15-minute letting go meditation for falling asleep, in a five-minute break

About this practice

15 minutes to meet falling asleep with less of a fight. A letting go practice, in a five-minute break. A guided session of about 15 minutes, suited to all levels. Nothing is recorded and no account is needed.

What this works on: falling asleep

Falling asleep is a passive process. The harder you aim at it, the further it moves, because the effort itself is arousal.

It tends to show up as:

• Watching the clock
• Getting frustrated at being awake
• Sleep only arriving after giving up

Attention on something boring and continuous is the oldest trick there is. That is all a sleep story is doing.

Doing this on a break

• Leave the room if you can
• Do not start anything else in the same gap
• Set a timer so the break has an end

A break spent half-engaged with a screen is not much of a break. Guard the whole five minutes.

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. 0:00Notice the heaviest part of your body right now. Let it be heavy.
2. 0:13You have been carrying this competently for a while. A few minutes off will not undo that.
3. 0:28We'll work through this slowly. If you lose the thread, the thread will wait.
4. 0:42Notice the pause at the end of each breath. It's short, but it's there.
5. 0:56Feel your breath move down your back, all the way to your lower ribs.
6. 1:10Let the out-breath be a little longer than the in-breath, without forcing it.
7. 1:23Feel the outline of yourself, from the top of your head to your heels.
8. 1:37Notice your elbows. Odd things to have, but there they are.
9. 1:49Let your thumbs rest wherever they landed.
10. 1:59Now the right shoulder. Let it be a centimetre lower than it was.
11. 2:12Feel your hips. Wide, heavy, and doing nothing.
12. 2:23Say to yourself: this is uncomfortable, and I can stay with it for one more breath. Then take that breath.
13. 2:40Imagine softening the edges of the surrender at the end of the day. Not erasing it, just letting the sharp parts go a degree softer.
14. 2:59Notice the first breath of the day versus this one. They're the same mechanism.
15. 3:13Nothing about the slow drift toward sleep has to be explained or justified in this room.
16. 3:28If the thoughts that keep the light on has been with you all day, it is probably tired too. Let it rest alongside you.
17. 3:47Notice your shoulders, one at a time. The left one first.
18. 3:59Take the next breath slowly.
19. 4:08Follow one full breath from the moment it starts to the moment it ends.
20. 4:22Feel your tongue sitting in the bottom of your mouth.
21. 4:34No rush to move on.
22. 4:43Feel the air as it passes the back of your throat. It's cooler going in.
23. 4:57Feel your face. It's probably softer than it was five minutes ago.
24. 5:10Let the pause stretch out.
25. 5:19Let the breath move at the speed of a sleeping person.
26. 5:31Feel your knees. They're just hinges, but they've worked hard.
27. 5:43No need to open your eyes yet.
28. 5:53Let your ribs widen on the in-breath instead of your shoulders lifting.
29. 6:06Notice the backs of your knees, which you feel more than you think.
30. 6:19I'll step back. You stay here.
31. 6:29If you've lost track of where we were, you haven't lost anything important.
32. 6:42Nothing changes for a moment.
33. 6:51A few seconds of nothing now. That's on purpose.
34. 7:02Feel your heart somewhere in there, doing its work without instructions.
35. 7:14Follow three breaths and let the fourth one go unobserved.
36. 7:26Let it be this simple.
37. 7:35Notice the exact moment your attention left. You probably won't catch it. That's normal.
38. 7:49Let's rest here in silence. It's short.
39. 7:59Setting something down is not the same as giving up. You can pick it up again after.
40. 8:14If you're counting the minutes, that's fine. Count them and come back.
41. 8:27Quiet for a moment. No need to fill it.
42. 8:38We are not solving anything in the next few minutes. We are setting it down, temporarily.
43. 8:53Notice if you're being hard on yourself about any of this.
44. 9:05A gap. Don't rush to fill it with thinking.
45. 9:16With each exhale, let a little of the effort go. Not the problem — just the effort.
46. 9:31If you're bored, stay with the boredom for a moment. It's usually thinner than it looks.
47. 9:46A short silence. Let it be empty.
48. 9:56Pick one thing you are gripping — a plan, a worry, a grudge — and loosen a single finger.
49. 10:12If you're judging your performance, that's the same habit as judging everything else.
50. 10:25Let your breathing find the rhythm it uses when you're almost asleep.
51. 10:38Pause here. Count three breaths if you need an anchor.
52. 10:50You do not have to win against the surrender at the end of the day. You only have to breathe until the next moment arrives.
53. 11:09You are allowed to be unimpressed by the slow drift toward sleep. Indifference is a legitimate response.
54. 11:24Let the breath get soft, the way it goes when someone is reading beside you.
55. 11:38If the thoughts that keep the light on shows up, let it be there without arguing with it. You are not trying to remove it, just to sit beside it.
56. 11:59Notice where the surrender at the end of the day lives in your body. Chest, throat, stomach. Rest your attention there without trying to change it.
57. 12:18Notice the difference between the breath at the front of your nose and the breath in your chest.
58. 12:34If you're replaying a conversation, let it play. It'll finish on its own.
59. 12:47Your mind will leave about a hundred times. Come back about a hundred times.
60. 13:01Notice whether you're breathing or holding. Start breathing again.
61. 13:12A few quiet breaths. That's all this is.
62. 13:23Ask yourself what you could stop holding for the next sixty seconds. That one is a good start.
63. 13:39Let your body keep settling.
64. 13:48Notice whether you feel any different. If not, that's also normal.
65. 14:00Take one more breath at your own pace, then let your attention come back to the room.
66. 14:15Stay 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.