StretchLearn Course

Rebuild your concentration with a focus-first meditation practice

Focused-attention technique, a breath anchor, the four-phase attention cycle, noting, and a measured five-to-twenty-five-minute ladder.

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Beginner8 hr 20 minSelf PacedRegistered

Course Overview

What this course is designed to develop

Learn meditation as attention training, the way it is studied in cognitive neuroscience, not as a generic wellness add-on. You will practise focused-attention (samatha-style) meditation anchored on the breath, learn the four-phase cycle of mind-wandering, meta-awareness, reorienting, and sustained attention that underlies every sit, and use noting to make distraction visible instead of frustrating. Each technique is tied to something measurable, such as session length, a distraction count, or a return-latency, so you can diagnose a scattered sit and progress on a deliberate five-to-twenty-five-minute ladder instead of guessing.

Learning Outcomes

What the learner should be able to understand, build, or execute.

Define focused-attention meditation and contrast it with open-monitoring practice to choose the right technique for concentration

Establish a stable breath anchor and posture that support alertness without strain over a full session

Recognise the four phases of every sit, mind-wandering, meta-awareness, reorienting, and sustained attention, and respond to each

Apply noting and labelling to convert distraction into data and shorten the time it takes to notice wandering

Progress session length on a measured ladder from five to twenty-five minutes without abandoning the habit

Track practice with simple attention metrics and troubleshoot drowsiness, restlessness, and self-criticism

Curriculum Preview

Inside the curriculum: a structured path from fundamentals to execution.

Preview the course structure, see how the modules build on one another, and understand the path this program is designed to take you through.

Module 1

Module 1: Why Focus Is Trainable: Attention, the Wandering Mind, and the Right Technique

Understand what attention actually is, why it wanders, and why a concentration-first technique is the right tool, before you sit for the first time.

3 lessons

Attention Is a Skill, Not a TraitContent · 40 min

Preview Enabled

The Wandering Mind and the Default Mode NetworkContent · 40 min

LMS Access

Focused Attention vs Open Monitoring: Choosing the Right ToolContent · 40 min

LMS Access

Module 2

Module 2: The Foundations of a Sit: Posture, Breath Anchor, and the Four-Phase Cycle

Set up an alert posture, establish a stable breath anchor, and learn the four-phase cycle that turns every wandering mind into a repetition.

3 lessons

Posture and Environment for Alert StillnessContent · 40 min

LMS Access

Choosing and Stabilising the Breath AnchorContent · 45 min

LMS Access

The Four-Phase Cycle: Turning Wandering Into RepsContent · 45 min

LMS Access

Module 3

Module 3: Working With Distraction: Noting, Labelling, and Common Hindrances

Turn distraction into useful data with noting, and learn to handle the predictable hindrances of restlessness, drowsiness, doubt, and self-criticism.

3 lessons

Noting and Labelling to Sharpen Meta-AwarenessContent · 45 min

LMS Access

The Five Hindrances and Practical AntidotesContent · 45 min

LMS Access

Dropping Self-Criticism: The Most Important SkillContent · 40 min

LMS Access

Module 4

Module 4: Building the Habit: Progressing Length, Tracking Attention, and Going Deeper

Grow session length on a measured ladder, build a daily habit that survives missed days, track attention metrics, and learn where the practice goes next.

3 lessons

The Five-to-Twenty-Five-Minute LadderContent · 40 min

LMS Access

Making It Stick: Habit Design and TrackingContent · 40 min

LMS Access

Transferring Focus to Daily Life and Going DeeperContent · 40 min

LMS Access

Built for Application

A complete learning path, not a one-off inspiration hit.

This program is designed around progression: focused lessons, structured modules, applied resources, assessments, and a course rhythm that turns information into usable capability.

focused attentionconcentrationbreath anchormindfulnessnotingmind-wanderingsamathahabit formation