Happy Fall! This is one of my favorite memes, and I am quick to break it out at this time of year. It’s one of my favorites because it is a sweet reminder of how liberating letting go can be. It literally lightens your load physically, mentally, and/or emotionally.
I don’t know about you, but my mind has a tendency to focus on the loss in letting go. Then, in an effort to avoid any loss, my mind grasps. Can you relate? There’s a whole state of being that comes with grasping for me. It involves tightening and neediness and fear. I might not recognize the fear in the moment, but any grasping is fueled by the fear of loss.
So how can we train our minds to focus on the liberation in letting go, instead of the loss? Practice! What could you let go of right now? Maybe you can let go of a habit you’ve been wanting to change, at least for today (or this hour). Maybe you can let go of some resentment, anger, hurt, or disappointment you’ve been carrying around. Maybe you can let go of your need to be perfect in any area of your life. Or the need to have anyone else be perfect in your life. Or the tendency to talk down to yourself.
Now I recognize that those are pretty big things to let go of, and pretty hard. You could start with some things that are a little sweeter. How about you let go of some love and shower it on other people in your life? You could let go of some smiles, and give one to everyone you come across today. You could let go of some sincere compliments. You could let go of some time, and use it to support a person or a cause.
Your yoga practices support you in mastering the practice of letting go. How cool is that? Not only do you improve your body, mind, and heart with yoga, letting go gets easier. As you practice the yoga poses in asana class, the spinal release melts away tensions. Letting go of those physical tensions has an effect on your mind and emotions. When you repeat mantra, you rewire your brain. That knee jerk reaction to grasp gets reprogrammed. When you chant, you open your heart and quiet your mind. Grasping is hard with an open heart and a quiet mind. When you meditate, you settle in to your Self, which is Consciousness itself. With each meditation, you are rooted more deeply in Self. From Self, the liberation in letting go is very clear.
No matter which practices you choose, bliss is guaranteed. That’s the hallmark of the Svaroopa® sciences, that you will experience the bliss of your own true nature. You cannot experience bliss and fear at the same time. Or bliss and neediness. Or bliss and grasping. As you let go, you get to choose where you focus your mind - loss or liberation?
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