Release and Receive

You know when you feel like you’re holding onto something that isn’t serving you? An emotion, a thought, a resentment, a secret? It can have a tight and gripping feeling, or a fluttery, anxious tummy quality, while other times it’s a head-about-to-explode kind of sensation.

Whatever it is, why hold onto it? It doesn’t serve our emotional, mental, physical or spiritual wellbeing, so why do we grip?

The answer most often is fear. Fear of failure, rejection, loss, pain, shame, embarrassment, discomfort, being wrong, you name it, it’s bound to be one or several of those fears right?

But the longer we hold onto it, the bigger and more destructive the thought, feeling, problem gets; causing us (and probably those around us) profound dis-ease.   So it’s not unrealistic to assume that the longer we suffer in dis-ease,  the stronger the possibility that real disease creeps in.

Where our mind goes, energy flows.

What if, instead of allowing it to eat us up inside, we examined our dis-ease with a curiosity, an opportunity to learn from it? Wouldn’t that feel different than the fear/shame/blame recording running the show?

Discomfort usually has something to teach us.

Transformation is born from a need to move away from what’s no longer sustainable or acceptable to us and into something that is. As the snake sheds its skin or a hermit crab finds a new shell, so must we change in form, nature or appearance in search of whatever it is that will serve a higher purpose-so we can feel better!

What are you planning to release this Spring so that you may free yourself up to tackle your visions, projects or dreams?

What will you need to bring harmony, strength, inspiration and balance back to your life?

Why not get clear, make a list and assess those things you’d like to release and compost into something more productive, easeful and  transformative?

Here’s what I’m working with this season: I want to release self-imposed isolation and I want to receive more connection. I want to release shame and I want to receive forgiveness for myself.

You can do this too, with anything that arises throughout a day or week. But I definitely recommend doing this practice often, so shit doesn’t build up and keep you feeling small and defeated.

The continued practice of letting go what doesn’t serve you, helps free up your energy to be of service to what’s most important, and that’s the cultivation of your highest, best, most loving self.

So, once you get clear on your release and receive, try this simple mantra and breathing practice to dive forward into a fulfilling, harmonious Spring:

Take 3-5 minutes to do this practice everyday until you feel elevated and lighter

Breathing in, say to yourself, “I receive…..(what it is you’ll receive)

Breathing out, say to yourself, “I release…..(what you’re letting go of)

Breathe in to receive. Breathe our to release. Repeat, repeat, repeat……

Feel free to add in physical movement with this breath practice. Try Warrior One pose and as you inhale, straighten the front leg and open up to a little backbend in your upper back , arms wide and open to create space to receive, then move your whole torso forward, with long spine, straight out over your bent knee while you thrust your arms straight out for the exhale to release. Do it 5 times on each Warrior 1 side. Yay!  Let it go!

Let’s Stay Thriving!