Sounds,
Thoughts and emotions.
You may be coming to this practice fresh or be moving into it from the previous practice awareness of breath.
Either way perhaps taking this opportunity to tune into your posture.
Checking in once again to contact with the earth.
Bringing an intention for awareness,
Alertness,
Curiosity towards experience.
Allowing the posture to be upright and alert and also relaxed.
Now opening your field of awareness and turning attention to sounds.
Sounds close by or from far away.
And perhaps considering sounds as vibrations moving through the air and arriving at your body.
Sounds as changing experience just like any other experience.
As we allow our attention to rest with sound,
Noticing the tendency of the mind to label sound and often develop this into a story about the sound.
As best you can letting go of the story and returning attention to the experience of sound simply as a passing event.
Vibrations in the air arriving at your body.
You may also be noticing that we are habitually used to judging sound.
We like it,
We don't like it,
We want it to continue,
We want it to stop.
Once again as best you can letting go of judgment and bringing a gentle curiosity to sounds.
The pitch,
The volume,
The rhythm,
The tone and duration of sounds arriving.
Perhaps becoming aware of the spaces in between the sounds.
Silence.
Noticing the arising and passing away of sounds.
Generally the arising and passing away of sounds is not within our control.
We receive sound,
It stays a while and then fades,
Perhaps to be replaced by another sound.
Silence.
And turning attention to thoughts.
We may notice a similar pattern.
Apparently outside of our control thoughts arise,
Stay a while and then move on.
Often to be replaced by other thoughts.
Through regular practice we can cultivate our ability to be with thoughts but not caught up in them.
They arrive,
Stay a while and then pass on.
We can notice this process without getting caught up in thoughts just as we did with sounds.
Silence.
This ability may take a little practice as we are so used to following our thoughts.
Sometimes it can be helpful to regard thoughts like clouds passing across the sky.
Sometimes light and fluffy and moving along quickly.
Sometimes dark,
Apparently unmoving and taking over the whole sky.
Silence.
Another picture that can be helpful is to regard thoughts like a train.
We can stand on the platform,
We don't have to get on the thought train and be carried away.
Silence.
This capacity to unhook ourselves from our thoughts generally becomes easier as we practice more.
Just like all of our practice it requires gentle curiosity and patience when we seem to be struggling with the practice.
Sometimes thoughts have an emotional charge and we can become aware of emotions present,
Often showing up as sensations in the body.
When regarded with gentle observation these may also come and go arise and fade unless we are feeding them with our thoughts.
Silence.
Bringing patient,
Gentle attention to all experience,
Sounds,
Emotions,
Thoughts,
Allows the natural changing nature of experience to flow through us,
Affecting us but not unsettling us.
We can practice the ability to stay in contact with the earth and the body and breath,
Allowing a rising and fading away of experience.
Silence.
As we bring this practice to a close,
Remembering that these are skills which will improve with regular practice.
So perhaps forming an intention now for patience with ourselves and to support ourselves with regular practice.
