Grounding for contentment: 20 minutes, in the hour before an interview

About this practice

A 20-minute grounding session for contentment, in the hour before an interview. No app, no account — press start. A guided session of about 20 minutes, suited to all levels. Nothing is recorded and no account is needed.

What this works on: contentment

Contentment is the absence of the next want, not the presence of everything. It lasts only as long as the wanting pauses.

It tends to show up as:

• Arriving without enjoying the arrival
• Immediately wanting the next thing
• Rest feeling unearned

Not wanting more for a few minutes is a trainable state, and it is available without acquiring anything.

Doing this before an interview

• Do it where you will not be interrupted, even if that is a stairwell
• Have the first sentence of your answer ready afterwards
• Keep it short — there is no time for a long session

Nerves before an interview are normal and not something to eliminate. You need access to what you know, nothing more.

How grounding works

Grounding brings attention to physical contact and the immediate environment. It works on the principle that the body cannot be somewhere else, so contact with the surface you are on is always available as an anchor.

• Feel the contact points — feet, seat, back — and let them take your weight
• Use the senses deliberately: what you can see, hear, touch
• Return to solidity whenever attention drifts

What happens, minute by minute

1. 0:00If you're tired, you can let that be true. Tired is allowed here.
2. 0:13Press down slightly and feel the push back. Your body already knows where it is.
3. 0:27Nothing here needs to be pleasant. Neutral is fine. Dull is fine.
4. 0:40You can let your eyes close now if they weren't already.
5. 0:52Feel the air move past your upper lip. It's the coolest spot on the way in.
6. 1:07Let the breath be shallow if shallow is what your body wants.
7. 1:20Notice your hands again. Check whether they've loosened on their own.
8. 1:32Notice your elbows. Odd things to have, but there they are.
9. 1:44Notice your jaw again. Let your back teeth part slightly.
10. 1:56Feel the front of your chest. Notice it rise and fall once.
11. 2:09Notice your shins, which take small knocks all day and never complain.
12. 2:22You do not have to solve the enough-ness of right now in these few minutes. Your only job is to keep breathing while it is here.
13. 2:41There is no correct amount of the calm of not wanting more this minute to be feeling right now. Whatever is here is the honest amount.
14. 3:00Follow the breath down into your belly and feel it come back up.
15. 3:13Remind yourself, slowly: I am safe in this moment, even while the settled feeling after striving is here. Safety and difficulty can share a room.
16. 3:32If the enough-ness of right now shows up, let it be there without arguing with it. You are not trying to remove it, just to sit beside it.
17. 3:52Breathe in through your nose and out through your nose, if that's comfortable.
18. 4:05Notice if you're waiting for something to happen. Nothing is scheduled.
19. 4:17Feel the contact points — feet, seat, back. That contact is the whole anchor.
20. 4:31Silence. Let your shoulders drop again if they've crept up.
21. 4:43If you feel restless, that's a feeling, not a failure.
22. 4:55If your mind has gone somewhere else, the floor under you has not moved. Start from there.
23. 5:10Let's rest here in silence. It's short.
24. 5:20If you're distracted by a sound, let the sound be the object for a moment.
25. 5:34Come back to the solid things: weight, temperature, surface. They are always available.
26. 5:47I'll be quiet for a moment. Stay with the breath.
27. 5:59If you're thinking about the next thing on your list, that list will still be there.
28. 6:14Name what you can see, hear and touch. Counting senses is not a distraction; it is the practice.
29. 6:30Pause here. Count three breaths if you need an anchor.
30. 6:42Notice the tone of your own inner voice. Is it kind?
31. 6:54Let your body keep settling.
32. 7:03Let your breathing get quieter rather than deeper.
33. 7:14Feel your forearms, from the elbow down to the wrist.
34. 7:26I'll step back. You stay here.
35. 7:36If you're irritated, that's allowed. Irritation is just weather.
36. 7:47Let the quiet do its work.
37. 7:57Let the breath be slow enough that you can hear it, just barely.
38. 8:10Notice the backs of your knees, which you feel more than you think.
39. 8:23Silence for a few breaths. Nothing to do in it.
40. 8:35You might be planning something. Notice the planning, then come back.
41. 8:47Keep following the air.
42. 8:56Let your belly rise first, then your chest, then the tops of your lungs.
43. 9:10Feel the middle of your back, the part that never gets attention.
44. 9:23A gap. Don't rush to fill it with thinking.
45. 9:34If a song is stuck in your head, let it play in the background.
46. 9:48Follow three breaths and let the fourth one go unobserved.
47. 10:00Take the next breath slowly.
48. 10:09If you've lost track of where we were, you haven't lost anything important.
49. 10:22Nothing to follow for a moment except your own breathing.
50. 10:34Feel your upper arms hanging. They're heavier than you remember.
51. 10:46Notice where you feel the breath most clearly. Nose, chest, or belly — pick one and stay there.
52. 11:02Nothing changes for a moment.
53. 11:11Notice anything you're holding onto from earlier today.
54. 11:22A short silence. Let it be empty.
55. 11:32Let your throat soften. There's nothing to swallow right now.
56. 11:44Let each breath out be a small letting go of the muscles around your ribs.
57. 11:58A few seconds more.
58. 12:07If your mind is quiet, don't grab at it. Quiet comes and goes too.
59. 12:21Quiet now. The next part will wait for you.
60. 12:32Notice your wrists. They bend a lot in a day.
61. 12:44Feel the slight stretch at the very bottom of the exhale.
62. 12:56Remain here for a few more breaths.
63. 13:06Feel the back of your neck. That's a place that holds a lot.
64. 13:19Notice the first breath of the day versus this one. They're the same mechanism.
65. 13:33Stay with it.
66. 13:41Feel your ankles. Let them be loose.
67. 13:51Feel the last part of the exhale, where it turns into nothing.
68. 14:04Stay here a little longer.
69. 14:13Now feel both feet at once. That's a lot of contact with the world.
70. 14:27Let the in-breath be short and the out-breath unhurried.
71. 14:38No rush to move on.
72. 14:47Feel the skin around your eyes. Let the muscles behind them go loose.
73. 15:00Feel the weight of the calm of not wanting more this minute somewhere specific, then let the floor take a share of it.
74. 15:18Quiet for a moment. No need to fill it.
75. 15:29Notice the space around the settled feeling after striving. It is there, even if it is small. Put your attention in that space.
76. 15:47Notice the small gap after each exhale. Rest there for half a second.
77. 16:00If the enough-ness of right now is loud right now, make your attention smaller. Just the next breath. Nothing beyond it.
78. 16:17Imagine softening the edges of the calm of not wanting more this minute. Not erasing it, just letting the sharp parts go a degree softer.
79. 16:36Let your ribs widen on the in-breath instead of your shoulders lifting.
80. 16:49the settled feeling after striving may quiet down, or it may not. Either is fine. We are practising staying, not performing calm.
81. 17:07If you catch yourself fighting the enough-ness of right now, that is worth noticing. The fight usually costs more than the feeling.
82. 17:25If you're holding your breath at the top, stop. There's no need to hold anything.
83. 17:39Notice if you've been frowning at your own thoughts.
84. 17:50Notice whether you're breathing or holding. Start breathing again.
85. 18:01Notice if you're being hard on yourself about any of this.
86. 18:13I'll leave a gap here. Use it however you like.
87. 18:25The floor is holding you right now. You do not have to hold yourself up.
88. 18:39Let it be this simple.
89. 18:48Notice the room again: the sounds, the temperature, the light.
90. 19:00When you're ready, look around properly.
91. 19:10No need to open your eyes yet.

Questions people ask

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