I note silently whatever is most prominent in my awareness. That may include physical sensations, pleasantness or unpleasantness, thoughts and emotions. I try to use labels that are most fundamental, basic, accurate, and preferably a noun form. More than that though, I try not to get too distracted by noting, and just use it as a reminder to apprehend the sensation.
Trying noting things using adjectives too, still keeping it simple but paying closer attention to what those sensations are like as they change in real-time. You already know what your breath is so look a bit deeper and examine the individual patterns of sensation that make it up e.g. shallow, deep, shaky, staggered, warm, cool, get right into the details of the sensations themselves. If noting is done properly then there shouldn't be any room for distraction, it's a case of constantly bringing the attention back to what's going on right now. If you're not able to come up with a suitable word to note with then just acknowledge the sensation as it is, don't get caught up in trying to find the perfect word but always, always, always stay present and attentive.
Thanks again for following and for the feedback.
You're welcome. Anytime. Remember though that the best you're likely to get is an educated opinion, it's difficult to say specifically where someone is based on forum posts so take my advice with reasonable skepticism until you've verified it for yourself.
Today's sit was a little different. I counted 10 breaths 7 times before feeling concentrated. Then, buzzing at root, heart, 3rd eye, and crown, but with a little bit harsher edge. Still comfortable, but not so placid. More thoughts intruding: I noted anger, argument, loneliness, disappointment. I noted some faint impressions of light, like afterimages fading and appearing. For a minute, there was an energetic sensation of gyroscopic movement. I noted my pulse in my whole body. All of which sounds more dramatic than it was. Still a pretty comfortable sit
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The feeling of a "gyroscopic movement", would it be accurate to describe it as being like a shifting sensation? Subtle but noticeable? See if you can catch what happens or what changes after you notice that sort of sensation, some things might be easier or more difficult to perceive depending on where you're at.
It sounds like you're moving through from 1st to 2nd vipassana jhana; thought patterns I'd associate with 2nd and 3rd ñana in particular, with the lightness and pulsation being more early 4th ñana. See what happens if you look more closely at the arising and passing of those afterimages, and mental phenomena in general as you may just be missing something by not investigating things closely enough. Try to stay with an object from the moment it arises until it's replaced by something else, really get in to it and catch as much of it as you can.
Another thing is to use the breath as your anchor, regardless of how concentrated you think you are. Note, come back to the breath, note, back to the breath, just keep everything engaged in your practice and go at it as if your life depended on it. Noting will become faster and more fluid to the point where it's impossible to come up with a verbal tag for each thing, at that point just stay attentive and acknowledge things as they happen.