The two minutes before a meeting usually go to email-checking and mild dread. Six practices sized for the calendar gap.
1. Close the last thing before opening the next
Before joining, take ten seconds to mark the previous task done: a breath, a note of where to resume, the tab closed.
2. Feet down, shoulders down
Feet flat on the floor, press gently, let the shoulders drop on one slow exhale. Thirty seconds. This is a very short form of grounding, and nobody on the call will see it.
3. Name your one intention
Not an agenda item – a personal one: “listen more than I speak,” “say the uncomfortable thing kindly,” “stay curious.” One sentence. Say it quietly to yourself.
4. Arrive as a body, not a thumbnail
Before the camera opens, sit back, feel your seat, let your face wake up. On video calls, ten seconds to settle before the camera opens can help.
5. Move before a difficult one
For the meeting you are dreading: sixty private seconds beforehand – shake the hands, roll the shoulders, breathe out hard once. Do what is comfortable in the space you have.
6. Bookend with thirty seconds after
When it ends, do not teleport to the next thing: one breath, feel what the meeting left – relief, tension, an open loop – and note it.
If every meeting feels like a threat
If meetings reliably trigger dread disproportionate to their content, that is worth attention – workload, a specific dynamic, or anxiety that deserves support. The two-minute practices are for ordinary nerves. If dread is frequent or severe, consider support from a doctor or therapist.
Related: a daily somatic routine for the wider workday.
