Meditation for tired eyes: 10-minute grounding session, on a train

About this practice

Slow, spoken guidance for tired eyes. A grounding session you can do on a train. A guided session of about 10 minutes, suited to all levels. Nothing is recorded and no account is needed.

What this works on: tired eyes

Screens reduce blink rate sharply, and the muscles that focus at close range stay contracted. The result is strain, ache and blur by the end of the day.

It tends to show up as:

• Aching, gritty eyes after screen time
• Blurring at the end of the day
• Headaches above the eyes

Closing the eyes is the only real rest they get. A few minutes without visual input is the specific thing your eyes are short of.

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 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 one breath that is slightly slower than the last one. That is enough to start.
2. 0:15We'll keep it quiet and unhurried.
3. 0:25Notice your own pulse somewhere. Wrist, throat, wherever you can find it.
4. 0:38If it helps, imagine your attention is a torch beam. Right now it's wide and soft.
5. 0:53Let each breath out be a small letting go of the muscles around your ribs.
6. 1:07Feel the air as it passes the back of your throat. It's cooler going in.
7. 1:21Notice your whole body as one shape, sitting or lying here.
8. 1:33Feel the skin around your eyes. Let the muscles behind them go loose.
9. 1:46Notice the weight of your thighs, all the way down.
10. 1:58Notice where your body is still holding something. Leave it alone.
11. 2:10Feel the weight of the strained eyes after screens somewhere specific, then let the floor take a share of it.
12. 2:27There is a part of you that has handled hard moments before. That part is here now, even if it is quiet.
13. 2:45Notice the difference between a thought and the space around it.
14. 2:57We'll take this slowly, and there's no version of this where you get it wrong.
15. 3:11Nothing to follow for a moment except your own breathing.
16. 3:23Notice anything you're holding onto from earlier today.
17. 3:34There's no need to try harder than this.
18. 3:45I'll step back. You stay here.
19. 3:55If your mind is quiet, don't grab at it. Quiet comes and goes too.
20. 4:09If you only manage half of it, that's half more than nothing.
21. 4:22A gap. Don't rush to fill it with thinking.
22. 4:33If you're replaying a conversation, let it play. It'll finish on its own.
23. 4:46Feel your belly. Let it be soft instead of held in.
24. 4:58Breathe in through your nose and out through your nose, if that's comfortable.
25. 5:11Stay with it.
26. 5:19Notice your fingers, one by one, starting with the little finger.
27. 5:31Follow one full breath from the moment it starts to the moment it ends.
28. 5:45Let it be this simple.
29. 5:54Feel your calves, front and back.
30. 6:04Follow the breath down into your belly and feel it come back up.
31. 6:17Keep following the air.
32. 6:26Notice your jaw again. Let your back teeth part slightly.
33. 6:38Let your breathing be boring. Boring is good here.
34. 6:49I'll be quiet for a moment. Stay with the breath.
35. 7:01Say to yourself: this is uncomfortable, and I can stay with it for one more breath. Then take that breath.
36. 7:18the strained eyes after screens may quiet down, or it may not. Either is fine. We are practising staying, not performing calm.
37. 7:36Let the out-breath be a little longer than the in-breath, without forcing it.
38. 7:49You are allowed to be unimpressed by the heavy lids of a screen-lit day. Indifference is a legitimate response.
39. 8:05Notice any part of you that wants this to be over.
40. 8:17If you feel restless, that's a feeling, not a failure.
41. 8:29Let's pause. Just the breathing for a while.
42. 8:40Small efforts are the whole method.
43. 8:50Let this one be unhurried.
44. 8:59Give your hands a stretch before you go back to using them.
45. 9:12Let the last of the stillness stay with you for a few more seconds.
46. 9:26Just the breath, still.

Questions people ask

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