In our fast-paced and ever-changing world, it is easy to get wrapped up in all the stresses of life. Sometimes it may be too much to the point that we forget to see the beauty of our world amidst its state. In this blog, I will introduce the practice of sound mindfulness, an activity that I believe helps us reconnect with reality and by extension, ourselves. It is through this practice that we can appreciate the little things around us and enrich ourselves internally.

To first derive the idea behind sound mindfulness, we can break down the term into two parts: sound and mindfulness. We can investigate each word separately, then combine them to notice the emergent result.

Before we continue, I want to note that both terms can have many definitions, and each of these definitions draws from different kinds of perspectives. Hence, before we proceed, we must establish a perspective. As our concern is to reconnect with the world and ourselves, our perspective must be from the lens of seeing ourselves in relation to the world around us. In other words, we focus on our relationships with reality and with ourselves.

What can we consider as a sound?

As we focus on our relationship with all of reality, I will be more expansive on the definition to include many aspects of the world while still including the auditory aspect that is essential to sound. From this perspective, sounds are anything that you can hear through your ears. This means that sound is not only limited to ordinary auditory bits that you hear from everyday entities, but also includes music, conversation, and more.

Note: I do not mean to say that music, conversation, etc. are simply equivalent to random noises. I simply use “sound” as an umbrella term for any auditory stimuli.

What is mindfulness?

We can break down the word "mindfulness" into three separate parts: mind, -ful, and -ness. Defining each part is relatively straightforward, though I will stick to a pragmatic ("good enough") definition for mind:

mind: the internal entity that perceives, experiences, and thinks
-ful: doing or embodying something to the fullest extent
-ness: state of being

Hence, putting all of these together, we can say that mindfulness means a state of fully perceiving, experiencing, and thinking.

The consequent question then would be "of what do we perceive, experience, and think?" Drawing from our chosen perspective, the answer would be simply the world and ourselves. Since paying attention to all intricacies of both is not feasible, it means that we will narrow down the relevant domain. Normally, the domain gets narrowed down to the present moment, which we will accept since it is relevant to our perspective.

Hence, our working definition for mindfulness is a state of fully perceiving, experiencing, and thinking about the present moment. On practice, it means noticing the little details of the immediately present reality and the impressions that arise within you, which can then help transform your relationship with reality.

Now that we have the two components, we can now combine them together and examine the result to discover the full meaning of sound mindfulness.

Combining the two together

Sound mindfulness then means a state of fully perceiving, experiencing, and thinking about the present moment with a deep focus on auditory sensations. It involves listening to sounds, observing the impressions and thoughts that then arise within you, and consequently learning more about both the sounds and their sources. In turn, we learn more about our world and see reality in a new perspective.

This idea is already meaningful and valuable on its own; now, it is time to extract the value of this idea and apply it into our own lives. In the next section, we explore ways to practice sound mindfulness and some ways to adjust your practice to make it work for you.

How can I practice sound mindfulness?

Since sounds are practically everywhere, you can start practicing sound mindfulness simply by taking some time to listen to the world around you. Pay attention to the characteristics of the sounds, how they influence and are influenced by their environment, and your personal impressions while listening. Take note of how your observations shift how you perceive and relate to the sources of the sounds.

There are many ways to adjust your sound mindfulness practice, but we will go over three main ways to do so.

The kinds of sounds you listen to

Aside from listening to what is immediately around you, you can listen to sounds from other sources such as online audios and videos. You can also go to other locations to hear different kinds of sounds.

Equipment

If you have any lying around, you may try listening to sounds via different kinds of headphones and audio equipment as they can amplify certain parts of sound that you may not hear normally. You could also opt for improving the overall volume and quality of the sound by capturing it through different microphones and recorders.

However, tweaking equipment doesn’t have to mean purchasing costly devices. You can get creative and use what you have on hand to alter the way you listen! For example, you can get a couple of cups and hold them up to your ears. You can also use recording apps on your phone to save any interesting sounds.

Note: If you are using a phone to record sounds and want to capture a multi-directional or 3D sound, be sure to get a recording app that is able to record in stereo since many recording apps on mobile only record in mono, which makes the sound seem flat or come from one direction only.

Circumstances

As sound mindfulness heavily involves your internal state, the factors that affect your focus and comfort can impact your approach to this activity. These factors include where you listen to the sounds (which might not necessarily be the same place as where you capture those sounds), your energy level, your mood, and many other variables.

Note: Don’t worry if you are not in “perfect” circumstances for listening to sounds. Simply taking time to stop and listen is already more than enough.

In conclusion, you can practice sound mindfulness any way you want. What is important is the joy of re-experiencing the world in a different light, and consequently, improving your connection with yourself and the world.

If you would like to archive your observations and experiences with sounds, you can check out the Sonorarium of Resonance, a product I created specifically for this activity.

I wish you all the best in your journey with sound mindfulness, and I hope that your practice can shed a new light on the beauty of reality.