I am reading and rereading the book Letting Go: The Pathway Of Surrender by David Hawkins. I highly recommend going to the library or bookstore and reading pages 19 through 25. Seriously, this information can really help you process challenging emotions and gain insights into your health and life. Here is the first paragraph of that section, The Mechanism of Letting Go:
“Letting go involves being aware of a feeling, letting it come up, staying with it, and letting it 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 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 to 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 resistance that keeps the feeling going. When you give up the resisting or trying to modify the feeling, it will shift to the next feeling and be accompanied by a lighter session. A feeling that is not resisted will disappear as the energy behind it dissipates.”
Some mornings, this is my entire meditation. If I wake up feeling uneasy or especially stiff, I focus my attention as Dr. Hawkins describes above. I have found this also works incredibly well with physical pain. Often, the sensation will move to another part of my body. Thoughts and memories sometimes surface, but when I focus on what is in my body, I bypass my mind and can easily track the sensation. The more I do it, the more I get out of it.
Energy can be experienced kinesthetically as hot, cold, heavy, or tight (the most common sensation). It can have a color or feel chaotic, carbonated, or spikey. I am usually surprised by what happens.
I have been doing this with clients for the last several years before we even get to the healing table, and they are blown away. I am blown away; it’s amazing. It is also much easier when you do it with someone holding space.
Take care, and Happy New Year.
Jeri Lawson has a full-time healing practice in Oakland, California. She is available Monday through Friday for Healing Touch, Reiki, and Clarity Breathwork.
510-601-9632 jerilawson@mac.com
“Letting go is like the sudden cessation of an inner pressure or the dropping of a weight. It is accompanied by a sudden feeling of relief and lightness, with an increase of happiness and freedom. It is an actual mechanism of the mind, and everyone has experienced it on occasion.”