Tired eyes: 5-minute letting go meditation, at the airport

About this practice

Nothing to learn and nothing to fix: 5 minutes of letting go for tired eyes, at the airport. A guided session of about 5 minutes, suited to all levels. Nothing is recorded and no account is needed.

What this works on: tired eyes

Screens reduce blink rate sharply, and the muscles that focus at close range stay contracted. The result is strain, ache and blur by the end of the day.

It tends to show up as:

• Aching, gritty eyes after screen time
• Blurring at the end of the day
• Headaches above the eyes

Closing the eyes is the only real rest they get. A few minutes without visual input is the specific thing your eyes are short of.

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. 0:00Notice the heaviest part of your body right now. Let it be heavy.
2. 0:13Ask yourself what you could stop holding for the next sixty seconds. That one is a good start.
3. 0:29Bring your attention to the parts of you that are already still.
4. 0:42There's no correct speed. Slower isn't better. Steadier is the only aim.
5. 0:55Let the breath be slow enough that you can hear it, just barely.
6. 1:08Breathe as if you had all evening. There's no rush in this part.
7. 1:21Notice your lower back. Let it curve however it curves.
8. 1:33Feel your palms. Warm or cool, either is fine.
9. 1:44Notice your breathing, without changing it.
10. 1:54Let the quiet do its work.
11. 2:04I'll leave a gap here. Use it however you like.
12. 2:16Setting something down is not the same as giving up. You can pick it up again after.
13. 2:31If nothing much is happening, that's not a problem. Nothing much is often the point.
14. 2:45There is no correct amount of the heavy lids of a screen-lit day to be feeling right now. Whatever is here is the honest amount.
15. 3:04If you catch yourself fighting the ache of staring too long, that is worth noticing. The fight usually costs more than the feeling.
16. 3:22Notice if your breathing is faster than you expected. Don't correct it. Just note it.
17. 3:36Remind yourself, slowly: I am safe in this moment, even while the strained eyes after screens is here. Safety and difficulty can share a room.
18. 3:55Notice the difference between a thought and the space around it.
19. 4:07A few seconds of nothing now. That's on purpose.
20. 4:18We are not solving anything in the next few minutes. We are setting it down, temporarily.
21. 4:33Stretch whatever feels stiff, then carry 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.