Insight Meditation Guide
- Establish basic mindfulness.
- Notice a sensation.
- Assign a mental label to that sensation. Then return to step 2.
I will refer to the process of noticing and assigning a mental label as ‘noting’. Try to get to the point where you can note multiple sensations per second. One a second is a good pace for a beginner. A good way to start if you've only been doing mindfulness so far is by making certain to note every single in- and out-breath that you take.
To give you an idea of this is like, here is an example of the mental labels I might generate during a typical session.
- in breath
- right toe
- right heel
- left shoulder
- fantasy ideation
- stomach
- planning ideation
- forehead
- hunger
- right palm
- sound
- left ear
- butt
- fantasy
- lower back
- out breath
As you can see, a lot goes on between breaths! This example is actually noting at only a moderate rate of one per second (thanks to my long practice of mindful breathing, I breath about four times a minute when I’m really grooving). Allow your attention to move as it likes, and just note without judgment.