Thank you.
Hello and welcome to this short talk which is a prelude to a mindfulness meditation that you might choose to do when this is over.
This is one of a series of short talks and mindfulness meditations that I'm doing on the theme of bringing mindfulness into daily activities.
So this is really intended as an add-on to any structured morning mindfulness practice that you may already have.
And as I say,
It's intended as a means by which to bring mindfulness into your regular day so that it's not just something that you sit for at a certain time.
And so today's talk is about listening to music.
As a kid,
I grew up with the radio pretty much on most of the day.
I remember my mum would listen to Terry Wogan on radio too in the UK.
And if my sister won the battle,
We got radio one.
But it was background noise.
It was very rarely something that we sat and listened to intentionally.
And I'm aware that during Covid and lockdowns,
Many people have turned to leaving a radio on or leaving television on as a kind of background hum to their lives.
As a sort of a company,
Like having somebody at home.
And that's probably a very viable use of radio and TV.
I think also the advent of podcasts has allowed people to take a little more control over what they might have listened to on the radio previously.
And you can,
Of course,
Choose when you want to listen to your podcast.
And many people use podcasts during exercise.
Again,
They may well be paying attention to the podcast,
But they're also exercising.
And the purpose of today's talk is for you to consider listening to music mindfully.
I know that my own tendency is to put a CD on and then go and do other things and have that music playing in the background.
It's a sign of my age,
Perhaps,
That I prefer a physical embodiment of the music.
I would much rather put on a CD than turn to Apple iTunes and put a playlist on.
Although,
Of course,
I do have that option.
But I think we're missing something in this day and age when we can download the entire studio discography of a band and maybe explore one or two of the records,
But not really get into the experience of discovering music and really mindfully listening.
And so as an extension of that,
A few years back,
I invested in what was for me a fairly expensive record turntable.
And I have a slowly growing collection of vinyl records.
What I discovered entirely by mistake was that I can't put on a record and then disappear to make a coffee or pop upstairs to do something I'd forgotten to do.
Because at the end of 20,
25 minutes,
That side of the record has finished.
And the record just continues to turn the needle wears away.
The needle will wear a groove in the record and I'll come down to find no music and that for an hour or so the disc has been turning,
Which clearly is not good for it.
And that gradually led me to thinking about how I listen to music and when I choose to listen to music.
I will far more often these days not have music on in the background when I'm working.
If I choose to read,
I'll probably not have music on in the background as well.
And there are times when I will choose to sit in the lounge and put on a record and perhaps read the inner sleeve,
Find out a little bit more about the music I'm listening to.
But just to sit and be present with the music,
Whether it's something modern,
Whether it's some classic jazz,
Whether it's something classical.
The experience of the music is so much more real,
So much more physical and so much more present when I've selected a record,
Removed it from the sleeve,
Opened the cover of the turntable,
Placed the record on the felt disc,
Started the turntable turning and gently placed the stylus on the beginning grooves of the record.
And what I've found myself doing while listening to music like this is paying attention to the backing vocals or paying attention to a particular instrument or paying attention to the harmony rather than the main tune.
I've found myself hearing lyrics I hadn't heard before.
And that developed into consciously,
Mindfully listening to music,
Using the sound of the record as my anchor and noticing when my thoughts drifted away to something else and returning them gently to the music and to my present experience.
There's no need to have your eyes closed.
There's no need to be sat in a meditative pose.
You can simply state the intention to listen to music intentionally,
Mindfully.
And the very fact of the record ending will be my timer.
Now,
There's nothing to stop you doing this with the radio or with a playlist or with CDs.
But for me,
It's evolved into something that I choose to do with vinyl records when I have those quiet moments where I can sit and really intentionally listen to music.
So that would be my suggestion for you today,
Perhaps as soon as this track has finished,
Or perhaps finding a quiet moment later on in your day where you consider your relationship with music,
Consider how you use music in your day and perhaps choose to experience listening to music as mindfully as you can.
I hope you enjoy it.
You.
