Let Go of the Anxiety or Tension as Water Trickles By

A gentle reflection and guided practice for softening overwhelm

There’s something quietly transformational and cleansing about water in flow. Neither crashing of waves or torrential downpours—but the soft, steady trickle of a stream. The kind you hear and see beside a mossy woodland path, or watch as it meanders its way through sand and pebbles. It doesn’t demand attention. It doesn’t rush. It simply moves—gently, persistently, and freely.

Stream, flowing gently over rocks & pebbles

This image of water—unforced, unhurried—offers a powerful metaphor for emotional regulation. In therapy, I often speak about tension not as something to fight, but something to notice. To meet with curiosity. To allow. Like a stream that’s been dammed or diverted, tension builds when we grip too tightly—when we resist the natural flow of our experience. And when that resistance becomes chronic, we can find ourselves flooded with anxiety, sensory overwhelm, or emotional shutdown.

Why Water Matters in Therapy

For neurodivergent individuals, trauma survivors, and anyone navigating the weight of daily life, the nervous system often learns to brace and hold. To anticipate threat. To hold everything—thoughts, feelings, sensations—in a kind of internal clench. This can look like hypervigilance, emotional dysregulation, shutdown, or even physical pain.

But healing doesn’t always come through effort. Sometimes, it comes through softening. Through allowing. Through trusting that movement doesn’t need to be dramatic to be meaningful.

This month, I invite you to reflect on the metaphor of water:

• What would it feel like to loosen your grip on a thought or emotion you’ve been holding?

• Can you imagine letting your thoughts float by like leaves on the surface of a stream, rather than trying to catch or control them?

• Can you trust that healing can be slow, gentle, and still count?

Emotional Release Looks Different for Everyone

There’s no single way to let go. For some, it’s tears. For others, it’s rage, a meltdown, or a moment of silence. Some find rhythm in breathwork, others in movement, music, or sensory retreat. What matters is not the method—but the permission. The noticing.

Often, the first step is simply asking:

• Where am I holding tension in my body?

• What am I afraid will happen if I let go?

Letting go isn’t about erasing or ignoring. It’s about making space—for the feeling to exist, for the body to respond in its own time. It’s about allowing yourself to be in motion, even if that motion is slow. Even if the path is meandering.

Guided Practice: Leaves on the Stream

To support this reflection, I often recommend the Leaves on the Stream guided hypnosis—a gentle visualisation drawn from Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT). It’s especially helpful for those experiencing racing thoughts, emotional overwhelm, or sensory overload.

Here’s how it works:

• Sit comfortably.

• Imagine a slow-moving stream.

• Picture leaves drifting past on the water’s surface.

• Each time a thought, feeling, or sensation arises, gently place it on a leaf.

• Watch it float by—without judgment, without grasping.

• There’s no need to change the thought.

• Just notice it. Let it pass.

This practice helps create space between you and your inner experience. It’s not about emptying the mind—it’s about softening your relationship with it. For neurodivergent clients, this can be especially powerful: it offers a visual, sensory-friendly way to externalise internal noise, without needing to suppress or fix it.

You can explore a bite size taster of this type of exercise here and adapt it in your own way—using sound, imagery, or breath tailored to your personal circumstance.

A Sound Clip of Heavy Rain

Closing Invitation

So today, if you can, find a moment to sit beside water. Or imagine it.

Let it remind you:

• You don’t have to push.

• You don’t have to fix.

• You can simply be.

• And let the tension trickle away.