Anxiety: 5-minute letting go meditation, first thing

About this practice

Slow, spoken guidance for anxiety. A letting go session you can do first thing. A guided session of about 5 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 in the morning

• Do it before checking your phone — the first minutes set the tone for the rest
• Sitting up is better than lying down, or you will drift back to sleep
• Light on your face helps more than any practice

Mornings can become a performance of productive habits. This one does not need to be done well.

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. 0:00Keep your eyes open if you like, resting on one point of the floor a metre or two ahead.
2. 0:16You have been carrying this competently for a while. A few minutes off will not undo that.
3. 0:31Let your attention rest on the out-breath. The in-breath can take care of itself.
4. 0:45Notice your own pulse somewhere. Wrist, throat, wherever you can find it.
5. 0:58Feel the air move past your upper lip. It's the coolest spot on the way in.
6. 1:13Follow three breaths and let the fourth one go unobserved.
7. 1:25Let your whole body be as heavy as it wants to be.
8. 1:38Notice your ribs on both sides. Wide, not squeezed.
9. 1:49Feel your upper back against whatever is behind it.
10. 2:00Stay a moment longer than is comfortable.
11. 2:10We are not solving anything in the next few minutes. We are setting it down, temporarily.
12. 2:25Notice any part of you that wants this to be over.
13. 2:37Say to yourself: this is uncomfortable, and I can stay with it for one more breath. Then take that breath.
14. 2:54There is a part of you that has handled hard moments before. That part is here now, even if it is quiet.
15. 3:12Follow one full breath from the moment it starts to the moment it ends.
16. 3:26Notice where the alarm in your body lives in your body. Chest, throat, stomach. Rest your attention there without trying to change it.
17. 3:44If a song is stuck in your head, let it play in the background.
18. 3:58No words for a moment. Only the next breath.
19. 4:09With each exhale, let a little of the effort go. Not the problem — just the effort.
20. 4:24Notice whether you feel any different. If not, that's also normal.
21. 4:36Stay 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.