Soupbone Collective

Guided Meditation for Mindful Listening to the Self, with musical vignettes and suggested plant pairings

Cindy Liu

A 15-minute meditation that guides the individual towards a more elevated and clarified state of being that cultivates awareness, self-love and gratitude, and compassion for all beings. This practice emphasizes the deep listening typically attributed to musicians in the midst of their craft, using musical interludes to allow the listener to enter a state of heightened meditative flow. Deep listening in music involves listening from a receptive, empathetic, and attentive place to complex and subtle textures of sound and meaning. This meditation is suitable for individuals of all experience levels, and includes suggestions for plants that the listener may practice next to.

Musical selections

Plant pairings

Audio Transcript

Welcome. Thank you for being here.

It’s been a bit tough lately, hasn’t it? I think I know how you might be feeling. I want to tell you that you are doing well just as you are. I am proud of you for choosing yourself as you bloom on your own path. Just like the nascent bud of a peace lily, emerging with the spring.

Make yourself comfortable in a seated position or lying on your back. Close your eyes if you would like.

Now, I want you to breathe in deeply through your nose
and slowly out, through your mouth. Notice the coolness of the air as it enters, and the warmth as it leaves. Breathe in
and breathe out. In
and out. Notice how your breath travels through your diaphragm and lungs, opening your heart and throat chakras. Let your features soften as you feel your breath smoothing out any tension you may be holding in your spine, jaw, neck, and brow. Take a few more breaths on your own time, in
and out.

When we practice becoming mindful of our breath, we are reminded that all that truly exists is contained in this present moment. We find a way to understand ourselves by observing our internal landscape, rather than through internalizing our thoughts. Remember that you are in full control of your thoughts. They do not define you.

The root of inner peace is centering our being and reminding ourselves of our presence and aliveness. You are exactly where you need to be.

1.5 MIN MUSICAL INTERLUDE
Alexander Scriabin, Prelude Op. 11, No. 12 in G-sharp minor

Now, I’d like you to cross your arms over your chest, one hand on each shoulder. Feel your heart beating in this embrace, steadying and centering you. Thank your heart for pumping its life force through your body. For emerging resilient despite withstanding pain, loss, and sorrow.

I’d like you to shift your attention to your eyes, resting comfortably behind your eyelids. Thank your eyes for allowing you to witness the infinite beauty of this world. Become aware of how effortlessly your eyes allow you to see. We do not rush our eyes to blink faster in the same way we simply accept a tree in the forest just as it is. Why, then, do we feel the need to rush along our paths, despite knowing that, in the words of the philosopher Lao Tzu, “nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished”?

Breathe in and out, slowly and deliberately.

When we become mindful of how our body is steadfastly alive, our soul begins to find calm and gratitude for this present moment. Notice how little attention we pay to our breath during the pell-mell of our daily lives. And notice, too, how your breath is the root of your entire being, the reason for your joys, triumphs, and the person you are becoming. You are whole and perfect, a divine being worthy of love, just as you are. The greatest gift you can give yourself is loving yourself unconditionally.

Breathe in. Breathe out. Breathe in the cosmic energy of self-love. Breathe out a prayer for peace within yourself and the world.

2 MIN MUSICAL INTERLUDE
Florence Price, Thumbnail Sketches of a Day in the Life of a Washerwoman (ca. 1938-40), “Evening Shadows”

As one of the world’s greatest meditation teachers, Guru Pathik in Avatar: The Last Airbender, wisely said, “The greatest illusion of this world is the illusion of separation. Things you think are separate and different are actually one and the same.” When we practice tapping into our well of compassion for all beings, we shatter this illusion we have been conditioned to hold. You and I might come from utterly different walks of life, but our emotions and inner lives are strikingly similar. Through a mere smile, gesture, or exclamation, we transcend the illusion of boundaries drawn between countries and continents, and find kinship among those across the world who do not speak the same language as we do.

Continue breathing in and out. Think about someone or something you deeply love. Imagine a glowing, soft light extending from your heart to theirs. No matter where they are in the world, you can extend a prayer of compassion across the invisible threads between us. I wish you joy. I wish you good health. I wish you peace.

Have you ever stopped to notice how the leaves on the tree branches whisper and dance when the breeze rustles? Listen to the birds singing to one another across the forest. Feel how the earth beneath you anchors your weight, while the sky and clouds observe you overhead. An orchestra of textures, colors, and energy envelops you. You feel a deep connectedness with the universe. United together in our common humanity, rather than trapped in the illusion of separation, we become truly free.

Breathe in and breathe out.

Now, slowly open your eyes. Notice the calm you feel in your mind and body. Carry this with you throughout your day, and wherever life may lead you, knowing that you can return to it anytime, anywhere.

Namaste.



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