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Guided Meditation: Mindful Letting Go

Warm greetings. Many years ago, I heard a saying that came out of Alcoholics Anonymous. The saying, and the kind of wisdom teaching it holds, is, "Bring your body, and the mind will follow." I think this practice principle works very well for Vipassanā^[1] practice: embody your body, connect to your body, and then the more you're connected to your body, the mind will find its way, or the mind will follow. Specifically, as the body becomes—as we let go, which in bodily terms often means relaxing or releasing the tensions and holdings of the body—it encourages the mind to begin to release as well, to relax.

Sometimes people live with a real divide between their head, their mind, and their body. That divide can be felt. There's a kind of concentration of sensations, a sense of location, hardness, pressure, heaviness, or contraction somewhere, maybe in the head area, that is quite compelling. It has a gravitational force that pulls us into it. But the more that is there, the more it attempts to create a divide between the body and the mind. That contraction, that heaviness, that sense of strong location is a form of attachment, or a sort of clinging and holding. So, as we relax the body, we start noticing the places in the body—like in the head, associated with the mind—that are holding as well. Slowly, slowly, we release, relax, open the body, and open the mind until the body and the mind are not separate. They become one harmonious field of clarity.

Take a comfortable, upright posture. Literally upright, or metaphorically upright in the sense that upright might mean with integrity and honesty. Close your eyes. With the eyes closed, turn on the light within your body in the sense of becoming aware of the sensations of your body. Notice, as you feel your body, if any of the places in your body attract attention. Is there tension or holding there? That tension and holding can be physical. It can also be the tension and holding associated with the mind's concern about that part of your body.

As you exhale, perhaps there can be a beginning of a process of relaxing, softening the hardness, the tension, and the holding that might be there. Rather than being disturbed or concerned about the tensions, holdings, and attachments that you have, be appreciative of the opportunity to know they are there and to begin a process of softening, relaxing, and letting go. Every little movement of softening and relaxing has within it some modicum of goodness, of pleasure, of rightness.

Perhaps softening in the belly. Relaxing the belly, the sides of the waist, and the small of the back. Relaxing and softening around the solar plexus and the diaphragm. Even if nothing relaxes, there is a kind of opening or allowing that can be brought to whatever is there. Relaxing in the chest, softening. If there is some holding, resistance, or contraction associated with the chest breathing, it's okay. As the breathing and the movements of the breath come and go, arise and pass, expand and contract, massage, touch gently, and caress the place of holding and tension.

Softening and relaxing in the face. Maybe every time you exhale, let the muscles that work throughout the day soften and relax, letting the face rest. If there's any sense of concentrating yourself in the area of your brain, your head, or any tension, heaviness, and pressure that may be associated with thinking, see if you can loosen up. Loosen, expand, soften, and spread out the tensions of the mind every time you exhale.

Take a few moments to center yourself on your breathing, the rhythms of breathing. Every time you exhale, let there be relaxing and releasing in the body, releasing in the mind. Every time you inhale, allow yourself to spaciously and generously receive your experience. Receive anything, any place in the body that calls attention to itself, and then as you exhale, release and relax. Sometimes releasing muscles in the body, sometimes releasing the mind—the concern, the preoccupation, the attachment, the tightness in the mind.

If things don't relax or release easily, that's okay. You might have to let go of wanting them to relax, trying to. Instead, letting go is letting be. Just let it be, breathe with it, breathe through it. To simply know what's going on is a kind of letting go. Just to be present for what is, one breath at a time. Relaxing your body into those places where you're not so aware of your body. Relaxing your mind into the body.

Reflections

As we learn the art of letting go, of relaxing, we learn to let go of those things which are not useful. When we meet other people, we can learn to let go of our projections, our bias, our judgments, and assumptions. We can let go of our attachments and resistances that interfere with our ability to respect the person we're with. To let them be who they are with respect, and to be able to listen deeply, feel deeply, and know deeply the person as they are instead of as we assume.

Perhaps that will allow us more often to see the great value and beauty of others, to see the depth of their being and the range of feelings, suffering, and joys that they have. May our love, our care, and our goodwill be clean and simple, unencumbered by the assumptions, biases, and projections we have. May our capacity to let go let our goodwill for the world shine cleanly, simply, and directly out upon the people we encounter and know.

And for our society, for all the different factions of our society, and for all the different people of this world, may we equally spread our love, our goodwill, our kindness. So that we can genuinely wish:

May all beings be happy. May all beings be at peace. May all beings be respected and valued. May all beings be free. May all beings be happy.