Meditation for back pain and tension: 20-minute letting go session, ahead of a full day

About this practice

A 20-minute letting go session for back pain and tension, ahead of a full day. No app, no account — press start. A guided session of about 20 minutes, suited to all levels. Nothing is recorded and no account is needed.

What this works on: back pain and tension

Much of daily back discomfort is muscular load rather than structural damage — muscles holding a position long after they should have let go.

It tends to show up as:

• Lower back ache after sitting
• Stiffness on standing
• Pain that improves when moving

Attention moves into the back rather than away from it. Being willing to feel it is usually where release starts.

Doing this before a busy day

• Do it before the first message or notification
• Aim for steadiness rather than energy
• Decide the first task afterwards, not during

The point is to begin without already being behind, not to prepare for every possibility.

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. 0:00Start with the noise that is already in the room. We are not going to try to remove it yet.
2. 0:17We are not solving anything in the next few minutes. We are setting it down, temporarily.
3. 0:32Let your body feel heavier than it did a minute ago. Let the chair or the floor take it.
4. 0:48We're going to move through the body in order, roughly from top to bottom.
5. 1:02Let your breathing be boring. Boring is good here.
6. 1:13Let your breathing find the rhythm it uses when you're almost asleep.
7. 1:26Feel your palms. Warm or cool, either is fine.
8. 1:37Feel your knees. They're just hinges, but they've worked hard.
9. 1:49Feel the parts of you that have gone quiet.
10. 2:00Feel your calves, front and back.
11. 2:10Now the right shoulder. Let it be a centimetre lower than it was.
12. 2:23Each time your mind hands you the ache in the lower back, treat it like a leaf on a stream. Present for a moment, then carried on.
13. 2:43Notice where the muscles holding on all day lives in your body. Chest, throat, stomach. Rest your attention there without trying to change it.
14. 3:02Notice the small gap after each exhale. Rest there for half a second.
15. 3:15Imagine the stiffness from sitting as a room you can walk out of for a minute. The room will still be there.
16. 3:33This is not the last time the ache in the lower back will visit. That is not bad news. It means you will get more practice.
17. 3:52Follow one full breath from the moment it starts to the moment it ends.
18. 4:06Notice the pull to make this mean something. It doesn't have to.
19. 4:19Ask yourself what you could stop holding for the next sixty seconds. That one is a good start.
20. 4:35A few seconds of nothing now. That's on purpose.
21. 4:46Notice how quickly your mind labels things: good, bad, boring, nice.
22. 4:58Pick one thing you are gripping — a plan, a worry, a grudge — and loosen a single finger.
23. 5:14A gap. Don't rush to fill it with thinking.
24. 5:25If your mind is quiet, don't grab at it. Quiet comes and goes too.
25. 5:39With each exhale, let a little of the effort go. Not the problem — just the effort.
26. 5:54Pause here. Count three breaths if you need an anchor.
27. 6:06Notice anything you're holding onto from earlier today.
28. 6:17Setting something down is not the same as giving up. You can pick it up again after.
29. 6:32Silence for a few breaths. Nothing to do in it.
30. 6:44If you feel restless, that's a feeling, not a failure.
31. 6:56Let it be this simple.
32. 7:05Feel the slight stretch at the very bottom of the exhale.
33. 7:17Notice your lower back. Let it curve however it curves.
34. 7:29A short silence. Let it be empty.
35. 7:39If you're replaying a conversation, let it play. It'll finish on its own.
36. 7:52Take the next breath slowly.
37. 8:01Follow three breaths and let the fourth one go unobserved.
38. 8:13Feel your heart somewhere in there, doing its work without instructions.
39. 8:25Let's pause. Just the breathing for a while.
40. 8:36If you're counting the minutes, that's fine. Count them and come back.
41. 8:49Let the pause stretch out.
42. 8:58Let the out-breath be a little longer than the in-breath, without forcing it.
43. 9:11Notice your ears, which mostly just receive things.
44. 9:22Let me stop talking. Follow the breath instead.
45. 9:33Notice if you've been frowning at your own thoughts.
46. 9:44Notice if your breathing is faster than you expected. Don't correct it. Just note it.
47. 9:58Stay with it.
48. 10:06Your mind will leave about a hundred times. Come back about a hundred times.
49. 10:20Silence. Let your shoulders drop again if they've crept up.
50. 10:32Notice the weight of your thighs, all the way down.
51. 10:44Count down from ten, one number per exhale.
52. 10:55A few seconds more.
53. 11:04If a song is stuck in your head, let it play in the background.
54. 11:18A few quiet breaths. That's all this is.
55. 11:29Feel your belly. Let it be soft instead of held in.
56. 11:41Let your ribs widen on the in-breath instead of your shoulders lifting.
57. 11:54Stay here a little longer.
58. 12:03If your body wants to move, let it move, then come back.
59. 12:16Nothing to follow for a moment except your own breathing.
60. 12:28Notice your whole body as one shape, sitting or lying here.
61. 12:40Follow the breath down into your belly and feel it come back up.
62. 12:53Keep following the air.
63. 13:02Notice the space between your shoulder blades.
64. 13:12Let the exhale empty you a little more than usual, but not to the point of strain.
65. 13:27Nothing changes for a moment.
66. 13:36Notice your pelvis resting on the surface below you.
67. 13:47Feel the air move past your upper lip. It's the coolest spot on the way in.
68. 14:02Let this one be unhurried.
69. 14:11Start at the top of your head. Notice the scalp, which you almost never notice.
70. 14:25Breathe as if you had all evening. There's no rush in this part.
71. 14:38Stay a moment longer than is comfortable.
72. 14:48Notice your elbows. Odd things to have, but there they are.
73. 15:00Remind yourself, slowly: I am safe in this moment, even while the muscles holding on all day is here. Safety and difficulty can share a room.
74. 15:19Quiet now. The next part will wait for you.
75. 15:30There is a part of you that has handled hard moments before. That part is here now, even if it is quiet.
76. 15:48Let your shoulders stay still while your ribs move.
77. 15:59You are allowed to be unimpressed by the ache in the lower back. Indifference is a legitimate response.
78. 16:15You do not have to like the muscles holding on all day to breathe through it. Liking was never the requirement.
79. 16:32Notice the breath you're taking right now. That's the only one that exists.
80. 16:45the stiffness from sitting may quiet down, or it may not. Either is fine. We are practising staying, not performing calm.
81. 17:02Nothing about the ache in the lower back has to be explained or justified in this room.
82. 17:17Notice how many breaths you take in a minute. Don't change the number, just check.
83. 17:31Notice if you're being hard on yourself about any of this.
84. 17:43If you feel numb, that's a valid thing to feel. Nothing to fix.
85. 17:56If you're bored, stay with the boredom for a moment. It's usually thinner than it looks.
86. 18:11I'll leave a gap here. Use it however you like.
87. 18:23You have been carrying this competently for a while. A few minutes off will not undo that.
88. 18:38No rush to move on.
89. 18:47Let your jaw, shoulders and hands be loose as you finish.
90. 18:59Come back at your own speed. The room will wait.
91. 19:11Just the breath, still.

Questions people ask

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