Anxiety: 12-minute letting go meditation, in the hour before sleep

About this practice

When anxiety shows up in the hour before sleep, this 12-minute letting go session gives you somewhere to put it down. A guided session of about 12 minutes, suited to all levels. Nothing is recorded and no account is needed.

What this works on: anxiety

Anxiety is your nervous system treating a thought as a threat. Adrenaline and cortisol rise, the heart speeds up, and the body prepares to act on a danger that is mostly in the future.

It tends to show up as:

• A tight chest or a knot in the stomach
• Feeling keyed up but unable to say why
• Checking things more than once

Slow exhaling directly signals safety to the vagus nerve, which is why breathing is the fastest route down from a spike.

Doing this before bed

• Do it in bed or somewhere you can move straight to bed after
• Lower the light, and do not check anything afterwards
• If you fall asleep before the end, it worked

Falling asleep mid-session is a success, not a failure to complete it.

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 where your body touches the chair. That contact is doing more for you than it looks.
2. 0:15If you only manage half of it, that's half more than nothing.
3. 0:28Nothing here needs to be pleasant. Neutral is fine. Dull is fine.
4. 0:41You can let your eyes close now if they weren't already.
5. 0:53Notice the difference between the breath at the front of your nose and the breath in your chest.
6. 1:09Count four breaths silently. Then stop counting and just follow.
7. 1:21Feel the front of your chest. Notice it rise and fall once.
8. 1:34Notice your jaw again. Let your back teeth part slightly.
9. 1:46Feel the outline of yourself, from the top of your head to your heels.
10. 2:00Let the whole of your right foot be heavy.
11. 2:11Nothing about the alarm in your body has to be explained or justified in this room.
12. 2:26When the restless edge of worry presses in, put a hand on your chest or your belly. Warmth and pressure are anchors your body already trusts.
13. 2:45Let the breath be shallow if shallow is what your body wants.
14. 2:58If you're replaying a conversation, let it play. It'll finish on its own.
15. 3:11Nothing here needs to be efficient.
16. 3:21No words for a moment. Only the next breath.
17. 3:32Notice the moment you realise you've drifted. That moment is the whole skill.
18. 3:45Let this be easy, if easy is available.
19. 3:56A gap. Don't rush to fill it with thinking.
20. 4:07If you're irritated, that's allowed. Irritation is just weather.
21. 4:18You can be as unimpressive as you like for the next few minutes.
22. 4:31Silence for a few breaths. Nothing to do in it.
23. 4:43If you feel numb, that's a valid thing to feel. Nothing to fix.
24. 4:56There's no need to try harder than this.
25. 5:07I'll be quiet for a moment. Stay with the breath.
26. 5:19Your mind will leave about a hundred times. Come back about a hundred times.
27. 5:33Small efforts are the whole method.
28. 5:43Feel your calves, front and back.
29. 5:53If you're holding your breath at the top, stop. There's no need to hold anything.
30. 6:07Let it be this simple.
31. 6:16Feel the parts of you that have gone quiet.
32. 6:27Let your breathing find the rhythm it uses when you're almost asleep.
33. 6:40Just the breath, still.
34. 6:49Feel your upper back against whatever is behind it.
35. 7:00Feel the slight stretch at the very bottom of the exhale.
36. 7:12No rush to move on.
37. 7:21Notice your fingers, one by one, starting with the little finger.
38. 7:33Notice if your breathing is faster than you expected. Don't correct it. Just note it.
39. 7:47Take the next breath slowly.
40. 7:56Notice your shins, which take small knocks all day and never complain.
41. 8:09Let that tight feeling that something is wrong be exactly as big as it is, and let your breath be exactly as slow as it is. They can coexist.
42. 8:30I'll leave a gap here. Use it however you like.
43. 8:42If the hum of anxiety starts telling you a story, let the story finish without you adding to it.
44. 8:58Let your shoulders stay still while your ribs move.
45. 9:09Feel the weight of the alarm in your body somewhere specific, then let the floor take a share of it.
46. 9:26Let the exhale carry a little of the restless edge of worry with it. Not all of it. Just a little, one breath at a time.
47. 9:45Follow one full breath from the moment it starts to the moment it ends.
48. 9:59Notice the exact moment your attention left. You probably won't catch it. That's normal.
49. 10:13Notice how you're sitting. Adjust if you need to. Then settle again.
50. 10:26Let's pause. Just the breathing for a while.
51. 10:37We'll keep it quiet and unhurried.
52. 10:47Let this one be unhurried.
53. 10:56Come back to the room through your senses, one at a time.
54. 11:09Give your hands a stretch before you go back to using them.
55. 11:22Stay 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.