these guided meditations help me let go of my negative judgments
e.g. that sound is bad, that sound hurts, that sound intrudes in my life
instead I realize they don’t really touch me, I can just notice them
I have recently noticed that when there is no sound or very little, that there is a sound available
inside my head that I can use as an object meditation. It can even be heard in noisy
environments if I remember to listen for it.
While practicing there was the distant sound of a small airplane engine that grew louder. What I noticed is that I didn’t say to myself, that’s a small airplane, but simply heard the sound without labeling that with an idea of what it is. Sounds that grow louder are interesting because there is a moment when they are not in your auditory field and then they “appear” and increase in volume, and you become aware of them within a larger sense of spaciousness.
Awareness of hearing. The basic sound is the hum of the air conditioner. But slowly I became aware of many other sounds as the focus softened. Many many sounds. A door closing, some one talking slowly, sound of distant laughter, sound of footsteps approaching in the corridor outside ….footsteps receding. Awareness of the sense of hearing.
“Just barely listen to sounds”. The keyword is “barely”. Hear the sound, not the content of the sound. Contrary to forms, sounds are dynamic; they don’t stick. I was drooling during this meditation.
When I sit on the bench in the park near the trail, people walk by sometimes talking. There is the crunching of their steps on the crushed rock path as they pass by. Sometimes several people walking opposite directions, some running, some breathing hard. The birds and the breeze through the trees. The cars passing by and car doors opening and closing. I hear many different sounds but it seems distant even though I sit 3 feet from the trail and 20 feet from the road.
In one moment the sound of the footstep on the path. In the next moment a voice. Then, a car driving by. All are transient yet real in their own moment. Together they comprise “my experience sitting on the park bench”. Then looking above there’s the blue sky with clouds moving through my view. There are the branches of the oak tree above. These fleeting experiences remain in my consciousness only because of purposeful awareness and my analysis of them as part of “reality”.
these guided meditations help me let go of my negative judgments
e.g. that sound is bad, that sound hurts, that sound intrudes in my life
instead I realize they don’t really touch me, I can just notice them
I have recently noticed that when there is no sound or very little, that there is a sound available
inside my head that I can use as an object meditation. It can even be heard in noisy
environments if I remember to listen for it.
While practicing there was the distant sound of a small airplane engine that grew louder. What I noticed is that I didn’t say to myself, that’s a small airplane, but simply heard the sound without labeling that with an idea of what it is. Sounds that grow louder are interesting because there is a moment when they are not in your auditory field and then they “appear” and increase in volume, and you become aware of them within a larger sense of spaciousness.
Awareness of hearing. The basic sound is the hum of the air conditioner. But slowly I became aware of many other sounds as the focus softened. Many many sounds. A door closing, some one talking slowly, sound of distant laughter, sound of footsteps approaching in the corridor outside ….footsteps receding. Awareness of the sense of hearing.
“Just barely listen to sounds”. The keyword is “barely”. Hear the sound, not the content of the sound. Contrary to forms, sounds are dynamic; they don’t stick. I was drooling during this meditation.
When I sit on the bench in the park near the trail, people walk by sometimes talking. There is the crunching of their steps on the crushed rock path as they pass by. Sometimes several people walking opposite directions, some running, some breathing hard. The birds and the breeze through the trees. The cars passing by and car doors opening and closing. I hear many different sounds but it seems distant even though I sit 3 feet from the trail and 20 feet from the road.
I like the river rapids sound in the guided meditation because it is loud and clear yet soothing and changing, natural sounding.
In one moment the sound of the footstep on the path. In the next moment a voice. Then, a car driving by. All are transient yet real in their own moment. Together they comprise “my experience sitting on the park bench”. Then looking above there’s the blue sky with clouds moving through my view. There are the branches of the oak tree above. These fleeting experiences remain in my consciousness only because of purposeful awareness and my analysis of them as part of “reality”.