Let the day be over now. You have carried it far enough. So much of what you're holding was never yours to begin with, the worries of other people and other days. This meditation helps you hand each one back with the breath, keeping only your own breath, the one thing that was ever truly yours to carry.
Best for: anyone who lies awake at night with a mind full of other people's problems, carrying tomorrow's worries and the weight of things they cannot control.
Use it when: you can't wind down at bedtime, the day's tension won't release its grip, you're rehearsing arguments and outcomes you can't change, or you want to fall asleep by finally setting down what isn't yours.
How it helps: with each exhale you return a borrowed worry to where it belongs, until your body grows lighter and your hands grow empty. By the end, what remains is light, quiet, and entirely your own, leaving nothing left to carry as you drift down into sleep.
A roughly ten-minute guided breathing meditation in a calm voice over gentle ambient sound, from The Silent Ember Sleep collection.