Free to be still: An exploration of what I notice when I stop moving my body and just breathe.
I allow myself to rest. I am free to be still.
This past week, I combined the exploration Free to Be Still with the practice of using sound as my anchor. I set my intention to notice sounds as a tool to gently tune into the present moment.
I played around with noticing sounds whenever I thought of it, and inviting in some stillness now and then helped support this part of my practice.
The most difficult part for me was removing a label from the sound. Whenever I noticed a sound, my brain wanted to attach a word or phrase to it, such as: people talking…bug…truck backing up. However, I wanted to play around with describing the sounds instead. For example: pleasant…unpleasant…soft…loud…buzz…crunch..plink plink.
One day this week, after walking through the woods for almost two hours (which was delightful), I remembered that I am free to be still. I paused and sat next to the lake, letting my body rest. I closed my eyes and intentionally noticed sounds. Lapping…whoosh…tweet tweet…gggggggg…squeaky squeak…hya hya…pleasant.
I am definitely still practicing! Using sound as an anchor does not come naturally to me, so I am enjoying this exploration because it feels new and, if I’m being honest, a little uncomfortable! If I view my discomfort as information, I am able to look at it with a sense of curiosity and just see what I see, or in this case hear what I hear…
My resting place, where I paused to notice sound.