Meditation for mindfulness: 12-minute grounding session, before bed

About this practice

Slow, spoken guidance for mindfulness. A grounding session you can do before bed. A guided session of about 12 minutes, suited to all levels. Nothing is recorded and no account is needed.

What this works on: mindfulness

Attention spends most of its time in the past or the future. Being present is not a state you find, it is a return you keep making.

It tends to show up as:

• Missing conversations while composing replies
• Arriving somewhere with no memory of the walk
• Eating without tasting

Every return to the senses is a repetition of the actual skill. Losing it is part of the practice, not a break in it.

Doing this before bed

• Do it in bed or somewhere you can move straight to bed after
• Lower the light, and do not check anything afterwards
• If you fall asleep before the end, it worked

Falling asleep mid-session is a success, not a failure to complete it.

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. 0:00Take a moment to notice the room behind you, without turning around.
2. 0:13Feel the contact points — feet, seat, back. That contact is the whole anchor.
3. 0:27You can let your eyes close now if they weren't already.
4. 0:39Bring your attention to where your body meets the surface underneath you.
5. 0:52Feel your breath move down your back, all the way to your lower ribs.
6. 1:06Follow one full breath from the moment it starts to the moment it ends.
7. 1:20Notice the small movement in your belly when you breathe.
8. 1:32Notice your ribs on both sides. Wide, not squeezed.
9. 1:43Notice your eyebrows. They're probably doing something small right now.
10. 1:55Notice your breathing, without changing it.
11. 2:05Let the here-and-now your attention skips be exactly as big as it is, and let your breath be exactly as slow as it is. They can coexist.
12. 2:25If the ordinary present tense is loud right now, make your attention smaller. Just the next breath. Nothing beyond it.
13. 2:42Let your shoulders stay still while your ribs move.
14. 2:53If your mind has wandered, that's not a mistake. Noticing is the practice.
15. 3:06If your mind has gone somewhere else, the floor under you has not moved. Start from there.
16. 3:21I'll leave a gap here. Use it however you like.
17. 3:33Notice how you're sitting. Adjust if you need to. Then settle again.
18. 3:46The floor is holding you right now. You do not have to hold yourself up.
19. 4:00Let's pause. Just the breathing for a while.
20. 4:11Notice if you're being hard on yourself about any of this.
21. 4:23Name what you can see, hear and touch. Counting senses is not a distraction; it is the practice.
22. 4:39Let's rest here in silence. It's short.
23. 4:49Notice if your attention is in the future. Bring it back to the room.
24. 5:03Come back to the solid things: weight, temperature, surface. They are always available.
25. 5:16Quiet now. The next part will wait for you.
26. 5:27If you feel emotional, you don't have to explain it to anyone, including yourself.
27. 5:41Notice your hands again. Check whether they've loosened on their own.
28. 5:53Let the breath be shallow if shallow is what your body wants.
29. 6:06Stay a moment longer than is comfortable.
30. 6:16Notice the backs of your knees, which you feel more than you think.
31. 6:29Notice if your breathing is faster than you expected. Don't correct it. Just note it.
32. 6:43A few seconds more.
33. 6:52Feel your face. It's probably softer than it was five minutes ago.
34. 7:05Let your breathing be boring. Boring is good here.
35. 7:16Let your body keep settling.
36. 7:25Let your whole body be as heavy as it wants to be.
37. 7:38Notice the first breath of the day versus this one. They're the same mechanism.
38. 7:52Take the next breath slowly.
39. 8:01Feel the soles of your feet. All the weight of you goes through them.
40. 8:15Feel the weight of the present moment you keep leaving somewhere specific, then let the floor take a share of it.
41. 8:32A short silence. Let it be empty.
42. 8:42When the here-and-now your attention skips presses in, put a hand on your chest or your belly. Warmth and pressure are anchors your body already trusts.
43. 9:01Feel the pause at the top of the in-breath. It's shorter than you think.
44. 9:15Imagine the ordinary present tense as a room you can walk out of for a minute. The room will still be there.
45. 9:33Whatever the present moment you keep leaving is doing right now, your breathing can keep going underneath it.
46. 9:49Let your ribs widen on the in-breath instead of your shoulders lifting.
47. 10:02Notice if you've been frowning at your own thoughts.
48. 10:13Notice the difference between a thought and the space around it.
49. 10:25No words for a moment. Only the next breath.
50. 10:36Press down slightly and feel the push back. Your body already knows where it is.
51. 10:50Let the quiet do its work.
52. 11:00Notice whether you feel any different. If not, that's also normal.
53. 11:12Notice the quiet you made, and let it close gently.
54. 11:24Keep following the air.

Questions people ask

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