Duration: 21 minutes

We always live in a storm of sound. Sounds are constantly moving towards us, crashing in upon us, engulfing us. But at the center of this sound storm, there is a silence we haven’t heard. This meditation makes us aware of the silence in the center of this storm of sound.

Sit down somewhere, anywhere. The noisier the place, the better! Look for a place with continuous sound. It could be a natural sound, like the gushing of a river or a waterfall or the crashing of the waves on a beach or it could be a railway station, or a marketplace.

• Sit silently.
• Feel the sounds coming at you from every direction as sound waves.
• With sounds flowing at you from all directions, feel yourself to be at the center of this storm of sound. You are at the center, and sounds are flowing towards you.
• Feel clearly, at the center, where you are, that there is no sound! At the center is total silence. If there were sound at the center, you would not be able to hear the sounds outside. The sounds are entering you, penetrating you, but they stop at the center.
• Inside you, there is a point where all sounds stop. It is from that point that every sound is being heard. Try to locate that center.

When you locate it, suddenly, your awareness will turn inward from the outer world of sound. You will be at the center where there is silence, the point where no sound can enter. That point is your center. Once you have heard that silence, you will never again be disturbed by any sound, you will never be touched by sound.

We always think that we are hearing sounds with our ears. With this technique, you discover that sounds are not heard in the ears or even in the head. The sound is always heard at the navel point, that is the center of sound.

You cannot try this technique with songs because the lyrics will have meaning for you, and you will focus on the meaning. So it needs to be just some noise.

source: Living Enlightenment