Tension headaches: 12-minute noting meditation, in the hour before an exam

About this practice

For the times in the hour before an exam when tension headaches takes up more room than you would like — 12 minutes, noting. A guided session of about 12 minutes, suited to all levels. Nothing is recorded and no account is needed.

What this works on: tension headaches

Tension headaches follow a band of tightness across the forehead and around the skull, usually the product of long staring, jaw clenching and neck position.

It tends to show up as:

• A band of pressure across the forehead
• Pressure behind the eyes
• Ache worsening through the day

Softening the jaw, eyes and neck interrupts the pattern early. Once a tension headache settles in it is harder to shift.

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. 0:00Feel your ribs move. That is all the machinery you need to pay attention to right now.
2. 0:15Use one plain word, not a sentence. The moment you explain, you have joined in.
3. 0:29We're going to let the body lead and the mind follow for a while.
4. 0:43Feel the small movements your body makes to keep you upright. They're happening without you.
5. 0:57Notice if your breathing is faster than you expected. Don't correct it. Just note it.
6. 1:11Let the breath be slow enough that you can hear it, just barely.
7. 1:24Let the whole of your left foot be heavy.
8. 1:35Notice your elbows. Odd things to have, but there they are.
9. 1:47Let your whole body be as heavy as it wants to be.
10. 2:00Notice your heels making contact with the floor or the bed.
11. 2:12When the pressure building behind the eyes arrives, name it once, quietly, and go back to the breath. Naming is not fixing, and that is fine.
12. 2:31Imagine softening the edges of the ache from a long staring day. Not erasing it, just letting the sharp parts go a degree softer.
13. 2:50Let the breath get soft, the way it goes when someone is reading beside you.
14. 3:04If your mind has wandered, that's not a mistake. Noticing is the practice.
15. 3:17A label is enough. You do not need to follow the thought to see where it goes.
16. 3:32Pause here. Count three breaths if you need an anchor.
17. 3:44Notice the difference between a thought and the space around it.
18. 3:56When something arrives, label it quietly — thinking, hearing, planning, worrying — then return to the breath.
19. 4:11Nothing to follow for a moment except your own breathing.
20. 4:23If you're sleepy, sit up a little. Or let the sleepiness be there.
21. 4:36Notice the gap between the label and the next thought. That gap is what we are practising.
22. 4:51Let me stop talking. Follow the breath instead.
23. 5:02If you're bored, stay with the boredom for a moment. It's usually thinner than it looks.
24. 5:17You are the one noticing, not the thing being noticed. Stay on that side of the line.
25. 5:32Quiet for a moment. No need to fill it.
26. 5:43If you're thinking about the next thing on your list, that list will still be there.
27. 5:58Follow three breaths and let the fourth one go unobserved.
28. 6:10Keep following the air.
29. 6:19Now feel both feet at once. That's a lot of contact with the world.
30. 6:33Feel the pause at the top of the in-breath. It's shorter than you think.
31. 6:47Just the breath, still.
32. 6:56Notice the backs of your knees, which you feel more than you think.
33. 7:09Let the breath be shallow if shallow is what your body wants.
34. 7:22A few seconds more.
35. 7:31Notice where your body is still holding something. Leave it alone.
36. 7:43Feel the air move past your upper lip. It's the coolest spot on the way in.
37. 7:58Let your body keep settling.
38. 8:07Feel your palms. Warm or cool, either is fine.
39. 8:18Whatever the band around the forehead is doing right now, your breathing can keep going underneath it.
40. 8:33I'll be quiet for a moment. Stay with the breath.
41. 8:45Notice where the pressure building behind the eyes lives in your body. Chest, throat, stomach. Rest your attention there without trying to change it.
42. 9:04Let your belly rise first, then your chest, then the tops of your lungs.
43. 9:18If the ache from a long staring day shows up, let it be there without arguing with it. You are not trying to remove it, just to sit beside it.
44. 9:39Picture the band around the forehead as a weather front passing over. You are not the weather. You are the sky it moves through.
45. 9:58Count down from ten, one number per exhale.
46. 10:09If you're judging your performance, that's the same habit as judging everything else.
47. 10:22You might be planning something. Notice the planning, then come back.
48. 10:34I'll step back. You stay here.
49. 10:44If noting feels like too much, drop it and just follow the breath. The label is optional.
50. 10:59Let this one be unhurried.
51. 11:08Let the last of the stillness stay with you for a few more seconds.
52. 11:22Let 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.