Hi,
And welcome to this hearing meditation.
I'm really glad you're here.
Sound is a wonderful way to ground yourself into the present,
Because there's usually so much of it going on,
We're just not noticing it.
So finding that comfortable position,
Whether you're sitting,
Standing,
Or lying down,
And just noticing what's there right now.
Thoughts,
Feelings,
Sensations,
And inviting a sense of spaciousness and allowing for all that's there.
And you may know that with mindfulness,
The object isn't to fix or change anything,
But to meet yourself exactly as you are right now with kind awareness.
And softening the face now,
Relaxing the jaw.
And if it's comfortable,
Taking a few slower,
Deeper breaths,
And really extending the exhale.
And noticing perhaps the whole body now and how it's being held by the chair,
By the bed,
Or by the floor beneath you.
And maybe also noticing the gentle pull of gravity,
Centering you,
Grounding you,
Always there.
And now we'll take some moments to pay attention to sound.
We'll use them as our anchor in our meditation.
As you listen,
You may want to play with the pacing a bit,
Staying with sound so you can really experience the different qualities of it,
But not going too slow where you start to get lost in thought or story.
Have fun playing around with that.
So,
Noticing sounds in your environment now.
They may be close by or far away,
Soft or loud.
You don't need to chase after them,
Just seeing what arises naturally,
And then gently placing your attention on it.
The brain likes to label and categorize things.
So when you hear chirping,
You'll likely think,
Bird.
In this exercise,
I'd like to see if you can let go of that label and experience the qualities of the sound itself,
Almost as if it's music.
Noticing pitch,
Tone,
Rhythm,
Volume.
So you're noticing the object,
Dropping the label as best as you can,
And immersing yourself in the experience of sound.
You may be hearing the same sound more than once,
So you can notice that too.
Has it changed in any way?
And maybe you'll be hearing silence.
Even silence has a quality of its own.
The sounds could have an airy,
White noise quality to them,
Or they could be pointed and sharp.
They might have a bubbly energy to them,
Or a heaviness.
Maybe some sounds rise and fade away,
Or are constant in the background.
When you go into thought,
It's not a problem.
It's just another thing to notice.
I really encourage you to congratulate yourself every time you bring yourself back to your anchor.
That's exactly what this work is about.
Not to be hard on ourselves,
But to encourage ourselves moment by moment to do the best we can.
Develop that muscle of concentration by giving yourself back to your anchor.
Positive reinforcement.
Even a single moment of awareness can be beneficial.
Do your best to take this time for yourself,
To be present,
Open,
Curious.
If you find it's hard to concentrate or you feel you're getting sleepy,
You can label each sound with a word here,
H-E-A-R,
Here,
In a calm,
Relaxed way,
Here.
Feelings or sensations can arise too,
And you can allow them to be there.
If you want to,
Acknowledge them,
And then let them be in the background as you continue noticing sounds.
And as we come to a close,
I want to thank you for meditating with me today.
And remember,
It doesn't have to stop here.
You can continue throughout the day using this listening practice to bring you back to the present moment.
As they say,
Peace in yourself,
Peace in the world.
And I hope your world is filled with peace.
