Meditation for waking up: 10-minute self-compassion session, on a slow Sunday

About this practice

For the times on a slow Sunday when waking up takes up more room than you would like — 10 minutes, self-compassion. A guided session of about 10 minutes, suited to all levels. Nothing is recorded and no account is needed.

What this works on: waking up

On waking, the brain passes through a slow transition rather than switching on. Rushing it leaves you foggy for the first hour.

It tends to show up as:

• Needing a long time to feel awake
• Foggy, irritable mornings
• The day starting before you are ready

Giving the body a few unhurried minutes at the start changes the tone of everything that follows.

Doing this on a rest day

• Do it without a reason or a target
• Later in the day, unhurried, in good light
• Let it be longer than usual if you want

Rest that has to be justified is not really rest. This one is allowed to be pointless.

How self-compassion works

Self-compassion practice changes the tone of the inner voice rather than the content of the thoughts. It uses the same warmth and steadiness you would offer a friend, applied without requiring you to have earned it.

• Use the words you would actually say to someone you love
• Ask what you need, not what you deserve
• A hand on the chest or belly gives warmth and pressure a place to land

What happens, minute by minute

1. 0:00If you're lying down, let the mattress hold all of you. You can stop holding yourself up.
2. 0:15Whatever you are about to say to yourself, imagine saying it to someone you love. Use those words.
3. 0:31You can think about other things. When you notice, come back. That's the whole practice.
4. 0:45Let your attention drop to the level of your shoulders and stay there a moment.
5. 0:59Follow the breath down into your belly and feel it come back up.
6. 1:12Notice the difference between the breath at the front of your nose and the breath in your chest.
7. 1:28Notice your heels making contact with the floor or the bed.
8. 1:40Feel your knees. They're just hinges, but they've worked hard.
9. 1:52Feel your hips. Wide, heavy, and doing nothing.
10. 2:03Feel your palms. Warm or cool, either is fine.
11. 2:14Feel the weight of the fog of just-woken somewhere specific, then let the floor take a share of it.
12. 2:30You do not have to like the morning body that needs a moment to breathe through it. Liking was never the requirement.
13. 2:48If you feel emotional, you don't have to explain it to anyone, including yourself.
14. 3:02The question is not what you deserve. It is what you need, right now, in this moment.
15. 3:17I'll leave a gap here. Use it however you like.
16. 3:29Notice how you're sitting. Adjust if you need to. Then settle again.
17. 3:42Notice the tone you are using on yourself. If it would wound a friend, it is not the truth.
18. 3:58A short silence. Let it be empty.
19. 4:08If you're irritated, that's allowed. Irritation is just weather.
20. 4:19Put a hand where the feeling is strongest. Warmth and pressure are the oldest kind of reassurance.
21. 4:34I'll be quiet for a moment. Stay with the breath.
22. 4:46Let your breathing find the rhythm it uses when you're almost asleep.
23. 4:59Let this one be unhurried.
24. 5:08Notice the space between your shoulder blades.
25. 5:18Follow three breaths and let the fourth one go unobserved.
26. 5:30Stay with it.
27. 5:38Notice your shoulders, one at a time. The left one first.
28. 5:50Feel the air move past your upper lip. It's the coolest spot on the way in.
29. 6:05Just the breath, still.
30. 6:14Notice your wrists. They bend a lot in a day.
31. 6:26Breathe in through your nose and out through your nose, if that's comfortable.
32. 6:39Quiet for a moment. No need to fill it.
33. 6:50Imagine the slow start of the day as a room you can walk out of for a minute. The room will still be there.
34. 7:09Let the fog of just-woken be exactly as big as it is, and let your breath be exactly as slow as it is. They can coexist.
35. 7:28Let your ribs widen on the in-breath instead of your shoulders lifting.
36. 7:41Notice the space around the morning body that needs a moment. It is there, even if it is small. Put your attention in that space.
37. 8:00Notice if your attention is in the future. Bring it back to the room.
38. 8:14If you're counting the minutes, that's fine. Count them and come back.
39. 8:27Let's pause. Just the breathing for a while.
40. 8:38You are allowed to have a hard time without earning it first.
41. 8:51Let the quiet do its work.
42. 9:01Let the last of the stillness stay with you for a few more seconds.
43. 9:15Let your breathing go back to whatever it does when nobody is watching.
44. 9:28Nothing changes for a moment.

Questions people ask

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