In this meditation session I’ll share my best Letting Go meditation script.
This meditation script has helped me with non-attachment, helped me to stop being stubborn, to accept that change is inevitable in life, and to live in the moment. And I am confident it will do the same for you too.
I created this meditation for a specific student in my online meditation sessions to help them overcome attachments. The words and the instructions are specifically written in a way that will help you to let go.
When we say “let go” we mean to detach from thoughts and desires. It means not being consumed by the mind nor by ideas of right and wrong. It means not overthinking [READ: Meditation for Overthinking]
Letting go and living in the moment is essential for happiness. It is about being a free-spirited person.
You can also think about it in terms of the Zen Chinese word “wú niàn” (無念), which means to be without thought, according to The Platform Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch.
With that in mind, let’s look at the Letting Go meditation script. And while letting go, you might also like to contemplate what it really means to “let go”. Be mindful of the very nature of releasing your feelings. Aim to surrender to reality and let the universe take you in its arms.
Letting Go Meditation Script [20 minute session]
1: [1 minute] Assume a proper meditation position so you can let go physically, either lying down or sitting down.
To use meditation for letting go, we start by releasing bodily tension.
As you might know, the mind is inexorably linked to the body. What the mind thinks, the body feels, and vice versa. That’s why, if you want to let go psychologically, you need to release yourself physically too.
So, sit with good posture.
You will know if you have good posture because you will feel your entire body relaxing. The floor (or seat) will take your weight, and you won’t need to hold yourself.
At the same time, do not be too strict about posture. As Dogen explains in the Fuken Zazengi, posture is only one small part of meditation.
[For more on this see: Opening the mind through the body: The effects of posture on creative processes, by Valentina Rita, Andolfi Chiara Di Nuzzo, Alessandro Antonietti, published in the Thinking Skills and Creativity Journal].
2: [1 minute] Set the intention to let go. Recite the mantra, “I am letting go”
You want to set your intention before you begin to meditate. That way, you have a clear idea of what you are going to accomplish through your meditation. Like Wayne Dyer said, “Our intention creates our reality.”
Tell yourself that you are going to release yourself and surrender to the universe. The simple mantra “I am letting go” can help. You can choose to recite this mantra through the meditation or use a spiritual mantra such as “Om Namah Shivaya” (“I honour the divine within me”).
You do not have to use a mantra if you do not want to. However, mantras can help to focus the mind according to research by Rozalyn Simon et. al published in the Journal of Cognitive Enhancement.
3: [5 minutes – 10 minutes] Close your eyes and meditate on your breath
As a meditation teacher, I usually recommend that you start your meditations with mindful breathing (Buddhist Anapanasati).
The reason is that you need to begin to relax your mind before you can truly meditate. You can’t just go from your regular attached existence to non-attachment (Buddhist nekkhamma, from the Pali canon).
You need to relax and open your mind. That’s why mindful breathing is so helpful. So spend 5 to 10 minutes breathing mindfully.
4: [5 minutes] Continue to breathe mindfully while also labelling your thoughts and detaching from them
Next we will use our meditation to let go of thoughts, feelings, and beliefs.
Often in life, we view mental phenomena (such as thoughts and feeling) as being a part of us. Because we identify with them, we attach to them. We need to change this.
To release emotions, thoughts, beliefs, and feelings, observe them and label them. Notice how thoughts and feelings come into your conscious awareness and then dissipate. Their coming and going is normal. They are not permanent. They are ethereal.
Observe your thoughts and feelings as though they were just abstract things floating by you.
Research shows that labelling thoughts makes us less reactive to them, which in turn helps us to release them. [University of California – Los Angeles. “Putting Feelings Into Words Produces Therapeutic Effects In The Brain, Matthew D. Lieberman et. al.”].
5: [5 minutes – 10 minutes] Move your conscious awareness away from your body. View the body as something separate from yourself
Many of the things that we become attached to relate to the body. For instance, we can be attached to our body image, or certain body conditions, or even certain sensations that occur in the body.
We identify aspects of the body as being part of the self. Because we view them as part of the self, we cling to them, which prevents us from letting go. That is what this part of our script is about.
Zoom out of your body and view it as a separate object.
To do this, begin by noticing where your mind is. Where is the centre of your awareness? Imagine that awareness is a physical thing.
Now, gently move your consciousness away from the body while observing the body. Aim to view your body as something separate to yourself. Observe it as you would observe a regular object (an object that is not part of your “self”).
6: [10 minutes] Let go and surrender to the universe. Do this by performing “open meditation”. That is, let the entire world enter your mind freely, without judgment.
When we talk about “letting go” in meditation, what we really mean is surrendering to the universe. And to surrender to the universe means to let the universe flow freely through us, without trying to block it, without fighting it, and without judging.
To achieve this state of letting go, we want to perform an open meditation.
To do this, imagine that you are dropping your mind. You are releasing conscious control and simply placing your mind at rest.
Now, let the entirety of your surroundings flow through your mind. I find that the best way to do this is to imagine that I’ve come to a complete stop, that I don’t exist, and that the world is simply occurring around me while I lie here.
There’s a reason we use open meditation for letting go. It is the best meditation for detaching from our regular modes of thinking, and it opens the mind to new possibilities. [Focused attention, open monitoring, and loving kindness meditation: effects on attention, conflict monitoring, and creativity – A review, Dominique P. Lippelt, Bernhard Hommel and Lorenza S. Colzato, Cognitive Psychology Unit, Institute for Psychological Research and Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition, Leiden University, Leiden, Netherlands].
7: [1 minute] Open your eyes. Now tell yourself that you are going to roll with the universe
To finish this meditation, slowly open your eyes and tell yourself that you are releasing and opening yourself up to the universe.
And we are finished!
That is my best meditation script for letting go! Which is great, because once you let go you will be much happier.
Tibetan siddh Jetsun Milarepa states that we need to let go and accept the temporary nature of reality. And that is what we have done in this meditation.
If you would like to learn meditation and let go, book an online meditation lesson with me today.
SOURCES:
Opening the Mind through the Body: The Effects of Posture on Creative Processes
February 2017Thinking Skills and Creativity 24
DOI: 10.1016/j.tsc.2017.02.012
Simon, R., Pihlsgård, J., Berglind, U. et al. Mantra Meditation Suppression of Default Mode Beyond an Active Task: a Pilot Study. J Cogn Enhanc 1, 219–227 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41465-017-0028-1
University of California – Los Angeles. “Putting Feelings Into Words Produces Therapeutic Effects In The Brain, Matthew D. Lieberman et. al. https://www.scn.ucla.edu/pdf/AL(2007).pdf
Focused attention, open monitoring and loving kindness meditation: effects on attention, conflict monitoring, and creativity – A review
Dominique P. Lippelt, Bernhard Hommel and Lorenza S. Colzato* https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2014.01083
Paul Harrison is a passionate meditation teacher who believes in genuine, authentic meditation. He has more than 15 years experience in meditation and mindfulness. He studied meditation in beautiful Oxford, UK, and Hamilton Ontario Canada, and earned his degree at Staffordshire University.
“My goal is to provide the most authentic meditation sessions so you can harness the power of your own mind for personal transformation” – Paul Harrison
