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Guided Meditation: Letting Go

Hello, dear community, sangha^[1]. Happy to be here, and happy to see the good mornings from all over. Seeing some of the familiar names is very nice.

The primary characteristic of the Buddha's teachings, the primary reference point for them, is liberation. The simplest liberation is liberation from suffering. There are all these wonderful words considered in the ancient languages—all these synonyms for liberation—given how important it is. In English, we could translate it as freedom, emancipation, or release.

One of my favorite words for this liberation is release. I associate it with the right moment when an apple is fully ripe and it drops from the tree. It's released from the tree, and at the right moment, there is this release, a letting go that happens in the mind. The experience of release is a little bit like letting go, like an apple falling away, but also like a cloud drifting in an endless sky with no obstructions. Nothing hinders the cloud from floating in this vast space.

To sit and meditate with a reference to freedom—spiritual freedom of the heart, of the mind, a release of clinging, of holding, a release from our suffering—is to have some sense that this is always present for you. Sometimes we get fixated on our suffering, our concerns, and our worries, but maybe just beyond the edges of our concerns, there is space. There is a kind of freedom, and in that space, we can release and let go into the absence of suffering.

There is definitely suffering, which is huge, that people experience. I don't want to belittle it. But as we sit in mindfulness, we discover that it's not the full picture. We can sit and be mindful with the suffering, and the part that's sitting with the suffering doesn't suffer. Or we can be aware that there's something beyond the edges of suffering. One way or the other, we sit with a reference to release, to freedom, and to be interested in that. Value that more than valuing suffering, more than being interested in what we're concerned with or clinging to. Do not diminish or dismiss anything, but also do not shortchange ourselves from the potential of being at peace in the middle of whatever is happening.

Guided Practice

If you can, take a meditation posture. Perhaps this feeling of the sense of freedom, little hints of it, can be found in the freedom to adjust your posture, move around a little bit, sway, twist, and straighten out whatever feels nice for you. You have the freedom to do that. When I first started meditating more than forty years ago, I was instructed to flap my elbows a little bit so the elbows could be free, making sure that the arms were not held tight, setting the arms a little bit loose, and releasing.

Gently close the eyes. Another place of release might be to drop your mouth open slightly. Release it, maybe letting go of some of the holding and tension around the jaw. And then gently float the teeth back together.

Begin a meditation session by relaxing the body. In each little movement of relaxation is a little taste of freedom, of release. As you exhale, relax the face: the muscles around the eyes, the forehead, the cheeks, and the jaws. As you exhale, relax around the neck, maybe especially the back of the neck, the vertebrae of the neck, and release the shoulders. However little you can relax the shoulders, there's a little taste of freedom there—the release of the apple falling from the tree.

Even just bringing the attention to the belly is a movement of freedom. Bring the attention to the belly, and as you exhale, relax. Soften the belly. Similarly down through the legs, maybe there are muscles in the thighs or calves that can be softened and released. The tops of the thighs, and maybe even something in the feet and the ankles can be released.

Some people brace themselves against life with their whole body, or are eagerly leaning into the next thing. As you exhale, relax. Let go. Relax the whole body.

Perhaps if you stay relaxed in your mind, when you let your awareness take in the experience of breathing, that act of awareness can be an expression of freedom. The freedom to direct attention without strain and tension, and then to attune yourself to the body's experience of breathing.

There are little moments of freedom in the breathing itself. The release that allows for the exhale. If you have some sense of the inhale beginning by itself, you can also feel the freedom with which the body begins to breathe in. The freedom of deciding that the inhale is finished, and turning over to the exhale.

Maybe the freedom of breathing is better experienced if you metaphorically take a few steps back with awareness. Sit in an easy chair, and just allow the breathing to breathe itself. You, sitting in the easy chair, simply observe breathing occurring.

As you stay with your breathing, inevitably, naturally enough, you'll get caught up in your thoughts and ideas, or your reactions, or your judgments of what's happening. Maybe you can feel how each of those is a little bit a loss of freedom, a contraction, holding on, latching on. Rather than thinking you have to get rid of that to be free, perhaps your mindfulness of those states is where the freedom is found. You're free to be aware of them. There is no need to make anything of them or judge them. It's mindfulness with it. It's the mind with suffering with it.

Being mindful of the clinging you have, the attachments, the thinking you do, and being aware of all the space around it. With an act of release, let go of your interest and involvement with those things. Then begin again with your breathing, seeing if there's a way to be aware freely, with freedom in the mindfulness.

And as we continue sitting here, anything else that, besides the breathing, occurs to you—any thought, any sound, any sensation, any emotion or feeling that arises—only practice letting go of it. Letting go of any grip or holding or concern with it. Release yourself from that. Release yourself like an apple releases itself from the tree. And as the apple falls to the ground, so allow your attention to fall back into the breathing.

The practice is to be mindful of breathing, and at all other times, just let go. Let go, let go, let go. Even letting go of trying too hard, or letting go of confusion and uncertainty. Letting go of doubts and resistance to this. Just let go of all things and fall back into the breathing.

Let go of your interests. Let go of your involvement with all thoughts, feelings, ideas, attitudes, reactions, sounds. Let go, and fall back into just breathing.

Then, if you can, to be complete in the letting go, also let go of your breathing, your involvement with breathing. So you're letting go of all things, everywhere. Letting go of your involvement, your concern with anything at all. Just let go. Letting go of everything like an apple falling from the tree, but there's no ground to fall to. Just falling in vast space safely.

Remembering to let go. Let go in a relaxed way, not needing to do it right. Letting go of doing it right. Letting go of the consequences, the ideas, the fears. If you simply keep letting go, it's safe. Like the apple falling from the tree, just falling with no ground to hit. Or maybe like a bird that releases its grip on the branch and soars off into space. Letting go, letting go, so you can fly and soar in freedom.

Reflections

And then, as we come to the end of the sitting, appreciate some quality, some characteristics of freedom that's easy for you to appreciate. Maybe peace, relief, non-oppression, absence of suffering, or greater ease.

Consider how wonderful it would be if other people could also experience inner freedom, so that they are not oppressed by their thoughts and concerns, the way they think about themselves, or the way they are attached to things. That they also may have a heart which is at ease, at peace, that is free. How wonderful that would be.

To some degree, your well-being is related to their well-being. It's the heart's wish to share freedom. It's the heart's wish to want this for others. May this day that we go forth be a day where we talk, live, and behave in ways that support the freedom of others. May we not be a source of encouraging them to feel tense, worried, or afraid. May we be forces of freedom for this world.

May all beings be happy.
May all beings be safe.
May all beings be free.
And may we live in this world free together.
May all beings be free.

Thank you.