Why I Meditate to Nature Sounds Instead of Focusing on My Breath
Summary
Most beginner meditation advice tells you to just focus on your breath, and honestly, that’s where I started too. But breath-focused meditation was really just step one for me — once I got my breathing under control, I switched to nature sounds instead, and that’s what actually got me into a deep meditative state. This isn’t a knock on breath-focused meditation; I think it’s necessary at the start.
Here’s why I made the switch, why nature sounds work for me specifically, and what else was going on in my life at the time that might have played a role.
Table of Contents
Why Beginners Should Start With Breath-Focused Meditation
In my opinion, focusing on your breath at the very beginning of a meditation journey is necessary. A lot of us aren’t even aware that we’re breathing — we’re too caught up in day-to-day life to notice our breath. Focusing on my breath early on helped me actually notice it, and eventually regulate it.
Meditation and Breathwork Are Different (But They Work Together)
I’ll get into breathwork exercises in more detail in another post, but for me, meditation and breathwork are two separate practices, which is true lol. They’re not the same thing, even though they overlap and support each other.
When to Let Go of the Breath and Focus on Something Else
Starting with breath-focused meditation is what lets you become aware of your breath and bring it under control. But once that regulation starts happening naturally, on its own, that’s when you can let the breath roll without thinking about it and shift your focus elsewhere — for me, that’s nature sounds.
Why Nature Sounds Work Best for Me (Yours Might Be Different)
Nature sounds work best for me, and I think it’s because I feel connected to nature — it’s the essence of who we are. But that’s not the case for everyone. For some people, a drum beat does the same job. The specific sound doesn’t really matter as much as finding the one that lets your soul fly once you’re in a deep meditative state.
A Few Other Things That Were True at the Time: Yoga and Clean Eating
I’ve seen people share their meditation experiences and say they didn’t feel anything at all. That wasn’t the case for me — I did. But I should mention one more thing: during that period of my life (2-hour mediatation session experiences), I was also practicing yoga three to four times a week and eating clean. That combination might have had something to do with what I experienced.
