Low energy: 10-minute noting meditation, on a slow Sunday

About this practice

Slow, spoken guidance for low energy. A noting session you can do on a slow Sunday. A guided session of about 10 minutes, suited to all levels. Nothing is recorded and no account is needed.

What this works on: low energy

Low energy is a flat battery, not laziness. Pushing through it further drains reserves and produces worse work, faster.

It tends to show up as:

• Everything feeling like an effort
• Procrastinating on simple tasks
• Tiredness sitting deep in the body

A short practice will not restore the reserve, but it removes some of the tension that is draining it.

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. 0:00Notice the heaviest part of your body right now. Let it be heavy.
2. 0:13Nothing here needs to be efficient.
3. 0:23Nothing here needs to be pleasant. Neutral is fine. Dull is fine.
4. 0:36Let the last hour go on its own. You can pick it up again afterwards.
5. 0:50If you're holding your breath at the top, stop. There's no need to hold anything.
6. 1:04Let your breathing get quieter rather than deeper.
7. 1:15Notice your eyebrows. They're probably doing something small right now.
8. 1:27Notice your ribs on both sides. Wide, not squeezed.
9. 1:38Notice your jaw again. Let your back teeth part slightly.
10. 1:50Feel your calves, front and back.
11. 2:00Notice how the tiredness that sits in the bones changes shape when you stop resisting it. Usually it gets smaller, not bigger.
12. 2:18There is no correct amount of the effort everything takes to be feeling right now. Whatever is here is the honest amount.
13. 2:36If you're counting the minutes, that's fine. Count them and come back.
14. 2:49We'll keep it quiet and unhurried.
15. 2:59A gap. Don't rush to fill it with thinking.
16. 3:10If you feel emotional, you don't have to explain it to anyone, including yourself.
17. 3:24Let this be easy, if easy is available.
18. 3:35Silence. Let your shoulders drop again if they've crept up.
19. 3:47Notice the moment you realise you've drifted. That moment is the whole skill.
20. 4:00There's no need to try harder than this.
21. 4:11I'll stop for a moment. Take the pause at your own speed.
22. 4:24If you're sleepy, sit up a little. Or let the sleepiness be there.
23. 4:37You can be as unimpressive as you like for the next few minutes.
24. 4:50Feel the front of your chest. Notice it rise and fall once.
25. 5:03Feel the air as it passes the back of your throat. It's cooler going in.
26. 5:17No need to open your eyes yet.
27. 5:27Notice the space between your shoulder blades.
28. 5:37Follow the breath down into your belly and feel it come back up.
29. 5:50Let the pause stretch out.
30. 5:59Feel the middle of your back, the part that never gets attention.
31. 6:12Let the breath move at the speed of a sleeping person.
32. 6:24Let the quiet do its work.
33. 6:34Notice your lower back. Let it curve however it curves.
34. 6:46Follow three breaths and let the fourth one go unobserved.
35. 6:58Pause here. Count three breaths if you need an anchor.
36. 7:10the flat battery feeling may quiet down, or it may not. Either is fine. We are practising staying, not performing calm.
37. 7:27Each time your mind hands you the tiredness that sits in the bones, treat it like a leaf on a stream. Present for a moment, then carried on.
38. 7:47Count four breaths silently. Then stop counting and just follow.
39. 7:59Remind yourself, slowly: I am safe in this moment, even while the effort everything takes is here. Safety and difficulty can share a room.
40. 8:18Notice if you're waiting for something to happen. Nothing is scheduled.
41. 8:30Notice the difference between a thought and the space around it.
42. 8:42I'll be quiet for a moment. Stay with the breath.
43. 8:54Small efforts are the whole method.
44. 9:04Let it be this simple.
45. 9:13Take a moment to notice you did this for yourself. That's not nothing.
46. 9:26Notice if anything has loosened. Even slightly counts.

Questions people ask

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