Welcome to this meditation on the subject of clinging.
It's written by Maggie Stevens and entitled Hold on Loosely.
Suffering happens when we cling to ideas,
Roles,
People or places.
It's like trying to hold on to the wind or a brook.
We can touch them,
We can even be immersed in them,
But we cannot stop them.
There's a wisdom in keeping a loose hold on our lives,
The way a trained rider keeps a gentle hand on the horse's reins.
Clinging contracts our thoughts,
Leading us to think that life needs to remain this way forever.
Yet we know that change is the only constant.
Children grow up,
We grow older.
Given enough time,
Mountains are worn down to sand and stars burn out.
So as we begin our meditation,
Remember I'll be making some suggestions about areas and thoughts to be curious about.
You are always in charge of your experience.
If it's not comfortable,
You can return to your anchor,
Open your eyes or choose to experience the meditation at a different time.
Right now I invite you into a posture that's supportive and comfortable for you.
Whatever posture you choose,
Have your spine straight,
But not stiff or arched.
See if you can let your shoulders relax down your back.
Let your arms be at rest.
You can choose to have your hands in your lap or at your sides,
Something that takes no energy at all.
You might be aware of how you're connected and settled into your seat or posture.
Where your body connects to your posture,
To the earth,
To your seat.
Be aware of your body settling.
Settling into the present moment.
You can choose to have your eyes open or closed or cast your gaze downward.
And you might take one or two deep breaths just to settle in to this moment.
And then,
Whatever the pace of your breath is just right for you.
Sometimes our mind contracts and grabs hold of an idea,
Of an experience.
You might consider in the past few days something that you've been clinging to.
Maybe you're replaying a discussion where it was really important for you to be right.
Or maybe an emotion came up that you're trying to hold on to.
Maybe you had a wonderful meal in the last few days and you're savoring that.
Just be curious,
What is it that my mind is holding on to and is resisting letting go?
And when you have that thought or experience or emotion,
I invite you to take a hand and close it into a tight fist.
As if you're physically holding on to the experience,
Thought or emotion.
It's there in your hand.
You might actually experience the tightness move from your fisted hand up into your arm and maybe even into your chest.
And now I invite you to take your other hand and gently place it over your fist.
Let that second hand encourage the first one to just open.
And then allow the hand that was fisted to just open naturally on its own.
And be curious about the difference of how that feels.
In the same way,
Can you open your mind and create more space around that thought or emotion or experience?
So there's more room,
More breathing space.
And you might be curious as to if your body and mind and heart are aligned now.
Have they come in to a more close alignment?
Maybe there's a little more space in your heart.
And maybe your mind has fewer clouds.
So for the next moment or two,
See if you can allow your mind to be like the blue sky.
And as thoughts bubble up,
As they always do,
Because that's what minds do,
See if you can not get caught in the stickiness of their content,
But just see,
Oh,
A thought.
And see if you can let it pass through the sky of your mind.
And we're really just observing the process of the mind thinking.
The mind has thoughts,
And we're observing.
You might observe another voice in your mind,
One that's your critic.
And you can be aware that,
Too,
Is just a thought.
And see if you can exhale and let them go as well.
Your body is sitting with your mind,
And your heart is just observing.
And you might be curious how close is the alignment between your body and your mind and your heart.
And the last few moments of the meditation,
I invite you just to be curious to reflect on the experience.
What it felt like holding tightly to that experience,
Fisting your hand and letting it go.
When we can let go of past regrets and future worries,
It allows us to relax into the present.
I hope that this meditation helped you get a look at some clinging thoughts that you might have.
And if you found this meditation helpful,
I invite you to follow me on Insight Timer so that you can access other meditations and talks.
I wish you well.
Namaste.
