12-minute guided grounding practice for low energy — before an interview

About this practice

For the times before an interview when low energy takes up more room than you would like — 12 minutes, grounding. A guided session of about 12 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 before an interview

• Do it where you will not be interrupted, even if that is a stairwell
• Have the first sentence of your answer ready afterwards
• Keep it short — there is no time for a long session

Nerves before an interview are normal and not something to eliminate. You need access to what you know, nothing more.

How grounding works

Grounding brings attention to physical contact and the immediate environment. It works on the principle that the body cannot be somewhere else, so contact with the surface you are on is always available as an anchor.

• Feel the contact points — feet, seat, back — and let them take your weight
• Use the senses deliberately: what you can see, hear, touch
• Return to solidity whenever attention drifts

What happens, minute by minute

1. 0:00Find one place in your body that already feels fine. Use that as the starting point.
2. 0:15If your mind has gone somewhere else, the floor under you has not moved. Start from there.
3. 0:30Let your attention settle on the space between your nose and your upper lip, where the air passes.
4. 0:46Nothing here is a test of concentration. Drifting off is part of it.
5. 0:59Breathe in through your nose and out through your nose, if that's comfortable.
6. 1:12Notice that you don't have to start a breath. It arrives by itself.
7. 1:25Feel your knees. They're just hinges, but they've worked hard.
8. 1:37Notice where your body is still holding something. Leave it alone.
9. 1:49Now feel both feet at once. That's a lot of contact with the world.
10. 2:03Notice your lower back. Let it curve however it curves.
11. 2:15Notice the space around the flat battery feeling. It is there, even if it is small. Put your attention in that space.
12. 2:33If the tiredness that sits in the bones shows up, let it be there without arguing with it. You are not trying to remove it, just to sit beside it.
13. 2:54Let each breath out be a small letting go of the muscles around your ribs.
14. 3:08If you're bored, stay with the boredom for a moment. It's usually thinner than it looks.
15. 3:23Feel the contact points — feet, seat, back. That contact is the whole anchor.
16. 3:37I'll step back. You stay here.
17. 3:47Notice any tension that arrived while you weren't looking.
18. 3:58Name what you can see, hear and touch. Counting senses is not a distraction; it is the practice.
19. 4:14A few seconds of nothing now. That's on purpose.
20. 4:25If nothing much is happening, that's not a problem. Nothing much is often the point.
21. 4:39The floor is holding you right now. You do not have to hold yourself up.
22. 4:53Let me stop talking. Follow the breath instead.
23. 5:04If a worry shows up, name it quietly and let it sit beside you.
24. 5:18Press down slightly and feel the push back. Your body already knows where it is.
25. 5:32Silence. Let your shoulders drop again if they've crept up.
26. 5:44If you've lost track of where we were, you haven't lost anything important.
27. 5:57Notice where you feel the breath most clearly. Nose, chest, or belly — pick one and stay there.
28. 6:13Nothing changes for a moment.
29. 6:22Notice your pelvis resting on the surface below you.
30. 6:33Let your breathing get quieter rather than deeper.
31. 6:44Let the pause stretch out.
32. 6:53Move to your forehead. Let it be smooth instead of gathered.
33. 7:05Follow one full breath from the moment it starts to the moment it ends.
34. 7:19Stay here a little longer.
35. 7:28Feel the back of your neck. That's a place that holds a lot.
36. 7:41Feel your breath move down your back, all the way to your lower ribs.
37. 7:55Let the quiet do its work.
38. 8:05Feel the tops of your thighs.
39. 8:15the effort everything takes may quiet down, or it may not. Either is fine. We are practising staying, not performing calm.
40. 8:32Quiet now. The next part will wait for you.
41. 8:43Say to yourself: this is uncomfortable, and I can stay with it for one more breath. Then take that breath.
42. 9:00Follow three breaths and let the fourth one go unobserved.
43. 9:12Give the tiredness that sits in the bones a shape, a colour, a temperature. Turning it into something specific makes it easier to hold.
44. 9:31There is no correct amount of the effort everything takes to be feeling right now. Whatever is here is the honest amount.
45. 9:49Feel the last part of the exhale, where it turns into nothing.
46. 10:02If you feel restless, that's a feeling, not a failure.
47. 10:14Notice the exact moment your attention left. You probably won't catch it. That's normal.
48. 10:28Nothing to follow for a moment except your own breathing.
49. 10:40Come back to the solid things: weight, temperature, surface. They are always available.
50. 10:53Take the next breath slowly.
51. 11:02Stretch whatever feels stiff, then carry on.
52. 11:12Let the quiet end on its own rather than cutting it off.
53. 11:25Stay 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.