Meditation for tension headaches: 12-minute gratitude session, after a long day

About this practice

When tension headaches shows up after a long day, this 12-minute gratitude session gives you somewhere to put it down. A guided session of about 12 minutes, suited to all levels. Nothing is recorded and no account is needed.

What this works on: tension headaches

Tension headaches follow a band of tightness across the forehead and around the skull, usually the product of long staring, jaw clenching and neck position.

It tends to show up as:

• A band of pressure across the forehead
• Pressure behind the eyes
• Ache worsening through the day

Softening the jaw, eyes and neck interrupts the pattern early. Once a tension headache settles in it is harder to shift.

Doing this after a long day

• Something physical first — shoes off, hands washed, water drunk
• Do not review the day during it
• Keep it short rather than thorough

Replaying the day in the practice just carries the day further into the evening.

How gratitude works

Gratitude here is an attention practice, not a demand for a positive mood. Attention defaults to threats because they are urgent, so pleasant and ordinary things get skipped simply for being safe.

• Pick one ordinary thing rather than something impressive
• Stay with it for two breaths — depth beats length of list
• Do not aim at feeling grateful; aim at noticing

What happens, minute by minute

1. 0:00Turn your phone face down if it's within reach. If it's in another room, even better.
2. 0:15Pick one ordinary thing from today — a warm drink, a dry walk, a message — and let it count.
3. 0:32Settle into the fact that for the next few minutes, nothing is required of you.
4. 0:46There's no correct speed. Slower isn't better. Steadier is the only aim.
5. 0:59Follow the breath down into your belly and feel it come back up.
6. 1:12Let your shoulders stay still while your ribs move.
7. 1:23Feel the skin around your eyes. Let the muscles behind them go loose.
8. 1:36Notice your ears, which mostly just receive things.
9. 1:47Let your thumbs rest wherever they landed.
10. 1:57Notice your shoulders, one at a time. The left one first.
11. 2:09Notice the space around the pressure building behind the eyes. It is there, even if it is small. Put your attention in that space.
12. 2:28Think of the ache from a long staring day as a guest that arrived without knocking. You can let it stand in the hallway.
13. 2:47Notice the difference between the breath at the front of your nose and the breath in your chest.
14. 3:03If you feel emotional, you don't have to explain it to anyone, including yourself.
15. 3:17There is no need to feel grateful. Just look, and see what is actually there.
16. 3:31Quiet now. The next part will wait for you.
17. 3:42If your mind has wandered, that's not a mistake. Noticing is the practice.
18. 3:55Let it be unimpressive. Small good things are the most reliable ones.
19. 4:08I'll be quiet for a moment. Stay with the breath.
20. 4:20If nothing much is happening, that's not a problem. Nothing much is often the point.
21. 4:34Stay with it for two breaths. Gratitude deepens by staying, not by listing.
22. 4:47Quiet for a moment. No need to fill it.
23. 4:58Notice any tension that arrived while you weren't looking.
24. 5:09If nothing comes, notice that something did not go wrong. That also counts.
25. 5:22A few seconds of nothing now. That's on purpose.
26. 5:33Your mind will leave about a hundred times. Come back about a hundred times.
27. 5:47Let the breath move at the speed of a sleeping person.
28. 5:59A few seconds more.
29. 6:08Feel the soles of your feet. All the weight of you goes through them.
30. 6:22Let the in-breath be short and the out-breath unhurried.
31. 6:33Keep following the air.
32. 6:42Feel the front of your chest. Notice it rise and fall once.
33. 6:55Count down from ten, one number per exhale.
34. 7:06No need to open your eyes yet.
35. 7:16Let the whole of your left foot be heavy.
36. 7:27Follow three breaths and let the fourth one go unobserved.
37. 7:39Stay a moment longer than is comfortable.
38. 7:49Notice the small movement in your belly when you breathe.
39. 8:01This is not the last time the band around the forehead will visit. That is not bad news. It means you will get more practice.
40. 8:20Let's pause. Just the breathing for a while.
41. 8:31There is a part of you that has handled hard moments before. That part is here now, even if it is quiet.
42. 8:49Feel your breath move down your back, all the way to your lower ribs.
43. 9:03Imagine the ache from a long staring day as a room you can walk out of for a minute. The room will still be there.
44. 9:22If the band around the forehead is loud right now, make your attention smaller. Just the next breath. Nothing beyond it.
45. 9:39Notice where you feel the breath most clearly. Nose, chest, or belly — pick one and stay there.
46. 9:55If you're replaying a conversation, let it play. It'll finish on its own.
47. 10:08If you're judging your performance, that's the same habit as judging everything else.
48. 10:21A short silence. Let it be empty.
49. 10:31We are not forcing positivity. We are just noticing what went right, however small.
50. 10:45Nothing changes for a moment.
51. 10:54Stand up when you're ready. The list hasn't grown while you were here.
52. 11:07Start to notice the edges of your body again, and the surface you're on.
53. 11:21Let the quiet do its work.

Questions people ask

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