Hello.
Welcome to this meditation that's going to dive into what it feels like when it's silent.
My name is Mahi Davida.
I am a meditation mentor and a consciousness coach.
And today we'll be going on a little journey that invites us to sit with silence and the discomfort that might arise when we are with silence.
I know that myself,
I have a tendency always to fill up the silent spaces,
Or I used to.
When it comes up in conversations,
I'll always be like,
I need to say something.
Or when there's silence in the house,
I'll feel like I need to do something.
Perhaps look at my phone or be productive.
But for this one,
We're going to observe what happens when we are sitting with just that,
No matter what it brings.
So if you haven't done so already,
Please find a space for yourself where you won't be disturbed.
And you can do this meditation while sitting down or standing up.
Of course,
Don't be operating any machinery.
And when you have arrived at that spine,
You may gently close your eyes.
Let's start by relaxing all the small muscles around the eyes.
Releasing the need of straining them,
Looking outward into the external world and instead.
Relaxing the full gaze so that we may look inwards.
Relaxing even the muscles behind the eyes.
Relaxing the muscles then in the jawline.
Parting the upper and the lower teeth.
And just kind of letting the jaw hang.
Letting the cheeks hang.
Relaxing so deeply in the jawline and in the mouth that on your next exhale you actually produce a sound.
Almost as if you were a bit of a zombie,
Like ugh.
Let's do that one more time,
Producing any sound that helps you release into the ground below.
And from here,
Let's shift that inward gaze to our ears.
It is like we are journeying up from the chin,
Following the lines from the jaw into the ears.
And even here,
Relaxing the muscles in front of the ears.
Behind the ears.
And then fully drenching the ears themselves into a form of relaxation where there is no need to perform any longer.
And as you allow your breath to expand just a little bit every time you inhale and every time you exhale,
It is like you are allowing your entire body to land a little bit deeper onto your cushion,
Onto the floor below you.
From every round of breath.
And as your arriving deepens,
You bring your awareness to the sounds that you are perceiving further away from you.
And this might be outside of the space in which you sit.
Or perhaps if you are sitting outside,
This might be over 50 meters away from you.
And as you become aware of these sounds,
You might perhaps also be able to experience where they are taking place.
From where you are seated,
Where you are standing.
Some sounds perhaps coming at you from different directions.
Different distances.
And notice that you do not need to do anything about these sounds.
You do not need to create them or make them go away.
They take place in your field of awareness.
And then more often than not,
As they arise,
They also fall away again.
Like very temporary visitors in your experience.
Now let's shift that awareness and bring it quite close to where we are right now.
Perhaps in the space that you occupy or within a few meters with you as the center.
Perhaps these sounds are almost not noticeable.
And the biggest thing that you have to experiencing sounds close to you is your own breath.
Or my voice reaching your ears.
No matter how small or how big.
Perhaps here you might also see the direction from which these sounds come into your awareness.
And you may notice that also these sounds have a tendency to rise up in your experience.
And then fall away without you needing to do anything about it.
You are the center,
The observer.
Now let's now switch around where we've been placing our attention upon.
So before we noticed whenever sounds were arising in our experience,
We now notice the silence in between sounds.
And perhaps that base level of silence in between sounds still has a slight hum to it.
A baseline of low frequency noise.
Become aware of the space in between sounds.
No sound.
And from this space you may perhaps start seeing the dance that takes place between silence and sound.
And as the center,
As the observer,
Can you allow yourself to sink deeper into that state of silence and sounds interchanging?
And you,
Simply but surely the observer of it all,
Breathing being.
No sound.
Now you may stay here for as long as you wish.
Yet if you are ready to move out of this meditation,
You may slowly start to deepen your breath.
And gently part the eyelashes,
Keeping a soft gaze.
And even when you do,
When you become aware of the room or the space in which you sit,
Can you still keep a gentle awareness on the sounds that arise and fall in your experience?
And the silence in between.
Now you are the witness of it all without needing to change it or shift it.
Thank you for being in silence with me today.
My name is Mahidha Vida.
It's been an honor to meditate with you today.
Until the next one.
No sound.
