Letting go for health anxiety: 7 minutes, during a break

About this practice

For the times during a break when health anxiety takes up more room than you would like — 7 minutes, letting go. A guided session of about 7 minutes, suited to all levels. Nothing is recorded and no account is needed.

What this works on: health anxiety

Health anxiety runs on a loop of scanning and checking. Each check briefly relieves the fear and then strengthens it, because the relief teaches the brain that checking was necessary.

It tends to show up as:

• Repeatedly checking a symptom or a pulse
• Searching symptoms late at night
• Reassurance that only helps for an hour

Attention moved out of the head and into the body as a whole reduces scanning. You are not arguing with the worry, just giving it less to grip.

Doing this on a break

• Leave the room if you can
• Do not start anything else in the same gap
• Set a timer so the break has an end

A break spent half-engaged with a screen is not much of a break. Guard the whole five minutes.

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. 0:00Put a hand on your chest for a moment if that feels steadying. Or don't. Both are allowed.
2. 0:16Pick one thing you are gripping — a plan, a worry, a grudge — and loosen a single finger.
3. 0:32Let your breathing find its own pace. We're only going to watch it.
4. 0:45Let your attention rest on the out-breath. The in-breath can take care of itself.
5. 0:59Let your breathing find the rhythm it uses when you're almost asleep.
6. 1:12Notice if your breathing is faster than you expected. Don't correct it. Just note it.
7. 1:26Feel your face. It's probably softer than it was five minutes ago.
8. 1:39Notice your ears, which mostly just receive things.
9. 1:50Feel your forearms, from the elbow down to the wrist.
10. 2:02Remind yourself, slowly: I am safe in this moment, even while the habit of checking for something wrong is here. Safety and difficulty can share a room.
11. 2:22Give the fear attached to each new symptom a shape, a colour, a temperature. Turning it into something specific makes it easier to hold.
12. 2:41Feel your hips. Wide, heavy, and doing nothing.
13. 2:52No need to open your eyes yet.
14. 3:02Feel your breath move down your back, all the way to your lower ribs.
15. 3:16Notice the exact moment your attention left. You probably won't catch it. That's normal.
16. 3:30A gap. Don't rush to fill it with thinking.
17. 3:41You have been carrying this competently for a while. A few minutes off will not undo that.
18. 3:56Notice how quickly your mind labels things: good, bad, boring, nice.
19. 4:08Follow one full breath from the moment it starts to the moment it ends.
20. 4:22A short silence. Let it be empty.
21. 4:32Let the worry about what your body might be telling you be exactly as big as it is, and let your breath be exactly as slow as it is. They can coexist.
22. 4:54If the habit of checking for something wrong shows up, let it be there without arguing with it. You are not trying to remove it, just to sit beside it.
23. 5:15Feel the pause at the top of the in-breath. It's shorter than you think.
24. 5:29Notice whether you're breathing or holding. Start breathing again.
25. 5:40Notice the difference between a thought and the space around it.
26. 5:52A few seconds of nothing now. That's on purpose.
27. 6:03With each exhale, let a little of the effort go. Not the problem — just the effort.
28. 6:18When you stand up, do it slowly. There's no reason to hurry.
29. 6:31Let your breathing go back to whatever it does when nobody is watching.

Questions people ask

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