5-minute guided letting go practice for sleep — in a waiting room

About this practice

Slow, spoken guidance for sleep. A letting go session you can do in a waiting room. A guided session of about 5 minutes, suited to all levels. Nothing is recorded and no account is needed.

What this works on: sleep

Sleep arrives on a downslope, not on command. Arousal has to fall for some minutes before the switch flips, and trying harder keeps it up.

It tends to show up as:

• Getting a second wind at bedtime
• Mind starting up as soon as the light goes off
• Sleep arriving much later than you intended

The practice is to stop steering. Following a slow voice occupies the part of the mind that would otherwise be trying.

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

1. 0:00Notice the heaviest part of your body right now. Let it be heavy.
2. 0:13With each exhale, let a little of the effort go. Not the problem — just the effort.
3. 0:28We're going to let the body lead and the mind follow for a while.
4. 0:42Notice whether your breathing is high in your chest or low in your belly. Just notice. No fixing.
5. 0:58Let the in-breath be short and the out-breath unhurried.
6. 1:09Let the exhale empty you a little more than usual, but not to the point of strain.
7. 1:24Notice your shoulders, one at a time. The left one first.
8. 1:36Notice your heels making contact with the floor or the bed.
9. 1:48Move to your forehead. Let it be smooth instead of gathered.
10. 2:00Setting something down is not the same as giving up. You can pick it up again after.
11. 2:15If your mind is quiet, don't grab at it. Quiet comes and goes too.
12. 2:29Let the day folding itself up be exactly as big as it is, and let your breath be exactly as slow as it is. They can coexist.
13. 2:49If the quiet your mind keeps postponing is loud right now, make your attention smaller. Just the next breath. Nothing beyond it.
14. 3:07Notice where you feel the breath most clearly. Nose, chest, or belly — pick one and stay there.
15. 3:23You do not have to solve the heaviness your body already knows in these few minutes. Your only job is to keep breathing while it is here.
16. 3:43If you're thinking about the next thing on your list, that list will still be there.
17. 3:58A few quiet breaths. That's all this is.
18. 4:09Ask yourself what you could stop holding for the next sixty seconds. That one is a good start.
19. 4:25Come back to your body first, and the rest of the day second.
20. 4:38Remain here for a few more breaths.

Questions people ask

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