5-minute guided letting go practice for exhaustion — at the airport

About this practice

5 minutes to meet exhaustion with less of a fight. A letting go practice, at the airport. A guided session of about 5 minutes, suited to all levels. Nothing is recorded and no account is needed.

What this works on: exhaustion

Exhaustion is what is left after the reserves are gone. The body has stopped asking; it is now insisting.

It tends to show up as:

• Feeling hollow and drained
• Emotionally flat
• Physical heaviness all day

This is not the state to push in. The whole point here is to ask nothing and let the body be heavy.

Doing this on a plane

• Use headphones, and keep the seatbelt on
• Bring a layer — being cold works against settling
• Skip alcohol; it makes the alertness worse

Cabin noise is constant and will mask the audio more than you expect. Try the headphones before you settle in.

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. 0:00Turn your phone face down if it's within reach. If it's in another room, even better.
2. 0:15Nothing here needs to be efficient.
3. 0:25There's no correct speed. Slower isn't better. Steadier is the only aim.
4. 0:38For the next few minutes, the only job is to notice what's already happening.
5. 0:52Notice that you don't have to start a breath. It arrives by itself.
6. 1:05Follow the breath down into your belly and feel it come back up.
7. 1:18Feel the front of your chest. Notice it rise and fall once.
8. 1:31Notice your whole body as one shape, sitting or lying here.
9. 1:43Let your whole body be as heavy as it wants to be.
10. 1:56Let this one be unhurried.
11. 2:05Let your belly rise first, then your chest, then the tops of your lungs.
12. 2:19Let's rest here in silence. It's short.
13. 2:29Small efforts are the whole method.
14. 2:39Notice whether you're breathing or holding. Start breathing again.
15. 2:50Notice where the drained feeling that rest has not touched lives in your body. Chest, throat, stomach. Rest your attention there without trying to change it.
16. 3:09Say to yourself: this is uncomfortable, and I can stay with it for one more breath. Then take that breath.
17. 3:26Let your shoulders stay still while your ribs move.
18. 3:37Picture the body asking you to stop as a weather front passing over. You are not the weather. You are the sky it moves through.
19. 3:56If you're replaying a conversation, let it play. It'll finish on its own.
20. 4:09I'll stop for a moment. Take the pause at your own speed.
21. 4:22Let this be easy, if easy is available.
22. 4:33Come back to the room through your senses, one at a time.

Questions people ask

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