When I first began to meditate, I lived in a small mountain town with a population of 67.  My home was a small cabin in the forest, and I was really blessed to have such solitude in the beginning stages of my own meditation practice. When I decided to leave the mountains, for the time being, I was terrified of not being able to meditate unless I made the drive to any forested area.

I thought I would have to lose my meditation practice. I never gave up on actually practicing meditation, but the struggle was real in the beginning when I’d find myself in a less than peaceful environment for a day or more. Meditation is the perfect modality for a quiet mind. But, How can you meditate in a noisy environment?

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Beat the Noise

Most often than not, I hear the excuse of people being too busy to meditate, or not having a quiet enough space to get into meditation. So I am going to put the Kibosh on that right here, right now, with a few tips and tricks to get you into a meditation practice no matter the conditions of the environment surrounding you.

Whether you are in a crazy house full of noisy kids, roommates, or even in a public setting, here are a few key pointers to help you quiet your mind in a distracting setting.

1.) Noise cancelling headphones

If you have the ability to get your hands on some noise-canceling headphones, then USE THEM! Throw them on your head and get that guided meditation going. Even throwing some meditation music on in the background and then still wearing noise-canceling headphones. 

Sometimes a guided meditation isn’t the easiest to connect to in a house full of distractions, so I would suggest music. For best practice, listen to something semi-spiritual, or something that you’ve never heard before so that your mind doesn’t start to drift into the past. Or, if you opt for the guided meditation, then the opposite is actually helpful. Listening to a guided meditation that you HAVE heard before as to kick your brain into the remembrance of a meditative state as to get you into the practice a little quicker. Like muscle memory!

2.) Find the white noise

Maybe you can’t use the headphones because there are little ones and pets around that you need to listen for.  No need to despair! In almost every modern building there is a continuous noise happening. It might take you a minute to pinpoint the noise, but it is there. Take a second right now to find the continuous noise where you are.  Whether it is a fan, a furnace, a computer, or even the light bulb. Somewhere around you, there is a continuous noise happening.

Find it, and concentrate on it.  When meditating in a noisy area find the white noise. Focus on this noise during the duration of your meditation, and then when your mind wanders, ALWAYS go back to that found “white noise”.  This one is a little harder to manage, and a slightly advanced technique, but once you’ve mastered this, you can meditate anywhere.

3.) Breathe and breathe and breathe 

Almost every meditation practice starts with or focuses on the breath. Breathe in and feel the air moving through your entire body, and breath out with the same attention to the feeling of the breath. When in a noisy place try to find the sound of your breathing. If you struggle to find the white noise as mentioned above, then lean on your own breathing.

When you focus your attention on your breath you can hear the movement of the air entering and leaving your airways. Other ways you can use your breath to regain focus in meditation would be by visualizing the air moving in and out of your airways or feeling the air moving through your body. The breath is a universal tool for connection in meditation.

Use the physical tool of the noise-canceling headphones or take the noise around you and use it as your tool. There is always a way to find focus in a noisy environment in order to dive into meditation. Sure, you might get jolted by loud noises, or interrupted every here and there, but once you find what you can focus on, always go back to that.  Just the same as how there is always something good in your world  around you. You just have to find it, and concentrate on it. You got this! I believe in you!