The Mindful Geek’s “meditation algorithm” (and “labeling”)

A couple of days ago I received an email about these guided meditation practices on Michael W. Taft’s TheMindfulGeek.com website. I’ve only listened to the first two so far, but if you’re interested in meditation, they can be a good resource.

One problem I ran into is that Mr. Taft quickly mentions “The Meditation Algorithm,” and when he said that without any introduction, I couldn’t remember what he was talking about. So I grabbed my copy of The Mindful Geek and found the algorithm described on page 53.

The meditation algorithm

I don’t want to take too much away from his book, but if you’re going to use those meditation practices you need to know what the meditation algorithm is. Here’s Mr. Taft’s description of it:

1. Notice the focus object.
2. Gently label the focus object.
3. Allow your awareness to deeply contact the focus object.
4. Feel acceptance toward whatever you find there.
5. Continue focusing, contacting, and accepting for about five seconds.
6. Repeat (go back to Step 1).

An example of the meditation algorithm

As an example of this algorithm/process, imagine that you’re placing your focus on your feet. The steps might be like this:

1. I’m paying attention to my feet. La la la ... I’m paying attention, paying attention ... oh wait, I feel a sensation in my left foot.
2. I label the sensation “feeling.”
3. I notice the details of the sensation. It feels like pain, not a strong pain, just like a little prickling pain in that one spot. Is it radiating? No, it’s just that one spot. I keep focusing intently on that spot to see if the sensation changes.
4. At this point, if you have mental thoughts like, “Why is it hurting? It shouldn’t be hurting. I’m healthy, I’m comfortable,” just let those thoughts go. You can deal with them later, right now is just the time to be deeply aware of the sensations.
5. At some point you’ll notice the sensation go away. It may be one second, five seconds, ten seconds, whatever. Or, you may find that your mind started wandering, wondering what you’re going to have for lunch, or why so-and-so said what they said, etc. When either of these two things happens, go back to Step 1.

Labeling

An important part of this meditation practice is the concept of “labeling.” It was something I didn’t know anything about until I went to the Buddhist Geeks Conference two years ago. On page 35 of his book, Mr. Taft says that the basic labeling instructions are:

1. Notice something.
2. Label it.
3. Go back to Step 1.

Having read a few books about this lately, I have noticed that different people have different ideas about labeling, but the basic idea is to note something simple, and to do it very gently. For instance, if you feel a sensation in your foot you can just quietly say to yourself, “foot” or “feeling,” and then follow the steps in the meditation algorithm. Note that you don’t say the label word out loud, you just think it in your mind.

Mr. Taft describes the labeling process well in his “Labeling” chapter, so I encourage you to read that to see why people in these practices like to label things, i.e., what the logic behind labeling is, and what its benefits are.

For years I meditated in a style I learned from Zen practitioners, so I knew nothing about labeling until that Buddhist Geeks Conference.

Summary

As a quick summary, if you start listening to Mr. Taft’s guided meditation practices and wonder what the “meditation algorithm” is, or what “labeling” is, I hope this is helpful. For more information, here’s a link to The Mindful Geek book on amazon.com.