“ Informal Practice is the practice of bringing mindful attention and awareness to all the activities of daily living.”
Dave Matthew's Band is one of my favorite jam bands. I feel very mindful when I listen to their music. My mind and body seem to coalesce. I feel very in tune to their music. It is a vibrational experience for me. I find I am able to find my inner chi when I enjoy this band. I started listening when I was in high school and continue through today. I am looking forward to an upcoming show I will be going to.
I often share in talks I give that mindfulness can be part of every moment of every day. It does not require extra time. You can bring mindfulness to all of the activities of daily living such as listening to a song.
Here are some tips to mindfully listen to a song:
-What do your fingers feel like when accessing this song to listen to? What media are you going through to listen to this song?
-Notice your environment. Are you at home, work, school, in your car or some other location?
-Are you alone or with others?
-Pay attention to what you see in your surroundings, hear with your ears, smell with your nose, taste with your mouth and touch with your body.
-Are you focusing on something else or just on the song you are going to listen to? Make the decision to solely attend to the song or if you are unable to do so reflect as to the reason for this.
-While you listen to this song, you might experiment with focusing on one sense over the others. Another option is to listen to the music with your eyes closed and then with your eyes open. Of course permitting that you aren't operating machinery such as a car.
-Listen to this song of choice as if you have never heard it before. Come with an open mind as to where this experience may take you mentally and physically.
-After you listen to this song notice what was similar and what was new to listening to this song if you had heard it before.
-Reflect back to yourself about what you experienced with all of your senses before, during and after listening to this song.
MINDFUL MOMENT: BRING YOUR FULL ATTENTION TO THE NEXT SONG YOU LISTEN TO USING THE STEPS ABOVE.
“We often do things in our lives that we are not fully present or there for. Living this way we can cheat ourselves of many moments in our lives.”
