3-minute guided grounding practice for anticipatory anxiety — first thing

About this practice

For the times first thing when anticipatory anxiety takes up more room than you would like — 3 minutes, grounding. A guided session of about 3 minutes, suited to all levels. Nothing is recorded and no account is needed.

What this works on: anticipatory anxiety

Dread of an upcoming event is often heavier than the event itself. The waiting period keeps the body in low-level alert for days.

It tends to show up as:

• Stomach dropping when you remember what is coming
• Sleep getting worse as the date approaches
• Wanting to cancel to get relief

The anticipation is a state, not a warning. Practising being in the present while the dread is present teaches the body it can wait without bracing.

Doing this in the morning

• Do it before checking your phone — the first minutes set the tone for the rest
• Sitting up is better than lying down, or you will drift back to sleep
• Light on your face helps more than any practice

Mornings can become a performance of productive habits. This one does not need to be done well.

How grounding works

Grounding brings attention to physical contact and the immediate environment. It works on the principle that the body cannot be somewhere else, so contact with the surface you are on is always available as an anchor.

• Feel the contact points — feet, seat, back — and let them take your weight
• Use the senses deliberately: what you can see, hear, touch
• Return to solidity whenever attention drifts

What happens, minute by minute

1. 0:00Keep your eyes open if you like, resting on one point of the floor a metre or two ahead.
2. 0:16Press down slightly and feel the push back. Your body already knows where it is.
3. 0:30For the next few minutes, the only job is to notice what's already happening.
4. 0:44Let your breathing get quieter rather than deeper.
5. 0:55Let the breath move at the speed of a sleeping person.
6. 1:07Notice your pelvis resting on the surface below you.
7. 1:18If the dread of an event that has not happened starts telling you a story, let the story finish without you adding to it.
8. 1:37Notice how the waiting that feels heavier than the thing changes shape when you stop resisting it. Usually it gets smaller, not bigger.
9. 1:55Count down from ten, one number per exhale.
10. 2:06If the nervous hours before has been with you all day, it is probably tired too. Let it rest alongside you.
11. 2:23If you're distracted by a sound, let the sound be the object for a moment.
12. 2:37Name what you can see, hear and touch. Counting senses is not a distraction; it is the practice.
13. 2:53Take one breath that's a little fuller than the others, and let it out through your mouth.

Questions people ask

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