Sounds & Thoughts

This guided meditation mainly focuses on paying attention to Sounds and Thoughts. In the beginning, we settle with the breath and the body. Then the practice helps us to develop the ability to "sit back" from our thoughts and to be less caught up in them.

Gentle guidance with some visualization.

Transcript

This is a 20 minute meditation practice,

So the next 20 minutes is time for you to be just with yourself,

To slow down and to connect with your own experience.

We'll be focusing on the breath and the body,

And in particular on sounds and thoughts.

There's no right way or wrong way to do this practice,

And it's helpful to be non-judgmental in how you're doing it.

Just accept that the practice goes however it goes,

Bringing a sense of curiosity towards the whole experience.

So taking a moment to settle into your posture,

Whether you're on a chair or a cushion,

Allowing your back to lengthen a little,

The head is in line with the body,

Shoulders are relaxed,

Just taking a moment to get comfortable.

And then when you're ready,

Bringing your awareness to your breathing.

It can be helpful to choose a particular place where you focus on the breathing.

This could be at the abdomen,

At the stomach,

Or it could be in the area of the chest,

Or it could be at the nostrils,

Or you may find it's at a different part of the body entirely.

Either way,

Just scanning to notice where you can experience your breathing most clearly right now.

And wherever you choose,

Bringing your attention to this place,

And beginning to just notice the in-breath and the out-breath.

You're breathing just as it is,

Not trying to change it in any way,

Just becoming aware of the experience of your own breathing.

Following the in-breath and the out-breath.

You're trying to directly experience your breathing,

Not so much thinking about it,

Just really noticing the sensations as you breathe in and as you breathe out,

The movement that happens with each cycle of breathing.

And if you notice at any stage that the mind has wandered,

Just accepting that that's what the mind tends to do,

Noticing where the mind goes,

And gently but firmly bringing it back to the practice,

Back to noticing the in-breath and the out-breath.

Just resting your awareness on the breathing.

And then,

When you're ready,

Expanding your awareness to include the whole body,

Becoming aware of the whole body sitting here on the chair or on the cushion,

And perhaps scanning through the body,

Noticing the feet on the floor,

Really focusing the attention down all the way to the feet,

And connecting with any sense of warmth or coolness here,

Or a sense of touch with your socks or your shoes.

That sense of contact with the ground,

And becoming aware of your legs and any sensations throughout the legs,

And the sense of contact with the chair or with the cushion,

And seeing if you can give any more of your weight to the cushion or chair,

Really allowing yourself to be supported,

Scanning to see if you're holding tension anywhere in the body,

And if you can,

Just inviting the tension to let go that little bit.

Being aware of the trunk of the body,

The arms,

The hands,

The shoulders,

Becoming aware of the neck,

And the whole area of your head and your face,

And then the whole body.

Just being aware of the whole body sitting here and breathing,

And if your mind wanders off,

Just noticing where it goes,

And inviting it back,

Inviting it back to the experience of sitting here and breathing,

And there's nothing else to do at this time.

We're just coming into this experience of the breathing,

This direct experience of sitting here and breathing.

Just simply being here.

This is where you are.

This is what's happening right now.

Being fully present in this moment,

And then again when you're ready,

Expanding your awareness that bit more.

So having looked at the breathing and then the whole body,

Now including sound in your experience,

Really noticing sound.

Perhaps you can notice the sound of your own body moving and breathing.

Maybe sounds from the room that you're in,

Or the building you're in,

Or maybe even sounds from outside.

Just taking in sound.

Noticing sounds that are loud and the quieter sounds.

Perhaps some sounds are more constant,

Whereas others come and go.

Just really opening yourself up to the whole experience of listening to sound.

And not so much thinking about what the sounds mean,

But directly hearing them,

Directly taking in the sound.

And there's nothing else to do right now.

Just sitting here and giving yourself time to listen to sound.

Noticing sounds arise,

Last for however long they last,

And perhaps fade away,

Maybe to be replaced by another sound.

Not feeling that you need to do anything with the sound,

Or understand it,

Or make a story around it.

Just directly experiencing sound.

Sounds just like the body and like the breathing,

Can only be experienced in the present moment.

So by bringing our attention to sound,

It helps to bring us into that moment.

It helps us to notice our present moment experience.

And then again,

Moving the attention,

If you choose to.

Perhaps this time bringing your awareness to your own thoughts.

Just noticing what thoughts are there right now.

Are there lots of thoughts,

Or not so many?

Whether the thoughts are of the past or the future,

Just opening up to what thoughts are there right now.

And in the same way that sounds tend to arise and last and fade away,

Perhaps thoughts can be experienced in a similar way.

Thoughts just bubble up,

Maybe we can notice them.

They last for a certain length of time,

And then they'll fade away,

Maybe to be replaced by other thoughts.

And we're not trying to create the thoughts.

We don't need the thoughts to be one way or the other.

We're not trying to stop our thoughts.

We're simply observing.

Just sitting here and observing the thoughts.

Like the idea of sitting alongside a stream and just observing the water flowing by.

Just sitting here and observing thoughts.

Instead of getting caught up in our thoughts,

Just noticing them.

Noticing whatever thought comes up,

Watching it,

Bringing a curious approach to our thoughts.

What thoughts are there right now?

Do they appear as images?

And if so,

Are the images moving?

Or do you experience your thoughts in a different way?

Is it with sounds or a narrative?

How do you experience your thoughts?

How are you experiencing your thoughts in this moment?

And there's no need at all to change the thoughts.

Whatever thoughts are there is fine.

Are the thoughts constant or are they changing?

Do you notice yourself getting caught up in the thoughts?

And if so,

Is it possible to return to the experience of just observing them?

And if at any time you feel that you're really getting caught up in thoughts,

You can always choose to change the object of your focus.

You could always choose to return,

For example,

To the breathing.

Just noticing the in-breath and the out-breath.

Letting the mind rest on the breathing and then,

When it feels right,

If it's okay,

Returning to observe your thoughts.

Noticing your own thoughts as though they are clouds floating in the sky.

And then,

When you're ready,

Letting go of this practice of observing thoughts and returning to an awareness of the whole body.

An awareness of your feet on the floor and the contact with the chair or with the cushion.

An awareness of your own breathing.

Connecting again with the flow of air as you breathe in and as you breathe out.

And the movement as you breathe in and as you breathe out.

And then,

As we come towards the end of this practice,

If it feels okay,

Congratulating yourself on taking the time to connect with your own experience like this.

Getting the habit of doing this practice in your life can be really nourishing.

It can allow us to experience more of our lives,

To be able to cope more evenly with the difficulties that we have and to enjoy more deeply the good things.

So then,

Bringing the awareness from this practice and the steadiness from this practice onwards into your day.

Reviews

Thank you for this lovely guided meditation that invites us to listen, observe and be.

Really enjoying Keith's meditations. Also, his voice is very soothing. Thank you

A beautiful, gentle practice of awareness - thank you 🙏