Letting go in Breathwork

Letting go can be extremely difficult, yet it is one of the easiest things to do.

David R. Hawkins wrote a really good book on this subject. It is called “Letting Go: The Pathway Of Surrender”.

I highly recommend reading this book for anyone who is struggling to let go and wants to take breathwork deeper. He offers a simple yet powerful way of letting go of any wounds/traumas and blocks that are preventing us from breaking free and raise our consciousness.

There are actually many similarities between his book and some of the principles of breathwork.

 In short, the technique he describes in Letting Go is very simple. When something triggers us, brings our emotions or feelings, we simply don’t act. We don’t judge the feelings or try to modify them in any way. We ignore any thoughts that come up and focus on the feeling itself. Instead of acting, we just sit with the feeling, see how it makes our bodies feel. Let it feel however it feels. Eventually it will become stronger and stronger. We don’t fight it, don’t act upon it, just let it pass through. It’s as simple as that. Completely surrender and let the energy pass through. 

Surrender is one of the principles that guide everything we do in breathwork. We learn to surrender. We learn that the way past is through, not around. Carl Young has taught us that whatever we resist, persist. Eckart Tolle pointed that out to us as well in his famous book “The Power of Now.

So, by not reacting to the actions that trigger us, we stop resisting, we surrender and let pass through, whatever needs to pass through.

Another thing that we practice in breathwork is “to make stronger whatever comes up”. If there are any tensions in the body, we let them be, we don’t fit them or slow down the breath. By making them stronger and not resisting them, we surrender to them and eventually they will begin their release. We apply this technique to everything that comes up during breathwork. Whatever it is, whatever comes up, we let it be as strong as it wants to be. Whether it is body tensions, pains or emotions. If we feel like crying, or laughing, we don’t hold back. We don’t suppress it, we just let our emotions out, however they want to express themselves.

 Even if we feel stuck and don’t seem to be going anywhere, we allow ourselves to be as stuck as we can be. If the mind chatter persists and we can’t get out of the thinking mind, we just let it chatter as much as it wants to, yes even make it stronger and chatter louder.

We simply allow whatever happens to happen and work with it. Not fight it, not resist it, just simple and plain, surrender and let it pass through.

There are many things that we can let go of in order to dive deeper into our subconscious mind:

  • Intentions and expectations
  • Resistance
  • The desire to go deeper
  • The desire to control the experience
  • Fear of going to deep
  • Fear of not going deep enough   

By letting go of whatever we can, surrendering to the process and accepting whatever our inner guidance is bringing up, we allow ourselves to go deeper. We learn to stop resisting and work with the flow of life.

Some things are easy to let go of, others are harder. The things that are the hardest to let go of, are the things that weigh us down the most. It can be extremely rewarding to give up and let go of all the things we cling to. By letting go of the heavy load we carry, we learn to navigate through this realm with ease.

Freedom’s just another word for nothing left to lose. – Janis Joplin

By letting everything go, giving everything up, we’ll realize we are free.