When we experience pain or illness,
Our natural response is to brace and hold tension either around the area or throughout our whole body.
Physical tension and chronic stress and anxiety actually exacerbates any existing pain or symptoms,
So this is a short practice in softening and letting go of resistance towards symptoms using the acronym LETGO.
You can practice LETGO whenever pain or symptoms arise or when stress or anxiety is heightened.
And you can take as much time as you need on each step by pausing the recording as you go.
So to begin this practice,
Bring yourself into a comfortable position where you'll be uninterrupted and arrive with your whole self.
Let the body begin to soften.
And bring awareness to the natural rhythm of your breath.
And then lengthen the exhale to be slow and steady.
And gently scanning over your body,
Observing and bringing awareness to the quality of your body in this moment.
And then starting with the L of LETGO,
We listen to the body.
Your body is offering you feedback,
So we listen by firstly locating the pain or discomfort in the body.
Bring your attention to it.
Find the center of it where it feels the strongest.
And then follow it out to its edges.
And as you observe it with curiosity,
Describe it to yourself.
Is it tight or sharp or dull?
Is it pushing or pulling?
Hot or cold?
Does it come and go or is it constant?
Does it have a color or shape?
Really spend the time getting to know it.
Once you have a good sense of it,
Move to the E of LETGO.
Explore your experience.
And the key here is with gentleness and kindness.
Bringing some open curiosity to it.
Notice first of all how this pain or symptom is impacting the rest of your body.
Is it causing tension throughout?
Are you using or holding your body in an adaptive way because of it?
Then notice the impact it has on your mind.
What kind of thoughts are you having about it?
What's the dialogue or the story?
Are those thoughts creating more tension or less?
It's just noticing and exploring your experience with it.
You might even rate your level of pain or discomfort on a scale of 0 to 10,
With 10 being the highest intensity you've experienced it.
What number would it be at now?
Now we have some dialogue with your body.
As we move into the T of LETGO,
Talk to your body.
Let it know you're not alone.
I'm right here with you.
And you may even have your very own words.
Something that resonates with you.
That feels comforting and soothing.
Acknowledge and validate the pain or discomfort or symptoms.
You live in this body.
You're here together.
But you are more influential in creating its environment.
Talking to your body goes both ways.
So take some time just to listen to what it's saying.
What's the emotion in behind the pain or symptom?
What's being held there?
What does it want you to know?
What's it unhappy about?
What can't it tolerate anymore?
You might even ask it,
What do you most need right now?
And take some time to really hear and acknowledge the response.
And when you've done that,
We move into the G of LETGO.
To give up resistance.
To stop pushing the pain or symptoms or discomfort away.
To be open to their meaning and what's held within them.
But instead,
Just softening any resistance.
And even giving up the word pain,
Which carries its own tension with it.
See what it feels like to call it a sensation instead.
Using a neutral word softens any resistance and tension.
And you can repeat the relevant words to your body that describe your experience.
More factual words like it's a sensation.
It's a pushing sensation.
It's a pulsating sensation.
It's a tight sensation.
All the while continuing to give up resistance.
To soften as you move into the O of LETGO.
To offer space.
Give it room to be there.
Don't contain it with resistance.
Give it permission to move outside your body.
To expand outside of you.
And take up as much space as it needs.
Continue to offer it more and more space.
To move outside your body.
There's no need to try and change it.
Just allow it to be.
And offer it space without containing it.
To create more space within you.
And with more space allow it to dissipate and dissolve.
And you might like to rate the intensity of the sensation again.
To notice if it's softened.
And take as much time as you need on this final step of LETGO.
