04.17.2026 Listening as a Way of Being When I started meditating, I believed the only way to experience mindfulness was by sitting crossed-legged and listening to a meditation session for a number of uninterrupted minutes. It wasn’t until I read Jon Kabat-Zinn’s Wherever You Go, There You Are that I realized mindfulness can be achieved through the art of intentional listening. I started noticing my mindfulness growing when I took a simple walk outside without my phone. Listening to the sounds of the natural world, with kids playing, birds singing, and cars passing by, brought me a sense of peace. My mind soothed, and I felt present in my body. It became a habitual practice of mine — anytime I started feeling overwhelmed, and couldn’t get out of my head, I took a no-phone walk. I always felt lighter afterward. But this isn’t the only way I practiced mindful listening. Listening to music has always been a refuge of mine. But with all the different streaming options, I felt overstimulated by the endless choices. So, my favorite way to listen to music is by playing vinyl records, and intentionally listening to an album from start to finish. That’s what mindfulness is: the ability to direct your attention fully to whatever is in front of you. To my surprise, this practice translated into my listening habits with people as well. I found myself having conversations and truly listening to what they were saying, without thinking of what to say next. Without feeling agitated if their opinion differed from mine. I wanted to genuinely understand where they were coming from, why they held this opinion, and what brought them to this conclusion. Instead of defensively responding, I listened, not as a means to an end, but as the end itself. Intentional listening permeates every aspect of my life and helps me experience a deeper facet of living — of being. The three articles below explore mindful listening in its various forms. —Sarah El-Chaar, Editorial Intern How to Get Lost — and Found — in Music Music connects us to the present moment like nothing else, says Miguel Chen. He explains how to really listen to music. Let’s spend some time connecting to our deeper selves by mindfully listening to music. Instead of just throwing music on as background noise and doing a hundred other things, let’s really listen. Find a space without distraction near your stereo. If you have a record collection, bust out the vinyl. If you don’t, don’t worry about it. I’m not a vinyl purist like many of my friends, though I agree it might help in this particular practice. It’s totally not necessary though. Grab your favorite record, or CD, tape, mp3, whatever. Headphones might help for this practice, but again they are not completely necessary. The important thing is to set yourself up to just listen to music and do nothing else. Turn your phone off for a minute. Put away any other distractions. It’s time. ADVERTISEMENT Listening to the Sounds of the Earth with Larry Ward Larry Ward shares the daily meditation he uses every morning and every evening to ground himself with the planet. While I am waiting for the sun, I practice listening to the sounds of the planet — the birds, the movement of prairie dogs, cars on the road, trucks and buses, the wind, the hawk talking, the magpies chattering — the silence in between and underneath all those things. Every morning I just take 10 or 15 minutes to ground myself on the planet, with the planet. Then I simply notice what I notice. I’m often delightfully surprised by the sounds of new birds with new songs, new beauty. My sensory experience of being an earthling is affirmed. Listening Deeply for Peace Peace will only become a reality, says Thich Nhat Hanh, when world leaders come to negotiations with the ability to hear the suffering at the root of all conflicts. The secret of creating peace is that when you listen to another person you have only one purpose: to offer him an opportunity to empty his heart. If you are able to keep that awareness and compassion alive in you, then you can sit for one hour and listen even if the other person’s speech contains a lot of wrong perceptions, condemnations and bitterness. You can continue to listen because you are already protected by the nectar of compassion in your own heart. If you do not practice mindful breathing in order to keep that compassion alive, however, you can lose your own peace. Irritation and anger will come up, and the other person will notice and will not be able to continue. Keeping your awareness keeps you safe.