Meditation for fatigue: 7-minute letting go session, at midday

About this practice

For the times at midday when fatigue takes up more room than you would like — 7 minutes, letting go. A guided session of about 7 minutes, suited to all levels. Nothing is recorded and no account is needed.

What this works on: fatigue

Fatigue is deep tiredness of the kind that sleep does not fully clear, usually after a stretch of sustained demand.

It tends to show up as:

• Tired behind the eyes all day
• Heavy limbs
• Rest that does not refresh

Here the practice should be restful rather than stimulating. Quiet and unambitious is the right dose.

Doing this at lunch

• Do it before eating rather than after, so you are not working against digestion
• Leaving the desk matters more than the session length
• Take the headphones off afterwards so the break registers

A break that happens at the same desk is only half a break.

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. 0:00Nothing needs to be decided in the next few minutes. Park the decisions.
2. 0:13With each exhale, let a little of the effort go. Not the problem — just the effort.
3. 0:28Let the last hour go on its own. You can pick it up again afterwards.
4. 0:42Let your body feel heavier than it did a minute ago. Let the chair or the floor take it.
5. 0:58Feel the last part of the exhale, where it turns into nothing.
6. 1:11Follow one full breath from the moment it starts to the moment it ends.
7. 1:25Let the whole of your left foot be heavy.
8. 1:36Notice your pelvis resting on the surface below you.
9. 1:47Notice your toes, starting with the big one on the left.
10. 1:59Nothing about the end of the reserves has to be explained or justified in this room.
11. 2:14Imagine the bone-deep tiredness as a room you can walk out of for a minute. The room will still be there.
12. 2:31Notice the small movement in your belly when you breathe.
13. 2:43Stay a moment longer than is comfortable.
14. 2:53Let your breathing find the rhythm it uses when you're almost asleep.
15. 3:06If you're irritated, that's allowed. Irritation is just weather.
16. 3:17A few seconds of nothing now. That's on purpose.
17. 3:28We are not solving anything in the next few minutes. We are setting it down, temporarily.
18. 3:43If you're distracted by a sound, let the sound be the object for a moment.
19. 3:57Let your shoulders stay still while your ribs move.
20. 4:08Silence for a few breaths. Nothing to do in it.
21. 4:20Picture the heaviness behind your eyes as a weather front passing over. You are not the weather. You are the sky it moves through.
22. 4:39Let the end of the reserves be exactly as big as it is, and let your breath be exactly as slow as it is. They can coexist.
23. 4:59Feel the air move past your upper lip. It's the coolest spot on the way in.
24. 5:14Notice the difference between a thought and the space around it.
25. 5:26Notice how you're sitting. Adjust if you need to. Then settle again.
26. 5:39No words for a moment. Only the next breath.
27. 5:50Pick one thing you are gripping — a plan, a worry, a grudge — and loosen a single finger.
28. 6:06Let the next breath be the start of the rest of the day.
29. 6:19Wiggle your fingers and toes, gently, like you're testing that they still work.
30. 6:32Let 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.