Insomnia: 10-minute letting go meditation, at midday

About this practice

When insomnia shows up at midday, this 10-minute letting go 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: insomnia

Insomnia is often maintained by the fear of not sleeping. Anticipating a bad night raises arousal at bedtime, which produces the bad night.

It tends to show up as:

• Dreading bedtime
• Hours awake with a busy mind
• Sleeping worse as the week goes on

Removing the pressure to sleep is the active ingredient. This gives you something to do that is not trying.

Doing this at lunch

• Do it before eating rather than after, so you are not working against digestion
• Leaving the desk matters more than the session length
• Take the headphones off afterwards so the break registers

A break that happens at the same desk is only half a break.

How letting go works

Letting go is about loosening grip rather than dropping things. It works on the effort attached to a problem — the holding, rehearsing and bracing — which is separable from the problem itself.

• Pick one thing you are gripping and loosen a single finger
• Release the effort with the exhale, not the issue
• Set down temporarily; you can pick it up again after

What happens, minute by minute

1. 0:00Sit however you were already sitting. You don't have to straighten up first.
2. 0:13You have been carrying this competently for a while. A few minutes off will not undo that.
3. 0:28Let your sense of the room shrink down to just your body and the surface you're on.
4. 0:43Let the breath get a little quieter, as if you were trying not to wake someone sleeping nearby.
5. 0:59Notice the first breath of the day versus this one. They're the same mechanism.
6. 1:13Follow the breath down into your belly and feel it come back up.
7. 1:26Notice your whole body as one shape, sitting or lying here.
8. 1:38Feel your heart somewhere in there, doing its work without instructions.
9. 1:50Let the whole of your right foot be heavy.
10. 2:01Notice your eyebrows. They're probably doing something small right now.
11. 2:13Let the frustration of not sleeping be exactly as big as it is, and let your breath be exactly as slow as it is. They can coexist.
12. 2:33You do not have to solve the wide-awake mind at 2am in these few minutes. Your only job is to keep breathing while it is here.
13. 2:52If you're thinking about the next thing on your list, that list will still be there.
14. 3:07We are not solving anything in the next few minutes. We are setting it down, temporarily.
15. 3:22I'll stop for a moment. Take the pause at your own speed.
16. 3:35You might be planning something. Notice the planning, then come back.
17. 3:47With each exhale, let a little of the effort go. Not the problem — just the effort.
18. 4:02Nothing to follow for a moment except your own breathing.
19. 4:14Notice whether you're breathing or holding. Start breathing again.
20. 4:25Setting something down is not the same as giving up. You can pick it up again after.
21. 4:40Let me stop talking. Follow the breath instead.
22. 4:51Notice the small pause before your body decides to breathe in again.
23. 5:04Stay here a little longer.
24. 5:13Feel your knees. They're just hinges, but they've worked hard.
25. 5:25Feel your breath move down your back, all the way to your lower ribs.
26. 5:39Just the breath, still.
27. 5:48Feel the skin around your eyes. Let the muscles behind them go loose.
28. 6:01Let the breath get soft, the way it goes when someone is reading beside you.
29. 6:15No rush to move on.
30. 6:24Let your whole body be as heavy as it wants to be.
31. 6:37Notice the breath you're taking right now. That's the only one that exists.
32. 6:50Let's rest here in silence. It's short.
33. 7:00If the counting of hours until morning starts telling you a story, let the story finish without you adding to it.
34. 7:17When the frustration of not sleeping presses in, put a hand on your chest or your belly. Warmth and pressure are anchors your body already trusts.
35. 7:36Feel the last part of the exhale, where it turns into nothing.
36. 7:49You do not have to win against the wide-awake mind at 2am. You only have to breathe until the next moment arrives.
37. 8:07Notice any part of you that wants this to be over.
38. 8:19If you feel emotional, you don't have to explain it to anyone, including yourself.
39. 8:33A short silence. Let it be empty.
40. 8:43Pick one thing you are gripping — a plan, a worry, a grudge — and loosen a single finger.
41. 8:59Stay a moment longer than is comfortable.
42. 9:09Start to notice the edges of your body again, and the surface you're on.
43. 9:23Come back to your body first, and the rest of the day second.

Questions people ask

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