This activity is meant to help you to learn what it means to “let go” and relax by actively practicing this theory in life. In my experience, when someone says let go or relax, it can be a little elusive because no one really taught us how to do this. Hopefully this introduction will help you to first understand what it is and how it feels, which in turn should help you to practice it out in the “real” world.
“Letting go involves being aware of a feeling, letting it come up, staying with it, and letting it run its course without wanting to make it different or do anything about it. It means simply to let the feeling be there and to focus on letting out the energy behind it. The first step is to allow yourself to have the feeling without resisting it, venting it, fearing it, condemning it or moralizing about it. It means to drop judgment and see that it is just a feeling. The technique is to be with the feeling and surrender all efforts to modify it in any way. Let go of wanting to resist the feeling. It is resistance that keeps the feeling going. When you give up resisting or trying to modify the feeling, it will shift to the next feeling and be accompanied by a lighter sensation.” – directly quoted from Dr. David R. Hawkin’s book Letting Go: The Pathway to Surrender.
To use everyday examples of things that easily cause a reaction or disturbance in the mind and body to help us practice relaxing and releasing.
We tend to let ourselves get bothered by the little, meaningless things that happen every day.
Two of the most common reactions (and quite easy to work with) are traffic/road rage and thoughts about the weather.
First take a sticky note and write “Relax & Release” on it. Place it somewhere in your car where you can safely and easily see it. When something frustrates you or anger comes up inside you when a someone is driving slow, beeps at you, or just drives plan ol stupid.
As these little things happen, you will feel your energy change. The moment you feel a change, ***relax your shoulders and ***relax the area around your heart. The moment the energy moves, you simply relax and release. Play with letting go and falling behind this sense of being bothered until you have achieved a relaxed state.
