A mindfulness meditation listening.
Let's begin by taking a position for the body.
If you're sitting,
Just a balanced spine,
Just aligned with gravity,
But balanced without any need to use tension or effort to hold that upright position.
If you're lying down,
Then perhaps just a low pillow for the head and the neck and a symmetrical body position so you feel balanced and aligned.
Let's just begin with a general awareness of the body and its posture.
Recognize of the temperature that your body is exposed to at the moment,
The temperature on the skin exposed to the air around you and the temperature on your skin covered by your blanket or clothing and aware of that steady temperature deep within you.
Just aware of the sense of touch,
Whether it's the contact of your clothing or the air against your skin.
Just simply noticing the points of contact of the body with the chair or with the floor or any surface beneath you,
Every part of your body in contact with that surface and just settling your awareness on that places of contact,
Perhaps even a feeling of heaviness so the body and the muscles,
Even the bones can sink into those places of connections.
And then coming back to the awareness of the breath,
Just the sensation of the air as it enters and as it leaves your body.
So just resting there for a few moments,
The breath,
Whether it's at the tip of the nose,
The back of the throat or deep in your chest.
Stretching and falling,
Expanding and relaxing.
Now we're using the sense of touch,
But really any sense could be used for mindfulness practice.
That sensation of the body against the surface beneath you,
The air around you against the skin,
The textures of the clothing,
And even the sensation of the breath right at the tip of the nose,
The sensation of movement and flow around the nostrils.
So now we're going to practice mindfulness using the listening,
The hearing,
Just to simply open the attention out to the sounds.
Some sounds are very close,
Perhaps in the same space as you,
Or even the sound of your breath.
Some sounds are much more distant,
Really guiding our awareness to focus on those distant sounds,
Perhaps even expanding the awareness so we can connect with sounds that are coming from far away,
Listening.
Some sounds are very obvious.
Some sounds are very subtle,
But just simply allowing the sounds to be received by the ears,
Just moment by moment as they come and as they go.
And in the process of listening to the sounds,
We might also notice that from time to time,
The listening is drawn to things going on within the mind,
Listening to the inner conversations in the mind,
Listening to the internal chatter of the mind.
We might even find ourselves listening to running commentary in the mind about how this mindfulness meditation is going or how it should be going.
And as often as we notice the attention unhooking from the listening,
Whether it's listening to the sound of my voice,
Just gently coming back to the listening,
Just hearing the sounds.
And if thoughts arise or if the attention ponders,
If feelings come and go,
Images,
Imaginings,
There's no need to judge or even think that they shouldn't be there.
No need to do anything about them.
Just noticing and then giving them space and very gently coming back to the sounds,
The listening,
The hearing.
Just noticing the soundscape as it changes moment by moment.
Let's get still and listen.
As the listening is just simply being open to the sounds,
We might notice apart from the mind wandering,
Sometimes sounds might lead to a stream of thoughts or sometimes there may be reaction to sounds.
For example,
If a harsh sound is heard or if the sound of conversation from somewhere around us leads us to a stream of thinking or we may be drawn to certain sounds,
That's okay.
So whatever's noticed in terms of the internal reactions or responses,
The sounds,
Just noticing that as well,
Letting that come and letting that go as it rises and as it falls back again.
Just noticing the reaction or response and very gently coming back to just listening,
Just letting the sounds be received by the ears without having to do anything else.
And by listening,
We may be drawn deep into the sound.
Deeper and deeper to the silence,
The stillness within us.
Dive deep into the space.
By simply listening,
Sometimes we might notice that a sound is heard and the mind wants to name the sound.
Just another thought in the form of naming or trying to count the sounds that are heard or some other form of thinking or just going back to worrying or ruminating or the mind just talking to itself,
Imagining conversations in the future or replaying ones in the past.
And if that does happen again,
There's no need to judge or do anything about it.
Just noticing and very gently coming back to hear,
To now,
My voice,
Your breath,
Simply listening,
Listening to the environment and how sounds suddenly change from moment to moment.
Just allowing the awareness to embrace the whole of the body once again,
Just simply,
Gently reengaging with the sense of touch,
The body's posture,
The contact that the body's making with the ground or the surface beneath you,
Just the normal sounds around you.
And whenever you're ready,
Allowing the eyes to gently open.
And just for now,
To simply move into your day mindfully with more awareness.
Thank you for listening.
