Meditate live with Danis Bois
How verbal guidance encourages active listening.

Following the meditation last week on the theme of listening, Danis Bois develops in meditation #67 how to move from passive listening to active listening through verbal guidance and gives some background on how this is useful for meditators.

During the meditation, meditators were invited to actively engage with the verbal guidance in order to direct their attention more efficiently for the good of the  meditation. Three supports were used to encourage listening: silence, motionlessness and words.

So please go from listening passively to listening more actively by actively following my instructions.

Firstly, each of the instructions I will give you is followed by a moment of silence of varying duration, but never shorter than 7 secs.

Longer silences will enable you to feel its effects on yourself. It takes a longer time to feel and experience what we feel.

Danis Bois

What are words for when listening to silence ?

Three supports were used to engage a good quality of listening: silence, motionlessness and words.

During the meditation, meditators were invited to follow and use the support of the verbal guidance that accompanies step-by-step the process of discovery of silence as it is put into words.

Words are at the service of silence and it is necessary to find the right balance between moments of silence and moments of verbal guidance.

The voice first creates a connection between meditators and the guide. It is helpful and gives points of reference, it directs attention and enables meditators to become aware of what arises within the experience of the meditation. The warmth of the voice can be relaxing and generate a sense of trust and depth

In passive listening, you let yourself be gently swayed by what is being said. Up to that point, there is nothing to do apart from feeling the resonance conveyed by the voice. Whereas in active listening, you have to listen, understand and carry out the instructions I propose.

Sustained attention combined with sustained motionlessness: the key to success in meditation

Combining sustained motionlessness and sustained attention apeases and stabilizes the mind. And the resulting feeling of continuity is the jewel of meditation, the feeling of experiencing a moment of eternity. 

« Combining sustained motionlessness and sustained attention apeases and stabilizes the mind. And the resulting feeling of continuity is the jewel of meditation, the feeling of experiencing a moment of eternity »

Danis Bois.

The step-by-step process of motionlessness

Danis Bois proposed a step-by-step process on  the notion of motionlessness, that takes the form of a bodyscan.  Meditators are invited to carry out ten different tasks of incremental complexity that require active listening and being fully present.