I invite you to find a posture that gives you a sense of comfort and wakefulness.
Allowing the spine to be straight and relaxed,
Knowing your eyes or closing them and allow your hands to rest on your legs or your lap.
Notice any points of contact such as the body touching the chair or your feet on the floor.
Just for a moment check into your body and your mind.
Allowing any waves of sensations such as temperature,
Warmth,
Coolness,
Weight,
Heaviness,
Lightness,
Taste or smell to just be.
Relaxing into your body and allow it to become still and fully present.
Breathing naturally notice the sense of expansion in your chest when you inhale and a sense of contraction and release when you exhale.
Now bring your attention to your ears,
Sensing into the skin of the earlobes,
The shape and then moving your awareness into your ears.
Maybe noticing warmth or coolness.
And when you feel ready extend your mindful awareness to hearing.
You might notice sounds within your body,
For example your heartbeat,
A slight ringing in your ears,
Gurgling of your intestines or the sound of each inhalation and exhalation.
Try to stay focused on these sounds as they are arising and receding.
You don't have to make any increased efforts to listen to the sounds.
Gently allow the sounds to come to you.
Now gently widen your awareness of sounds in your room.
Maybe my voice guiding this meditation or perhaps sounds from your phone,
The AC or heater.
Notice when the mind gets distracted with the story or judging the sounds as good or bad.
And then gently and firmly redirect your mind back to sounds.
And now when you're ready notice any sounds outside your room.
Maybe people talking or the sound of traffic,
Airplanes,
Car alarm,
Loud music.
Simply bring attention to the sounds without evaluation such as I like this sound or I don't like this sound.
Basically any sound can be the object of your focus in mindful practice.
You don't have to name the sounds and there's no need to analyze or figure them out.
Just notice as they come and go and recognize their ever-changing nature.
And don't worry it's quite natural for the mind to wander off.
Just make a note of your thoughts,
Memories and plans and then again gently and with kindness redirect your mind to sounds.
See if you can allow yourself to continue hearing regardless of your present likes or dislikes.
Eventually bring your awareness to the silence between the sounds.
It may not be perfect silence but try to tune into the absence of noise.
In the last few moments of this meditation letting go of mindfulness of hearing I now invite you to widen your attention back to your whole body just resting.
Feeling the entire body as you breathe in and out.
Again check into the state of your mind and body.
What sensations do you notice?
Mindfulness of sensations and hearing and listening can help us in many ways in our lives.
We can return to this experience of mindful practice when we find ourselves stressed.
This way we learn to tune in more deeply to the world within us and around us.
And we can listen more deeply to loved ones or even difficult people instead of interrupting them harshly or overreacting to them.
Now if it feels okay allow a sense of gratitude to arise,
Maybe feeling grateful for this practice,
For your body,
Your ears in particular and for the fact that you can hear and listen.
And when you are ready you can slowly open your eyes,
Maybe inviting gentle movements in your toes,
Wiggle your fingers and then enjoy the rest of your day.
Thank you.
