Letting go meditation for mindfulness (3 min), late at night

About this practice

3 minutes to meet mindfulness with less of a fight. A letting go practice, late at night. A guided session of about 3 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 at night

• Skip the clock — knowing the time rarely helps at night
• Keep the room dark, and use headphones rather than a speaker
• Expect to be awake for a while without treating that as a problem

Any practice at night works better with the display off. Looking at a screen resets the whole thing.

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. 0:00If you're sitting, let the chair do the work of holding you upright.
2. 0:13Ask yourself what you could stop holding for the next sixty seconds. That one is a good start.
3. 0:29Let the rhythm of your breathing set the pace, not the words.
4. 0:42Feel the slight stretch at the very bottom of the exhale.
5. 0:54Breathe in for four, out for six, if you'd like something to count.
6. 1:07Let your throat soften. There's nothing to swallow right now.
7. 1:19You do not have to solve the here-and-now your attention skips in these few minutes. Your only job is to keep breathing while it is here.
8. 1:38Imagine the ordinary present tense as a room you can walk out of for a minute. The room will still be there.
9. 1:56Notice the small pause before your body decides to breathe in again.
10. 2:09Whatever the present moment you keep leaving is doing right now, your breathing can keep going underneath it.
11. 2:25If you're distracted by a sound, let the sound be the object for a moment.
12. 2:39Setting something down is not the same as giving up. You can pick it up again after.
13. 2:54Let 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.