Letting go meditation for morning energy (20 min), on a rest day

About this practice

Nothing to learn and nothing to fix: 20 minutes of letting go for morning energy, on a rest day. A guided session of about 20 minutes, suited to all levels. Nothing is recorded and no account is needed.

What this works on: morning energy

Morning energy depends on how you come out of sleep and when light hits your eyes, more than on the number of hours.

It tends to show up as:

• Heavy eyelids at the start
• Struggling out of bed
• Needing to hit snooze repeatedly

Movement and breathing raise alertness without caffeine, and the effect holds better through the early hours.

Doing this on a rest day

• Do it without a reason or a target
• Later in the day, unhurried, in good light
• Let it be longer than usual if you want

Rest that has to be justified is not really rest. This one is allowed to be pointless.

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. 0:00Turn your phone face down if it's within reach. If it's in another room, even better.
2. 0:15We are not solving anything in the next few minutes. We are setting it down, temporarily.
3. 0:30Notice the weight of your arms without moving them.
4. 0:41Notice whether your breathing is high in your chest or low in your belly. Just notice. No fixing.
5. 0:57Notice the first breath of the day versus this one. They're the same mechanism.
6. 1:11Feel the air move past your upper lip. It's the coolest spot on the way in.
7. 1:26Notice your ears, which mostly just receive things.
8. 1:37Feel your knees. They're just hinges, but they've worked hard.
9. 1:49Feel your tongue sitting in the bottom of your mouth.
10. 2:01Let your throat soften. There's nothing to swallow right now.
11. 2:13Feel your upper back against whatever is behind it.
12. 2:24Let the exhale carry a little of the wish to begin without the scramble with it. Not all of it. Just a little, one breath at a time.
13. 2:44Remind yourself, slowly: I am safe in this moment, even while the heavy eyelids at the start is here. Safety and difficulty can share a room.
14. 3:03Notice your breathing getting quieter on its own, without you deciding anything.
15. 3:16You do not have to solve the day arriving before you are ready in these few minutes. Your only job is to keep breathing while it is here.
16. 3:36You have been carrying the wish to begin without the scramble for a while. You can set it down for the length of this session and pick it up after.
17. 3:57Notice the breath you're taking right now. That's the only one that exists.
18. 4:10If you feel emotional, you don't have to explain it to anyone, including yourself.
19. 4:24You have been carrying this competently for a while. A few minutes off will not undo that.
20. 4:39A gap. Don't rush to fill it with thinking.
21. 4:50If you feel numb, that's a valid thing to feel. Nothing to fix.
22. 5:03Setting something down is not the same as giving up. You can pick it up again after.
23. 5:18Let me stop talking. Follow the breath instead.
24. 5:29If you've lost track of where we were, you haven't lost anything important.
25. 5:42Ask yourself what you could stop holding for the next sixty seconds. That one is a good start.
26. 5:58Silence for a few breaths. Nothing to do in it.
27. 6:10Notice any tension that arrived while you weren't looking.
28. 6:21With each exhale, let a little of the effort go. Not the problem — just the effort.
29. 6:36A few seconds of nothing now. That's on purpose.
30. 6:47If your body wants to move, let it move, then come back.
31. 7:00Stay here a little longer.
32. 7:09Let the breath be slow enough that you can hear it, just barely.
33. 7:22Feel your heart somewhere in there, doing its work without instructions.
34. 7:34Let's pause. Just the breathing for a while.
35. 7:45Notice any part of you that wants this to be over.
36. 7:57Let your body keep settling.
37. 8:06Breathe as if you had all evening. There's no rush in this part.
38. 8:19Notice your heels making contact with the floor or the bed.
39. 8:31A few quiet breaths. That's all this is.
40. 8:42If you're distracted by a sound, let the sound be the object for a moment.
41. 8:56Stay a moment longer than is comfortable.
42. 9:06Notice where you feel the breath most clearly. Nose, chest, or belly — pick one and stay there.
43. 9:22Feel your forearms, from the elbow down to the wrist.
44. 9:34Quiet now. The next part will wait for you.
45. 9:45Let the out-breath be a little longer than the in-breath, without forcing it.
46. 9:58Let it be this simple.
47. 10:07If you're bored, stay with the boredom for a moment. It's usually thinner than it looks.
48. 10:22I'll be quiet for a moment. Stay with the breath.
49. 10:34Feel the back of your neck. That's a place that holds a lot.
50. 10:47Feel your breath move down your back, all the way to your lower ribs.
51. 11:01Stay with it.
52. 11:09If nothing much is happening, that's not a problem. Nothing much is often the point.
53. 11:23I'll step back. You stay here.
54. 11:33Notice your fingers, one by one, starting with the little finger.
55. 11:45Notice the small gap after each exhale. Rest there for half a second.
56. 11:58Let the pause stretch out.
57. 12:07If a song is stuck in your head, let it play in the background.
58. 12:21Silence. Let your shoulders drop again if they've crept up.
59. 12:33Let the whole of your left foot be heavy.
60. 12:44Notice that you don't have to start a breath. It arrives by itself.
61. 12:57No rush to move on.
62. 13:06Notice your pelvis resting on the surface below you.
63. 13:17Follow the breath down into your belly and feel it come back up.
64. 13:30A few seconds more.
65. 13:39Move to your forehead. Let it be smooth instead of gathered.
66. 13:51Let the breath move at the speed of a sleeping person.
67. 14:03Let this one be unhurried.
68. 14:12Now the right shoulder. Let it be a centimetre lower than it was.
69. 14:25Let your shoulders stay still while your ribs move.
70. 14:36Remain here for a few more breaths.
71. 14:46Let your thumbs rest wherever they landed.
72. 14:56Give the heavy eyelids at the start a shape, a colour, a temperature. Turning it into something specific makes it easier to hold.
73. 15:14No words for a moment. Only the next breath.
74. 15:25There is a part of you that has handled hard moments before. That part is here now, even if it is quiet.
75. 15:43Count down from ten, one number per exhale.
76. 15:54Picture the wish to begin without the scramble as a weather front passing over. You are not the weather. You are the sky it moves through.
77. 16:13Say to yourself: this is uncomfortable, and I can stay with it for one more breath. Then take that breath.
78. 16:30If you're holding your breath at the top, stop. There's no need to hold anything.
79. 16:44Imagine the day arriving before you are ready as a room you can walk out of for a minute. The room will still be there.
80. 17:03You are allowed to be unimpressed by the wish to begin without the scramble. Indifference is a legitimate response.
81. 17:19Follow three breaths and let the fourth one go unobserved.
82. 17:31If your mind is quiet, don't grab at it. Quiet comes and goes too.
83. 17:45Notice if your attention is in the future. Bring it back to the room.
84. 17:59You might be planning something. Notice the planning, then come back.
85. 18:11Let's rest here in silence. It's short.
86. 18:21Pick one thing you are gripping — a plan, a worry, a grudge — and loosen a single finger.
87. 18:37Just the breath, still.
88. 18:46Before you open your eyes, notice how you feel compared to the start. It might be small.
89. 19:01Give your hands a stretch before you go back to using them.

Questions people ask

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