What is the Listening Field?

I recently had a conversation with someone about the work that I do, and she was curious as to why I call it The Listening Field, since so much of my work is about expression—whether through voice, poetry, sound, etc.

It was such a great question! And clearly something not fully communicated in my messaging. So I thought I’d offer some insight into what called The Listening Field into being.

A few years ago, I lost my voice. This was a real challenge for me, given that working with the voice had been my life’s work for over 15 years. It took me on an unexpected journey—first into the physical anatomy of the voice, and then into a deeper exploration of my emotional and spiritual relationship with it.

I sought help from others, but no clear solution emerged. Eventually, a very quiet voice inside whispered, “Please stop. Look inside. Listen…” That whisper led me to a 10-day silent retreat. Something far deeper was happening, and I needed to become still enough to truly hear it. As many have discovered, the only way in is through.

Listening has always been intrinsic to my practice. But over that intense period—without distractions, work, housework, devices, conversations—I arrived at a place within that I realized, with some sadness, I had long overridden. I turned toward it. Held space for the sadness. For the unexpressed. Through that, I uncovered a deep longing that lived in my heart. A connection more profound than I had ever known. In my body, in this sacred land, in the stillness of listening, I discovered communion—not only with myself but with the world around me: the trees, the air, the water, the song of life, inside and out. One song.

That deeper listening had to become the core of my practice and all my work going forward.

What is that listening? Who are we listening to? What are we listening for? And how do we access this depth?

Listening is not just hearing. It is a way of being in the world—a conversation, a relationship with all things. A way in. Not a question/answer quest, but a moment-by-moment practice of curiosity and wonder. Listening is a dropping into Presence. A Prayer. A Sacred Movement.

The Listening Field is an invitation to take that journey for yourself. And it is a practice—a muscle we must tend and flex regularly in order to remain connected amidst a world so full of distraction.

Of course, the journey begins with ourselves…

Inner Listening

Before we can truly connect with others, we must cultivate a deep and loving relationship with ourselves.

• Mind – What are the stories we tell ourselves? What are our beliefs and judgments? Where do they come from—our culture, families, country, religion, ancestry? Are they rooted in fear or in love?
• Body – “Our issues are in the tissues.” Our bodies hold our stories, our memories, and emotions, and speaks to us all the time. Do we override or ignore these messages? Do we offer our bodies nourishment, movement, rest?
• Heart – So much of our culture prioritizes the mind over the heart. Yet the heart also has a brain. In fact, much of the messaging flows from the heart to the brain. The heart tells us what we feel, what we long for, our intuition. Both brains are essential for our well-being. How often do we éist le mo chroí—listen to our hearts? Do we ask, “How are you?” Is there loneliness, sadness, joy there? What is my heart longing for—quietness, joy, connection, rest? Éist—pause and listen.
• Soul – I see the soul as pure presence, consciousness itself—without beginning or end, without longing. The home that never left us and never will. Can we take time to be there? To listen to that place of contentment and bliss, where nothing needs to be added or taken away?

Through practices like meditation, breath, mantra, poetry, nature, and silence, we begin to cultivate this inner listening.

Listening to Another

Listening is a dimension of presence. With another person, can we stay aware of ourselves even as we speak or listen? Do we listen to understand, to feel the impact of our words and presence? Do we listen beneath the words, to what is not being said?

Can we listen without judgment? Without planning our response? Without needing a particular outcome, or reacting from our own fears?

“When you talk, you are only repeating what you already know. But if you listen, you may learn something new.”
—The Dalai Lama

Fear & Aversion

Our survival brain scans for threat and, in doing so, can shut down our listening. When someone disagrees with us, blames us, criticizes us, we often stop listening openly. We try to control, we shut down, react, defend. What happens to our voice in those moments?

Wanting & Agenda

If we need a certain outcome, this too can distort listening. Notice if you want others to see you in a particular light—helpful, capable, wise, funny, important... If you want approval, if you want to be right or to fix someone—this wanting limits true listening.

“We are hurt in relationship, and we heal in relationship.”
—Diane Poole Heller

In the Listening Field, we come together in community—in triads, dyads, and groups. We sing, listen, share healing songs and stories. We witness each other.

“The opposite of taking isn’t listening—it is waiting.”
—Fran Lebowitz

Listening to the Sacred

Deep listening is also how we access the divine. Nóirín Ní Riain calls this Theosony—the discipline of listening to the Divine, within ourselves and all around us. Sacredness is not confined to yoga mats or meditation cushions. We are sacred. And that presence is available in every moment.

Listening to nature is a journey into the sacred—the gurgle of a stream, the hum of the earth, the wind in the trees. In this chorus of life, we begin to remember our own song, reflected in the land, the stones, the rivers. The earth is here to hold us, feed us, guide our hearts home. We are not separate. We share the same breath as the trees, drink the same water, receive the same sunlight.

One of the practices of The Listening Field is to listen to the silence after sound. It cultivates a receptive, open, quiet way of being. We begin to touch the mystery. To move out of judging our own voices, and instead allow sound to move through us—connected to something sacred and alive. The sacred vibration that underlies all existence.

“To listen is to lean in softly, with the willingness to be changed by what we hear.”
—Mark Nepo

And So…

This is the Listening Field. A space of deep presence, reverence, and return. It is a remembering. A softening into what has always been here, whispering beneath the noise. It is an invitation—not to fix, or solve, or strive—but to meet life as it is. To become still. To listen. And, perhaps, to discover that life is listening back.