5 Minute Exercise of Letting Go — Relief for Anxiety, Stress and Depression

Letting go is sometimes the hardest thing we do.

And yet somewhere inside you, you already know what needs to be released today. A feeling. A memory. A person. A worry. A fear. A thought that keeps returning. Anger. Guilt. Grief. Resentment. Uncertainty. A story you have been telling yourself for too long. Something someone said. Something you cannot control. Something heavy that has been with you longer than you would like.

You don't need to name it perfectly. You simply need to trust what arrives.

This is a 5 minute exercise, not a meditation. It is practical, purposeful and complete. You will be guided to find what you are ready to release, gather it, and let it go with one single, slow, intentional breath.

What follows is lightness. Spaciousness. The feeling in the body when something that has been held for a long time is finally, gently, put down.

Use this exercise whenever you need it. As many times as you need it. For anything you are ready to release.

Please let me know if you enjoyed this session: sylvia@sylviaingle.com

And if today's exercise has stirred something in you, a curiosity, a longing, a quiet sense that you are ready for more, I would love to support you further.

Visit www.sylviaingle.co.uk to find out how we can work together.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Welcome. Letting go is sometimes the hardest things that we can do. Because we hold on. We hold on to feelings, to memories, to people, to version of events that should have been, could have been. We hold on to worry, to fear, um anger, guilt, grief, resentment, uncertainty, a story we've been telling ourselves, someone something someone said. So this exercise is about releasing that something, and just because you open this exercise, I believe you know subconsciously what you'd like to release, even though you may not be able to articulate it. So just have fun, trust the process, and let's do this exercise and just be curious and see what comes up because you're here, which means you're ready. This only takes five minutes or so, asks nothing of you. Just trust that whatever arrives arrives. So just getting yourself ready, finding a comfortable position. You can be sitting, lying, standing, whatever, whatever feels right. Close your eyes, take one deep breath in, and let that breath gone, be gone, and just ask yourself: what am I carrying today? What can I release? What can I let go of? Don't think too hard, don't search. You should start becoming aware of it. Something will come, it will be a maybe a feeling, maybe a name, an image, maybe a sensation in your body, maybe a word, whichever would ever arrive first, trust it. That's the thing. This is what's ready to be released from your body.

unknown 2:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 2:16

Notice where in your body you feel it, if you feel it in your body. Maybe it's your chest, maybe your stomach, maybe your throat, maybe your shoulders, somewhere it has made its home without asking permission, or maybe it's in your head. Just become aware of that gently without pushing or forcing, with curiosity. Simply find it. Gather it. Breathe in slowly, and as you breathe in, gather everything connected to this feeling, this memory, this person, this feel, this whatever it is. Gather everything from wherever it lives in your body. Draw it together, all of it, into one breath. Again, breathe it slowly and draw everything together connected to this thing you're letting go of. Hold it for just a moment. You are allowed to let this go. You are ready to let this go. And now imagine a small candle, the flame is burning steadily just in front of you in the darkness. Take another breath in, covering everything to do with that thing. And I'm going to come to three and on three breathe out slowly. So one, two, three. Breathing out slowly, completely, every last bit of that breath, and let that breath extinguish the flame. See the flame gone. And accept that with it whatever you are carrying is released into the warm darkness which simply can dissolve. Stay here for a moment and notice your body. Notice that something has shifted, perhaps sadly, perhaps profoundly, degree lighter, fraction, more spaciousness. There's a breath that comes a little more easily than the one before. That's real. That's your body registering the release of something that it no longer needs to carry. This is what letting go feels like. When you're ready, gently open your eyes, take that lightness with you. It's yours.