10-minute grounding meditation for social anxiety, on the train

About this practice

For the times on the train when social anxiety takes up more room than you would like — 10 minutes, grounding. A guided session of about 10 minutes, suited to all levels. Nothing is recorded and no account is needed.

What this works on: social anxiety

The body reads being watched as physical exposure. Blood moves to the face and chest, hands shake slightly, and attention turns inward onto how you appear.

It tends to show up as:

• Dreading an event days before it happens
• Hot face or shaky voice when speaking
• Replaying conversations afterwards

Turning attention outward — to sounds, to the room, to what is actually being said — interrupts the self-monitoring that keeps the fear alive.

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. 0:00There is nothing to get right here. Nothing is being scored.
2. 0:12Press down slightly and feel the push back. Your body already knows where it is.
3. 0:26We're going to let the body lead and the mind follow for a while.
4. 0:40If your mind is loud, that's information, not failure.
5. 0:51Let the breath get soft, the way it goes when someone is reading beside you.
6. 1:05If you're holding your breath at the top, stop. There's no need to hold anything.
7. 1:19Feel the outline of yourself, from the top of your head to your heels.
8. 1:33Feel the skin around your eyes. Let the muscles behind them go loose.
9. 1:46Notice your breathing, without changing it.
10. 1:56Feel your face. It's probably softer than it was five minutes ago.
11. 2:09Whatever the fear of saying the wrong thing is doing right now, your breathing can keep going underneath it.
12. 2:25There is no correct amount of the dread of being watched or judged to be feeling right now. Whatever is here is the honest amount.
13. 2:44Notice the moment you realise you've drifted. That moment is the whole skill.
14. 2:57Name what you can see, hear and touch. Counting senses is not a distraction; it is the practice.
15. 3:13Nothing to follow for a moment except your own breathing.
16. 3:25If your body wants to move, let it move, then come back.
17. 3:38Come back to the solid things: weight, temperature, surface. They are always available.
18. 3:51Let me stop talking. Follow the breath instead.
19. 4:02If you've lost track of where we were, you haven't lost anything important.
20. 4:15Feel the contact points — feet, seat, back. That contact is the whole anchor.
21. 4:29A few seconds of nothing now. That's on purpose.
22. 4:40Notice the breath you're taking right now. That's the only one that exists.
23. 4:53A few seconds more.
24. 5:02Feel your tongue sitting in the bottom of your mouth.
25. 5:14Let the exhale empty you a little more than usual, but not to the point of strain.
26. 5:29Let it be this simple.
27. 5:38Notice your heels making contact with the floor or the bed.
28. 5:50Breathe as if you had all evening. There's no rush in this part.
29. 6:03Stay here a little longer.
30. 6:12Notice your whole body as one shape, sitting or lying here.
31. 6:24Breathe in through your nose and out through your nose, if that's comfortable.
32. 6:37A gap. Don't rush to fill it with thinking.
33. 6:48You have been carrying the heat before you speak for a while. You can set it down for the length of this session and pick it up after.
34. 7:08When the fear of saying the wrong thing arrives, name it once, quietly, and go back to the breath. Naming is not fixing, and that is fine.
35. 7:28Feel the air move past your upper lip. It's the coolest spot on the way in.
36. 7:43Notice the space around the dread of being watched or judged. It is there, even if it is small. Put your attention in that space.
37. 8:02If your mind is quiet, don't grab at it. Quiet comes and goes too.
38. 8:16Notice how you're sitting. Adjust if you need to. Then settle again.
39. 8:29Silence. Let your shoulders drop again if they've crept up.
40. 8:41If your mind has gone somewhere else, the floor under you has not moved. Start from there.
41. 8:56Let the pause stretch out.
42. 9:05Before you move, notice one thing that's fine right now.
43. 9:17Start to notice the edges of your body again, and the surface you're on.
44. 9:31Let this one be unhurried.

Questions people ask

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