Noting meditation for waking up (20 min), on the train

About this practice

A 20-minute noting session for waking up, on the train. No app, no account — press start. A guided session of about 20 minutes, suited to all levels. Nothing is recorded and no account is needed.

What this works on: waking up

On waking, the brain passes through a slow transition rather than switching on. Rushing it leaves you foggy for the first hour.

It tends to show up as:

• Needing a long time to feel awake
• Foggy, irritable mornings
• The day starting before you are ready

Giving the body a few unhurried minutes at the start changes the tone of everything that follows.

Doing this on your commute

• Headphones on, eyes open or closed depending on your comfort
• Keep one part of your attention on your stop
• Do it standing if sitting is not possible — nobody is watching

Commuting time is already dead time. Nothing is being given up.

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. 0:00Keep your eyes open if you like, resting on one point of the floor a metre or two ahead.
2. 0:16Let this be easy, if easy is available.
3. 0:27Let your breathing find its own pace. We're only going to watch it.
4. 0:40Let your attention settle on the space between your nose and your upper lip, where the air passes.
5. 0:56Notice the breath you're taking right now. That's the only one that exists.
6. 1:09Notice the difference between the breath at the front of your nose and the breath in your chest.
7. 1:25Let your whole body be as heavy as it wants to be.
8. 1:38Feel your face. It's probably softer than it was five minutes ago.
9. 1:51Notice the space between your shoulder blades.
10. 2:01Feel your ankles. Let them be loose.
11. 2:11Notice the backs of your knees, which you feel more than you think.
12. 2:24When the fog of just-woken presses in, put a hand on your chest or your belly. Warmth and pressure are anchors your body already trusts.
13. 2:43the morning body that needs a moment may quiet down, or it may not. Either is fine. We are practising staying, not performing calm.
14. 3:02Let your breathing be boring. Boring is good here.
15. 3:13Remind yourself, slowly: I am safe in this moment, even while the slow start of the day is here. Safety and difficulty can share a room.
16. 3:32Notice where the fog of just-woken lives in your body. Chest, throat, stomach. Rest your attention there without trying to change it.
17. 3:50Notice the small pause before your body decides to breathe in again.
18. 4:03Notice the difference between a thought and the space around it.
19. 4:15Small efforts are the whole method.
20. 4:25Nothing to follow for a moment except your own breathing.
21. 4:37If you feel restless, that's a feeling, not a failure.
22. 4:49There's no need to try harder than this.
23. 5:00Quiet for a moment. No need to fill it.
24. 5:11Your mind will leave about a hundred times. Come back about a hundred times.
25. 5:25Nothing here needs to be efficient.
26. 5:35I'll leave a gap here. Use it however you like.
27. 5:47If you're irritated, that's allowed. Irritation is just weather.
28. 5:58You can be as unimpressive as you like for the next few minutes.
29. 6:11A few seconds of nothing now. That's on purpose.
30. 6:22Notice the exact moment your attention left. You probably won't catch it. That's normal.
31. 6:36We'll take this slowly, and there's no version of this where you get it wrong.
32. 6:50I'll be quiet for a moment. Stay with the breath.
33. 7:02Notice the pull to make this mean something. It doesn't have to.
34. 7:15We'll keep it quiet and unhurried.
35. 7:25Pause here. Count three breaths if you need an anchor.
36. 7:37Notice anything you're holding onto from earlier today.
37. 7:48Take the next breath slowly.
38. 7:57Let the exhale fall out rather than pushing it.
39. 8:08Feel your knees. They're just hinges, but they've worked hard.
40. 8:20A short silence. Let it be empty.
41. 8:30If your body wants to move, let it move, then come back.
42. 8:43Remain here for a few more breaths.
43. 8:53Let your breathing get quieter rather than deeper.
44. 9:04Notice your shoulders, one at a time. The left one first.
45. 9:16Silence. Let your shoulders drop again if they've crept up.
46. 9:28Notice if your attention is in the future. Bring it back to the room.
47. 9:42Notice the small gap after each exhale. Rest there for half a second.
48. 9:55Stay a moment longer than is comfortable.
49. 10:05Notice any tension that arrived while you weren't looking.
50. 10:16A few quiet breaths. That's all this is.
51. 10:27Notice your wrists. They bend a lot in a day.
52. 10:39Let the breath move at the speed of a sleeping person.
53. 10:51Stay here a little longer.
54. 11:00If you've lost track of where we were, you haven't lost anything important.
55. 11:13Let me stop talking. Follow the breath instead.
56. 11:24Notice your whole body as one shape, sitting or lying here.
57. 11:36Feel the slight stretch at the very bottom of the exhale.
58. 11:48Stay with it.
59. 11:56Notice your breathing, without changing it.
60. 12:06Notice if your breathing is faster than you expected. Don't correct it. Just note it.
61. 12:20Keep following the air.
62. 12:29Notice where your body is still holding something. Leave it alone.
63. 12:41Breathe in for four, out for six, if you'd like something to count.
64. 12:54Let the pause stretch out.
65. 13:03Notice your hands again. Check whether they've loosened on their own.
66. 13:15Feel your breath move down your back, all the way to your lower ribs.
67. 13:29Let your body keep settling.
68. 13:38Start at the top of your head. Notice the scalp, which you almost never notice.
69. 13:52Follow one full breath from the moment it starts to the moment it ends.
70. 14:06Let this one be unhurried.
71. 14:15Notice your heels making contact with the floor or the bed.
72. 14:27Follow three breaths and let the fourth one go unobserved.
73. 14:39Let it be this simple.
74. 14:48Feel the front of your chest. Notice it rise and fall once.
75. 15:01Let the morning body that needs a moment be exactly as big as it is, and let your breath be exactly as slow as it is. They can coexist.
76. 15:22Let's rest here in silence. It's short.
77. 15:32Let the exhale carry a little of the slow start of the day with it. Not all of it. Just a little, one breath at a time.
78. 15:52Notice that you don't have to start a breath. It arrives by itself.
79. 16:05Picture the fog of just-woken as a weather front passing over. You are not the weather. You are the sky it moves through.
80. 16:23Feel the weight of the morning body that needs a moment somewhere specific, then let the floor take a share of it.
81. 16:41Notice your breathing getting quieter on its own, without you deciding anything.
82. 16:54Nothing about the slow start of the day has to be explained or justified in this room.
83. 17:09Notice how the fog of just-woken changes shape when you stop resisting it. Usually it gets smaller, not bigger.
84. 17:25Feel the air move past your upper lip. It's the coolest spot on the way in.
85. 17:40Notice the moment you realise you've drifted. That moment is the whole skill.
86. 17:53If you're judging your performance, that's the same habit as judging everything else.
87. 18:06Notice any part of you that wants this to be over.
88. 18:18A gap. Don't rush to fill it with thinking.
89. 18:29If you only manage half of it, that's half more than nothing.
90. 18:42Nothing changes for a moment.
91. 18:51Give your hands a stretch before you go back to using them.
92. 19:04Let your eyes open when they're ready, not when the words end.

Questions people ask

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