Meditation for insomnia: 5-minute grounding session, when it all piles up

About this practice

Nothing to learn and nothing to fix: 5 minutes of grounding for insomnia, when it all piles up. A guided session of about 5 minutes, suited to all levels. Nothing is recorded and no account is needed.

What this works on: insomnia

Insomnia is often maintained by the fear of not sleeping. Anticipating a bad night raises arousal at bedtime, which produces the bad night.

It tends to show up as:

• Dreading bedtime
• Hours awake with a busy mind
• Sleeping worse as the week goes on

Removing the pressure to sleep is the active ingredient. This gives you something to do that is not trying.

Doing this when you are overwhelmed

• Do not decide priorities during it
• Pick the shortest session available here
• When you finish, write down the first physical action on paper

The pile looks less like a pile once the alarm stops ringing. Sort it after, not during.

How grounding works

Grounding brings attention to physical contact and the immediate environment. It works on the principle that the body cannot be somewhere else, so contact with the surface you are on is always available as an anchor.

• Feel the contact points — feet, seat, back — and let them take your weight
• Use the senses deliberately: what you can see, hear, touch
• Return to solidity whenever attention drifts

What happens, minute by minute

1. 0:00Part of you is still in the last conversation you had. That's fine. It can sit here too.
2. 0:16Nothing here needs to be efficient.
3. 0:26Let your body feel heavier than it did a minute ago. Let the chair or the floor take it.
4. 0:42Bring your attention to where your body meets the surface underneath you.
5. 0:55Let the exhale fall out rather than pushing it.
6. 1:06Feel your breath move down your back, all the way to your lower ribs.
7. 1:20Feel your ankles. Let them be loose.
8. 1:30Notice the weight of your thighs, all the way down.
9. 1:42Feel the middle of your back, the part that never gets attention.
10. 1:55Stay with it.
11. 2:03Silence for a few breaths. Nothing to do in it.
12. 2:15Small efforts are the whole method.
13. 2:25Notice if you're being hard on yourself about any of this.
14. 2:37There is no correct amount of the frustration of not sleeping to be feeling right now. Whatever is here is the honest amount.
15. 2:55Notice the space around the wide-awake mind at 2am. It is there, even if it is small. Put your attention in that space.
16. 3:13Feel the air as it passes the back of your throat. It's cooler going in.
17. 3:27If the counting of hours until morning shows up, let it be there without arguing with it. You are not trying to remove it, just to sit beside it.
18. 3:48If your mind has wandered, that's not a mistake. Noticing is the practice.
19. 4:01Silence. Let your shoulders drop again if they've crept up.
20. 4:13If you only manage half of it, that's half more than nothing.
21. 4:26If you're going straight back to work, take ten seconds at the doorway first.
22. 4:40Stay a moment longer than is comfortable.

Questions people ask

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