This is a mindfulness meditation practice on finding the self.
Who is listening?
Finding the witness to the self.
Begin by finding a comfortable posture.
This can be seated,
Lying down,
Or leaning up against a wall with the back long,
Spine long.
Know that you are comfortable.
Allow the eyes to soften.
Bring the gaze downward.
Gently close the eyes.
Bring the awareness to the breath.
The natural breathing breath.
Without changing it or controlling it.
Gently bring the awareness to the automatic breath.
And now shift the focus from the physical feeling of breathing and listen to the sound of the body breathing.
Inhale and exhale gently through the nostrils.
And listen closely to any noises coming from the breath.
Now open up any awareness to other sounds that are present.
Gently notice the qualities of the sounds without labeling the source.
Let your mind search out like radar beam to notice the most distant sounds.
And now notice the sounds that are closest to you in the room with you.
Whatever is present,
Tune into it.
The mind habitually recognizes what it hears.
When a car goes by,
You immediately know it's a car.
Instead of identifying and defining what each sound is,
Try to focus on the actual experience of hearing.
Imagine your ears as microphones,
Just picking up sound.
Recognize the rising and passing of the noise,
How far away it appears,
And from what direction it is coming.
When a sound grabs your awareness,
Tune into it for a few moments.
Experience the sound fully.
Then let it go and open the mind to listen for other noises.
Listen mindfully,
Continue listening,
Investigating.
Be receptive.
Stay present.
Now,
Very gently,
Bring the awareness to return to the breath.
Notice the automatic breathing pattern.
Without changing the breath or controlling it,
Encourage the mind to collect itself fully onto the sound of the breath in the body.
Notice the sound of the breathing in the body.
Keep the awareness on the sound of the breathing in and out of the body.
In mindfulness practice,
The focus is often on the feelings of the body and the thoughts in the mind.
However,
Now when we're tuning into other senses,
We can facilitate a strong feeling of presence and awareness by using the senses to tune inward.
Just as you observed the breath,
You can use the sounds around you as the object of your awareness.
Sounds come and go throughout your day and offer consistent focal point for you for your mindful attention.
No matter where you live or what you are doing for a living,
It's nearly impossible to remove all sound.
During this meditation and throughout your day,
Investigate the experience of hearing.
You can bring this practice into your life throughout the day by pausing to listen closely to the quality of the sounds around you.
See if you can remove language from sound and refrain from immediately identifying the source of the noise.
Continue to keep the awareness on the sound of the breath.
Before opening the eyes and moving back into your life,
Maintain some awareness of the sounds in your life and notice the act of hearing during your day and let it draw you back into the present time awareness.
Thank you so much for practicing.
May the entire universe be filled with peace,
Joy,
Love,
And light.
May the light of truth overcome all darkness.
Victory to that light.
Om peace,
Peace,
Peace.
