Listen To Music Without Headphones

With the brilliance of tiny clip-on sound systems we can put on our headphones and be at the Metropolitan Opera or front row at a David Bowie concert almost anywhere we are. The joy of listening to music has kept the cadence of my runs and kept me going when my legs hurt, for thousands of miles, to every genre.  The pleasure of walking while listening to beautiful music has gotten me outside when nothing else would. Recently though, I noticed something worrying.  In the park one morning I realized how many us are wearing headphones, not just when we are commuting on a subway or running on treadmills, but to tune out the world, when we are in city parks, in the wild, in nature.

Not liking the thought of being under the sway of another well-entrenched habit, I went for a walk in the park. I left behind the phone and the music and brought only the keys to the front door.  Our ancient wisdom traditions often speak about the ‘solution’ or ‘understanding’ to something we have been searching for as being right below our nose, before our eyes, in the palm of our hands, hidden in plain sight. Here was this moment for me. The sound I was longing to hear was no sound.

Listen To Music At Work Secretly

There is a time for music and stimulating input, and there is a time to be alone and in silence. With each walk, I discovered the subtle sounds I had been missing. These strolls help foster an awareness that I was attempting to achieve with my meditation practice, but now this awareness was allowed to arise naturally. Opportunities to be attentive were all around, and the results were uncontrived. It was so simple. The enchanting song of a bird or the rustling of leaves was a new symphony. It was as if a new world had been created just for me. I was a child with a key to a magic garden, filled with wonder and daily surprises.

We need time away from our man-made noise. I never knew robins liked raspberries and could eat several of them whole. Trees have shapes and curves like people and branches that reach out like arms embracing life. A world where there was still empty space for one to catch the whisper of an inner voice that had something to share.

Life does has something to say and we can hear it if we listen. Being alone in nature without headphones has now become part of my daily meditation practice. Feeling each step as my feet touch the earth. Watching the breath enter my lungs, and being aware of the exhalation of life force into the world around me. Being a listener, in a different key.

There are moments when music and stimulating sound can inspire or generate great ideas and then there are moments when stillness is needed to bring forth something which is hidden, the inner wisdom that requires a gentler touch to emerge. In times of stillness we give ourselves the chance to perceive with another organ of perception. Isn’t this the very purpose of the meditations that we practice on cushions, with eyes closed?