As a child you knew how to let go. You moved from one emotion to the next in a matter of minutes. But your adult mind complicates things. It has lots of reasons for holding on and justifications for not letting go. This holding on gets in the way of freedom. The body, on the other hand, is more direct and accurate in its communications, but most of us have never learned how to closely listen to our body.
Throughout our lives, we are asked to let go of a million little things, some very big things, and then, eventually, life itself. With every breath, we take in and we let out. When we don’t let go, we are holding on and accumulating disturbances in our bodies, psyches and souls. We become hoarders of upset. Then we justify, defend and explain the upset to ourselves and anyone who will listen. Over and over, we repeat the story to drive home why we can’t or won’t let go. We become over-identified with our experiences and then feel defined by them. We justify future action based on our hoarding of upset. And we spiral deeper into disturbance and unhappiness.
Letting go is an innate skill, a natural ability that many have lost touch with. The price we pay for this is suffering, whether it comes in the form of depression, anxiety, physical illness, unhealthy relationships or long-held resentments.
Releasing our held beliefs and emotions supports release in our bodies. And our bodies can also be engaged to help us release our emotions and beliefs. The practice of letting go is a powerful antidote to the vast majority of our problems. When we let go, we literally lighten up and free ourselves from what we have been holding in our bodies!
I recently released my second book, Shake Yourself Free, and am so excited to share this material with the world. Especially with therapists, coaches, teachers, trainers and others on or supporting those on a path of self-growth, love and appreciation.
I believe the angels (and other wise beings) gave me the material for this book. For months, in my weekly movement practice, different ways to let go were clearly shown to me. I felt them in my body, each one creating a shift in my movement, allowing the release of a thought or feeling and opening new possibilities. Some were familiar from my years of both dance and clinical practice, some were new to me. My dance became a dance with myself, with others and with this book. It was a fascinating process to experience and simultaneously observe. I would dance and feel a new way to let go, or hear something about thinking, or recognize a habit and its impact, and after every two or three such experiences, I would run to my notebook and write for fear of losing what I’d been given, then step back into the dance. And more would come. And I’d write more notes.
Our job is to move ourselves out of the way so the universe can support us in recognizing how much we already have, and in having more of what is in our highest good. I believe the universe wants more for us than we could ever imagine. Letting go allows us to move out of our own way, so we can hear what’s beyond the ongoing chatter of our personal mind.
Though the practices in this book came to me through movement, one does not need to be a dancer to tap into the wisdom of the body. The incredible resource of the body is always with us. Its inner wisdom is there for the asking. When able to find fluidity in the joints, flexibility in the world comes with more ease. By softening the relationship with the organs, emotions can be gentler. And in connecting to the spine, taking a stance may become possible.
