10-minute grounding meditation for back pain and tension, on your commute

About this practice

10 minutes to meet back pain and tension with less of a fight. A grounding practice, on your commute. A guided session of about 10 minutes, suited to all levels. Nothing is recorded and no account is needed.

What this works on: back pain and tension

Much of daily back discomfort is muscular load rather than structural damage — muscles holding a position long after they should have let go.

It tends to show up as:

• Lower back ache after sitting
• Stiffness on standing
• Pain that improves when moving

Attention moves into the back rather than away from it. Being willing to feel it is usually where release starts.

Doing this on your commute

• Headphones on, eyes open or closed depending on your comfort
• Keep one part of your attention on your stop
• Do it standing if sitting is not possible — nobody is watching

Commuting time is already dead time. Nothing is being given up.

How grounding works

Grounding brings attention to physical contact and the immediate environment. It works on the principle that the body cannot be somewhere else, so contact with the surface you are on is always available as an anchor.

• Feel the contact points — feet, seat, back — and let them take your weight
• Use the senses deliberately: what you can see, hear, touch
• Return to solidity whenever attention drifts

What happens, minute by minute

1. 0:00Notice where your body touches the chair. That contact is doing more for you than it looks.
2. 0:15If your mind has gone somewhere else, the floor under you has not moved. Start from there.
3. 0:30Settle into the fact that for the next few minutes, nothing is required of you.
4. 0:44If some part of you is resisting this, that resistance is worth noticing too.
5. 0:58Feel the air as it passes the back of your throat. It's cooler going in.
6. 1:12Let your breathing be boring. Boring is good here.
7. 1:23Feel your upper arms hanging. They're heavier than you remember.
8. 1:35Notice your ribs on both sides. Wide, not squeezed.
9. 1:46Now feel both feet at once. That's a lot of contact with the world.
10. 2:00Feel your tongue sitting in the bottom of your mouth.
11. 2:12Nothing about the stiffness from sitting has to be explained or justified in this room.
12. 2:26Let the ache in the lower back be exactly as big as it is, and let your breath be exactly as slow as it is. They can coexist.
13. 2:46Notice any tension that arrived while you weren't looking.
14. 2:57The floor is holding you right now. You do not have to hold yourself up.
15. 3:11A short silence. Let it be empty.
16. 3:21If you feel numb, that's a valid thing to feel. Nothing to fix.
17. 3:34Name what you can see, hear and touch. Counting senses is not a distraction; it is the practice.
18. 3:50A few seconds of nothing now. That's on purpose.
19. 4:01Notice the exact moment your attention left. You probably won't catch it. That's normal.
20. 4:15Come back to the solid things: weight, temperature, surface. They are always available.
21. 4:28A few quiet breaths. That's all this is.
22. 4:39Notice the pull to make this mean something. It doesn't have to.
23. 4:52Let the in-breath be short and the out-breath unhurried.
24. 5:03No need to open your eyes yet.
25. 5:13Notice the weight of your thighs, all the way down.
26. 5:25Let the breath move at the speed of a sleeping person.
27. 5:37Stay here a little longer.
28. 5:46Feel your upper back against whatever is behind it.
29. 5:57Let your shoulders stay still while your ribs move.
30. 6:08Let this one be unhurried.
31. 6:17Feel your ankles. Let them be loose.
32. 6:27Let your breathing find the rhythm it uses when you're almost asleep.
33. 6:40I'll step back. You stay here.
34. 6:50Say to yourself: this is uncomfortable, and I can stay with it for one more breath. Then take that breath.
35. 7:07If the stiffness from sitting has been with you all day, it is probably tired too. Let it rest alongside you.
36. 7:24Notice where you feel the breath most clearly. Nose, chest, or belly — pick one and stay there.
37. 7:40Each time your mind hands you the ache in the lower back, treat it like a leaf on a stream. Present for a moment, then carried on.
38. 8:00If a song is stuck in your head, let it play in the background.
39. 8:14If your body wants to move, let it move, then come back.
40. 8:27Silence. Let your shoulders drop again if they've crept up.
41. 8:39Feel the contact points — feet, seat, back. That contact is the whole anchor.
42. 8:53Nothing changes for a moment.
43. 9:02Notice the room again: the sounds, the temperature, the light.
44. 9:14Take a moment to notice you did this for yourself. That's not nothing.
45. 9:27No rush to move on.

Questions people ask

Meditation is a practice, not a treatment. If you are dealing with ongoing distress, please also reach out to a professional.