Letting go meditation for mindfulness (10 min), ahead of a full day

About this practice

Slow, spoken guidance for mindfulness. A letting go session you can do ahead of a full day. A guided session of about 10 minutes, suited to all levels. Nothing is recorded and no account is needed.

What this works on: mindfulness

Attention spends most of its time in the past or the future. Being present is not a state you find, it is a return you keep making.

It tends to show up as:

• Missing conversations while composing replies
• Arriving somewhere with no memory of the walk
• Eating without tasting

Every return to the senses is a repetition of the actual skill. Losing it is part of the practice, not a break in it.

Doing this before a busy day

• Do it before the first message or notification
• Aim for steadiness rather than energy
• Decide the first task afterwards, not during

The point is to begin without already being behind, not to prepare for every possibility.

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. 0:00Keep your eyes open if you like, resting on one point of the floor a metre or two ahead.
2. 0:16Pick one thing you are gripping — a plan, a worry, a grudge — and loosen a single finger.
3. 0:32Everything that happens in the next few minutes is allowed to happen.
4. 0:45There's a difference between relaxing and stopping. We're aiming for the second one, gently.
5. 0:59Feel the pause at the top of the in-breath. It's shorter than you think.
6. 1:13Feel the air move past your upper lip. It's the coolest spot on the way in.
7. 1:28Notice your fingers, one by one, starting with the little finger.
8. 1:40Let the whole of your right foot be heavy.
9. 1:51Start at the top of your head. Notice the scalp, which you almost never notice.
10. 2:05Notice your eyebrows. They're probably doing something small right now.
11. 2:17If the ordinary present tense shows up, let it be there without arguing with it. You are not trying to remove it, just to sit beside it.
12. 2:37You do not have to like the present moment you keep leaving to breathe through it. Liking was never the requirement.
13. 2:54If you're bored, stay with the boredom for a moment. It's usually thinner than it looks.
14. 3:09We are not solving anything in the next few minutes. We are setting it down, temporarily.
15. 3:24I'll be quiet for a moment. Stay with the breath.
16. 3:36Notice any tension that arrived while you weren't looking.
17. 3:47Setting something down is not the same as giving up. You can pick it up again after.
18. 4:02Pause here. Count three breaths if you need an anchor.
19. 4:14If you've lost track of where we were, you haven't lost anything important.
20. 4:27With each exhale, let a little of the effort go. Not the problem — just the effort.
21. 4:42Quiet now. The next part will wait for you.
22. 4:53Notice the small gap after each exhale. Rest there for half a second.
23. 5:06Let this one be unhurried.
24. 5:15Notice your heels making contact with the floor or the bed.
25. 5:27Follow the breath down into your belly and feel it come back up.
26. 5:40Nothing changes for a moment.
27. 5:49Notice your ribs on both sides. Wide, not squeezed.
28. 6:00Follow three breaths and let the fourth one go unobserved.
29. 6:12Keep following the air.
30. 6:21Let your thumbs rest wherever they landed.
31. 6:31Let your breathing be boring. Boring is good here.
32. 6:42No words for a moment. Only the next breath.
33. 6:53Feel the weight of the here-and-now your attention skips somewhere specific, then let the floor take a share of it.
34. 7:10When the ordinary present tense presses in, put a hand on your chest or your belly. Warmth and pressure are anchors your body already trusts.
35. 7:29Feel the air as it passes the back of your throat. It's cooler going in.
36. 7:43Let the present moment you keep leaving be exactly as big as it is, and let your breath be exactly as slow as it is. They can coexist.
37. 8:03If a song is stuck in your head, let it play in the background.
38. 8:17Notice anything you're holding onto from earlier today.
39. 8:28I'll stop for a moment. Take the pause at your own speed.
40. 8:41You have been carrying this competently for a while. A few minutes off will not undo that.
41. 8:56No need to open your eyes yet.
42. 9:06Take a moment to notice you did this for yourself. That's not nothing.
43. 9:19Notice if anything has loosened. Even slightly counts.
44. 9:30Stay 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.