Journey from distant outer sounds to your inner stillness, discovering the peaceful spaces between your thoughts.

English

The Far Away, Closer Practice is a guided deep listening and sound awareness practice for cultivating mindfulness, presence, grounding and inner stillness. Beginning at the furthest edge of hearing, you will explore distant sounds before gradually bringing awareness closer, listening to the surrounding soundscape and then turning inward towards the body, breath, heartbeat, thoughts and the quieter spaces between them.

The journey leads towards a still point before gradually returning awareness to the body and world around you. Rather than searching for extraordinary sounds, this practice develops extraordinary attention to ordinary experience.

Explore it once as a meditation, or practise three times a day for one week: morning, midday and before bed. Ideal for mindfulness, deep listening, sound meditation, relaxation, grounding, embodied awareness, presence and sound healing.

The Far Away Closer Practice

Hello and welcome. to the faraway closer practice. This is the first installment. in my Art of Listening series. and I'm going to be taking you on a guided journey. from outer landscapes. to the quiet places within you. so take a few moments to arrive. Try to find a position that is comfortable for you. position. comfortable enough where you don't feel the need to. readjust yourself. continuously. You can do this standing up if you wish. But perhaps it is best if you try to do this practice sitting down, or even lying down, that's fine. Allow your hands to rest wherever they naturally fall. And for now... There is nowhere else that you need to be. Let your breathing find its own natural rhythm. There is no particular way. that you need to breathe for this practice. No special depth, no counting. No technique. Just giving yourself. the room to breathe. Allow your breath to do what it already knows how to do. That's it, well done. Now before we begin together. I want to give you a sense of the journey that we're about to embark on together. This is a practice in the art of listening. We're going to begin at the furthest edges of your hearing and listening capability. And then... we will search out the most distant sounds that you can perceive. and spend some time. simply listening there. We will then gradually bring our awareness and our attention ever closer. from those distant sounds. to the sounds nearer and nearest to you. and then from that place eventually to the sounds and sensations. within your own body. We will explore the spaces between sounds, between sensations and between thoughts. and then rest for a while at a still point. From that point, we will then return to the world around us once again. So this is not a practice where you need to find the right sound. There is no special sound waiting for you. We don't need an extraordinary experience. the material for this practice. you already possess. you already have access to. The Room. the world beyond it. your body, your breath. your thoughts, your emotions. The silence. All you need to do. is allow. your attention. and willingness. to listen. Listening is a beautiful art. and today simply we are going to practice it together. So take one more. very natural. and relax breath. And let's begin. So, step one. Listen far away. without moving your body now. Allow your attention to travel as far away as your ears can reach. With the mind, send the ears out as far as they can reach. Search for the most distant sound that you can perceive. Now don't worry about whatever that is or what it is. Relax into the listening. Search for the most distant sound. that you can perceive. Perhaps there is a bird somewhere beyond your immediate surroundings. Maybe distant traffic? Maybe wind moving through the trees. a siren. an aircraft high above. water. voices, machinery, whatever it is. or something so faint that you cannot quite decide whether you are hearing it at all. There is no need to name the sound. Just stay with the listening itself. Visualise your ears, your mind's ear. your awareness. extending through the space around you. beyond the walls. further than the building. outwards into the landscape beyond you. Listen towards the horizon. You may discover that the quieter that you become, the more there is to hear. Try to stay with whichever distant sound has found your attention. Don't try to hold on to it. Allow your ears, allow your hearing, allow your listening. to meet it. Listen to its character. Is it continuous? Does it pulse? Does it rise and fall? Or does it drift in and out? Every sound is moving. even when it appears to remain in one place. Something about it is changing. its volume, its texture, its distance, its relationship to everything around it. Shifting. It echoes. It fades. and eventually it disappears from your awareness. Now, when that happens, don't immediately search for another sound. Try to remain listening. And what we mean by that is... Try to hear, imagine and visualize the silence left behind. Stay with that feeling. and quite probably. Another sound then emerges from that silence. something perhaps you hadn't heard before. or paid attention to. Allow yourself to receive that one as well now. This is the first movement of the practice. not hunting for sounds. allowing yourself to develop a sensitivity sufficient to receive what is already present. Let the father sounds remain at the edge of your awareness. and just rest there for a little longer. Step 2 now. Follow, observe and dissolve. So now bring your attention to a different