Learning to Listen

In this guided meditation practice tuning in to connect with the messages of our body, and the guidance of our heart.

Transcript

Welcome and thanks for joining me.

Let's get comfortable and together let's practice listening.

This is very much what a meditation practice is,

Learning to listen.

Typically the mind chatters away,

Keeping busy doing its thing.

Our internal dialogue,

Accounts,

Recounts,

Discounts,

It's a story with no end really,

A kind of choose your own adventure that we might narrate without stopping to take a breath.

But what if we did?

What if we paused?

What if we stopped telling the story and just took a moment to listen?

What then?

Begin exactly where you are right now,

Whether parked in the car or behind a desk at the office,

On the sofa or lying in bed,

Wherever you are,

Let's take this moment to listen.

Listening is easier when our very dominant sense of sight is not taking over so let's close our eyes gently and begin to draw our attention inward.

What do we begin to notice when we do this?

Maybe that narrator is still chatting,

The busy brilliant mind.

Why?

Because we are alive and we are human and the mind and intellect are alive and well within us and so let's not be frustrated,

Instead let's honor this aspect of ourselves.

Take a moment to greet your mind,

That voice in your head,

In gratitude.

Fill up with appreciation for this mind that is alive and alert and doing its thing for you,

The mind that unfailingly receives,

Absorbing and sorting all the sensory stimuli that surrounds you.

Feel gratitude for your intellect,

That discerning aspect of your being that makes sense of this world and you are in.

Sit in and with this feeling of gratitude for a moment as you watch your mind.

Whatever part of its story your mind is preoccupied with right now,

Notice this,

See this but don't do anything with it.

There is no need to take it on.

Notice the stream of conscious thought,

The busy buzz that might even feel like a physical vibration behind your forehead and eyes.

Now with a deep inhale and a long exhale,

Allow that buzz to soften.

Do this again,

A full inhale and long exhale.

Feel as you inhale your breath moving through you,

Moving through your nasal passages,

Relaxing your brow,

Expanding your chest cavity and ribs and as you exhale allow your head and diaphragm to settle into the immediate release and release.

Feel the breath moving through your nose and through your nose and through the immediate release and relaxation this offers.

Repeat these deep breaths a few more times,

Allowing your mind to increasingly settle.

And now turn your attention from your mind and let's drop into the heart.

Notice your heart beating in your chest.

Maybe you can feel the pulse of your heartbeat vibrating against your breastbone or a subtle pulse in your neck or even your hands.

If you like,

Place a hand over your heart and connect with that beat.

Breathe in deeply,

Fill up your chest,

Expand your rib cage and exhale long and slowly.

Allow your breath to carry away any tension you may be holding in your body.

The heart can be thought of as the junction point between our mind and our body.

The concerns we carry in our mind may show up as tightness or tension that we physically sense around our heart space.

Without dissecting the thoughts you may be noticing,

Rest your attention in your heart.

When you notice your body or chest constricting,

Avoid going to the mind.

Instead,

Keep your attention in your heart and allow your breath to soften this space.

Allow your inhale to physically expand the space around your heart and allow your exhale to carry away and release the tension and the thoughts attached to this tension.

Continue this way,

Breathing easily and naturally now,

In and out through your nose.

Breathing into our heart space and breathing out.

This is how we begin to listen.

With every hint of a thought,

Our body responds,

Often in the form of a physical sensation in the area of our heart.

When you feel yourself being drawn to the story in your mind,

Immediately drop into your heart space.

You may notice a tightening in this space.

Simply place your attention on your breath.

Follow the expansion of your diaphragm as you inhale and relax into the physical release as you exhale.

Allow this out-breath to carry away whatever tension was attached to the mind's story.

Continue breathing in and breathing out easily and effortlessly for another minute.

This is the practice.

As we become more accustomed to sitting in this way,

Listening to the signals from the body,

We begin to attune ourselves to the messages the body is receiving around the thoughts that we think.

This is how we may begin to learn to listen inwardly.

We get to know our heart.

Instead of overlooking it in favor of the mind,

We cozy up to it.

Practice this daily and simply notice.

Thank you for joining me.

Let's bring palms of hands together at Heart Center in gratitude for our healthy minds and our beating hearts.

I honor you in this listening practice we've shared together.

Namaste.

Reviews

Great meditation for those beginning their meditation journey

I liked the montra of accepting the thinking mind and be grateful for the task it does but begin to focus on listening to the heart the median between the mind and body. It was a very relaxing meditation. Thank you

Lovely 🙏🏼

Wonderful.

A beautiful guide to listening to what's happening within. ❤️🙏

Direct, clear, and very helpful in recentering on my heart while allowing thoughts to soften.

So good and so helpful, simple to follow calming and empowering 🙏

A very gentle and inward focused practice. I felt very peaceful following and less distracted by my day. Thank you.

absolutely lovely meditation. Thank you for the moments of stillness.

Created a space to be aware of thoughts without judging or needing to control and change these.

Thank you for this wonderful meditation

So simple... effective ❤️

Relaxing and enlightened

Wonderful way to feel myself

Beautiful. Will bookmark for future use.🙏

So peaceful 💖🙏 deep gratitude

Sweet voice. Namaste

Excellent after a worrying night. Ok here comes the day.

Will be back to listen again