Letting go meditation for sleep (15 min), after a long day

About this practice

A 15-minute letting go session for sleep, after a long day. No app, no account — press start. A guided session of about 15 minutes, suited to all levels. Nothing is recorded and no account is needed.

What this works on: sleep

Sleep arrives on a downslope, not on command. Arousal has to fall for some minutes before the switch flips, and trying harder keeps it up.

It tends to show up as:

• Getting a second wind at bedtime
• Mind starting up as soon as the light goes off
• Sleep arriving much later than you intended

The practice is to stop steering. Following a slow voice occupies the part of the mind that would otherwise be trying.

Doing this after a long day

• Something physical first — shoes off, hands washed, water drunk
• Do not review the day during it
• Keep it short rather than thorough

Replaying the day in the practice just carries the day further into the evening.

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. 0:00Take one breath that is slightly slower than the last one. That is enough to start.
2. 0:15We are not solving anything in the next few minutes. We are setting it down, temporarily.
3. 0:30Let the last hour go on its own. You can pick it up again afterwards.
4. 0:44We'll start broad and narrow down. Nothing sudden is coming.
5. 0:56Let the exhale fall out rather than pushing it.
6. 1:07Count down from ten, one number per exhale.
7. 1:18Feel your face. It's probably softer than it was five minutes ago.
8. 1:31Feel your upper arms hanging. They're heavier than you remember.
9. 1:43Feel your heart somewhere in there, doing its work without instructions.
10. 1:55Notice your fingers, one by one, starting with the little finger.
11. 2:07Let the whole of your right foot be heavy.
12. 2:18Imagine softening the edges of the quiet your mind keeps postponing. Not erasing it, just letting the sharp parts go a degree softer.
13. 2:36Feel the weight of the heaviness your body already knows somewhere specific, then let the floor take a share of it.
14. 2:53Let your breathing find the rhythm it uses when you're almost asleep.
15. 3:06Think of the day folding itself up as a guest that arrived without knocking. You can let it stand in the hallway.
16. 3:24You have been carrying the quiet your mind keeps postponing for a while. You can set it down for the length of this session and pick it up after.
17. 3:45Notice your shins, which take small knocks all day and never complain.
18. 3:58Let this one be unhurried.
19. 4:07Let the breath be shallow if shallow is what your body wants.
20. 4:20Notice your whole body as one shape, sitting or lying here.
21. 4:32Stay here a little longer.
22. 4:41Let the out-breath be a little longer than the in-breath, without forcing it.
23. 4:54Now feel both feet at once. That's a lot of contact with the world.
24. 5:08Let the quiet do its work.
25. 5:18Let the breath get soft, the way it goes when someone is reading beside you.
26. 5:32Feel the tops of your thighs.
27. 5:42Remain here for a few more breaths.
28. 5:52Breathe in through your nose and out through your nose, if that's comfortable.
29. 6:05Notice your ears, which mostly just receive things.
30. 6:16Let's pause. Just the breathing for a while.
31. 6:27Notice the exact moment your attention left. You probably won't catch it. That's normal.
32. 6:41A few seconds more.
33. 6:50Let the exhale empty you a little more than usual, but not to the point of strain.
34. 7:05I'll be quiet for a moment. Stay with the breath.
35. 7:17Feel your forearms, from the elbow down to the wrist.
36. 7:29Feel the slight stretch at the very bottom of the exhale.
37. 7:41Let the pause stretch out.
38. 7:50If you feel emotional, you don't have to explain it to anyone, including yourself.
39. 8:04A short silence. Let it be empty.
40. 8:14Setting something down is not the same as giving up. You can pick it up again after.
41. 8:29Notice anything you're holding onto from earlier today.
42. 8:40I'll stop for a moment. Take the pause at your own speed.
43. 8:53Pick one thing you are gripping — a plan, a worry, a grudge — and loosen a single finger.
44. 9:09If your mind has wandered, that's not a mistake. Noticing is the practice.
45. 9:22Let me stop talking. Follow the breath instead.
46. 9:33You have been carrying this competently for a while. A few minutes off will not undo that.
47. 9:48Notice the tone of your own inner voice. Is it kind?
48. 10:00Silence for a few breaths. Nothing to do in it.
49. 10:12With each exhale, let a little of the effort go. Not the problem — just the effort.
50. 10:27If you're distracted by a sound, let the sound be the object for a moment.
51. 10:41Follow one full breath from the moment it starts to the moment it ends.
52. 10:55I'll leave a gap here. Use it however you like.
53. 11:07Notice how the heaviness your body already knows changes shape when you stop resisting it. Usually it gets smaller, not bigger.
54. 11:24the day folding itself up may quiet down, or it may not. Either is fine. We are practising staying, not performing calm.
55. 11:42Let the breath be slow enough that you can hear it, just barely.
56. 11:55Say to yourself: this is uncomfortable, and I can stay with it for one more breath. Then take that breath.
57. 12:12There is no correct amount of the heaviness your body already knows to be feeling right now. Whatever is here is the honest amount.
58. 12:31Let the in-breath be short and the out-breath unhurried.
59. 12:42If you're judging your performance, that's the same habit as judging everything else.
60. 12:55Notice the difference between a thought and the space around it.
61. 13:07If you feel restless, that's a feeling, not a failure.
62. 13:19No words for a moment. Only the next breath.
63. 13:30Ask yourself what you could stop holding for the next sixty seconds. That one is a good start.
64. 13:46Stay with it.
65. 13:54Notice the room again: the sounds, the temperature, the light.
66. 14:06Let your breathing be completely ordinary again.
67. 14:16Let it be this simple.

Questions people ask

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