How To Let Go Of Expectations In Breathwork & In Life
The incessant chatter of the egoic mind can be a constant companion in your daily life, hindering your ability to connect with source. Sometimes, this also happens during a breathwork class and it can feel incredibly difficult to quiet the ego mind and let go of expectations during the session. In this article, we will explore what to do if this happens, and how to unlock a boundless realm of possibilities both in breathwork and in life.
How to Quiet The Ego Mind & Let Go of Expectations During Breathwork
If you find yourself in a breathwork class where your egoic mind refuses to quiet down and is inundated with thoughts about its desires and expectations for the session, simply observe these thoughts as they arise and dissipate, without giving them any power. Become a silent observer. So, if a thought comes in during your session like “Oh, I don’t like the music today, I wish it would change” or “I want to feel more emotions,” don’t suppress it but don’t give it power either. Just observe it come and go like clouds in the sky. Stay with the breath and stay open to what is happening in your emotional body even if it is just a hint of an emotion.
If the ego mind’s expectations are not being met and it brings up an emotion such as frustration or disappointment at not being able to drop in deeper, amplify that feeling and make it bigger. This approach is a guaranteed way to deepen your experience, and it will also provide valuable practice in connecting with your emotional body in everyday life.
How to Let Go of Expectations as an Experienced ‘Breather’
There will often come a point after numerous breathwork sessions, where you notice your egoic mind attempting to steer the process in a very specific direction. It does so because it clings to familiar past experiences, and believes it knows what’s best for the present moment. Moreover, your egoic mind will always try and create expectations based on past experiences, so it is not surprising that this can happen in breathwork.
Breathwork acts as a mirror for life, and expectations are the biggest impediment to us fully experiencing this amazing adventure we are all a part of. When you are holding onto expectations, nothing new can happen. Instead, your brain will try and create what you are expecting. And, what you are expecting can only come from your past, from things that you have already experienced. So in essence, our expectations act as chains that restrain our potential in life, limit new possibilities, and keep us trapped in our current reality. This is a major impediment to personal growth and expansion!
Use Your Breathwork Class As a Training Field for Life
I have heard Dr. Dan Siegel say that the more our field of possibilities is open in life, the healthier we are mentally. And, the more we let expectation control what we allow ourselves to experience, the more we close down that field of possibilities. This is a great example of bringing the principles of breathwork into your life to lead a life with more joy and depth. In breathwork, the instruction is “Surrender to the process and leave all possibilities open”. In life, that would translate to “Surrender to life and leave all possibilities open.”
Your breathwork classes offer an excellent opportunity for training yourself to ignore the expectations that the ego mind will try and set up. You can hear the ego mind’s thoughts without giving them power. The more proficient you become at releasing expectations during your breathwork sessions, the better you’ll become at recognizing when your ego mind forms expectations in your daily life – and the better you’ll become at refusing to empower them. This is an ongoing practice, and if you wholeheartedly commit to it, it has the power to profoundly transform your life.
A Simple One-Month Practice for Letting Go of Expectations
If you would like to train yourself to let go of expectations and open up to your limitless potential, try this practice. For the next month, create a practice of watching in breathwork, and in life, when your mind creates an expectation. Knowing that your expectations limit your possible outcomes, notice it, write it down, and then answer the following questions (or similar questions that work better for you):
- Is this the only outcome possible?
- If this is not the only outcome possible, do I want to limit myself to this particular outcome?
- If not, what is an example of another possible outcome that might serve me better?
- Since anything is possible, am I willing to open myself up to all possibilities and not limit myself to any specific outcome?
- Am I willing to trust that there may be an outcome that I cannot even imagine right now and open myself up to letting my inner wisdom bring me that also?
When I do an exercise similar to this, it rekindles my natural excitement and passion for all that life has to offer!
Special Invite: Let Go of Expectations & Open Up to Boundless Possibilities with a FREE Month of Neurodynamic Breathwork
We offer 2-hour online breathwork classes several times throughout the week so that people can take a deep dive into their healing and transformation with a consistent practice. If you would like to join one of our sessions, and partake in faster, deeper breathing to quiet the egoic mind and cultivate more presence and possibilities in your life, we invite you to register for free! After your first free session, you’ll receive an email with access to a whole month of free facilitated online breathwork plus other membership perks such as FREE EFT and Breathe&Reset™ classes.
Click here to find out more about our online breathwork process.
