Jaw tension: 20-minute letting go meditation, between meetings

About this practice

A 20-minute letting go session for jaw tension, between meetings. No app, no account — press start. A guided session of about 20 minutes, suited to all levels. Nothing is recorded and no account is needed.

What this works on: jaw tension

The jaw is a stress-holding site for many people, often without awareness until it aches. Grinding at night and clenching by day are the same response.

It tends to show up as:

Clenched teeth, especially in the evening
Aching or clicking jaw joints
A dull headache at the temples

Repeatedly checking and softening the jaw through a session teaches you to catch the clench during the day.

Doing this between meetings

Start it in the gap, not after the next one begins
Write down the open thread from the last meeting first, then let it go
Two minutes done beats five minutes planned

The back-to-back day is exactly why the gap has to be protected rather than used for one more task.

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

0:00Put both feet flat on the floor and let them take some of the weight.
0:14Pick one thing you are gripping — a plan, a worry, a grudge — and loosen a single finger.
0:30You can let your eyes close now if they weren't already.
0:42Let your sense of the room shrink down to just your body and the surface you're on.
0:57Feel the slight stretch at the very bottom of the exhale.
1:09Notice your breathing getting quieter on its own, without you deciding anything.
1:22Let your thumbs rest wherever they landed.
1:32Notice where your body is still holding something. Leave it alone.
1:44Let the whole of your left foot be heavy.
1:55Feel your knees. They're just hinges, but they've worked hard.
2:07Notice your ears, which mostly just receive things.
2:18Imagine softening the edges of the tight jaw that speaks for your stress. Not erasing it, just letting the sharp parts go a degree softer.
2:37Whatever the grinding that follows worry is doing right now, your breathing can keep going underneath it.
2:52Let the breath be shallow if shallow is what your body wants.
3:05There is no correct amount of the clenched teeth at night to be feeling right now. Whatever is here is the honest amount.
3:23Each time your mind hands you the tight jaw that speaks for your stress, treat it like a leaf on a stream. Present for a moment, then carried on.
3:44Let the breath get soft, the way it goes when someone is reading beside you.
3:58If your mind has wandered, that's not a mistake. Noticing is the practice.
4:11Ask yourself what you could stop holding for the next sixty seconds. That one is a good start.
4:27Pause here. Count three breaths if you need an anchor.
4:39Notice if your attention is in the future. Bring it back to the room.
4:53You have been carrying this competently for a while. A few minutes off will not undo that.
5:08No words for a moment. Only the next breath.
5:19If you're irritated, that's allowed. Irritation is just weather.
5:30With each exhale, let a little of the effort go. Not the problem — just the effort.
5:45I'll be quiet for a moment. Stay with the breath.
5:57Notice the pull to make this mean something. It doesn't have to.
6:10Setting something down is not the same as giving up. You can pick it up again after.
6:25Quiet now. The next part will wait for you.
6:36If a worry shows up, name it quietly and let it sit beside you.
6:50Stay here a little longer.
6:59Let the in-breath be short and the out-breath unhurried.
7:10Let the whole of your right foot be heavy.
7:21I'll stop for a moment. Take the pause at your own speed.
7:34Notice anything you're holding onto from earlier today.
7:45A few seconds more.
7:54Notice the small gap after each exhale. Rest there for half a second.
8:07Feel your upper back against whatever is behind it.
8:18Let's pause. Just the breathing for a while.
8:29If you've lost track of where we were, you haven't lost anything important.
8:42Remain here for a few more breaths.
8:52Breathe as if you had all evening. There's no rush in this part.
9:05Start at the top of your head. Notice the scalp, which you almost never notice.
9:19I'll leave a gap here. Use it however you like.
9:31Feel your breath move down your back, all the way to your lower ribs.
9:45Nothing changes for a moment.
9:54If you're thinking about the next thing on your list, that list will still be there.
10:09Quiet for a moment. No need to fill it.
10:20Notice the weight of your thighs, all the way down.
10:32Notice the difference between the breath at the front of your nose and the breath in your chest.
10:48Stay a moment longer than is comfortable.
10:58If you're distracted by a sound, let the sound be the object for a moment.
11:12Let's rest here in silence. It's short.
11:22Notice the space between your shoulder blades.
11:32Feel the air as it passes the back of your throat. It's cooler going in.
11:46Take the next breath slowly.
11:55Your mind will leave about a hundred times. Come back about a hundred times.
12:09A few quiet breaths. That's all this is.
12:20Notice your hands again. Check whether they've loosened on their own.
12:32Notice how many breaths you take in a minute. Don't change the number, just check.
12:46Keep following the air.
12:55Notice the small movement in your belly when you breathe.
13:07Let the breath move at the speed of a sleeping person.
13:19No need to open your eyes yet.
13:29Feel your belly. Let it be soft instead of held in.
13:41Let your breathing find the rhythm it uses when you're almost asleep.
13:54Just the breath, still.
14:03Notice your jaw again. Let your back teeth part slightly.
14:15If you're holding your breath at the top, stop. There's no need to hold anything.
14:29Let it be this simple.
14:38Notice your elbows. Odd things to have, but there they are.
14:50You are allowed to be unimpressed by the grinding that follows worry. Indifference is a legitimate response.
15:05Nothing to follow for a moment except your own breathing.
15:17Let the clenched teeth at night be exactly as big as it is, and let your breath be exactly as slow as it is. They can coexist.
15:37Let the out-breath be a little longer than the in-breath, without forcing it.
15:50Imagine the tight jaw that speaks for your stress as a room you can walk out of for a minute. The room will still be there.
16:09When the grinding that follows worry arrives, name it once, quietly, and go back to the breath. Naming is not fixing, and that is fine.
16:28Feel the pause at the top of the in-breath. It's shorter than you think.
16:42If the clenched teeth at night starts telling you a story, let the story finish without you adding to it.
16:59Notice how the tight jaw that speaks for your stress changes shape when you stop resisting it. Usually it gets smaller, not bigger.
17:17Count down from ten, one number per exhale.
17:28If you're sleepy, sit up a little. Or let the sleepiness be there.
17:41If nothing much is happening, that's not a problem. Nothing much is often the point.
17:55Notice how you're sitting. Adjust if you need to. Then settle again.
18:08Silence for a few breaths. Nothing to do in it.
18:20We are not solving anything in the next few minutes. We are setting it down, temporarily.
18:35Let your body keep settling.
18:44Come back at your own speed. The room will wait.
18:56Notice whether you feel any different. If not, that's also normal.
19:08No rush to move on.

Questions people ask

What does this session help with?

The jaw is a stress-holding site for many people, often without awareness until it aches. Grinding at night and clenching by day are the same response. Repeatedly checking and softening the jaw through a session teaches you to catch the clench during the day.

Where and when should I do this one?

Start it in the gap, not after the next one begins. The back-to-back day is exactly why the gap has to be protected rather than used for one more task.

What actually happens during the 20 minutes?

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.

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