Welcome back for week two of Tricycle Meditation Month, our annual challenge to sit all 31 days of March.
If you’re just joining us, our Meditation Month teacher, Martine Batchelor, is leading a series of four free guided meditation videos. Martine is a mindfulness instructor and former Zen nun who has been teaching retreats all over the world for the last 30 years. Each Friday, we’re releasing a new video, which builds on the previous week’s lesson.
In the first video, Martine explained how to use the breath and body as an anchor that we can return to throughout our meditation practice. In week two, she demonstrates how to practice a listening meditation, in which we anchor our meditation in the sounds around us. Listening meditation, she says, develops our capacity for receptivity as we pay attention to the “music of life” without trying to analyze or control it. After the meditation, Martine suggests a few ways to bring this practice into our daily lives and train ourselves to listen to others more attentively and more compassionately.
Download a copy of this talk. It has been edited for clarity.
You can also watch a recording of Martine’s introductory live call from Saturday, March 9 here, and her closing live call on Saturday, March 30 here.
Learn more about Tricycle Meditation Month, sign up for weekly emails, and join a Facebook group to engage with fellow practitioners across the globe.
Related Meditation Month articles:
- The Zen of Not Knowing by Zenkei Blanche Hartman
- Meditations Off the Beaten Path by Ayya Khema, Dharma Master Hsin Tao, Ken Kushner, and Dharmavidya David Brazier
- Walking Meditation—Anywhere by Nguyen Anh-Huong and Thich Nhat Hanh
- Meditating with Beethoven by Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche
- Directed and Undirected Meditation with Andrew Olendzki
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