Letting go is the fifth step of the ALIA practice of cutting through complexity. The idea is to let go of our story of our battle. We finish elegantly and with power, enabling further relationship. Letting go is a deliberate practice that raises energy.
Letting Go of the Story of Your Battle
First, we welcome – our self, our thoughts, our enemies. There is a sense of gathering, of feeling the moment after holding one’s seat. We let go of wanting to be “pulled back into it”. Then, we cut. This is an abrupt shift. Done. We develop a taste for “just do it”. Make a clean stroke – your body know when and how to do this. We let go so we can move to the next thing.
Reflecting on this five step process, I am reminded that it works and is useful at different scales. You can apply in to a single encounter, to a conversation, to a relationship, and so on. Here are some helping questions:
Can I slow down or stop?
Can I engage with curiosity? (Am I, Did I?)
Can I step on hesitation and resist impulse?
Can I relax and “look out” after acting? Can I hold my seat?
Can I let go into openness?
It’s important to practice in “easier” situations so as to be ready for the hard situations. Like meditation, one must practice rather than “save” meditation for a crisis.
At the last session, we made brushstroke covers for personal calligraphy books we created the day before. The brushstrokes, in this case, follow the process of Entering, Exploring, Acting, Completing, and Letting Go. Here’s a photograph of all the book covers. Can you see the process in the single brushstroke? Imagine the brush being placed on the paper and held there, Entering. Then the brush moves into Exploring, followed by Acting in an instant! The Completing, followed by Letting Go. It’s all there, in each of these strokes.
