10-minute letting go meditation for low energy, when nothing went right

About this practice

For the times when nothing went right when low energy takes up more room than you would like — 10 minutes, letting go. 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 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 floor take your weight through your feet, and stop holding yourself up for a second.
2. 0:15Nothing here needs to be efficient.
3. 0:25We're going to let the body lead and the mind follow for a while.
4. 0:39Feel the small movements your body makes to keep you upright. They're happening without you.
5. 0:53Let the in-breath be short and the out-breath unhurried.
6. 1:04Let the exhale fall out rather than pushing it.
7. 1:15Notice your jaw again. Let your back teeth part slightly.
8. 1:27Let your whole body be as heavy as it wants to be.
9. 1:40Notice your fingers, one by one, starting with the little finger.
10. 1:52Feel the front of your chest. Notice it rise and fall once.
11. 2:05Let the exhale carry a little of the tiredness that sits in the bones with it. Not all of it. Just a little, one breath at a time.
12. 2:25You do not have to win against the effort everything takes. You only have to breathe until the next moment arrives.
13. 2:42Notice if you're waiting for something to happen. Nothing is scheduled.
14. 2:54Let this be easy, if easy is available.
15. 3:05A gap. Don't rush to fill it with thinking.
16. 3:16If your mind has wandered, that's not a mistake. Noticing is the practice.
17. 3:29We'll take this slowly, and there's no version of this where you get it wrong.
18. 3:43Let's pause. Just the breathing for a while.
19. 3:54If you're sleepy, sit up a little. Or let the sleepiness be there.
20. 4:07Small efforts are the whole method.
21. 4:17Silence. Let your shoulders drop again if they've crept up.
22. 4:29If you feel emotional, you don't have to explain it to anyone, including yourself.
23. 4:43Feel the outline of yourself, from the top of your head to your heels.
24. 4:57Notice the breath you're taking right now. That's the only one that exists.
25. 5:10Just the breath, still.
26. 5:19Feel your calves, front and back.
27. 5:29Let your belly rise first, then your chest, then the tops of your lungs.
28. 5:43Keep following the air.
29. 5:52Feel your hips. Wide, heavy, and doing nothing.
30. 6:03Feel the air move past your upper lip. It's the coolest spot on the way in.
31. 6:18Stay here a little longer.
32. 6:27Notice your elbows. Odd things to have, but there they are.
33. 6:39Follow one full breath from the moment it starts to the moment it ends.
34. 6:53Let's rest here in silence. It's short.
35. 7:03the flat battery feeling may quiet down, or it may not. Either is fine. We are practising staying, not performing calm.
36. 7:20Picture the tiredness that sits in the bones as a weather front passing over. You are not the weather. You are the sky it moves through.
37. 7:39Let your ribs widen on the in-breath instead of your shoulders lifting.
38. 7:52If the effort everything takes starts telling you a story, let the story finish without you adding to it.
39. 8:08Notice any tension that arrived while you weren't looking.
40. 8:19Notice anything you're holding onto from earlier today.
41. 8:30Quiet now. The next part will wait for you.
42. 8:41There's no need to try harder than this.
43. 8:52Let it be this simple.
44. 9:01Let your eyes open when they're ready, not when the words end.
45. 9:14Wiggle your fingers and toes, gently, like you're testing that they still work.
46. 9:27Let the pause stretch out.

Questions people ask

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