What you're going to do is sit up nice and straight,
Nice and calm,
And you're going to close your eyes.
And you're going to listen to the sounds you can hear,
Wherever you are.
What can you hear right now?
Pay super careful attention.
Perhaps it's a car driving past,
Or some birds cheeping in the background.
Maybe someone's talking,
Or the TV's on.
Or maybe there's some construction workers.
Maybe the wind's blowing,
Or it's raining.
I'm going to go super quiet for the next 15 seconds,
And I want you to try and hear things that you couldn't hear already.
Try super duper hard to hear absolutely everything you can.
Are you ready?
Go for it.
So,
What could you hear?
Did you hear anything new?
So,
What we're going to try now is a little bit of a game.
Very soon,
I'm going to ring a bell,
And you have to listen super carefully,
Because when the bell stops,
When you can't hear that sound anymore,
You're going to put both hands up in the air.
Are you ready?
Let's give it a practice try now.
Remember,
When you can't hear the sound anymore,
You put your hands up.
Are your hands up in the air?
Great work.
Let's try it again.
Some of the bells might go for a super long time,
So you've got to pay careful attention.
Other times,
The bells will be super quick,
So you've got to be ready.
Okay.
We're going to do three bells.
Are you ready?
Here's the first bell.
Okay.
Did you get it?
Did you put your hands up when the bell stopped ringing?
All right,
Here's the second bell.
Pay super careful attention,
And remember,
Put both your hands up in the air when you can't hear the bell anymore.
Ready?
Did you hear when the bell stopped?
Are your hands up in the air?
All right.
Here's the final bell.
Pay super careful attention,
And remember,
Hands go up as soon as you can't hear the bell anymore.
Ready?
Okay.
How'd you go?
The bell game is interesting because you have to pay super careful attention,
But you're not listening to when the sound starts.
You're paying so close attention to the sound,
Really listening to it,
Really focusing on it,
And then all of a sudden,
You realize there's no more sound.
The bell's gone,
And that's when your hands go up.
Okay.
You ready for one more?
Are you ready for one final mindful hearing activity?
This time,
We're going to go back to listening to the sounds in our environment,
Whatever sounds you hear right now.
And with the person sitting next to you,
You're going to say whatever sounds you can hear,
Just one word.
So if you hear someone talking,
You'll say,
Talking.
If you hear a car,
You'll say,
Car.
If you hear a plane flying over the head,
You'll say,
Plane.
If you hear the wind,
You'll say,
Wind.
Whatever you hear,
Just label it.
Just say it out loud.
Okay?
So for the next,
Hmm,
30 seconds,
I'm going to go silent,
And you're going to play the labeling game.
So it's super quiet,
And listen very carefully.
And if you hear a sound,
Say what that sound is.
Are you ready?
Go for it.
Great work.
