20-minute grounding meditation for back pain and tension, on a plane

About this practice

Slow, spoken guidance for back pain and tension. A grounding session you can do on a plane. A guided session of about 20 minutes, suited to all levels. Nothing is recorded and no account is needed.

What this works on: back pain and tension

Much of daily back discomfort is muscular load rather than structural damage — muscles holding a position long after they should have let go.

It tends to show up as:

• Lower back ache after sitting
• Stiffness on standing
• Pain that improves when moving

Attention moves into the back rather than away from it. Being willing to feel it is usually where release starts.

Doing this on a plane

• Use headphones, and keep the seatbelt on
• Bring a layer — being cold works against settling
• Skip alcohol; it makes the alertness worse

Cabin noise is constant and will mask the audio more than you expect. Try the headphones before you settle in.

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. 0:00Sit however you were already sitting. You don't have to straighten up first.
2. 0:13The floor is holding you right now. You do not have to hold yourself up.
3. 0:27Settle into the fact that for the next few minutes, nothing is required of you.
4. 0:41Let your sense of the room shrink down to just your body and the surface you're on.
5. 0:56Follow one full breath from the moment it starts to the moment it ends.
6. 1:10Let your ribs widen on the in-breath instead of your shoulders lifting.
7. 1:23Feel the middle of your back, the part that never gets attention.
8. 1:36Notice your breathing, without changing it.
9. 1:46Start at the top of your head. Notice the scalp, which you almost never notice.
10. 2:00Let your thumbs rest wherever they landed.
11. 2:10Feel your knees. They're just hinges, but they've worked hard.
12. 2:22Remind yourself, slowly: I am safe in this moment, even while the muscles holding on all day is here. Safety and difficulty can share a room.
13. 2:41Whatever the stiffness from sitting is doing right now, your breathing can keep going underneath it.
14. 2:56Let the out-breath be a little longer than the in-breath, without forcing it.
15. 3:09Imagine softening the edges of the ache in the lower back. Not erasing it, just letting the sharp parts go a degree softer.
16. 3:27If the muscles holding on all day starts telling you a story, let the story finish without you adding to it.
17. 3:44Notice the difference between the breath at the front of your nose and the breath in your chest.
18. 4:00Notice how quickly your mind labels things: good, bad, boring, nice.
19. 4:12Come back to the solid things: weight, temperature, surface. They are always available.
20. 4:25Quiet for a moment. No need to fill it.
21. 4:36If you've lost track of where we were, you haven't lost anything important.
22. 4:49Name what you can see, hear and touch. Counting senses is not a distraction; it is the practice.
23. 5:05A short silence. Let it be empty.
24. 5:15If you feel numb, that's a valid thing to feel. Nothing to fix.
25. 5:28Feel the contact points — feet, seat, back. That contact is the whole anchor.
26. 5:42Silence. Let your shoulders drop again if they've crept up.
27. 5:54If your mind is quiet, don't grab at it. Quiet comes and goes too.
28. 6:08If your mind has gone somewhere else, the floor under you has not moved. Start from there.
29. 6:23I'll step back. You stay here.
30. 6:33If you feel emotional, you don't have to explain it to anyone, including yourself.
31. 6:47Let it be this simple.
32. 6:56Feel the last part of the exhale, where it turns into nothing.
33. 7:09Feel your upper arms hanging. They're heavier than you remember.
34. 7:21Let me stop talking. Follow the breath instead.
35. 7:32If you feel restless, that's a feeling, not a failure.
36. 7:44Let the quiet do its work.
37. 7:54Let each breath out be a small letting go of the muscles around your ribs.
38. 8:08Notice where your body is still holding something. Leave it alone.
39. 8:20Silence for a few breaths. Nothing to do in it.
40. 8:32If a worry shows up, name it quietly and let it sit beside you.
41. 8:46A few seconds more.
42. 8:55If you're holding your breath at the top, stop. There's no need to hold anything.
43. 9:09Notice your whole body as one shape, sitting or lying here.
44. 9:21Nothing to follow for a moment except your own breathing.
45. 9:33Notice the exact moment your attention left. You probably won't catch it. That's normal.
46. 9:47Let your belly rise first, then your chest, then the tops of your lungs.
47. 10:01Stay with it.
48. 10:09Notice anything you're holding onto from earlier today.
49. 10:20Pause here. Count three breaths if you need an anchor.
50. 10:32Notice your shins, which take small knocks all day and never complain.
51. 10:45Feel your breath move down your back, all the way to your lower ribs.
52. 10:59Keep following the air.
53. 11:08If nothing much is happening, that's not a problem. Nothing much is often the point.
54. 11:22A few quiet breaths. That's all this is.
55. 11:33Let your whole body be as heavy as it wants to be.
56. 11:46Let the breath be shallow if shallow is what your body wants.
57. 11:59Stay here a little longer.
58. 12:08Notice the tone of your own inner voice. Is it kind?
59. 12:20No words for a moment. Only the next breath.
60. 12:31Feel the front of your chest. Notice it rise and fall once.
61. 12:44Let your breathing get quieter rather than deeper.
62. 12:55Stay a moment longer than is comfortable.
63. 13:05Let the whole of your left foot be heavy.
64. 13:16Notice if your breathing is faster than you expected. Don't correct it. Just note it.
65. 13:30Nothing changes for a moment.
66. 13:39Notice your jaw again. Let your back teeth part slightly.
67. 13:51Count four breaths silently. Then stop counting and just follow.
68. 14:03No rush to move on.
69. 14:12Notice your pelvis resting on the surface below you.
70. 14:23Notice the small pause before your body decides to breathe in again.
71. 14:36Let this one be unhurried.
72. 14:45Notice the space between your shoulder blades.
73. 14:55You do not have to win against the stiffness from sitting. You only have to breathe until the next moment arrives.
74. 15:12Let's pause. Just the breathing for a while.
75. 15:23If the ache in the lower back has been with you all day, it is probably tired too. Let it rest alongside you.
76. 15:41Let the in-breath be short and the out-breath unhurried.
77. 15:52Give the muscles holding on all day a shape, a colour, a temperature. Turning it into something specific makes it easier to hold.
78. 16:10You do not have to solve the stiffness from sitting in these few minutes. Your only job is to keep breathing while it is here.
79. 16:29Let the breath be slow enough that you can hear it, just barely.
80. 16:42If the ache in the lower back is loud right now, make your attention smaller. Just the next breath. Nothing beyond it.
81. 17:00Feel the weight of the muscles holding on all day somewhere specific, then let the floor take a share of it.
82. 17:17Let the exhale empty you a little more than usual, but not to the point of strain.
83. 17:32If your mind has wandered, that's not a mistake. Noticing is the practice.
84. 17:45If your body wants to move, let it move, then come back.
85. 17:58Notice the pull to make this mean something. It doesn't have to.
86. 18:11Quiet now. The next part will wait for you.
87. 18:22Press down slightly and feel the push back. Your body already knows where it is.
88. 18:36No need to open your eyes yet.
89. 18:46Notice if anything has loosened. Even slightly counts.
90. 18:57Let the last of the stillness stay with you for a few more seconds.
91. 19:11Let your body keep settling.

Questions people ask

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