Letting go for stress: 12 minutes, at midday

About this practice

Slow, spoken guidance for stress. A letting go session you can do at midday. A guided session of about 12 minutes, suited to all levels. Nothing is recorded and no account is needed.

What this works on: stress

Stress is a load that does not come off. Muscle tension accumulates in the shoulders, jaw and gut, and the body stops returning to baseline between demands.

It tends to show up as:

• Shoulders sitting up near the ears
• Short temper over small things
• Waking already tired

Short practices work on the physical part of the load. They do not remove the demands, but they stop the body storing all of them.

Doing this at lunch

• Do it before eating rather than after, so you are not working against digestion
• Leaving the desk matters more than the session length
• Take the headphones off afterwards so the break registers

A break that happens at the same desk is only half a break.

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. 0:00Find one place in your body that already feels fine. Use that as the starting point.
2. 0:15You have been carrying this competently for a while. A few minutes off will not undo that.
3. 0:30Let the last hour go on its own. You can pick it up again afterwards.
4. 0:44You can think about other things. When you notice, come back. That's the whole practice.
5. 0:58Count down from ten, one number per exhale.
6. 1:09Notice how many breaths you take in a minute. Don't change the number, just check.
7. 1:23Notice your eyebrows. They're probably doing something small right now.
8. 1:35Now feel both feet at once. That's a lot of contact with the world.
9. 1:49Let the whole of your left foot be heavy.
10. 2:00Notice your ears, which mostly just receive things.
11. 2:11Remind yourself, slowly: I am safe in this moment, even while the load you are carrying is here. Safety and difficulty can share a room.
12. 2:30Nothing about the tension of too much on the plate has to be explained or justified in this room.
13. 2:46Let the breath move at the speed of a sleeping person.
14. 2:58Notice if you're being hard on yourself about any of this.
15. 3:10We are not solving anything in the next few minutes. We are setting it down, temporarily.
16. 3:25Silence for a few breaths. Nothing to do in it.
17. 3:37You might be planning something. Notice the planning, then come back.
18. 3:49With each exhale, let a little of the effort go. Not the problem — just the effort.
19. 4:04Let me stop talking. Follow the breath instead.
20. 4:15Notice anything you're holding onto from earlier today.
21. 4:26Ask yourself what you could stop holding for the next sixty seconds. That one is a good start.
22. 4:42Let's rest here in silence. It's short.
23. 4:52If nothing much is happening, that's not a problem. Nothing much is often the point.
24. 5:06Setting something down is not the same as giving up. You can pick it up again after.
25. 5:21A few seconds of nothing now. That's on purpose.
26. 5:32Notice how you're sitting. Adjust if you need to. Then settle again.
27. 5:45Breathe as if you had all evening. There's no rush in this part.
28. 5:58Keep following the air.
29. 6:07Notice the small movement in your belly when you breathe.
30. 6:19Notice your breathing getting quieter on its own, without you deciding anything.
31. 6:32Stay a moment longer than is comfortable.
32. 6:42Notice your whole body as one shape, sitting or lying here.
33. 6:54Count four breaths silently. Then stop counting and just follow.
34. 7:06Let your body keep settling.
35. 7:15Feel your upper arms hanging. They're heavier than you remember.
36. 7:27Let the breath be slow enough that you can hear it, just barely.
37. 7:40Stay here a little longer.
38. 7:49Move to your forehead. Let it be smooth instead of gathered.
39. 8:01Whatever the low-grade alarm of being stretched thin is doing right now, your breathing can keep going underneath it.
40. 8:17Nothing to follow for a moment except your own breathing.
41. 8:29Notice how the load you are carrying changes shape when you stop resisting it. Usually it gets smaller, not bigger.
42. 8:46Notice where you feel the breath most clearly. Nose, chest, or belly — pick one and stay there.
43. 9:02You do not have to like the tension of too much on the plate to breathe through it. Liking was never the requirement.
44. 9:20This is not the last time the low-grade alarm of being stretched thin will visit. That is not bad news. It means you will get more practice.
45. 9:40Follow one full breath from the moment it starts to the moment it ends.
46. 9:54If a song is stuck in your head, let it play in the background.
47. 10:08If you're irritated, that's allowed. Irritation is just weather.
48. 10:19Quiet now. The next part will wait for you.
49. 10:30Pick one thing you are gripping — a plan, a worry, a grudge — and loosen a single finger.
50. 10:46Let the quiet do its work.
51. 10:56Take one more breath at your own pace, then let your attention come back to the room.
52. 11:11Notice the quiet you made, and let it close gently.
53. 11:23A few seconds more.

Questions people ask

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