Expectation Detox: Unburden Your Mind

We all carry expectations — the ones we place on ourselves, the ones others place on us, and even the ones we imagine exist. The constant pressure to live up to them can feel heavy and exhausting. But it doesn’t have to.

In this meditation, Sah guides you through a gentle mental detox from the weight of expectation. Through visualization and presence, you’ll begin to create space between the myth of who you think you should be and the truth of who you already are.

Let this practice ground you in authenticity and purpose, freeing you from the “would be” and “could be” versions of yourself that no longer serve your highest vision.

Transcript

Hello,

My love,

And welcome to Expectation Detox Meditation.

My name is Sade Simone and it's truly an honor and a joy to be your guide in today's practice.

So whenever you're ready,

My love,

I invite you to get settled into a comfortable meditation position.

Maybe you are laying down because the body's tired,

Or maybe you are sitting on a meditation cushion on the floor,

Or maybe you are sitting on a chair.

I'm sitting on a chair right now.

Just invite intentionality and grace into your posture,

A posture that balances awakefulness and relaxation.

And whenever you're ready,

I invite you to gently close your eyes.

And then as we do with all of our practices,

We exercise the foundation of mindfulness,

Mindfulness of our internal world.

What is it like inside,

My love?

As you have closed your eyes and now your attention has shifted from the outside world into your internal landscape,

What is it like inside?

Maybe you are practicing at the end of the day,

So maybe you notice that the mind is more settled,

But the body's tired,

Or the body's hungry,

Or whatever variation of it.

Maybe you're practicing as soon as you woke up,

So maybe the mind may be more agitated and the body's energized.

Whatever it may be,

See if you can just become aware of what is it like inside.

No judgment.

Exercising the loving awareness of the awakened heart.

And now I invite you to take a deep,

We're going to do this for a few rounds,

So let's take a deep breath in through the nose,

And we're going to take a long exhale out through the mouth.

Okay,

We're going to do this for about three,

Maybe three,

Three to five times.

Let's do it.

And this is going to help us to relax the mind and relax the nervous system and really bring us into a really good place where we are able to begin this visualization practice and begin our expectation detox,

All right?

So let's all together breath in through the nose,

And long exhale through the mouth.

Deep breath in through the nose,

And out through the mouth.

In through the nose,

Out through the mouth.

Deep breath in through the nose,

Out through the mouth,

Keep it going.

Two more,

Deep breath in,

Out through the nose.

Last one,

Deep breath in,

And then out through the mouth.

Good work,

Honey.

And now take a moment again to notice what is it like inside?

Has anything changed?

Now to begin,

My love,

I invite you to bring to the forefront of your mind all the expectations you have placed on yourself.

You may want to treat the mind to the question,

What expectations have I placed on myself?

And just allow the answers to arise,

Or you may just activate the mind in a direction where these expectations will be revealed by saying,

What expectations have you placed on yourself?

A variation of this statement,

What expectations have I placed on myself?

And just allowing the mind to reveal all the expectations that you have placed on yourself.

What expectations have you placed on yourself?

Think about expectations on how you have to look,

On how you have to act,

On how you have to perform and how much money you should have and what you should be doing.

Think about all the way,

From A to Z,

All the expectations you've placed on yourself.

And then here's the real turning point,

Is feel the weight of it.

Oh my goodness,

Feel the weight of all the expectations you've placed on yourself.

Feel the weight of it.

And now ask yourself,

Is this weight helpful or does it keep me stuck?

Does it keep me in this,

In a perpetual state of never enough?

Ask yourself that question.

And now let's all together take a deep breath in through the nose.

And as we breathe out through the mouth,

As we've done at the beginning,

We're going to exhale all the weight of these expectations.

Okay,

So let's do a deep breath in through the nose.

And breathing out through the mouth,

Releasing all these expectations,

The entire weight of it.

Once again,

Deep breath in through the nose,

Out through the mouth.

And I invite you to practice in this way for the next few moments.

As I'm silent,

I want you to be aware of the weight of the expectations you've placed on yourself.

And I want you to breathe it out of your system.

And remember,

With the intention and your attention,

Miracles happen inside of you.

Your relationship to your expectations will change if you practice with all of your attention and all of your intention,

Right?

So practice like this,

Breathing out the weight of all these expectations that you've placed upon yourself.

And now I invite you to let all that go.

This practice has a couple more parts to it.

And now I invite you to think about the expectations that you think have been placed on you by others or by the world.

