Hi,
My name is Karen and I'd like to thank you for joining me here today and welcome you to this guided meditation on letting go.
It's the process of releasing yourself from thoughts about the past or concerns about what might or might not happen in the future.
The ability to let go,
To free yourself might seem difficult to do,
But with some training and practice it becomes possible.
In fact,
With practice it becomes easier.
So here we are in this present moment and we bring with us a past.
We all have a past.
Past stories,
Past difficult emotional entanglements,
And with our past we have concerns about our future.
Hopes,
Dreams,
Worries.
When things begin to gather up and it all seems too much to handle,
We can employ a skill,
A special tool if you will,
Which can reset our heart space and mindset,
Providing a space of stillness,
Of inner peace.
This space is made available through the power of letting go.
It's a skill,
Nothing more than that.
It's a skill that we will need to use many times during our life because we continue to add more information into our story bank and our emotional investment continues to grow.
And we can choose to let go of anything that's no longer serving us at any time,
Whenever we need or want to.
So while this meditation may not offer permanent relief from the emotional bumps and scrapes of life,
It can provide a means of detaching yourself from these difficult emotional burdens.
Begin to bring awareness to your breath.
As you absorb these words,
Notice the breath coming and going.
We can't change the past,
Nor can we change the emotions that we experienced in the past.
Wondering why something happened in our past won't alter it.
Trying to assign blame or responsibility somewhere won't change the past.
Questioning over and over if you had only chosen to do this or that won't change the past.
The most we can hope for to gain from revisiting a painful event is wisdom.
We can use this wisdom to learn and grow.
We need to listen to the wisdom of our past,
But we must release the pain from the past because that pain will continue to cause trauma in how you choose to move forward in your present moment.
We also worry about the future.
We imagine all the possible outcomes,
Creating more stories.
We can't know what's going to happen in the future,
And we use up so much energy thinking about the future.
The most that we can do with regard to our future is to create a positive space living in this moment.
And in that positive and hopeful and positive energetic moment of now,
Those are the foundation blocks on which you build a positive,
Peaceful future.
If you'd like to join me,
Arrange yourself in a comfortable position,
Either seated or lying down.
You can close your eyes if it's comfortable.
And if that doesn't feel available to you today,
Just soften your focus.
Allow the breath to find its own natural with awareness of drawing breath in and breath moving out.
The breath breathing itself with ease and kindness.
It's always good to take a few moments to just check in,
To acknowledge what is present with you as you arrive.
Continue breathing in and out naturally without managing the breath.
Become aware of any thoughts,
Any emotions,
Any sensations in your body.
Not judging,
Not disrupting what you sense to be present,
But rather just acknowledge what is here with you right now.
Allow as much time here as you need to be with your breath.
If your mind wanders,
Come back when you realize that your mind has strayed.
No judgment or explanations required.
You wandered and now you're back.
And shift back into a light resting awareness of your breath,
Just observing it as it comes and goes.
Bring your awareness to your head,
To the muscles of your skull cap.
There are many tiny muscles there.
If you feel any tension there,
Breathe in deeply and slowly breathe out.
Perhaps imagine the tension melting away like ice resting on a hot slab of cement.
Relaxing the cheeks,
The mouth.
Breathe in fully and breathe out completely.
Softening the jaw,
Even softening the tongue.
And breathing in again through the nose and exhaling through the nose.
Softening the shoulders,
Relaxing the arms,
The hands,
The fingers.
Letting all that tension go.
Letting the muscles of the back melt and the belly.
Perhaps now add a pause at the bottom of your exhalation to just sit in a moment of stillness.
Perhaps noticing the pulsation of the heartbeat in the abdomen.
Letting the belly be soft and responsive to the breath.
Belly rising and belly falling with each breath.
Breathe in deeply.
Listen to the sound of breath drawing in and exhale out.
Noticing that sense of release.
Observing our breath helps us to focus inward and observing our breath helps us to release the negative energy that we might find.
Relaxing the buttocks,
The powerful muscles of the buttocks.
Now flattened and relaxed.
The thighs relaxed and long muscles.
The lower legs softening the muscles.
Breathe in deeply.
Allow this breath to fill you up.
Listen to the sound of breath drawing in.
Noticing that sense of relief as you exhale out.
Releasing negative energy.
Relaxing the feet.
Breathe in deeply.
Invite that positive energy to fill the entire body.
Let it flow through your entire being.
From the top of your head all the way down,
Down to your toes.
Pushing the negative energy out into the ether.
Every single breath that you take,
Let it penetrate deeper and deeper into your body,
Into your mind,
Into your heart space.
Calming the body.
Calming the mind.
Calming the heart itself.
Let the breath breathe you.
Allow your breath to become deeper and deeper.
Becoming more and more relaxed.
Let the spaciousness fill you from within until you are so filled up that all that spaciousness expands outward and you can feel that you are now surrounded by that spaciousness.
Open awareness of all within you,
All surrounding you.
Listening to your breath,
Your heart,
A sense of endless space within and without.
Breathing in,
Breathing out with ease and compassion.
Peacefully,
Calmly,
Deep and slow.
Allow your open mind to observe the breath,
To understand the breath without feeling compelled to alter it in any way.
Invite yourself to sit for a moment just between the out breath and the next in breath.
Breathing in,
Breathing out,
Pausing.
If the mind is wandering,
Just bring it back.
Back to the breath.
Always returning to the breath without frustration or anger.
Surrendering again and again to the breath.
Our memory of the past is foggy at best.
Let go its pain.
The pain doesn't serve you now.
The future is pure fiction right now,
But now is real.
Breathe in,
Breathe out.
Now is real.
The teachable moments of the past will appear again.
Until you can absorb the lessons from the past,
The pain will continue.
Right now,
You are learning to remove the pain.
Building a space of openness to learning so that you can absorb the lesson,
The lesson that was intended for you.
Absorb its wisdom.
That is all that will remain.
The wisdom that only life experience can bring.
You were never meant to carry the pain.
You were meant to carry the wisdom.
Breathing in and breathing out.
Resting in this space of peace.
Resting in this space of peace that you have created.
Resting in this place of peace and acceptance.
Namaste.
Whether you were able to let go of some challenging emotional pain or became aware of some underlying hurt,
Which in time will want to be released,
You're all right.
Just as you are.
You're enough.
Thank you so much for practicing with me today.
Namaste.
