20-minute guided letting go practice for frustration — before work

About this practice

Slow, spoken guidance for frustration. A letting go session you can do before work. A guided session of about 20 minutes, suited to all levels. Nothing is recorded and no account is needed.

What this works on: frustration

Frustration is blocked progress, repeated. Each small obstruction adds to a background irritation that eventually has nothing to do with the original cause.

It tends to show up as:

• Sighing more than usual
• Everything feeling slightly too slow
• A short fuse over minor things

Releasing some physical tension interrupts the accumulation. Frustration is often held in the jaw and hands more than it is thought about.

Doing this before a busy day

• Do it before the first message or notification
• Aim for steadiness rather than energy
• Decide the first task afterwards, not during

The point is to begin without already being behind, not to prepare for every possibility.

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. 0:00Drop your attention from your head into your chest for a second.
2. 0:13Let this be easy, if easy is available.
3. 0:24We'll be quiet for a bit longer than usual. Stay with whatever shows up.
4. 0:38Let your attention settle on the space between your nose and your upper lip, where the air passes.
5. 0:54Let the breath be slow enough that you can hear it, just barely.
6. 1:07Follow one full breath from the moment it starts to the moment it ends.
7. 1:21Notice your fingers, one by one, starting with the little finger.
8. 1:33Feel your face. It's probably softer than it was five minutes ago.
9. 1:46Feel your upper arms hanging. They're heavier than you remember.
10. 1:58Notice the space between your shoulder blades.
11. 2:08Feel the tops of your thighs.
12. 2:18Notice where the repeated small irritations lives in your body. Chest, throat, stomach. Rest your attention there without trying to change it.
13. 2:36Imagine softening the edges of the jaw tight with frustration. Not erasing it, just letting the sharp parts go a degree softer.
14. 2:54Notice the small pause before your body decides to breathe in again.
15. 3:07If the annoyance that will not settle has been with you all day, it is probably tired too. Let it rest alongside you.
16. 3:25You do not have to solve the repeated small irritations in these few minutes. Your only job is to keep breathing while it is here.
17. 3:44Let the exhale empty you a little more than usual, but not to the point of strain.
18. 3:59Notice if you've been frowning at your own thoughts.
19. 4:10You can be as unimpressive as you like for the next few minutes.
20. 4:23Quiet now. The next part will wait for you.
21. 4:34If you're judging your performance, that's the same habit as judging everything else.
22. 4:47We'll take this slowly, and there's no version of this where you get it wrong.
23. 5:01Silence for a few breaths. Nothing to do in it.
24. 5:13If you feel emotional, you don't have to explain it to anyone, including yourself.
25. 5:27Nothing here needs to be efficient.
26. 5:37A few quiet breaths. That's all this is.
27. 5:48If you've lost track of where we were, you haven't lost anything important.
28. 6:01We'll keep it quiet and unhurried.
29. 6:11Quiet for a moment. No need to fill it.
30. 6:22Notice the difference between a thought and the space around it.
31. 6:34If you only manage half of it, that's half more than nothing.
32. 6:47A gap. Don't rush to fill it with thinking.
33. 6:58Notice anything you're holding onto from earlier today.
34. 7:09There's no need to try harder than this.
35. 7:20Pause here. Count three breaths if you need an anchor.
36. 7:32If you're bored, stay with the boredom for a moment. It's usually thinner than it looks.
37. 7:47Let the pause stretch out.
38. 7:56Feel the air move past your upper lip. It's the coolest spot on the way in.
39. 8:11Feel your knees. They're just hinges, but they've worked hard.
40. 8:23A few seconds of nothing now. That's on purpose.
41. 8:34If nothing much is happening, that's not a problem. Nothing much is often the point.
42. 8:48A few seconds more.
43. 8:57Notice your breathing getting quieter on its own, without you deciding anything.
44. 9:10Feel the skin around your eyes. Let the muscles behind them go loose.
45. 9:23I'll step back. You stay here.
46. 9:33You might be planning something. Notice the planning, then come back.
47. 9:45Let the breath get soft, the way it goes when someone is reading beside you.
48. 9:59Remain here for a few more breaths.
49. 10:09If you're counting the minutes, that's fine. Count them and come back.
50. 10:22Let's rest here in silence. It's short.
51. 10:32Feel the parts of you that have gone quiet.
52. 10:43Notice the small gap after each exhale. Rest there for half a second.
53. 10:56Nothing changes for a moment.
54. 11:05Notice the pull to make this mean something. It doesn't have to.
55. 11:18Nothing to follow for a moment except your own breathing.
56. 11:30Let your whole body be as heavy as it wants to be.
57. 11:43Feel the last part of the exhale, where it turns into nothing.
58. 11:56Let it be this simple.
59. 12:05Notice your hands again. Check whether they've loosened on their own.
60. 12:17Count four breaths silently. Then stop counting and just follow.
61. 12:29No need to open your eyes yet.
62. 12:39Notice your wrists. They bend a lot in a day.
63. 12:51If you're holding your breath at the top, stop. There's no need to hold anything.
64. 13:05Keep following the air.
65. 13:14Notice your breathing, without changing it.
66. 13:24Breathe in through your nose and out through your nose, if that's comfortable.
67. 13:37Take the next breath slowly.
68. 13:46Feel the back of your neck. That's a place that holds a lot.
69. 13:59Notice the difference between the breath at the front of your nose and the breath in your chest.
70. 14:15Let your body keep settling.
71. 14:24Notice your shoulders, one at a time. The left one first.
72. 14:36Let the exhale fall out rather than pushing it.
73. 14:47Let this one be unhurried.
74. 14:56Notice where your body is still holding something. Leave it alone.
75. 15:08Say to yourself: this is uncomfortable, and I can stay with it for one more breath. Then take that breath.
76. 15:25A short silence. Let it be empty.
77. 15:35If the annoyance that will not settle starts telling you a story, let the story finish without you adding to it.
78. 15:52Notice if your breathing is faster than you expected. Don't correct it. Just note it.
79. 16:06Notice the space around the repeated small irritations. It is there, even if it is small. Put your attention in that space.
80. 16:24There is a part of you that has handled hard moments before. That part is here now, even if it is quiet.
81. 16:42Count down from ten, one number per exhale.
82. 16:53Feel the weight of the annoyance that will not settle somewhere specific, then let the floor take a share of it.
83. 17:10You are allowed to be unimpressed by the repeated small irritations. Indifference is a legitimate response.
84. 17:25Let the breath be shallow if shallow is what your body wants.
85. 17:38Notice if you're being hard on yourself about any of this.
86. 17:50If your body wants to move, let it move, then come back.
87. 18:03Notice whether you're breathing or holding. Start breathing again.
88. 18:14I'll leave a gap here. Use it however you like.
89. 18:26Small efforts are the whole method.
90. 18:36No rush to move on.
91. 18:45When you're ready, look around properly.
92. 18:55Notice your feet on the floor. That's where you start from.
93. 19:07Stay 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.