Eye of the Storm Guided Meditation

Life doesn’t slow. You have deadlines, emails, and messages. The stress creeps in before you notice. But in the middle of all this chaos, there is always a still point—a space of quiet within you that is beyond stress and confusion.

This quiet space is the eye of the storm—a place where we can pause, breathe, and reconnect with ourselves, no matter what is happening around us.

Take three minutes to find calm with this short meditation, where I guide you into that still center, the place of clarity and calm. You don’t need silence. You don’t need perfect conditions. You only need to pause and breathe.

I recorded a guided audio for you to practice the Eye of the Storm Meditatiom. The audio is about 3 minutes.

Eye of the Storm Meditation Practice tips

Wear headphones if possible.

If at any time during the meditation, you become physically uncomfortable, create some movement.  You can shift around in your seat or even get up and walk around.  

Don’t force your breath.  Let it flow normally,

If your mind is restless, you are not doing anything wrong.  

Relax and breathe.

Enjoy!

A Guided Meditation using Sounds

Sound can be a distraction during meditation.  Noises can pull you from the state of calm that may come with meditation.  But the goal of meditation may not be to distance yourself from what is around you but to create awareness of your external and internal environment.

It is almost impossible to avoid sounds as you meditate. Sounds come and constantly.  But sounds don’t need to be a distraction.  You can use sound in your practice.  You can use any sound.  You may notice sounds around you, in your room, or you may notice sounds outside of your environment, like cars passing or birds singing.  You may notice internal sounds like the sound of your breath.  There might be subtle a sound like the hum of a computer.

The sounds you hear become an anchor, an object of the senses that helps keep your mind present to the moment.  Your mind tends to think about the past or the future, it is not usually in the present moment, the now.  

During this meditation, you will start by listening to the sound of your breath.  Then you may choose to explore listening to any other sounds that become aware of, noticing the qualities of each sound.  Every sound has certain qualities, like how loud the sound is, and the pitch of the sound.  Sounds may come and go, they may be very close to you, or far away.  To meditate on a sound is more than being aware of the sound, it is noticing these qualities.

In this meditation, I will lead you through the experience of becoming aware of the sounds around you.

The practice

Get comfortable, either sitting or lying down. If seated, ensure your feet touch the floor or a book. You may have your knees bent over a pillow if you lie down.

Take a moment to settle in, and adjust your position if you need to get comfortable.

Close your eyes, or let your gaze soften by looking just in front of you. 

Bring your awareness to the breath, but instead of focusing on the physical feeling of the breath, listen to the sound of the body breathing.

Open up your awareness to other sounds present. Let your awareness focus on one sound. Tune into this sound, and listen to the sound and the qualities of this sound.

Notice how the mind recognizes the sound. When a car goes by, you know it is a car. Your mind puts a label on the sound. You may have the image of a car. 

Instead of identifying and defining each sound, try to focus on the experience of hearing.

Imagine your ears are microphones. A microphone does not label the sound but picks it up.

Keep noticing one sound until another sound demands your attention. Then, place your full attention on this sound.

 Be curious as you listen.  Try not to label the sound. Just hear it for what it is, a vibration that your mind perceives as sound.

Bring your awareness back to the breath.  Let your breath flow with ease. You don’t need to force your breath. Let your attention rest on the sound of the breath.  Notice the sound of the inhale and the sound of the exhale.

Take a few breaths focusing on the sound of breathing.

When you are ready to let the meditation go, open your eyes.  

Sound Meditation Guided Audio

I recorded a guided audio for you to practice the meditation on sound. The audio is about 8 minutes.

Sound Meditation Practice tips

Wear headphones if possible.

If at any time during the meditation, you become physically uncomfortable, create some movement.  You can shift around in your seat or even get up and walk around.  

Don’t force your breath.  Let it flow normally, but observe the sound of the breath.  If noticing your breath creates discomfort move on to another sound, noticing a sound that is near you.

If your mind is restless, you are not doing anything wrong.  Meditation is the process of training your brain to focus fully in the moment.  If you notice your mind has wandered off, return your attention to the sound you were observing, with no judgment.  You may need to do this several times during the meditation.

Enjoy!

