Frustration: 20-minute body scan meditation, beside your desk

About this practice

For the times beside your desk when frustration takes up more room than you would like — 20 minutes, body scan. A guided session of about 20 minutes, suited to all levels. Nothing is recorded and no account is needed.

What this works on: frustration

Frustration is blocked progress, repeated. Each small obstruction adds to a background irritation that eventually has nothing to do with the original cause.

It tends to show up as:

• Sighing more than usual
• Everything feeling slightly too slow
• A short fuse over minor things

Releasing some physical tension interrupts the accumulation. Frustration is often held in the jaw and hands more than it is thought about.

Doing this at your desk

• Feet flat, back supported, screen away from your eyeline
• You can do this with your eyes open if the office makes closing them awkward
• Unclench the jaw and drop the shoulders first, before anything else

Nobody needs to know you are doing it. Keep it invisible if that makes it possible.

How body scan works

A body scan moves attention systematically through the body, region by region. It does not try to change what it finds — it builds a map of what is actually there, which is often different from what you assumed.

• Move slowly, head to feet or feet to head, and do not skip the uncomfortable areas
• Meet each region with plain curiosity rather than a verdict
• Numbness and absence of sensation are findings too

What happens, minute by minute

1. 0:00Take one breath that is slightly slower than the last one. That is enough to start.
2. 0:15If you only manage half of it, that's half more than nothing.
3. 0:28We're going to move through the body in order, roughly from top to bottom.
4. 0:42Let your breathing find its own pace. We're only going to watch it.
5. 0:55Breathe as if you had all evening. There's no rush in this part.
6. 1:08Let each breath out be a small letting go of the muscles around your ribs.
7. 1:22Notice the space between your shoulder blades.
8. 1:32Now the right shoulder. Let it be a centimetre lower than it was.
9. 1:45Notice the weight of your thighs, all the way down.
10. 1:57Notice your lower back. Let it curve however it curves.
11. 2:09Notice your breathing, without changing it.
12. 2:19Say to yourself: this is uncomfortable, and I can stay with it for one more breath. Then take that breath.
13. 2:36Think of the annoyance that will not settle as a guest that arrived without knocking. You can let it stand in the hallway.
14. 2:54Let the breath get soft, the way it goes when someone is reading beside you.
15. 3:08Notice where the repeated small irritations lives in your body. Chest, throat, stomach. Rest your attention there without trying to change it.
16. 3:26Imagine the jaw tight with frustration as a room you can walk out of for a minute. The room will still be there.
17. 3:44Feel the pause at the top of the in-breath. It's shorter than you think.
18. 3:58Notice the exact moment your attention left. You probably won't catch it. That's normal.
19. 4:12We'll keep it quiet and unhurried.
20. 4:22A short silence. Let it be empty.
21. 4:32If you're counting the minutes, that's fine. Count them and come back.
22. 4:45We'll take this slowly, and there's no version of this where you get it wrong.
23. 4:59Let's rest here in silence. It's short.
24. 5:09Notice how quickly your mind labels things: good, bad, boring, nice.
25. 5:21Nothing here needs to be efficient.
26. 5:31Quiet now. The next part will wait for you.
27. 5:42If you're distracted by a sound, let the sound be the object for a moment.
28. 5:56There's no need to try harder than this.
29. 6:07I'll leave a gap here. Use it however you like.
30. 6:19If your body wants to move, let it move, then come back.
31. 6:32Small efforts are the whole method.
32. 6:42Pause here. Count three breaths if you need an anchor.
33. 6:54If nothing much is happening, that's not a problem. Nothing much is often the point.
34. 7:08You can be as unimpressive as you like for the next few minutes.
35. 7:21Nothing to follow for a moment except your own breathing.
36. 7:33If you're replaying a conversation, let it play. It'll finish on its own.
37. 7:46Take the next breath slowly.
38. 7:55Feel your breath move down your back, all the way to your lower ribs.
39. 8:09Feel your calves, front and back.
40. 8:19Let me stop talking. Follow the breath instead.
41. 8:30Notice if you're being hard on yourself about any of this.
42. 8:42Let this one be unhurried.
43. 8:51Let your breathing find the rhythm it uses when you're almost asleep.
44. 9:04Notice your elbows. Odd things to have, but there they are.
45. 9:16A gap. Don't rush to fill it with thinking.
46. 9:27If you're irritated, that's allowed. Irritation is just weather.
47. 9:38Notice the small gap after each exhale. Rest there for half a second.
48. 9:51Let your body keep settling.
49. 10:00Notice any tension that arrived while you weren't looking.
50. 10:11I'll step back. You stay here.
51. 10:21Notice your shoulders, one at a time. The left one first.
52. 10:33Let your ribs widen on the in-breath instead of your shoulders lifting.
53. 10:46Stay here a little longer.
54. 10:55If you feel restless, that's a feeling, not a failure.
55. 11:07No words for a moment. Only the next breath.
56. 11:18Now feel both feet at once. That's a lot of contact with the world.
57. 11:32Feel the last part of the exhale, where it turns into nothing.
58. 11:45A few seconds more.
59. 11:54Feel your face. It's probably softer than it was five minutes ago.
60. 12:07Notice that you don't have to start a breath. It arrives by itself.
61. 12:20No need to open your eyes yet.
62. 12:30Notice the backs of your knees, which you feel more than you think.
63. 12:43Follow the breath down into your belly and feel it come back up.
64. 12:56No rush to move on.
65. 13:05Feel your belly. Let it be soft instead of held in.
66. 13:17Feel the air move past your upper lip. It's the coolest spot on the way in.
67. 13:32Let it be this simple.
68. 13:41Feel the back of your neck. That's a place that holds a lot.
69. 13:54Notice the breath you're taking right now. That's the only one that exists.
70. 14:07Let the pause stretch out.
71. 14:16Notice your hands again. Check whether they've loosened on their own.
72. 14:28Feel the slight stretch at the very bottom of the exhale.
73. 14:40Just the breath, still.
74. 14:49Notice your wrists. They bend a lot in a day.
75. 15:01Let the annoyance that will not settle be exactly as big as it is, and let your breath be exactly as slow as it is. They can coexist.
76. 15:21I'll be quiet for a moment. Stay with the breath.
77. 15:33Feel the weight of the repeated small irritations somewhere specific, then let the floor take a share of it.
78. 15:49Notice if your breathing is faster than you expected. Don't correct it. Just note it.
79. 16:03Each time your mind hands you the jaw tight with frustration, treat it like a leaf on a stream. Present for a moment, then carried on.
80. 16:22the annoyance that will not settle may quiet down, or it may not. Either is fine. We are practising staying, not performing calm.
81. 16:40Let the exhale fall out rather than pushing it.
82. 16:51You do not have to win against the repeated small irritations. You only have to breathe until the next moment arrives.
83. 17:08Notice the space around the jaw tight with frustration. It is there, even if it is small. Put your attention in that space.
84. 17:26Let your breathing get quieter rather than deeper.
85. 17:37Notice the pull to make this mean something. It doesn't have to.
86. 17:50If you feel emotional, you don't have to explain it to anyone, including yourself.
87. 18:04You might be planning something. Notice the planning, then come back.
88. 18:16A few quiet breaths. That's all this is.
89. 18:27Let this be easy, if easy is available.
90. 18:38Nothing changes for a moment.
91. 18:47Let your breathing go back to whatever it does when nobody is watching.
92. 19:00Notice if anything has loosened. Even slightly counts.
93. 19:11Stay a moment longer than is comfortable.

Questions people ask

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