# Hay Street Mall — two hours outside Time Zone

- Teacher: Ajahn Brahm
- Type: Story
- URL: https://beingmindfulstories.com/stories/brahm-hay-street-time-zone-meditation
- Themes: meditation, noise, urban, practice
- Life situations: city, meditation

## Synopsis (editorial summary)

Years ago Ajahn Brahm sat two hours on the cold pavement of Hay Street Mall right in front of a noisy Time Zone arcade, no cushion, testing whether he could do what he taught: put a bubble around himself, hear sounds without listening, leave them outside his space.

## The story, as told by Ajahn Brahm (verbatim captions)

Hay Street mouth many years ago and hey Street mile we met it sat down on the cold pavement no cushions about for two hours as right in front of a shop called time zone and that was really noisy but I wanted to test out what I told others can you do yourself and of course that was wonderful you could I'm not honest so you could do that it's not that hard we imagine a bubble around you and you're in that bubble and the sounds are kind of outside they're not in your space you can hear the sounds but you don't listen to them listen to them what's that song what they saying what they're doing if you don't give them attention and importance then they are just a different type of sound they're just noise at a distance but they don't really affect you and they don't disturb you

## Teaching point

Noise stays noise when you stop making it your business.

## Reflection (in the spirit of Ajahn Brahm's talk)

Years ago Ajahn Brahm sat for two hours on the cold pavement of Hay Street Mall, right outside a noisy games arcade, to test his own teaching. Put a bubble around yourself, hear sounds without listening to them, and they stay outside. Noise only grows when you get involved. Leave it alone and stillness comes.

## Source

- [Guided Meditation | Ajahn Brahm | 1 April 2023](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XvKMa0_5OBM) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 4:14 to 5:15: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XvKMa0_5OBM&t=254s

Other tellings of this story:

- [Guided Meditation | Ajahn Brahm | 26 June 2021](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=omrNW6IYoKk) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 4:06 to 5:29: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=omrNW6IYoKk&t=246s
- [Guided Meditation | Ajahn Brahm | 25 June 2022](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=39Z7nMiPWd8) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 6:21 to 6:50: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=39Z7nMiPWd8&t=381s
- [Guided Meditation | Ajahn Brahm | 4 March 2017](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5zjcBlen2kI) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 12:29 to 13:02: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5zjcBlen2kI&t=749s
- [Guided Meditation | Ajahn Brahm | 26 October 2024](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6k_yMiystqU) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 10:56 to 12:15: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6k_yMiystqU&t=656s
- [Guided Meditation | Ajahn Brahm | 21 March 2026](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQkhNPdWXMw) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 1:05:11 to 1:06:04: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQkhNPdWXMw&t=3911s