20-minute guided noting practice for insomnia — on a meeting break

About this practice

When insomnia shows up on a meeting break, this 20-minute noting session gives you somewhere to put it down. A guided session of about 20 minutes, suited to all levels. Nothing is recorded and no account is needed.

What this works on: insomnia

Insomnia is often maintained by the fear of not sleeping. Anticipating a bad night raises arousal at bedtime, which produces the bad night.

It tends to show up as:

• Dreading bedtime
• Hours awake with a busy mind
• Sleeping worse as the week goes on

Removing the pressure to sleep is the active ingredient. This gives you something to do that is not trying.

Doing this between meetings

• Start it in the gap, not after the next one begins
• Write down the open thread from the last meeting first, then let it go
• Two minutes done beats five minutes planned

The back-to-back day is exactly why the gap has to be protected rather than used for one more task.

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. 0:00Nothing needs to be decided in the next few minutes. Park the decisions.
2. 0:13If noting feels like too much, drop it and just follow the breath. The label is optional.
3. 0:28We'll be quiet for a bit longer than usual. Stay with whatever shows up.
4. 0:42Nothing here needs to be pleasant. Neutral is fine. Dull is fine.
5. 0:55Notice the small pause before your body decides to breathe in again.
6. 1:08Feel your breath move down your back, all the way to your lower ribs.
7. 1:22Feel your face. It's probably softer than it was five minutes ago.
8. 1:35Feel your ankles. Let them be loose.
9. 1:45Feel your palms. Warm or cool, either is fine.
10. 1:56Let the whole of your left foot be heavy.
11. 2:07Feel your belly. Let it be soft instead of held in.
12. 2:19You are allowed to be unimpressed by the frustration of not sleeping. Indifference is a legitimate response.
13. 2:34If you catch yourself fighting the wide-awake mind at 2am, that is worth noticing. The fight usually costs more than the feeling.
14. 2:52Notice your breathing getting quieter on its own, without you deciding anything.
15. 3:05If the counting of hours until morning is loud right now, make your attention smaller. Just the next breath. Nothing beyond it.
16. 3:23Notice the space around the frustration of not sleeping. It is there, even if it is small. Put your attention in that space.
17. 3:41Let the breath be shallow if shallow is what your body wants.
18. 3:54Notice whether you're breathing or holding. Start breathing again.
19. 4:05You are the one noticing, not the thing being noticed. Stay on that side of the line.
20. 4:20Let's rest here in silence. It's short.
21. 4:30If you've lost track of where we were, you haven't lost anything important.
22. 4:43A label is enough. You do not need to follow the thought to see where it goes.
23. 4:58I'll be quiet for a moment. Stay with the breath.
24. 5:10If you're thinking about the next thing on your list, that list will still be there.
25. 5:25When something arrives, label it quietly — thinking, hearing, planning, worrying — then return to the breath.
26. 5:40A few quiet breaths. That's all this is.
27. 5:51If nothing much is happening, that's not a problem. Nothing much is often the point.
28. 6:05Notice the gap between the label and the next thought. That gap is what we are practising.
29. 6:20I'll leave a gap here. Use it however you like.
30. 6:32If you're distracted by a sound, let the sound be the object for a moment.
31. 6:46Just the breath, still.
32. 6:55Let your shoulders stay still while your ribs move.
33. 7:06Notice the backs of your knees, which you feel more than you think.
34. 7:19Silence. Let your shoulders drop again if they've crept up.
35. 7:31Your mind will leave about a hundred times. Come back about a hundred times.
36. 7:45Take the next breath slowly.
37. 7:54Feel the slight stretch at the very bottom of the exhale.
38. 8:06Feel your upper arms hanging. They're heavier than you remember.
39. 8:18Quiet for a moment. No need to fill it.
40. 8:29If a worry shows up, name it quietly and let it sit beside you.
41. 8:43No rush to move on.
42. 8:52Follow three breaths and let the fourth one go unobserved.
43. 9:04Feel the tops of your thighs.
44. 9:14A gap. Don't rush to fill it with thinking.
45. 9:25Follow one full breath from the moment it starts to the moment it ends.
46. 9:39Keep following the air.
47. 9:48Notice how quickly your mind labels things: good, bad, boring, nice.
48. 10:00Pause here. Count three breaths if you need an anchor.
49. 10:12Let the whole of your right foot be heavy.
50. 10:23Count four breaths silently. Then stop counting and just follow.
51. 10:35No need to open your eyes yet.
52. 10:45If you feel emotional, you don't have to explain it to anyone, including yourself.
53. 10:59Quiet now. The next part will wait for you.
54. 11:10Feel your forearms, from the elbow down to the wrist.
55. 11:22Notice where you feel the breath most clearly. Nose, chest, or belly — pick one and stay there.
56. 11:38Let the pause stretch out.
57. 11:47If your mind is quiet, don't grab at it. Quiet comes and goes too.
58. 12:01Nothing to follow for a moment except your own breathing.
59. 12:13Notice your breathing, without changing it.
60. 12:23Let the out-breath be a little longer than the in-breath, without forcing it.
61. 12:36Remain here for a few more breaths.
62. 12:46Notice your hands again. Check whether they've loosened on their own.
63. 12:58Let each breath out be a small letting go of the muscles around your ribs.
64. 13:12Let the quiet do its work.
65. 13:22Notice your heels making contact with the floor or the bed.
66. 13:34Feel the air move past your upper lip. It's the coolest spot on the way in.
67. 13:49Nothing changes for a moment.
68. 13:58Let your throat soften. There's nothing to swallow right now.
69. 14:10If you're holding your breath at the top, stop. There's no need to hold anything.
70. 14:24Stay here a little longer.
71. 14:33Feel your hips. Wide, heavy, and doing nothing.
72. 14:44Say to yourself: this is uncomfortable, and I can stay with it for one more breath. Then take that breath.
73. 15:01A short silence. Let it be empty.
74. 15:11Picture the counting of hours until morning as a weather front passing over. You are not the weather. You are the sky it moves through.
75. 15:30Let the breath get soft, the way it goes when someone is reading beside you.
76. 15:44Imagine the frustration of not sleeping as a room you can walk out of for a minute. The room will still be there.
77. 16:02Remind yourself, slowly: I am safe in this moment, even while the wide-awake mind at 2am is here. Safety and difficulty can share a room.
78. 16:21Feel the pause at the top of the in-breath. It's shorter than you think.
79. 16:35Let the counting of hours until morning be exactly as big as it is, and let your breath be exactly as slow as it is. They can coexist.
80. 16:55Let the exhale carry a little of the frustration of not sleeping with it. Not all of it. Just a little, one breath at a time.
81. 17:14Let the exhale fall out rather than pushing it.
82. 17:25If your mind has wandered, that's not a mistake. Noticing is the practice.
83. 17:38Notice how you're sitting. Adjust if you need to. Then settle again.
84. 17:51If you're sleepy, sit up a little. Or let the sleepiness be there.
85. 18:04I'll stop for a moment. Take the pause at your own speed.
86. 18:17Use one plain word, not a sentence. The moment you explain, you have joined in.
87. 18:31Let it be this simple.
88. 18:40Take a moment to notice you did this for yourself. That's not nothing.
89. 18:53Let the next breath be the start of the rest of the day.
90. 19:06A few seconds more.

Questions people ask

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