12-minute guided letting go practice for worry — after a horrible day

About this practice

For the times after a horrible day when worry takes up more room than you would like — 12 minutes, letting go. A guided session of about 12 minutes, suited to all levels. Nothing is recorded and no account is needed.

What this works on: worry

Worry is rehearsal for a future that has not arrived. The body responds to the imagined event as if it were happening, so you pay the cost twice.

It tends to show up as:

• What-ifs lined up in a queue
• A knot low in the stomach
• Rehearsing bad outcomes before bed

You do not have to resolve the worry. Noticing it as a mental event, rather than an accurate forecast, loosens its grip.

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. 0:00Nothing needs to be decided in the next few minutes. Park the decisions.
2. 0:13You have been carrying this competently for a while. A few minutes off will not undo that.
3. 0:28Imagine your thoughts as traffic on a road you're standing beside. You don't have to flag any of it down.
4. 0:45Let your attention rest on the out-breath. The in-breath can take care of itself.
5. 0:59Breathe as if you had all evening. There's no rush in this part.
6. 1:12Breathe in through your nose and out through your nose, if that's comfortable.
7. 1:25Let your throat soften. There's nothing to swallow right now.
8. 1:37Notice your ribs on both sides. Wide, not squeezed.
9. 1:48Feel your face. It's probably softer than it was five minutes ago.
10. 2:01Let your thumbs rest wherever they landed.
11. 2:11Feel the weight of the knot of worry low in the stomach somewhere specific, then let the floor take a share of it.
12. 2:29Give the mind rehearsing bad endings a shape, a colour, a temperature. Turning it into something specific makes it easier to hold.
13. 2:47Follow one full breath from the moment it starts to the moment it ends.
14. 3:01You might be planning something. Notice the planning, then come back.
15. 3:13Setting something down is not the same as giving up. You can pick it up again after.
16. 3:28A few quiet breaths. That's all this is.
17. 3:39If your body wants to move, let it move, then come back.
18. 3:52Ask yourself what you could stop holding for the next sixty seconds. That one is a good start.
19. 4:08Silence for a few breaths. Nothing to do in it.
20. 4:20If your mind has wandered, that's not a mistake. Noticing is the practice.
21. 4:33Pick one thing you are gripping — a plan, a worry, a grudge — and loosen a single finger.
22. 4:49I'll stop for a moment. Take the pause at your own speed.
23. 5:02Notice the moment you realise you've drifted. That moment is the whole skill.
24. 5:15With each exhale, let a little of the effort go. Not the problem — just the effort.
25. 5:30Nothing to follow for a moment except your own breathing.
26. 5:42Let your shoulders stay still while your ribs move.
27. 5:53Stay here a little longer.
28. 6:02Now the right shoulder. Let it be a centimetre lower than it was.
29. 6:15Notice how many breaths you take in a minute. Don't change the number, just check.
30. 6:29No need to open your eyes yet.
31. 6:39Notice your pelvis resting on the surface below you.
32. 6:50Notice the small gap after each exhale. Rest there for half a second.
33. 7:03Let this one be unhurried.
34. 7:12Now feel both feet at once. That's a lot of contact with the world.
35. 7:26Feel the pause at the top of the in-breath. It's shorter than you think.
36. 7:40Let it be this simple.
37. 7:49Feel your palms. Warm or cool, either is fine.
38. 8:00Let the exhale carry a little of the what-ifs lined up like worries with it. Not all of it. Just a little, one breath at a time.
39. 8:20Quiet now. The next part will wait for you.
40. 8:31If the knot of worry low in the stomach is loud right now, make your attention smaller. Just the next breath. Nothing beyond it.
41. 8:50Notice the small pause before your body decides to breathe in again.
42. 9:03Say to yourself: this is uncomfortable, and I can stay with it for one more breath. Then take that breath.
43. 9:20You have been carrying the what-ifs lined up like worries for a while. You can set it down for the length of this session and pick it up after.
44. 9:41Feel the air as it passes the back of your throat. It's cooler going in.
45. 9:55If you're bored, stay with the boredom for a moment. It's usually thinner than it looks.
46. 10:10If you feel restless, that's a feeling, not a failure.
47. 10:22No words for a moment. Only the next breath.
48. 10:33We are not solving anything in the next few minutes. We are setting it down, temporarily.
49. 10:48Just the breath, still.
50. 10:57Let the quiet end on its own rather than cutting it off.
51. 11:10Start to notice the edges of your body again, and the surface you're on.
52. 11:24Stay a moment longer than is comfortable.

Questions people ask

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