Embracing Urban Sounds in Meditation: Finding Stillness in the Noise
When I talk to people about meditation, I often notice how varied their expectations are.
Most people today are stressed and overworked, seeking one thing from meditation: absolute calm and a state where they no longer have to think.
However, achieving absolute calm is often difficult, especially in an urban environment. And while meditation has many facets, “not thinking” is definitely not the goal.
At its core, meditation is a practice aimed at developing awareness, presence, and a deep sense of connection with yourself and the present moment. It’s about cultivating mindfulness and learning to observe your thoughts, letting them pass without holding onto them. With practice, you can reach deeper states of awareness, but that requires patience and, most importantly, regular practice.
Today, let’s focus on the idea of “absolute calm” in an urban setting. Anyone living in a large city knows the constant noise and the challenge of finding complete silence. But this doesn’t have to interfere with your meditation practice. Instead, you can use these sounds as part of your meditation, rather than letting them distract you.
Flowing with the Rhythm of the City: A Guided Meditation
Sit comfortably in your preferred meditation position, whether on a cushion on the floor or a chair. Make sure you’re sitting upright and gently close your eyes. Allow your body to settle and let your breath flow freely and naturally. Breathe in and out through your nose at your own pace.
Focus your attention on the sounds around you. Notice whether they are loud or quiet, near or far. Become aware that each sound arises and fades away without leaving a trace.
After a few moments of listening, imagine your mind is not limited to your head. Feel it expand like the vast, open sky. Your mind is boundless and clear, just like the space around you. Let it stretch out to even the farthest sounds.
Imagine there are no boundaries for your mind, neither inside nor outside. Let your awareness expand in all directions, like the open sky.
Relax into this openness and just listen. Every sound you hear – whether it’s voices, traffic, wind, or soft murmurs – is like a cloud in the sky: it arises and dissolves. Let the sounds come and go, whether they are loud or soft, near or far.
Observe them like clouds passing through the sky of your awareness. After a while, you may also notice thoughts or emotions emerging in the vast space of your mind. Let them come and go as well, without resisting. Whether pleasant or unpleasant thoughts, images, feelings, joy, or pain – let them all pass like clouds through the clear sky of your mind.
Your mind is not confined to your body
Now, shift your attention to the sensations in your body. The mind is not confined to the body. Physical sensations arise and fade within the open space of the mind. Your breath moves on its own, light and free like the wind. If you pay close attention, you’ll notice that even the body is not solid. It presents itself through sensations like softness, tension, pressure, tingling, warmth, or cold. All these sensations drift like clouds through the vast space of your awareness.
Let yourself sink into this openness. Feel how sensations are free to move and change. Thoughts, images, feelings, and sounds come and go like clouds in the sky of your clear, open awareness. Finally, direct your attention to awareness itself.
Recognize how clear, timeless, and limitless it is – an open space that receives everything without being confined by it.
This, in fact, is your true nature. Rest in this vastness and trust it. Here, you’ll find your inner home.
Take care and be blessed,
Hari Om Tat Sat.
