Letting go for a racing mind: 10 minutes, at 3pm

About this practice

10 minutes to meet a racing mind with less of a fight. A letting go practice, at 3pm. A guided session of about 10 minutes, suited to all levels. Nothing is recorded and no account is needed.

What this works on: a racing mind

A racing mind is not a thinking problem, it is an arousal problem. When the body is revved up, the brain produces thoughts at the same speed, and each one feels urgent.

It tends to show up as:

• Thoughts arriving faster than you can finish them
• Lying awake running through the day
• Losing your place mid-sentence

Trying to stop the thoughts adds fuel. Narrowing attention to one physical sensation gives the mind a slower thing to hold.

Doing this in the mid-afternoon

• Sit upright and open a window if you can
• Expect heaviness rather than fighting it
• A short session here beats a longer one that never happens

The dip is a normal circadian low. You are riding it out, not correcting a fault.

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. 0:00Turn your phone face down if it's within reach. If it's in another room, even better.
2. 0:15Setting something down is not the same as giving up. You can pick it up again after.
3. 0:30Notice the pause at the end of each breath. It's short, but it's there.
4. 0:44Bring your attention to the parts of you that are already still.
5. 0:57Notice the first breath of the day versus this one. They're the same mechanism.
6. 1:11Let the exhale empty you a little more than usual, but not to the point of strain.
7. 1:26Notice the backs of your knees, which you feel more than you think.
8. 1:39Feel the skin around your eyes. Let the muscles behind them go loose.
9. 1:52Feel your upper arms hanging. They're heavier than you remember.
10. 2:04Let your thumbs rest wherever they landed.
11. 2:14You are allowed to be unimpressed by thoughts arriving faster than you can answer them. Indifference is a legitimate response.
12. 2:31the mind running ahead of you may quiet down, or it may not. Either is fine. We are practising staying, not performing calm.
13. 2:49If you feel numb, that's a valid thing to feel. Nothing to fix.
14. 3:02You have been carrying this competently for a while. A few minutes off will not undo that.
15. 3:17Let's pause. Just the breathing for a while.
16. 3:28If you feel emotional, you don't have to explain it to anyone, including yourself.
17. 3:42With each exhale, let a little of the effort go. Not the problem — just the effort.
18. 3:57Let me stop talking. Follow the breath instead.
19. 4:08You might be planning something. Notice the planning, then come back.
20. 4:20Ask yourself what you could stop holding for the next sixty seconds. That one is a good start.
21. 4:36No words for a moment. Only the next breath.
22. 4:47Notice how many breaths you take in a minute. Don't change the number, just check.
23. 5:01Take the next breath slowly.
24. 5:10Now the right shoulder. Let it be a centimetre lower than it was.
25. 5:23Notice that you don't have to start a breath. It arrives by itself.
26. 5:36Let the quiet do its work.
27. 5:46Let the whole of your left foot be heavy.
28. 5:57Let the breath be shallow if shallow is what your body wants.
29. 6:10No rush to move on.
30. 6:19Feel your tongue sitting in the bottom of your mouth.
31. 6:31Let the breath get soft, the way it goes when someone is reading beside you.
32. 6:45A short silence. Let it be empty.
33. 6:55Notice the space around one thought chasing the next. It is there, even if it is small. Put your attention in that space.
34. 7:13Let the exhale carry a little of thoughts arriving faster than you can answer them with it. Not all of it. Just a little, one breath at a time.
35. 7:34Notice if your breathing is faster than you expected. Don't correct it. Just note it.
36. 7:48When the mind running ahead of you arrives, name it once, quietly, and go back to the breath. Naming is not fixing, and that is fine.
37. 8:07If you're bored, stay with the boredom for a moment. It's usually thinner than it looks.
38. 8:22Notice the exact moment your attention left. You probably won't catch it. That's normal.
39. 8:36A few quiet breaths. That's all this is.
40. 8:47We are not solving anything in the next few minutes. We are setting it down, temporarily.
41. 9:02Let the pause stretch out.
42. 9:11Before you open your eyes, notice how you feel compared to the start. It might be small.
43. 9:26Notice your feet on the floor. That's where you start from.

Questions people ask

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