[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign.
[00:00:08] Speaker A: Hi everyone and welcome back to the Breathe and Release podcast.
My name is Jillian Rose and I'm so glad that you're here with me today.
[00:00:20] Speaker A: For this session we will experience a walking meditation together on the theme of non attachment.
Before we begin our practice together, I'd love to share an offering with you.
In June of 2026, I'll be co facilitating a retreat in Ladakh in northern India in the high Himalayas.
So if you'd like to meet in person, meditate together, learn more about Buddhism and different somatic practices as against a stunning backdrop of Arctic desert, and visit gorgeous monasteries, then this might be for you. You can learn more
[email protected].
[00:01:12] Speaker A: Before we begin, find a place where you can walk safely for the next 30 minutes.
This might be a quiet path in nature, a park, a city street, or even a hallway in your home.
The location doesn't matter so much as long as your intention is to be present.
[00:01:40] Speaker A: Today we'll be exploring the principle of non attachment.
This is one of the most misunderstood teachings in Buddhist practice, so let's be clear about what it means.
[00:01:55] Speaker A: Non attachment is not indifference.
It's not about becoming cold or distant from life.
And it's not about not caring for people or abandoning our responsibilities.
Actually, it's quite the opposite.
Non attachment is about loving without suffocating, enjoying without grasping, experiencing fully without clinging to the experience.
It's the difference between holding a butterfly gently in your open palm and crushing it in your closed fist.
[00:02:37] Speaker A: When we're attached, we suffer because we're trying to make permanent what is inherently impermanent.
We want this feeling to last forever.
We want this person to never change. We want to control outcomes that we can't control.
And in that resistance to reality, we create our own suffering.
[00:02:59] Speaker A: Non attachment invites us to engage fully with life while understanding that everything, every moment, every feeling, every relationship is constantly changing.
It's holding things lightly enough that we don't break them, including ourselves.
[00:03:21] Speaker A: So with each step today we practice this lightness.
We practice moving forward while releasing what's behind us.
And we practice being present without demanding that this moment be anything other than what it is.
[00:03:41] Speaker A: So let's take a deep breath in.
[00:03:46] Speaker A: And release it fully.
[00:03:54] Speaker A: Let's begin.
[00:04:00] Speaker A: As you stand here, bring your awareness to your breath and notice the natural rhythm of breathing without trying to change it.
[00:04:13] Speaker A: Air flowing in.
[00:04:16] Speaker A: Air flowing out.
[00:04:21] Speaker A: Set an intention for this walk.
Maybe it's simply to be present.
[00:04:29] Speaker A: Maybe it's to practice letting go of something that you've been holding too Tightly.
There is no wrong intention here.
[00:04:56] Speaker A: When you're ready, begin to walk at a natural, comfortable pace.
This isn't about reaching a destination.
This is about the walking, about presence, about this very step and this very breath.
[00:05:34] Speaker A: As you walk, bring your attention to the souls of of your feet.
[00:05:41] Speaker A: Feel the sensation of contact with the ground.
[00:05:47] Speaker A: The heel touches the foot rolls, the toes press and then the foot lifts.
[00:05:59] Speaker A: Each step is a moment of balance and release.
[00:06:06] Speaker A: Notice how you must let go of one foot in order to move forward with the next.
You cannot cling to where you were before and move forward at the same time.
[00:06:19] Speaker A: This is the first teaching of non attachment.
To move forward, we must release.
[00:06:30] Speaker A: Sa.
[00:06:56] Speaker A: Feel the rhythm of your steps.
[00:07:00] Speaker A: Left, right.
[00:07:04] Speaker A: Left.
[00:07:06] Speaker A: Right.
There's no need to control or perfect your walking.
Simply allow your body to move naturally as it knows how to do.
[00:07:21] Speaker A: Sa.
[00:07:52] Speaker A: Notice any urge to walk correctly or to do this meditation right.
See if you can release that need.
There's nowhere to get to.
Nothing to achieve.
Just this step.
Just this breath. Sa.
[00:08:45] Speaker A: As thoughts arise and they will, try to notice them without judgment.
You don't need to push them away or hold on to them.
Let them pass through like clouds moving across the sky.
[00:09:02] Speaker A: You are the sky, not the clouds.
[00:09:30] Speaker A: Continue to walk at your natural pace.
[00:09:36] Speaker A: Now begin to notice any tension you might be holding in your body.
Maybe in your shoulders, your jaw, your hands, your belly.
[00:09:52] Speaker A: With each exhale, consciously soften and release.
[00:10:00] Speaker A: No need to grip so tightly.
