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Amanda L. Smith, LCSW

900 Austin Ave
Waco, TX, 76701
941.704.4328
Borderline Personality Disorder, Self-Injury, and Emotional Dysregulation

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Amanda L. Smith, LCSW

  • About Me
  • Consult with Me
  • Help for Families
  • Books and Articles
  • DBT Self-Help
  • Blog

How to Listen to Music Mindfully—An Idea from Dialectical Behavior Therapy

September 18, 2023 Amanda Smith

Mindfulness Exercise with Music

You may already know that mindfulness begets more mindfulness. When we start with just a little mindfulness, it becomes easier to be more mindful about lots of different things.

Can you be practice mindfulness with just one song or one piece of music? Of course!

This is a nice change from simply being mindful of our breath, body position, or some other traditional mindfulness practice.

Here are the steps to practice mindfulness with music

1. Pick a relatively short piece of music or a song that isn’t too short or too long.

2. Get in a comfortable position and reduce the opportunity for distractions. For instance, you may want to turn off your phone, listen with earbuds or headphones, or go into a quiet room.

3. Make a decision about keeping your eyes open or closed. (There is no right way to do this.)

4. Listen to the music with your full attention but expect to be distracted. 

5. When you are distracted, gently bring your attention back to the music.

6. Notice just one thing you can observe through your senses. For instance you could observe a particular instrument, rhythm, melody, harmony, any kind of vocal vibrato, or little pauses of silence within the music.

Sometimes music can bring up a lot of memories and emotions. You can be mindful of those experiences as well.

Remember, there's no perfect way to be mindful with music and trying counts. You can always experiment with shorter songs or music with which you are already familiar.

Think about all the dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) skills you can use in this short exercise:
• observe
• describe
• participate
• nonjudgmentally
• one-mindfully
• effectively

For more ideas about practicing mindfulness with music, you might find inspiration by reading Aaron Copeland’s What to Listen for in Music or Oliver Sacks’ Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain.


Additional information about DBT:

DBT Self-Help

DBT-inspired Art Journaling Prompts

16 Inspirational Quotes by DBT-developer Marsha Linehan

How to Be Gentle with the GIVE Skills

← How to Get into Wise Mind (An Idea from Dialectical Behavior Therapy)Podcasts for People Who Love DBT →

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Amanda L. Smith, LCSW
900 Austin Avenue Suite 304
Waco, Texas 76701
amanda@hopeforbpd.com

Compassionate and confidential treatment options for emotion dysregulation, self-harming behaviors, suicidal thinking, and borderline personality disorder.


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