10-minute guided softening practice for health anxiety — on a plane

About this practice

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

What this works on: health anxiety

Health anxiety runs on a loop of scanning and checking. Each check briefly relieves the fear and then strengthens it, because the relief teaches the brain that checking was necessary.

It tends to show up as:

• Repeatedly checking a symptom or a pulse
• Searching symptoms late at night
• Reassurance that only helps for an hour

Attention moved out of the head and into the body as a whole reduces scanning. You are not arguing with the worry, just giving it less to grip.

Doing this on a plane

• Use headphones, and keep the seatbelt on
• Bring a layer — being cold works against settling
• Skip alcohol; it makes the alertness worse

Cabin noise is constant and will mask the audio more than you expect. Try the headphones before you settle in.

How softening works

Softening is the practice of releasing held tension degree by degree rather than all at once. It targets the physical grip — shoulders, jaw, gut — that persists long after the stressor has passed.

• Soften one place per exhale rather than everything at once
• Let warmth and gravity do the work instead of muscular effort
• If a place will not soften, leave it and go somewhere that will

What happens, minute by minute

1. 0:00Part of you is still in the last conversation you had. That's fine. It can sit here too.
2. 0:16We are not forcing anything open. We are letting things unclench by a single degree.
3. 0:30Notice the weight of your arms without moving them.
4. 0:41You can think about other things. When you notice, come back. That's the whole practice.
5. 0:55Notice the small gap after each exhale. Rest there for half a second.
6. 1:08Let your belly rise first, then your chest, then the tops of your lungs.
7. 1:22Let the whole of your right foot be heavy.
8. 1:33Notice your shoulders, one at a time. The left one first.
9. 1:45Start at the top of your head. Notice the scalp, which you almost never notice.
10. 1:59Let the whole of your left foot be heavy.
11. 2:10You have been carrying the fear attached to each new symptom for a while. You can set it down for the length of this session and pick it up after.
12. 2:31You do not have to win against the worry about what your body might be telling you. You only have to breathe until the next moment arrives.
13. 2:51Notice the difference between a thought and the space around it.
14. 3:03With every out-breath, soften one place. Shoulders first, then jaw, then the space behind the eyes.
15. 3:18I'll stop for a moment. Take the pause at your own speed.
16. 3:31If your mind is quiet, don't grab at it. Quiet comes and goes too.
17. 3:45Find the tightest place and simply breathe near it. Warmth does the softening, not effort.
18. 3:59No words for a moment. Only the next breath.
19. 4:10If you feel restless, that's a feeling, not a failure.
20. 4:22If a place will not soften, leave it alone and go somewhere that will. It often follows.
21. 4:37Let's pause. Just the breathing for a while.
22. 4:48Notice any part of you that wants this to be over.
23. 5:00Let your breathing get quieter rather than deeper.
24. 5:11Stay a moment longer than is comfortable.
25. 5:21Feel the front of your chest. Notice it rise and fall once.
26. 5:34Let the breath be shallow if shallow is what your body wants.
27. 5:47A few seconds more.
28. 5:56Notice your heels making contact with the floor or the bed.
29. 6:08Follow three breaths and let the fourth one go unobserved.
30. 6:20Let this one be unhurried.
31. 6:29Feel your knees. They're just hinges, but they've worked hard.
32. 6:41Follow the breath down into your belly and feel it come back up.
33. 6:54Let's rest here in silence. It's short.
34. 7:04Whatever the habit of checking for something wrong is doing right now, your breathing can keep going underneath it.
35. 7:20There is no correct amount of the fear attached to each new symptom to be feeling right now. Whatever is here is the honest amount.
36. 7:39Let the in-breath be short and the out-breath unhurried.
37. 7:50You do not have to like the worry about what your body might be telling you to breathe through it. Liking was never the requirement.
38. 8:09If you're irritated, that's allowed. Irritation is just weather.
39. 8:20Notice how you're sitting. Adjust if you need to. Then settle again.
40. 8:33I'll step back. You stay here.
41. 8:43Unclenching is not the same as relaxing. Just stop adding the tension back.
42. 8:56Keep following the air.
43. 9:05Come back at your own speed. The room will wait.
44. 9:17Wiggle your fingers and toes, gently, like you're testing that they still work.
45. 9:30Just the breath, still.

Questions people ask

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