Not your muscles, not your plans, not your expectations for this practice.
[00:10:28] Speaker A: Breathe in, feeling your body move through space.
[00:10:34] Speaker A: Breathe out, letting go just a little bit more.
[00:10:44] Speaker A: Sometimes we hold on because we're afraid.
[00:10:49] Speaker A: We're afraid of what might happen if we let go.
[00:10:54] Speaker A: Afraid of losing control.
[00:10:57] Speaker A: Of uncertainty, of change.
[00:11:01] Speaker A: But notice what happens when you physically release tension in your body.
[00:11:10] Speaker A: Does everything fall apart?
Or do you find a little more ease.
[00:11:17] Speaker A: And a little more freedom.
[00:11:38] Speaker A: As you walk?
Imagine that with each step, you're placing down a small burden.
[00:11:48] Speaker A: Maybe it's a worry about the future.
[00:11:52] Speaker A: Maybe it's a regret from the past.
[00:11:56] Speaker A: Maybe it's an expectation of how this day should have gone.
[00:12:02] Speaker A: Take a step.
Place it down.
[00:12:07] Speaker A: Take a step.
Leave it behind.
[00:12:12] Speaker A: Take a step.
Move forward.
Lighter.
[00:12:45] Speaker A: Now, as you continue walking, bring your attention to your hands.
[00:12:53] Speaker A: Are they clenched?
Try to open them gently, even 1% more.
[00:13:03] Speaker A: Let your arms swing naturally at your sides.
[00:13:08] Speaker A: Open hands are a symbol of non attachment.
When we clench our fists around something, a person, an outcome or a version of ourselves, we cut off circulation.
And this causes suffering.
[00:13:27] Speaker A: But when we open our hands, we create space.
[00:13:32] Speaker A: Space for things to come and go naturally.
Space for life to flow through us, rather than being dammed up by our resistance.
[00:13:47] Speaker A: So walk with open hands and breathe with an open heart.
[00:14:19] Speaker A: Notice the world around you.
Maybe there are trees, buildings, sky, people.
[00:14:31] Speaker A: Earth.
[00:14:33] Speaker A: Everything you see is temporary.
The tree that's here today sprouted from a seed decades ago and will eventually return to the Earth.
[00:14:47] Speaker A: The buildings will one day crumble.
[00:14:51] Speaker A: Even the mountains are slowly, slowly changing shape.
[00:14:58] Speaker A: And this is not necessarily sad, but just the nature of existence.
Everything is in a constant state of becoming.
[00:15:09] Speaker A: You too are not the same person you were 10 years ago, or even yesterday.
The cells in your body are constantly dying and being reborn.
Your thoughts are different.
Your feelings change moment by moment.
[00:15:30] Speaker A: So who are you trying to hold on to?
[00:15:34] Speaker A: Which version of yourself are you clinging to?
[00:15:39] Speaker A: With each step, practice releasing the need to be a fixed, solid, unchanging self.
[00:15:51] Speaker A: You are a river, not a stone.
You are movement.
You are a process, not a product.
[00:16:05] Speaker A: So breathe into that freedom.
[00:16:09] Speaker A: And breathe out control.
[00:16:13] Speaker A: Breathe in freedom.
[00:16:18] Speaker A: Breathe out control.
[00:16:22] Speaker A: You might like to synchronize your steps with your breath, perhaps inhaling for two to four steps and exhaling for two to four steps, depending on your pace.
[00:17:06] Speaker A: As you continue walking, you might notice discomfort arising.
Maybe your feet are tired.
Maybe you're bored.
Maybe you're thinking about all the things you should be doing instead of this.
[00:17:23] Speaker A: That's fine. This is the practice.
[00:17:28] Speaker A: Can you walk with discomfort without immediately trying to fix it or push it away?
Can you notice boredom or restlessness without judging yourself for feeling it?
Can you observe your resistance without becoming your resistance?
[00:18:03] Speaker A: Non attachment doesn't mean we don't feel things.
It means we don't cling to our feelings or identify with them completely.
You are not your boredom.
You are the awareness that notices boredom arising.
[00:18:23] Speaker A: There's a difference between pain and suffering.
[00:18:27] Speaker A: Pain is inevitable. It's part of being human, part of having a body and a mind.
But suffering is what happens when we resist our pain, when we tell stories about it, when we believe it should be different than it is.
[00:18:49] Speaker A: As you walk, practice being with what is.
Not pushing away the unpleasant, not grasping after the pleasant.
Just walking, just breathing, just being.
[00:19:37] Speaker A: If you notice yourself thinking, this meditation isn't working, or I'm not doing this right, simply notice that thought.
