7-minute guided letting go practice for fatigue — in the hour before an exam

About this practice

7 minutes to meet fatigue with less of a fight. A letting go practice, in the hour before an exam. A guided session of about 7 minutes, suited to all levels. Nothing is recorded and no account is needed.

What this works on: fatigue

Fatigue is deep tiredness of the kind that sleep does not fully clear, usually after a stretch of sustained demand.

It tends to show up as:

• Tired behind the eyes all day
• Heavy limbs
• Rest that does not refresh

Here the practice should be restful rather than stimulating. Quiet and unambitious is the right dose.

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. 0:00Start with the noise that is already in the room. We are not going to try to remove it yet.
2. 0:17Pick one thing you are gripping — a plan, a worry, a grudge — and loosen a single finger.
3. 0:33Everything that happens in the next few minutes is allowed to happen.
4. 0:46Notice the weight of your arms without moving them.
5. 0:57Let your breathing be boring. Boring is good here.
6. 1:08Notice how many breaths you take in a minute. Don't change the number, just check.
7. 1:22Notice your wrists. They bend a lot in a day.
8. 1:34Notice your eyebrows. They're probably doing something small right now.
9. 1:46Notice where your body is still holding something. Leave it alone.
10. 1:58Give the bone-deep tiredness a shape, a colour, a temperature. Turning it into something specific makes it easier to hold.
11. 2:15There is no correct amount of the heaviness behind your eyes to be feeling right now. Whatever is here is the honest amount.
12. 2:33Feel your forearms, from the elbow down to the wrist.
13. 2:45Take the next breath slowly.
14. 2:54Notice the small pause before your body decides to breathe in again.
15. 3:07If your mind is quiet, don't grab at it. Quiet comes and goes too.
16. 3:21A few seconds of nothing now. That's on purpose.
17. 3:32We are not solving anything in the next few minutes. We are setting it down, temporarily.
18. 3:47Notice any tension that arrived while you weren't looking.
19. 3:58Let your belly rise first, then your chest, then the tops of your lungs.
20. 4:12Nothing to follow for a moment except your own breathing.
21. 4:24Remind yourself, slowly: I am safe in this moment, even while the end of the reserves is here. Safety and difficulty can share a room.
22. 4:43Let the bone-deep tiredness be exactly as big as it is, and let your breath be exactly as slow as it is. They can coexist.
23. 5:02Feel the pause at the top of the in-breath. It's shorter than you think.
24. 5:16Notice if you're being hard on yourself about any of this.
25. 5:28If you feel numb, that's a valid thing to feel. Nothing to fix.
26. 5:41I'll be quiet for a moment. Stay with the breath.
27. 5:53Ask yourself what you could stop holding for the next sixty seconds. That one is a good start.
28. 6:09Come back at your own speed. The room will wait.
29. 6:21Notice your feet on the floor. That's where you start from.
30. 6:33Let the quiet do its work.

Questions people ask

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