3-minute letting go meditation for being present, beside your desk

About this practice

3 minutes to meet being present with less of a fight. A letting go practice, beside your desk. A guided session of about 3 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 at your desk

• Feet flat, back supported, screen away from your eyeline
• You can do this with your eyes open if the office makes closing them awkward
• Unclench the jaw and drop the shoulders first, before anything else

Nobody needs to know you are doing it. Keep it invisible if that makes it possible.

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. 0:00Put a hand on your chest for a moment if that feels steadying. Or don't. Both are allowed.
2. 0:16With each exhale, let a little of the effort go. Not the problem — just the effort.
3. 0:31Feel the small movements your body makes to keep you upright. They're happening without you.
4. 0:45Notice that you don't have to start a breath. It arrives by itself.
5. 0:58Let each breath out be a small letting go of the muscles around your ribs.
6. 1:12Feel your face. It's probably softer than it was five minutes ago.
7. 1:25Say to yourself: this is uncomfortable, and I can stay with it for one more breath. Then take that breath.
8. 1:42There is no correct amount of the life happening while you worry to be feeling right now. Whatever is here is the honest amount.
9. 2:01Let your breathing get quieter rather than deeper.
10. 2:12Remind yourself, slowly: I am safe in this moment, even while the texture of this exact moment is here. Safety and difficulty can share a room.
11. 2:31If you're judging your performance, that's the same habit as judging everything else.
12. 2:44We are not solving anything in the next few minutes. We are setting it down, temporarily.
13. 2:59Notice the quiet you made, and let it close gently.

Questions people ask

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