7-minute guided grounding practice for deep work — on a break

About this practice

Nothing to learn and nothing to fix: 7 minutes of grounding for deep work, on a break. A guided session of about 7 minutes, suited to all levels. Nothing is recorded and no account is needed.

What this works on: deep work

Deep work requires a low distraction floor. Modern work rarely provides one, so the transition into it has to be manufactured.

It tends to show up as:

• Getting interrupted every few minutes
• Starting five things and finishing none
• Feeling busy but not productive

A short deliberate transition tells the body the next stretch is different. Without one, the previous meeting follows you in.

Doing this on a break

• Leave the room if you can
• Do not start anything else in the same gap
• Set a timer so the break has an end

A break spent half-engaged with a screen is not much of a break. Guard the whole five minutes.

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. 0:00Nothing needs to be decided in the next few minutes. Park the decisions.
2. 0:13If your mind has gone somewhere else, the floor under you has not moved. Start from there.
3. 0:28If your mind is loud, that's information, not failure.
4. 0:39You can think about other things. When you notice, come back. That's the whole practice.
5. 0:53Notice how many breaths you take in a minute. Don't change the number, just check.
6. 1:07Breathe as if you had all evening. There's no rush in this part.
7. 1:20Feel your knees. They're just hinges, but they've worked hard.
8. 1:32Feel the tops of your thighs.
9. 1:42Feel your ankles. Let them be loose.
10. 1:52the pull of notifications may quiet down, or it may not. Either is fine. We are practising staying, not performing calm.
11. 2:09Imagine softening the edges of the task that needs a clear head. Not erasing it, just letting the sharp parts go a degree softer.
12. 2:28Feel your heart somewhere in there, doing its work without instructions.
13. 2:40No need to open your eyes yet.
14. 2:50Notice your breathing getting quieter on its own, without you deciding anything.
15. 3:03Notice the backs of your knees, which you feel more than you think.
16. 3:16If a song is stuck in your head, let it play in the background.
17. 3:30No words for a moment. Only the next breath.
18. 3:41Name what you can see, hear and touch. Counting senses is not a distraction; it is the practice.
19. 3:57Notice how you're sitting. Adjust if you need to. Then settle again.
20. 4:10Breathe in through your nose and out through your nose, if that's comfortable.
21. 4:23Let me stop talking. Follow the breath instead.
22. 4:34Each time your mind hands you the open tabs of your attention, treat it like a leaf on a stream. Present for a moment, then carried on.
23. 4:54Nothing about the pull of notifications has to be explained or justified in this room.
24. 5:08Follow three breaths and let the fourth one go unobserved.
25. 5:20If you feel numb, that's a valid thing to feel. Nothing to fix.
26. 5:33If you're thinking about the next thing on your list, that list will still be there.
27. 5:48Pause here. Count three breaths if you need an anchor.
28. 6:00The floor is holding you right now. You do not have to hold yourself up.
29. 6:14Let your breathing be completely ordinary again.
30. 6:24Before you move, notice one thing that's fine right now.
31. 6:36Stay with it.

Questions people ask

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