Sadness: 7-minute letting go meditation, in the air

About this practice

7 minutes to meet sadness with less of a fight. A letting go practice, in the air. A guided session of about 7 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 on a plane

• Use headphones, and keep the seatbelt on
• Bring a layer — being cold works against settling
• Skip alcohol; it makes the alertness worse

Cabin noise is constant and will mask the audio more than you expect. Try the headphones before you settle in.

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. 0:00Start with the noise that is already in the room. We are not going to try to remove it yet.
2. 0:17We'll take this slowly, and there's no version of this where you get it wrong.
3. 0:31If some part of you is resisting this, that resistance is worth noticing too.
4. 0:45Let your body feel heavier than it did a minute ago. Let the chair or the floor take it.
5. 1:01Notice the small pause before your body decides to breathe in again.
6. 1:14Feel your breath move down your back, all the way to your lower ribs.
7. 1:28Feel the back of your neck. That's a place that holds a lot.
8. 1:41Notice your heels making contact with the floor or the bed.
9. 1:53Feel the outline of yourself, from the top of your head to your heels.
10. 2:07Notice the space around the quiet ache behind the eyes. It is there, even if it is small. Put your attention in that space.
11. 2:26Notice how the grey weight of low mood changes shape when you stop resisting it. Usually it gets smaller, not bigger.
12. 2:43Feel your palms. Warm or cool, either is fine.
13. 2:54Take the next breath slowly.
14. 3:03Let your breathing find the rhythm it uses when you're almost asleep.
15. 3:16Notice your jaw again. Let your back teeth part slightly.
16. 3:28If you're replaying a conversation, let it play. It'll finish on its own.
17. 3:41I'll step back. You stay here.
18. 3:51Nothing here needs to be efficient.
19. 4:01If you're irritated, that's allowed. Irritation is just weather.
20. 4:12Let the breath be shallow if shallow is what your body wants.
21. 4:25A short silence. Let it be empty.
22. 4:35Picture 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.
23. 4:54Feel the weight of the quiet ache behind the eyes somewhere specific, then let the floor take a share of it.
24. 5:11Count down from ten, one number per exhale.
25. 5:22Your mind will leave about a hundred times. Come back about a hundred times.
26. 5:36You might be planning something. Notice the planning, then come back.
27. 5:48A gap. Don't rush to fill it with thinking.
28. 5:59Let this be easy, if easy is available.
29. 6:10Come back to the room through your senses, one at a time.
30. 6:23Before you move, notice one thing that's fine right now.
31. 6:35No rush to move on.

Questions people ask

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