Release

With palms together,
Good Morning Everyone,
A contemplative practice is a practice of continuous release. We let go of our grip on everything as each thing’s tightness is noticed. Breathe in, notice; breathe out, release.
Releasing is essential to discovering serenity.
We are animals who, when we perceive we are threatened, tighten. Chemistry kicks it. In the Army, we would call it going on “Alert.”
It is a natural and normal response, but one that is often unneeded and, too often, not dealt with well because we do not know how or we do not notice the response in the first place. Contemplative practice creates awareness necessary to notice and helps to develop a skill set in dealing with it once it happens.
Pay attention! Wake up! Each is bluntly asking us to notice. As we go through our day is mindfulness, we naturally notice. We notice our breath caught in our lungs. We notice an increase in the flushness of our face or our respiration becoming shallow and more rapid.
In each case, we practice to release. Opening our grip on things, we let go of control in order to experience our situation, we are in a place to release ourselves into it.

If we were not in a situation we would not be alive, which is to say, life is one continuous situation. A contemplative’s practice is to be alive in it and this requires release.

I picture my mind as having closed. I practice unlocking it and opening it, like a flower opening in the sunlight. On the other hand, my lungs, locked up, opening and releasing air. The release is an essential feeling to experience fully and completely.

In such a release, we learn to abide in our lives freely and easily.

Be well.