Letting go meditation for mindfulness (20 min), on the road

About this practice

For the times on the road when mindfulness takes up more room than you would like — 20 minutes, letting go. A guided session of about 20 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 on a train

• Pick a window seat if you can and let the view do part of the work
• Set an alarm for your stop
• Keep the bag on your lap rather than unfastening to find it later

The motion can make reading or screens uncomfortable, which is another reason audio works better here.

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. 0:00Notice whether you're leaning forward. Most people are, slightly, all day.
2. 0:12Small efforts are the whole method.
3. 0:22You can let your eyes close now if they weren't already.
4. 0:34Bring your attention to where your body meets the surface underneath you.
5. 0:47Notice the breath you're taking right now. That's the only one that exists.
6. 1:00Let the breath get soft, the way it goes when someone is reading beside you.
7. 1:14Notice the weight of your thighs, all the way down.
8. 1:26Feel your upper back against whatever is behind it.
9. 1:37Feel the parts of you that have gone quiet.
10. 1:48Notice your ribs on both sides. Wide, not squeezed.
11. 1:59Let your throat soften. There's nothing to swallow right now.
12. 2:11Picture the present moment you keep leaving as a weather front passing over. You are not the weather. You are the sky it moves through.
13. 2:30Notice where the here-and-now your attention skips lives in your body. Chest, throat, stomach. Rest your attention there without trying to change it.
14. 2:48Let the out-breath be a little longer than the in-breath, without forcing it.
15. 3:01Feel the weight of the ordinary present tense somewhere specific, then let the floor take a share of it.
16. 3:17If the present moment you keep leaving shows up, let it be there without arguing with it. You are not trying to remove it, just to sit beside it.
17. 3:38Count four breaths silently. Then stop counting and just follow.
18. 3:50If you're judging your performance, that's the same habit as judging everything else.
19. 4:03There's no need to try harder than this.
20. 4:14I'll stop for a moment. Take the pause at your own speed.
21. 4:27Notice the exact moment your attention left. You probably won't catch it. That's normal.
22. 4:41Let this be easy, if easy is available.
23. 4:52A short silence. Let it be empty.
24. 5:02Notice any part of you that wants this to be over.
25. 5:14If you only manage half of it, that's half more than nothing.
26. 5:27Quiet for a moment. No need to fill it.
27. 5:38Notice how you're sitting. Adjust if you need to. Then settle again.
28. 5:51We'll keep it quiet and unhurried.
29. 6:01I'll step back. You stay here.
30. 6:11If a worry shows up, name it quietly and let it sit beside you.
31. 6:25Nothing here needs to be efficient.
32. 6:35Silence for a few breaths. Nothing to do in it.
33. 6:47Notice if you're waiting for something to happen. Nothing is scheduled.
34. 6:59You can be as unimpressive as you like for the next few minutes.
35. 7:12I'll be quiet for a moment. Stay with the breath.
36. 7:24Notice if you've been frowning at your own thoughts.
37. 7:35Stay a moment longer than is comfortable.
38. 7:45Notice how many breaths you take in a minute. Don't change the number, just check.
39. 7:59Notice your jaw again. Let your back teeth part slightly.
40. 8:11I'll leave a gap here. Use it however you like.
41. 8:23If you've lost track of where we were, you haven't lost anything important.
42. 8:36Let the pause stretch out.
43. 8:45Follow the breath down into your belly and feel it come back up.
44. 8:58Feel your ankles. Let them be loose.
45. 9:08A few quiet breaths. That's all this is.
46. 9:19Notice any tension that arrived while you weren't looking.
47. 9:30Feel the slight stretch at the very bottom of the exhale.
48. 9:42A few seconds more.
49. 9:51Notice the pull to make this mean something. It doesn't have to.
50. 10:04No words for a moment. Only the next breath.
51. 10:15Start at the top of your head. Notice the scalp, which you almost never notice.
52. 10:29Breathe in for four, out for six, if you'd like something to count.
53. 10:42Stay with it.
54. 10:50If you're counting the minutes, that's fine. Count them and come back.
55. 11:03A few seconds of nothing now. That's on purpose.
56. 11:14Now feel both feet at once. That's a lot of contact with the world.
57. 11:28Feel the air as it passes the back of your throat. It's cooler going in.
58. 11:42No rush to move on.
59. 11:51Feel your belly. Let it be soft instead of held in.
60. 12:03Let your breathing be boring. Boring is good here.
61. 12:14Take the next breath slowly.
62. 12:23Move to your forehead. Let it be smooth instead of gathered.
63. 12:35Let your shoulders stay still while your ribs move.
64. 12:46Nothing changes for a moment.
65. 12:55Notice your shoulders, one at a time. The left one first.
66. 13:07Let the breath be slow enough that you can hear it, just barely.
67. 13:20Let the quiet do its work.
68. 13:30Notice your shins, which take small knocks all day and never complain.
69. 13:43Notice the difference between the breath at the front of your nose and the breath in your chest.
70. 13:59Stay here a little longer.
71. 14:08Notice your eyebrows. They're probably doing something small right now.
72. 14:20Notice the small pause before your body decides to breathe in again.
73. 14:33Let your body keep settling.
74. 14:42Notice your whole body as one shape, sitting or lying here.
75. 14:54Let the exhale carry a little of the here-and-now your attention skips with it. Not all of it. Just a little, one breath at a time.
76. 15:13Quiet now. The next part will wait for you.
77. 15:24If the ordinary present tense starts telling you a story, let the story finish without you adding to it.
78. 15:40Let your breathing find the rhythm it uses when you're almost asleep.
79. 15:53Notice how the present moment you keep leaving changes shape when you stop resisting it. Usually it gets smaller, not bigger.
80. 16:10You have been carrying the here-and-now your attention skips for a while. You can set it down for the length of this session and pick it up after.
81. 16:30Let the in-breath be short and the out-breath unhurried.
82. 16:41You do not have to solve the ordinary present tense in these few minutes. Your only job is to keep breathing while it is here.
83. 17:00the present moment you keep leaving may quiet down, or it may not. Either is fine. We are practising staying, not performing calm.
84. 17:18Notice if your breathing is faster than you expected. Don't correct it. Just note it.
85. 17:32If you feel emotional, you don't have to explain it to anyone, including yourself.
86. 17:46Notice how quickly your mind labels things: good, bad, boring, nice.
87. 17:58Notice the moment you realise you've drifted. That moment is the whole skill.
88. 18:11Nothing to follow for a moment except your own breathing.
89. 18:23We'll take this slowly, and there's no version of this where you get it wrong.
90. 18:37Remain here for a few more breaths.
91. 18:47Notice the room again: the sounds, the temperature, the light.
92. 18:59Take a moment to notice you did this for yourself. That's not nothing.

Questions people ask

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