Welcome to part 3,
The release in the four-part meditation and breathwork series for heartbreak,
Healing,
Loss,
And grief in the daily practice section of the self-study portal.
In the first meditation we discovered the physiology of love,
Developing a keen understanding of love's impact on the body and the mind,
And more specifically what happens to our brains,
Bodies,
And nervous systems when we experience heartbreak,
Grief,
Loss,
And love.
In the second meditation we work to mend those pieces,
Holding them with compassion,
Softening into resilience,
And practice remembering that your heart is not broken beyond repair,
That rather it is alive,
It is strong,
And it is whole.
In this meditation we work to release stored tension,
Grief,
Heartbreak,
And trauma in the body,
Turning inwards as a means of healing and self-discovery through breath and imagery.
Let's begin.
Find a comfortable position seated or lying down.
Let your body be supported.
Close your eyes if it feels safe,
And begin by noticing the places where you are holding on.
Perhaps the shoulders are heavy.
Perhaps the throat feels tight.
Perhaps the belly feels guarded.
Bring your awareness gently to those places,
Not to force change,
But simply to witness.
And whisper silently to yourself,
I see you.
I hear you.
I am here.
Release is not about forgetting.
It's not about erasing the memory or denying the depth of love and loss.
To release is to practice the gentle art of loosening our grip,
Of allowing the body,
The heart,
And the nervous system to surrender what they no longer need to carry.
When grief holds us,
The body often bears its weight.
Shoulders curl forward as though trying to shield the heart.
The jaw clenches,
Storing words unspoken.
The breath grows shallow as if bracing for another blow.
The nervous system replays the story of loss again and again as though keeping watch might prevent it from happening once more.
But true release is not abandonment.
It's not a betrayal of love.
Release is the offering of freedom to ourselves,
To the memories we carry,
To the future waiting quietly at our threshold.
Release is the soft exhale after holding too tightly.
A hand opening to the sky after clinging to a stone.
In this meditation,
We will soften the body,
Release held emotions,
And allow grief to move like a river,
Flowing forward,
Carrying what is heavy downstream,
Making space for peace,
For renewal,
And for the next season of your becoming.
Before we move into the imagery portion of this practice,
We'll spend some time with a breath pattern designed to soften the body and gently regulate the nervous system in order to fully absorb the healing benefits of this type of work.
Begin this pattern by noticing the natural rhythm of your breath.
No need to change it yet.
Just observe.
Notice where you might sense tension or unease in the body.
You don't need to place meaning or create a story around this tension.
Rather,
Just witness and observe here.
See if you can extend your exhale to be longer than your inhale now,
Activating your parasympathetic nervous system,
And allowing your mind and body to soften.
This extended exhale is key.
It activates the parasympathetic nervous system and signals the body that it is safe to rest and safe to release.
So as you breathe in this way,
Imagine your inhales drawing in light,
Nourishment,
And strength.
Imagine your exhales carrying out heaviness and heartbreak and sorrow.
Imagine on your exhales that you are releasing one layer of tension,
One stone from your chest,
One knot from your stomach.
And if it feels supportive,
You might choose to add a sigh to the exhale.
Letting the sound carry away what words cannot.
Humming or making any sound here that might be calling to you.
Make it loud if you're feeling called to.
Make it reverent if you're feeling called to.
Release whatever is hanging on here.
Whatever you no longer need to carry.
Let's take two more rounds of these deep inhales and audible exhales together.
Breathing in and audible exhale.
Sigh to release and let go.
Last inhale.
Picturing something you're ready to release here.
Pick it up like a heavy stone and just drop it.
Let it fall to your feet.
Letting go of any tension.
Letting go of what you're holding on to.
And letting go of that breathing pattern.
Just let go.
Feel the body settle.
With every exhale,
Feel more release.
And with every inhale,
Imagine new life force entering your body.
Bring your awareness now to your heart.
Imagine you are holding it gently in your hands.
Noticing the weight of all that it carries.
Love,
Grief,
Longing,
Memory.
And with every exhale,
Picture some of that weight lifting.
As though your breath itself is lightening the load.
Now see a river flowing before you,
Wide and steady.
See yourself approaching its edge with all that you've been holding.
Every moment,
Every ache,
Every unspoken word.
One by one,
Imagine placing these into the river.
Watch as the current carries them away.
Not erasing them,
But returning them to the flow of life.
Where they no longer need to stay lodged within you.
Whisper to yourself,
I release what no longer serves me.
I release with love.
I release with trust.
Feel your shoulders soften.
Your belly loosen.
Your jaw unclench.
Sense the body's relief in the act of letting go.
Golden light filling the spaces that were once occupied by pain.
Draw this light into your heart.
Into your chest.
And into your whole body.
Imagine your grief as a river inside you.
A river that has been dammed,
Held back,
Pooling heavy and stagnant.
And with each exhale,
See the stones of the dam shift.
Cracks appear.
Water begins to trickle through them and then flow.
Slowly,
The river begins to move again.
Carrying the weight forward.
Back into the great ocean.
With every short breath hold,
Imagine that you are holding a leaf upon the water.
In this stillness,
You honor the love,
The memory,
The ache.
And then,
When you exhale,
You release.
Watch that leaf float away.
Carried by that current,
Now moving.
Now flowing free.
That leaf.
That whatever you were holding,
It's not to be forgotten.
It's not discarded.
Rather,
It's simply free.
Repeat this again and again.
Inhale,
Receiving life.
Hold,
Honoring what has been.
Exhale,
Release the weight.
Pause,
Resting in renewal.
And now see your heart as a great window,
Slowly opening.
With each breath,
The window widens.
Fresh air enters.
Carrying new possibility.
Carrying light.
You are not closing the door on love.
You are opening the door to your life.
Take a deep breath in.
And a long exhale out.
Notice how your body feels after releasing.
Even if just a little.
Remember that release is not a one-time act.
But a practice.
A continual softening into freedom.
This is the truth of release.
Not erasure,
Not abandonment,
But transformation.
What was once clutched tightly has been set free.
And in its place is room for breath,
For peace,
For what comes next.
Rest in this awareness.
I do not need to cling to the past to honor it.
I can hold love without holding the pain.
In release,
I create space for renewal.
Staying here for as long as you'd like.
Breathing.
Resting.
Allowing the music to carry you deeper into spaciousness.
