Noting for mindfulness: 20 minutes, on exam day

About this practice

Slow, spoken guidance for mindfulness. A noting session you can do on exam day. A guided session of about 20 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 before an exam

• Do it outside the hall, before you go in
• Do not revise during it — that raises the noise
• Aim to arrive early and steady rather than late and reading

Last-minute revision mostly raises arousal without adding recall. Arriving settled is worth more.

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. 0:00Loosen your grip on whatever you're holding, or imagine loosening it.
2. 0:12We'll keep it quiet and unhurried.
3. 0:22If your mind is loud, that's information, not failure.
4. 0:33Let your attention rest on the out-breath. The in-breath can take care of itself.
5. 0:47Let your breathing find the rhythm it uses when you're almost asleep.
6. 1:00Let the exhale empty you a little more than usual, but not to the point of strain.
7. 1:15Feel your forearms, from the elbow down to the wrist.
8. 1:27Notice your shoulders, one at a time. The left one first.
9. 1:39Feel your calves, front and back.
10. 1:49Notice your heels making contact with the floor or the bed.
11. 2:01Notice the weight of your thighs, all the way down.
12. 2:13If the ordinary present tense has been with you all day, it is probably tired too. Let it rest alongside you.
13. 2:30the present moment you keep leaving may quiet down, or it may not. Either is fine. We are practising staying, not performing calm.
14. 2:48Breathe in through your nose and out through your nose, if that's comfortable.
15. 3:01You do not have to like the here-and-now your attention skips to breathe through it. Liking was never the requirement.
16. 3:18Imagine the ordinary present tense as a room you can walk out of for a minute. The room will still be there.
17. 3:36Feel the air move past your upper lip. It's the coolest spot on the way in.
18. 3:51Notice if you've been frowning at your own thoughts.
19. 4:02If you only manage half of it, that's half more than nothing.
20. 4:15I'll stop for a moment. Take the pause at your own speed.
21. 4:28If you're bored, stay with the boredom for a moment. It's usually thinner than it looks.
22. 4:43Small efforts are the whole method.
23. 4:53A few quiet breaths. That's all this is.
24. 5:04You might be planning something. Notice the planning, then come back.
25. 5:16Nothing here needs to be efficient.
26. 5:26Quiet now. The next part will wait for you.
27. 5:37If you're distracted by a sound, let the sound be the object for a moment.
28. 5:51Let this be easy, if easy is available.
29. 6:02Let me stop talking. Follow the breath instead.
30. 6:13If your mind has wandered, that's not a mistake. Noticing is the practice.
31. 6:26There's no need to try harder than this.
32. 6:37A few seconds of nothing now. That's on purpose.
33. 6:48If your body wants to move, let it move, then come back.
34. 7:01We'll take this slowly, and there's no version of this where you get it wrong.
35. 7:15No words for a moment. Only the next breath.
36. 7:26If you're thinking about the next thing on your list, that list will still be there.
37. 7:41A few seconds more.
38. 7:50Notice how many breaths you take in a minute. Don't change the number, just check.
39. 8:04Feel your ankles. Let them be loose.
40. 8:14Let's pause. Just the breathing for a while.
41. 8:25Notice the difference between a thought and the space around it.
42. 8:37Let your body keep settling.
43. 8:46Let the breath get soft, the way it goes when someone is reading beside you.
44. 9:00Start at the top of your head. Notice the scalp, which you almost never notice.
45. 9:14A gap. Don't rush to fill it with thinking.
46. 9:25Notice the pull to make this mean something. It doesn't have to.
47. 9:38Let each breath out be a small letting go of the muscles around your ribs.
48. 9:52No need to open your eyes yet.
49. 10:02Notice any tension that arrived while you weren't looking.
50. 10:13Silence. Let your shoulders drop again if they've crept up.
51. 10:25Notice your ears, which mostly just receive things.
52. 10:36Breathe as if you had all evening. There's no rush in this part.
53. 10:49Just the breath, still.
54. 10:58If you're replaying a conversation, let it play. It'll finish on its own.
55. 11:11A short silence. Let it be empty.
56. 11:21Let your whole body be as heavy as it wants to be.
57. 11:34Notice if your breathing is faster than you expected. Don't correct it. Just note it.
58. 11:48No rush to move on.
59. 11:57Feel your upper back against whatever is behind it.
60. 12:08Notice the breath you're taking right now. That's the only one that exists.
61. 12:21Take the next breath slowly.
62. 12:30Let your thumbs rest wherever they landed.
63. 12:40Let your breathing get quieter rather than deeper.
64. 12:51Let it be this simple.
65. 13:00Feel your belly. Let it be soft instead of held in.
66. 13:12Let your shoulders stay still while your ribs move.
67. 13:23Keep following the air.
68. 13:32Feel your tongue sitting in the bottom of your mouth.
69. 13:44Follow the breath down into your belly and feel it come back up.
70. 13:57Let the quiet do its work.
71. 14:07Notice your toes, starting with the big one on the left.
72. 14:19Let the breath move at the speed of a sleeping person.
73. 14:31Let the pause stretch out.
74. 14:40Notice the small movement in your belly when you breathe.
75. 14:52Let the exhale carry a little of the present moment you keep leaving with it. Not all of it. Just a little, one breath at a time.
76. 15:12Nothing to follow for a moment except your own breathing.
77. 15:24Nothing about the here-and-now your attention skips has to be explained or justified in this room.
78. 15:39Count down from ten, one number per exhale.
79. 15:50Notice how the ordinary present tense changes shape when you stop resisting it. Usually it gets smaller, not bigger.
80. 16:06Think of the present moment you keep leaving as a guest that arrived without knocking. You can let it stand in the hallway.
81. 16:24Feel the air as it passes the back of your throat. It's cooler going in.
82. 16:38You have been carrying the here-and-now your attention skips for a while. You can set it down for the length of this session and pick it up after.
83. 16:58When the ordinary present tense arrives, name it once, quietly, and go back to the breath. Naming is not fixing, and that is fine.
84. 17:17Let the exhale fall out rather than pushing it.
85. 17:28If you're counting the minutes, that's fine. Count them and come back.
86. 17:41If you're sleepy, sit up a little. Or let the sleepiness be there.
87. 17:54If nothing much is happening, that's not a problem. Nothing much is often the point.
88. 18:08Quiet for a moment. No need to fill it.
89. 18:19You can be as unimpressive as you like for the next few minutes.
90. 18:32Remain here for a few more breaths.
91. 18:42Let your breathing go back to whatever it does when nobody is watching.
92. 18:55Notice your feet on the floor. That's where you start from.
93. 19:07Stay with it.

Questions people ask

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