Release
The fall season is full of metaphors for release. It’s the perfect time of year to take your mindfulness practice outdoors beneath the trees.
Try this….
Take 15 minutes (at least 5, if you’re short on time) to go outside and lay on the ground beneath a tree with leaves. Bring a blanket if you like, but I personally enjoy making contact directly with the ground. (Read about the health benefits of grounding daily!)
Observe the colorful leaves. Notice the variations in color. Take in the full sensory experience: how the ground feels beneath you, how the breeze or sun feels on your skin, and smell the scents of fall all around you. Connect to your breath, and notice how each inhale and exhale feels.
Watch the leaves gently fall to the ground. Notice how the leaves let go from the place they once grew.
Observe the path of the leaf once it releases. Watch it float and move, twist and turn, all the way down to find a soft landing on the ground.
Consider the path of the leaf as a metaphor for your life…. What does it feel like to let go from a place that you once held onto? Or a place where you were once securely held? Perhaps a place that once gave you growth and nourishment…but the season has changed and the conditions are shifting?
Notice the free fall of the leaf that has let go. How does that feeling resonate for you, with whatever it is you are letting go of in your life?
When your practice feels complete, offer gratitude to the trees and leaves in whatever form feels good to you. Cultivating gratitude in this way reminds us of our connection to nature and the many metaphors we can find there as medicine.
Have you ever noticed that sometimes we have life experiences that “grow” us, but are not meant to stay with us?
Have you noticed that sometimes there are people who come into our lives and ignite a special part of us into being….or they help to birth a new version of ourselves into the world, and then they are gone?
Have you noticed that sometimes our thoughts try to stick around and repeat themselves over and over? We are the only ones who can choose to let them go, allowing new, fresh thoughts to enter.
In each of these scenarios, we are faced with the decision to release. To let go.
Letting go can be a contemplative practice in and of itself. We can practice letting go with intention. Maybe our intention is to let go with gratitude for the experience we had. We can let go of a relationship with gratitude for how it transformed us. Or maybe we let go with openness to what may come next.
Try it – meditate with the trees and the falling leaves. Comment below if you do venture outside to try this contemplative practice. I would love to hear your experiences.