All right,
Well let's go ahead and get started on our practice of letting go.
And before we close our eyes,
If that feels comfortable,
I invite you to just look around your space wherever you are.
Look around your room.
If you're outside,
Look at your surroundings.
And we're just noticing where we are in this moment.
Looking at shapes,
Looking at colors.
We might even notice sounds around us as we are coming into this present moment,
Receiving whatever sensations through our eyes,
Through our ears,
We are to receive.
And remembering at any point in the practice,
We can come back to this space.
We can look around,
We can tune into sounds,
Just come back to this present moment,
This new moment.
Begin to settle in.
So we might allow our bodies to move a little bit as we settle into a posture that feels both awake and alert and also relaxed and at ease.
If we need to lay down,
That's perfectly normal.
If we just want to sit,
We can find a seated posture in a chair,
On a bench,
A cushion,
The floor.
Just invite our bodies into a posture that is both awake and alert.
Relaxed and at ease.
And if we're seated,
We might imagine the sacrum or the tailbone rooting a little more deeply towards the earth.
We might imagine a little bit of space between each vertebrae in our spine.
We might imagine a little string pulling the crown of the head ever so slightly up towards the sky.
And we can fall gently into a dignified posture.
Closing the eyes if that feels comfortable,
Otherwise just softening the gaze,
Looking a few feet in front of you.
Noticing what it's like to be you in this moment.
This moment that we've never had before,
We'll never have again.
This moment that is worthy of our attention.
And we might take a few slow,
Intentional breaths here.
Breathing in through the nose.
Breathing out through the mouth.
Slightly longer exhale than our inhale.
If it feels natural on the exhale,
We can actually let go through an audible sigh.
And allowing the breath to come into a natural rhythm.
Almost as if the breath is breathing us.
We can let go.
We can trust the breath to flow.
It's natural rhythm.
One breath at a time.
That's all we have to do.
One breath at a time.
We can bring a mindful attention to the breath,
Remembering that mindfulness is present in this moment.
There's an element of curiosity or letting go of judgment.
Bringing mindful attention to this next breath.
What does it really feel like to breathe?
What is the rhythm of the breath?
Where do we feel the breath in the body?
Nothing to fix,
Nothing to change.
Simply noticing with kind curiosity.
We might also just begin to inquire,
Is there any part of the breath that feels like we're holding or we are tense around it?
Is there any part of the breath that feels ready to let go?
We just notice.
We don't have to do anything about it.
Whatever we're feeling with each breath,
It belongs.
Allowing this next inhale to bring us more into a natural rhythm.
Allowing this next inhale to bring us more fully into our bodies as we bring mindful attention to the body.
How is this body doing in this moment?
Everything that it's carrying,
Everything that it has learned throughout this lifetime,
Maybe even other lifetimes.
How is this body doing?
Kind curiosity.
What do we feel through the feet and the legs?
What do we feel in the body and the arms?
Just noticing.
What does it really feel like?
And noticing if there's any part of the body that is holding or tense.
Might be ready to let go.
And again,
We don't have to do anything about it.
Just noticing.
Oh,
There might be some tension here.
There might be some holding here.
What does that feel like?
This belongs.
It's okay.
Becoming curious about sensations in the body just as they are.
Sometimes they're pleasant,
Sometimes unpleasant,
Sometimes neutral.
Can we create some space for the entirety of this experience in the body?
Beginning to bring the same mindful awareness to the mind.
What is it like to observe thoughts?
To notice how they arise,
How they pass away?
What are the images,
The words,
The stories?
Can we bring mindful,
Curious,
Kind attention to the state of the mind?
Sometimes noticing that it feels busy.
Sometimes it's more quiet.
We don't have to fix or change anything in this moment.
We're just noticing.
What's the mind like today?
We might even ask,
Are there any patterns or thoughts that might want to be let go?
Just noticing what comes up.
Orang Cha reminds us that if you let go a little,
You will find a little peace.
If you let go a lot,
You will find a lot of peace.
If you let go absolutely,
You will find absolute peace and tranquility.
Remembering as we move into this next part of the practice where we're inviting letting go through the body,
We don't need to force anything.
This is a very gentle invitation.
Whatever is ready to let go of,
We can let go of it.
Just as the leaves in the fall let go in their own time,
Or the ripe fruit falls from the tree in the right time,
We don't need to force it.
We can trust it.
Just offering an invitation.
Anything that wants to be let go of,
We have the space to do it.
