Joe's Meditation Series: Part Three - Noting Mind Breath and Body

Getting Started with Meditation: Using Noting to Stay PresentThe 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 Sit00:52 Posture and Breath Comfort04:14 Expand to Body Awareness07:31 When Meditation Feels Overwhelming08:52 Helpful vs Unhelpful Thoughts10:35 You Don’t Have to Finish Thoughts12:01 Noting Technique Explained14:59 Foreground vs Background Mind16:53 Second Meditation with Noting18:50 Three Labels Practice22:20 Closing Reminder