Something I have been enjoying recently is going for long walks with my recorder, and nothing else. This summer, I had some extra time in my schedule, and I started going for weekly walks in a park near my house. It’s a park with no cell phone service, so I would leave my phone at home. This turned out to be a key ingredient. 

Distraction and “not enough time” are two common ways that ego keeps me from Recording and Listening. Walking in the woods with nothing in my pocket but my recorder, ego had nowhere to hide.

I felt wonderful to walk out onto the trail knowing that for the next hour or so, I had nothing to do but walk and check in with the heart. 

I've been practicing with making "I love you" recordings for myself (e.g. I love you, {name} ... I love you ...  I love you ... I love walking with you ... I love being with you ... I  love you).

I will often start out just listening to those recordings. Then I'll do the two-handed recording practice. Out on a walk in nature, when the recorder is in the right hand, it feels like the person talking about her experience really has permission to take her time and say everything. When there's nothing else to be doing, any ego voices about "hurry up, finish this quick and get back to what you were doing" don't make much sense. 

I also love listening back to recordings I make on those walks, because I can hear the call of the birds or the crunch of branches underfoot, and it brings me right back to that experience.

Gasshō 

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