Self-compassion for concentration: 12 minutes, at your desk

About this practice

When concentration shows up at your desk, this 12-minute self-compassion session gives you somewhere to put it down. A guided session of about 12 minutes, suited to all levels. Nothing is recorded and no account is needed.

What this works on: concentration

Concentration fails for two reasons: the task is uninteresting, or the body is too activated to hold anything steady. The second one is fixable in minutes.

It tends to show up as:

• Attention sliding off within seconds
• Jumping between tabs
• Feeling physically unable to sit still

Lowering arousal raises the ceiling of what attention can hold. Practice first, then the task.

Doing this at your desk

• Feet flat, back supported, screen away from your eyeline
• You can do this with your eyes open if the office makes closing them awkward
• Unclench the jaw and drop the shoulders first, before anything else

Nobody needs to know you are doing it. Keep it invisible if that makes it possible.

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. 0:00If your legs are crossed, uncross them. Small changes count.
2. 0:12We'll keep it quiet and unhurried.
3. 0:22Let the rhythm of your breathing set the pace, not the words.
4. 0:35Let your body feel heavier than it did a minute ago. Let the chair or the floor take it.
5. 0:51Notice how many breaths you take in a minute. Don't change the number, just check.
6. 1:05Follow one full breath from the moment it starts to the moment it ends.
7. 1:19Feel the soles of your feet. All the weight of you goes through them.
8. 1:33Notice your jaw again. Let your back teeth part slightly.
9. 1:45Move to your forehead. Let it be smooth instead of gathered.
10. 1:57Notice where your body is still holding something. Leave it alone.
11. 2:09If the difficulty of staying with one thing shows up, let it be there without arguing with it. You are not trying to remove it, just to sit beside it.
12. 2:30Think of the attention that keeps sliding off as a guest that arrived without knocking. You can let it stand in the hallway.
13. 2:48Let your breathing get quieter rather than deeper.
14. 2:59Notice whether you're breathing or holding. Start breathing again.
15. 3:10You can be as unimpressive as you like for the next few minutes.
16. 3:23A few quiet breaths. That's all this is.
17. 3:34If you feel numb, that's a valid thing to feel. Nothing to fix.
18. 3:47Small efforts are the whole method.
19. 3:57Quiet for a moment. No need to fill it.
20. 4:08Notice any part of you that wants this to be over.
21. 4:20Let this be easy, if easy is available.
22. 4:31No words for a moment. Only the next breath.
23. 4:42If you're sleepy, sit up a little. Or let the sleepiness be there.
24. 4:55There's no need to try harder than this.
25. 5:06I'll be quiet for a moment. Stay with the breath.
26. 5:18Notice how you're sitting. Adjust if you need to. Then settle again.
27. 5:31Nothing here needs to be efficient.
28. 5:41Now feel both feet at once. That's a lot of contact with the world.
29. 5:55Let the breath get soft, the way it goes when someone is reading beside you.
30. 6:09Just the breath, still.
31. 6:18Notice your whole body as one shape, sitting or lying here.
32. 6:30Notice the first breath of the day versus this one. They're the same mechanism.
33. 6:44Let this one be unhurried.
34. 6:53Notice your fingers, one by one, starting with the little finger.
35. 7:05Let your ribs widen on the in-breath instead of your shoulders lifting.
36. 7:18No rush to move on.
37. 7:27Notice your wrists. They bend a lot in a day.
38. 7:39Notice the difference between the breath at the front of your nose and the breath in your chest.
39. 7:55Stay with it.
40. 8:03Feel the middle of your back, the part that never gets attention.
41. 8:16You do not have to like the urge to check something else to breathe through it. Liking was never the requirement.
42. 8:33Let's pause. Just the breathing for a while.
43. 8:44There is a part of you that has handled hard moments before. That part is here now, even if it is quiet.
44. 9:02Breathe in through your nose and out through your nose, if that's comfortable.
45. 9:15Imagine softening the edges of the attention that keeps sliding off. Not erasing it, just letting the sharp parts go a degree softer.
46. 9:33Let the urge to check something else be exactly as big as it is, and let your breath be exactly as slow as it is. They can coexist.
47. 9:53Notice the small pause before your body decides to breathe in again.
48. 10:06If your mind has wandered, that's not a mistake. Noticing is the practice.
49. 10:19Notice the difference between a thought and the space around it.
50. 10:31A short silence. Let it be empty.
51. 10:41If you only manage half of it, that's half more than nothing.
52. 10:54Stay here a little longer.
53. 11:03Before you move, notice one thing that's fine right now.
54. 11:15Stand up when you're ready. The list hasn't grown while you were here.

Questions people ask

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