WATER CONNECTION   

          MEDITATIONS               

"Water is the great purifier of life.

In addition to its cleansing qualities, water has a deep relaxing and restorative function." Chop Wood Carry Water.

	This meditation touches the sense of hearing. Many meditations invoke the senses which allows you to fully explore the range of each sense. "Tuning into each of your senses every day will enrich your life in subtle and wonderful ways." Meditation Made Easy, Lorin Roche, Ph. D. Meditation with sound provides you with the experience of focusing your attention on vibrations of different frequencies of sound waves. You can actually "feel" the sound waves in your ears as they reach the tiny hairs that transmit the vibrations to the nerve cells. Your hearing becomes multi-dimensional as you distinguish the tones, resonance, amplitude, direction, and other exciting qualities. Water is a sound that provides a soothing, relaxing quality. A bubbling brook, waterfall, or gently flowing fountain presents a variety of gentle sounds and periods of silence between the sounds. As you focus on hearing, listen for the silence between the sound and join the rhythm of the water with your natural rhythm. Water Fountains are very popular tools to use during meditation. WiseSpirit offers these fountains in the Store.
Step 1	Relax Turn on your water fountain or the sound-bite on this webpage. If you are sitting by a stream or waterfall, find a place that allows you to hear the water movement without getting wet. Sit comfortably in a chair with your back straight and head held high. It is best to keep your feet on the ground so that you remain connected to the earth. You can also sit on the ground with your legs crossed or straight. Make sure your back is supported to eliminate any discomfort that may distract you. Let you body relax and blend into the chair (or ground) but remain awake. One easy way to relax is to tell each muscle to release and let go of all tension. Spend about a minute just relaxing your body.
Step 2	Center Once your body is relaxed, take three slow, deep breaths. Feel the tension release from your body as you exhale. Begin breathing naturally and focus on sounds around you. Listen to the water trickling down and over the rocks. Just focus on the different sounds around you. After listening with your eyes open for a minute or two, close your eyes and continue to listen to the sounds reaching your ears. If thoughts come into your mind, which they will, simply recognize the thought and go back to focusing on the sound of the water. Do not be upset with yourself for thinking; simply return to water. Let yourself notice the multiple dimensions of the sound. If you have two functional ears, you will pick up sounds in all directions...left, right, up, down. Pay attention to the silence between the sounds. Learn to recognize this silence and feel the sensation in your ears as the silence reaches them. If there isn't any recognizable silence, focus on the distance between you and the source of the sound you are hearing. If you are outside and hear a bird or insect that may distract you, simply blend that sound into your meditation and return to the sound of the water. Feel the sensation of the sound as it reaches your ears and be aware of your ears as they capture the vibrations. Feel the tingling of the tiny hairs as the sound frequencies dance over them. Continue to focus on your ears and the sounds of water for at least five minutes. You can stay in this centering step for as long as twenty minutes if you want. You may find the sounds have gotten louder as you get further into the meditation because your attention is focused on the gentle flowing water and all other sounds seems to fade away. Meditation is helping you train your mind and body to release tension, and learn attention and focus.
Step 3	Release Release is the "wrap up" portion of your meditation. During meditation, you may reach a state similar to wakeful sleep as your body slows down. (It has been proven that meditation is actually more relaxing than sleep.) You don't want to just jump up and start moving right away. You want to give yourself time to gently become conscious of your body. Start by moving your fingers and feet. This takes your focus away from your breathing and back to your body. Take a minute or two to simply move gently, your arms, legs, neck, and shoulders. When you feel comfortable, open your eyes and look around to reconnect yourself with your surroundings and begin hearing other sounds around you. Some people find that after this hearing meditation session, everything is louder and clearer. This is natural. If things do not seem louder or clearer, this is natural also since everyone is at a different stage of stress and tension.

Try meditating for five minutes then increase it to ten then fifteen and then twenty if you can. If you don't have that much time, meditate as long as you can. If you don't have five minutes, meditate for two minutes between meetings or tasks. Make meditation flexible to your lifestyle not a rigid chore. Meditation is enjoyable and gives you a personal moment away from the hustle and bustle of the world outside. It's your time you give yourself. Enjoy it!!

Did you like this meditation exercise? Check out the books on meditation......

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