Grounding for work stress: 7 minutes, on the train

About this practice

For the times on the train when work stress takes up more room than you would like — 7 minutes, grounding. A guided session of about 7 minutes, suited to all levels. Nothing is recorded and no account is needed.

What this works on: work stress

Work stress is usually unfinished business. The brain keeps the task open in the background, so you are partly at work even when you have stopped.

It tends to show up as:

• Running through your task list at night
• Feeling behind even when caught up
• Dreading opening the laptop

A clear break with an actual end lets the background process pause. Short and complete beats long and vague.

Doing this on your commute

• Headphones on, eyes open or closed depending on your comfort
• Keep one part of your attention on your stop
• Do it standing if sitting is not possible — nobody is watching

Commuting time is already dead time. Nothing is being given up.

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 next exhale be a sigh, if a sigh is what's waiting there.
2. 0:14Press down slightly and feel the push back. Your body already knows where it is.
3. 0:28Settle into the fact that for the next few minutes, nothing is required of you.
4. 0:42Notice the pause at the end of each breath. It's short, but it's there.
5. 0:56Follow three breaths and let the fourth one go unobserved.
6. 1:08Let the exhale empty you a little more than usual, but not to the point of strain.
7. 1:23Feel the middle of your back, the part that never gets attention.
8. 1:36Let the whole of your left foot be heavy.
9. 1:47Notice your heels making contact with the floor or the bed.
10. 1:59Imagine the feeling of always being behind as a room you can walk out of for a minute. The room will still be there.
11. 2:18Notice the space around the inbox that never empties. It is there, even if it is small. Put your attention in that space.
12. 2:36Feel your upper back against whatever is behind it.
13. 2:47Keep following the air.
14. 2:56Feel the slight stretch at the very bottom of the exhale.
15. 3:08Notice your elbows. Odd things to have, but there they are.
16. 3:20Notice how you're sitting. Adjust if you need to. Then settle again.
17. 3:33I'll be quiet for a moment. Stay with the breath.
18. 3:45Name what you can see, hear and touch. Counting senses is not a distraction; it is the practice.
19. 4:01If you're counting the minutes, that's fine. Count them and come back.
20. 4:14Follow one full breath from the moment it starts to the moment it ends.
21. 4:28Let's pause. Just the breathing for a while.
22. 4:39Let the pressure of expectations be exactly as big as it is, and let your breath be exactly as slow as it is. They can coexist.
23. 4:58You are allowed to be unimpressed by the feeling of always being behind. Indifference is a legitimate response.
24. 5:14Let the breath move at the speed of a sleeping person.
25. 5:26Your mind will leave about a hundred times. Come back about a hundred times.
26. 5:40If you feel numb, that's a valid thing to feel. Nothing to fix.
27. 5:53Let me stop talking. Follow the breath instead.
28. 6:04Feel the contact points — feet, seat, back. That contact is the whole anchor.
29. 6:18Notice whether you feel any different. If not, that's also normal.
30. 6:30Notice if anything has loosened. Even slightly counts.

Questions people ask

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