Meditation for sleep: 10-minute grounding session, at midday

About this practice

Nothing to learn and nothing to fix: 10 minutes of grounding for sleep, at midday. A guided session of about 10 minutes, suited to all levels. Nothing is recorded and no account is needed.

What this works on: sleep

Sleep arrives on a downslope, not on command. Arousal has to fall for some minutes before the switch flips, and trying harder keeps it up.

It tends to show up as:

Getting a second wind at bedtime
Mind starting up as soon as the light goes off
Sleep arriving much later than you intended

The practice is to stop steering. Following a slow voice occupies the part of the mind that would otherwise be trying.

Doing this at lunch

Do it before eating rather than after, so you are not working against digestion
Leaving the desk matters more than the session length
Take the headphones off afterwards so the break registers

A break that happens at the same desk is only half a break.

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

0:00There is nothing to get right here. Nothing is being scored.
0:12Feel the contact points — feet, seat, back. That contact is the whole anchor.
0:26Let the breath get a little quieter, as if you were trying not to wake someone sleeping nearby.
0:42We'll work through this slowly. If you lose the thread, the thread will wait.
0:56Let the exhale empty you a little more than usual, but not to the point of strain.
1:11Feel your breath move down your back, all the way to your lower ribs.
1:25Feel your calves, front and back.
1:35Notice the backs of your knees, which you feel more than you think.
1:48Now the right shoulder. Let it be a centimetre lower than it was.
2:01Feel the middle of your back, the part that never gets attention.
2:14Remind yourself, slowly: I am safe in this moment, even while the day folding itself up is here. Safety and difficulty can share a room.
2:33You are allowed to be unimpressed by the quiet your mind keeps postponing. Indifference is a legitimate response.
2:49Notice any part of you that wants this to be over.
3:01Come back to the solid things: weight, temperature, surface. They are always available.
3:14Pause here. Count three breaths if you need an anchor.
3:26Notice if you've been frowning at your own thoughts.
3:37If your mind has gone somewhere else, the floor under you has not moved. Start from there.
3:52I'll be quiet for a moment. Stay with the breath.
4:04Notice how quickly your mind labels things: good, bad, boring, nice.
4:16Press down slightly and feel the push back. Your body already knows where it is.
4:30Quiet now. The next part will wait for you.
4:41Your mind will leave about a hundred times. Come back about a hundred times.
4:55Follow the breath down into your belly and feel it come back up.
5:08Let the pause stretch out.
5:17Let your throat soften. There's nothing to swallow right now.
5:29Let your breathing get quieter rather than deeper.
5:40No need to open your eyes yet.
5:50Notice your eyebrows. They're probably doing something small right now.
6:02Let the in-breath be short and the out-breath unhurried.
6:13Let the quiet do its work.
6:23Let your thumbs rest wherever they landed.
6:33Feel the last part of the exhale, where it turns into nothing.
6:46A short silence. Let it be empty.
6:56If the heaviness your body already knows is loud right now, make your attention smaller. Just the next breath. Nothing beyond it.
7:14Notice how the day folding itself up changes shape when you stop resisting it. Usually it gets smaller, not bigger.
7:31Let your belly rise first, then your chest, then the tops of your lungs.
7:45When the quiet your mind keeps postponing arrives, name it once, quietly, and go back to the breath. Naming is not fixing, and that is fine.
8:04If nothing much is happening, that's not a problem. Nothing much is often the point.
8:18Notice the pull to make this mean something. It doesn't have to.
8:31A gap. Don't rush to fill it with thinking.
8:42The floor is holding you right now. You do not have to hold yourself up.
8:56Let your body keep settling.
9:05Give your hands a stretch before you go back to using them.
9:18Take a moment to notice you did this for yourself. That's not nothing.
9:31Stay a moment longer than is comfortable.

Questions people ask

What does this session help with?

Sleep arrives on a downslope, not on command. Arousal has to fall for some minutes before the switch flips, and trying harder keeps it up. The practice is to stop steering. Following a slow voice occupies the part of the mind that would otherwise be trying.

Where and when should I do this one?

Do it before eating rather than after, so you are not working against digestion. A break that happens at the same desk is only half a break.

What actually happens during the 10 minutes?

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