As we bring our attention back to this one breath,
We might begin to practice letting go on the exhale.
As we exhale,
Completely let go.
It's a completely uncontrolled exhale.
Just notice what that feels like as we breathe in.
Let the belly fall.
Let the breath go.
Notice what it feels like when we let go on the exhale without any need to control.
Just let the breath go.
And then allowing the breath to return to its natural rhythm,
Just making note of what that felt like to let go completely through the breath.
Begin to offer this invitation of letting go into our bodies,
Bringing our attention down to our feet,
Our toes,
To our legs.
Is there anything that's ready to be let go of?
Do we notice any tension?
Any contraction?
We might just allow a softening around anywhere that we feel contraction.
I give my body permission to let go where it's ready to let go.
I might relax around the muscles of the legs or the feet.
I might imagine ice melting.
I'm bringing this invitation to let go up through the pelvic floor into the abdomen,
Up into the chest.
Maybe we soften in the belly ever so slightly.
You might imagine all the connective tissue inside of the abdomen just releasing ever so slightly.
If there's any tension between the ribs,
Any tension around the heart or the lungs.
Imagine the softening melting away.
It's okay to let go of anything that we're holding on to.
Allowing the softening,
Letting go of tension to come up through the spine along the back.
Anything we're ready to let go of,
We might just invite that softening.
I give my body permission to let go where it's ready to let go.
Noticing sensations in the arms and the fingers up into the shoulders.
Anything that's ready to let go,
Any tension,
Any holding,
Any stored patterns.
We might even allow the exhale to support us in letting go through the body as we breathe in.
Breathe out,
We let go of any tension.
Allow the shoulders to drop a little bit.
Letting go of any contraction,
Any patterns that no longer serve.
Offering the same invitation up into the throat and the neck,
The face and the head.
Holding any tension through our eyes,
Our jaws.
Even just a very slight softening of the muscles might help us let go.
Imagining the melting away of tension wherever it's ready to let go.
I give my body permission to let go where it's ready to let go.
Noticing what it's like to let go through the body.
Letting go of tension,
Letting go of contraction.
Letting go of patterns that no longer serve us.
And then bringing this invitation of letting go up into the space of the mind.
As we notice patterns in the mind,
Is there anything that's ready to be let go of?
Any beliefs that maybe we picked up along the way,
Kept us safe for a while.
Now we know a more true way.
We offer the invitation,
It's okay to let go.
It's okay to let go of these patterns,
These beliefs that don't serve us anymore.
If it's helpful to use a mantra,
I give myself permission to let go of these mental patterns.
Maybe we use visualization,
Imagining that the thought itself can just dissolve like a cloud.
It's here and then it's gone into vast spaciousness.
This awareness that is our essence.
Remembering that thoughts can be real but not true.
Changing our relationship to these beliefs that maybe have felt very solid.
Is it time to let go?
Is it time to let go?
It might be helpful to imagine these thought patterns just dropping down into the space of the heart.
This heart wisdom,
This loving kindness.
Can hold these beliefs and help us to let go of the firm grip that we might have around them.
I give myself permission to let go of mental patterns that no longer serve me.
I give myself permission to let go of mental patterns that no longer serve me.
Returning to the breath for a few breaths.
Two breaths.
Breathing in,
Breathing out,
One breath at a time.
Noticing what it feels like in the body.
As we let go of things,
Do we notice any shift?
Sometimes we might feel like we cling a little tighter.
That's okay.
We just continue to offer the invitation when the time is right.
May I be able to let go?
As we close the practice,
We might allow these words from Mary Oliver to come into our beings.
We might receive it in the way that's most natural for us.
In Blackwater Wood,
Look,
The trees are turning their own bodies into pillars of light.
Are giving off the rich fragrance of cinnamon and fulfillment.
The long tapers of cattails are bursting and floating away over the blue shoulders of the ponds.
And every pond,
No matter what its name is,
Is nameless now.
Every year,
Everything I have ever learned in my lifetime leads back to this.
The fires and the black river of loss,
Whose other side is salvation.
Whose meaning none of us will ever know.
To live in this world,
You must be able to do three things.
To love what is mortal.
To hold it against your bones,
Knowing your own life depends on it.
And when the time comes to let it go,
To let it go.
Just sit in silence for a few moments.
And whenever you're ready,
You can open your eyes if your eyes were closed.
Take your time.
You can bring a little bit of movement into the body if that feels appropriate.
Thank you.
