Letting go meditation for restless legs (10 min), on your commute

About this practice

Nothing to learn and nothing to fix: 10 minutes of letting go for restless legs, on your commute. A guided session of about 10 minutes, suited to all levels. Nothing is recorded and no account is needed.

What this works on: restless legs

An urge to move the legs, worst at rest in the evening, usually reflects nervous-system arousal rather than a leg problem.

It tends to show up as:

• A buzzing or crawling feeling when sitting still
• Needing to move to feel comfortable
• Symptoms worsening in the evening

A slow, absorbing task gives the arousal somewhere to go and often reduces the urge without forcing stillness.

Doing this on your commute

• Headphones on, eyes open or closed depending on your comfort
• Keep one part of your attention on your stop
• Do it standing if sitting is not possible — nobody is watching

Commuting time is already dead time. Nothing is being given up.

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. 0:00Sit however you were already sitting. You don't have to straighten up first.
2. 0:13You have been carrying this competently for a while. A few minutes off will not undo that.
3. 0:28Bring your attention to the parts of you that are already still.
4. 0:41Let your body be exactly as tired as it is.
5. 0:53Let the breath get soft, the way it goes when someone is reading beside you.
6. 1:07Notice the breath you're taking right now. That's the only one that exists.
7. 1:20Notice your ears, which mostly just receive things.
8. 1:31Feel your ankles. Let them be loose.
9. 1:41Notice the small movement in your belly when you breathe.
10. 1:53Now the right shoulder. Let it be a centimetre lower than it was.
11. 2:06Notice the space around the urge to move that will not quiet. It is there, even if it is small. Put your attention in that space.
12. 2:25the legs that feel buzzy at rest may quiet down, or it may not. Either is fine. We are practising staying, not performing calm.
13. 2:44Notice if you've been frowning at your own thoughts.
14. 2:55Pick one thing you are gripping — a plan, a worry, a grudge — and loosen a single finger.
15. 3:11I'll step back. You stay here.
16. 3:21Notice anything you're holding onto from earlier today.
17. 3:32We are not solving anything in the next few minutes. We are setting it down, temporarily.
18. 3:47Let's pause. Just the breathing for a while.
19. 3:58Notice how you're sitting. Adjust if you need to. Then settle again.
20. 4:11Ask yourself what you could stop holding for the next sixty seconds. That one is a good start.
21. 4:27A few quiet breaths. That's all this is.
22. 4:38Notice whether you're breathing or holding. Start breathing again.
23. 4:49Let your ribs widen on the in-breath instead of your shoulders lifting.
24. 5:02Take the next breath slowly.
25. 5:11Feel your heart somewhere in there, doing its work without instructions.
26. 5:23Let your belly rise first, then your chest, then the tops of your lungs.
27. 5:37Remain here for a few more breaths.
28. 5:47Let the whole of your left foot be heavy.
29. 5:58Breathe in for four, out for six, if you'd like something to count.
30. 6:11Just the breath, still.
31. 6:20Notice your jaw again. Let your back teeth part slightly.
32. 6:32Let each breath out be a small letting go of the muscles around your ribs.
33. 6:46Pause here. Count three breaths if you need an anchor.
34. 6:58When the fidgeting that keeps you up presses in, put a hand on your chest or your belly. Warmth and pressure are anchors your body already trusts.
35. 7:18When the urge to move that will not quiet arrives, name it once, quietly, and go back to the breath. Naming is not fixing, and that is fine.
36. 7:38Let your breathing get quieter rather than deeper.
37. 7:49Nothing about the legs that feel buzzy at rest has to be explained or justified in this room.
38. 8:05Notice any urge to check something. You can wait two more minutes.
39. 8:18If you're judging your performance, that's the same habit as judging everything else.
40. 8:31A gap. Don't rush to fill it with thinking.
41. 8:42Setting something down is not the same as giving up. You can pick it up again after.
42. 8:57Let this one be unhurried.
43. 9:06Stretch whatever feels stiff, then carry on.
44. 9:16Roll your neck once, slowly, in whichever direction feels good.
45. 9:28Let your body keep settling.

Questions people ask

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