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You can sit in silence, or you can sit with a sound. Both are real meditation. The choice depends on where you are and what kind of sit you want, and you can change it from one day to the next.
Here is how each option behaves, and how to pick.
What each choice does for a sit
Rain: a soft place to rest
Rain is steady and textured. It has no melody and no beat, so there is nothing to follow. That is why it works as a focus point: your attention can rest on the sound, drift off, and come back, with the sound always still there.
If you find your breath hard to follow at the start of a sit, try attending to the rain first. When your mind settles a little, shift to the breath, with the rain still running underneath.
Steady noise: a cover for the world
Brown noise and pink noise are even, textured sounds with no pattern to them. Brown noise sounds deeper and rounder, a low rumble. Pink noise sounds lighter and brighter, a bit like a distant waterfall without the movement.
Their usefulness is simple. A steady noise fills the room, so a door closing or a voice in the hall stands out less. If your sits are interrupted by sudden sounds, a quiet noise layer can make the room feel more even.
Silence: nothing to lean on
Silence is the plainest option and the most honest. With no sound to hold, you meet your own mind directly. Thoughts are louder, and so is the pull to check something.
Silence suits a sit when you are in a quiet place and already feel steady. It can also be useful on purpose: if you suspect you have started leaning on a sound to settle, a silent sit shows you how you are doing.
The more dramatic sounds
Thunder, Storm, Ocean, Stream, Wind and Fire each have a different character. Ocean rolls in and out, which some people use to pace the breath. Stream is a lighter, brighter flow. Wind moves in gusts, and Fire crackles in small bursts. Thunder and Storm are the most dramatic and tend to pull attention toward them, so they may suit a sit where you want something vivid to listen to instead of something to disappear into.
Night is a quiet evening outside, and the singing bowl and crystal bowl are slow ringing tones that repeat through the sit. Try a few.
Choose by situation
Do not hunt for the best sound. Match one to the sit you are about to have.
A loud building or a busy house. Reach for a steady noise, brown or pink, or a rain layer. Anything even and continuous will take the edge off sudden sounds.
A tired evening. Keep it soft and undramatic: rain, or a quiet stream. Avoid anything that changes a lot, because a sound with a lot going on will keep you alert.
A practiced, steady day. Try silence, or a barely audible layer. When sitting already feels familiar, you need less help.
A restless day. Give your attention something to hold. A rolling ocean or steady rain gives a wandering mind a gentle place to come back to.
If you swap the sound, the length and the time of day all at once, you will not know what helped. Keep the rest of your sit the same and try a new sound for three days.
How to layer
Each sound in SimplySit has its own volume fader, so you can run more than one at once. Layering is useful, but it is easy to overdo.
A good pattern is a main sound and a quiet second one. Put the om chant at a comfortable level and let rain sit underneath it, so the chant feels held by a soft texture. Or keep one sound alone: ocean by itself is a full sit's worth of sound without anything else added.
A few guidelines:
- Two layers is plenty. Three or more tends to become a soundscape you listen to, rather than a background you sit in.
- Set the second sound lower than the first. If you cannot tell which is the main one, the mix is too busy.
- Avoid pairing two dramatic sounds. Thunder and Storm together, for example, give your mind too much to follow.
Volume matters more than the choice
The biggest difference between a sound that helps and a sound that gets in the way is volume. A loud sound demands attention. A quiet one offers it.
Set the level so the sound is plainly there but easy to ignore. If a sit goes by and you realize you were listening to the sound the whole time as if it were music, turn it down next time. A good test: could you still hear a soft bell over it? If so, it is quiet enough.
A simple way to begin
Tonight or tomorrow, run the same five-minute sit three ways: once with rain, once with silence, once with a steady noise. Do not decide in the middle of any of them. Afterward, ask which one made it easiest to begin and easiest to come back. That answer is your starting sound.
If you are still choosing how long to sit, this guide walks through it.
Questions people ask
Is it better to meditate in silence or with sound?
Neither is better. Silence shows you your own mind with nothing to lean on, while a sound gives your attention a gentle place to rest. Many people use sound while they are learning to settle and silence once sitting feels steady.
Can I use more than one sound at a time?
Yes. Each sound has its own volume fader, so you can set a main sound and tuck a second one underneath. Start with two at most, and keep the second one barely audible.
How loud should the sound be?
Quieter than you think. You should be able to notice it, but if it holds your attention like a song would, turn it down before your next sit. A good test is whether you could still hear a soft bell over it.
Thirteen sounds, and silence when you want it
I built SimplySit with thirteen sounds so each sit can have the one that suits it. Om chant, Rain, Thunder, Storm, Ocean, Stream, Wind, Fire, Night, Brown noise, Pink noise, Singing bowl and Crystal bowl each get their own volume fader, and silence is always an option. If you want to try the five-minute test above, the App Store link below is where to begin.