Letting go meditation for tight shoulders and neck (12 min), on a day off

About this practice

For the times on a day off when tight shoulders and neck takes up more room than you would like — 12 minutes, letting go. A guided session of about 12 minutes, suited to all levels. Nothing is recorded and no account is needed.

What this works on: tight shoulders and neck

Shoulders rise towards the ears under sustained stress, and the muscles of the upper back shorten to hold that posture. The result is a stiff neck and a heavy upper back.

It tends to show up as:

• Shoulders up around the ears
• Stiff neck, especially after screens
• Headaches that start at the back of the head

Weight and gravity do the release. Noticing the contact points lets the shoulders stop holding themselves up.

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. 0:00If you're tired, you can let that be true. Tired is allowed here.
2. 0:13We are not solving anything in the next few minutes. We are setting it down, temporarily.
3. 0:28Nothing here is a test of concentration. Drifting off is part of it.
4. 0:41Bring your attention to where your body meets the surface underneath you.
5. 0:54Breathe in through your nose and out through your nose, if that's comfortable.
6. 1:07Notice the small pause before your body decides to breathe in again.
7. 1:20Notice your fingers, one by one, starting with the little finger.
8. 1:32Feel your upper back against whatever is behind it.
9. 1:43Notice the backs of your knees, which you feel more than you think.
10. 1:56Notice your toes, starting with the big one on the left.
11. 2:08Give the shoulders up around your ears a shape, a colour, a temperature. Turning it into something specific makes it easier to hold.
12. 2:26You have been carrying the stiff neck from hunching for a while. You can set it down for the length of this session and pick it up after.
13. 2:46Notice the difference between the breath at the front of your nose and the breath in your chest.
14. 3:02Notice the pull to make this mean something. It doesn't have to.
15. 3:15Pick one thing you are gripping — a plan, a worry, a grudge — and loosen a single finger.
16. 3:31A gap. Don't rush to fill it with thinking.
17. 3:42You might be planning something. Notice the planning, then come back.
18. 3:54You have been carrying this competently for a while. A few minutes off will not undo that.
19. 4:09Quiet for a moment. No need to fill it.
20. 4:20Notice if your attention is in the future. Bring it back to the room.
21. 4:34With each exhale, let a little of the effort go. Not the problem — just the effort.
22. 4:49A few seconds of nothing now. That's on purpose.
23. 5:00If a worry shows up, name it quietly and let it sit beside you.
24. 5:14Ask yourself what you could stop holding for the next sixty seconds. That one is a good start.
25. 5:30I'll leave a gap here. Use it however you like.
26. 5:42Count down from ten, one number per exhale.
27. 5:53No need to open your eyes yet.
28. 6:03Feel your face. It's probably softer than it was five minutes ago.
29. 6:16Notice the first breath of the day versus this one. They're the same mechanism.
30. 6:30Let this one be unhurried.
31. 6:39Move to your forehead. Let it be smooth instead of gathered.
32. 6:51Let each breath out be a small letting go of the muscles around your ribs.
33. 7:05Stay a moment longer than is comfortable.
34. 7:15Let your thumbs rest wherever they landed.
35. 7:25Let the in-breath be short and the out-breath unhurried.
36. 7:36Let the quiet do its work.
37. 7:46Notice your eyebrows. They're probably doing something small right now.
38. 7:58If the weight carried in the upper back has been with you all day, it is probably tired too. Let it rest alongside you.
39. 8:17Nothing to follow for a moment except your own breathing.
40. 8:29Imagine softening the edges of the shoulders up around your ears. Not erasing it, just letting the sharp parts go a degree softer.
41. 8:47Notice the small gap after each exhale. Rest there for half a second.
42. 9:00Picture the stiff neck from hunching as a weather front passing over. You are not the weather. You are the sky it moves through.
43. 9:19Let the weight carried in the upper back be exactly as big as it is, and let your breath be exactly as slow as it is. They can coexist.
44. 9:40Feel the air move past your upper lip. It's the coolest spot on the way in.
45. 9:55Notice the exact moment your attention left. You probably won't catch it. That's normal.
46. 10:09If you're irritated, that's allowed. Irritation is just weather.
47. 10:20Silence for a few breaths. Nothing to do in it.
48. 10:32Setting something down is not the same as giving up. You can pick it up again after.
49. 10:47No rush to move on.
50. 10:56Give your hands a stretch before you go back to using them.
51. 11:09If you drifted off, that was rest, and rest counts.
52. 11:21Remain here for a few more breaths.

Questions people ask

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