Meditation: Quiet the noise inside of you

 “The quieter you become, the more you are able to hear”  Rumi 

As the bell goes from ringing to silent, silence the noise inside of you.  We are filled with noise from society around us:

You really should...

Don't forget to...

You have to worry about... 

We are bombarded by messages like those above from so many sources: Family, friends, teachers, media, social media.  Many of the imperatives are latent, or hidden from us.  And many of the imperatives have been socialized into our self so we have accepted these part of who we are without consciously realizing it, without claiming it for ourselves, without agreeing to it.

So, this meditation is to quiet all of that noise.  Quiet all that imperatives inside of us.  Quiet all of the messages that are distracting us from the present moment.  Quite all of the things pulling you out of appreciating this moment right now.

One strategy for this meditation is to focus on your breath.  The only real imperative at any moment in your life is that you breathe. Pause.  Slowly and steadily breathe in through your nose.  Feel the air coming in.  Follow that air as it flows through the back of your throat and down into your lungs.  Feel it filling up your lungs.  Notice your chest expanding to let the air in.  Feel the oxygen nourishing your heart and then radiating out to the rest of your body via your bloodstream.  Now, slowly and steadily breathe out through your mouth.  Notice the used air expelling from your mouth.  Feel the air rushing past your lips exiting your body.

Misogi Breathing

This form of breathing is used in the Japanese martial art called aikido, which is "the way of peaceful energy".  In Japanese, it is called misogi breathing.

Sensei Lindstrom explains it here.