Hear Rest: Tuning Into Quiet In The Mind (Advanced)

"Hear Rest" is when the verbal mind is quiet, and this recording (used for a Harvard brain study) trains us to notice and/or create "quiet" in the mind.

Transcript

And so for the next several minutes,

You'll be noting any occurrence of hear-rust in your experience,

Which will be an absence of internal talk,

Dialogue chatter in the head,

And or maybe if internal talk is present,

You can breathe into it,

Kind of helping it cool out or maybe melt would be another metaphor.

Some people can hear through and around internal talk.

And the fourth possibility is noticing if outside sound expands,

That inside talk contracts.

And the key for that is keeping the awareness.

The key for all of this is keeping the awareness in talk space.

So if you've lost sensitivity to where talk space is for you,

You can always begin by just saying a word or words,

Repeating it to yourself a few times,

Just to get a sense of where that location is.

And then stop repeating the word and just keep your awareness at that location.

And if any internal talk arises,

That's fine.

If when you take your awareness there or keep it there,

No internal talk arises and it's quiet,

That's hear-rust.

Note that.

Hang out with that,

With or without a label.

Just noticing absence of internal talk or a kind of quiet that goes through and around internal talk.

Or noticing an effect of external sound creating a quiet and internal talk.

In any event,

Your focus is on talk space.

Just hang out there,

Noting any occurrence of hear-rust.

Anytime there's an absence of internal talk,

Hear-rust.

Noting hear-rust can take you into a deep state of concentration.

It also helps you not attach to content of any talk that may arise.

Tuning into rest as opposed to activity is a key skill to develop.

Hear-rust.

Anytime there's an absence of internal talk,

Hear-rust.

Noticing quiet in internal talk,

Lack of internal talk.

You could breathe into any talk activity and smooth it out,

Soothe it out.

You could hear through and around any internal talk.

You could just park your awareness in internal talk.

If there's a point at which external sound increases,

You could notice how it causes internal talk to decrease.

Hear-rust.

Noticing quiet in internal talk,

Lack of internal talk.

Hear-rust.

Hear-rust.

Noticing quiet in internal talk,

Lack of internal talk.

Hear-rust.

Anytime there's an absence of internal talk,

Hear-rust.

Noticing quiet in internal talk,

Lack of internal talk.

If there is activity in internal talk,

See if you can breathe into it.

That may soften it.

Maybe you can listen through and around it,

Tuning into the space,

The quiet around and through behind the talk.

Just shifting your perspective if talk is present.

And the last possibility that may or may not be an option at this moment,

But definitely will later,

As external sound expands,

Internal talk contracts.

You can count on that.

Our attention tends to get pulled out to the noise of external sound.

If you can keep it on talk space,

You can watch it all go quiet.

Hear-rust.

Noticing quiet in internal talk,

Lack of internal talk.

Anytime there's an absence of internal talk,

Hear-rust.

Hear-rust.

Noticing quiet in internal talk,

Lack of internal talk.

Hear-rust.

Good.

This was a good practice session.

And if you feel any more concentrated,

Settled,

Have any more clarity about talk space,

About hear-rust,

Have any more equanimity or acceptance,

Allow those qualities to stay with you after this meditation as you make the transition from formal practice to practice in action.

Thank you.

Reviews

This technique is brilliant.
Mind-blown (literally?!) by the imiddiate and complete silence.
Feeling present, and grateful.

Just lovely. Finding the talk space was a profound revelation that helped quiet the mind so quickly!! Just delicious. Thank you!💜

Hello to you. This was such a good and peaceful and effective session. I’m great full. Thank you. Orly. Israel.

Very helpful meditation 😊🙏 I was really able to stay in the moment. Thanks so much 🙏

Great technique to practice for stillness. Thank you 💛

Hear rest was a new concept to me, first ever. Very interesting! It never ceases to amaze me to see how the mind is so slippery. Say like mercury. Try holding it! Lol.
So with this new technique of Hear Rest let’s Trick the Mind into Total Silence! Aah Total Peace n Solitude.
Hold that Thought.........!

I really love this meditation. I found it really helped to quiet my mind and notice when I went into busy mind. Thank you.

love this. practical way to help focus in on the meditation.

A relaxing and interesting meditation! The ears and external sounds support the breath in being aware of any internal talk, soothe and accept it and experience rest and stillness. Many thanks!

Outstanding companion to the Shinzen Young méditations on Insight Timer. Really helped to deepen my understanding. In particular I found the guidance on finding the particular location of talk space useful. That insight alone feels very valuable. Also interesting to note that as I quieted talk space, the see space became more active--lots to work on and the tools to do it.

It felt like catching fireflies in June--ephemeral and active, staying in one place and quieting down, watching them appear and wink out all around. Thank you.

Great thanks 🙏🏼

Thank you again.

Very helpful. The first time I have ever had a meditation guide help provide an approach to quieting the mind.

Great quick space for silence, really enjoyed tuning in to outside noise so as to quiet the inner. Thanks!

Hear-rest (I think!) - a quality to develop. Good suggestive technique followed by quiet interspersed with gentle reminders. Thanks.

Liked this a lot. Good follow-on to the beginning meditation. I'd recommend anybody listen to beginning first. A question: what is fmri??? And a comment: when I find here-rest, labeling it is internal talk, so it causes me to lose it! It seems very counterproductive. So I did not try to label, just enjoyed.

Loved that. Totally different practice to what I've done before.

Exactly what I was looking for. Some specific guidance with lots of quiet space.

Loved it . Want to go further with this space of no talk . Trying to figure out how to recognize no talk , without having talk to recognize it .

Really different and interesting. Thank you