Overwhelm: 12-minute letting go meditation, on the morning of an interview

About this practice

Slow, spoken guidance for overwhelm. A letting go session you can do on the morning of an interview. A guided session of about 12 minutes, suited to all levels. Nothing is recorded and no account is needed.

What this works on: overwhelm

Overwhelm is too many open loops at once. The mind cannot prioritise while aroused, so the pile stays a pile.

It tends to show up as:

• Not knowing where to start
• Freezing rather than working
• Feeling behind on everything at once

You cannot sort the pile while the alarm is ringing. Settling the body first is what makes choosing possible.

Doing this before an interview

• Do it where you will not be interrupted, even if that is a stairwell
• Have the first sentence of your answer ready afterwards
• Keep it short — there is no time for a long session

Nerves before an interview are normal and not something to eliminate. You need access to what you know, nothing more.

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. 0:00Begin with the simple fact that you got here. That already happened.
2. 0:13With each exhale, let a little of the effort go. Not the problem — just the effort.
3. 0:28Everything that happens in the next few minutes is allowed to happen.
4. 0:41Let your body feel heavier than it did a minute ago. Let the chair or the floor take it.
5. 0:57Notice if your breathing is faster than you expected. Don't correct it. Just note it.
6. 1:11Let your breathing get quieter rather than deeper.
7. 1:22Notice your shoulders, one at a time. The left one first.
8. 1:34Notice your whole body as one shape, sitting or lying here.
9. 1:46Feel your upper back against whatever is behind it.
10. 1:57Feel the soles of your feet. All the weight of you goes through them.
11. 2:11Feel the weight of the pile of everything at once somewhere specific, then let the floor take a share of it.
12. 2:28There is no correct amount of the too-much feeling to be feeling right now. Whatever is here is the honest amount.
13. 2:45Count four breaths silently. Then stop counting and just follow.
14. 2:57If you feel restless, that's a feeling, not a failure.
15. 3:09We are not solving anything in the next few minutes. We are setting it down, temporarily.
16. 3:24Quiet for a moment. No need to fill it.
17. 3:35If you feel emotional, you don't have to explain it to anyone, including yourself.
18. 3:49Setting something down is not the same as giving up. You can pick it up again after.
19. 4:04Let me stop talking. Follow the breath instead.
20. 4:15Notice any part of you that wants this to be over.
21. 4:27Ask yourself what you could stop holding for the next sixty seconds. That one is a good start.
22. 4:43Let's rest here in silence. It's short.
23. 4:53Your mind will leave about a hundred times. Come back about a hundred times.
24. 5:07Pick one thing you are gripping — a plan, a worry, a grudge — and loosen a single finger.
25. 5:23A few seconds of nothing now. That's on purpose.
26. 5:34Notice the difference between a thought and the space around it.
27. 5:46Feel the front of your chest. Notice it rise and fall once.
28. 5:59Feel your breath move down your back, all the way to your lower ribs.
29. 6:13No rush to move on.
30. 6:22Feel the tops of your thighs.
31. 6:32Follow three breaths and let the fourth one go unobserved.
32. 6:44Stay with it.
33. 6:52Notice your lower back. Let it curve however it curves.
34. 7:04Feel the air as it passes the back of your throat. It's cooler going in.
35. 7:18A few seconds more.
36. 7:27Notice your elbows. Odd things to have, but there they are.
37. 7:39Breathe in through your nose and out through your nose, if that's comfortable.
38. 7:52Remain here for a few more breaths.
39. 8:02Notice your breathing, without changing it.
40. 8:12Give the noise of a hundred demands a shape, a colour, a temperature. Turning it into something specific makes it easier to hold.
41. 8:30I'll stop for a moment. Take the pause at your own speed.
42. 8:43You do not have to like the pile of everything at once to breathe through it. Liking was never the requirement.
43. 9:00Let your breathing find the rhythm it uses when you're almost asleep.
44. 9:13Say to yourself: this is uncomfortable, and I can stay with it for one more breath. Then take that breath.
45. 9:30Imagine the noise of a hundred demands as a room you can walk out of for a minute. The room will still be there.
46. 9:49Let your ribs widen on the in-breath instead of your shoulders lifting.
47. 10:02Notice if you've been frowning at your own thoughts.
48. 10:13If a worry shows up, name it quietly and let it sit beside you.
49. 10:27A few quiet breaths. That's all this is.
50. 10:38You have been carrying this competently for a while. A few minutes off will not undo that.
51. 10:53Let it be this simple.
52. 11:02Notice the room again: the sounds, the temperature, the light.
53. 11:14Let the quiet end on its own rather than cutting it off.
54. 11:27Keep following the air.

Questions people ask

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