Label Tracker

Basics

The Label Tracker listens for you to say labels out loud. If you say a label at least once every 15 seconds (or whatever period you chose for your Label Reminders), nothing happens. But if you’re silent for 15 seconds, a bell rings to remind you to keep up with your labeling.

So the Label Tracker helps you implement the two suggestions for what to do if your concentration is low: use spoken labels and pay special attention to the pacing of your labels.

Background

Mindfulness is three mental muscles, working together:

1. Concentration: The ability to focus on what you chose.
2. Clarity: The ability to track and explore your sensory experience in real time.
3. Equanimity: The ability to allow your sensory experience to come and go without push or pull.

Practically speaking, every time you get distracted and return your attention to the object of meditation, you’re strengthening your concentration.

Noting and Labeling is a common family of meditation techniques. Noting has two parts:

1. Acknowledge a sensory experience
2. Focus on the sensory experience

A label is a word or phrase that describes the type of sensory experience that you’re noting. For example, if you’re noting the body, you might use the label “Feel”.

When practicing noting and labeling, the general suggestion is to note and label about once every 15 seconds. By definition, if you’re noting and labeling once every 15 seconds, you’re concentrated. However, a common occurrence is that you get distracted and your labels die off. The purpose of the Label Tracker is to immediately catch you when this happens. If you’re silent, the bell rings, which reminds you to keep up with your label stream. So the Label Tracker increases the efficiency of the time you spend meditating because it helps you stay concentrated.