Mindful listening.
Finding a comfortable and alert posture.
Allowing your eyes to gently close.
Begin to allow your body to settle and relax.
You can gently scan through the body and see if we can soften any places of tension or holding.
You can allow our shoulders to drop,
Our hands to gently open.
Perhaps allowing our face and jaw to gently soften.
Maybe we can allow our body to settle a little more deeply on the chair or the cushion beneath us.
And bring your awareness to just listen.
You don't need to try and look for sounds but just be attentive to the different sounds around you.
Settling your attention into a state of receptive listening.
You can notice the sounds around you in the room.
The sound of this recording.
Other sounds in your environment.
Maybe noticing sounds in the building around you.
You might hear other people,
The hum of an appliance.
Noticing any sounds you can hear beyond your building.
What are the most distant sounds you can hear?
If you can,
Just notice in the beginning and the end.
Of the sounds that arise.
Listening to the silence,
The space in which these sounds arise.
And disappear back into.
If there are sounds that are persistent,
Can you notice any differing in the tones or the intensity within that apparent persistence?
We can notice what happens in our mind and emotions in relationship to the sounds that you're hearing.
Noticing how quickly the mind judges or labels sounds.
I like this.
I don't like this.
We can notice the moments when our attention shifts from just listening into judgments or stories about what the sound is or where it's coming from.
Especially if there are sounds we don't like.
Can we simply be with the sound?
Releasing the secondary layers of not liking,
Not wanting,
Trying to push away.
Allowing ourselves to relax into just noticing,
Listening.
Listening to the reactions too in our body and mind.
But if it's possible,
Letting go and loosening up around those additional layers of judgment,
Reaction,
Storytelling.
Settling back into the direct experience of listening.
Listening to the world in this moment.
Just as it is.
No need to change or reject anything.
Noticing how the body responds when it doesn't like.
Feel that contraction.
Seeing if we can soften into just listening.
And if there's a sound we like,
A sound that captures our curiosity or imagination.
Notice how the body wants to lean into it,
Get more.
And again,
Can we just gently settle back into our place of centeredness?
A place that listens without trying to grab onto or push away.
Seeing if you can rest in this place of listening.
Embracing pleasant and unpleasant sounds equally.
Bringing a curiosity,
A receptiveness to all sounds.
And beginning to notice the moments of stillness or silence that might be present.
The small moments between the end of one sound and the beginning of another.
Maybe we can sense the backdrop of silence even when the sounds are present.
And the sounds are appearing on a canvas of stillness,
Of silence.
Allowing ourselves to rest in that silence.
And as your attention begins to deepen,
You might find yourself aware of subtler levels of sound coming from the world around you and the world inside you.
You might hear the sound of your breath as it gently enters and leaves your body.
You might even be able to hear the sound of your own heartbeat.
Being completely present with whatever sounds appear.
Seizing into the silence that appears in the absence of sound.
Noticing any feelings of spaciousness or calm that might emerge from this capacity to just listen.
Just simply listening.
And as we come to the end of this meditation,
Listening to yourself.
To the felt experience of this moment.
And when you feel ready,
You can gently open your eyes and move mindfully into the rest of your day.
Thank you.
