Letting Go Doesn’t Work for Everyone, Elsa

The root of all human suffering (including fear) is attachment. Our minds and bodies are slave to the memories they hold of the past.

And while the past no longer exists and the future never truly arrives, the present is crowded with echoes—emotional residues that refuse to disappear just because we wish them away.

You may try to “let go,” but one glance at a familiar symbol—a gifted coffee mug, a certain color, a scent, a space—can trigger everything all over again.

For instance, a gifted coffee mug might remind you of a friend who is now your enemy. Or it might be something subtler, like the color cyan—worn by someone on a day they made you feel a certain way (whether good or bad). Such symbols can evoke painful or pleasant memories, and there’s often little you can do to shield yourself from the environments that awaken these internal associations.

So, what can we possibly do in such a situation? Let’s help you.

The Human Mind Cannot Let Go

If there’s something to let go of, you’ve already lost the battle. That’s not how the human mind works. The real solution is this: there was never anything to let go of in the first place.

The mind tricks itself again and again, replaying its emotional cycles. Over time, these cycles gather momentum and begin to make you feel a certain way at specific times—whether it’s a day of the week, a month, or even a particular season of the year.

There is one way to break down all the walls and escape the cycles of the mind and body—and that is through Tapa.

What does Tapa mean?

Tapa, as commonly understood, is often translated as “penance,” but that’s not quite accurate. The word Tapa literally means heat, and it is primarily associated with inner heat or intensity.

When you do something with true intensity, it bears fruit. This intensity arises when you gather all your energy and direct it toward a single purpose.

Often, when we find ourselves in environments overloaded with tasks or distractions, our pranic energy gets scattered across various areas of interest. For instance, one moment you might crave a pizza, the next you’re thinking about losing belly fat, and soon after, your mind jumps to an upcoming meeting. In this case, your energy is divided among three different concerns. Naturally, as your energy disperses, the intensity behind any one activity also weakens.

A scattered mind is a form of illness. Tapa is the practice through which you learn to gather your energy and channel it in one direction.

Obstacles you may encounter

The energy within the body is not naturally flexible or malleable, contrary to what you might think. After reading this, you won’t simply be able to gather and direct your energy at will.

That energy must be worked on—beaten and refined, much like Japanese mochi. Mochi is a special rice dough that’s continuously pounded by two people for about half an hour. The result is a smooth, uniform, and elastic dough, ready to be used in various dishes.

The method to make your energies flexible, fast.

You can make your energies more flexible through yogasana and pranayama. The word pranayama literally means the discipline or regulation of prana—the life force or pranic energy.

However, the fastest and most direct way to gain control over your pranic energies is through the chanting of mantras. So, in this post, we’ll focus solely on mantras.

How to use mantras to control our energies

The word mantra comes from two:

manah – which means the mind.
tarana – which means to control.

A mantra can be verbal or visual. Watching of breath is also a kind of mantra. So, your mantra can be anything that absorbs your mind into it. It can be a sound, a picture of a deity, or it could even be a picture of someone you like. It could even be a picture of yourself.

Read carefully! Choose anything that calms your mind, and shrinks the room of your awareness. When you’re thinking of it, you should be in your own world.

Your eyes may be on the screen, but you’re not seeing the screen anymore (in your awareness). You may be hearing people talk in the background, but your mind is barely registering the sounds they are making, and you’re not interested in listening either. Your body may be seated on the chair, but you are with your mantra.

If you’re able to instill such enthusiasm toward your mantra within yourself, then you’re free from the shackles of the world. Nothing can bind you, and you control what happens within your human body and mind. With such a mind, you’re not far from attaining self-realization.

Things to keep in mind

It may not happen in a day. So, don’t look at the end goal. When you chant or visualize the mantra, you notice that a lot of other things continue to happen in the back of your mind.

Through practice, as you develop interest in your mantra, you see that the room of your awareness becomes smaller and smaller. The things that happened in the back of your mind begin to become more about the mantra than any other unrelated areas of interest.

Slowly, but surely, the room becomes even smaller, and then, your mind only see the mantra and becomes one with it. This means, you realize that you and the mantra are not two different entities, but one.

This process will take you toward samadhi, which is the ultimate goal of yoga. And in terms of human competency, it’ll take you in a league of your own.

Thanks for the motivation though, Disney. With much appreciation and love, that’s all for now!