10-minute guided letting go practice for tension headaches — beside your desk

About this practice

Nothing to learn and nothing to fix: 10 minutes of letting go for tension headaches, beside your desk. A guided session of about 10 minutes, suited to all levels. Nothing is recorded and no account is needed.

What this works on: tension headaches

Tension headaches follow a band of tightness across the forehead and around the skull, usually the product of long staring, jaw clenching and neck position.

It tends to show up as:

• A band of pressure across the forehead
• Pressure behind the eyes
• Ache worsening through the day

Softening the jaw, eyes and neck interrupts the pattern early. Once a tension headache settles in it is harder to shift.

Doing this at your desk

• Feet flat, back supported, screen away from your eyeline
• You can do this with your eyes open if the office makes closing them awkward
• Unclench the jaw and drop the shoulders first, before anything else

Nobody needs to know you are doing it. Keep it invisible if that makes it possible.

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. 0:00If you're lying down, let the mattress hold all of you. You can stop holding yourself up.
2. 0:15Pick one thing you are gripping — a plan, a worry, a grudge — and loosen a single finger.
3. 0:31We're going to let the body lead and the mind follow for a while.
4. 0:45Notice the weight of your arms without moving them.
5. 0:56Count four breaths silently. Then stop counting and just follow.
6. 1:08Notice if your breathing is faster than you expected. Don't correct it. Just note it.
7. 1:22Notice your eyebrows. They're probably doing something small right now.
8. 1:34Notice your shoulders, one at a time. The left one first.
9. 1:46Notice your hands again. Check whether they've loosened on their own.
10. 1:58Feel your heart somewhere in there, doing its work without instructions.
11. 2:10When the ache from a long staring day presses in, put a hand on your chest or your belly. Warmth and pressure are anchors your body already trusts.
12. 2:30Imagine the band around the forehead as a room you can walk out of for a minute. The room will still be there.
13. 2:48If you're thinking about the next thing on your list, that list will still be there.
14. 3:03With each exhale, let a little of the effort go. Not the problem — just the effort.
15. 3:18Let's rest here in silence. It's short.
16. 3:28You might be planning something. Notice the planning, then come back.
17. 3:40We are not solving anything in the next few minutes. We are setting it down, temporarily.
18. 3:55Silence for a few breaths. Nothing to do in it.
19. 4:07If you're distracted by a sound, let the sound be the object for a moment.
20. 4:21Ask yourself what you could stop holding for the next sixty seconds. That one is a good start.
21. 4:37Silence. Let your shoulders drop again if they've crept up.
22. 4:49Let your breathing be boring. Boring is good here.
23. 5:00Stay with it.
24. 5:08Notice your pelvis resting on the surface below you.
25. 5:19Follow the breath down into your belly and feel it come back up.
26. 5:32Let the quiet do its work.
27. 5:42Let your thumbs rest wherever they landed.
28. 5:52Let your breathing get quieter rather than deeper.
29. 6:03Let your body keep settling.
30. 6:12Feel the front of your chest. Notice it rise and fall once.
31. 6:25Let your shoulders stay still while your ribs move.
32. 6:36A gap. Don't rush to fill it with thinking.
33. 6:47If the pressure building behind the eyes shows up, let it be there without arguing with it. You are not trying to remove it, just to sit beside it.
34. 7:08When the ache from a long staring day arrives, name it once, quietly, and go back to the breath. Naming is not fixing, and that is fine.
35. 7:28Notice the difference between the breath at the front of your nose and the breath in your chest.
36. 7:44If the band around the forehead is loud right now, make your attention smaller. Just the next breath. Nothing beyond it.
37. 8:01Notice if you've been frowning at your own thoughts.
38. 8:12If you're judging your performance, that's the same habit as judging everything else.
39. 8:25A few seconds of nothing now. That's on purpose.
40. 8:36You have been carrying this competently for a while. A few minutes off will not undo that.
41. 8:51Let it be this simple.
42. 9:00Let the quiet end on its own rather than cutting it off.
43. 9:13Notice your feet on the floor. That's where you start from.
44. 9:25Nothing changes for a moment.

Questions people ask

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