Peaceful water sounds may help quiet the mind during meditation. This free recording of water sounds, about 20 minutes long, is meant to be the focus of a meditation.
Sounds for Mindfulness Meditation
When it comes to mindfulness meditation, there’s no “right way” or “wrong way” to approach the practice. Various traditions throughout history have taken different approaches to helping the mind relax and cease its constant grasping at thought.
A common Zen Buddhist meditative practice involves counting the breath. As you breathe in, you simply pay attention to the sensation of the breath as it fills your nostrils and lungs; and, as you breathe out, you follow the sensation of what it feels like as your breath leaves your body. At the end of your exhalation, you count “one” silently to yourself. This continues indefinitely, counting “two,” “three,” and so on with each breath.
Other meditative traditions utilize various meditation exercises to help practitioners gradually still and quiet the “monkey mind,” a term given to the restless, unfocused, chaotic mental energy that all too often characterizes our thought patterns. This mental energy is so preoccupied with staying busy — with always distracting itself with yet another thought — that it finds the task of simply quieting and ceasing to think a near impossible feat.
Relaxing Water Sounds for Mindfulness
Some traditions will use chants and mantras to help students relax, let go, and calm the monkey mind. These include things such as the Hindu “om,” the Islamic repetition of the invocation of the name of Allah, and the Pure Land Buddhist chanting of Amita Buddha. Still, other traditions use external sounds — such as gongs, bells, and singing bowls — to quiet the mind.
This free recording of water sounds is intended to serve the same purpose. Used this way, it may make it easier to relax and let go of thought. Focus your attention on the sound of the water itself. Don’t attempt to analyze the sound: simply allow your mind to acknowledge and appreciate the sound for what it is. Over time, the monkey mind may begin to come to rest.
