Article on learning to let things be
Cultivating the attitude of letting go or non-attachment is fundamental to the practice of mindfulness. But our conditioning is to hold on to things: we hold on to our experiences, the way things are supposed to be, beliefs, material goods, our ideas of what we think life is about. Letting go is not easy. Meditation practice can help us to find composure and resilience in the midst of all the changes in our life. It helps us see that everything passes and that we can rest in the midst of change.
In Blackwater Woods by Mary Oliver
In this poignant poem, Mary Olive describes letting go as the task of living.
Letting everything be (20 min)
Cultivating an attitude of letting go or non-attachment is fundamental to the practice of mindfulness.
Thai forest Buddhist teacher Ajahn Chah reflected: “If you let go a little, you ‘ll have a little peace, if you let go a lot, you’ll find a lot of peace, if you let go completely, you’ll find absolute peace and tranquility”
Fresh Pause (5 min)
Mindfulness is about meeting our experience fresh, in the moment. Being completely open in our meditation. Today I invite you to practice bringing this quality of freshness and not knowing to each moment.
Pause Regard Neuf (5 min)
La pleine conscience consiste à rencontrer notre expérience avec un regard neuf, dans l’instant. Être complètement ouvert dans notre méditation. Aujourd’hui je vous invite à pratiquer en apportant cette qualité de fraîcheur et de ne pas savoir à chaque instant.
Pratique pour lâcher prise (25 min)
Cultiver l’attitude de lâcher-prise ou de non-attachement est fondamental pour la pratique de la pleine conscience. La pratique de la méditation peut nous aider à trouver le calme et la résilience au milieu de tous les changements de notre vie. Cela nous aide à voir que tout passe et que nous pouvons nous reposer au milieu du changement.
Gratitude practice (20 min)
“Gratitude, gladness, and related feelings like appreciation are easy to dismiss, but studies in fact show that cultivating them has lasting and important benefits, including lifting your mood, increasing satisfaction with life, and building resilience.” – Rick Hanson, Ph.D. In this practice, you will learn to cultivate appreciation for the life that is right here and now.
Mindful Body Scan (25 min)
The basic meditation instructions to practice the body scan are to be mindful of the changing stream of sensations without trying to hold on to any of them, change them or resist them. It does not mean standing apart or observing from a distance but rather directly experiencing what is happening in the body. The two questions “what is happening inside me?” and “can I be with this?” help to bring a profound presence with the body.
Mindful Pause to Relax the Body (8 min)
Whenever you feel tense, give yourself permission to pause and practice a short body scan to help release the tensions in the body and the mind.
The Way It Is by Lynn Ungar
This poem speaks about one of the fruits of mindfulness practice: the grace and quiet joy that can come with radical acceptance. And of how this is often a gradual shift, almost unnoticed until reading back a journal from a few years ago, or speaking with a friend you’ve lost touch with for a while. And suddenly you notice: I’m not so hard on myself as I used to be, or: there is more spaciousness in my day to day life even though I still do all these things that are important to me, or: I move through my life with more joy in my heart.
