Mindfulness: 20-minute grounding meditation, before public speaking

About this practice

A 20-minute grounding session for mindfulness, before public speaking. No app, no account — press start. A guided session of about 20 minutes, suited to all levels. Nothing is recorded and no account is needed.

What this works on: mindfulness

Attention spends most of its time in the past or the future. Being present is not a state you find, it is a return you keep making.

It tends to show up as:

• Missing conversations while composing replies
• Arriving somewhere with no memory of the walk
• Eating without tasting

Every return to the senses is a repetition of the actual skill. Losing it is part of the practice, not a break in it.

Doing this before public speaking

• Do it somewhere private, or in the washroom if needed
• Slow the exhale deliberately and check your speaking pace after
• Warm the voice by reading a line aloud, not by staying silent

Rushing is the tell of nerves. A slower breath now is what sets a slower pace in the room.

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. 0:00You don't have to empty your mind. Nobody has ever managed that, including the people who wrote the instructions.
2. 0:16Name what you can see, hear and touch. Counting senses is not a distraction; it is the practice.
3. 0:32Let your attention rest on the out-breath. The in-breath can take care of itself.
4. 0:46You can think about other things. When you notice, come back. That's the whole practice.
5. 1:00Feel the slight stretch at the very bottom of the exhale.
6. 1:12Let your breathing get quieter rather than deeper.
7. 1:23Notice your hands again. Check whether they've loosened on their own.
8. 1:35Notice your elbows. Odd things to have, but there they are.
9. 1:47Now the right shoulder. Let it be a centimetre lower than it was.
10. 2:00Notice your lower back. Let it curve however it curves.
11. 2:12Feel your face. It's probably softer than it was five minutes ago.
12. 2:25Each time your mind hands you the here-and-now your attention skips, treat it like a leaf on a stream. Present for a moment, then carried on.
13. 2:44You do not have to like the ordinary present tense to breathe through it. Liking was never the requirement.
14. 3:00Notice how many breaths you take in a minute. Don't change the number, just check.
15. 3:14Picture the present moment you keep leaving as a weather front passing over. You are not the weather. You are the sky it moves through.
16. 3:33Feel the weight of the here-and-now your attention skips somewhere specific, then let the floor take a share of it.
17. 3:50Notice that you don't have to start a breath. It arrives by itself.
18. 4:03Notice the moment you realise you've drifted. That moment is the whole skill.
19. 4:16Feel the contact points — feet, seat, back. That contact is the whole anchor.
20. 4:30I'll be quiet for a moment. Stay with the breath.
21. 4:42Notice the exact moment your attention left. You probably won't catch it. That's normal.
22. 4:56The floor is holding you right now. You do not have to hold yourself up.
23. 5:10A short silence. Let it be empty.
24. 5:20Your mind will leave about a hundred times. Come back about a hundred times.
25. 5:34Press down slightly and feel the push back. Your body already knows where it is.
26. 5:48Silence. Let your shoulders drop again if they've crept up.
27. 6:00If you feel numb, that's a valid thing to feel. Nothing to fix.
28. 6:13If your mind has gone somewhere else, the floor under you has not moved. Start from there.
29. 6:28Let me stop talking. Follow the breath instead.
30. 6:39Notice if you've been frowning at your own thoughts.
31. 6:50Remain here for a few more breaths.
32. 7:00Let the exhale fall out rather than pushing it.
33. 7:11Feel the back of your neck. That's a place that holds a lot.
34. 7:24Silence for a few breaths. Nothing to do in it.
35. 7:36Notice any urge to check something. You can wait two more minutes.
36. 7:49A few seconds more.
37. 7:58Let each breath out be a small letting go of the muscles around your ribs.
38. 8:12Notice your jaw again. Let your back teeth part slightly.
39. 8:24Quiet now. The next part will wait for you.
40. 8:35Notice any part of you that wants this to be over.
41. 8:47Let your body keep settling.
42. 8:56If you're holding your breath at the top, stop. There's no need to hold anything.
43. 9:10Feel your calves, front and back.
44. 9:20No words for a moment. Only the next breath.
45. 9:31If you're judging your performance, that's the same habit as judging everything else.
46. 9:44Feel the air as it passes the back of your throat. It's cooler going in.
47. 9:58Let it be this simple.
48. 10:07Notice the difference between a thought and the space around it.
49. 10:19A few seconds of nothing now. That's on purpose.
50. 10:30Feel the skin around your eyes. Let the muscles behind them go loose.
51. 10:43Notice the small pause before your body decides to breathe in again.
52. 10:56Let the quiet do its work.
53. 11:06If you're replaying a conversation, let it play. It'll finish on its own.
54. 11:19I'll stop for a moment. Take the pause at your own speed.
55. 11:32Notice your shoulders, one at a time. The left one first.
56. 11:44Let the breath get soft, the way it goes when someone is reading beside you.
57. 11:58Let the pause stretch out.
58. 12:07Notice the pull to make this mean something. It doesn't have to.
59. 12:20Let's rest here in silence. It's short.
60. 12:30Feel your forearms, from the elbow down to the wrist.
61. 12:42Let your shoulders stay still while your ribs move.
62. 12:53Stay here a little longer.
63. 13:02Feel the tops of your thighs.
64. 13:12Let your breathing be boring. Boring is good here.
65. 13:23No rush to move on.
66. 13:32Notice your ribs on both sides. Wide, not squeezed.
67. 13:43Breathe in through your nose and out through your nose, if that's comfortable.
68. 13:56Stay with it.
69. 14:04Notice your eyebrows. They're probably doing something small right now.
70. 14:16Feel the pause at the top of the in-breath. It's shorter than you think.
71. 14:30Take the next breath slowly.
72. 14:39Let the whole of your right foot be heavy.
73. 14:50When the ordinary present tense arrives, name it once, quietly, and go back to the breath. Naming is not fixing, and that is fine.
74. 15:09A gap. Don't rush to fill it with thinking.
75. 15:20You do not have to win against the present moment you keep leaving. You only have to breathe until the next moment arrives.
76. 15:38Let the out-breath be a little longer than the in-breath, without forcing it.
77. 15:51You have been carrying the here-and-now your attention skips for a while. You can set it down for the length of this session and pick it up after.
78. 16:11Notice how the ordinary present tense changes shape when you stop resisting it. Usually it gets smaller, not bigger.
79. 16:27Notice the first breath of the day versus this one. They're the same mechanism.
80. 16:41Imagine softening the edges of the present moment you keep leaving. Not erasing it, just letting the sharp parts go a degree softer.
81. 16:59If you catch yourself fighting the here-and-now your attention skips, that is worth noticing. The fight usually costs more than the feeling.
82. 17:17Follow one full breath from the moment it starts to the moment it ends.
83. 17:31If a worry shows up, name it quietly and let it sit beside you.
84. 17:45If you're sleepy, sit up a little. Or let the sleepiness be there.
85. 17:58Notice how quickly your mind labels things: good, bad, boring, nice.
86. 18:10I'll step back. You stay here.
87. 18:20Come back to the solid things: weight, temperature, surface. They are always available.
88. 18:33No need to open your eyes yet.
89. 18:43Take one more breath at your own pace, then let your attention come back to the room.
90. 18:58Come back at your own speed. The room will wait.
91. 19:10Stay a moment longer than is comfortable.

Questions people ask

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