If you ever feel heavily burdened, there is something you can do to feel lighter in a matter of minutes; I call it the Shedding Meditation, but Iʼm sure there is something similar called something else by someone else.

This is how to shed yourself and find the real you.

Close your eyes and try to shut out all distractions. Take a deep breath in and let it out. You can visualize a light coming in as you breath in, and your stress leaving you as you breath out. Pleasant music always helps.

Begin to shed your external identifications with form.

Letʼs start with your wallet: imagine all of your credit cards floating away, one by one, slowly rising out of your wallet. Your driverʼs license is leaving, as is your social security card and all other identifications and papers in your wallet. Your cash follows, and your dollars leave, a ten, two twenties and a few quarters. Your wallet is empty, and now it floats away, effortlessly.

Your bank account floats away next; your account number, statements and all of the papers and emails associated with it. Your taxes follow suit and all the receipts having to do with finances in or on your desk. All of your bills are gone, floating in the distance, one after the other. All your permits and licenses and mortgages, investments, tickets, savings, all are gone. All the numbers assigned to you are gone, disappearing one by one.

Next, the furniture around you is gone. Your couch, your rugs, tables, appliances, desk, vases, candles, all float away.

Your food is leaving; the bananas, the soup cans, the chicken, your special curry, that piece of chocolate you were saving. Your clothes in the bedroom, one by one, the pieces float off into the distance; your favorite pants, the red shirt, your boots, the bag from Italy. All of your jewelry, your Grandmotherʼs ring, your gold bracelet, the diamond from college, the heart you were given, all are rising, rising.

The room youʼre in disappears, each wall dissolving; your keys, your clocks, your chairs, your books, games, hobbies, photos, lamps, writings, frames, your creative decorations are disappearing. Next, the house is disappearing, room by room; the bedroom, kitchen, living room, the new addition. The front yard, the back, the hose, the fountain, all float away into the distance.

The neighborhood is gone; the bakery where you buy bread, the car dealership, the freeway you take to work, the park on the corner; all are breaking into molecules, releasing their form.

You are in space. Youʼre eyes are closed, but nothing is around you.

Your place of employment, your coworkers, the ones you like, the ones you dislike, your boss, that client, your projects, your computer are all rising into space. Your cell phone, your tablet, your inbox, your text messages, that dang file, your worries, the cute new intern, your stress, that bitch, your contacts, your work title are all leaving and rising.

Your car follows and is gone.

Now, your family members and your relationships with them float easily off into the distance. One by one they rise, your mother, your brother, your sister, your dog, your uncle; you contain no emotion or attachment, and they are no longer in your space. You are not a daughter, a sister, a mother, a father, a cousin. All those relationships and your attachments to them are like wisps of smoke.

Your city, your country, your world and all your opinions and all your emotions towards them, including all your political affiliations and presidential party agreements, your causes, are all floating upward. The U.S., Canada, Europe, Asia, a continent, an ocean, borders, languages, all are no longer solid.

Your attitude towards your religion follows, gently floating upward.

Your physical ailments float out in front of you, leaving; that nagging back pain, your knee.Your thoughts, one by one follow.

Only a blank space and presence remains.

The concept of a “you” as you know it starts to rise: your name, first and last, leaves, what you do for a living leaves, where you are in your family leaves, your employment status, floating away. You are no longer a boss, an employee, a husband, a wife, a citizen, a teacher, an entertainer, a listener, a leader, a follower, an achiever, or member. You arenʼt good or bad, happy, sad, or angry. There is no Mrs., Mr., Dr., Teacher, Mom, Dad, Citizen, or Me.

You arenʼt sexy, smart, confident, hilarious, noteworthy, old, or young.

You arenʼt even spiritual.

Now the “I” leaves and floats away; each body part fades and you become transparent.

Air flows through you, as you are not solid. You are left with a weightless feeling, a stillness.

Silence. Presence.

You are transparent, yet you cover the entire universe. Stay in this space for a while and feel how much lighter you are.

When you finish, you can refresh and renew your attachments with clarity and awareness and if you do this often, you will cling less to form and know that you are whole and beautiful underneath.

In this sense, you are related to and a part of everything and all things.

Nicole Weinberger has a B.A. and an M.A. in English and in Traditional Chinese Medicine. She has written poems, articles, musings, and community news. She is a poet, writer, and occasional make-you-laugher. Most of all, she hopes her writing touches you in all the right corners.

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Asst. Editor: Edith Lazenby