A shared practice
Mindful Noting, Continued
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Created bySean Fargo
From Sean's awareness collection — recorded in his own voice.
In Sean Fargo’s own voice9 min
Read along — the full script
Welcome. I'm Sean Fargo. To reduce anxiety, let's start by taking a moment to relax your body. Allowing your shoulders to drop, softening the muscles of your face and jaw, and relax your belly. Finding a posture that feels easeful and relaxed.
You can close your eyes or look downwards and rest your hands in an easy, effortless way. And take a moment to scan your awareness through your body. Just noticing any predominant sensations of your body as you breathe. Breathing full, natural, deep breaths as you allow your mind to settle.
Allowing your awareness to pervade through your body. And bringing your awareness to the rise and fall of your belly as you breathe in and out. Sensing into the movements of your belly as you breathe. Breath by breath. Sensing into the movements of your belly as you inhale and exhale.
And if you get distracted in any way, try to note thoughts that distract you as thinking, thinking. Or if physical sensations distract you, note them as feeling, feeling. So you can actually note any strong distractions without getting too caught up in thinking about them.
If a troublesome emotion arises, you can note it as anger or sadness or worry. And don't worry too much if you find it difficult to identify your distractions. If it's not immediately clear, just note it as thinking, thinking, and then come back to the breath, noticing the sensations of your belly as you breathe.
And if your mind has wandered, that's okay. It's what minds do. Just note thinking, thinking, and come back to the sensations of each breath. And now let your mind be free. Gently open your eyes whenever you're ready and relax.
There's nothing to do. Notice how do you feel right now? Was there a sense of anxiety about noting your thoughts or sensations? If not, then congratulations. If so, then next time, try not to worry if it's not really clear about what the emotion is or what the distraction is.
The last thing you want to do is to get involved in lots of thought like, "Yeah, it could be anxiety, but actually, maybe it feels like a little bit of sadness there." That's not the place you wanna go. If it's immediately obvious, like a strong level of frustration, it's, "Okay, that's what it is, frustration," and then to come back to the breath. You're not really thinking about it or analyzing it.
You're not judging it as good or bad, right or wrong. You're simply acknowledging what's there, almost with a tinge of acceptance because it's already there. There's nothing wrong with experiencing any of these distractions or emotions.
It's just a part of being human. No need to be overly critical or judgmental of them. It's enough just to note it as thinking or feeling, depending on whether it's a thought or a physical sensation, and then to come back to the breath again and again, feeling less and less anxious in the mind and in the body.
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