Meditation for overwhelm: 15-minute letting go session, in the office

About this practice

A 15-minute letting go session for overwhelm, in the office. No app, no account — press start. A guided session of about 15 minutes, suited to all levels. Nothing is recorded and no account is needed.

What this works on: overwhelm

Overwhelm is too many open loops at once. The mind cannot prioritise while aroused, so the pile stays a pile.

It tends to show up as:

Not knowing where to start
Freezing rather than working
Feeling behind on everything at once

You cannot sort the pile while the alarm is ringing. Settling the body first is what makes choosing possible.

Doing this at your desk

Feet flat, back supported, screen away from your eyeline
You can do this with your eyes open if the office makes closing them awkward
Unclench the jaw and drop the shoulders first, before anything else

Nobody needs to know you are doing it. Keep it invisible if that makes it possible.

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

0:00Part of you is still in the last conversation you had. That's fine. It can sit here too.
0:16Pick one thing you are gripping — a plan, a worry, a grudge — and loosen a single finger.
0:32Let your attention settle on the space between your nose and your upper lip, where the air passes.
0:48There's a difference between relaxing and stopping. We're aiming for the second one, gently.
1:02Let the exhale fall out rather than pushing it.
1:13Count four breaths silently. Then stop counting and just follow.
1:25Feel your upper arms hanging. They're heavier than you remember.
1:37Move to your forehead. Let it be smooth instead of gathered.
1:49Notice your toes, starting with the big one on the left.
2:01Feel your face. It's probably softer than it was five minutes ago.
2:14Notice your wrists. They bend a lot in a day.
2:26You do not have to win against the pile of everything at once. You only have to breathe until the next moment arrives.
2:44Give the too-much feeling a shape, a colour, a temperature. Turning it into something specific makes it easier to hold.
3:01Notice that you don't have to start a breath. It arrives by itself.
3:14Feel the weight of the noise of a hundred demands somewhere specific, then let the floor take a share of it.
3:31This is not the last time the pile of everything at once will visit. That is not bad news. It means you will get more practice.
3:50Feel the parts of you that have gone quiet.
4:01Just the breath, still.
4:10Let the breath be slow enough that you can hear it, just barely.
4:23Notice the weight of your thighs, all the way down.
4:35A few seconds more.
4:44Notice how many breaths you take in a minute. Don't change the number, just check.
4:58Feel the outline of yourself, from the top of your head to your heels.
5:12Stay a moment longer than is comfortable.
5:22Notice if your breathing is faster than you expected. Don't correct it. Just note it.
5:36Notice your shoulders, one at a time. The left one first.
5:48Let the quiet do its work.
5:58Notice the difference between the breath at the front of your nose and the breath in your chest.
6:14Notice where your body is still holding something. Leave it alone.
6:26Nothing to follow for a moment except your own breathing.
6:38Notice any tension that arrived while you weren't looking.
6:49No rush to move on.
6:58Feel the last part of the exhale, where it turns into nothing.
7:11I'll be quiet for a moment. Stay with the breath.
7:23Feel your ankles. Let them be loose.
7:33Notice the small pause before your body decides to breathe in again.
7:46Let this one be unhurried.
7:55Your mind will leave about a hundred times. Come back about a hundred times.
8:09No words for a moment. Only the next breath.
8:20With each exhale, let a little of the effort go. Not the problem — just the effort.
8:35Notice any part of you that wants this to be over.
8:47A gap. Don't rush to fill it with thinking.
8:58You have been carrying this competently for a while. A few minutes off will not undo that.
9:13Notice the moment you realise you've drifted. That moment is the whole skill.
9:26I'll stop for a moment. Take the pause at your own speed.
9:39Ask yourself what you could stop holding for the next sixty seconds. That one is a good start.
9:55Notice the tone of your own inner voice. Is it kind?
10:07A few quiet breaths. That's all this is.
10:18We are not solving anything in the next few minutes. We are setting it down, temporarily.
10:33Notice how you're sitting. Adjust if you need to. Then settle again.
10:46Let your belly rise first, then your chest, then the tops of your lungs.
11:00Pause here. Count three breaths if you need an anchor.
11:12If you catch yourself fighting the too-much feeling, that is worth noticing. The fight usually costs more than the feeling.
11:29Notice where the noise of a hundred demands lives in your body. Chest, throat, stomach. Rest your attention there without trying to change it.
11:48Feel the slight stretch at the very bottom of the exhale.
12:00Let the exhale carry a little of the pile of everything at once with it. Not all of it. Just a little, one breath at a time.
12:20You are allowed to be unimpressed by the too-much feeling. Indifference is a legitimate response.
12:34Let the breath move at the speed of a sleeping person.
12:46If you're replaying a conversation, let it play. It'll finish on its own.
12:59If you feel restless, that's a feeling, not a failure.
13:11Notice the difference between a thought and the space around it.
13:23Silence for a few breaths. Nothing to do in it.
13:35Setting something down is not the same as giving up. You can pick it up again after.
13:50Stay with it.
13:58Come back slowly. There's no prize for finishing fast.
14:09Wiggle your fingers and toes, gently, like you're testing that they still work.

Questions people ask

What does this session help with?

Overwhelm is too many open loops at once. The mind cannot prioritise while aroused, so the pile stays a pile. You cannot sort the pile while the alarm is ringing. Settling the body first is what makes choosing possible.

Where and when should I do this one?

Feet flat, back supported, screen away from your eyeline. Nobody needs to know you are doing it. Keep it invisible if that makes it possible.

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.