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SoulGarden

After work · Arriving in your body

How do I unwind after work?

Unwinding after work is often easier through your body than through your head. Take five minutes for a deliberate transition: feel your feet on the floor, the weight of your body and a few sounds around you, and let your out-breath become a little longer. A small, regular transition helps you leave the working day behind instead of taking it with you to the sofa.

By the SoulGarden team ·

Why switching off is so hard

If you spend all day reacting, planning and answering messages, you're often still running in the evening. Your head keeps going even though the laptop is closed. Many people then reach for their phone or the next episode. It distracts, but it rarely helps you come to rest.

What's often missing is a transition. It used to be the commute home. When you work from home, there are sometimes only a few steps between work and evening.

What helps you unwind

  • Make the transition visible: laptop closed, a glass of water, five minutes sitting. The same every day.
  • Start with your body, not your thoughts. Feet, weight and hands are easier to find than inner calm.
  • Let thoughts about work be there. You don't have to solve them now, just don't follow them.
  • Write down the open points for tomorrow. Then your head can let them go.
  • Go outside if you can. In the German TK stress report 2025, time in nature tops the list of ways to balance stress.

Practice · 5 minutes

Five minutes of evening

Do this practice right after you finish work, before you reach for your phone. Sitting or standing, whatever suits you.

  1. Close the laptop or put your work things away. Set a timer for five minutes.
  2. Put both feet on the floor and feel how the ground supports you.
  3. Notice three sounds, near or far. You don't need to name them, just hear them.
  4. A few times, let your out-breath become a little longer than your in-breath, without pressure. If that doesn't feel good, simply stay with your feet.
  5. If a thought about work comes up, say “tomorrow” to yourself and return to your feet.
  6. When the gong sounds, stand up and take a deliberate first step into your evening.

If anything feels like too much, open your eyes, look around the room and feel your feet. You can stop at any time, nothing is lost.

In the app

Evenings off with SoulGarden

In SoulGarden, the element earth stands for arriving in your body: ground beneath your feet when your mind is too full. Set the timer with a gong and nature sounds for as long as feels right today, or let a guided meditation accompany you, spoken by people, not by an AI.

Every after-work meditation makes your garden grow. If you like, you can capture in the journal what may stay from the day, typed or spoken. The app is free and ad-free, on iPhone, Android and in your browser.

  • Element earth
  • Timer with gong and nature sounds
  • Guided meditations
  • Journal
How SoulGarden works

Plant your first seed.

SoulGarden is free and ad-free, no sign-up needed. On iPhone, Android and in your browser, in English and German. Everything works offline, too.

Download on theApp StoreGet it onGoogle PlayOpen in browser

Frequently asked questions

How can I switch off after work?

A fixed transition helps: put work things away, sit for five minutes, feel your feet and breath. Start with your body instead of your thoughts. Movement and time outdoors are good ways to leave the day behind, too.

Are five minutes of meditation after work enough?

Yes, five minutes are enough for a deliberate transition. More minutes don't automatically mean more benefit. What matters more is that the practice fits your everyday life and you're happy to repeat it.

Isn't an episode on the sofa just as relaxing?

An episode distracts you, meditation helps you arrive. Both are allowed. If you notice that you're just as tense after the episode as before, try five minutes in your body first.

I'm too tired to meditate after work. What then?

Then keep it short and sit on the sofa, with your eyes open if you like. One minute counts too. If you nod off, that's not a mistake, maybe just a sign that your body needs rest right now.

More on this

Source: TK stress report 2025 (n = 1,407).