringing pillows under your head or under your knees.

And bring yourself into this present moment completely by feeling the parts of your body making contact with the floor or your chair,

Letting your hands just relax down on your legs and being aware of the point where they make contact,

Hands with legs.

Your palms can either be upright or face down,

Whatever comes most naturally to you.

Your deep,

Deep breathing,

Letting your breath be audible,

Almost like an ocean wave.

Now take a deep breath and sigh out through your mouth,

Letting everything go.

Two more times,

Inhale nice and deep,

Filling that belly up like a beach ball.

And releasing it,

Letting go of tension.

Letting go of fear,

Confusion,

Sadness,

Even letting go of joy,

Happiness at thinking about moments from the past or moments that are yet to come.

Just bring yourself completely into the here and now.

Whatever is happening for you in this present moment.

It's natural for our brains to do a lot of wandering around and circling and making up all kinds of different stories around different circumstances,

Trying to control our lives,

Trying to control other people's behavior.

Just notice your thoughts.

See if you can let them just pass through without identifying strongly with them.

Just notice your thoughts,

What's on your mind,

And notice how they come and go.

What is it you need to let go of physically in your physical body?

Do you have tension or pain?

Have you been overworking certain muscles?

What comes up for you in your physical body that you can let go of?

Or even just to have that intention of letting it all go,

Even if it's just for this moment.

Garnering the strength to rise above whatever it is you're dealing with,

Knowing that it's not the reality of who you really are.

Realizing that reality from this witness point of view as you watch your own thoughts,

As you learn about what you need to let go of,

Which sometimes isn't readily available to the conscious mind.

Now bring to mind something emotionally that you need to let go of.

Is it fear,

Self-criticism,

Jealousy,

Anger,

Hatred?

What emotions arise that you know are detrimental to your well-being,

To your state of mind,

To your heart?

What in your emotional body can you let go of deeper and deeper intentionally with each breath?

As you continue breathing nice and deeply,

Inhaling as the belly expands like a great big balloon,

And exhaling as the belly contracts.

Exhale bones sinking,

Shoulders relax and back,

Chest wide.

Try to remain aware of your breath and keeping the spine upright and the body relaxed.

Now think about is there something,

Some situation in your life,

Maybe it's the loss of someone you love,

The end of a relationship,

The loss of a job,

Or just feeling unsure.

What is it in your situation that causes you some stress?

How can you look at that situation and to yourself with love and compassion,

With no shame,

No regret,

No negative self-talk?

Just simply witnessing what's coming up for you.

Entering yourself for your strength,

For going through this difficult situation,

Knowing that through this experience you become more aware,

More balanced,

Stronger,

And open to unconditional love.

Allow yourself to really be in the presence of this moment in your life with whatever is arising.

And if nothing comes up for you,

Then that's wonderful.

Congratulations first of all because I think it's very rare that we have absolutely nothing that we would change or that we sometimes wish that we were in a different place or in a different situation with a different person,

People,

Friends,

Work situation.

Let's come to a place of acceptance with wherever we are in this moment in life,

Being fully present in this moment and ready to accept any circumstances that come our way because we know the only thing that's constant is change.

Now bring to mind if there's a person in your life who's maybe causing you pain or suffering that's unnecessary.

And if this doesn't resonate with you,

If you can't relate right now,

Just continue to watch your breath,

Continue to open to the present moment.

And if you do have someone in your life who can be draining to be around,

Who's not encouraging to you,

Who talks negatively to you,

Who just brings you down in whatever ways,

Can you forgive that person and send them a blessing of love and gratitude for teaching you and then move forward into healthier relationships with the people who really do care about you,

Who really have the capacity to help lift you.

Know your own worth.

Understand that if somebody has hurt you,

They are hurting too.

And whether they intentionally hurt you or not,

You don't need to stand around and tolerate it.

You can let it go at any moment.

Coming up with faith that when we take care of ourselves and when we let go on ever deepening levels,

We open to the greatest opportunities and we truly begin to experience life.

Continue breathing deeply.

You might even bring some movement into your upper body,

Perhaps rocking back and forth or circling your spine.

Again,

Just seeing if there's any tension there that you can let go a little bit deeper,

Physically,

Emotionally,

Mentally.

You can get creative with the movement,

Letting your head circle or make a figure eight,

Rolling the shoulders one at a time,

Just bringing mobility to your spine.

Letting the breath create space throughout your body and letting your mind be focused on the body,

The natural movements that come without even thinking about it.

Just do what feels good,

Letting go once again and emerging into the present moment with gratitude and awareness that we're evolving towards our better side.

Slowly come back to stillness.

Just making sure that any tension that was in the neck or in the shoulders is hopefully relaxed a little bit now.

Come back to stillness and bring the palms of your hands together at your heart.

Constant change is inevitable.

Our bodies will change.

Sometimes certain body parts may not be functioning as well as they once were.

Circumstances change.

People come and go.

Let's make a commitment to be fully present in the moment.

Letting go everything that's past.

Letting go day draining and planning too much about the future.

It's not that planning is bad,

But just trying to come into each present moment that arises every day,

Every situation you're in,

Every person who you meet.

See if you can come out of your head and into your heart and into your body and truly be with the people around you with gratitude,

With love,

With respect.

And above all,

Respecting and loving yourself and being grateful to allow in yourself these practices that enrich your life and the lives of others around you.

Lift your hands to the forehead,

Pressing the thumbs against the center of your forehead.

See if your intuition,

What they call the third eye.

Lift your eyes,

Even though they're closed,

Direct them up towards that third eye point in the center of your forehead.

Just feel that awareness,

That aliveness.

When you focus like this and come into the moment,

There's no thinking about past or future.

Life is always right now.

Now bring your hands down to your knees,

Down to your legs,

And gently open your eyes.