10-minute guided self-compassion practice for low energy — at the weekend

About this practice

10 minutes to meet low energy with less of a fight. A self-compassion practice, at the weekend. A guided session of about 10 minutes, suited to all levels. Nothing is recorded and no account is needed.

What this works on: low energy

Low energy is a flat battery, not laziness. Pushing through it further drains reserves and produces worse work, faster.

It tends to show up as:

• Everything feeling like an effort
• Procrastinating on simple tasks
• Tiredness sitting deep in the body

A short practice will not restore the reserve, but it removes some of the tension that is draining it.

Doing this at the weekend

• Do it without a schedule to justify it
• Later in the morning, in better light, usually works well
• Let the length be open-ended if the time allows

Recovery is not something you have to earn first, and treating it as a reward keeps it conditional.

How self-compassion works

Self-compassion practice changes the tone of the inner voice rather than the content of the thoughts. It uses the same warmth and steadiness you would offer a friend, applied without requiring you to have earned it.

• Use the words you would actually say to someone you love
• Ask what you need, not what you deserve
• A hand on the chest or belly gives warmth and pressure a place to land

What happens, minute by minute

1. 0:00If you're tired, you can let that be true. Tired is allowed here.
2. 0:13You can be as unimpressive as you like for the next few minutes.
3. 0:26Notice your own pulse somewhere. Wrist, throat, wherever you can find it.
4. 0:39Now let your attention move from the room into your body, slowly, the way you'd move through a doorway you know well.
5. 0:57Notice the difference between the breath at the front of your nose and the breath in your chest.
6. 1:13Let your breathing get quieter rather than deeper.
7. 1:24Notice your pelvis resting on the surface below you.
8. 1:35Feel your hips. Wide, heavy, and doing nothing.
9. 1:46Feel the outline of yourself, from the top of your head to your heels.
10. 2:00Feel your palms. Warm or cool, either is fine.
11. 2:11You do not have to solve the effort everything takes in these few minutes. Your only job is to keep breathing while it is here.
12. 2:30Let the exhale carry a little of the flat battery feeling with it. Not all of it. Just a little, one breath at a time.
13. 2:49If nothing much is happening, that's not a problem. Nothing much is often the point.
14. 3:03Small efforts are the whole method.
15. 3:13Silence for a few breaths. Nothing to do in it.
16. 3:25Notice any part of you that wants this to be over.
17. 3:37Nothing here needs to be efficient.
18. 3:47Quiet for a moment. No need to fill it.
19. 3:58Notice the exact moment your attention left. You probably won't catch it. That's normal.
20. 4:12There's no need to try harder than this.
21. 4:23A few seconds of nothing now. That's on purpose.
22. 4:34If you're sleepy, sit up a little. Or let the sleepiness be there.
23. 4:47Feel your calves, front and back.
24. 4:57Breathe as if you had all evening. There's no rush in this part.
25. 5:10Stay here a little longer.
26. 5:19Notice your breathing, without changing it.
27. 5:29Follow one full breath from the moment it starts to the moment it ends.
28. 5:43Stay a moment longer than is comfortable.
29. 5:53Notice your shoulders, one at a time. The left one first.
30. 6:05Count four breaths silently. Then stop counting and just follow.
31. 6:17Let the quiet do its work.
32. 6:27Let your throat soften. There's nothing to swallow right now.
33. 6:39Breathe in for four, out for six, if you'd like something to count.
34. 6:52A short silence. Let it be empty.
35. 7:02Feel the weight of the tiredness that sits in the bones somewhere specific, then let the floor take a share of it.
36. 7:20Give the effort everything takes a shape, a colour, a temperature. Turning it into something specific makes it easier to hold.
37. 7:37Feel the slight stretch at the very bottom of the exhale.
38. 7:49Picture the flat battery feeling as a weather front passing over. You are not the weather. You are the sky it moves through.
39. 8:07If your mind is quiet, don't grab at it. Quiet comes and goes too.
40. 8:21If your body wants to move, let it move, then come back.
41. 8:34I'll step back. You stay here.
42. 8:44If you only manage half of it, that's half more than nothing.
43. 8:57Nothing changes for a moment.
44. 9:06Let your eyes open when they're ready, not when the words end.
45. 9:19Roll your neck once, slowly, in whichever direction feels good.
46. 9:31Let it be this simple.

Questions people ask

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