sound. Choose something slightly nearer in your sense perception, your perceptual field. It doesn't matter what it is. It doesn't matter. It doesn't need to be loud. It doesn't need to be interesting. Something very ordinary is just perfect. The idea is to try to stay with it. So rather than asking yourself, what is that? Allow a relaxed curiosity about the sound itself. Where is it? Which direction? What is it bouncing from? what surfaces might be reflecting it. what might be absorbing it. Notice and hear how the environment shapes what reaches your ears. The sound does not arrive in isolation, it travels. It meets other things. It changes and shifts. Try with your attention to follow what happens to it, to the sound. Perhaps it becomes clearer. Perhaps it weakens. Maybe something else overlaps it. It might move across your field of hearing and listening. try to follow. and stay with its journey. And when it fades... Don't rush to replace it. Simply listen to what remains there. the relaxed silence. spaciousness that develops after a sound. leaves your field of perception is part of the experience. A sound appears. You notice it. It changes. it disappears. for all the while you remain present and relaxed. Nothing needs to be captured. Nothing needs to be kept. Your task is not to make it stay. Your task here is to become... deeply relaxed. and develop an intimate relationship with the changing nature. of the sounds. of your listening. a flow if you like. Choose another sound now and follow it in the same way. Where does it begin? Where does it travel? What does it mean and how does it change? And where does it finally dissolve? When the sound is gone, stay with the silence. And here, a quiet discipline is developing. Your attention is learning to move with what is actually happening rather than with what you expected to happen. Allow that understanding to settle through your experience. rather than your mental projections. and thoughts. Step 3. gradually. coming closer. So we're going to move closer now. So once again, choose another sound, but something a little nearer to you. Remember. Stay with it, relax with it, follow it. Listen to it. You don't need to identify it. Listen for its textures. its rhythms. its dynamic volume. It's beginning, it's ending, it's fading. Follow it until it fades. from your ability to perceive it. And then when it has gone... As before, listen to the silence that follows. Now choose another sound, a little closer once again. Stay with that one. Follow it until it fades. Listen afterwards. again. Find something nearer. you will begin to hear sounds that were present all along. but ones which only become apparent as your attention shifts. but ones that only become apparent once your attention has become more refined. Remember there is no need to strain. Listening is not about effort. It's about sensitivity. relaxation. one sound. than another. each and every time. coming. ever closer. to your present physical field. So perhaps now the sounds immediately around you are becoming more distinct. the room. The Furniture. The air. clothing. and a machinery. your own movements. the sounds made by your own breath. Continue until the sounds around you become those immediately surrounding your body. and now the direction changes. We have travelled and begun from far away. through the nearer world. towards you. And now the next place to listen is within you. So step four, listening to the body. Bring your attention to the surface of your body. with your mind's eye, with your ears Listen into your skin. you may hear something. You may feel something. You might experience nothing or very little at first. There is no problem to solve. Just allow your curiosity to remain. With your mind's ear now move your listening ever inward. not by forcing your attention. but like we have done. throughout this practice by becoming increasingly relaxed and sensitive. to the activity within you. You're breathing. your heartbeat. subtle movements taking place throughout your body. Perhaps there are sounds that you can indeed hear directly. but also perhaps there are sensations. that you can allow your imagination to translate into a kind of inner listening. Either is welcome. Keep imagining listening ever deeper towards the organs. Listen. into your nervous system. the tissues. the cells. even the atoms. You are not expected to hear these literally. If you can, then great, of course. but allow your imagination to become another form of listening of your attention. Allow yourself to sense the immense amount of activity taking place within you. much of it beyond your conscious control. Underneath all that activity there are quieter spaces. Listen for those. Now become aware of the mind. Thoughts may be moving through it. Hopefully not too busy at this point, but it doesn't matter either way. Planning. Remembering. commenting, judging. Imagining. Try to allow those thoughts, don't try and stop them. Follow them. Listen to see what happens between them. A thought appears. and then there is space, it disappears. Another thought appears and passes. So rather than trying to empty the mind, become interested in the spaces in which those thoughts arise. There may be a breath between two thoughts, a moment of stillness, a tiny opening. You don't need or want to try to make that opening larger, just simply recognize when it does appear. and don't worry if it doesn't. the outside sounds. Breathing a heartbeat. the movement of the body, the activity of the mind, the spaces between. Remember to let them all belong. as indeed they do. to the same field of