The Bravery In Letting Go

Hi,

I'm Gabby Makra and welcome to this meditation.

I really see meditation as a true act of bravery.

Meditation is a place we come to,

To go inwards,

To explore,

To accept,

To love what's there,

And then ultimately to let it go,

To create space.

And I think that takes a lot of bravery.

So welcome to this guided meditation on letting go,

Stepping into that bravery.

When you already find a comfortable seat,

Sitting up nice and tall,

Feet flat on the ground,

Hands gently resting on the thighs.

Feel the sit bones on the chair,

On the seat beneath you.

Find a long straight spine,

All from the tailbone through the lower back,

Middle back,

Upper back,

Up the neck and all the way through to the crown of the head.

There's a little rope there,

Pulling you nice and tall.

Shoulders open,

Gently the collarbones spread wide,

Softening the muscles,

The skin through the arms,

The shoulders,

The back.

Fist bone through the front of the rib cage,

The belly.

Soften around the face,

The eyes,

The cheeks,

The jaw.

Even allowing the chin to bow slightly towards the chest.

Allowing your attention,

Your awareness to draw inwards,

Drawing in to the center,

To the core of your being.

Begin to tune in to draw your awareness to the rhythm of the breath.

Maybe that's feeling the breath around the rib cage,

The lungs,

The expansion,

The inhales,

The drawing in on the exhales.

Maybe it's around the belly and the waist,

Filling up the expanding and contracting there.

Maybe it's both,

Feeling the rhythm through the whole torso.

Maybe it's around the shoulders,

The collarbones,

Gentle rise and fall as the breath enters and leaves.

Wherever the focus is most drawn to,

Allow the attention,

The awareness to rest gently there.

Feeling the quality of the breath in this moment.

The length,

The cadence,

Smoothness.

Breath is a window into our state of being,

Our minds,

Our bodies,

Our emotions.

And taking a moment to anchor in to root ourselves.

Back to the feet on the ground,

The solid earth beneath you.

Back to the hands on the thighs,

The connection,

The line between the feet,

The hands.

And allow the awareness to come back all the way to the center,

To the core,

Anchoring there with the support of the other two anchors at your hands,

At your feet.

We're going to sit in the seat at the center at the core.

It's from here that we're going to explore a little bit.

And I invite you to bring something to your awareness that at the moment is holding you back in some way.

It might be tempting to think of something external,

Something out of your control,

Something that's happening or being done to you.

Whatever that is,

See if you can draw your attention to what it is within you that is related to that.

So drawing the awareness to that piece that we can control.

Maybe it's a thought,

An emotion,

It's fear,

Sadness or anger.

That's something that's there that is holding us back from moving,

Moving forward or in any direction that we would like to move.

See if you can step back from whatever that is,

Allow yourself to observe it from a bit of a distance.

See if you can bring a bit of a lens of impartiality to observing it.

Where does that thing come from?

What does it look like?

What does it feel like?

Maybe it even has a smell or a taste.

See if we can step away,

Drop away from any story that might come with it.

Really stepping into a space of observing.

Maybe even going a step further.

Beginning to shift our perspective,

Beginning to maybe recognize or see that whatever that thing is,

Our body,

Our mind,

Our being,

Maybe it originally brought it into the mix because it served a purpose.

Your minds,

Our bodies were in a way trying to help,

Trying to protect,

Trying to keep us safe.

Our minds,

Our bodies do this in the best way that they know how at any given moment.

Seeing if you can step into that perspective of maybe even appreciating the intent behind why that thing is there.

Maybe even that it came from a place of kindness and love,

A place that was trying to keep you safe.

Feeling that that's not the role it's playing now.

And that it's time to release,

To let go.

Just preparing yourself to begin to let it go.

It might be something that you're able to fully let go now,

But it may be something that you come back to over and over again.

Letting go a little bit more each time you sit down to practice.

For now,

Let's spend a bit of time letting as much as we can go.

Connecting back with your breath,

Find that rhythm again.

Feel the inhales,

Feel the exhales.

You're beginning to lengthen the exhales slightly.

Begin to breathe gently out through the mouth,

Slightly purse the lips.

We're going to begin to release that thing that was holding us back.

Simply repeating the words let on our inhales.

Go on the exhale.

Gently,

Softly in your own mind.

Breathing let,

Exhaling go.

Inhale let,

Exhale go.

Keep on repeating these two words in your own rhythm,

Following your own breath.

And with every exhale,

Begin to release that thing that was holding you back.

Let it leave you with your breath.

Let your body,

Your muscles and skin soften as you release it.

Leave through your pores.

Release gently from your fingertips,

From your toes.

Release from every pore in every direction.

Every exhale a little bit more and a little bit more released.

Feeling the weight lifting,

Feeling yourself getting lighter.

Starting on the inhales to connect with a sense of energy,

Of nourishment being drawn in.

Still letting go on the exhales releasing.

On the inhales begin to allow those spaces that you've cleared,

That you've opened to draw in nourishment,

To draw in energy,

To draw in the goodness that you deserve.

And with that nourishment,

That goodness,

Feel the strengthening.

From that place of strengthening maybe even allowing yourself to let go of that thing a little bit more.

Just sitting with that rhythm,

With that cycle of nourishment and release.

Inhale let exhale go.

Keep going in your own rhythm,

In your own mind.

Inhale let exhale go.

Take two more rounds,

Two more cycles of breath.

And beginning to gently release the words,

Release the mantra,

The natural rhythm of the breath return.

Coming back to those points of anchor,

Come back to the center,

The core.

Feel the connection with the hands,

The feet,

The ground.

Let's take a nice few deep cleansing breaths before we finish.

A nice deep inhale in through the nose,

Filling up the lungs,

The edges,

The corners,

The sides.

Exhale open the mouth,

Sighing it out.

A couple more deep inhale.

Exhale sighing it out.

Last one,

Deep inhale.

Big sigh out.

Returning to the breath,

The rhythm.

Invite you to take the right hand,

Place it over the chest at the heart center.

Take the left hand,

Place it over the right.

Taking a moment and simply thanking yourself,

Acknowledging you took the time,

Not just the time you sat down with the courage,

With some bravery to go inwards to explore,

Maybe even to find a bit of acceptance for something that was difficult to accept.

For taking steps to release,

To let go,

Thank yourself for being here.

When you're ready,

Take the left and the right palms together,

Give them a bit of a rub,

Some friction,

Some heat.

Place the palms over the eyes,

Allow the eyes to start to flutter open gently.

Maybe spreading those fingertips with a little bit more light back in.

And then as in when you're ready in your own time,

Releasing the hands back down to the lap and give yourself as much time as you need to come back to the space.