Coming to sitting or standing,
Whichever position is most comfortable for you to engage in this hearing meditation practice.
Making sure that you are comfortable if seated,
That the feet are firmly planted on the floor and the spine is erect.
Closing the eyes if that's comfortable for you.
And if standing,
The feet are hip width apart,
The knees are slightly bent.
The chest is rising and the neck is long.
And again closing the eyes or adopting a half open and receptive gaze.
Bringing attention to the body,
To the body in space.
The front body,
The back body and everything in between.
And shifting attention to the sensations of breathing,
Wherever they're most,
Making themselves known.
Being with the physical movement of the breath in the body,
The in-breath and the out-breath.
And then shifting the attention up to the ears,
Opening the ears to sound.
To receiving sounds as sensations.
As best you can,
Not naming sound.
Or telling a story about the sounds but rather paying attention to the quality of sound.
To volume and pitch.
To tone.
To whether the sound is intermittent or continuous.
You Noticing if there is more than one sound.
Or a layering of sound.
Open and receptive to sound as it arrives at the ears.
Tending to its beginning and middle and end.
And if you find you get carried away by a train of thought,
Remembering that waking up to this is also part of the practice.
And gently returning to hearing.
The sounds inside the body,
Outside the body,
And outside the room.
Noticing how sound reverberates in the body.
Tending to the direction of sound.
Above.
Below.
In front or behind.
Identifying whether a sound is received as pleasant,
Unpleasant,
Or neutral.
And when you notice that there is no sound,
Exploring that.
Getting curious and interested in the absence of sound.
Open and receptive to hearing.
To whatever is arising at this sense door.
Bringing bare attention to sounds as they make themselves known.
And when the attention has moved into thinking or other bodily sensations,
You know what to do.
Noting that this has occurred.
And returning to hearing in the foreground of attention.
And allowing these other aspects of the meditative field to be in the background.
Noting that this has occurred.
Noting that this has occurred.
You and shifting the attention now back to the primary focus on the physical sensations of breathing allowing sound to be present but in the background attending to the movement of the breath and the body where it is most known you breathing in and breathing out you you resting in the physical sensations of the body breathing you and in a few moments we will be letting go of this formal practice of hearing so transitioning out of this practice at the sound of the bell you
