20-minute letting go meditation for being present, in the hour before an interview

About this practice

For the times in the hour before an interview when being present takes up more room than you would like — 20 minutes, letting go. A guided session of about 20 minutes, suited to all levels. Nothing is recorded and no account is needed.

What this works on: being present

Life happens in the present while attention is busy elsewhere. Nothing is missing except the noticing.

It tends to show up as:

• Days blurring together
• Feeling absent from your own week
• Only registering moments in photographs

Sensory attention is the shortest route back. Sound, contact and breath are always in the present.

Doing this before an interview

• Do it where you will not be interrupted, even if that is a stairwell
• Have the first sentence of your answer ready afterwards
• Keep it short — there is no time for a long session

Nerves before an interview are normal and not something to eliminate. You need access to what you know, nothing more.

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. 0:00Find one place in your body that already feels fine. Use that as the starting point.
2. 0:15Let this be easy, if easy is available.
3. 0:26Bring your attention to where your body meets the surface underneath you.
4. 0:39Let your attention rest on the out-breath. The in-breath can take care of itself.
5. 0:53Let your shoulders stay still while your ribs move.
6. 1:04Notice the breath you're taking right now. That's the only one that exists.
7. 1:17Move to your forehead. Let it be smooth instead of gathered.
8. 1:29Feel your ankles. Let them be loose.
9. 1:39Feel the parts of you that have gone quiet.
10. 1:50Let the whole of your right foot be heavy.
11. 2:01Notice your whole body as one shape, sitting or lying here.
12. 2:13If the texture of this exact moment shows up, let it be there without arguing with it. You are not trying to remove it, just to sit beside it.
13. 2:34If the wandering back to now has been with you all day, it is probably tired too. Let it rest alongside you.
14. 2:52Let the breath be slow enough that you can hear it, just barely.
15. 3:05If you catch yourself fighting the life happening while you worry, that is worth noticing. The fight usually costs more than the feeling.
16. 3:23If the texture of this exact moment starts telling you a story, let the story finish without you adding to it.
17. 3:40Let your ribs widen on the in-breath instead of your shoulders lifting.
18. 3:53Your mind will leave about a hundred times. Come back about a hundred times.
19. 4:07We'll keep it quiet and unhurried.
20. 4:17Quiet for a moment. No need to fill it.
21. 4:28If you're distracted by a sound, let the sound be the object for a moment.
22. 4:42Nothing here needs to be efficient.
23. 4:52A short silence. Let it be empty.
24. 5:02Notice the moment you realise you've drifted. That moment is the whole skill.
25. 5:15You can be as unimpressive as you like for the next few minutes.
26. 5:28Quiet now. The next part will wait for you.
27. 5:39If you're replaying a conversation, let it play. It'll finish on its own.
28. 5:52If you only manage half of it, that's half more than nothing.
29. 6:05I'll stop for a moment. Take the pause at your own speed.
30. 6:18If you feel numb, that's a valid thing to feel. Nothing to fix.
31. 6:31Small efforts are the whole method.
32. 6:41No words for a moment. Only the next breath.
33. 6:52If you're counting the minutes, that's fine. Count them and come back.
34. 7:05There's no need to try harder than this.
35. 7:16A few seconds of nothing now. That's on purpose.
36. 7:27If you're thinking about the next thing on your list, that list will still be there.
37. 7:42Let this one be unhurried.
38. 7:51Breathe in for four, out for six, if you'd like something to count.
39. 8:04Feel your tongue sitting in the bottom of your mouth.
40. 8:16Let's rest here in silence. It's short.
41. 8:26Notice if you're being hard on yourself about any of this.
42. 8:38Just the breath, still.
43. 8:47Let your breathing find the rhythm it uses when you're almost asleep.
44. 9:00Notice the small movement in your belly when you breathe.
45. 9:12Pause here. Count three breaths if you need an anchor.
46. 9:24Feel your breath move down your back, all the way to your lower ribs.
47. 9:38Keep following the air.
48. 9:47If nothing much is happening, that's not a problem. Nothing much is often the point.
49. 10:01A few quiet breaths. That's all this is.
50. 10:12Notice your wrists. They bend a lot in a day.
51. 10:24Follow three breaths and let the fourth one go unobserved.
52. 10:36No need to open your eyes yet.
53. 10:46If you're bored, stay with the boredom for a moment. It's usually thinner than it looks.
54. 11:01Let me stop talking. Follow the breath instead.
55. 11:12Notice your breathing, without changing it.
56. 11:22Count down from ten, one number per exhale.
57. 11:33Let the quiet do its work.
58. 11:43Feel your forearms, from the elbow down to the wrist.
59. 11:55Breathe as if you had all evening. There's no rush in this part.
60. 12:08Let the pause stretch out.
61. 12:17Feel your knees. They're just hinges, but they've worked hard.
62. 12:29Feel the slight stretch at the very bottom of the exhale.
63. 12:41Remain here for a few more breaths.
64. 12:51Notice the weight of your thighs, all the way down.
65. 13:03Count four breaths silently. Then stop counting and just follow.
66. 13:15Stay here a little longer.
67. 13:24Let your whole body be as heavy as it wants to be.
68. 13:37Notice the first breath of the day versus this one. They're the same mechanism.
69. 13:51Let it be this simple.
70. 14:00Feel the back of your neck. That's a place that holds a lot.
71. 14:13Follow one full breath from the moment it starts to the moment it ends.
72. 14:27Nothing changes for a moment.
73. 14:36Notice your shins, which take small knocks all day and never complain.
74. 14:49Imagine softening the edges of the wandering back to now. Not erasing it, just letting the sharp parts go a degree softer.
75. 15:07Silence. Let your shoulders drop again if they've crept up.
76. 15:19Let the life happening while you worry be exactly as big as it is, and let your breath be exactly as slow as it is. They can coexist.
77. 15:39Let the out-breath be a little longer than the in-breath, without forcing it.
78. 15:52the texture of this exact moment may quiet down, or it may not. Either is fine. We are practising staying, not performing calm.
79. 16:10Remind yourself, slowly: I am safe in this moment, even while the wandering back to now is here. Safety and difficulty can share a room.
80. 16:29Feel the pause at the top of the in-breath. It's shorter than you think.
81. 16:43Notice where the life happening while you worry lives in your body. Chest, throat, stomach. Rest your attention there without trying to change it.
82. 17:02Nothing about the texture of this exact moment has to be explained or justified in this room.
83. 17:17Let your breathing be boring. Boring is good here.
84. 17:28If you feel emotional, you don't have to explain it to anyone, including yourself.
85. 17:42If you feel restless, that's a feeling, not a failure.
86. 17:54If you're judging your performance, that's the same habit as judging everything else.
87. 18:07I'll leave a gap here. Use it however you like.
88. 18:19We'll take this slowly, and there's no version of this where you get it wrong.
89. 18:33No rush to move on.
90. 18:42Let the next breath be the start of the rest of the day.
91. 18:55Take a moment to notice you did this for yourself. That's not nothing.
92. 19:08Let 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.