Meditation to the sound of rain

[Raindancer]

I've tried to meditate many times before, but every time I've tried my mind won't clear, it might be quiet, but it doesn't clear. If anything, I might fall asleep (which has happened) or drift away into thoughts. I've tried with and without music, I've tried to think of nothing and think of specific things, nothing has really worked, up until now.

 

I had placed some sound files on itunes with rain to calm me during studying some time back. Last week, while on the bus to work, I realised that I had the rain sound on my ipod, so I turned it on. I managed to do the best meditation I've ever done with the help of it. It was as if the sound of rain kept me centered. It didn't completely clear my mind as it put me in a very specific imaginary location, but there I was completely calm and at peace and nothing else was clogging my mind, all there was was me and the rain.

 

I don't know what anyone reading this might get out of it, but it was such a revelation for me that I felt that I had to share it.

[silent thunder]

If only I could stop my ears as readily as I can close my eyes, sound is responsible for so many of my extraneous thoughts, even when not meditating.

 

I use headphones while listening to white noise, forest rain, or waterfalls to counteract and drown out all the 'psychological sounds' that are so unavoidable in city settings, or with family in the house.  I find it an elegant and simple solution to prevent awareness of the kind of sounds that tend to start the storyteller telling stories for me, 'oh the neighbor's dog is telling us there is a buttefly invasion...  the mailman has a cough, we should make healing broth...'  Very effective.

 

I use these three tracks extensively and have the forest rain with singing bowls track on a loop in the background of our home much of the time.  Very soothing.  It's on right now in fact. 

 

Cheers!  May your sitting bring contentment and clarity and may you be released from suffering!

 

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[Raindancer]

We seem to have the same thing going on! I can often block out what I hear by fantasizing, and it does not bother me in the day to day life, but that's not ideal for meditation.

 

I've never been able to enjoy white sound, it sounds too eerie to me, but I checked the forest rain with singing bowls and that one is fantastic, thank you for mentioning it! It is something about rain that I really resonate with, music normally distracts me, but the sound the bowls make sounds like it's from within the rain, a call from nature.

[Fa Xin]

Well, your name IS Raindancer, after all!

 

I do the same practice...  I focus on whatever sound I am hearing.  The birds chirping is a favorite of mine, also the cars driving by.  I do this for about 5 minutes.  It could even be the sound of a fan blowing.

 

This type of meditation can be done with the other senses, too... Smell - if you have incense going, or how the blowing wind feels.  Sight can be distracting for me... But sound is my favorite. 

 

The senses can be a nice anchor to keep us present and centered.  

[Raindancer]

It's a mystery how I never thought about meditating to the sound of rain considering how much adore it

 

Meditating to a scent sound interesting, I'm unsure if it would work as well as rain does to me, but I might try it. I would like to meditate to real rain someday, and real rain does bring a scent with it so maybe that would make it even better.

Edited June 21, 2019 by Raindancer

[joeblast]

you'll love brown noise, then

 

 

[Raindancer]

That was actually more enjoyable than the white noise! It sounds a bit like the wind, but I think I prefer noises that change, that you can hear the movements or slight shifts of.

[joeblast]

yeah, but ones that change are something to pay attention to the purpose of the noise is to cause a flatlining of sorts (in a smoothing/conditioning sense) with the energy of the vestibulocochlear nerve - and since it tends to work that when you do a sufficient amount of attenuation of sorts to one cranial nerve, it winds up flowing over to the others and helping produce an overall attenuation.

[Raindancer]

10 minutes ago, joeblast said:

yeah, but ones that change are something to pay attention to the purpose of the noise is to cause a flatlining of sorts (in a smoothing/conditioning sense) with the energy of the vestibulocochlear nerve - and since it tends to work that when you do a sufficient amount of attenuation of sorts to one cranial nerve, it winds up flowing over to the others and helping produce an overall attenuation.

That's interesting, I wonder why it's not working like that for me. I find the sameness to make me slightly anxious, it feels unnatural and a bit as if I am watching a tv that's displaying the war of ants.

[Fa Xin]

10 hours ago, Raindancer said:

Meditating to a scent sound interesting, I'm unsure if it would work as well as rain does to me, but I might try it. I would like to meditate to real rain someday, and real rain does bring a scent with it so maybe that would make it even better.

 

The smell one is a kind of "on the go" meditation.

 

Next time your out walking in the town, and the smell of a nearby restaurant catches your nose, focus on it for a moment. Lose yourself in that smell, as if you're "stopping to smell the roses"

 

Even a 10 second meditation can help to bring us back to our center.

 

The smell of rain would be an excellent practice.  Start by listening to the rain drops, then when the smell catches your nose, enjoy that until it fades, then maybe a breeze from the window.  It turns into an expanding of our awareness, rather than laser beam focus on one aspect.  Your awareness grows to encompass the whole experience.   Like you said about the brown noise, it's nice when there's a change..

Edited June 22, 2019 by Fa Xin

[Raindancer]

That sounds really nice, thank you for the tip, Fa Xin! I think I have done that multiple times in the past, not really thinking of it as meditation, I'll try to be a bit more conscious about it in the future to get the most out of it!

 

I will try the rain bit whenever it happens to rain here again, it sounds lovely.

[Raindancer]

15 minutes ago, Wuschel said:

 

maybe it happened this time, because you didn't try. sometimes my meditation session starts the moment i end it

 

btw raindancer, rain meditation ... this reminds me of some thought i had some years ago - i'm like a rainbow, in a raincoat

 

I've done it several times after that time on the bus and it has worked wonderfully every time, so even if that was the moment it started working for me, it has continued to work for me. I'm just glad I found a way.

 

I've never heard that before, but sounds nice

[Raindancer]

That I can see I don't think there's any magic to the rain either, it just happened to be something that lead me into the right path with meditation. I think it might take a while before I can meditate well without the sound, but I hope I'll get to that point one day.

[Wu Ming Jen]

Raindancer,  dancing in the rain, feeling everything's the same,  got no time for all the pain,  he just loves the smell of rain, this keeps us  so sane, he just loves the sound of rain, sees the sound of rain, feels the sound of rain, he can taste the sound of rain washing all things away.

Edited June 23, 2019 by Wu Ming Jen