12-minute noting meditation for sleep, when you are overwhelmed

About this practice

12 minutes to meet sleep with less of a fight. A noting practice, when you are overwhelmed. A guided session of about 12 minutes, suited to all levels. Nothing is recorded and no account is needed.

What this works on: sleep

Sleep arrives on a downslope, not on command. Arousal has to fall for some minutes before the switch flips, and trying harder keeps it up.

It tends to show up as:

• Getting a second wind at bedtime
• Mind starting up as soon as the light goes off
• Sleep arriving much later than you intended

The practice is to stop steering. Following a slow voice occupies the part of the mind that would otherwise be trying.

Doing this when you are overwhelmed

• Do not decide priorities during it
• Pick the shortest session available here
• When you finish, write down the first physical action on paper

The pile looks less like a pile once the alarm stops ringing. Sort it after, not during.

How noting works

Noting is a technique from insight practice: when something arises, you give it a single plain label — thinking, hearing, planning — and return to the anchor. The label creates a small distance between you and the content.

• Use one word, not a sentence — explaining means you have joined in
• Label and return; do not follow the thought to see where it goes
• Drop the labelling if it becomes effortful and just follow the breath

What happens, minute by minute

1. 0:00Notice the temperature of the air on the backs of your hands.
2. 0:13We'll take this slowly, and there's no version of this where you get it wrong.
3. 0:27Let your sense of the room shrink down to just your body and the surface you're on.
4. 0:42Let the breath get a little quieter, as if you were trying not to wake someone sleeping nearby.
5. 0:58Feel your breath move down your back, all the way to your lower ribs.
6. 1:12Count four breaths silently. Then stop counting and just follow.
7. 1:24Feel the outline of yourself, from the top of your head to your heels.
8. 1:38Let your thumbs rest wherever they landed.
9. 1:48Feel your face. It's probably softer than it was five minutes ago.
10. 2:01Notice your wrists. They bend a lot in a day.
11. 2:13Notice the space around the quiet your mind keeps postponing. It is there, even if it is small. Put your attention in that space.
12. 2:32Say to yourself: this is uncomfortable, and I can stay with it for one more breath. Then take that breath.
13. 2:49Let the exhale empty you a little more than usual, but not to the point of strain.
14. 3:04You might be planning something. Notice the planning, then come back.
15. 3:16We'll keep it quiet and unhurried.
16. 3:26A gap. Don't rush to fill it with thinking.
17. 3:37Notice the moment you realise you've drifted. That moment is the whole skill.
18. 3:50Small efforts are the whole method.
19. 4:00Let's rest here in silence. It's short.
20. 4:10Notice if you're being hard on yourself about any of this.
21. 4:22You can be as unimpressive as you like for the next few minutes.
22. 4:35A short silence. Let it be empty.
23. 4:45Notice if your attention is in the future. Bring it back to the room.
24. 4:59If you only manage half of it, that's half more than nothing.
25. 5:12I'll stop for a moment. Take the pause at your own speed.
26. 5:25Notice how you're sitting. Adjust if you need to. Then settle again.
27. 5:38There's no need to try harder than this.
28. 5:49Feel your hips. Wide, heavy, and doing nothing.
29. 6:00Notice if your breathing is faster than you expected. Don't correct it. Just note it.
30. 6:14No rush to move on.
31. 6:23Notice your elbows. Odd things to have, but there they are.
32. 6:35Notice the small pause before your body decides to breathe in again.
33. 6:48Keep following the air.
34. 6:57Feel your calves, front and back.
35. 7:07Notice how many breaths you take in a minute. Don't change the number, just check.
36. 7:21Nothing changes for a moment.
37. 7:30Feel your tongue sitting in the bottom of your mouth.
38. 7:42Notice the breath you're taking right now. That's the only one that exists.
39. 7:55Stay a moment longer than is comfortable.
40. 8:05Feel the tops of your thighs.
41. 8:15If the day folding itself up has been with you all day, it is probably tired too. Let it rest alongside you.
42. 8:33Nothing to follow for a moment except your own breathing.
43. 8:45Whatever the quiet your mind keeps postponing is doing right now, your breathing can keep going underneath it.
44. 9:01Feel the pause at the top of the in-breath. It's shorter than you think.
45. 9:15You have been carrying the heaviness your body already knows for a while. You can set it down for the length of this session and pick it up after.
46. 9:36Think of the day folding itself up as a guest that arrived without knocking. You can let it stand in the hallway.
47. 9:54Let the exhale fall out rather than pushing it.
48. 10:05Notice whether you're breathing or holding. Start breathing again.
49. 10:16If you've lost track of where we were, you haven't lost anything important.
50. 10:29I'll step back. You stay here.
51. 10:39Let this be easy, if easy is available.
52. 10:50A few seconds more.
53. 10:59Let the pace of the last few minutes set the pace of the next few.
54. 11:13Take a moment to notice you did this for yourself. That's not nothing.
55. 11:26Let it be this simple.

Questions people ask

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