Letting go meditation for falling asleep (5 min), on exam day

About this practice

Slow, spoken guidance for falling asleep. A letting go session you can do on exam day. A guided session of about 5 minutes, suited to all levels. Nothing is recorded and no account is needed.

What this works on: falling asleep

Falling asleep is a passive process. The harder you aim at it, the further it moves, because the effort itself is arousal.

It tends to show up as:

• Watching the clock
• Getting frustrated at being awake
• Sleep only arriving after giving up

Attention on something boring and continuous is the oldest trick there is. That is all a sleep story is doing.

Doing this before an exam

• Do it outside the hall, before you go in
• Do not revise during it — that raises the noise
• Aim to arrive early and steady rather than late and reading

Last-minute revision mostly raises arousal without adding recall. Arriving settled is worth more.

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. 0:00Feel your ribs move. That is all the machinery you need to pay attention to right now.
2. 0:15We'll take this slowly, and there's no version of this where you get it wrong.
3. 0:29For the next few minutes, the only job is to notice what's already happening.
4. 0:43If it helps, imagine your attention is a torch beam. Right now it's wide and soft.
5. 0:58Follow three breaths and let the fourth one go unobserved.
6. 1:10Follow the breath down into your belly and feel it come back up.
7. 1:23Now the right shoulder. Let it be a centimetre lower than it was.
8. 1:36Notice your heels making contact with the floor or the bed.
9. 1:48Notice your shoulders, one at a time. The left one first.
10. 2:00Just the breath, still.
11. 2:09Let's pause. Just the breathing for a while.
12. 2:20There's no need to try harder than this.
13. 2:31You might be planning something. Notice the planning, then come back.
14. 2:43If you catch yourself fighting the thoughts that keep the light on, that is worth noticing. The fight usually costs more than the feeling.
15. 3:02This is not the last time the surrender at the end of the day will visit. That is not bad news. It means you will get more practice.
16. 3:22Let your breathing find the rhythm it uses when you're almost asleep.
17. 3:35Notice where the slow drift toward sleep lives in your body. Chest, throat, stomach. Rest your attention there without trying to change it.
18. 3:53Notice the difference between a thought and the space around it.
19. 4:05Let's rest here in silence. It's short.
20. 4:15If you only manage half of it, that's half more than nothing.
21. 4:28Come back slowly. There's no prize for finishing fast.
22. 4:39Nothing changes for a moment.

Questions people ask

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