Sound of Silence/"Nada Yoga"

[PsychedelicSunSet]

Does anyone here have any experience using Ajahn Sumedho's "Sound of Silence" method? I've recently been trying to use it for Vipassana with some success. I haven't found it to be beneficial with Samatha so far. What are everyone else's experiences with it? How do you use it and what do you use it for? Also what other texts talk about it? I found it in Ajahn Sumedho's "Intuitive Awareness", and have begun Ajahn Amaro's "Inner Listening."





Metta

[kmath]

It helps me let go of thinking in the beginning of the sit. But if I do it too long, I just end up zoning out.

[daverupa]

I experience anemic to very poor results when using methods which call for tunnel-vision focus on any object, which is one of the ways to use this.

For example, in Inner Silence it's discussed how this tone can be used like the breath can be used, "to dominate our attention", but this isn't how I understand anapanasati at all, so the method described is already a little esoteric to me.

The descriptions in Intuitive Awareness are little more aligned with what makes sense to me in that they talk about a broad awareness of things as opposed to FOCUS, but to the extent that this mirrors satipatthana and anapanasati those are my preferred modalities, and to the extent that there is any difference I find myself without a reason to experiment.

I guess I'm wondering why satipatthana/anapanasati is felt to be insufficient or otherwise etc., but be that as it may. If this tone approach can sustain satipatthana and address the hindrances while aggrandizing the awakening factors, full steam ahead.

But, my experience with this sort of approach is that it leads to being zoned out - a topical mental analgesic, at best, in my case. It can feel like a calm mind without much thinking, but it's because thinking becomes difficult to do, not because the mind is well-trained.

YMMV

[Kamran]

The great thing about using the nada sound is that it gets louder with more concentration and provides a useful feedback loop on your practice. I find it reassuring to hear the whistling nada noise. Interestingly, If you use nada a lot it starts to suddenly start up seemingly on its own while I am at work or in other situations as if it were saying "hey, stop what you are doing, listen to me, and still your mind!"

A good book on it

http://www.amazon.com/The-Law-Attention ... 1594773041

[SarathW]

What is Nada Yoga?
Is this Tinnitus?

See the following post.


http://www.dhammawheel.com/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=18418

[Babadhari]

What is Nada Yoga?
Is this Tinnitus?

The nada-sound is a high-pitched inner ringing tone. When
you turn your attention toward your hearing, if you listen
carefully to the sounds around you, you’ll hear a continuous
high-pitched sound, like a white noise – beginningless, endless
– sparkling there in the background.
See if you can discern that sound and bring attention to it.
For the moment there’s no need to theorize about it or wonder
about exactly what it might be, just turn your attention to it.
See if you can detect that gentle inner vibration.
If you are able to hear that inner sound you can use the simple
act of listening to it as another form of meditation practice. It
can be used just like the breath as an object of awareness. Simply
bring the attention to it and allow it to fill the whole sphere of
your awareness

http://www.amaravati.org/downloads/pdf/ ... _Amaro.pdf