A practice to go beneath thought

Thoughts often get in the way of your meditation practice, but trying to force them away won’t work.  Your brain is a busy place, flooded with thoughts, sensations, memories, and worries about the future.  It takes time to train the brain to allow all of this activity to fall away without getting caught up in the sensations and stories your brain likes to engage with.  

It may take time, but you can train your brain to watch your thoughts, your stories, and even your emotions from the place of the observer. 

The observer is a neutral spectator.  The observer is not emotionally attached to these thoughts, emotions, or stories.  To the observer watching these mental phenomena is no different than watching the waves roll onto a beach, and then roll back to sea.

You too can become the observer.  In this guided audio meditation I offer you the visualization of diving into the water, going deep beneath the mental activity that stays at the surface of the water.

Imagine diving beneath the waves at the surface of the water.  It may be choppy, or even stormy at the surface, but once you are beneath the waves, it is calm.  It is peaceful.  You can observe the movement of the water at the surface from beneath, in your quiet space.

The Practice

The goal of this practice is to use the breath to focus your thoughts, allowing you to slip into the quiet space beneath thought.  In this space, you are the observer of your thoughts.  

Start by sitting comfortably or lying on your back.  Take a moment to settle in and notice all the places your body meets the chair or floor.  

Bring your attention to your breath.  Choose one place to notice, where ever it feels most comfortable to notice. It may be on your mouth or nostrils noticing the gentle feeling of air moving in or out. Maybe you feel the breath in your chest, feeling the rise and fall of your chest as your breath.  Or maybe you notice your breath in your belly, noticing your belly rising and falling. Keep your attention on the breath, notice the sensation of each inhale and each exhale.  Let your awareness ride on the wave of breath.

Now, imagine you are looking at a lake or ocean.  You see ripples across the surface; these ripples may be tiny or big waves.  Imagine just watching each wave as it moves across the surface of the water.  Any thoughts that come up see if you can imagine them becoming waves.  As you watch the water, the wave appears, it moves across the water, eventually hits the shore, or is overtaken by another wave.  Let your thoughts be waves, they will still be there, but you can watch them from a distance, just as if you are watching the water from the shore.

You may choose to stay on the shore and watch the waves, or you may choose to dive into the water and go below the surface.

Imagine your mind is like the ocean, where it’s calm and clear beneath the surface.

From this deep place in the ocean, you can look up toward the surface, and no matter what the conditions are, whether it’s calm, choppy, or even stormy. Deep in the ocean, it’s calm and clear.  Imagine your thoughts, sensations, and perceptions, all on the surface of the water.  You watch from beneath the waves.

You are not the actions of your mind, you are the observer.

Anytime you notice you are no longer focused on your breath, gently turn your attention back to your breath.  The inhale flows in, the exhale flows out.  You ride the waves.

Take a few more breaths, inhale, exhale, and let yourself go deeper into this peaceful space.

Anytime you wish to return to this place, drop your gaze or close your eyes, turn your attention to your breath, and you will be back in this place of calm, beneath the actions of your mind.  

Take an inhale in, and then let it go with the exhale.  When you are ready, let your eyes open.

Ocean Mind Guided Audio

I have recorded a guided audio for you to practice the ocean mind meditation. The audio is about 9 minutes.

Ocean Mind Practice tips

For the best audio, and to increase the chances of not being disturbed, wear headphones if possible.

You may choose to create movement at any time in the practice.  If you become physically uncomfortable, switch positions, or create movements like rolling your shoulders, or letting your head or spine move.  Remember, there are no shoulds in this practice.  If you feel like you need to get up and walk away, you can do that.

Don’t force the breath.  Let the breath flow naturally, just observe your breath.  If you are not comfortable with the visualization of diving under the water, stay on the shore.  Imagine your thoughts are the waves that lap onto the shore and then flow back to sea.  You can sit safely back away from the water, watching.

If you notice you have lost yourself in thoughts, don’t worry.  We all have minds that think, a lot.  Gently guide your awareness back toward the sensations or sound of your breath.  Imagine the breath becoming a tide, the inhale gently moving inward, the exhale, the outgoing tide, gently rolling back to the water. 

Enjoy!