Letting go for back pain and tension: 5 minutes, before bedtime

About this practice

For the times before bedtime when back pain and tension takes up more room than you would like — 5 minutes, letting go. A guided session of about 5 minutes, suited to all levels. Nothing is recorded and no account is needed.

What this works on: back pain and tension

Much of daily back discomfort is muscular load rather than structural damage — muscles holding a position long after they should have let go.

It tends to show up as:

• Lower back ache after sitting
• Stiffness on standing
• Pain that improves when moving

Attention moves into the back rather than away from it. Being willing to feel it is usually where release starts.

Doing this before sleep

• Dim the lights and put the phone out of reach
• Do it in bed if that helps you stay there
• Let yourself fall asleep rather than finishing it

Checking anything afterwards undoes most of it. Let this be the last thing.

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. 0:00Your breathing doesn't have to change yet. Let it be whatever size it currently is.
2. 0:14We'll keep it quiet and unhurried.
3. 0:24Now let your attention move from the room into your body, slowly, the way you'd move through a doorway you know well.
4. 0:42If it helps, imagine your attention is a torch beam. Right now it's wide and soft.
5. 0:57Feel the air as it passes the back of your throat. It's cooler going in.
6. 1:11Notice the small gap after each exhale. Rest there for half a second.
7. 1:24Notice your breathing, without changing it.
8. 1:34Notice the space between your shoulder blades.
9. 1:44Move to your forehead. Let it be smooth instead of gathered.
10. 1:56Let your body keep settling.
11. 2:05No words for a moment. Only the next breath.
12. 2:16We'll take this slowly, and there's no version of this where you get it wrong.
13. 2:30Notice if you're being hard on yourself about any of this.
14. 2:42This is not the last time the muscles holding on all day will visit. That is not bad news. It means you will get more practice.
15. 3:01Notice where the stiffness from sitting lives in your body. Chest, throat, stomach. Rest your attention there without trying to change it.
16. 3:19Count four breaths silently. Then stop counting and just follow.
17. 3:31When the ache in the lower back arrives, name it once, quietly, and go back to the breath. Naming is not fixing, and that is fine.
18. 3:50If your body wants to move, let it move, then come back.
19. 4:03Quiet for a moment. No need to fill it.
20. 4:14Small efforts are the whole method.
21. 4:24Take a moment to notice you did this for yourself. That's not nothing.
22. 4:37Let it be this simple.

Questions people ask

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