Many of us wonder if listening to music or singing can be part of our meditation practice. Is just listening enough, or do we need to do something more?

Mingyur Rinpoche answers these common questions by explaining the relationship between sound and awareness. He clarifies that while listening to our favorite tracks on Spotify can calm the mind, true meditation happens when we recognize the innate awareness that perceives the sound. Through numerous examples, Rinpoche explains how to join music (the object) and meditation (awareness) together, revealing how anything — from a beautiful song to the noise of traffic — can become a support for our practice.

This teaching is from Tergar’s Joy of Living online program. To learn more, click here.

Click here to download an English transcript of the video [pdf].