awareness. You are listening now with the whole. of yourself. So step number five, finding the still point. somewhere within all of this activity. is a still point. who doesn't need to be completely silent. The world can still be making sounds, indeed it is. Your thoughts may still come and go. but with your mind, with your relaxed ear. Remember the still point is not dependent upon everything becoming quiet. It's simply, perhaps in this context, a place where You no longer need to chase what you're listening to. So visualize and imagine discovering a peaceful courtyard hidden within a busy city. You don't have to stop the city. you've simply managed to step into somewhere quieter. whatever analogy you wish. to pursue. and engage with. Send your relaxed awareness. into the knowledge that you can step into with the mind and with the ear. peaceful space. where you can just simply rest and allow yourself to expatiate. Nothing to achieve. Nothing to change. nothing to understand. nothing to do. Rest your ear. rest. You're listening. when the sound appears. which it most likely will do, allow it to be heard. if it disappears. Let it disappear. If a thought arrives, no need to follow it. if a sensation arises. You don't need to interfere. There is nothing you need to add to this moment. Rest in that spaciousness. Allow your ear to enjoy the moment when the mind finally relaxes into listening. Listen without searching. receive without reaching. while we are here. There is nowhere else to go. Step number six. when you are ready. Begin to become aware of the whole body again. Feel the breath moving. the weight of your body. Feel the contact between your body and the ground. chair. or whatever is supporting you, the floor. or your feet. your frame. Sense the space around you. And now, once again, let your listening expand outwards again. Hear the sounds immediately around you. than those further away. and then perhaps those at the furthest edge of your perception. Our journey now has become a full circle. far away. within. stillness. and back into the world. Try to take a moment to feel the difference between hearing a sound and listening to it. The sounds themselves have not changed. but possibly your relationship with them has. There is no need to decide either way. Simply. carry the experience with you. When you're ready. If they are shut, open your eyes. Move slowly. And before you return completely to whatever comes next, listen once more. the whole soundscape. near. far inside. outside. sounds and silence. You don't have to choose between them. They can all be received. And I'd like you to take this quality of listening into the rest of your day now. into the sounds of a room, into the voice of another person. into birdsong, into traffic, music. or just quiet relaxation. Remember. Listening is not only something you do, with practice it becomes part of how you inhabit and interact your relationship with the world. the more deeply you listen. the more deeply you can begin to live. So before we seek to change the world with sound, I think it's a beautiful thing to first learn how to truly receive it. This for me. is the heart of all sound healing. listening deeply. living fully. coming home to the sound of you. So reflection and journaling. so if you have a little more time. stay where you are for another minute or so, and you might like to write down anything that arose while we were doing the practice together. For example, you could ask yourself, You know, which sounds drew my attention today? Did I hear silence differently? What is silence? That's a big question, of course. Was listening easier or more difficult than yesterday? What happened when I listened inside my body? Did I discover moments of stillness? How do I feel now? for example. Now, of course, there is no right or wrong experience here. You're not measuring your performance. It's more about learning the qualities of your own attention. It's not even about hearing extraordinary things, although of course, if that's your experience, that's wonderful, but it's more about bringing extraordinary attention to ordinary experience. your experience doing the practice today. Felt quiet, ordinary, difficult, restless, beautiful or even completely uneventful. That is all part of the practice. if you would like to take this exploration further. and please do return to the far away closer practice. three times, two times each day, as often as you feel like for a week, maybe two weeks. as often as you like in the morning before beginning your day. In the middle of the day, as a pause to return to. present awareness. attention. or even before bed to settle and prepare for a beautiful deep rest. You don't need long sessions. Consistency, I would say, matters more than duration. So a few moments practiced sincerely can begin to change the way that you meet that you interact, you know, the relationship that you develop with the world. Each repetition, for example, might even reveal something completely different, a sound that you hadn't heard before. a quality. in your imagination or your mind. A moment between thoughts, a deeper appreciation of relaxation and spaciousness, or perhaps nothing at all. Keep listening. One week of listening can open a lifetime of discovery. Remember, sound is movement. So are you. Follow the sound until it becomes silence. Enjoy the silence that ensues and develops. So yeah. Feel free to return to this meditation as often as you like. I'm very grateful for your presence and your time and your energy. I hope you have enjoyed this. and thank you. for listening. Goodbye for now.