Health anxiety: 5-minute noting meditation, on a day off

About this practice

For the times on a day off when health anxiety takes up more room than you would like — 5 minutes, noting. A guided session of about 5 minutes, suited to all levels. Nothing is recorded and no account is needed.

What this works on: health anxiety

Health anxiety runs on a loop of scanning and checking. Each check briefly relieves the fear and then strengthens it, because the relief teaches the brain that checking was necessary.

It tends to show up as:

• Repeatedly checking a symptom or a pulse
• Searching symptoms late at night
• Reassurance that only helps for an hour

Attention moved out of the head and into the body as a whole reduces scanning. You are not arguing with the worry, just giving it less to grip.

Doing this on a rest day

• Do it without a reason or a target
• Later in the day, unhurried, in good light
• Let it be longer than usual if you want

Rest that has to be justified is not really rest. This one is allowed to be pointless.

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. 0:00There is nothing to get right here. Nothing is being scored.
2. 0:12Small efforts are the whole method.
3. 0:22Let your breathing find its own pace. We're only going to watch it.
4. 0:35There's a difference between relaxing and stopping. We're aiming for the second one, gently.
5. 0:49Breathe in for four, out for six, if you'd like something to count.
6. 1:02Let the breath be shallow if shallow is what your body wants.
7. 1:15Feel your heart somewhere in there, doing its work without instructions.
8. 1:27Feel the parts of you that have gone quiet.
9. 1:38Let the whole of your left foot be heavy.
10. 1:49Take the next breath slowly.
11. 1:58A short silence. Let it be empty.
12. 2:08If you only manage half of it, that's half more than nothing.
13. 2:21If you feel numb, that's a valid thing to feel. Nothing to fix.
14. 2:34Notice the space around the habit of checking for something wrong. It is there, even if it is small. Put your attention in that space.
15. 2:53You have been carrying the fear attached to each new symptom for a while. You can set it down for the length of this session and pick it up after.
16. 3:14Feel the pause at the top of the in-breath. It's shorter than you think.
17. 3:28Imagine the worry about what your body might be telling you as a room you can walk out of for a minute. The room will still be there.
18. 3:48Notice if you've been frowning at your own thoughts.
19. 3:59A gap. Don't rush to fill it with thinking.
20. 4:10We'll take this slowly, and there's no version of this where you get it wrong.
21. 4:24Come back to your body first, and the rest of the day second.
22. 4:37Stay a moment longer than is comfortable.

Questions people ask

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