Breathing for back pain and tension: 7 minutes, late at night

About this practice

Slow, spoken guidance for back pain and tension. A breathing session you can do late at night. A guided session of about 7 minutes, suited to all levels. Nothing is recorded and no account is needed.

What this works on: back pain and tension

Much of daily back discomfort is muscular load rather than structural damage — muscles holding a position long after they should have let go.

It tends to show up as:

• Lower back ache after sitting
• Stiffness on standing
• Pain that improves when moving

Attention moves into the back rather than away from it. Being willing to feel it is usually where release starts.

Doing this at night

• Skip the clock — knowing the time rarely helps at night
• Keep the room dark, and use headphones rather than a speaker
• Expect to be awake for a while without treating that as a problem

Any practice at night works better with the display off. Looking at a screen resets the whole thing.

How breathing works

A breathing practice uses the breath as the object of attention and as the control lever. Because exhaling slows the heart through the vagus nerve, it acts on the nervous system directly rather than through thinking.

• Keep the exhale longer than the inhale — that is the active ingredient
• Count the exhales and start again whenever you lose count
• Do not force depth; let the breath find its own level

What happens, minute by minute

1. 0:00Start by hearing the furthest sound you can find.
2. 0:11If the breath feels tight, do not deepen it. Just watch it, and let it find its own depth.
3. 0:27This is not a performance. Nobody is listening to how well you're doing it.
4. 0:41Let your attention drop to the level of your shoulders and stay there a moment.
5. 0:55Count four breaths silently. Then stop counting and just follow.
6. 1:07Notice that you don't have to start a breath. It arrives by itself.
7. 1:20Feel the skin around your eyes. Let the muscles behind them go loose.
8. 1:33Feel the outline of yourself, from the top of your head to your heels.
9. 1:47Feel your tongue sitting in the bottom of your mouth.
10. 1:59If the muscles holding on all day has been with you all day, it is probably tired too. Let it rest alongside you.
11. 2:17Think of the stiffness from sitting as a guest that arrived without knocking. You can let it stand in the hallway.
12. 2:34Notice your eyebrows. They're probably doing something small right now.
13. 2:46No rush to move on.
14. 2:55Let your shoulders stay still while your ribs move.
15. 3:06If you feel emotional, you don't have to explain it to anyone, including yourself.
16. 3:20I'll leave a gap here. Use it however you like.
17. 3:32Your anchor for the next few minutes is the breath itself. Nothing else needs following.
18. 3:46Notice the exact moment your attention left. You probably won't catch it. That's normal.
19. 4:00Let your ribs widen on the in-breath instead of your shoulders lifting.
20. 4:13I'll be quiet for a moment. Stay with the breath.
21. 4:25Each time your mind hands you the ache in the lower back, treat it like a leaf on a stream. Present for a moment, then carried on.
22. 4:45You are allowed to be unimpressed by the muscles holding on all day. Indifference is a legitimate response.
23. 5:01Notice the first breath of the day versus this one. They're the same mechanism.
24. 5:15If you've lost track of where we were, you haven't lost anything important.
25. 5:28If nothing much is happening, that's not a problem. Nothing much is often the point.
26. 5:42A few seconds of nothing now. That's on purpose.
27. 5:53Let the counting do the work. When you lose the count, start again from one — no penalty.
28. 6:09Let your shoulders come back up to their usual place, if they want to.
29. 6:23Give your hands a stretch before you go back to using them.
30. 6:36Let it be this simple.

Questions people ask

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