Getting Started with Meditation: Using Noting to Stay Present

The episode guides listeners through two short meditations while teaching foundational skills for beginners. It begins with settling into a comfortable posture, setting a relaxed intention to stay still, and finding an easy, comfortable way of breathing, using breath and whole-body physical sensations as an anchor to the present moment. The host addresses feeling overwhelmed by an active mind, emphasizing that meditation is not about stopping thoughts but relating to them skillfully by categorizing mental content as helpful or unhelpful and remembering you don’t need to finish a thought before returning to the breath. The core technique introduced is noting: using quick one-word labels to track experience (e.g., “breathing,” “feeling/body,” “thinking”) and keeping present-moment sensations in the foreground while allowing other mental chatter to remain in the background.

00:00 Welcome and First Sit

00:52 Posture and Breath Comfort

04:14 Expand to Body Awareness

07:31 When Meditation Feels Overwhelming

08:52 Helpful vs Unhelpful Thoughts

10:35 You Don’t Have to Finish Thoughts

12:01 Noting Technique Explained

14:59 Foreground vs Background Mind

16:53 Second Meditation with Noting

18:50 Three Labels Practice

22:20 Closing Reminder