20-minute guided letting go practice for tension headaches — on a Saturday morning

About this practice

A 20-minute letting go session for tension headaches, on a Saturday morning. No app, no account — press start. A guided session of about 20 minutes, suited to all levels. Nothing is recorded and no account is needed.

What this works on: tension headaches

Tension headaches follow a band of tightness across the forehead and around the skull, usually the product of long staring, jaw clenching and neck position.

It tends to show up as:

• A band of pressure across the forehead
• Pressure behind the eyes
• Ache worsening through the day

Softening the jaw, eyes and neck interrupts the pattern early. Once a tension headache settles in it is harder to shift.

Doing this at the weekend

• Do it without a schedule to justify it
• Later in the morning, in better light, usually works well
• Let the length be open-ended if the time allows

Recovery is not something you have to earn first, and treating it as a reward keeps it conditional.

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. 0:00Quick check: is anything genuinely urgent in this exact minute? Usually the answer is no.
2. 0:14Setting something down is not the same as giving up. You can pick it up again after.
3. 0:29Let your attention settle on the space between your nose and your upper lip, where the air passes.
4. 0:45Let your body feel heavier than it did a minute ago. Let the chair or the floor take it.
5. 1:01Let the breath be shallow if shallow is what your body wants.
6. 1:14Notice the first breath of the day versus this one. They're the same mechanism.
7. 1:28Feel your hips. Wide, heavy, and doing nothing.
8. 1:39Notice your wrists. They bend a lot in a day.
9. 1:51Feel the middle of your back, the part that never gets attention.
10. 2:04Notice your shins, which take small knocks all day and never complain.
11. 2:17Notice the small movement in your belly when you breathe.
12. 2:29Let the ache from a long staring day be exactly as big as it is, and let your breath be exactly as slow as it is. They can coexist.
13. 2:50Each time your mind hands you the band around the forehead, treat it like a leaf on a stream. Present for a moment, then carried on.
14. 3:09Let the out-breath be a little longer than the in-breath, without forcing it.
15. 3:22Feel the weight of the pressure building behind the eyes somewhere specific, then let the floor take a share of it.
16. 3:39When the ache from a long staring day arrives, name it once, quietly, and go back to the breath. Naming is not fixing, and that is fine.
17. 3:59Feel the pause at the top of the in-breath. It's shorter than you think.
18. 4:13Notice the difference between a thought and the space around it.
19. 4:25We are not solving anything in the next few minutes. We are setting it down, temporarily.
20. 4:40Let me stop talking. Follow the breath instead.
21. 4:51Notice the exact moment your attention left. You probably won't catch it. That's normal.
22. 5:05You have been carrying this competently for a while. A few minutes off will not undo that.
23. 5:20Silence for a few breaths. Nothing to do in it.
24. 5:32If you're thinking about the next thing on your list, that list will still be there.
25. 5:47With each exhale, let a little of the effort go. Not the problem — just the effort.
26. 6:02Let's rest here in silence. It's short.
27. 6:12If you're replaying a conversation, let it play. It'll finish on its own.
28. 6:25Ask yourself what you could stop holding for the next sixty seconds. That one is a good start.
29. 6:41Let's pause. Just the breathing for a while.
30. 6:52If your mind is quiet, don't grab at it. Quiet comes and goes too.
31. 7:06Stay with it.
32. 7:14Notice how many breaths you take in a minute. Don't change the number, just check.
33. 7:28Feel your knees. They're just hinges, but they've worked hard.
34. 7:40Silence. Let your shoulders drop again if they've crept up.
35. 7:52Notice whether you're breathing or holding. Start breathing again.
36. 8:03Let the pause stretch out.
37. 8:12Count down from ten, one number per exhale.
38. 8:23Let your thumbs rest wherever they landed.
39. 8:33Quiet for a moment. No need to fill it.
40. 8:44If you feel numb, that's a valid thing to feel. Nothing to fix.
41. 8:57No need to open your eyes yet.
42. 9:07Notice the difference between the breath at the front of your nose and the breath in your chest.
43. 9:23Let the whole of your right foot be heavy.
44. 9:34I'll leave a gap here. Use it however you like.
45. 9:46Let the exhale fall out rather than pushing it.
46. 9:57Stay a moment longer than is comfortable.
47. 10:07If you're sleepy, sit up a little. Or let the sleepiness be there.
48. 10:20A few seconds of nothing now. That's on purpose.
49. 10:31Feel the soles of your feet. All the weight of you goes through them.
50. 10:45Feel the slight stretch at the very bottom of the exhale.
51. 10:57Just the breath, still.
52. 11:06Notice any urge to check something. You can wait two more minutes.
53. 11:19No words for a moment. Only the next breath.
54. 11:30Feel the outline of yourself, from the top of your head to your heels.
55. 11:44Follow the breath down into your belly and feel it come back up.
56. 11:57Let the quiet do its work.
57. 12:07Notice if you're waiting for something to happen. Nothing is scheduled.
58. 12:19I'll be quiet for a moment. Stay with the breath.
59. 12:31Let your whole body be as heavy as it wants to be.
60. 12:44Let your breathing find the rhythm it uses when you're almost asleep.
61. 12:57Stay here a little longer.
62. 13:06Feel the skin around your eyes. Let the muscles behind them go loose.
63. 13:19Breathe as if you had all evening. There's no rush in this part.
64. 13:32Let your body keep settling.
65. 13:41Notice your fingers, one by one, starting with the little finger.
66. 13:53Notice where you feel the breath most clearly. Nose, chest, or belly — pick one and stay there.
67. 14:09No rush to move on.
68. 14:18Feel the parts of you that have gone quiet.
69. 14:29Notice the small gap after each exhale. Rest there for half a second.
70. 14:42Remain here for a few more breaths.
71. 14:52Notice your shoulders, one at a time. The left one first.
72. 15:04If the band around the forehead is loud right now, make your attention smaller. Just the next breath. Nothing beyond it.
73. 15:21Pause here. Count three breaths if you need an anchor.
74. 15:33If the pressure building behind the eyes has been with you all day, it is probably tired too. Let it rest alongside you.
75. 15:51Let your breathing be boring. Boring is good here.
76. 16:02Picture the ache from a long staring day as a weather front passing over. You are not the weather. You are the sky it moves through.
77. 16:21If the band around the forehead starts telling you a story, let the story finish without you adding to it.
78. 16:38Notice the small pause before your body decides to breathe in again.
79. 16:51You do not have to win against the pressure building behind the eyes. You only have to breathe until the next moment arrives.
80. 17:09Nothing about the ache from a long staring day has to be explained or justified in this room.
81. 17:25Feel the last part of the exhale, where it turns into nothing.
82. 17:38Notice how quickly your mind labels things: good, bad, boring, nice.
83. 17:50If a song is stuck in your head, let it play in the background.
84. 18:04If you feel restless, that's a feeling, not a failure.
85. 18:16A gap. Don't rush to fill it with thinking.
86. 18:27Pick one thing you are gripping — a plan, a worry, a grudge — and loosen a single finger.
87. 18:43A few seconds more.
88. 18:52Wiggle your fingers and toes, gently, like you're testing that they still work.
89. 19:05When you're ready, look around properly.

Questions people ask

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