Letting go is easier than you think. Sometimes we don’t even realize we are holding on. Holding on makes it impossible to recieve.
New Attempt at an Old Thing
I started swimming again after 40 years. I wasn’t a great swimmer in High School but I was good enough to swim laps at the pool when I wanted to. Swimming is a great, low impact workout to trim down and tone up so I decided to give it a try again.
It was much harder than I thought. I remembered how to do the stroke even 40 years later. However, I struggled with breathing. I felt like I was suffocating and couldn’t get enough air. So I did a google search, “How do you take a breath while swimming freestyle.” What I learned impacted not just my swimming but my life.
Just Breathe
I felt like I couldn’t catch my breath. When my face was in the water I was holding my breath. When I came up for air, I only had a few seconds to both exhale and inhale. The more I tried to take a deep breath, the tighter my chest felt and the less air I could get.
You can’t hold your breath and inhale at the same time. When my face was in the water, I needed to be exhaling or blowing out bubbles into the water so that my lungs were empty when I came up for air. The goal was to have all my breath exhaled before I came up to the surface again so I had room to receive. With empty lungs catching my breath was automatic, all I had to do was open my mouth.
Holding Your Breath
Often we hold on to things and don’t allow room for anything new to flow into our lives. We hold on to past hurts and past failures that paralyze us. We even hold on to past acheivements and stop learning new things. We may also hold on to material things that no longer bring us joy and clutter up our space.
Holding On
Unless we learn to let go, of past hurts, past failures, and clutter, we don’t have room to recieve what we are seeking. If we think we can get by on our past acheivements without continuing education, we are missing out on the renewing of our minds. We become closed minded and closed off. Letting go allows us to refresh and refill, like taking a full breath of fresh air.
Exhale First
I used to struggle in yoga class feeling like I couldn’t take a full breath. I struggled with catching my breath until a meditation coach asked us to first exhale. What? Most of my teachers had asked us to inhale first and I always struggled to take a deep, full breath.
Starting with the exhale gave me room to receive more air.
- Exhale for three seconds
- then exhale one more big breath
- open your mouth
- feel the inhale come naturally.
With empty lungs, inhaling effortlessly fills you up.
Let Go, Let Come
Learning to let go first, before we even ask to recieve anything is an amazing practice that will open up the space around you and in you to receive.
- What are you holding on to?
- Do you need to let go of past hurts, resentments, or material things?
Release to Receive
As you exhale, think of releasing those things you’ve been holding on to; what appears when you’re empty enough to open yourself up to receive?