15:50

Mindfulness: Noting Thoughts

by Mary Yousif

Rated
4.6
Type
guided
Activity
Meditation
Suitable for
Everyone
Plays
376

Working with our thoughts by noting them and putting them aside and focusing on our breathing. By labeling the thoughts as they come in, we label them to become an object instead of getting lost in them. With proper practice, we learn how to relate to them and we make a proper choice. We are not controlling the thoughts, as we know thoughts are a natural function of the mind. Thoughts are a representation of our own real mind, but not the actual reality. They are real but not true.

MindfulnessThoughtsBreathingBody ScanMind Body ConnectionGroundingRelaxationThought LabelingBody Mind Spirit ConnectionNeck RelaxationBreathing AwarenessVisualizations

Transcript

Please come and sit comfortably.

Whether it's seated position,

You prefer to sit today with cushion under your hip,

Or whether you like to sit on a chair.

Or perhaps you lie down with your hands beside you,

Arm facing up.

Make sure you're comfortable.

Just sit comfortably in our position,

Wherever way it is today,

And bring some attention to the body.

Make sure the body is really comfortable here.

Feeling the crown of the head reaching up and feeling a little bit nicely relaxed and tall,

Whether you're sitting on a chair or just sitting on a cushion,

Or even if you are lying down.

See if you can relax,

But stay alert.

Just move slightly,

Adjust,

Make sure your hip,

Your knees are sitting comfortable.

And have your nice long neck and shoulder away from your ears.

A nice relaxed face.

In today's meditation,

We're going to try to come to our breath and focus on our breathing.

And when the thoughts start jumping,

Like a puff of information coming into the mind,

We're going to try to note these thoughts and label them as thoughts.

So let's start first in that comfortable position we're sitting.

Close our eyes.

Let's reduce the visual stimulations and allow us to focus on other parts,

Other senses we have.

Perhaps the sense of inhaling and the air is coming into the nose and the air is coming out of the nose.

Perhaps you feel the sensation in your fingers and your skin,

The air in front or back of your body,

This space around you.

Perhaps you feel the touch your hip with your cushion or mat or your chair.

Whatever it is,

Feel that you're relaxed and you're ready to focus on your breathing.

Let's breathe nice and soft,

Relaxed breath and keep our mind with our breathing.

Let's see if we can feel the cold air coming into the nose and the hot air leaving the nose.

Let's just focus on that for a moment and stay totally relaxed.

As the thoughts start pumping,

Pumping,

Jumping into the mind like a puff of information,

Try to just note them and label them as thoughts and keep a little bit space between yourself and these thoughts and just go back to our breathing and focus on the breath.

Thoughts could be in any shape,

Any form,

A daydream,

Whatever it is.

Take a moment,

Note them,

Label them as thoughts and keep them to the side.

Continue focusing on your breathing and continue relaxing.

By keeping distance between us and the thoughts,

This gives us an opportunity to choose if we want to entertain any thoughts later on.

For now,

We keep them all labeled to the side.

We recognize them but we don't get involved or engaged in these thoughts.

Always go back to your breathing and allow your physical body to relax even more and focus on your breath.

We are not here to control any thoughts.

In fact,

Thoughts are natural function for real mind.

So we respect them.

They are real to us but not necessarily true.

For that reason,

We keep a little distance and we will notice some of these thoughts may come very quick and may leave very quick.

So until then,

Just label them as thoughts and focus on your breathing.

Here there is nothing wrong to have thoughts.

We need thoughts to move around,

To plan for things.

But we also need to relax the mind by keeping the thoughts to the side and create some space in between these thoughts and focus on that space,

That stillness by focusing on your breath.

You can feel the cold air coming in and the nice hot air leaving you.

Nice cool air to relax your mind and nice long slow exhale to relax the body.

Stay with your breath.

Whenever thoughts jump into the mind,

Take a moment with love and kindness and patience and smile.

Just put them to the side.

Just label them thoughts and continue breathing.

Visualize those thoughts as a long highway full of traffic.

Thought after thought running sideways front back.

In meditation and as we label the thoughts,

Slowly we are actually creating space between those cars.

Those cars that are on the sides or going zigzag,

They might just disappear.

As you stay calm and as you stay peaceful,

You'll find there's so much space.

Before you know it,

It's a nice quiet highway.

This gives us a choice if you want to just focus on one thought or no thought at all.

The important part is to focus on that space,

Stillness and quietness.

And just focus on your breath.

Let the thoughts stay there on the side.

You will notice that your body feels heavy,

Probably more grounding.

You're feeling the hip.

If you're seated on a cushion or chair,

You can feel how beautifully you're contacting your chair or your cushion.

Even if you were lying down,

You can feel your back,

Your hip so peacefully resting,

Grounding.

Feeling your relaxed shoulders away from your ears.

Feeling the entire physical body completely relaxed.

Soft face,

Perhaps your jaw slightly dropping down,

Tongue and jaw relaxed.

You notice your ears are relaxing.

Perhaps you can pick and hear some sounds that you never noticed before.

Or perhaps your skin,

Your body can feel a sensation of the temperature more.

Or perhaps the way you're breathing,

You can feel every sense of that breath in and out.

Whatever it is,

Your physical body is completely relaxed.

There's so much space between the thoughts that perhaps there are no thoughts.

Or maybe they slow down.

Notice how the mind is calm,

Clear.

Before we end our meditation today,

Laboring,

Labeling our thoughts,

Just make some movement to the body,

Slowly moving,

Bringing the right ear to the right shoulder.

Keep your eyes closed and bringing the left ear to the left shoulder.

Just feel the sensation in your neck,

The back of your neck.

And we do a few more like this,

Just bringing slight movement to the neck.

Two more,

Just beautifully side to side.

Almost like you're massaging your neck.

Keep your eyes closed,

Just feeling that sensation.

Come back to center nicely,

Relax,

Opening the chest a little more by taking the shoulders slightly back.

And when you're ready,

Slowly open your eyes and feel the relaxation and the stillness in your body,

In your heart,

In your mind.

I want to thank you so much for joining me today and practicing your meditation and trying to label your thoughts so you can create that space between you and the thoughts.

Namaste.

Meet your Teacher

Mary YousifToronto, ON, Canada

4.6 (29)

Recent Reviews

Steve

April 2, 2021

Very centering and relaxing. Great way to deeper understanding of mindfulness

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