15-minute guided grounding practice for appreciation — in the office

About this practice

Nothing to learn and nothing to fix: 15 minutes of grounding for appreciation, in the office. A guided session of about 15 minutes, suited to all levels. Nothing is recorded and no account is needed.

What this works on: appreciation

Appreciation deepens by staying, not by listing. A moment held for two breaths registers differently from a moment catalogued.

It tends to show up as:

• Rushing past small kindnesses
• Not noticing ordinary comforts
• Thank-yous left unsaid

Slowing down for a moment is what turns something pleasant into something that stays with you.

Doing this at your desk

• Feet flat, back supported, screen away from your eyeline
• You can do this with your eyes open if the office makes closing them awkward
• Unclench the jaw and drop the shoulders first, before anything else

Nobody needs to know you are doing it. Keep it invisible if that makes it possible.

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. 0:00Let your shoulders drop about a centimetre. That is roughly where most of us keep the day.
2. 0:15Nothing here needs to be efficient.
3. 0:25Notice the weight of your arms without moving them.
4. 0:36Let the breath get a little quieter, as if you were trying not to wake someone sleeping nearby.
5. 0:52Feel the air move past your upper lip. It's the coolest spot on the way in.
6. 1:07Let your ribs widen on the in-breath instead of your shoulders lifting.
7. 1:20Notice your hands again. Check whether they've loosened on their own.
8. 1:32Feel your knees. They're just hinges, but they've worked hard.
9. 1:44Notice the space between your shoulder blades.
10. 1:54Start at the top of your head. Notice the scalp, which you almost never notice.
11. 2:08Feel the tops of your thighs.
12. 2:18Imagine softening the edges of the overlooked kindnesses. Not erasing it, just letting the sharp parts go a degree softer.
13. 2:35Say to yourself: this is uncomfortable, and I can stay with it for one more breath. Then take that breath.
14. 2:52Let the breath be shallow if shallow is what your body wants.
15. 3:05You are allowed to be unimpressed by the thank-you waiting to be said. Indifference is a legitimate response.
16. 3:21When the overlooked kindnesses arrives, name it once, quietly, and go back to the breath. Naming is not fixing, and that is fine.
17. 3:39Notice your shins, which take small knocks all day and never complain.
18. 3:52Let the pause stretch out.
19. 4:01Breathe in through your nose and out through your nose, if that's comfortable.
20. 4:14Notice your whole body as one shape, sitting or lying here.
21. 4:26Remain here for a few more breaths.
22. 4:36Let the out-breath be a little longer than the in-breath, without forcing it.
23. 4:49Feel your tongue sitting in the bottom of your mouth.
24. 5:01Nothing changes for a moment.
25. 5:10Count four breaths silently. Then stop counting and just follow.
26. 5:22Let your whole body be as heavy as it wants to be.
27. 5:35Let the quiet do its work.
28. 5:45Feel your breath move down your back, all the way to your lower ribs.
29. 5:59Feel your upper arms hanging. They're heavier than you remember.
30. 6:11Let this one be unhurried.
31. 6:20Notice the first breath of the day versus this one. They're the same mechanism.
32. 6:34Feel the front of your chest. Notice it rise and fall once.
33. 6:47No rush to move on.
34. 6:56Notice that you don't have to start a breath. It arrives by itself.
35. 7:09Let's rest here in silence. It's short.
36. 7:19We'll take this slowly, and there's no version of this where you get it wrong.
37. 7:33If a song is stuck in your head, let it play in the background.
38. 7:47I'll step back. You stay here.
39. 7:57There's no need to try harder than this.
40. 8:08Notice any part of you that wants this to be over.
41. 8:20I'll leave a gap here. Use it however you like.
42. 8:32If you only manage half of it, that's half more than nothing.
43. 8:45Notice whether you're breathing or holding. Start breathing again.
44. 8:56No words for a moment. Only the next breath.
45. 9:07You can be as unimpressive as you like for the next few minutes.
46. 9:20If you're counting the minutes, that's fine. Count them and come back.
47. 9:33Let me stop talking. Follow the breath instead.
48. 9:44Small efforts are the whole method.
49. 9:54If you feel numb, that's a valid thing to feel. Nothing to fix.
50. 10:07Let's pause. Just the breathing for a while.
51. 10:18Let this be easy, if easy is available.
52. 10:29Your mind will leave about a hundred times. Come back about a hundred times.
53. 10:43Count down from ten, one number per exhale.
54. 10:54I'll stop for a moment. Take the pause at your own speed.
55. 11:07the ordinary moments worth savoring may quiet down, or it may not. Either is fine. We are practising staying, not performing calm.
56. 11:25You do not have to like the thank-you waiting to be said to breathe through it. Liking was never the requirement.
57. 11:42Feel the air as it passes the back of your throat. It's cooler going in.
58. 11:56You do not have to win against the overlooked kindnesses. You only have to breathe until the next moment arrives.
59. 12:13You have been carrying the ordinary moments worth savoring for a while. You can set it down for the length of this session and pick it up after.
60. 12:33Feel the pause at the top of the in-breath. It's shorter than you think.
61. 12:47If nothing much is happening, that's not a problem. Nothing much is often the point.
62. 13:01If a worry shows up, name it quietly and let it sit beside you.
63. 13:15Notice the pull to make this mean something. It doesn't have to.
64. 13:28Nothing to follow for a moment except your own breathing.
65. 13:40We'll keep it quiet and unhurried.
66. 13:50Let it be this simple.
67. 13:59Let your eyes open when they're ready, not when the words end.
68. 14:12Roll your neck once, slowly, in whichever direction feels good.

Questions people ask

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