Smile at it if you can.
These thoughts are just more clouds passing through.
You don't need to believe them or argue with them.
[00:20:00] Speaker A: Let them pass.
[00:20:02] Speaker A: Keep walking.
[00:20:05] Speaker A: Keep breathing.
[00:20:36] Speaker A: Everything is welcome here.
Your Distraction, your presence.
[00:20:42] Speaker A: Your peace, your restlessness.
All of it can coexist without you needing to do any anything about it.
This is the practice of non attachment, allowing life to be exactly as it is, including your own experience of this moment.
[00:21:34] Speaker A: Now start to expand your awareness beyond yourself.
[00:21:40] Speaker A: Notice the ground that supports and each step you take, the earth beneath you holding you up.
[00:21:51] Speaker A: Notice the air that fills your lungs with each breath.
[00:21:58] Speaker A: You don't own this air.
You borrow it briefly, then release it back to the world.
[00:22:09] Speaker A: Everything you have is on loan.
[00:22:13] Speaker A: The body is on loan from the earth, made of water, minerals, carbon, all borrowed from this planet.
Your thoughts are on loan from the culture and language and experiences that shaped you.
Even your sense of self is on loan, constantly constructed and reconstructed by memory, perception and consciousness.
Nothing is truly yours to keep.
And there's actually a lot of freedom there.
[00:22:49] Speaker A: When we understand that everything is borrowed, we can hold life more gently.
We can appreciate without possessing, we can love without controlling.
[00:23:04] Speaker A: And we can experience without clinging.
[00:23:33] Speaker A: As you walk, silently offer gratitude.
[00:23:39] Speaker A: Thank you to the earth.
[00:23:45] Speaker A: Thank you to this body.
[00:23:50] Speaker A: Thank you to this breath.
[00:23:54] Speaker A: Thank you to this moment which is already passing even as we acknowledge it.
[00:24:04] Speaker A: Feel your connection to everything around you.
You are not separate from this world, walking through it as an outsider.
You are part of it.
You are made of it.
You are inseparable from it.
[00:24:38] Speaker A: And because you're connected to everything, you are also affected by everything.
The person who smiled at you this morning, the bird whose song you heard, the food you ate that gave you so much energy.
[00:24:57] Speaker A: The people who built the path that you're walking on.
We are all interconnected, all part of the same vast web of existence.
And yet we must still release our grip, still allow things and people to be free, to change, to come and to go.
This is the paradox.
Profound connection and complete freedom.
Both can be true at the same time.
[00:25:56] Speaker A: We're slowly coming towards the end of our walking meditation.
[00:26:01] Speaker A: You might slow your pace slightly, though there is no rush.
[00:26:08] Speaker A: Take a moment to notice how you feel compared to when you began.
[00:26:15] Speaker A: Maybe something has shifted.
Maybe nothing has shifted.
Both are perfectly fine.
[00:26:37] Speaker A: I invite you to come to a natural stopping point and stand still.
[00:26:45] Speaker A: Feel your feet rooted on the ground.
[00:26:50] Speaker A: Feel the stability of standing.
The completion of this practice.
[00:27:03] Speaker A: Place one hand on your heart.
[00:27:07] Speaker A: And one hand on your belly.
[00:27:12] Speaker A: Take three deep intentional breaths.
[00:27:18] Speaker A: Breathe in.
I am here.
[00:27:23] Speaker A: Breathe out.
I let go.
[00:27:29] Speaker A: Breathe in.
I am present.
[00:27:35] Speaker A: Breathe out.
I release.
[00:27:41] Speaker A: Breathe in.
I am enough.
[00:27:46] Speaker A: Breathe out.
I surrender.
[00:27:58] Speaker A: The practice of non attachment isn't something we master once and carry forward forever.
It's something we return to again and again and again.
With each breath, with each step, with each moment of our lives.
[00:28:19] Speaker A: We practice holding things lightly, we practice releasing our grip, we practice opening our hands and opening our hearts.
[00:28:34] Speaker A: And in that openness we find freedom.
[00:28:39] Speaker A: Not the freedom from life but the freedom to fully live it, to experience it all without being crushed by our need to control it.
[00:28:55] Speaker A: As you move forward into your day, see if you can carry this quality of open handed presence of with you.
When you notice yourself clenching around a thought or an expectation or a fear, see if you can soften.
See if you can let go just a little bit.
[00:29:23] Speaker A: Thank you so much for walking with me today.
Thank you for your practice, your presence and your willingness to explore non attachment experientially.
May you walk lightly in this world, may you breathe freely and may you release whatever no longer serves you.
