Softening meditation for tension headaches (10 min), at lunch

About this practice

For the times at lunch when tension headaches takes up more room than you would like — 10 minutes, softening. A guided session of about 10 minutes, suited to all levels. Nothing is recorded and no account is needed.

What this works on: tension headaches

Tension headaches follow a band of tightness across the forehead and around the skull, usually the product of long staring, jaw clenching and neck position.

It tends to show up as:

• A band of pressure across the forehead
• Pressure behind the eyes
• Ache worsening through the day

Softening the jaw, eyes and neck interrupts the pattern early. Once a tension headache settles in it is harder to shift.

Doing this at lunch

• Do it before eating rather than after, so you are not working against digestion
• Leaving the desk matters more than the session length
• Take the headphones off afterwards so the break registers

A break that happens at the same desk is only half a break.

How softening works

Softening is the practice of releasing held tension degree by degree rather than all at once. It targets the physical grip — shoulders, jaw, gut — that persists long after the stressor has passed.

• Soften one place per exhale rather than everything at once
• Let warmth and gravity do the work instead of muscular effort
• If a place will not soften, leave it and go somewhere that will

What happens, minute by minute

1. 0:00If you're sitting, let the chair do the work of holding you upright.
2. 0:13With every out-breath, soften one place. Shoulders first, then jaw, then the space behind the eyes.
3. 0:28Let your attention rest on the out-breath. The in-breath can take care of itself.
4. 0:42We'll work through this slowly. If you lose the thread, the thread will wait.
5. 0:56Notice that you don't have to start a breath. It arrives by itself.
6. 1:09Let the breath be slow enough that you can hear it, just barely.
7. 1:22Let the whole of your left foot be heavy.
8. 1:33Notice your fingers, one by one, starting with the little finger.
9. 1:45Notice your jaw again. Let your back teeth part slightly.
10. 1:57Now feel both feet at once. That's a lot of contact with the world.
11. 2:11When the pressure building behind the eyes arrives, name it once, quietly, and go back to the breath. Naming is not fixing, and that is fine.
12. 2:30Picture the ache from a long staring day as a weather front passing over. You are not the weather. You are the sky it moves through.
13. 2:49If you're irritated, that's allowed. Irritation is just weather.
14. 3:00Find the tightest place and simply breathe near it. Warmth does the softening, not effort.
15. 3:14Let's rest here in silence. It's short.
16. 3:24If you're replaying a conversation, let it play. It'll finish on its own.
17. 3:37If a place will not soften, leave it alone and go somewhere that will. It often follows.
18. 3:52Pause here. Count three breaths if you need an anchor.
19. 4:04If a song is stuck in your head, let it play in the background.
20. 4:18Unclenching is not the same as relaxing. Just stop adding the tension back.
21. 4:31Quiet for a moment. No need to fill it.
22. 4:42Let your breathing get quieter rather than deeper.
23. 4:53Stay a moment longer than is comfortable.
24. 5:03Feel your upper arms hanging. They're heavier than you remember.
25. 5:15Notice how many breaths you take in a minute. Don't change the number, just check.
26. 5:29A few seconds more.
27. 5:38Feel the skin around your eyes. Let the muscles behind them go loose.
28. 5:51If you're holding your breath at the top, stop. There's no need to hold anything.
29. 6:05Just the breath, still.
30. 6:14Notice where your body is still holding something. Leave it alone.
31. 6:26Notice where you feel the breath most clearly. Nose, chest, or belly — pick one and stay there.
32. 6:42A gap. Don't rush to fill it with thinking.
33. 6:53Notice how the band around the forehead changes shape when you stop resisting it. Usually it gets smaller, not bigger.
34. 7:10If the pressure building behind the eyes has been with you all day, it is probably tired too. Let it rest alongside you.
35. 7:28Follow one full breath from the moment it starts to the moment it ends.
36. 7:42Let the exhale carry a little of the ache from a long staring day with it. Not all of it. Just a little, one breath at a time.
37. 8:02Notice anything you're holding onto from earlier today.
38. 8:13If you're sleepy, sit up a little. Or let the sleepiness be there.
39. 8:26Silence. Let your shoulders drop again if they've crept up.
40. 8:38We are not forcing anything open. We are letting things unclench by a single degree.
41. 8:52Stay here a little longer.
42. 9:01Stretch whatever feels stiff, then carry on.
43. 9:11Let the last of the stillness stay with you for a few more seconds.
44. 9:25Remain here for a few more breaths.

Questions people ask

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