What If You Let Go Of Your Past?

In this session we begin with a progressive muscle relaxation meditation (gently tensing and lovingly releasing the muscles in the body) We end with a contemplation of the question “What if you let go of your past?”. This track was taken from the course ‘Hunt Your Own Shadow’, available now via my profile on Insight Timer.

Transcript

Hello and welcome to the session, I invite you to take a seat or lay down and get yourself comfortable, You can close down the eyes if you wish and take a deep slow breath in through the nose and out through the mouth. As a lead into this session we're going to work a little bit with full body progressive muscle relaxation, Basically what we're doing here is tensing and releasing our muscles in order and then all together as a way to release as much tension in the body, Calm it down and thus work on calming down and opening up our mind to the question that will come a little bit later on, So take a deep breath in through the nose and out through the mouth and just gently squeeze your feet, Hold that tension to a place that's comfortable and then release and just feel the muscles relaxing, Moving up your body, Tensing all of the muscles in your legs, Hold them at the comfortable level of tension, Doing your best to ensure that all of the different muscles within the leg are activated and then gently, Lovingly releasing them, Moving up to the buttocks and the groin, Just gently activating those muscles and holding that tension and then just letting them release, Moving up to the belly, Squeezing all of the different muscles in your belly, Gently, We don't want to feel pain or discomfort, Just a little bit of tension in the muscles and then gently release them, Moving to the chest now, Gently squeezing the muscles in the chest and release and now to your back, First the lower part of your back, Gently squeezing, Not so much that it hurts, Just enough that the muscles are activated and then just release, Moving up to your back and now your upper back and shoulders, Tensing, Breathing and release and down into your arms, Activating your biceps and your triceps and your forearms, Tensing them and then letting them release, Now your hands, Squeezing, Squeezing, Squeezing and releasing, And up to your neck and your face and your head, Your eyes, Squeezing with a little bit of tension, Making sure all the muscles are activated and then releasing, Progressive bodily relaxation in this way is a good lead in to a meditation session as well as a good way to calm yourself down at the end of the day, After you go through each muscle you can progress to doing your whole body at once and you can use as much or as little tension as you like, So I invite you to tense every muscle in your body, Just comfortably, Just hold that tension from your feet to your legs to your belly to your back to your chest to your arms to your head, Squeeze, Hold and then release, Just take another slow calm breath in through the nose and out through the mouth and just turn your attention to your thoughts, In a moment I'm going to ask you a question twice and we're going to sit in contemplation of it, And I just want you to approach that question from a place of openness, From possibility, From potential, With a supple mind, One that welcomes in possibility and change, Different thoughts will arise, Moods, Emotions, Memories, When they do, Try to approach them with curiosity, Without judgment, Good, Bad or otherwise, It's just what's arising, And by letting them arise without judgment, We're allowing them to arise, We're allowing a freedom, An exploration, To occur that's conducive to awakening, To the granting of wisdom, To the shining of the light upon the shadow, So with that mindset, I invite you to consider, What if you were to let go of your past? What if you were to let go of your past? So this question, What if you were to let go of your past? Invites us to step outside the realm of the ruts, The habits, The personality traits, The routines that we find ourselves in, There's a quote by Alan Watts that really resonates with this question, That goes something along the lines of, You're under no obligation to be who you were five minutes ago, And this speaks to a deep truth, That really, You're free, You don't have to continue down the same path, In this moment, In this day, Or in this year, You can choose to make changes, Now yes those changes will have real world consequences, But often, A lot of the time, Our strongest bonds are by ourselves, On ourselves, To our pasts, I've always voted this way, I've always dated this sort of person, These are the values that I've always adhered to, This is how I view people, View life, View opportunity, View the world, Past trauma, Past issues, Past conflicts, Past interactions, Education, Upbringing, Religion, Society, All of these things condition us to act in a certain way, But the mind is plastic, It can change, It can evolve, It can learn, It can grow, So what if we were to let go of the past? What would that mean? This question makes me feel like the ground is falling away underneath me, There's a little bit of fear arising, Because it's like, Post let go of the past, Who and what am I, On what basis should I act? And if thoughts like this, Or other thoughts are arising for you, I invite you to turn the lens of attention towards them, Just observe them arising, What are you holding on to? Does it serve a purpose? Or is it outdated baggage, That once helped, But now may be hindering? Not only you can answer that question, But just be aware that a lot of, A lot of stuff is in the shadow, Did once serve us, Our responses kept us safe, Kept our egos intact, Helped us to make sense of a confusing world, And we just sort of accept that now, In our everyday adult lives, Without question, Even when those responses don't serve us anymore. Maybe you find yourself overeating, Or putting others before you, Or judging quickly, Or seeking solitude, When you in fact desire company, Is that who you are now? Is that what you want now? Did those patterns of behavior serve you now? And obviously there's this idea that, You know, You are the function of your past, Your past made you, It turned you into who you are, So if we were to take this literally, To let go of your past, There's this feeling that you'll be giving up everything, But I encourage you to step outside of that black and white thinking, And move to a place of, Learning from, But not holding on to, At least not strongly, These responses. You are free right now, To do something you've never done before, To go and ask someone out, To start a new hobby, To write a book, To play a game, To stand outside in the rain and dance, To volunteer at a retirement home, To quit your job, To be a father, You know, Insert any wacky, Wild, Crazy, Different, Alternative response. People are wild, And varied, And interesting, As a collective that is, But each individual person is limited. We tend to fall into ruts of behavior, And responsiveness, And interactions, And artistic creations, And pursuits, And enjoyments, And that's normal, And that's fine, And that's understandable, But it isn't necessarily the best thing, And you don't have to. What if you were to let go of your past? I invite you to sit in contemplation of that, What if you were to let go of your past, And see what arises, Is there an interaction with someone that is unresolved, A bad breakup, Parental connections, Sibling-based connections, Lost friendships, Something from your past that you're still holding on to, That could be best left, That could be dropped, That could be put down, And thus allowing you to walk a little bit freer. In a moment we're going to sit in contemplation of this question again, What if you let go of your past? And I invite you to just sit with whatever arises, And dig deeper, Look for the earliest memory that pops up, And ask yourself, What has this given me? How is this event impacting my current life to this day? Is it serving me? How is it serving me? And could I potentially loosen the grip or influence of this event on my life, Even just a little bit? Our goal is to learn from our past, But to not be a slave to our past. So I invite you to consider, What if you let go of your past? What if you let go of your past? So, Well done. This brings us to the end of the session. At the bottom of your screen, You'll see the option to view the classroom, Or to ask a question. And before moving on, I invite you to take a moment to click through, And share your insights, To read the answers from the other students, And to hear my replies. This is an opportunity for deep learning, Further introspection, And insight. So please don't miss out. I look forward to seeing you in the next session. Thank you. This track was taken from the course, Hunt Your Own Shadow. It's out now, And available through my InsightTimer profile. I invite you to check it out, And I'll see you there.