Panic: 5-minute self-compassion meditation, on a meeting break

About this practice

When panic shows up on a meeting break, this 5-minute self-compassion session gives you somewhere to put it down. A guided session of about 5 minutes, suited to all levels. Nothing is recorded and no account is needed.

What this works on: panic

A panic surge is a false alarm firing at full volume. The body floods with adrenaline for about ten minutes, and then the chemistry drains on its own whether or not you do anything.

It tends to show up as:

• Heart pounding out of nowhere
• Feeling you must leave immediately
• Tingling hands or a tight throat

Knowing the surge is time-limited matters more than stopping it. A steady, unhurried voice in the background gives the body something to pace itself against.

Doing this between meetings

• Start it in the gap, not after the next one begins
• Write down the open thread from the last meeting first, then let it go
• Two minutes done beats five minutes planned

The back-to-back day is exactly why the gap has to be protected rather than used for one more task.

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. 0:00Then find the nearest sound. It's probably your own breathing.
2. 0:12You are allowed to have a hard time without earning it first.
3. 0:25There's a difference between relaxing and stopping. We're aiming for the second one, gently.
4. 0:39Bring your attention to the parts of you that are already still.
5. 0:52Let the in-breath be short and the out-breath unhurried.
6. 1:03Notice that you don't have to start a breath. It arrives by itself.
7. 1:16Now the right shoulder. Let it be a centimetre lower than it was.
8. 1:29Feel the tops of your thighs.
9. 1:39Notice your fingers, one by one, starting with the little finger.
10. 1:51Keep following the air.
11. 2:00A gap. Don't rush to fill it with thinking.
12. 2:11Say it once, plainly: this is hard, and I am allowed to find it hard.
13. 2:25If a song is stuck in your head, let it play in the background.
14. 2:39You do not have to like the sudden surge of panic to breathe through it. Liking was never the requirement.
15. 2:56Whatever the wave rising in your chest is doing right now, your breathing can keep going underneath it.
16. 3:12If you're holding your breath at the top, stop. There's no need to hold anything.
17. 3:26Notice how the fear that this will not pass changes shape when you stop resisting it. Usually it gets smaller, not bigger.
18. 3:44You might be planning something. Notice the planning, then come back.
19. 3:56Let's pause. Just the breathing for a while.
20. 4:07Put a hand where the feeling is strongest. Warmth and pressure are the oldest kind of reassurance.
21. 4:22If you're going straight back to work, take ten seconds at the doorway first.
22. 4:36Take the next breath slowly.

Questions people ask

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