Autumn is my favorite time of year as the leaves change into their rich colors, their last hurrah before they let go, release to earth, decay, and recycle back to earth.
It’s a potent time to do some reflecting and releasing of our own, so I’m offering you here a ritual for just that. It’s one that I’ve been intuitively led into on numerous occasions (this summer most recently) when I felt weighed down with outgrown patterns, heavy burdens and grievances. I attribute these rituals for playing an essential part in helping me remember my true Self, helping me to feel light, free, and joyful once again.
What does it even mean to release?
Let me start with what releasing is not. It’s not bypassing what needs to be held, felt, and expressed. It’s not trying to get rid of something or forcing something out of our lives. That almost always backfires. We don’t just get rid of our fears, our limiting beliefs, our anger, our grief, etc. These are each a part of us, often a very young part of us, just not the whole of us, and they usually just need our acknowledgment, acceptance, and love.
What we can release is our attachment or hold on them. Releasing is letting go of the restrain that something has upon us. It’s taking something that maybe has been in the driver’s seat of our lives and moving it instead to the back seat.
Therefore, before we release anything, we want to honor it, feel it in our bodies, express it in some way, receive any wisdom, gifts or learning it might have for us, even bow to it. We also want to check in on timing. Some things just need to run their course, so we learn their lessons. Examples of what can feel good to release include: a pattern of letting fear prevent us from moving forward, someone else’s grief we’re carrying out of guilt or over-protectiveness, a habit of numbing ourselves in whatever fashion, a grievance that has run its course, a toxic relationship, an obligation.
Why do we want to release?
If trees didn’t shed their leaves, they would never survive harsh winters. For us, releasing protects us from becoming inundated and weighed down with what no longer is needed or not serving our highest good. Also, like anything, it makes room for something new to come in. It’s just like in our homes. We purge and giveaway the items that no longer fit or don’t suit our style anymore and in this way there’s room for the new. Plus, it feels good to clean out. Same for our inner worlds. Releasing in right timing just feels good! It can even feel empowering and liberating.
Note that as you perform this ritual, above all follow your own inner guidance and what feels good to you. Be gentle and open to your own flow and rhythm. You don’t have to follow my steps for yours to have a powerful effect. Ritual is something that is felt in the body. It’s bringing into form and manifestation something that can feel very illusory. I only offer this as a framework to get your ritual juices flowing. The Universe is supporting you!
Autumn Ritual for Releasing
- Find a place in nature where you feel safe, comfortable and that is relatively quiet and free of people. Can be a path in the forest, along the shore, in a meadow, in a park, or in your own backyard.
- Take a moment to sit or stand, planting your feet on earth (barefoot is ideal). Breathe and use all your senses to come present.
- Reflect on what you’ve outgrown, what is no longer serving you, what is someone else’s, what feels like a burden or obligation, what habit/pattern is depleting your energy, what has run its course, what feels toxic, or what is weighing you down.
- Take a slow walk and as you do let yourself be led to one particular stone, rock, pebble, stick or shell. Pick it up and hold it in a hand, feeling its weight as you feel into what it is that you’re ready to let go of. Once you know, whisper into the item what it specifically represents such as “my attachment to drama”.
- Reflect some more as you walk or hold still. Where do you feel this in your body? How does it feel? How long have you carried it? How has this served you in the past? How has it been affecting you lately? Why is now the time to let it go? What will this release make room for?
- As you walk and feel the weight in your hand, you might say something like, “I release…from my body, my systems, my energy, my entire being. I thank you and I release you”, squeezing the rock as you say it out loud. You could repeat this over and over.
- Walk with it for as long as feels right. Follow your intuition. You will know when it’s time to let it go.
- Once you feel ready or you’ve come to the end of your walk, stand still, bring the rock up against your heart and ask the rock, earth, trees, water, whatever nature is around you, plus Spirit/your helpers to receive and hold it all for you. Offer your thanks.
- Toss the rock. If you are near water, you can toss the rock/shell into it, really listening to the splash and seeing the ripples. If you’re in a forest, you can toss the rock as far as you can, making a releasing sound like “ahhhh” as you do and watch it land or bounce off the ground. If tossing is not possible, simply drop it with intention out of your hand.
- Take a moment to notice how it feels in your body to release this.
- Hold on…you’re not done. Make a commitment with each step back to your car, bike or home to take one small action that supports this release. For example, if you released attachment to drama then an action step would maybe be to skip a day of reading or watching the news or stepping away from the next family drama that unfolds.
- Give thanks for this process.
Let me know if you have questions. I’d love to hear how this ritual resonates for you or about one of your own releasing rituals.
This ritual is great to do alone, and any ritual’s power amplifies 10x when it’s done within a supportive community.
Are you wanting to experience meaningful ritual in the sacred space of community?
I weave Women’s Sacred Circles that are rich with ritual. These are safe and supportive spaces for the same women to gather around a spiritual center over a sustained period of time. The intimacy and connection are deep! The love and support richly interwoven! If you feel called to explore this with me, I’d be delighted to schedule a chat. E-mail me: karen@karentasto.com.
Blessings!
Karen Tasto has been holding sacred space for women to journey towards their whole selves for almost 20 years. Beginning as a yoga & meditation teacher and currently as a certified life coach and women’s circle facilitator, she is dedicated to supporting women in their quest to feel more alive, connected, and whole. Her life coaching guides clients into deep and lasting transformation, while her women’s circles create true and sustained sisterhood. She is also a co-author of The Ultimate Guide to Self-Healing Techniques.
Learn more about her at www.karentasto.com