Grounding for tension headaches: 10 minutes, in the late afternoon

About this practice

10 minutes to meet tension headaches with less of a fight. A grounding practice, in the late afternoon. A guided session of about 10 minutes, suited to all levels. Nothing is recorded and no account is needed.

What this works on: tension headaches

Tension headaches follow a band of tightness across the forehead and around the skull, usually the product of long staring, jaw clenching and neck position.

It tends to show up as:

• A band of pressure across the forehead
• Pressure behind the eyes
• Ache worsening through the day

Softening the jaw, eyes and neck interrupts the pattern early. Once a tension headache settles in it is harder to shift.

Doing this after a long day

• Something physical first — shoes off, hands washed, water drunk
• Do not review the day during it
• Keep it short rather than thorough

Replaying the day in the practice just carries the day further into the evening.

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. 0:00Sit however you were already sitting. You don't have to straighten up first.
2. 0:13If your mind has gone somewhere else, the floor under you has not moved. Start from there.
3. 0:28You can think about other things. When you notice, come back. That's the whole practice.
4. 0:42Let your body feel heavier than it did a minute ago. Let the chair or the floor take it.
5. 0:58Notice your breathing getting quieter on its own, without you deciding anything.
6. 1:11Let the breath be slow enough that you can hear it, just barely.
7. 1:24Notice the small movement in your belly when you breathe.
8. 1:36Notice your fingers, one by one, starting with the little finger.
9. 1:48Feel your forearms, from the elbow down to the wrist.
10. 2:00Feel the parts of you that have gone quiet.
11. 2:11Notice the space around the ache from a long staring day. It is there, even if it is small. Put your attention in that space.
12. 2:30Feel the weight of the band around the forehead somewhere specific, then let the floor take a share of it.
13. 2:47If you feel restless, that's a feeling, not a failure.
14. 2:59Come back to the solid things: weight, temperature, surface. They are always available.
15. 3:12No words for a moment. Only the next breath.
16. 3:23If you're irritated, that's allowed. Irritation is just weather.
17. 3:34The floor is holding you right now. You do not have to hold yourself up.
18. 3:48A gap. Don't rush to fill it with thinking.
19. 3:59If you're thinking about the next thing on your list, that list will still be there.
20. 4:14Name what you can see, hear and touch. Counting senses is not a distraction; it is the practice.
21. 4:30I'll step back. You stay here.
22. 4:40Notice the difference between a thought and the space around it.
23. 4:52Let the out-breath be a little longer than the in-breath, without forcing it.
24. 5:05Let your body keep settling.
25. 5:14Notice your whole body as one shape, sitting or lying here.
26. 5:26Feel the pause at the top of the in-breath. It's shorter than you think.
27. 5:40Take the next breath slowly.
28. 5:49Feel your calves, front and back.
29. 5:59Breathe as if you had all evening. There's no rush in this part.
30. 6:12Let this one be unhurried.
31. 6:21Notice your eyebrows. They're probably doing something small right now.
32. 6:33Let the breath be shallow if shallow is what your body wants.
33. 6:46Nothing to follow for a moment except your own breathing.
34. 6:58If you catch yourself fighting the pressure building behind the eyes, that is worth noticing. The fight usually costs more than the feeling.
35. 7:16Whatever the ache from a long staring day is doing right now, your breathing can keep going underneath it.
36. 7:32Follow the breath down into your belly and feel it come back up.
37. 7:45Picture the band around the forehead as a weather front passing over. You are not the weather. You are the sky it moves through.
38. 8:04If nothing much is happening, that's not a problem. Nothing much is often the point.
39. 8:18If you feel numb, that's a valid thing to feel. Nothing to fix.
40. 8:31A few seconds of nothing now. That's on purpose.
41. 8:42Feel the contact points — feet, seat, back. That contact is the whole anchor.
42. 8:56Stay with it.
43. 9:04Notice if anything has loosened. Even slightly counts.
44. 9:15Take one last look at whatever your attention settled on.
45. 9:27Let 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.