Singing bowls
You can simply listen — Ali's recordings are below. If you want to know what sound is actually for in practice, read on.
“On the bowls I give the meditation of aware presence.”
Why sound at all
Sound solves a problem effort cannot: it gives attention an object you do not have to hold. You do not try to listen — hearing happens by itself. The mind is left without work and gradually settles.
That is why sound comes at the beginning, before meditation. It does the same job as the breath in the “ten breaths” method, only softer and without discipline.
How it differs from background music
Background exists to distract you. This is the opposite: to stop you being distracted. The difference is not in the recording but in what you do — you stay inside the sound instead of thinking underneath it.
A simple test: if after ten minutes you find yourself planning tomorrow, that was background.
A live session
Bowls, gong, tampura. You lie down and the sound moves through the body — the low frequencies are felt, not just heard. On a retreat, practice follows immediately after.
Ali is a musician as well as a teacher; recordings go to a separate channel, and evenings of live music happen at the farmstead.
How it goes
- Listen
Start with the recordings here. Not as background to your work — stay in the sound.
- A session
Bowls, gong, tampura. You lie down, the low frequencies go through the body.
- Presence
Then the meditation of aware presence — the reason the sound was there in the first place.
Who this is not for
- If you want a soundtrack for work — that is the opposite task.
- If you expect a therapy session with a diagnosis, this is not that.
Write to Ali
He answers himself — there is no assistant. Tell him briefly what brings you, and you will work out the rest in the chat.