Meditation

Let Go Of Your Worries And Limitations With This Guided Meditation

written by

Anthony V. Lombardo


Release what is weighing you down with a Hawaiian-inspired visualization.

In 2015, I biked down from the Haleakala Crater in Maui.

On my way down, I stopped at a stand on the side of the road to get some doughnuts and struck up a conversation with a local. He told me about this fascinating tradition in Hawaii where a worried person would create a picture of all the things that worry them and put them in a canoe. Then, they would watch the canoe sail out off to sea and keep watching as it sail right over the horizon.

Over the horizon and out of their life.

Recently, I was reminded of this memory and thought it would make for a powerful guided visualization for letting go of worries. Below is the practice I created that you can use for letting go of any of the following:

  • Problems you are obsessing over
  • Daily worries and concerns
  • Limiting beliefs

Essentially, you can use it for anything weighing you down in your life, disrupting your inner peace, and clouding your mental clarity. So, ideally, before beginning this practice, you should have in mind a particular worry or concern that is troubling and you want to let go.

The Benefits of this Practice

Here’s the paradox about the things that weigh us down: The more we crave for them to get resolved and attach to them, the more we intensify them. However, the secret to getting beyond our worries and finding some relief is found by letting go of our compulsion to fix them, and in turn, releasing the grip they have over us.

This is how we rise above what weighs us down.

Because the moment we let go of our need for our problems to go away is the moment we create space from them. They now no longer control us and we free up the energy within ourselves, around us, and throughout our lives for these matters to unfold as they will. And in the process, we give ourselves grace and restore a part of our peace.

More importantly, we permit ourselves to live our lives in the present moment without feeling consumed by all the things that are not exactly how we want them to be.

Meditation To Let Go Of Worries And Limitations

Step 1: Get relaxed.

Close your eyes, and get comfortable and relaxed in any way that works for you.

You can also try one of my go-to methods:

  1. Take one giant breath in, filling your stomach all the way up.
  2. Hold it at the top for a count of three.
  3. Release all the way to empty.
  4. Repeat at least one more time.
  5. Start counting backward from 10 to 1, and on each descending number, feel your body becoming more and more relaxed, softening, and surrendering.

Step 2: Visualize yourself at a shoreline.

Imagine yourself standing at the shoreline of the most beautiful ocean you have ever laid eyes on. Feel the warmth of the sand beneath your feet. Hear the gentle sound of the waves crashing. Feel the coolness of this bright beautiful water. Immerse all of your senses in the scene.

Step 3: Choose a worry or problem.

Call to mind that one specific problem. It can be a worry, a problem, or a limiting belief, anything causing you great concern right now.

As you hold it in your mind, allow yourself to fully acknowledge its presence within you. Give yourself permission to connect with its energy. Where exactly do you feel it?

Step 4: Visualize this burden as an object.

You can see it as a heavy stone or a stuffed suitcase filled with all the “heaviness” from your burden. Or maybe it’s just a portrait, a detailed photo perfectly capturing what is weighing you down.

Imagine holding this object in your hands, feeling its weight and the energy it carries.

Step 5: Visualize a canoe at the shoreline.

Imagine there’s a canoe floating peacefully a few feet away from you on the shore. Walk over to it — and with your burden in your hand, take one last look at it, bless it for the gifts it has offered you, and gently let it go, placing it into the canoe.

As you do, capture that moment in your mind’s eye of you letting it go and it dropping into the canoe. See it fall from out of your hand and into this vessel of surrender.

You can even see yourself giving the canoe a gentle nudge, pushing it away from the shoreline, as it starts to slowly float away.

Bending Reality Tip: Take a mental snapshot of the image of yourself letting go of your burden and pushing it off to sea, while you say the words, “letting go” in your mind. Then tell your subconscious mind to memorize this image.

Step 6: Focus on it sailing away.

Visualize the canoe slowly drifting away from the shoreline, carrying your worry or limiting belief with it. See yourself standing at the shoreline just observing it and watching.

Notice how the canoe (containing your worry object) gradually becomes smaller and smaller as it moves towards the horizon. And you start to feel lighter and lighter.

Just watch your burden or limitation sail out off to sea and out of your life for good!

Step 7: Experience a new you without the burden.

As the canoe and your worry fade into the distance, see a lighter, more self-assured version of yourself standing at the shoreline Imagine a sense of joy and relief washing over you. Feel the freedom that comes from releasing this burden once and for all.

How does it really feel… in your body, heart, and mind?

Linger in this space for a little while.

We are always being asked to let go.

The nice thing about this exercise is it could be used for practically anything in our lives that we need to create some space from and let go of. Because let’s face it, a big part of our path as human beings is constantly learning to surrender all the things we latch onto that disrupt our peace. At any given time, no matter where we are in our journey, there will always be something calling us to let go of in our lives.

✨ If you enjoyed this, you might be interested in these: