Meditation for morning energy: 20-minute self-compassion session, on a train journey

About this practice

Slow, spoken guidance for morning energy. A self-compassion session you can do on a train journey. A guided session of about 20 minutes, suited to all levels. Nothing is recorded and no account is needed.

What this works on: morning energy

Morning energy depends on how you come out of sleep and when light hits your eyes, more than on the number of hours.

It tends to show up as:

• Heavy eyelids at the start
• Struggling out of bed
• Needing to hit snooze repeatedly

Movement and breathing raise alertness without caffeine, and the effect holds better through the early hours.

Doing this on a train

• Pick a window seat if you can and let the view do part of the work
• Set an alarm for your stop
• Keep the bag on your lap rather than unfastening to find it later

The motion can make reading or screens uncomfortable, which is another reason audio works better here.

How self-compassion works

Self-compassion practice changes the tone of the inner voice rather than the content of the thoughts. It uses the same warmth and steadiness you would offer a friend, applied without requiring you to have earned it.

• Use the words you would actually say to someone you love
• Ask what you need, not what you deserve
• A hand on the chest or belly gives warmth and pressure a place to land

What happens, minute by minute

1. 0:00Let the first out-breath be longer than the in-breath. Nothing dramatic, just longer.
2. 0:13Let this be easy, if easy is available.
3. 0:24Let your sense of the room shrink down to just your body and the surface you're on.
4. 0:39Settle into the fact that for the next few minutes, nothing is required of you.
5. 0:53Let the exhale empty you a little more than usual, but not to the point of strain.
6. 1:08Let your shoulders stay still while your ribs move.
7. 1:19Notice the space between your shoulder blades.
8. 1:29Feel the parts of you that have gone quiet.
9. 1:40Feel your face. It's probably softer than it was five minutes ago.
10. 1:53Feel the tops of your thighs.
11. 2:03Notice your ears, which mostly just receive things.
12. 2:14If the day arriving before you are ready is loud right now, make your attention smaller. Just the next breath. Nothing beyond it.
13. 2:32Notice the space around the wish to begin without the scramble. It is there, even if it is small. Put your attention in that space.
14. 2:51Let your breathing get quieter rather than deeper.
15. 3:02Whatever the heavy eyelids at the start is doing right now, your breathing can keep going underneath it.
16. 3:18Remind yourself, slowly: I am safe in this moment, even while the day arriving before you are ready is here. Safety and difficulty can share a room.
17. 3:38Feel the pause at the top of the in-breath. It's shorter than you think.
18. 3:52If you're irritated, that's allowed. Irritation is just weather.
19. 4:03If you only manage half of it, that's half more than nothing.
20. 4:16A few quiet breaths. That's all this is.
21. 4:27Notice whether you're breathing or holding. Start breathing again.
22. 4:38We'll take this slowly, and there's no version of this where you get it wrong.
23. 4:52Silence for a few breaths. Nothing to do in it.
24. 5:04Notice the pull to make this mean something. It doesn't have to.
25. 5:17We'll keep it quiet and unhurried.
26. 5:27Quiet now. The next part will wait for you.
27. 5:38If a song is stuck in your head, let it play in the background.
28. 5:52There's no need to try harder than this.
29. 6:03Let me stop talking. Follow the breath instead.
30. 6:14If you're distracted by a sound, let the sound be the object for a moment.
31. 6:28You can be as unimpressive as you like for the next few minutes.
32. 6:41No words for a moment. Only the next breath.
33. 6:52If you're sleepy, sit up a little. Or let the sleepiness be there.
34. 7:05Nothing here needs to be efficient.
35. 7:15I'll be quiet for a moment. Stay with the breath.
36. 7:27If your mind has wandered, that's not a mistake. Noticing is the practice.
37. 7:40A few seconds more.
38. 7:49Follow the breath down into your belly and feel it come back up.
39. 8:02Feel your palms. Warm or cool, either is fine.
40. 8:13Pause here. Count three breaths if you need an anchor.
41. 8:25Notice if your attention is in the future. Bring it back to the room.
42. 8:39Remain here for a few more breaths.
43. 8:49Notice how many breaths you take in a minute. Don't change the number, just check.
44. 9:03Move to your forehead. Let it be smooth instead of gathered.
45. 9:15Quiet for a moment. No need to fill it.
46. 9:26Let your ribs widen on the in-breath instead of your shoulders lifting.
47. 9:39Let this one be unhurried.
48. 9:48Notice how quickly your mind labels things: good, bad, boring, nice.
49. 10:00A gap. Don't rush to fill it with thinking.
50. 10:11Feel your upper back against whatever is behind it.
51. 10:22Let the breath be shallow if shallow is what your body wants.
52. 10:35Let it be this simple.
53. 10:44Notice the exact moment your attention left. You probably won't catch it. That's normal.
54. 10:58Let's rest here in silence. It's short.
55. 11:08Notice your shoulders, one at a time. The left one first.
56. 11:20Count four breaths silently. Then stop counting and just follow.
57. 11:32Take the next breath slowly.
58. 11:41Feel the skin around your eyes. Let the muscles behind them go loose.
59. 11:54Let the out-breath be a little longer than the in-breath, without forcing it.
60. 12:07Stay with it.
61. 12:15Notice the backs of your knees, which you feel more than you think.
62. 12:28Notice your breathing getting quieter on its own, without you deciding anything.
63. 12:41Stay here a little longer.
64. 12:50Feel your upper arms hanging. They're heavier than you remember.
65. 13:02Let the breath get soft, the way it goes when someone is reading beside you.
66. 13:16No need to open your eyes yet.
67. 13:26Notice your elbows. Odd things to have, but there they are.
68. 13:38Feel the air move past your upper lip. It's the coolest spot on the way in.
69. 13:53Keep following the air.
70. 14:02Feel your forearms, from the elbow down to the wrist.
71. 14:14Let the breath move at the speed of a sleeping person.
72. 14:26Stay a moment longer than is comfortable.
73. 14:36Feel your hips. Wide, heavy, and doing nothing.
74. 14:47If the wish to begin without the scramble has been with you all day, it is probably tired too. Let it rest alongside you.
75. 15:06I'll stop for a moment. Take the pause at your own speed.
76. 15:19You have been carrying the heavy eyelids at the start for a while. You can set it down for the length of this session and pick it up after.
77. 15:40If you're holding your breath at the top, stop. There's no need to hold anything.
78. 15:54Each time your mind hands you the day arriving before you are ready, treat it like a leaf on a stream. Present for a moment, then carried on.
79. 16:14Notice where the wish to begin without the scramble lives in your body. Chest, throat, stomach. Rest your attention there without trying to change it.
80. 16:33Follow three breaths and let the fourth one go unobserved.
81. 16:45You do not have to like the heavy eyelids at the start to breathe through it. Liking was never the requirement.
82. 17:02If the day arriving before you are ready starts telling you a story, let the story finish without you adding to it.
83. 17:20Notice the small pause before your body decides to breathe in again.
84. 17:33If you're counting the minutes, that's fine. Count them and come back.
85. 17:46If you're judging your performance, that's the same habit as judging everything else.
86. 17:59You might be planning something. Notice the planning, then come back.
87. 18:11A short silence. Let it be empty.
88. 18:21Small efforts are the whole method.
89. 18:31Just the breath, still.
90. 18:40Let your breathing go back to whatever it does when nobody is watching.
91. 18:53Stand up when you're ready. The list hasn't grown while you were here.
92. 19:06Nothing changes for a moment.

Questions people ask

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