Grounding meditation for health anxiety (10 min), in the office

About this practice

When health anxiety shows up in the office, 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: health anxiety

Health anxiety runs on a loop of scanning and checking. Each check briefly relieves the fear and then strengthens it, because the relief teaches the brain that checking was necessary.

It tends to show up as:

• Repeatedly checking a symptom or a pulse
• Searching symptoms late at night
• Reassurance that only helps for an hour

Attention moved out of the head and into the body as a whole reduces scanning. You are not arguing with the worry, just giving it less to grip.

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. 0:00If you're tired, you can let that be true. Tired is allowed here.
2. 0:13Name what you can see, hear and touch. Counting senses is not a distraction; it is the practice.
3. 0:29This is not a performance. Nobody is listening to how well you're doing it.
4. 0:43Let your attention drop to the level of your shoulders and stay there a moment.
5. 0:57Feel your breath move down your back, all the way to your lower ribs.
6. 1:11Let each breath out be a small letting go of the muscles around your ribs.
7. 1:25Notice your pelvis resting on the surface below you.
8. 1:36Notice the space between your shoulder blades.
9. 1:46Notice the backs of your knees, which you feel more than you think.
10. 1:59Feel the outline of yourself, from the top of your head to your heels.
11. 2:13When the worry about what your body might be telling you arrives, name it once, quietly, and go back to the breath. Naming is not fixing, and that is fine.
12. 2:34Whatever the habit of checking for something wrong is doing right now, your breathing can keep going underneath it.
13. 2:50If you've lost track of where we were, you haven't lost anything important.
14. 3:03If your mind has gone somewhere else, the floor under you has not moved. Start from there.
15. 3:18Silence. Let your shoulders drop again if they've crept up.
16. 3:30Notice whether you're breathing or holding. Start breathing again.
17. 3:41The floor is holding you right now. You do not have to hold yourself up.
18. 3:55Silence for a few breaths. Nothing to do in it.
19. 4:07If a worry shows up, name it quietly and let it sit beside you.
20. 4:21Feel the contact points — feet, seat, back. That contact is the whole anchor.
21. 4:35Nothing to follow for a moment except your own breathing.
22. 4:47Feel the pause at the top of the in-breath. It's shorter than you think.
23. 5:01Stay a moment longer than is comfortable.
24. 5:11Feel the front of your chest. Notice it rise and fall once.
25. 5:24Let the breath get soft, the way it goes when someone is reading beside you.
26. 5:38Let your body keep settling.
27. 5:47Feel your belly. Let it be soft instead of held in.
28. 5:59Let your shoulders stay still while your ribs move.
29. 6:10No need to open your eyes yet.
30. 6:20Feel the parts of you that have gone quiet.
31. 6:31Feel the slight stretch at the very bottom of the exhale.
32. 6:43Pause here. Count three breaths if you need an anchor.
33. 6:55Let the fear attached to each new symptom be exactly as big as it is, and let your breath be exactly as slow as it is. They can coexist.
34. 7:16You do not have to win against the worry about what your body might be telling you. You only have to breathe until the next moment arrives.
35. 7:36Feel the last part of the exhale, where it turns into nothing.
36. 7:49Imagine the habit of checking for something wrong as a room you can walk out of for a minute. The room will still be there.
37. 8:08If you're bored, stay with the boredom for a moment. It's usually thinner than it looks.
38. 8:23Notice how you're sitting. Adjust if you need to. Then settle again.
39. 8:36A few quiet breaths. That's all this is.
40. 8:47Come back to the solid things: weight, temperature, surface. They are always available.
41. 9:00A few seconds more.
42. 9:09Let your eyes open when they're ready, not when the words end.
43. 9:22When you stand up, do it slowly. There's no reason to hurry.

Questions people ask

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