5-minute guided letting go practice for worry — in the hour before an exam

About this practice

Slow, spoken guidance for worry. A letting go session you can do in the hour before an exam. A guided session of about 5 minutes, suited to all levels. Nothing is recorded and no account is needed.

What this works on: worry

Worry is rehearsal for a future that has not arrived. The body responds to the imagined event as if it were happening, so you pay the cost twice.

It tends to show up as:

• What-ifs lined up in a queue
• A knot low in the stomach
• Rehearsing bad outcomes before bed

You do not have to resolve the worry. Noticing it as a mental event, rather than an accurate forecast, loosens its grip.

Doing this before an exam

• Do it outside the hall, before you go in
• Do not revise during it — that raises the noise
• Aim to arrive early and steady rather than late and reading

Last-minute revision mostly raises arousal without adding recall. Arriving settled is worth more.

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. 0:00You don't have to empty your mind. Nobody has ever managed that, including the people who wrote the instructions.
2. 0:16Ask yourself what you could stop holding for the next sixty seconds. That one is a good start.
3. 0:32For the next few minutes, the only job is to notice what's already happening.
4. 0:46This is not a performance. Nobody is listening to how well you're doing it.
5. 1:00If you're holding your breath at the top, stop. There's no need to hold anything.
6. 1:14Let the breath be slow enough that you can hear it, just barely.
7. 1:27Feel your forearms, from the elbow down to the wrist.
8. 1:39Feel your palms. Warm or cool, either is fine.
9. 1:50Notice your ribs on both sides. Wide, not squeezed.
10. 2:01Remain here for a few more breaths.
11. 2:11With each exhale, let a little of the effort go. Not the problem — just the effort.
12. 2:26Notice the moment you realise you've drifted. That moment is the whole skill.
13. 2:39Say to yourself: this is uncomfortable, and I can stay with it for one more breath. Then take that breath.
14. 2:56Let the exhale carry a little of the what-ifs lined up like worries with it. Not all of it. Just a little, one breath at a time.
15. 3:16Notice if your breathing is faster than you expected. Don't correct it. Just note it.
16. 3:30There is no correct amount of the knot of worry low in the stomach to be feeling right now. Whatever is here is the honest amount.
17. 3:49If your body wants to move, let it move, then come back.
18. 4:02A few seconds of nothing now. That's on purpose.
19. 4:13Setting something down is not the same as giving up. You can pick it up again after.
20. 4:28Take 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.