Listening Meditation

Today we will be looking at another meditation that will aid in helping you relax and make your mind slow down. The mind in its normal state, is like a pond where mud is being churned up, it’s not clear and all the thoughts are mixed up. The mind is the pond and the thoughts are the mud. What we are aiming to do, is to stop the thoughts enough to allow the mud to settle to the bottom to allow you to see the true nature of the mind more clearly.

The meditation that we will be doing will be one that will seem easy to start with, but it will be hard at times, as the thoughts will get stronger and stronger as the mind doesn’t like to be clear as this is what it’s use to. The key thing is to not get upset or frustrated by the distracting thoughts. Just keep coming back to the focus object. After a while you will notice the amount of focused mind will grow and this will help your concentration levels in all that you do.

Ok now I will detail the meditation for you:

·         First, it’s important to make sure your motivation for doing the meditation is correct. Your motivation for this meditation should be that you want to clear your mind, and to a degree that you will be able to benefit your life. This will then enable you to help others to reach the same state of mind.

·         Sit down with your legs crossed or with your legs on the ground if you prefer a chair. Then ensure your back is straight, tilt your chin down about 45 degrees and place your palms right over left or just place them on your knees. This posture may feel uncomfortable the first few times, but over time it will be a posture you will want to be in all the time.

·         Now while in this posture, take 3 deep breaths and visualise all your muscles relaxing as you breathe out.

·         So now you need to close your eyes or keep them partly closed, while you do this, be aware of all the sounds around you. Regardless of all the sounds you hear they all have a right to be there, so just listen to them with an un-judging mind. Try not to think about anything, just listen for as long as it takes for a thought to pop up in your mind. You will notice while listening that your hearing will become stronger towards the object of your listening, this is normal, so don’t be alarmed.

·         When a thought comes up in your mind, just go back to listening to the sounds around you until again a thought comes up. Over time you will notice longer periods between thoughts arising.

·         When your meditation is done, make sure that you dedicate your merit to all sentient beings and to a positive cause of your choice.

·         The duration of your meditation should start off at about 5/10 minutes, and you can make it longer if this feels comfortable.

This meditation is very affective and should be used with the meditation in my previous post called My First Meditation. While I feel these meditations are affective, I still advise you to attend some kind of meditation class to allow you to get feedback on any possible obstacles you may face with your meditation. Speaking about this with someone face to face can make it really personal and aid your practise.

I hope this meditation is helpful and again if you have any questions drop me a line.