Meditation for low energy: 15-minute letting go

About this practice

Slow, spoken guidance for low energy. A letting go session you can do after a fight. 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 after an argument

Do it before you re-engage or send anything
Let the physical arousal drop first — it takes minutes, not hours
Write down nothing you intend to send during it

Whatever you would write in the first ten minutes is rarely what you would say after thirty.

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

0:00Start by hearing the furthest sound you can find.
0:11Pick one thing you are gripping — a plan, a worry, a grudge — and loosen a single finger.
0:27You can think about other things. When you notice, come back. That's the whole practice.
0:41For the next few minutes, the only job is to notice what's already happening.
0:55Breathe as if you had all evening. There's no rush in this part.
1:08Notice the difference between the breath at the front of your nose and the breath in your chest.
1:24Feel the parts of you that have gone quiet.
1:35Feel your face. It's probably softer than it was five minutes ago.
1:48Notice your whole body as one shape, sitting or lying here.
2:00Let your whole body be as heavy as it wants to be.
2:13Feel the tops of your thighs.
2:23Imagine softening the edges of the tiredness that sits in the bones. Not erasing it, just letting the sharp parts go a degree softer.
2:42If the effort everything takes starts telling you a story, let the story finish without you adding to it.
2:58Feel the air move past your upper lip. It's the coolest spot on the way in.
3:13Let the exhale carry a little of the flat battery feeling with it. Not all of it. Just a little, one breath at a time.
3:32Notice the space around the tiredness that sits in the bones. It is there, even if it is small. Put your attention in that space.
3:51Notice your fingers, one by one, starting with the little finger.
4:03Let the quiet do its work.
4:13Let your belly rise first, then your chest, then the tops of your lungs.
4:27Notice your pelvis resting on the surface below you.
4:38Keep following the air.
4:47Feel the slight stretch at the very bottom of the exhale.
4:59Notice the backs of your knees, which you feel more than you think.
5:12No rush to move on.
5:21Feel the air as it passes the back of your throat. It's cooler going in.
5:35Feel your belly. Let it be soft instead of held in.
5:47Just the breath, still.
5:56Feel your breath move down your back, all the way to your lower ribs.
6:10Now feel both feet at once. That's a lot of contact with the world.
6:24Silence. Let your shoulders drop again if they've crept up.
6:36If you feel restless, that's a feeling, not a failure.
6:48Stay a moment longer than is comfortable.
6:58Let the breath be shallow if shallow is what your body wants.
7:11If a song is stuck in your head, let it play in the background.
7:25A few seconds of nothing now. That's on purpose.
7:36Feel your ankles. Let them be loose.
7:46Breathe in through your nose and out through your nose, if that's comfortable.
7:59Let your body keep settling.
8:08Notice how quickly your mind labels things: good, bad, boring, nice.
8:20I'll step back. You stay here.
8:30Setting something down is not the same as giving up. You can pick it up again after.
8:45Notice the exact moment your attention left. You probably won't catch it. That's normal.
8:59Quiet for a moment. No need to fill it.
9:10With each exhale, let a little of the effort go. Not the problem — just the effort.
9:25If you're replaying a conversation, let it play. It'll finish on its own.
9:38A short silence. Let it be empty.
9:48You have been carrying this competently for a while. A few minutes off will not undo that.
10:03If you're judging your performance, that's the same habit as judging everything else.
10:16I'll stop for a moment. Take the pause at your own speed.
10:29Ask yourself what you could stop holding for the next sixty seconds. That one is a good start.
10:45If your mind has wandered, that's not a mistake. Noticing is the practice.
10:58Let your breathing be boring. Boring is good here.
11:09Pause here. Count three breaths if you need an anchor.
11:21You are allowed to be unimpressed by the effort everything takes. Indifference is a legitimate response.
11:36Picture the flat battery feeling as a weather front passing over. You are not the weather. You are the sky it moves through.
11:54Count down from ten, one number per exhale.
12:05If the tiredness that sits in the bones has been with you all day, it is probably tired too. Let it rest alongside you.
12:24Nothing about the effort everything takes has to be explained or justified in this room.
12:38Let your breathing get quieter rather than deeper.
12:49If you're sleepy, sit up a little. Or let the sleepiness be there.
13:02Notice if you're being hard on yourself about any of this.
13:14If you feel numb, that's a valid thing to feel. Nothing to fix.
13:27Nothing to follow for a moment except your own breathing.
13:39We are not solving anything in the next few minutes. We are setting it down, temporarily.
13:54Stay with it.
14:02Take one last look at whatever your attention settled on.
14:14Let your breathing be completely ordinary again.

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?

Do it before you re-engage or send anything. Whatever you would write in the first ten minutes is rarely what you would say after thirty.

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.