Noting for low energy: 3 minutes, during the evening wind-down

About this practice

For the times during the evening wind-down when low energy takes up more room than you would like — 3 minutes, noting. A guided session of about 3 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 in the evening

• Dim the lights first — bright light works against the point
• Put the phone in another room
• Keep it slow rather than interesting

Something too engaging will wake you up rather than wind you down.

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. 0:00Let your next exhale be a sigh, if a sigh is what's waiting there.
2. 0:14Small efforts are the whole method.
3. 0:24Let the rhythm of your breathing set the pace, not the words.
4. 0:37Feel your breath move down your back, all the way to your lower ribs.
5. 0:51Let the in-breath be short and the out-breath unhurried.
6. 1:02Now feel both feet at once. That's a lot of contact with the world.
7. 1:16If you catch yourself fighting the flat battery feeling, that is worth noticing. The fight usually costs more than the feeling.
8. 1:33Let the tiredness that sits in the bones be exactly as big as it is, and let your breath be exactly as slow as it is. They can coexist.
9. 1:54Let your ribs widen on the in-breath instead of your shoulders lifting.
10. 2:07Nothing about the effort everything takes has to be explained or justified in this room.
11. 2:21Notice any tension that arrived while you weren't looking.
12. 2:32If you only manage half of it, that's half more than nothing.
13. 2:45Before you open your eyes, notice how you feel compared to the start. It might be small.

Questions people ask

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