Letting go for appreciation: 5 minutes, on a day off

About this practice

5 minutes to meet appreciation with less of a fight. A letting go practice, on a day off. A guided session of about 5 minutes, suited to all levels. Nothing is recorded and no account is needed.

What this works on: appreciation

Appreciation deepens by staying, not by listing. A moment held for two breaths registers differently from a moment catalogued.

It tends to show up as:

• Rushing past small kindnesses
• Not noticing ordinary comforts
• Thank-yous left unsaid

Slowing down for a moment is what turns something pleasant into something that stays with you.

Doing this on a rest day

• Do it without a reason or a target
• Later in the day, unhurried, in good light
• Let it be longer than usual if you want

Rest that has to be justified is not really rest. This one is allowed to be pointless.

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. 0:00Take one breath that is slightly slower than the last one. That is enough to start.
2. 0:15Small efforts are the whole method.
3. 0:25We'll be quiet for a bit longer than usual. Stay with whatever shows up.
4. 0:39You can think about other things. When you notice, come back. That's the whole practice.
5. 0:53Feel the air move past your upper lip. It's the coolest spot on the way in.
6. 1:08Breathe in through your nose and out through your nose, if that's comfortable.
7. 1:21Feel your upper back against whatever is behind it.
8. 1:32Notice your fingers, one by one, starting with the little finger.
9. 1:44Feel your tongue sitting in the bottom of your mouth.
10. 1:56Keep following the air.
11. 2:05I'll be quiet for a moment. Stay with the breath.
12. 2:17If you only manage half of it, that's half more than nothing.
13. 2:30If your body wants to move, let it move, then come back.
14. 2:43When the overlooked kindnesses arrives, name it once, quietly, and go back to the breath. Naming is not fixing, and that is fine.
15. 3:01Picture the ordinary moments worth savoring as a weather front passing over. You are not the weather. You are the sky it moves through.
16. 3:20Notice the small pause before your body decides to breathe in again.
17. 3:33the thank-you waiting to be said may quiet down, or it may not. Either is fine. We are practising staying, not performing calm.
18. 3:51If you're replaying a conversation, let it play. It'll finish on its own.
19. 4:04No words for a moment. Only the next breath.
20. 4:15Let this be easy, if easy is available.
21. 4:26If you drifted off, that was rest, and rest counts.
22. 4:38Stay here a little longer.

Questions people ask

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