20-minute letting go meditation for concentration

About this practice

For the times in the queue when concentration 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: concentration

Concentration fails for two reasons: the task is uninteresting, or the body is too activated to hold anything steady. The second one is fixable in minutes.

It tends to show up as:

Attention sliding off within seconds
Jumping between tabs
Feeling physically unable to sit still

Lowering arousal raises the ceiling of what attention can hold. Practice first, then the task.

Doing this in a waiting room

You can do this with your eyes open and your hands where they are
Nothing here needs to look like a meditation
Aim for steadiness rather than calm

Waiting feeds the dread it is meant to relieve. Having something specific to do with the time is the useful part.

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

0:00Let the floor take your weight through your feet, and stop holding yourself up for a second.
0:15Ask yourself what you could stop holding for the next sixty seconds. That one is a good start.
0:31We'll work through this slowly. If you lose the thread, the thread will wait.
0:45Notice whether your breathing is high in your chest or low in your belly. Just notice. No fixing.
1:01Let your breathing be boring. Boring is good here.
1:12Let your shoulders stay still while your ribs move.
1:23Feel the middle of your back, the part that never gets attention.
1:36Notice your shins, which take small knocks all day and never complain.
1:49Feel the front of your chest. Notice it rise and fall once.
2:02Feel your heart somewhere in there, doing its work without instructions.
2:14Notice your heels making contact with the floor or the bed.
2:26If the attention that keeps sliding off shows up, let it be there without arguing with it. You are not trying to remove it, just to sit beside it.
2:47the urge to check something else may quiet down, or it may not. Either is fine. We are practising staying, not performing calm.
3:05Let the exhale fall out rather than pushing it.
3:16Imagine softening the edges of the difficulty of staying with one thing. Not erasing it, just letting the sharp parts go a degree softer.
3:35Picture the attention that keeps sliding off as a weather front passing over. You are not the weather. You are the sky it moves through.
3:54Feel the air as it passes the back of your throat. It's cooler going in.
4:08Notice any urge to check something. You can wait two more minutes.
4:21We are not solving anything in the next few minutes. We are setting it down, temporarily.
4:36A short silence. Let it be empty.
4:46If you're distracted by a sound, let the sound be the object for a moment.
5:00Setting something down is not the same as giving up. You can pick it up again after.
5:15Nothing to follow for a moment except your own breathing.
5:27If you feel restless, that's a feeling, not a failure.
5:39Pick one thing you are gripping — a plan, a worry, a grudge — and loosen a single finger.
5:55Let's rest here in silence. It's short.
6:05You might be planning something. Notice the planning, then come back.
6:17With each exhale, let a little of the effort go. Not the problem — just the effort.
6:32I'll leave a gap here. Use it however you like.
6:44If you're judging your performance, that's the same habit as judging everything else.
6:57Nothing changes for a moment.
7:06Feel your breath move down your back, all the way to your lower ribs.
7:20Feel your forearms, from the elbow down to the wrist.
7:32I'll stop for a moment. Take the pause at your own speed.
7:45If you feel emotional, you don't have to explain it to anyone, including yourself.
7:59Stay here a little longer.
8:08Let your breathing find the rhythm it uses when you're almost asleep.
8:21Now feel both feet at once. That's a lot of contact with the world.
8:35Quiet for a moment. No need to fill it.
8:46If a worry shows up, name it quietly and let it sit beside you.
9:00Let this one be unhurried.
9:09Follow the breath down into your belly and feel it come back up.
9:22Notice the small movement in your belly when you breathe.
9:34I'll step back. You stay here.
9:44No rush to move on.
9:53Notice how you're sitting. Adjust if you need to. Then settle again.
10:06I'll be quiet for a moment. Stay with the breath.
10:18Notice your eyebrows. They're probably doing something small right now.
10:30Follow one full breath from the moment it starts to the moment it ends.
10:44Take the next breath slowly.
10:53Notice the moment you realise you've drifted. That moment is the whole skill.
11:06A few seconds of nothing now. That's on purpose.
11:17Notice your wrists. They bend a lot in a day.
11:29Let each breath out be a small letting go of the muscles around your ribs.
11:43Let your body keep settling.
11:52Notice anything you're holding onto from earlier today.
12:03A few quiet breaths. That's all this is.
12:14Notice your jaw again. Let your back teeth part slightly.
12:26Breathe as if you had all evening. There's no rush in this part.
12:39Stay a moment longer than is comfortable.
12:49Now the right shoulder. Let it be a centimetre lower than it was.
13:02Let the breath move at the speed of a sleeping person.
13:14Keep following the air.
13:23Move to your forehead. Let it be smooth instead of gathered.
13:35Let your breathing get quieter rather than deeper.
13:46Let it be this simple.
13:55Notice your elbows. Odd things to have, but there they are.
14:07Notice your breathing getting quieter on its own, without you deciding anything.
14:20A few seconds more.
14:29Feel the skin around your eyes. Let the muscles behind them go loose.
14:42When the urge to check something else presses in, put a hand on your chest or your belly. Warmth and pressure are anchors your body already trusts.
15:02No words for a moment. Only the next breath.
15:13Give the difficulty of staying with one thing a shape, a colour, a temperature. Turning it into something specific makes it easier to hold.
15:32Notice the breath you're taking right now. That's the only one that exists.
15:45This is not the last time the attention that keeps sliding off will visit. That is not bad news. It means you will get more practice.
16:04Notice the space around the urge to check something else. It is there, even if it is small. Put your attention in that space.
16:23Let the out-breath be a little longer than the in-breath, without forcing it.
16:36Each time your mind hands you the difficulty of staying with one thing, treat it like a leaf on a stream. Present for a moment, then carried on.
16:56Think of the attention that keeps sliding off as a guest that arrived without knocking. You can let it stand in the hallway.
17:14Notice the small gap after each exhale. Rest there for half a second.
17:27Notice any part of you that wants this to be over.
17:39Your mind will leave about a hundred times. Come back about a hundred times.
17:53If your body wants to move, let it move, then come back.
18:06A gap. Don't rush to fill it with thinking.
18:17You have been carrying this competently for a while. A few minutes off will not undo that.
18:32Just the breath, still.
18:41Take one breath that's a little fuller than the others, and let it out through your mouth.
18:56When you're ready, look around properly.
19:06No need to open your eyes yet.

Questions people ask

What does this session help with?

Concentration fails for two reasons: the task is uninteresting, or the body is too activated to hold anything steady. The second one is fixable in minutes. Lowering arousal raises the ceiling of what attention can hold. Practice first, then the task.

Where and when should I do this one?

You can do this with your eyes open and your hands where they are. Waiting feeds the dread it is meant to relieve. Having something specific to do with the time is the useful part.

What actually happens during the 20 minutes?

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.

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