Anticipatory anxiety: 10-minute letting go

About this practice

10 minutes to meet anticipatory anxiety with less of a fight. A letting go practice, before an exam. A guided session of about 10 minutes, suited to all levels. Nothing is recorded and no account is needed.

What this works on: anticipatory anxiety

Dread of an upcoming event is often heavier than the event itself. The waiting period keeps the body in low-level alert for days.

It tends to show up as:

Stomach dropping when you remember what is coming
Sleep getting worse as the date approaches
Wanting to cancel to get relief

The anticipation is a state, not a warning. Practising being in the present while the dread is present teaches the body it can wait without bracing.

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

0:00Find one place in your body that already feels fine. Use that as the starting point.
0:15With each exhale, let a little of the effort go. Not the problem — just the effort.
0:30Let your attention settle on the space between your nose and your upper lip, where the air passes.
0:46Feel the small movements your body makes to keep you upright. They're happening without you.
1:00Let the breath get soft, the way it goes when someone is reading beside you.
1:14Count down from ten, one number per exhale.
1:25Feel your forearms, from the elbow down to the wrist.
1:37Now feel both feet at once. That's a lot of contact with the world.
1:51Notice your elbows. Odd things to have, but there they are.
2:03Feel your tongue sitting in the bottom of your mouth.
2:15Notice where the waiting that feels heavier than the thing lives in your body. Chest, throat, stomach. Rest your attention there without trying to change it.
2:34There is no correct amount of the nervous hours before to be feeling right now. Whatever is here is the honest amount.
2:52If you're sleepy, sit up a little. Or let the sleepiness be there.
3:05We are not solving anything in the next few minutes. We are setting it down, temporarily.
3:20Silence for a few breaths. Nothing to do in it.
3:32Notice anything you're holding onto from earlier today.
3:43Pick one thing you are gripping — a plan, a worry, a grudge — and loosen a single finger.
3:59No words for a moment. Only the next breath.
4:10If you feel restless, that's a feeling, not a failure.
4:22You have been carrying this competently for a while. A few minutes off will not undo that.
4:37Let me stop talking. Follow the breath instead.
4:48Notice the first breath of the day versus this one. They're the same mechanism.
5:02No rush to move on.
5:11Move to your forehead. Let it be smooth instead of gathered.
5:23Notice that you don't have to start a breath. It arrives by itself.
5:36Take the next breath slowly.
5:45Let your throat soften. There's nothing to swallow right now.
5:57Count four breaths silently. Then stop counting and just follow.
6:09Keep following the air.
6:18Let the whole of your right foot be heavy.
6:29Follow one full breath from the moment it starts to the moment it ends.
6:43Silence. Let your shoulders drop again if they've crept up.
6:55Give the dread of an event that has not happened a shape, a colour, a temperature. Turning it into something specific makes it easier to hold.
7:14Think of the waiting that feels heavier than the thing as a guest that arrived without knocking. You can let it stand in the hallway.
7:33Let the exhale fall out rather than pushing it.
7:44You do not have to like the nervous hours before to breathe through it. Liking was never the requirement.
8:00Notice how you're sitting. Adjust if you need to. Then settle again.
8:13Notice if you're being hard on yourself about any of this.
8:25I'll be quiet for a moment. Stay with the breath.
8:37Ask yourself what you could stop holding for the next sixty seconds. That one is a good start.
8:53Let the quiet do its work.
9:03Come back at your own speed. The room will wait.
9:15Let the next breath be the start of the rest of the day.
9:28Let the pause stretch out.

Questions people ask

What does this session help with?

Dread of an upcoming event is often heavier than the event itself. The waiting period keeps the body in low-level alert for days. The anticipation is a state, not a warning. Practising being in the present while the dread is present teaches the body it can wait without bracing.

Where and when should I do this one?

Do it outside the hall, before you go in. Last-minute revision mostly raises arousal without adding recall. Arriving settled is worth more.

What actually happens during the 10 minutes?

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.

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