20-minute guided softening practice for deep work — on a train journey

About this practice

For the times on a train journey when deep work takes up more room than you would like — 20 minutes, softening. A guided session of about 20 minutes, suited to all levels. Nothing is recorded and no account is needed.

What this works on: deep work

Deep work requires a low distraction floor. Modern work rarely provides one, so the transition into it has to be manufactured.

It tends to show up as:

• Getting interrupted every few minutes
• Starting five things and finishing none
• Feeling busy but not productive

A short deliberate transition tells the body the next stretch is different. Without one, the previous meeting follows you in.

Doing this on a train

• Pick a window seat if you can and let the view do part of the work
• Set an alarm for your stop
• Keep the bag on your lap rather than unfastening to find it later

The motion can make reading or screens uncomfortable, which is another reason audio works better here.

How softening works

Softening is the practice of releasing held tension degree by degree rather than all at once. It targets the physical grip — shoulders, jaw, gut — that persists long after the stressor has passed.

• Soften one place per exhale rather than everything at once
• Let warmth and gravity do the work instead of muscular effort
• If a place will not soften, leave it and go somewhere that will

What happens, minute by minute

1. 0:00Let your belly be soft. Not sucked in. Just soft.
2. 0:12If a place will not soften, leave it alone and go somewhere that will. It often follows.
3. 0:27Notice the weight of your arms without moving them.
4. 0:38Let your sense of the room shrink down to just your body and the surface you're on.
5. 0:53Notice that you don't have to start a breath. It arrives by itself.
6. 1:06Follow three breaths and let the fourth one go unobserved.
7. 1:18Feel your face. It's probably softer than it was five minutes ago.
8. 1:31Notice your jaw again. Let your back teeth part slightly.
9. 1:43Let your throat soften. There's nothing to swallow right now.
10. 1:55Feel the soles of your feet. All the weight of you goes through them.
11. 2:09Feel the parts of you that have gone quiet.
12. 2:20If the open tabs of your attention has been with you all day, it is probably tired too. Let it rest alongside you.
13. 2:38Say to yourself: this is uncomfortable, and I can stay with it for one more breath. Then take that breath.
14. 2:55Count four breaths silently. Then stop counting and just follow.
15. 3:07There is a part of you that has handled hard moments before. That part is here now, even if it is quiet.
16. 3:25Notice how the open tabs of your attention changes shape when you stop resisting it. Usually it gets smaller, not bigger.
17. 3:42Let the breath move at the speed of a sleeping person.
18. 3:54If you feel restless, that's a feeling, not a failure.
19. 4:06Unclenching is not the same as relaxing. Just stop adding the tension back.
20. 4:19I'll be quiet for a moment. Stay with the breath.
21. 4:31Notice if you're waiting for something to happen. Nothing is scheduled.
22. 4:43We are not forcing anything open. We are letting things unclench by a single degree.
23. 4:57A short silence. Let it be empty.
24. 5:07If you're bored, stay with the boredom for a moment. It's usually thinner than it looks.
25. 5:22Let the exhale do the work. On each one, allow a little more give.
26. 5:36Let's pause. Just the breathing for a while.
27. 5:47If a song is stuck in your head, let it play in the background.
28. 6:01Find the tightest place and simply breathe near it. Warmth does the softening, not effort.
29. 6:15Let's rest here in silence. It's short.
30. 6:25If you feel emotional, you don't have to explain it to anyone, including yourself.
31. 6:39No need to open your eyes yet.
32. 6:49Let the exhale fall out rather than pushing it.
33. 7:00Notice your hands again. Check whether they've loosened on their own.
34. 7:12A few seconds of nothing now. That's on purpose.
35. 7:23Notice if you're being hard on yourself about any of this.
36. 7:35Nothing changes for a moment.
37. 7:44Let the breath be slow enough that you can hear it, just barely.
38. 7:57Feel your calves, front and back.
39. 8:07A gap. Don't rush to fill it with thinking.
40. 8:18Notice any tension that arrived while you weren't looking.
41. 8:29Let the quiet do its work.
42. 8:39Notice your breathing getting quieter on its own, without you deciding anything.
43. 8:52Feel your forearms, from the elbow down to the wrist.
44. 9:04Quiet now. The next part will wait for you.
45. 9:15If you're judging your performance, that's the same habit as judging everything else.
46. 9:28Notice the small pause before your body decides to breathe in again.
47. 9:41Keep following the air.
48. 9:50If you're replaying a conversation, let it play. It'll finish on its own.
49. 10:03Nothing to follow for a moment except your own breathing.
50. 10:15Notice the space between your shoulder blades.
51. 10:25Follow the breath down into your belly and feel it come back up.
52. 10:38Remain here for a few more breaths.
53. 10:48Notice the tone of your own inner voice. Is it kind?
54. 11:00I'll stop for a moment. Take the pause at your own speed.
55. 11:13Notice your ears, which mostly just receive things.
56. 11:24Feel your breath move down your back, all the way to your lower ribs.
57. 11:38Stay with it.
58. 11:46If a worry shows up, name it quietly and let it sit beside you.
59. 12:00I'll leave a gap here. Use it however you like.
60. 12:12Notice your pelvis resting on the surface below you.
61. 12:23Count down from ten, one number per exhale.
62. 12:34Take the next breath slowly.
63. 12:43Notice your elbows. Odd things to have, but there they are.
64. 12:55Feel the pause at the top of the in-breath. It's shorter than you think.
65. 13:09Let the pause stretch out.
66. 13:18Let your whole body be as heavy as it wants to be.
67. 13:31Let your breathing get quieter rather than deeper.
68. 13:42Stay a moment longer than is comfortable.
69. 13:52Move to your forehead. Let it be smooth instead of gathered.
70. 14:04Feel the slight stretch at the very bottom of the exhale.
71. 14:16Stay here a little longer.
72. 14:25Let the whole of your left foot be heavy.
73. 14:36You do not have to like the pull of notifications to breathe through it. Liking was never the requirement.
74. 14:52No words for a moment. Only the next breath.
75. 15:03Give the task that needs a clear head a shape, a colour, a temperature. Turning it into something specific makes it easier to hold.
76. 15:22If you're holding your breath at the top, stop. There's no need to hold anything.
77. 15:36You have been carrying the open tabs of your attention for a while. You can set it down for the length of this session and pick it up after.
78. 15:57Notice the space around the pull of notifications. It is there, even if it is small. Put your attention in that space.
79. 16:15Notice where you feel the breath most clearly. Nose, chest, or belly — pick one and stay there.
80. 16:31You do not have to win against the task that needs a clear head. You only have to breathe until the next moment arrives.
81. 16:50Each time your mind hands you the open tabs of your attention, treat it like a leaf on a stream. Present for a moment, then carried on.
82. 17:10Notice the small gap after each exhale. Rest there for half a second.
83. 17:23Notice if your attention is in the future. Bring it back to the room.
84. 17:37If you feel numb, that's a valid thing to feel. Nothing to fix.
85. 17:50Notice the pull to make this mean something. It doesn't have to.
86. 18:03Silence for a few breaths. Nothing to do in it.
87. 18:15With every out-breath, soften one place. Shoulders first, then jaw, then the space behind the eyes.
88. 18:30Let this one be unhurried.
89. 18:39Take a moment to notice you did this for yourself. That's not nothing.
90. 18:52Let the last minute of quiet be the last minute of quiet.
91. 19:05Let it be this simple.

Questions people ask

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