Self-compassion for work stress: 12 minutes, on the train

About this practice

When work stress shows up on the train, 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: work stress

Work stress is usually unfinished business. The brain keeps the task open in the background, so you are partly at work even when you have stopped.

It tends to show up as:

• Running through your task list at night
• Feeling behind even when caught up
• Dreading opening the laptop

A clear break with an actual end lets the background process pause. Short and complete beats long and vague.

Doing this on your commute

• Headphones on, eyes open or closed depending on your comfort
• Keep one part of your attention on your stop
• Do it standing if sitting is not possible — nobody is watching

Commuting time is already dead time. Nothing is being given up.

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. 0:00Notice the temperature of the air on the backs of your hands.
2. 0:13You can be as unimpressive as you like for the next few minutes.
3. 0:26If some part of you is resisting this, that resistance is worth noticing too.
4. 0:40Let your sense of the room shrink down to just your body and the surface you're on.
5. 0:55Let the breath be slow enough that you can hear it, just barely.
6. 1:08Let your belly rise first, then your chest, then the tops of your lungs.
7. 1:22Notice where your body is still holding something. Leave it alone.
8. 1:34Notice your lower back. Let it curve however it curves.
9. 1:46Let your thumbs rest wherever they landed.
10. 1:56Feel your forearms, from the elbow down to the wrist.
11. 2:08Let the exhale carry a little of the inbox that never empties with it. Not all of it. Just a little, one breath at a time.
12. 2:27Nothing about the pressure of expectations has to be explained or justified in this room.
13. 2:41Let the exhale empty you a little more than usual, but not to the point of strain.
14. 2:56Notice the difference between a thought and the space around it.
15. 3:08Nothing here needs to be efficient.
16. 3:18A few seconds of nothing now. That's on purpose.
17. 3:29Notice whether you're breathing or holding. Start breathing again.
18. 3:40If you only manage half of it, that's half more than nothing.
19. 3:53Silence. Let your shoulders drop again if they've crept up.
20. 4:05If you're judging your performance, that's the same habit as judging everything else.
21. 4:18Let this be easy, if easy is available.
22. 4:29Nothing to follow for a moment except your own breathing.
23. 4:41If nothing much is happening, that's not a problem. Nothing much is often the point.
24. 4:55There's no need to try harder than this.
25. 5:06Silence for a few breaths. Nothing to do in it.
26. 5:18Your mind will leave about a hundred times. Come back about a hundred times.
27. 5:32We'll take this slowly, and there's no version of this where you get it wrong.
28. 5:46Feel your tongue sitting in the bottom of your mouth.
29. 5:58Notice that you don't have to start a breath. It arrives by itself.
30. 6:11Let this one be unhurried.
31. 6:20Notice your elbows. Odd things to have, but there they are.
32. 6:32Let the breath get soft, the way it goes when someone is reading beside you.
33. 6:46Keep following the air.
34. 6:55Feel the parts of you that have gone quiet.
35. 7:06Follow the breath down into your belly and feel it come back up.
36. 7:19No need to open your eyes yet.
37. 7:29Notice the backs of your knees, which you feel more than you think.
38. 7:42Count four breaths silently. Then stop counting and just follow.
39. 7:54Let it be this simple.
40. 8:03Notice the small movement in your belly when you breathe.
41. 8:15Whatever the feeling of always being behind is doing right now, your breathing can keep going underneath it.
42. 8:31I'll leave a gap here. Use it however you like.
43. 8:43This is not the last time the inbox that never empties will visit. That is not bad news. It means you will get more practice.
44. 9:02Let the in-breath be short and the out-breath unhurried.
45. 9:13You do not have to solve the pressure of expectations in these few minutes. Your only job is to keep breathing while it is here.
46. 9:32There is no correct amount of the feeling of always being behind to be feeling right now. Whatever is here is the honest amount.
47. 9:51Count down from ten, one number per exhale.
48. 10:02You might be planning something. Notice the planning, then come back.
49. 10:14Notice the pull to make this mean something. It doesn't have to.
50. 10:27I'll be quiet for a moment. Stay with the breath.
51. 10:39Small efforts are the whole method.
52. 10:49Just the breath, still.
53. 10:58Notice if anything has loosened. Even slightly counts.
54. 11:09Let the quiet end on its own rather than cutting it off.
55. 11:22Let your body keep settling.

Questions people ask

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