Meditation for low energy: 12-minute softening session, when you are at your limit

About this practice

For the times when you are at your limit when low energy takes up more room than you would like — 12 minutes, softening. A guided session of about 12 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 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 softening works

Softening is the practice of releasing held tension degree by degree rather than all at once. It targets the physical grip — shoulders, jaw, gut — that persists long after the stressor has passed.

• Soften one place per exhale rather than everything at once
• Let warmth and gravity do the work instead of muscular effort
• If a place will not soften, leave it and go somewhere that will

What happens, minute by minute

1. 0:00Start by hearing the furthest sound you can find.
2. 0:11Find the tightest place and simply breathe near it. Warmth does the softening, not effort.
3. 0:25This is not a performance. Nobody is listening to how well you're doing it.
4. 0:39You can let your eyes close now if they weren't already.
5. 0:51Let the breath be slow enough that you can hear it, just barely.
6. 1:04Let the breath get soft, the way it goes when someone is reading beside you.
7. 1:18Notice your wrists. They bend a lot in a day.
8. 1:30Let your thumbs rest wherever they landed.
9. 1:40Now the right shoulder. Let it be a centimetre lower than it was.
10. 1:53Feel the back of your neck. That's a place that holds a lot.
11. 2:06You have been carrying the flat battery feeling for a while. You can set it down for the length of this session and pick it up after.
12. 2:26Each time your mind hands you the tiredness that sits in the bones, treat it like a leaf on a stream. Present for a moment, then carried on.
13. 2:46Follow three breaths and let the fourth one go unobserved.
14. 2:58Notice how you're sitting. Adjust if you need to. Then settle again.
15. 3:11With every out-breath, soften one place. Shoulders first, then jaw, then the space behind the eyes.
16. 3:26I'll step back. You stay here.
17. 3:36Notice any tension that arrived while you weren't looking.
18. 3:47Let the exhale do the work. On each one, allow a little more give.
19. 4:01A short silence. Let it be empty.
20. 4:11If a worry shows up, name it quietly and let it sit beside you.
21. 4:25We are not forcing anything open. We are letting things unclench by a single degree.
22. 4:39I'll leave a gap here. Use it however you like.
23. 4:51Your mind will leave about a hundred times. Come back about a hundred times.
24. 5:05Unclenching is not the same as relaxing. Just stop adding the tension back.
25. 5:18No words for a moment. Only the next breath.
26. 5:29If you're counting the minutes, that's fine. Count them and come back.
27. 5:42Feel your calves, front and back.
28. 5:52If you're holding your breath at the top, stop. There's no need to hold anything.
29. 6:06Stay here a little longer.
30. 6:15Feel the middle of your back, the part that never gets attention.
31. 6:28Feel the last part of the exhale, where it turns into nothing.
32. 6:41No need to open your eyes yet.
33. 6:51Feel your tongue sitting in the bottom of your mouth.
34. 7:03Feel the air move past your upper lip. It's the coolest spot on the way in.
35. 7:18Let the quiet do its work.
36. 7:28Notice your shins, which take small knocks all day and never complain.
37. 7:41Notice that you don't have to start a breath. It arrives by itself.
38. 7:54Stay with it.
39. 8:02Notice your pelvis resting on the surface below you.
40. 8:13There is no correct amount of the effort everything takes to be feeling right now. Whatever is here is the honest amount.
41. 8:31Let's pause. Just the breathing for a while.
42. 8:42If the flat battery feeling starts telling you a story, let the story finish without you adding to it.
43. 8:58Notice how many breaths you take in a minute. Don't change the number, just check.
44. 9:12When the tiredness that sits in the bones presses in, put a hand on your chest or your belly. Warmth and pressure are anchors your body already trusts.
45. 9:32If you catch yourself fighting the effort everything takes, that is worth noticing. The fight usually costs more than the feeling.
46. 9:49Let your breathing be boring. Boring is good here.
47. 10:00Notice whether you're breathing or holding. Start breathing again.
48. 10:11Notice the exact moment your attention left. You probably won't catch it. That's normal.
49. 10:25Quiet for a moment. No need to fill it.
50. 10:36If a place will not soften, leave it alone and go somewhere that will. It often follows.
51. 10:51Stay a moment longer than is comfortable.
52. 11:01Come back to your body first, and the rest of the day second.
53. 11:14Before you open your eyes, notice how you feel compared to the start. It might be small.

Questions people ask

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