You know,

Expectations,

Depending where you live,

Are to,

At a certain age,

To be married and to have kids and to live in a certain place and to do certain things and to look a certain way and to whatever may be,

Maybe these expectations that the world has placed on you,

Or maybe your parents have expectations for you.

So think about that.

Think about all the ways that you feel like the external world is placing expectations on you.

And feel,

First visualize what they are,

Right?

First visualize what you think they are.

Get clear what you think they are.

And now my love,

The same process.

Feel the weight of it.

Feel the weight of it.

Feel the weight of it.

Now that you've gotten clear what they are,

Feel the weight of it.

Oh my goodness,

It's heavy,

Huh?

Feel the weight of it.

And now in the same way,

I want you to use the breath in a variation of breath,

A practice that works for you.

You know,

One that I offered in today's practice is breathing in through the nose and breathing out through the mouth.

Whatever variation of breathing technique that you want,

But I want you to place your intention to release,

Release these expectations.

Release the weight of it,

Okay?

Using the breath as you breathe in,

You're activating the part of you that's most awakened.

You're activating the spiritual heart,

Your Buddha nature,

The part of you that's already free that is your genuine,

Authentic self.

And you're accessing that part of you,

And as you're breathing out,

You are letting all of these expectations,

The weight of these expectations,

All of it go,

And you're recognizing that the more you work on exercising your best qualities,

You work on accessing your heart,

You work on developing your connection to the part of you that's most awakened,

You're going to be moving towards the direction of all of your dreams,

The direction of your purpose,

The direction of your goals,

Without the weight of expectations,

Okay?

So practice like this for about a minute,

Releasing the expectations,

Releasing the weight of them on the expectations that you feel that others have placed on you,

What that the world has on you,

You're done.

You're using the breath.

You're using your mind and your heart to get free right now.

It's that long exhale that is freeing,

That is unshackling you from all of these expectations.

Okay,

My love,

Now we're going to move on to the last part of this practice,

And I want you to visualize all the expectations you have placed on others.

I know,

But we do this too.

Think about all the expectations you've placed on others.

This is maybe on your partner,

On your family,

On your friends,

On your co-workers,

On your boss,

Whatever.

Think about all the expectations you've placed on other people.

And then feel the weight of it,

Like since you've been on the other side of it,

Now you know the weight of it too.

So think about the weight,

Think about what they are and then feel the weight of it.

It's exhausting.

And now in the same way that we've practiced before,

Using the breath,

Maybe you want to breathe in through the nose and out through the mouth,

Let go of all these expectations that you have placed on others.

That so often they don't even know we've placed them on them.

We are going around this invisible list that people are somehow meant to know what they are and live by them.

So using the breath,

My love,

Right now,

Release that,

Release these fixed identities,

Release these harmful expectations.

Why?

Because when they are not met,

We feel hurt and then we blame others and it's just a whole cycle.

So let it all go as you choose to completely awaken your heart and completely transform your mind.

You,

Just by existing,

You're inviting everyone.

To be themselves so fully,

To be the most awakened version of themselves.

Imagine if the whole world showed up as the most authentic version of themselves.

There wouldn't be that much conflict.

Why?

Because we'll be living through our hearts.

We'll be walking around fully expressed.

Not going around this weight of expectations,

Oh I should act this way,

I have to do this,

I have to live like this.

That's so contrived,

Does not does not match our nature,

We are at the base of our being.

Right,

So use the breath for one minute here to release the weight they have,

The expectations,

The weight of the expectations you've placed on other people as you're breathing,

You exercise and you amplify the compassion,

Love,

Wisdom and joy in your heart.

And you breathe out,

You let it all go.

And breathing out,

Letting it all go.

Last one,

Deep breath in.

OK,

Incredible work,

My love,

Incredible work,

Thank you for practicing this way,

Thank you for being part of the solution,

Bring your hands in prayer in front of your heart,

Let's close this practice.

Let's dedicate the merit of our practice,

The goodness,

The virtue.

We practice to all beings everywhere,

May all beings everywhere be free of mental and physical suffering,

By the grace of God,

By the grace of God,

By the grace of God,

By the merit of our practice.

And may all beings always think of benefiting each other.

Thank you so much for being here today and practicing this way,

Love you,

Peace.

Reviews

Love 💕 Love 💗 Love 💕 Sah. Experience his voice and way of being during a brief ‘letting go of expectations’ within a 30 intention setting challenge. Started following and found this practice. Was exactly what I needed. So much gratitude.🙏.

Thank you so much as always. Super soothing, uplifting and empowering.