It's About Letting Go!

(Adapted from an article written by Dr Lai Chiu Nan.)

Posted on 30 October 2007

Let go and make room for what's new and what's next.
Let go and enjoy the excitement of not knowing what's next.
Let go and open to all possibilities.
Let go when it's time to yield.
Let go and, by so doing, gain freedom and breathing room.
Let go and surrender to greater peace of mind.

The following tips on relaxation are adapted from an article written by Dr Lai Chiu Nan.

Relax your forehead, eyebrows and corners of the mouth
Let us relax! Sit up straight and relax our forehead. Once the forehead is relaxed, the whole body will relax. Next relax the eyebrows, then the mind will relax. Normally when we are troubled, the eyebrows become knitted together. Therefore, if we remember to relax the eyebrows, the mind will naturally relax. Following that, relax the corners of the mouth and put on a smile. Having done so, our emotional tension will be at ease. When we relax the corners of the mouth with a smile on the face, it is indeed not possible to get angry.

We must at all times remind ourselves to relax our forehead, eyebrows and the corners of the mouth.

Breathing Exercises
Our emotions are affected by our body. If we could, during breathing exercises, remain completely at ease and do things leisurely, we would be able to feel unhurried and calm. Thus, when you meet with a frightening or troubling situation and are about to loss your "cool", immediately slow down your breathing. You will realise that your reaction is different.

Using your abdomen to breathe
Now, observe how you are breathing, are you using the chest or abdomen to breathe? If you breathe with your chest, that is, if your chest moves up and down while you breathe, then your breath is not deep and you must be quite easily tensed up. If you use your abdomen to breathe, then you would be more relaxed. Thus, if you can change your breathing method to that of using abdomen, you will naturally be able to experience a more relaxed way of life.

In the morning when you wake up, you can lie on the bed to practise breathing with the abdomen. Place a book on your abdomen; when you breathe in, the abdomen will raise up the book, and when you breathe out, the book will lower.

You can also place your hand on the abdomen, when you breathe in, see if you can push your hand up with the abdomen; when you breathe out, press the abdomen down with your hand. Repeat the breathing in and out exercise. Now, when we breathe in, count to eight; hold your breath for another eight counts; then breathe out to the count of eight.

This method of breathing can be frequently practised so much so that it becomes a habit; then you would be constantly relaxed both in body and mind.

Changing Our Frame of Mind
Our perspective of life, of ourselves, our belief, and health have a very intricate and close relationship with others.

The first step is to know ourselves, and to perceive what is beneficial or harmful to us. At the same time, we should adopt a positive attitude and render services that benefit ourselves and others.

The second step is to adopt different methods of repentance to expel the defilements in our minds. Any action that are not motivated by a loving mind are defiled, whether the object is a human, animals, insect, event or ourselves. Repentance is a simple beginning but often brings unexpected benefits : when our defilements are reduced, our moods will improve, things will go smoothly for us, and our 'luck' will also improve.

The third step is to deeply contemplate the objective of life, to seek our aspirations and goals. We will discover that when we are of service to others, we are at the happiest. This goal is not short-term but rather permanent and of complete service to other.

As a result, we will naturally progress along the path of liberation.

Material life cannot bring eternal and true happiness. Sharing and helping others to overcome hardship and suffering will provide invaluable experience in life and set the path to true happiness and establish your purpose of life.

Simple Eyeballs Movements
The movements of the eyeballs are closely related to the brain activities. When we recall an event, our eyeballs naturally move upwards and downwards or sideway. If we liken the rotational area of the eyeballs to the face of the clock, the position of the eyeballs will give an indication to the type of senses we are recalling.

When we try to recall a smell, our eyes will be at the 6 or 12 o'clock position. Any thoughts relating to sound is at 3 or 9 o'clock. When we are visualising a past event, our eyes will be at the 1 or 11 o'clock position. However, when we are recalling past emotional memories, our eyes will be at the 5 or 7 o'clock position.

By rotating the eyeballs to the right 3 times, one can easily access our past memory. If you wish to erase any bad memories, what you need to do is rotate the eyeball to the left many times. This is a simple way to dissolve bottled up emotions and any disharmony. Jack Schwartz, a naturopathic therapist with special abilities, helped his student removed his hatred towards another person by getting the student to recall the hatred he had towards that person. Then intentionally dissolve the hatred by rotating the eyeballs to the right thrice and then many times to the left. The student who was initially full of anger started to roar with laughter and he was not able to recall the hatred after this exercise. This method has been used by many psychologists on their clients and with miraculous success.

When we are depressed, we could also use the same method.

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