10-minute guided letting go practice for back pain and tension — when nothing went right

About this practice

Slow, spoken guidance for back pain and tension. A letting go session you can do when nothing went right. 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 after a bad day

• Do not review the day during it — that is what tomorrow is for
• Something physical first, then this
• Keep it short and end it deliberately

A bad day does not need a verdict. Closing it without a post-mortem is allowed.

How letting go works

Letting go is about loosening grip rather than dropping things. It works on the effort attached to a problem — the holding, rehearsing and bracing — which is separable from the problem itself.

• Pick one thing you are gripping and loosen a single finger
• Release the effort with the exhale, not the issue
• Set down temporarily; you can pick it up again after

What happens, minute by minute

1. 0:00Let the first out-breath be longer than the in-breath. Nothing dramatic, just longer.
2. 0:13Pick one thing you are gripping — a plan, a worry, a grudge — and loosen a single finger.
3. 0:29Bring your attention to where your body meets the surface underneath you.
4. 0:42We'll start broad and narrow down. Nothing sudden is coming.
5. 0:54Feel your breath move down your back, all the way to your lower ribs.
6. 1:08Let the breath get soft, the way it goes when someone is reading beside you.
7. 1:22Notice the small movement in your belly when you breathe.
8. 1:34Let the whole of your left foot be heavy.
9. 1:45Notice your eyebrows. They're probably doing something small right now.
10. 1:57Notice your shoulders, one at a time. The left one first.
11. 2:09Notice how the muscles holding on all day changes shape when you stop resisting it. Usually it gets smaller, not bigger.
12. 2:26You have been carrying the stiffness from sitting for a while. You can set it down for the length of this session and pick it up after.
13. 2:46If your body wants to move, let it move, then come back.
14. 2:59We are not solving anything in the next few minutes. We are setting it down, temporarily.
15. 3:14A short silence. Let it be empty.
16. 3:24You might be planning something. Notice the planning, then come back.
17. 3:36Ask yourself what you could stop holding for the next sixty seconds. That one is a good start.
18. 3:52Let's pause. Just the breathing for a while.
19. 4:03Notice any urge to check something. You can wait two more minutes.
20. 4:16With each exhale, let a little of the effort go. Not the problem — just the effort.
21. 4:31A few seconds of nothing now. That's on purpose.
22. 4:42If your mind has wandered, that's not a mistake. Noticing is the practice.
23. 4:55Notice that you don't have to start a breath. It arrives by itself.
24. 5:08Nothing changes for a moment.
25. 5:17Notice your whole body as one shape, sitting or lying here.
26. 5:29Let your breathing find the rhythm it uses when you're almost asleep.
27. 5:42Let this one be unhurried.
28. 5:51Notice the weight of your thighs, all the way down.
29. 6:03Count down from ten, one number per exhale.
30. 6:14A few seconds more.
31. 6:23Let your throat soften. There's nothing to swallow right now.
32. 6:35Let the breath move at the speed of a sleeping person.
33. 6:47A gap. Don't rush to fill it with thinking.
34. 6:58If the ache in the lower back is loud right now, make your attention smaller. Just the next breath. Nothing beyond it.
35. 7:16Nothing about the muscles holding on all day has to be explained or justified in this room.
36. 7:31Follow three breaths and let the fourth one go unobserved.
37. 7:43Whatever the stiffness from sitting is doing right now, your breathing can keep going underneath it.
38. 7:58Notice the exact moment your attention left. You probably won't catch it. That's normal.
39. 8:12Notice if you're being hard on yourself about any of this.
40. 8:24No words for a moment. Only the next breath.
41. 8:35Setting something down is not the same as giving up. You can pick it up again after.
42. 8:50Remain here for a few more breaths.
43. 9:00Wiggle your fingers and toes, gently, like you're testing that they still work.
44. 9:13Let your eyes open when they're ready, not when the words end.
45. 9:26Let the quiet do its work.

Questions people ask

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