Meditating with Headphones
Should we use masking sounds to reduce distracting conversations when meditating in public?
A Meditator’s Question:
I regularly meditate on the train for about 75 minutes, using noise-canceling headphones with ocean sounds to mask loud conversations. In most of my sittings, I practice around Stages 3-4 of The Elephant Path.
I’m wondering whether I’m ready to meditate without headphones. There would be many more potential distractions, but perhaps this could help me learn to stay with the breath while people around me are speaking loudly to one another or on the phone, a behavior I really dislike.
What would you suggest I do?
Oded’s Answer:
Don’t play ocean sounds in your headphones when you practice.
It’s important to remain connected with reality as it is, cultivating Equanimity toward all phenomena. Desire and Aversion are root causes of suffering, and using ocean sounds to avoid experiencing the sounds you dislike reinforces that pull.
You can, however, use your headphones for their noise-canceling feature while nothing is being played. The goal is to reduce the intensity of distracting stimuli around you without eliminating them completely. That's why we don't practice in heavy traffic or in a sensory-deprivation tank - although both are valid things to experiment with, at least once in a while.
"Are you ready"? Well, there's only one way to find out. 😉
I suggest you start with the noise-canceled experience a few times. Once you see you're able to keep your attention on the meditation object without getting lost in the conversations around you, see what happens when you meditate with your ears fully open. No matter how the session goes, make sure to complete it once you start. Don't let anything bring your meditation to a stop but the finish bell, especially not suggestions made by the judgmental mind. Decide whether to use headphones in your next session after you have reflected on the experience as a whole.
With Metta,
Oded
