15-minute letting go meditation for tight shoulders and neck, before an appointment

About this practice

Slow, spoken guidance for tight shoulders and neck. A letting go session you can do before an appointment. A guided session of about 15 minutes, suited to all levels. Nothing is recorded and no account is needed.

What this works on: tight shoulders and neck

Shoulders rise towards the ears under sustained stress, and the muscles of the upper back shorten to hold that posture. The result is a stiff neck and a heavy upper back.

It tends to show up as:

• Shoulders up around the ears
• Stiff neck, especially after screens
• Headaches that start at the back of the head

Weight and gravity do the release. Noticing the contact points lets the shoulders stop holding themselves up.

Doing this in a waiting room

• You can do this with your eyes open and your hands where they are
• Nothing here needs to look like a meditation
• Aim for steadiness rather than calm

Waiting feeds the dread it is meant to relieve. Having something specific to do with the time is the useful part.

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. 0:00Start by hearing the furthest sound you can find.
2. 0:11With each exhale, let a little of the effort go. Not the problem — just the effort.
3. 0:26Let the last hour go on its own. You can pick it up again afterwards.
4. 0:40Feel the small movements your body makes to keep you upright. They're happening without you.
5. 0:54Let the breath be slow enough that you can hear it, just barely.
6. 1:07Notice the difference between the breath at the front of your nose and the breath in your chest.
7. 1:23Notice your shoulders, one at a time. The left one first.
8. 1:35Notice your eyebrows. They're probably doing something small right now.
9. 1:47Notice your toes, starting with the big one on the left.
10. 1:59Feel the soles of your feet. All the weight of you goes through them.
11. 2:13Feel your knees. They're just hinges, but they've worked hard.
12. 2:25Imagine the stiff neck from hunching as a room you can walk out of for a minute. The room will still be there.
13. 2:43Imagine softening the edges of the weight carried in the upper back. Not erasing it, just letting the sharp parts go a degree softer.
14. 3:02Feel the slight stretch at the very bottom of the exhale.
15. 3:14Nothing about the shoulders up around your ears has to be explained or justified in this room.
16. 3:29If the stiff neck from hunching is loud right now, make your attention smaller. Just the next breath. Nothing beyond it.
17. 3:46Start at the top of your head. Notice the scalp, which you almost never notice.
18. 4:00Let your body keep settling.
19. 4:09Notice the small gap after each exhale. Rest there for half a second.
20. 4:22Feel your palms. Warm or cool, either is fine.
21. 4:33Stay with it.
22. 4:41Follow the breath down into your belly and feel it come back up.
23. 4:54Feel your face. It's probably softer than it was five minutes ago.
24. 5:07Just the breath, still.
25. 5:16Let the breath be shallow if shallow is what your body wants.
26. 5:29Notice the backs of your knees, which you feel more than you think.
27. 5:42No need to open your eyes yet.
28. 5:52Let the exhale empty you a little more than usual, but not to the point of strain.
29. 6:07Notice your elbows. Odd things to have, but there they are.
30. 6:19Quiet for a moment. No need to fill it.
31. 6:30If you're counting the minutes, that's fine. Count them and come back.
32. 6:43Let the pause stretch out.
33. 6:52A gap. Don't rush to fill it with thinking.
34. 7:03Feel the back of your neck. That's a place that holds a lot.
35. 7:16Notice how many breaths you take in a minute. Don't change the number, just check.
36. 7:30Let this one be unhurried.
37. 7:39Notice any urge to check something. You can wait two more minutes.
38. 7:52I'll be quiet for a moment. Stay with the breath.
39. 8:04Ask yourself what you could stop holding for the next sixty seconds. That one is a good start.
40. 8:20Notice whether you're breathing or holding. Start breathing again.
41. 8:31Silence for a few breaths. Nothing to do in it.
42. 8:43You have been carrying this competently for a while. A few minutes off will not undo that.
43. 8:58If you're judging your performance, that's the same habit as judging everything else.
44. 9:11A few quiet breaths. That's all this is.
45. 9:22Setting something down is not the same as giving up. You can pick it up again after.
46. 9:37If you're irritated, that's allowed. Irritation is just weather.
47. 9:48No words for a moment. Only the next breath.
48. 9:59We are not solving anything in the next few minutes. We are setting it down, temporarily.
49. 10:14If you're distracted by a sound, let the sound be the object for a moment.
50. 10:28Breathe in through your nose and out through your nose, if that's comfortable.
51. 10:41Quiet now. The next part will wait for you.
52. 10:52Notice where the weight carried in the upper back lives in your body. Chest, throat, stomach. Rest your attention there without trying to change it.
53. 11:11If the shoulders up around your ears shows up, let it be there without arguing with it. You are not trying to remove it, just to sit beside it.
54. 11:32Count four breaths silently. Then stop counting and just follow.
55. 11:44Think of the stiff neck from hunching as a guest that arrived without knocking. You can let it stand in the hallway.
56. 12:02You do not have to solve the weight carried in the upper back in these few minutes. Your only job is to keep breathing while it is here.
57. 12:22Notice if your breathing is faster than you expected. Don't correct it. Just note it.
58. 12:36If you're sleepy, sit up a little. Or let the sleepiness be there.
59. 12:49You might be planning something. Notice the planning, then come back.
60. 13:01If nothing much is happening, that's not a problem. Nothing much is often the point.
61. 13:15Let me stop talking. Follow the breath instead.
62. 13:26Pick one thing you are gripping — a plan, a worry, a grudge — and loosen a single finger.
63. 13:42Let the quiet do its work.
64. 13:52When you're ready, look around properly.
65. 14:02Wiggle your fingers and toes, gently, like you're testing that they still work.
66. 14:15Remain here for a few more breaths.

Questions people ask

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