Letting go for financial stress: 7 minutes, after a long day

About this practice

When financial stress shows up after a long day, this 7-minute letting go session gives you somewhere to put it down. A guided session of about 7 minutes, suited to all levels. Nothing is recorded and no account is needed.

What this works on: financial stress

Money worry runs at night, when there is nothing to do about it. The lack of any available action keeps the nervous system activated for hours.

It tends to show up as:

• Lying awake doing arithmetic
• A clenched stomach opening the bank app
• Irritability about small spending

At 2am there is no decision to make, only a night to get through. That is the whole job of this practice.

Doing this after a long day

• Something physical first — shoes off, hands washed, water drunk
• Do not review the day during it
• Keep it short rather than thorough

Replaying the day in the practice just carries the day further into the evening.

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. 0:00Begin with the simple fact that you got here. That already happened.
2. 0:13We are not solving anything in the next few minutes. We are setting it down, temporarily.
3. 0:28You can let your eyes close now if they weren't already.
4. 0:40If it helps, imagine your attention is a torch beam. Right now it's wide and soft.
5. 0:55Feel your breath move down your back, all the way to your lower ribs.
6. 1:09Count four breaths silently. Then stop counting and just follow.
7. 1:21Feel your belly. Let it be soft instead of held in.
8. 1:33Let your thumbs rest wherever they landed.
9. 1:43Feel the outline of yourself, from the top of your head to your heels.
10. 1:57This is not the last time the worry that follows the bills will visit. That is not bad news. It means you will get more practice.
11. 2:16If the fear about money in the night shows up, let it be there without arguing with it. You are not trying to remove it, just to sit beside it.
12. 2:37Notice your shins, which take small knocks all day and never complain.
13. 2:50Stay a moment longer than is comfortable.
14. 3:00Count down from ten, one number per exhale.
15. 3:11Notice the difference between a thought and the space around it.
16. 3:23Silence. Let your shoulders drop again if they've crept up.
17. 3:35Ask yourself what you could stop holding for the next sixty seconds. That one is a good start.
18. 3:51If a song is stuck in your head, let it play in the background.
19. 4:05Notice the breath you're taking right now. That's the only one that exists.
20. 4:18No words for a moment. Only the next breath.
21. 4:29If you catch yourself fighting the arithmetic that will not balance, that is worth noticing. The fight usually costs more than the feeling.
22. 4:47Notice the space around the worry that follows the bills. It is there, even if it is small. Put your attention in that space.
23. 5:06Let your belly rise first, then your chest, then the tops of your lungs.
24. 5:20If you're counting the minutes, that's fine. Count them and come back.
25. 5:33Notice anything you're holding onto from earlier today.
26. 5:44Quiet for a moment. No need to fill it.
27. 5:55With each exhale, let a little of the effort go. Not the problem — just the effort.
28. 6:10Roll your neck once, slowly, in whichever direction feels good.
29. 6:22Take your time opening your eyes. Nothing is waiting urgently.
30. 6:34Stay 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.