10-minute softening meditation for morning energy, at the airport

About this practice

When morning energy shows up at the airport, this 10-minute softening session gives you somewhere to put it down. A guided session of about 10 minutes, suited to all levels. Nothing is recorded and no account is needed.

What this works on: morning energy

Morning energy depends on how you come out of sleep and when light hits your eyes, more than on the number of hours.

It tends to show up as:

• Heavy eyelids at the start
• Struggling out of bed
• Needing to hit snooze repeatedly

Movement and breathing raise alertness without caffeine, and the effect holds better through the early hours.

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. 0:00If your legs are crossed, uncross them. Small changes count.
2. 0:12With every out-breath, soften one place. Shoulders first, then jaw, then the space behind the eyes.
3. 0:27Let the breath get a little quieter, as if you were trying not to wake someone sleeping nearby.
4. 0:43Let the last hour go on its own. You can pick it up again afterwards.
5. 0:57Notice the first breath of the day versus this one. They're the same mechanism.
6. 1:11Feel the last part of the exhale, where it turns into nothing.
7. 1:24Let the whole of your right foot be heavy.
8. 1:35Notice your eyebrows. They're probably doing something small right now.
9. 1:47Notice the backs of your knees, which you feel more than you think.
10. 2:00Feel your tongue sitting in the bottom of your mouth.
11. 2:12When the wish to begin without the scramble arrives, name it once, quietly, and go back to the breath. Naming is not fixing, and that is fine.
12. 2:32Feel the weight of the heavy eyelids at the start somewhere specific, then let the floor take a share of it.
13. 2:49Notice if you've been frowning at your own thoughts.
14. 3:00If a place will not soften, leave it alone and go somewhere that will. It often follows.
15. 3:15A few seconds of nothing now. That's on purpose.
16. 3:26If you feel numb, that's a valid thing to feel. Nothing to fix.
17. 3:39Unclenching is not the same as relaxing. Just stop adding the tension back.
18. 3:52A short silence. Let it be empty.
19. 4:02If you're thinking about the next thing on your list, that list will still be there.
20. 4:17Let the exhale do the work. On each one, allow a little more give.
21. 4:31A gap. Don't rush to fill it with thinking.
22. 4:42Notice the difference between the breath at the front of your nose and the breath in your chest.
23. 4:58Let this one be unhurried.
24. 5:07Let your thumbs rest wherever they landed.
25. 5:17Let the out-breath be a little longer than the in-breath, without forcing it.
26. 5:30Keep following the air.
27. 5:39Now the right shoulder. Let it be a centimetre lower than it was.
28. 5:52Breathe in through your nose and out through your nose, if that's comfortable.
29. 6:05Just the breath, still.
30. 6:14Feel your upper arms hanging. They're heavier than you remember.
31. 6:26Feel the air as it passes the back of your throat. It's cooler going in.
32. 6:40I'll be quiet for a moment. Stay with the breath.
33. 6:52If the day arriving before you are ready shows up, let it be there without arguing with it. You are not trying to remove it, just to sit beside it.
34. 7:13Remind yourself, slowly: I am safe in this moment, even while the wish to begin without the scramble is here. Safety and difficulty can share a room.
35. 7:33Let the breath be shallow if shallow is what your body wants.
36. 7:46Let the exhale carry a little of the heavy eyelids at the start with it. Not all of it. Just a little, one breath at a time.
37. 8:06Notice how quickly your mind labels things: good, bad, boring, nice.
38. 8:18Notice any tension that arrived while you weren't looking.
39. 8:29A few quiet breaths. That's all this is.
40. 8:40We are not forcing anything open. We are letting things unclench by a single degree.
41. 8:54Stay here a little longer.
42. 9:03Wiggle your fingers and toes, gently, like you're testing that they still work.
43. 9:16Let your eyes open when they're ready, not when the words end.
44. 9:29Stay with it.

Questions people ask

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