So first of all,
Inviting ourselves to find a comfortable,
Upright sitting position.
Hands resting gently on our knees or in our lap.
The eyes are closed or gazing downwards with a soft gaze.
And first of all,
Checking in with our mood.
There's not a right thing to feel,
Nor a wrong thing to feel.
We're simply noticing.
And then bringing to mind our intention.
For the next 12 minutes,
We'll be cultivating relaxation,
Presence and awareness.
By bringing our attention to the sounds we hear around us with an attitude of kindness and curiosity.
And first of all,
Placing our attention on the breath.
That we're breathing in,
And as we breathe out,
We simply know that we're breathing out.
And if we can hear the breath,
Listening to the sound of the breathing.
And now opening up our awareness to include all of the sounds we can hear around us.
The complete panorama of sounds.
And not focusing on any one sound,
But allowing any sounds to come and go in our awareness.
Noticing how sounds arise,
Change and dissolve in our awareness,
Moment by moment.
And when we find ourselves adding layers of meaning,
Judgements or opinions.
Or when we find ourselves lost in thoughts and distracted,
We see if we can simply notice.
Accept this.
And let go.
And come back to a simple,
Bare awareness of the sounds themselves.
And if we find we're receiving information from the other senses,
That's fine.
Without being distracted by these other sense impressions,
We see if we can just leave them as they are,
And come back to an awareness of the sounds we can hear around us.
Let's practice now for a few moments in silence.
We never have to repeat the process of writing.
We make everybody aware of what they're experiencing right now.
Continuing to attend to the sounds we hear around us.
And when we find ourselves adding layers of meaning,
Judgments or opinions,
Or when we find ourselves lost in thoughts and distracted,
We see if we can simply notice,
Accept this,
And let go,
And come back to a simple,
Bare awareness of the sounds themselves.
And now,
Letting go of our focus,
And simply remaining present and aware of whatever arises,
Simply being.
And taking a moment now to notice how we feel after our practice.
And allowing ourselves to feel an appreciation for this time we've spent taking care of ourselves.
And returning to daily life,
See if we can allow these qualities of relaxation,
Presence and awareness to come with us.
We can use this practice in daily life to help ourselves come back to the present moment.
Or if we find ourselves caught up in judgments about the sounds we hear around us,
We could perhaps notice,
And see if it's possible to let go,
And return to a bare awareness of the sounds that we hear.
Thanks for sharing this practice of mindfulness of sounds.
