Mindfulness of sounds and thoughts.
Listen to these instructions and use them to help develop mindfulness of sounds and thoughts.
Make yourself completely comfortable,
Sitting upright and relaxed.
Scan your body and release whatever tension you may feel.
Scan and release.
Finding tension,
Letting it go.
Scanning and release.
Make the intention or the determination that for the period of this exercise you'll not follow concerns about things other than being here now and what you're doing here and now.
Remember that for the next 25 to 30 minutes you don't have to do anything other than practicing mindfulness of sounds and thoughts.
Also make the intention to maintain a stance of willingness,
Receptivity and openness to experience as it comes to you arising and passing away.
Now turn your mind or your attention to sound.
Be attentive to sound as sound or vibration.
Let the sound come to you.
Be alert but relaxed and receive sound as it comes to you.
There may be sounds of birds,
Cars,
Traffic,
The sound of machinery or air conditioning,
The sound of wind,
Rain or just the hum of silence.
Be open to whatever sounds there are without preference or rejection.
Notice how you may create images and labels around the sound such as dog barking or traffic or bird,
Person talking,
Music,
Motorbike,
Tree rustling,
Rain falling,
TV,
Radio,
Wind or whatever.
Don't struggle with the labeling and the pitches but distinguish the sounds from the label.
Be mindful of sound as sound.
Let the labeling or the pitches be on the periphery of your awareness and direct your attention to sound as vibration.
Whatever the sound,
Allow yourself to hear.
Hear the sound as vibration arising and passing away,
Moment to moment.
GONG Notice how some sounds are pleasant,
Some sounds are unpleasant and some sounds are neither pleasant nor unpleasant.
Notice how you may start thinking about the sound adding commentary such as good,
Bad,
Wanted,
Unwanted,
Yes,
No,
Okay,
Not okay.
Notice and note the judgment and without struggle let them go by bringing attention back to sound as sound.
Vibration,
Hear now.
Now arising,
Now changing,
Now passing away.
GONG GONG Notice if you can the beginning,
Middle and end of each sound.
Listen to one sound merging into the next and if there are no sounds,
Just listen mindfully to the silence.
Listen closely,
Attentive to every nuance,
Every subtle shift and change.
Notice how vibration may itself also be made up of other vibrations.
GONG
