Friday morning, 23rd July 2021. If someone had ever suggested to me to make a dawn recording at this location on a 'normal' Friday morning, I would have exclaimed: "Seriously, are you joking?". This place is so close to the city that a 'normal' Friday morning (and especially so during Winter, with its long nights and short days) would have meant, if exceedingly lucky, something like 70% heavy traffic noise and 30% dawn chorus (including not only birds but an array of various mammals as well).

But here we were, three days into a strict Covid-19 Delta lockdown... Of course, one gets curious. How much difference? After all, from the 'Nature' point of view, as opposed to the 'Human' point of view, it seems fair to say that what is 'normal' is what happens when the 'Human' is not around. In a lockdown situation, 'Human' is still very much around, but rather heavily circumscribed, for his/her own good. And this happens, also, to be beneficial to 'Nature'. So, what might that mean, in terms of 'acoustic ecology'? Well, as it turns out, it means 'a heaven of a lot'.

This excerpt from a much longer recording commences from 06:34, i.e., from mid-Winter's early twilight through to sunrise and after. (The longer recording begins several hours before first light.) Yes, there is some sporadic 'essential' traffic noise to be heard; mainly, as one would expect, in the lower frequencies; and the low-frequency rumble of the occasional 'essential' jet landing at or taking off from the local city airport. But, from this field recordist's perspective, Nature definitely owns this 'Delta' dawn. The overwhelming noise of mechanised humanity has been radically subdued by ... a microscopic virus. Of course, one feels great empathy and sympathy for humanity (after all, one is  human). But the Paradox naturally arises in one's mind, and one naturally reflects and meditates upon it...

If 'Humanity' is, as humans tend to allege, the 'pinnacle of all Nature', why is it that Nature, which utterly grounds and supports all of 'Humanity' and all of its entrepreneurial endeavours, is treated by 'Humanity' as some kind of expendable and disposable raw material, or as rubbish? Isn't it so poetically ironic that 'Humanity' is ultimately quieted not by discussions of 'ecological ethics', not by 'philosophy' - which, as Socrates once said, was born of a sense of 'wonder' at the kosmos - but by a self-concern for survival in the face of a virus that it cannot even perceive with its own natural perceptual senses? But is it really the individual's personal body and life that is of most concern here? Or is it not, rather, the current socio-political economy that is most at risk? Changing this global political economy and its behaviours is clearly not as easy as trying to change the individual body and its behaviours.

This leads to the thought, the question, the problem: What is good for human economy is not necessarily good for natural ecology, and what is good for natural ecology is not necessarily good for human economy. And so, what is to be done?

Such are some traces of the inner reflections and meditations of a field recordist, sitting damp and cold through the night, first light, and dawn, listening in sublimely grateful joy to Nature's 'beautifully musical' voicing of so many 'beautiful' voices... They are simply uttering their existence. They do not conceive of themselves as 'beautiful'. But their intrinsic 'beauty' and 'value', their intrinsic 'music', may be, and arguably should be, best understood from the perspective of a certain 'ecological aesthetics'... 

Best listened to with (good) headphones (with a flat frequency response).

Recorded on the land of the Kaurna people, which is now a Conservation Park.

2021.07.23 A Covid-19 Delta Lockdown Dawn. Winter.

Buddhism-www.imcw.org--2019

Guided Meditation:  A Trauma Sensitive Foundational Practice

Movement meditation as part of your mindfulness based stress reduction programme with Josephine Lynch, Director of the Mindfulness Centre.

Mindful Movement with Josephine Lynch

Listening with good headphones at a low to mid level is recommended.

This excerpt from a longer recording begins seven minutes after sunrise, on a Thursday morning. The recording location is at the margin of urban space. With the first wave of the storm rapidly approaching, there was no time to drive an hour or two south, where the storm would be thickest. And with rain inevitable, the microphones were placed just back from the front edge of the only available and convenient shelter: a simple structure comprising a 2.5 metre square sheet of corrugated iron suspended on four 3 metre tall posts, at the end of a large cleared area. Fortunately, the shelter was not enclosed, but completely open on all sides.

The recording turned out to be not just, or even mainly, about the sparse peals of thunder at the margins of the storm, but also about the blending and interaction of the different kinds of sounds composing the soundfield, and the different kinds of worlds that these sounds disclose. The subtle energy of the storm penetrates, embraces, focusses and unifies the soundfield into a whole; the thunder subdues anthropogenic sounds (like the jets passing over, which have just left the local airport), while opening an environing acoustic space for natural sounds (in particular, the birds inhabiting the trees and bushes surrounding the clearing, whose higher-frequency voices the low-frequency thunder does not diminish or contradict), leaving them open and free, in a way that feels peculiarly protected and peaceful, even when the storm is receding into the distance.

96/32 WAV > 48/24 FLAC.

Related tracks:
https://soundcloud.com/hearingbeings/20201110-thunderstorm-meditation-night-forest-late-spring

2021.10.28 Gentle Morning Storm Meditation. Spring.

A public talk by alan Wallace phd on Cultivating Emotional Balance at Land of Medicine Buddha. 

Alan Wallace On CEB April 3

Tara Brach, Ph.D., is a clinical psychologist, meditation teacher and author of Radical Acceptance (2003) and True Refuge: Finding Peace & Freedom in Your Own Awakened Heart (2013). Founder of the Insight Meditation Community of Washington, DC, Tara’s teachings blend Western psychology and Eastern spiritual practices, mindful attention to our inner life, and a full, compassionate engagement with our world. Through workshops and retreats for lay people and mental health practitioners, along with her many audio talks and videos, she addresses the value of meditation in relieving emotional suffering and serving spiritual awakening.  
http://www.tarabrach.com

Tara Brach - Finding Peace and Freedom in Your Own Awakened Heart

A Conversation with Tsoknyi Rinpoche, Open Heart, Open Mind (May 14th, 2012)

A Conversation with Tsoknyi Rinpoche, Open Heart, Open Mind - Jack Kornfield

Swami Sarvapriyananda lucidly unfolds the fundamentals of Advaita Vedanta as presented in Drg Drsya Viveka, in this series of 12 talks. This talk was delivered on April 26, 2016 at the Vedanta Temple in Hollywood, CA

Introduction to Vedanta: Drg-Drsya Viveka

Introduction to Vedanta - Drg-Drsya Viveka Part 8

Yoga-nidra Plus is 30mins of pure relaxation without a 'wake-up'  at the end allowing you to nap or go into a deep sleep.

One of the best ways to relax and get relief from stress, tension, a lack of energy and a lack of sleep is to embrace Yoga-nidra, a deep relaxation experience practiced by yogis in ancient times.  This guided, deep-peace and relaxation experience will restore energy and focus almost immediately.

Yoga-nidra

Yoga-Nidra PLUS - 30min without a wake-up ending

Epic live Kirtan from 16 Dec 2018 @ the Coolangatta Yoga Centre, featuring Yadu, Pralad and Harerama.

Epic live Kirtan with Yadu Pralad and Harerama

SR Monday and Wednesday Talks http://www.spiritrock.org/

Matthew Brensilver -  Dharma and Anxiety

The non-profit Center for Mindful Self-Compassion is devoted solely to disseminating self-compassion. Self-compassion can be defined as learning to treat yourself the way you would treat a good friend when they suffer, fall short or fail in some way. Founded in 2012 by Kristin Neff, PhD and Christopher K. Germer, PhD, the center is a place where people can learn about self-compassion, find out where to train in MSC, continue to practice MSC skills, and explore how to teach MSC to others. We invite you to explore the site and find out how self-compassion may help you or those you care about.