Sadness: 15-minute letting go meditation, before a presentation

About this practice

Slow, spoken guidance for sadness. A letting go session you can do before a presentation. A guided session of about 15 minutes, suited to all levels. Nothing is recorded and no account is needed.

What this works on: sadness

Low mood physically shows up as heaviness — a weight behind the eyes, slow movement, and a body that feels harder to lift.

It tends to show up as:

• Tears arriving on their own
• Everything feeling like an effort
• Withdrawing without deciding to

Sadness does not need to be argued away. Being steady and unhurried beside it is often more useful than trying to feel better.

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 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. 0:00Let your belly be soft. Not sucked in. Just soft.
2. 0:12Nothing here needs to be efficient.
3. 0:22If some part of you is resisting this, that resistance is worth noticing too.
4. 0:36Imagine your thoughts as traffic on a road you're standing beside. You don't have to flag any of it down.
5. 0:53Feel the pause at the top of the in-breath. It's shorter than you think.
6. 1:07Let your breathing be boring. Boring is good here.
7. 1:18Notice your shins, which take small knocks all day and never complain.
8. 1:31Notice your jaw again. Let your back teeth part slightly.
9. 1:43Now the right shoulder. Let it be a centimetre lower than it was.
10. 1:56Notice where your body is still holding something. Leave it alone.
11. 2:08Notice your toes, starting with the big one on the left.
12. 2:20If the quiet ache behind the eyes is loud right now, make your attention smaller. Just the next breath. Nothing beyond it.
13. 2:38If the grey weight of low mood has been with you all day, it is probably tired too. Let it rest alongside you.
14. 2:56Let your ribs widen on the in-breath instead of your shoulders lifting.
15. 3:09Notice the space around the tears that arrive on their own. It is there, even if it is small. Put your attention in that space.
16. 3:28There is a part of you that has handled hard moments before. That part is here now, even if it is quiet.
17. 3:46Let the whole of your right foot be heavy.
18. 3:57Let it be this simple.
19. 4:06Notice the breath you're taking right now. That's the only one that exists.
20. 4:19Notice your lower back. Let it curve however it curves.
21. 4:31Stay with it.
22. 4:39Let the exhale empty you a little more than usual, but not to the point of strain.
23. 4:54Feel the outline of yourself, from the top of your head to your heels.
24. 5:08A few seconds more.
25. 5:17Notice the small gap after each exhale. Rest there for half a second.
26. 5:30Let your whole body be as heavy as it wants to be.
27. 5:43Remain here for a few more breaths.
28. 5:53Count down from ten, one number per exhale.
29. 6:04Feel the tops of your thighs.
30. 6:14Nothing changes for a moment.
31. 6:23Let your belly rise first, then your chest, then the tops of your lungs.
32. 6:37Feel your belly. Let it be soft instead of held in.
33. 6:49Stay here a little longer.
34. 6:58Let your shoulders stay still while your ribs move.
35. 7:09I'll be quiet for a moment. Stay with the breath.
36. 7:21Let this be easy, if easy is available.
37. 7:32If you're distracted by a sound, let the sound be the object for a moment.
38. 7:46No words for a moment. Only the next breath.
39. 7:57If you only manage half of it, that's half more than nothing.
40. 8:10Notice how quickly your mind labels things: good, bad, boring, nice.
41. 8:22Quiet now. The next part will wait for you.
42. 8:33There's no need to try harder than this.
43. 8:44Notice the moment you realise you've drifted. That moment is the whole skill.
44. 8:57I'll leave a gap here. Use it however you like.
45. 9:09You can be as unimpressive as you like for the next few minutes.
46. 9:22If a song is stuck in your head, let it play in the background.
47. 9:36Silence for a few breaths. Nothing to do in it.
48. 9:48We'll keep it quiet and unhurried.
49. 9:58If you're irritated, that's allowed. Irritation is just weather.
50. 10:09Let me stop talking. Follow the breath instead.
51. 10:20We'll take this slowly, and there's no version of this where you get it wrong.
52. 10:34If your body wants to move, let it move, then come back.
53. 10:47Breathe in for four, out for six, if you'd like something to count.
54. 11:00A short silence. Let it be empty.
55. 11:10When the grey weight of low mood presses in, put a hand on your chest or your belly. Warmth and pressure are anchors your body already trusts.
56. 11:30Picture the tears that arrive on their own as a weather front passing over. You are not the weather. You are the sky it moves through.
57. 11:49Let each breath out be a small letting go of the muscles around your ribs.
58. 12:03You do not have to win against the quiet ache behind the eyes. You only have to breathe until the next moment arrives.
59. 12:21You do not have to like the grey weight of low mood to breathe through it. Liking was never the requirement.
60. 12:38Let your breathing get quieter rather than deeper.
61. 12:49Notice any part of you that wants this to be over.
62. 13:01Notice if your attention is in the future. Bring it back to the room.
63. 13:15If nothing much is happening, that's not a problem. Nothing much is often the point.
64. 13:29A few quiet breaths. That's all this is.
65. 13:40Small efforts are the whole method.
66. 13:50Let your body keep settling.
67. 13:59Let the last minute of quiet be the last minute of quiet.
68. 14:12Wiggle your fingers and toes, gently, like you're testing that they still work.

Questions people ask

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