The Idea of Letting Go
Some of the concepts within yoga can be so conceptual that it is difficult to grasp them, let alone integrate them into your practice. So today, we are going to confront the idea of “Letting Go”.
We can not emphasize the importance of this action in our practice and in everyday life, mainly because we store and hold onto so much that is not serving us throughout our lives, from painful experiences, times we feel we have been wronged, to self judgement and expectations. It is as if there is a massive store room in our hearts and we are just filling it with old useless experiences and expectations. These are causing us to act and feel a certain way everyday, and this kind of baggage can get heavy sometimes, so allow yourself to have a regular spring clean through your yoga practice.
In yoga classes, we often tell you to relax the body, and to let go every time you exhale, to let go of physical tension, of anything that is not serving you, of pain, of expectation. Now this may seem pretty simple, to bring to mind something which you know you do not want to carry around anymore, and exhale to release it out into the Universe.
However, there is a fine line between repressing and letting go, so be aware, that sometimes we say to ourselves, “Wow, I don’t need to feel/think like that, I am making a conscious decision to feel otherwise”. This is very self-aware, but could be leading to us suppressing and repressing something, by placing it back on the shelf of our storage unit and hiding it away again, almost as though to dispose of it would be too messy and involve some ugly process and we do not want to do that either. Therefore, we place it back on the shelf and this will continue to affect our behavior.
In fact, Letting Go doesn’t always feel good when you are doing it, sometimes it involves tears, or physical pain, so if something really does need to be Let Go, and it brings something uncomfortable with it, then ride that wave too.
Featured Image: Pixabay/Nikolapeskova
