Relationship To Sounds Within Meditation

This brief practice is all about changing our relationship with sounds within meditation. The application of this tool, is only as limited as your imagination. It can be appplied whilst driving, walking, sitting in nature, or traditionally in a seated position, with your eyes open or closed to name a few. How you go about it, is completely up to you. By changing our relationship to sounds whilst meditating, we begin to change our relationship to what was once labelled as a "negative" distraction, transformed to a level of open and receptive awareness. We can't control external stimuli, but we can control how we respond to it.

Transcript

And the following meditation is about changing your relationship with sounds in your practice.

We'll be taking the noisier parts of life into mindfulness.

You can do the following practice anywhere in any position that you wish.

Whether it be while striving,

Walking,

Sitting in nature,

Or traditionally in a seated position,

You can have your eyes open or closed.

Take a moment to pause and just listen to your current surroundings.

As we settle into our environment,

We also settle into our soundscape.

Notice your immediate reactions to the sounds.

Especially if you see them initially as distractions.

Once we allow our minds to settle into listening,

We see that sounds have the same nature as sensations in the body and thoughts in the mind.

They appear and disappear and also like thoughts and sensations,

Usually without a trace.

The sounds can be just as effective as any object in a mindfulness practice.

Even the most annoying of sounds can be a source of focus.

A car horn beeping.

The vibration of someone's phone going off.

A conversation in the distance.

All of these can be looked at differently when we bring mindfulness to them.

Sounds once labeled as a distraction can be used as a tool to draw you deeper and deeper within.

The annoyance of those sounds or distractions doesn't have to come from the sound itself.

It comes from your relationship with the sound as a distraction in a negative way.

When we bring a mindful attitude to it,

We shift our relationship from aversion to open curiosity.

Then we can allow the sounds to appear and disappear just as a passing thought,

Lessening their negative impact.

Relax your body and breathing as much as you can.

Tune into your soundscape.

Notice the background sounds that you would normally ignore.

Don't reach for the sounds.

Just let them come to you in your awareness from all different directions.

Try to catch a new sound as it arises.

Enjoy the textures of the sounds.

Tune into the sounds,

Whatever they may be,

As if they were music.

Enjoying the space between the sounds.

Notice how simple the practice can be with just noticing the sounds.

Know that if you're able to tune into the soundscape,

Not all you hear is my voice,

Your breath,

Your stomach,

Or even your heartbeat.

That's completely fine.

All being said,

Take your time at any opportunity to practice listening to your environment.

Whether you're out in the city,

Nature,

Commuting,

Waiting in line,

Or within your dedicated practice,

Let sounds,

Whether they be external or internal,

Draw you deeper and deeper within.

This concludes the practice.

Namaste.

Reviews

Thank you

I do find a listening - or noticing - meditation keeps my mind from wandering. Thank you for this. 🙏

Informative! Thank you!

Lovely meditation and thank you for the reminder to notice the space between sounds as I’m dealing with very noisy construction from my neighbor today 🙏

Great way to reframe my meditation experience—thanks!

Supper great thank you. #namaste

Lovely meditation, although I don’t let extrinsic sounds bother me anyway! Beautiful, thank you 🙂

First stab at this enjoyed it very much

Really interesting and expansive for my practice. 🙏 Thank you!! 🌻🐢🦋

Lovely, thank you!!

Very grounding and peaceful practice. Would definitely like to try this in a forest or secluded area away from man made infrastructure.

Enjoyed listening to birds in garden agree these sounds were like music

I enjoyed the sound as an anchor meditation. Thank you.