“When you allow the river of life, symbolised by our breath, run it’s course unobstructed through surrender… you allow yourself to be naturally carried to your authentic self.”
Often we are told to ‘let go’ when practicing yoga. But what does this expression mean when we are on our mat? How can I practice letting go? What do I need to do, think and feel to let go?
Why letting go?
The concept of ‘letting go’ implies we are holding on to something.
‘holding on’ means that on some level we are blocking the flow of life and sooner or later this will create some form of tension that will manifest itself in various ways that will prevent us from feeling free and healthy. By consciously letting go when doing yoga we are reconditioning ourselves every time we practice awareness and release tension.
To be able to let go we need to be able to recognize when we are holding on to something and on what level. Let us look at some things we may be holding onto.
Holding on to resistance
Often during assana and pranayama practice we hold on to our resistance to some of the sensations we are going through in a pose and or breathing technique. A strong stretch at times can be uncomfortable, emotions can rise to the surface and some new poses might give us a feeling of inadequacy. Instead of accepting and simply observing what is going on we focus on the perceived cause of discomfort and on our resistance. We tend to become reactive and start ‘doing’ things like coming out of a pose, becoming tense and restless, holding our breath and distracting ourselves. During meditation our body might start ‘talking’ to us through pain, itchy sensations and general discomfort. We struggle to sit still and allow our breath and mind to settle down. We start to focus mainly on our discomfort and ‘forget’ about the whole process of just being. We start to ‘hold on’ to our discomfort by allowing it to be dominant in our experience.
Holding on to ideas
Being absorbed in how we ‘think’ a pose should be and comparing ourselves to other students are some of the common patterns of holding on to ideas we have about how things should be. Another idea we often hold on to during yoga practice is what we think we can and cannot do. Time will reveal that many of these thoughts are self-imposed limitations that hold no reality. We find ourselves doing things we held previously to be impossible! In regards to meditation, I often hear students say they get frustrated because they still keep having thoughts! Here again we’re holding on to the idea we have about how meditation should be. “We should not have thought, our mind should be totally still!!” As long we hold on to ideas like these the experience of meditation might take some time to manifest itself.
Letting go
To get us to the point where we can consciously let go we are gently encouraged to surrender and be present. We are reminded by our teachers to bring our awareness, attention and focus to our breathing, to our body and to what we are doing at that moment. By internalising our attention we tend to become ‘aware’ of what is going on in our bodies and mind. We start to disassociate ourselves from thinking and therefore we become more ‘present’, which in turn leads ourselves to freeing more awareness.
This process induces an ‘observing’ state which separates us from what we were holding on to. As a consequence ‘letting go’ starts to happen.
Seeing yoga as an adventure, approaching it with an enquiring mind, exploring your inner world where so much is going on will allow you to become aware of what is real for you at that moment. Having the honest intention to accept without judgement will allow you to be able to let go. Scanning your mind and body while practicing allows you to really discover how yoga is affecting you on the mental and physical level. Scanning your body for any sensations connects you with your body and allows you to remain present and aware. Awareness is the single most important prerequisite for letting go. When you are really ‘in the now’ you will find out there’s nothing to hold on to.
Your body will start to respond to your increase in awareness by letting go and opening up to you. You will notice there’s less rigidity and tension in your physical presence.
When the body lets go, you let go
Fortunately it also works the other way around. When energy blocks in our system start to dissolve and let go, that in turn starts to affect our thinking and perception of life. By doing yoga, pranayama, meditation and by bringing our practice off the mat into our daily lives our whole perception of life starts to transform. The EBR sequences from Dru Yoga are specifically designed for just this purpose. You don’t need to know or analyze the patterns holding you back, the practice of yoga lets go of these blockages in a very natural and effortless way. This whole process will free up consciousness and awareness that can be directed onto experiencing ‘the now’ because there will be more ‘flow’ in your being and life. This means there is less pull by any tension and energetic blockage on your thinking. You’re mind will be more open and easier to direct and control.
Practical exercises during yoga practice:
1. Scanning the body, mind and emotions before, during and after a posture or sequence.
Stand up straight with either your feet together with big toes touching or with your feet at hip width and parallel. Imagine your pelvis to be a bowl of water and center it so no water would spill out at the front or back of the bowl. Pull your lower abdomen in just slightly. Lift your sternum and tuck your chin in a bit. Bring your awareness to the soles of your feet and start to imagine you are breathing in through the soles of your feet allowing your awareness to ride your breath up into your ankles, calfs, knees, thighs, hips and pelvis. Totally aware of any sensation. Just witness, everything is ok and just as it should be. Only observe. Allow your awareness and breath to move up into your belly and chest. Bring your attention to your lower, middle and upper back, into your shoulders, down the upper arms, elbows, forearms, hands and fingertips and back up again towards the shoulders. Breathing into your neck and the whole of your head. Proceed by scanning your mind. Is your mind calm, agitated or neither? What is the quality of your thoughts if any? Do the same for your emotions.
Finish by being aware of the whole of your body at the same time. Feeling the vibrancy of your awareness.
Use this technique before you enter into a posture or sequence, when you are holding the posture or performing a sequence and afterwards. Feel the difference between these different phases. After you get familiar and comfortable with this technique expand it by consciously letting go of all the parts you move your awareness to. Use the exhalation to let go.
Regular practice will transform your whole yogic experience.
2. Meditation - Preparing for meditation (15 min)
One of the most helpful attitudes towards meditation is to have no expectations! Approach it as a chance to simply be. Have the intention to sit forever even if you only have 5 minutes. Intention and preparation is very important with regards to meditating. Warm up your hips by standing on one leg and swinging the other backwards and forwards and change sides. Squeeze your knee towards your chest and rotate it to both sides of your body and change sides. Do triangle pose to activate the energy in the lower energy centers and get it flowing upwards.
Sit in a comfortable position where you can maintain your back erect and straight. Do exercise 1 mentioned above but start to consciously let go on every out breath from the beginning. So bring your awareness to one foot and let go, then to the other foot and let go, then one calf, other calf, etc. Continue working your way up to the crown of you head and work your way back down again.
Proceed to the next stage by bringing your awareness to the tip of your nose and becoming aware of the cool air flowing in on the in breath and the warm air flowing back out on the exhale. Do this for a few minutes and then direct your attention on the inhale through your nostrils down to the base of your spine and on the exhale move your awareness up from the base of your spine and back out of the nostrils. Continue moving your awareness up and down your spine for a few more minutes and finish by focussing on being aware of the whole of your body and your breath at the same time.
When you feel ready lie down onto your back with your legs apart and arms away from your body and rest for a few more moments.
Have fun while practicing and remember to wear a glorious sacred smile!
Great stuff! Thanx!