Beginner Meditation Series: Week 4 (20 Min of Silence)

This practice is 4 of 6 in a series intended to give you the tools for a silent meditation practice, undertaken for up to 30 minutes a day. It begins with a guided intro, before delving into 20 minutes of silence interspersed with prompts to guide your auditory awareness. This practice ends with the sound of a bowl to bring you back to the present.

Transcript

Welcome to the beginner meditation series. This is the fourth of six meditations which will build upon each other to help bring you to a daily habit of 30 minutes of meditation. Sitting, Reclined, Or lying down in a good posture, Begin by checking in with your breath. Do not try to change your breath just yet. Simply become aware of its quality. Is it fast or slow? Deep or shallow? Sitting, Reclined, Or lying down in a good posture, Begin by checking in with your breath. Do not try to change your breath just yet. Simply note its quality. Is it fast or slow? Deep or shallow? Deep or shallow? Once you have made a note of the quality of your breath, Begin to intentionally draw the air in through the nostrils, All the way down to the belly, Filling up the abdomen before filling up the upper rib cage and topping off those lungs. Then, When you can hold no more air, Begin to exhale slowly, Allowing the air to pass through the mouth cavity where you should find your lips closed and your jaw and tongue relaxed before the air exits the nostrils. In this way, Each breath informs a wave of relaxation all the way down that I just have tracked to the pelvic floor and radiates outward from there. Out into the limbs to the tips of the fingers and toes, Up and across the face to the tip of your scalp, Each breath a wave of relaxation. With your breathing relaxed in this way, Begin to draw your attention to the sounds around you. Through the next 20 minutes, I will guide you to attune your auditory awareness to various aspects of your surroundings. As we do this, Simply listen. Take a mental note of what is heard and then listen some more. We will begin now. Keeping your breathing deep and relaxed, At first listen for the most distant sound that you could possibly hear. Perhaps it's a few miles away. What do you hear a few miles away? And now, What do you hear a block away? C bustling? You you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you what do you hear on the street next to you you you you you you you you What do you hear in the space you are in? Can you use your hearing to sense its borders? You you you you you you you you And finally, What can you hear inside your body? You you you you you you you you you you you This concludes our meditation for today. Thank you for joining me.