Auditory Meditation For Connection To The Present
Using the senses, this meditation brings you peacefully into the present. Integrating touch, sound meditation, visualisation and breath with a sprinkling of science. Build an auditory landscape to allow the body to feel safer and more rested, wherever you are.
Transcript
Welcome,
My name is Flo and this meditation is for those wanting to feel more rested and connected to the present moment.
Bring yourself into your opening shape,
Any shape that you feel you can really kind of spread and flop into,
Maybe seated with the back against a wall or even better lying on the ground able to spread the limbs.
As you come down onto the ground,
We'll begin by bringing the hands to the sides of the neck and the fingertips behind the neck.
Settling the hands in this way,
Notice temperature differences between skin of the neck and surface of the palms.
You could stay in stillness or if it feels intuitive,
Now begin to slightly draw the skin of the neck forward with the hands so there is a feeling of drag that's still comfortable and then maybe press the skin of the neck backwards.
If it feels good in drawing the skin of the neck in different directions,
Maybe there's a slight pressure at the sides of the neck and then release as you massage.
Doing this brings a slight compression to the carotid artery and this can help to reduce blood pressure.
Again,
If it feels intuitive,
You might now begin to move the fingertips up to the corners of the jaw.
Squash around here,
Maybe you're pressing the fingertips up to the cheekbones and then swiping them out towards the earlobes.
Might feel good to slightly open the jaw.
As you press,
Notice the texture of the tissues underneath the hands.
Does it feel like there is a grain or a weave to the connective tissues?
From here,
You could slide the fingertips up over the cheekbones,
Maybe circles gently at the temples or across the forehead or eyebrows.
Maybe you press the fingertips outwards into the hairline towards the back of the head or the crown of the head.
It's taking movement that feels like you're uncreasing creases in a sheet of baking paper.
And then finally,
You could hold the sides of the head and really gently turn the head.
Softening the cheeks and the jaw.
When this feels done,
Rest the hands gently over the eyes,
Heels of the hands to the apples of the cheeks.
Begin to draw your gaze inwards.
That's the eyelids.
That's the eyelids,
Slightly seal.
Eyelashes meet.
And then maybe you spread the arms to a different shape,
Either sides above the head or hands resting.
Now begin to send your ears,
So just the attention,
To the space outside where you are.
As far as it takes you to be in the outside world,
In the fresh air,
Just with your sense of hearing.
And begin to notice.
Sounds are making their way through to your perception of the present.
The answer to that question might also be in absence of sound,
And be with the presence of sound.
The answer to that question might also be in absence of sound,
And be with that.
If there are sounds,
Maybe now you begin to invite them into your consciousness,
Not as information or signals,
But just as vibrations moving through the air,
The body,
The ground.
Then begin to pass your attention into the space you're in,
Maybe through the walls or the windows,
Like a breeze.
You might feel your attention swirling round the space you're in,
To the corners of the room.
And notice what sounds are there.
My voice,
Perhaps music,
Maybe there are small sounds from the structure and little creaks or cracks.
And then draw your attention down to just the sounds of your body now,
As if you're kind of laying the attention over the body like a blanket.
Can you hear the breath?
Maybe you imagine or you tune into the gentle hushing noise of the breath as it moves over the tiny hairs in the nose,
Or over the taste buds of the tongue.
And then perhaps you begin to tune into the imperceptible sounds of the body.
The squash of the ribcage into the surface underneath it,
Maybe an imagined creak between the body,
Ground or support.
Maybe you tune into the joint spaces,
The liquid joint spaces of the shoulders,
Hips and knees.
Then you might imagine a fluid sound here,
Maybe a squash or a whoosh as you breathe,
And the bones subtly move in the joint space.
Brush your attention to the left ear.
Notice the skin of the outer ear.
Then like a tiny grain of dust moving into the ear,
Sense into the inner ear.
Maybe you imagine the left eardrum,
Tiny skin of a drum.
And then perhaps you imagine the three loops,
Always looking like roller coaster loops,
Of the left inner ear,
Filled with cushioning fluid which moves as we move,
Telling us where the head and the body are in space.
Brace the attention down from the left inner ear to the connection with the left side of the throat.
Soften the left side of the face,
Neck,
And if you feel called to swallow here you might.
Then brush the attention to the right skin of the outer ear,
Maybe you map the contours just with the sensation of the skin.
Drifting the attention into the right inner ear,
Past the eardrum,
Curling around those three loops of the inner ear,
And then perhaps you imagine the coiled cochlear part of the ear,
Where we receive sound as vibration.
And again notice vibration,
Down the right side of the throat,
Softening the right side of the face.
And now we soften the shoulders and imagine the shoulder blades dissolving.
As we exhale we soften the back of the ribs,
Imagining them spreading.
Find the middle part of the back,
Maybe that feels like it's naturally lifting or elevating.
Find the back of the pelvis,
Imagine the exhale spreading the pelvis wider.
Finally notice the parts of the feet that rest on the ground,
And as if I'm adding just a five gram weight to that part of the feet,
Let the feet rest a little heavier.
Begin to listen to the breath again.
And now perhaps you imagine you could expand your inhale to fill the volume of the room around you.
And as you exhale the breath draws back down to rest on the body like a blanket,
Or the lightest layer of dust in a sunlit room.
Taking a few more breaths like this,
The inhale expanding outwards,
And the exhale drifting down.
And then perhaps you imagine the breath expanding beyond the confines of the room that you're in.
And you continue in that way inhaling,
Expanding the breath outwards,
Maybe finding the outside world,
The air,
The light,
And the sounds.
And the exhale drawing all of that into your experience of the present moment in the body,
Around the body.
See how far it makes sense for your imagination to expand the breath into the clouds.
And then as you next exhale really allow the breath to settle around the body.
Begin to notice sensation around the body.
Touch of the clothing on the skin,
The air on the exposed skin.
If the hands are not already on the body,
Now find the fingertips with the attention and the skin of the palms and fingers.
And eventually maybe you guide the hands to rest on the body if they're already there,
Perhaps there's the subtlest press.
You might eventually slide the hands or press the hands to find the sides of the neck again,
Fingertips behind.
You might drag or move the skin of the neck.
And this time you might slide the hands upwards underneath the head.
Maybe take a few swipes of the hands,
Slowly sliding the hands from the base of the neck nape upwards towards the crown of the head.
Elongating the skin at the back of the neck.
And then maybe you hold behind the head with both hands,
Interlacing the fingers,
A hammock for the head.
Rest the weight of the head gently back into the hands and perhaps turn the head one way and then the other.
When this feels done,
You might slide the hands upwards,
Replacing the head gently.
And then rest the hands over the eyes one final time.
Notice how you feel now and expand your awareness outside of the body into the present moment,
Welcoming it.
Stay in rest for as long as you would like.
I hope to see you again.
