Breathing for health anxiety: 15 minutes, on a rest day

About this practice

When health anxiety shows up on a rest day, this 15-minute breathing session gives you somewhere to put it down. A guided session of about 15 minutes, suited to all levels. Nothing is recorded and no account is needed.

What this works on: health anxiety

Health anxiety runs on a loop of scanning and checking. Each check briefly relieves the fear and then strengthens it, because the relief teaches the brain that checking was necessary.

It tends to show up as:

• Repeatedly checking a symptom or a pulse
• Searching symptoms late at night
• Reassurance that only helps for an hour

Attention moved out of the head and into the body as a whole reduces scanning. You are not arguing with the worry, just giving it less to grip.

Doing this on a rest day

• Do it without a reason or a target
• Later in the day, unhurried, in good light
• Let it be longer than usual if you want

Rest that has to be justified is not really rest. This one is allowed to be pointless.

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. 0:00Let your forehead smooth out. Most of us hold a small frown there all day.
2. 0:14Your anchor for the next few minutes is the breath itself. Nothing else needs following.
3. 0:28There's a difference between relaxing and stopping. We're aiming for the second one, gently.
4. 0:42We're going to move through the body in order, roughly from top to bottom.
5. 0:56Let your breathing get quieter rather than deeper.
6. 1:07Let your shoulders stay still while your ribs move.
7. 1:18Feel the parts of you that have gone quiet.
8. 1:29Feel your hips. Wide, heavy, and doing nothing.
9. 1:40Let your whole body be as heavy as it wants to be.
10. 1:53Notice your wrists. They bend a lot in a day.
11. 2:05Notice your shoulders, one at a time. The left one first.
12. 2:17This is not the last time the worry about what your body might be telling you will visit. That is not bad news. It means you will get more practice.
13. 2:38If you catch yourself fighting the habit of checking for something wrong, that is worth noticing. The fight usually costs more than the feeling.
14. 2:57Feel the air as it passes the back of your throat. It's cooler going in.
15. 3:11There is a part of you that has handled hard moments before. That part is here now, even if it is quiet.
16. 3:29Give the worry about what your body might be telling you a shape, a colour, a temperature. Turning it into something specific makes it easier to hold.
17. 3:49Notice your ears, which mostly just receive things.
18. 4:00Nothing changes for a moment.
19. 4:09Let the out-breath be a little longer than the in-breath, without forcing it.
20. 4:22Notice your fingers, one by one, starting with the little finger.
21. 4:34Stay with it.
22. 4:42Feel the slight stretch at the very bottom of the exhale.
23. 4:54Let the whole of your right foot be heavy.
24. 5:05Just the breath, still.
25. 5:14Let your ribs widen on the in-breath instead of your shoulders lifting.
26. 5:27Feel your ankles. Let them be loose.
27. 5:37Remain here for a few more breaths.
28. 5:47Let the in-breath be short and the out-breath unhurried.
29. 5:58Notice the weight of your thighs, all the way down.
30. 6:10Let's rest here in silence. It's short.
31. 6:20If you're sleepy, sit up a little. Or let the sleepiness be there.
32. 6:33No rush to move on.
33. 6:42I'll leave a gap here. Use it however you like.
34. 6:54Notice your shins, which take small knocks all day and never complain.
35. 7:07Breathe in for four, out for six, if you'd like something to count.
36. 7:20Let the quiet do its work.
37. 7:30If a worry shows up, name it quietly and let it sit beside you.
38. 7:44Let's pause. Just the breathing for a while.
39. 7:55Let the counting do the work. When you lose the count, start again from one — no penalty.
40. 8:11If a song is stuck in your head, let it play in the background.
41. 8:25Quiet for a moment. No need to fill it.
42. 8:36There is no target number here. Only the next breath, and then the one after it.
43. 8:51If you're thinking about the next thing on your list, that list will still be there.
44. 9:06A few seconds of nothing now. That's on purpose.
45. 9:17Follow the air from the nostrils down to the belly, then back out. One full trip at a time.
46. 9:33Notice any tension that arrived while you weren't looking.
47. 9:44A few quiet breaths. That's all this is.
48. 9:55Keep the exhale a little longer than the inhale. That is the entire technique.
49. 10:09Notice the exact moment your attention left. You probably won't catch it. That's normal.
50. 10:23Let the breath get soft, the way it goes when someone is reading beside you.
51. 10:37Silence. Let your shoulders drop again if they've crept up.
52. 10:49Picture the habit of checking for something wrong as a weather front passing over. You are not the weather. You are the sky it moves through.
53. 11:08You are allowed to be unimpressed by the fear attached to each new symptom. Indifference is a legitimate response.
54. 11:24Let your belly rise first, then your chest, then the tops of your lungs.
55. 11:38Remind yourself, slowly: I am safe in this moment, even while the worry about what your body might be telling you is here. Safety and difficulty can share a room.
56. 11:59You do not have to solve the habit of checking for something wrong in these few minutes. Your only job is to keep breathing while it is here.
57. 12:19Count four breaths silently. Then stop counting and just follow.
58. 12:31If nothing much is happening, that's not a problem. Nothing much is often the point.
59. 12:45If you're counting the minutes, that's fine. Count them and come back.
60. 12:58If you feel emotional, you don't have to explain it to anyone, including yourself.
61. 13:12Nothing to follow for a moment except your own breathing.
62. 13:24If the breath feels tight, do not deepen it. Just watch it, and let it find its own depth.
63. 13:40Keep following the air.
64. 13:49Let the next breath be the start of the rest of the day.
65. 14:02Come back to your body first, and the rest of the day second.
66. 14:15A few seconds more.

Questions people ask

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