Noting for mindfulness: 10 minutes, in a five-minute break

About this practice

10 minutes to meet mindfulness with less of a fight. A noting practice, in a five-minute break. A guided session of about 10 minutes, suited to all levels. Nothing is recorded and no account is needed.

What this works on: mindfulness

Attention spends most of its time in the past or the future. Being present is not a state you find, it is a return you keep making.

It tends to show up as:

• Missing conversations while composing replies
• Arriving somewhere with no memory of the walk
• Eating without tasting

Every return to the senses is a repetition of the actual skill. Losing it is part of the practice, not a break in it.

Doing this on a break

• Leave the room if you can
• Do not start anything else in the same gap
• Set a timer so the break has an end

A break spent half-engaged with a screen is not much of a break. Guard the whole five minutes.

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 the first out-breath be longer than the in-breath. Nothing dramatic, just longer.
2. 0:13When something arrives, label it quietly — thinking, hearing, planning, worrying — then return to the breath.
3. 0:28Imagine your thoughts as traffic on a road you're standing beside. You don't have to flag any of it down.
4. 0:45We'll be quiet for a bit longer than usual. Stay with whatever shows up.
5. 0:59Let the out-breath be a little longer than the in-breath, without forcing it.
6. 1:12If you're holding your breath at the top, stop. There's no need to hold anything.
7. 1:26Feel your forearms, from the elbow down to the wrist.
8. 1:38Notice your whole body as one shape, sitting or lying here.
9. 1:50Feel your tongue sitting in the bottom of your mouth.
10. 2:02Notice your breathing, without changing it.
11. 2:12Whatever the here-and-now your attention skips is doing right now, your breathing can keep going underneath it.
12. 2:27There is no correct amount of the ordinary present tense to be feeling right now. Whatever is here is the honest amount.
13. 2:45Notice how you're sitting. Adjust if you need to. Then settle again.
14. 2:58You are the one noticing, not the thing being noticed. Stay on that side of the line.
15. 3:13I'll be quiet for a moment. Stay with the breath.
16. 3:25If you're distracted by a sound, let the sound be the object for a moment.
17. 3:39A label is enough. You do not need to follow the thought to see where it goes.
18. 3:54Quiet now. The next part will wait for you.
19. 4:05Your mind will leave about a hundred times. Come back about a hundred times.
20. 4:19Use one plain word, not a sentence. The moment you explain, you have joined in.
21. 4:33Let's rest here in silence. It's short.
22. 4:43Notice any part of you that wants this to be over.
23. 4:55Follow one full breath from the moment it starts to the moment it ends.
24. 5:09Let your body keep settling.
25. 5:18Feel the parts of you that have gone quiet.
26. 5:29Notice the difference between the breath at the front of your nose and the breath in your chest.
27. 5:45A few seconds more.
28. 5:54Let the whole of your left foot be heavy.
29. 6:05Feel the air move past your upper lip. It's the coolest spot on the way in.
30. 6:20Let it be this simple.
31. 6:29Notice your heels making contact with the floor or the bed.
32. 6:41Follow three breaths and let the fourth one go unobserved.
33. 6:53I'll step back. You stay here.
34. 7:03You do not have to like the present moment you keep leaving to breathe through it. Liking was never the requirement.
35. 7:20Notice where the here-and-now your attention skips lives in your body. Chest, throat, stomach. Rest your attention there without trying to change it.
36. 7:38Let your breathing get quieter rather than deeper.
37. 7:49This is not the last time the ordinary present tense will visit. That is not bad news. It means you will get more practice.
38. 8:08Notice if you're being hard on yourself about any of this.
39. 8:20If you've lost track of where we were, you haven't lost anything important.
40. 8:33I'll stop for a moment. Take the pause at your own speed.
41. 8:46Notice the gap between the label and the next thought. That gap is what we are practising.
42. 9:01Keep following the air.
43. 9:10Notice the room again: the sounds, the temperature, the light.
44. 9:22Notice your feet on the floor. That's where you start from.

Questions people ask

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