Grounding for morning energy: 10 minutes, beside your desk

About this practice

When morning energy shows up beside your desk, this 10-minute grounding session gives you somewhere to put it down. A guided session of about 10 minutes, suited to all levels. Nothing is recorded and no account is needed.

What this works on: morning energy

Morning energy depends on how you come out of sleep and when light hits your eyes, more than on the number of hours.

It tends to show up as:

• Heavy eyelids at the start
• Struggling out of bed
• Needing to hit snooze repeatedly

Movement and breathing raise alertness without caffeine, and the effect holds better through the early hours.

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 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. 0:00Let your tongue rest down, away from the roof of your mouth.
2. 0:13Nothing here needs to be efficient.
3. 0:23Nothing here needs to be pleasant. Neutral is fine. Dull is fine.
4. 0:36We're going to move through the body in order, roughly from top to bottom.
5. 0:50Notice the first breath of the day versus this one. They're the same mechanism.
6. 1:04Follow one full breath from the moment it starts to the moment it ends.
7. 1:18Notice your shins, which take small knocks all day and never complain.
8. 1:31Notice your elbows. Odd things to have, but there they are.
9. 1:43Notice your ears, which mostly just receive things.
10. 1:54Now feel both feet at once. That's a lot of contact with the world.
11. 2:08Feel the weight of the wish to begin without the scramble somewhere specific, then let the floor take a share of it.
12. 2:26This is not the last time the heavy eyelids at the start will visit. That is not bad news. It means you will get more practice.
13. 2:45Notice anything you're holding onto from earlier today.
14. 2:56We'll keep it quiet and unhurried.
15. 3:06Let's pause. Just the breathing for a while.
16. 3:17If you feel restless, that's a feeling, not a failure.
17. 3:29There's no need to try harder than this.
18. 3:40I'll stop for a moment. Take the pause at your own speed.
19. 3:53Notice if you're waiting for something to happen. Nothing is scheduled.
20. 4:05Let this be easy, if easy is available.
21. 4:16I'll leave a gap here. Use it however you like.
22. 4:28If your mind is quiet, don't grab at it. Quiet comes and goes too.
23. 4:42Notice your jaw again. Let your back teeth part slightly.
24. 4:54Breathe in for four, out for six, if you'd like something to count.
25. 5:07Let this one be unhurried.
26. 5:16Now the right shoulder. Let it be a centimetre lower than it was.
27. 5:29Breathe in through your nose and out through your nose, if that's comfortable.
28. 5:42Let your body keep settling.
29. 5:51Let the whole of your left foot be heavy.
30. 6:02Follow three breaths and let the fourth one go unobserved.
31. 6:14Let the pause stretch out.
32. 6:23Feel the skin around your eyes. Let the muscles behind them go loose.
33. 6:36Notice the small gap after each exhale. Rest there for half a second.
34. 6:49A short silence. Let it be empty.
35. 6:59There is a part of you that has handled hard moments before. That part is here now, even if it is quiet.
36. 7:17Notice how the wish to begin without the scramble changes shape when you stop resisting it. Usually it gets smaller, not bigger.
37. 7:35Notice the breath you're taking right now. That's the only one that exists.
38. 7:48Imagine the heavy eyelids at the start as a room you can walk out of for a minute. The room will still be there.
39. 8:07If nothing much is happening, that's not a problem. Nothing much is often the point.
40. 8:21If you feel emotional, you don't have to explain it to anyone, including yourself.
41. 8:35Quiet for a moment. No need to fill it.
42. 8:46You can be as unimpressive as you like for the next few minutes.
43. 8:59Let it be this simple.
44. 9:08Notice if anything has loosened. Even slightly counts.
45. 9:19Take one more breath at your own pace, then let your attention come back to the room.

Questions people ask

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