Burying the Past

Aim: to free yourself from the influence of the past.

Frequency: once a week, for 3 to 5 minutes, for 3 weeks.

Many of us find it difficult to free ourselves from the past. We continue to be haunted by it, experience regrets or feel trapped or guilty, which prevents us from functioning efficiently. This exercise helps to relieve these tensions.

"Close your eyes and breathe out three times. You are walking along a country lane scattered with rocks that you clear away from the path. When you reach the end of the lane, you sit down under a tree. Pull off a leaf and write down everything that has been troubling you, all your regrets and all the things standing in your way. You use the sap of the tree as ink. Dig a hole, in the knowledge that you are going to bury a past that is already dead, although it is still alive within you, and that in so doing it will disintegrate. Also write on the leaf the date on which you want this past to disappear. Place the leaf in the hole, cover it with earth and quickly retrace your steps, noting if the lane has changed. Open your eyes.”

The visualisation exercises described below are simple and effective. They can be performed separately or in association with medical treatment, with which they are entirely compatible.