Low energy: 15-minute letting go meditation, in the evening

About this practice

Nothing to learn and nothing to fix: 15 minutes of letting go for low energy, in the evening. A guided session of about 15 minutes, suited to all levels. Nothing is recorded and no account is needed.

What this works on: low energy

Low energy is a flat battery, not laziness. Pushing through it further drains reserves and produces worse work, faster.

It tends to show up as:

Everything feeling like an effort
Procrastinating on simple tasks
Tiredness sitting deep in the body

A short practice will not restore the reserve, but it removes some of the tension that is draining it.

Doing this in the evening

Dim the lights first — bright light works against the point
Put the phone in another room
Keep it slow rather than interesting

Something too engaging will wake you up rather than wind you down.

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

0:00Feel your ribs move. That is all the machinery you need to pay attention to right now.
0:15You have been carrying this competently for a while. A few minutes off will not undo that.
0:30Notice the weight of your arms without moving them.
0:41Let the last hour go on its own. You can pick it up again afterwards.
0:55Let the in-breath be short and the out-breath unhurried.
1:06Notice your breathing getting quieter on its own, without you deciding anything.
1:19Let the whole of your left foot be heavy.
1:30Notice the backs of your knees, which you feel more than you think.
1:43Notice your heels making contact with the floor or the bed.
1:55Let the whole of your right foot be heavy.
2:06Now feel both feet at once. That's a lot of contact with the world.
2:20Notice how the tiredness that sits in the bones changes shape when you stop resisting it. Usually it gets smaller, not bigger.
2:38Imagine the effort everything takes as a room you can walk out of for a minute. The room will still be there.
2:56Notice that you don't have to start a breath. It arrives by itself.
3:09When the flat battery feeling arrives, name it once, quietly, and go back to the breath. Naming is not fixing, and that is fine.
3:28Nothing about the tiredness that sits in the bones has to be explained or justified in this room.
3:44Feel your knees. They're just hinges, but they've worked hard.
3:56Let your body keep settling.
4:05Notice the difference between the breath at the front of your nose and the breath in your chest.
4:21Feel the back of your neck. That's a place that holds a lot.
4:34Stay with it.
4:42Feel the last part of the exhale, where it turns into nothing.
4:55Feel your palms. Warm or cool, either is fine.
5:06Let the quiet do its work.
5:16Follow the breath down into your belly and feel it come back up.
5:29Feel the skin around your eyes. Let the muscles behind them go loose.
5:42Remain here for a few more breaths.
5:52Let your breathing find the rhythm it uses when you're almost asleep.
6:05Start at the top of your head. Notice the scalp, which you almost never notice.
6:19I'll be quiet for a moment. Stay with the breath.
6:31If you're judging your performance, that's the same habit as judging everything else.
6:44Stay here a little longer.
6:53Pause here. Count three breaths if you need an anchor.
7:05Feel your belly. Let it be soft instead of held in.
7:17Let the breath get soft, the way it goes when someone is reading beside you.
7:31A few seconds more.
7:40If you feel numb, that's a valid thing to feel. Nothing to fix.
7:53Nothing to follow for a moment except your own breathing.
8:05Pick one thing you are gripping — a plan, a worry, a grudge — and loosen a single finger.
8:21If you're bored, stay with the boredom for a moment. It's usually thinner than it looks.
8:36A short silence. Let it be empty.
8:46Setting something down is not the same as giving up. You can pick it up again after.
9:01If you're counting the minutes, that's fine. Count them and come back.
9:14I'll leave a gap here. Use it however you like.
9:26We are not solving anything in the next few minutes. We are setting it down, temporarily.
9:41If your mind is quiet, don't grab at it. Quiet comes and goes too.
9:55Quiet for a moment. No need to fill it.
10:06Ask yourself what you could stop holding for the next sixty seconds. That one is a good start.
10:22Notice if you're being hard on yourself about any of this.
10:34Notice where you feel the breath most clearly. Nose, chest, or belly — pick one and stay there.
10:50I'll step back. You stay here.
11:00the effort everything takes may quiet down, or it may not. Either is fine. We are practising staying, not performing calm.
11:17You do not have to solve the flat battery feeling in these few minutes. Your only job is to keep breathing while it is here.
11:36Let the exhale empty you a little more than usual, but not to the point of strain.
11:51If the tiredness that sits in the bones starts telling you a story, let the story finish without you adding to it.
12:09Let the exhale carry a little of the effort everything takes with it. Not all of it. Just a little, one breath at a time.
12:28Breathe in through your nose and out through your nose, if that's comfortable.
12:41Your mind will leave about a hundred times. Come back about a hundred times.
12:55Notice if you're waiting for something to happen. Nothing is scheduled.
13:07If a song is stuck in your head, let it play in the background.
13:21Quiet now. The next part will wait for you.
13:32With each exhale, let a little of the effort go. Not the problem — just the effort.
13:47Nothing changes for a moment.
13:56Give your hands a stretch before you go back to using them.
14:09Before you move, notice one thing that's fine right now.
14:21Keep following the air.

Questions people ask

What does this session help with?

Low energy is a flat battery, not laziness. Pushing through it further drains reserves and produces worse work, faster. A short practice will not restore the reserve, but it removes some of the tension that is draining it.

Where and when should I do this one?

Dim the lights first — bright light works against the point. Something too engaging will wake you up rather than wind you down.

What actually happens during the 15 minutes?

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.

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