Meditation for tired eyes: 15-minute letting go session, on the way in

About this practice

For the times on the way in when tired eyes takes up more room than you would like — 15 minutes, letting go. A guided session of about 15 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 your commute

• Headphones on, eyes open or closed depending on your comfort
• Keep one part of your attention on your stop
• Do it standing if sitting is not possible — nobody is watching

Commuting time is already dead time. Nothing is being given up.

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

1. 0:00You don't have to empty your mind. Nobody has ever managed that, including the people who wrote the instructions.
2. 0:16Ask yourself what you could stop holding for the next sixty seconds. That one is a good start.
3. 0:32Now let your attention move from the room into your body, slowly, the way you'd move through a doorway you know well.
4. 0:50You can let your eyes close now if they weren't already.
5. 1:02Feel the slight stretch at the very bottom of the exhale.
6. 1:14Notice how many breaths you take in a minute. Don't change the number, just check.
7. 1:28Notice your ears, which mostly just receive things.
8. 1:39Feel the tops of your thighs.
9. 1:49Notice your breathing, without changing it.
10. 1:59Feel your hips. Wide, heavy, and doing nothing.
11. 2:10Feel the parts of you that have gone quiet.
12. 2:21There is a part of you that has handled hard moments before. That part is here now, even if it is quiet.
13. 2:39the heavy lids of a screen-lit day may quiet down, or it may not. Either is fine. We are practising staying, not performing calm.
14. 2:58Feel the last part of the exhale, where it turns into nothing.
15. 3:11Imagine softening the edges of the ache of staring too long. Not erasing it, just letting the sharp parts go a degree softer.
16. 3:29Whatever the strained eyes after screens is doing right now, your breathing can keep going underneath it.
17. 3:44Let the whole of your right foot be heavy.
18. 3:55No need to open your eyes yet.
19. 4:05Let the out-breath be a little longer than the in-breath, without forcing it.
20. 4:18Notice your toes, starting with the big one on the left.
21. 4:30Let the pause stretch out.
22. 4:39Notice the first breath of the day versus this one. They're the same mechanism.
23. 4:53Feel your tongue sitting in the bottom of your mouth.
24. 5:05Stay a moment longer than is comfortable.
25. 5:15If you're holding your breath at the top, stop. There's no need to hold anything.
26. 5:29Notice your shoulders, one at a time. The left one first.
27. 5:41Stay here a little longer.
28. 5:50Let the breath get soft, the way it goes when someone is reading beside you.
29. 6:04Notice where your body is still holding something. Leave it alone.
30. 6:16No words for a moment. Only the next breath.
31. 6:27If you feel numb, that's a valid thing to feel. Nothing to fix.
32. 6:40Keep following the air.
33. 6:49Let your belly rise first, then your chest, then the tops of your lungs.
34. 7:03Quiet for a moment. No need to fill it.
35. 7:14Feel your upper back against whatever is behind it.
36. 7:25Notice where you feel the breath most clearly. Nose, chest, or belly — pick one and stay there.
37. 7:41No rush to move on.
38. 7:50If you're sleepy, sit up a little. Or let the sleepiness be there.
39. 8:03Let's rest here in silence. It's short.
40. 8:13Setting something down is not the same as giving up. You can pick it up again after.
41. 8:28If you've lost track of where we were, you haven't lost anything important.
42. 8:41Nothing to follow for a moment except your own breathing.
43. 8:53With each exhale, let a little of the effort go. Not the problem — just the effort.
44. 9:08Notice the pull to make this mean something. It doesn't have to.
45. 9:21Let's pause. Just the breathing for a while.
46. 9:32You have been carrying this competently for a while. A few minutes off will not undo that.
47. 9:47Notice any tension that arrived while you weren't looking.
48. 9:58I'll step back. You stay here.
49. 10:08Pick one thing you are gripping — a plan, a worry, a grudge — and loosen a single finger.
50. 10:24If you're judging your performance, that's the same habit as judging everything else.
51. 10:37Let the exhale empty you a little more than usual, but not to the point of strain.
52. 10:52A few seconds of nothing now. That's on purpose.
53. 11:03There is no correct amount of the heavy lids of a screen-lit day to be feeling right now. Whatever is here is the honest amount.
54. 11:22Notice the space around the ache of staring too long. It is there, even if it is small. Put your attention in that space.
55. 11:41Notice if your breathing is faster than you expected. Don't correct it. Just note it.
56. 11:55When the strained eyes after screens presses in, put a hand on your chest or your belly. Warmth and pressure are anchors your body already trusts.
57. 12:14If the heavy lids of a screen-lit day starts telling you a story, let the story finish without you adding to it.
58. 12:32Let the in-breath be short and the out-breath unhurried.
59. 12:43If you feel restless, that's a feeling, not a failure.
60. 12:55If a worry shows up, name it quietly and let it sit beside you.
61. 13:09Notice any part of you that wants this to be over.
62. 13:21Pause here. Count three breaths if you need an anchor.
63. 13:33We are not solving anything in the next few minutes. We are setting it down, temporarily.
64. 13:48Let your body keep settling.
65. 13:57Let your jaw, shoulders and hands be loose as you finish.
66. 14:09Come back at your own speed. The room will wait.
67. 14:21Stay with it.

Questions people ask

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