fact melts away the fear…
Exercise- Attending Sounds
by meditative - January 31st, 2011.Filed under: Attending Meditation Exercises.
[audio:MM-Attending-Sounds-Audio.mp3]
This formal meditation exercise can be done either sitting or lying down. It will require 10-15 minutes to perform in a space where you will be free from outside interruptions. When ready, get comfortable and in your meditation posture. Take a few deep breaths to help connect your mind and body, and to relax into your physical presence… just breathing and gently releasing any tension noticed in your body as best you can.
When ready, let’s now simply move our attention to listening to the sounds surrounding our presence- our state of being fully in the present moment with things just as they are. We may hear sounds in the room, outside the room, or even inside the body. As best you can, try to listen with openness and curiosity. While attending these sounds- any sounds, we should note how many of them just seem to come and go, while some seem relatively constant. Can you notice the sounds passing through awareness- and can you notice the silence in between the sounds.
As best you can, try to allow the sounds to be as they are- recognizing and noting them as simply as possible and avoiding any conceptual detail defining content and/or streaming mental representations spinning into “storylines” about what you’re experiencing. Attending is simply knowing without having to draw in the conceptual process of thought. Thinking and conceptualizing distracts and separates us from our direct experience.
Try to sustain the simple direct experience of hearing the sound(s). When the mind wanders off, gently and slowly return your attention back to the hearing- or back to your breathing if you need to re-anchor into the moment.
Let’s just remain with this experience for a few more minutes allowing the surrounding sounds to arise and pass in our open awareness- freely attending the quality and nature of these sounds. When ready, gently and slowly bring your attention back to breath- and gradually return to a state of normal activity.