What do you like to do while listening when listening is the main point?

[Khayyam]

I think it's important to spend a lot of time listening to your TL with listening as the main or only goal, rather than doing something you'd do anyway and trying to squeeze in some listening.

What do you like to do physically when you want to give all your attention to the audio and any physical activity you engage in is only meant to support that goal? Do you like to sit still, or walk around, or fiddle with objects, or...?

[Cainntear]

I think it's important to spend a lot of time listening to your TL with listening as the main or only goal, rather than doing something you'd do anyway and trying to squeeze in some listening.

What do you like to do physically when you want to give all your attention to the audio and any physical activity you engage in is only meant to support that goal? Do you like to sit still, or walk around, or fiddle with objects, or...?

I'd often do listening on my walk to or from work. The walk was so familiar I could do it on autopilot and pay a lot of attention to the audio. The only places where I needed to cross without street lights were the residential streets near my home, and the back lane running outside the office, so start and end of the journey. The bulk of my walk could be done on autopilot, so I could just let it play...

[tiia]

The easiest and most boring household activities are the best in this case:
- Doing the dishes and cooking. (Definitely my main and favorite activity for audio-only stuff. And no, I don't like doing the dishes, but listening makes it a lot more bearable. Having nice wireless headphones really helped a lot with cleaning the kitchen.)
- Hanging up clothes after laundry and folding them later.
- Fitness bike
- Knitting (except when I have to do some counting)

I did try walking outside and listening in the bus, but it's not as comfortable as the above. Sitting in a bus is okay, but often it's just a short ride or it's for relaxing between two other activities.
And walking I tried, but no... I can do phone calls with friends that way, but no pure listening. This is just because I like my surroundings too much, want to focus here and there and enjoy the nature with all my senses.

------------
And because I know you asked me in another thread about juggling and listening: no I don't think I have tried that. Or if so, only for a short time. There are simple reasons for it:
- I prefer music for juggling and especially for playing with poi.
- When I discovered audiobooks for myself, that was because I wanted to relax my eyes when I wrote my thesis, which was mainly work with screens and reading. So the first audiobooks I listened partly with my eyes closed.
- when I still practised juggling, that was mainly not at home, not with my own audio. It definitely would not have been suitable for my to put on headphones there to listen to some kind of speech.
- practising new tricks or not just the very basics needed way too much mental resources. No way I would have been able to do language practice at the same time.

[Khayyam]

The easiest and most boring household activities are the best in this case:
- Doing the dishes and cooking. (Definitely my main and favorite activity for audio-only stuff. And no, I don't like doing the dishes, but listening makes it a lot more bearable. Having nice wireless headphones really helped a lot with cleaning the kitchen.)
- Hanging up clothes after laundry and folding them later.
- Fitness bike
- Knitting (except when I have to do some counting)

I did try walking outside and listening in the bus, but it's not as comfortable as the above. Sitting in a bus is okay, but often it's just a short ride or it's for relaxing between two other activities.
And walking I tried, but no... I can do phone calls with friends that way, but no pure listening. This is just because I like my surroundings too much, want to focus here and there and enjoy the nature with all my senses.

------------
And because I know you asked me in another thread about juggling and listening: no I don't think I have tried that. Or if so, only for a short time. There are simple reasons for it:
- I prefer music for juggling and especially for playing with poi.
- When I discovered audiobooks for myself, that was because I wanted to relax my eyes when I wrote my thesis, which was mainly work with screens and reading. So the first audiobooks I listened partly with my eyes closed.
- when I still practised juggling, that was mainly not at home, not with my own audio. It definitely would not have been suitable for my to put on headphones there to listen to some kind of speech.
- practising new tricks or not just the very basics needed way too much mental resources. No way I would have been able to do language practice at the same time.

But what about, say, listening while doing the basic three-ball cascade? I'm not saying you should bust out the juggling balls and try it if it doesn't seem like your style; I'm just saying I've had good results with that. (Ugh, that probably sounds like bragging. I don't mean it that way.)

I guess what I'm really asking everyone is, what are your ideal ways to use your body while listening to ensure maximum comprehension? If you were free as a bird for five hours and decided to use the time to focus 100% on listening to your TL, what would you do while listening?

I think my favorite way is to engage in a calming, solitary, mindless activity--walking, hiking, staring into a fire--and imagine that the podcaster or narrator is actually standing or sitting next to me.

[Slowpoke]

Generally I like going for a walk, or laying in bed with my eyes closed (lol) if it's something more challenging, eg the Easy German podcasts. The problem is listening while walking cuts into my precious daydreaming time ...

[Khayyam]

Generally I like going for a walk, or laying in bed with my eyes closed (lol) if it's something more challenging, eg the Easy German podcasts. The problem is listening while walking cuts into my precious daydreaming time ...

I've actually experienced that same conflict. Sometimes I force myself to take off the headphones for a while so I can just let my mind wander anywhere for a bit, but it's tough. My God, listening to foreign languages is addictive.

Everything has its price, I guess.

[bombobuffoon]

The easiest and most boring household activities are the best in this case:
- Doing the dishes and cooking. (Definitely my main and favorite activity for audio-only stuff. And no, I don't like doing the dishes, but listening makes it a lot more bearable. Having nice wireless headphones really helped a lot with cleaning the kitchen.)
- Hanging up clothes after laundry and folding them later.
- Fitness bike
- Knitting (except when I have to do some counting)

I did try walking outside and listening in the bus, but it's not as comfortable as the above. Sitting in a bus is okay, but often it's just a short ride or it's for relaxing between two other activities.
And walking I tried, but no... I can do phone calls with friends that way, but no pure listening. This is just because I like my surroundings too much, want to focus here and there and enjoy the nature with all my senses.

Yes! Doing dishes or chores (not vaccuum cleaning) is a great way also for me to reclaim the time. I must have built up 100s or even 1000s of hours this way - shame I never measured it until now.

I do my walks in nature. I do also listen with walks but I also feel that I am spoiling my walk if I am listening to something I have heard many times before. Maybe a leisurely bike ride in Spring would be ok with audio.

But also with exercise its either weights and don't want to mess with that time. I dont mess around and am done in 40 mins. Or maybe I am doing some really high intensity stuff like burpees for 10-15 mins max and I am too gassed to care.

[tangleweeds]

Another vote for knitting. Housework makes me cranky and distracted so it’s not a good time, and I do my forum reading and kanji apps on my stationary bike, so that leaves either when I’m falling asleep (this actually takes a while so I always listen to something) or while knitting.

And actually neither of these is ideal, because there’s always some compelling word I absolutely MUST look up, and then I either have to put down my knitting and scrabble through my dictionary, or roll over and reawaken both myself and the iPad’s glaring screen in order to do the lookup. But these still remain the best while-listening activities I’ve found so far.

[Severine]

When listening in a focused way, I sit with a pad of paper and a pen and I write interesting words and pleasing turns of phrase as they come up. I also write down important names, dates, etc. It helps keep me focused and the notes serve as a nice record and reminder. I also find that I remember things better if I write them down.

[leosmith]

While watching videos, I normally sit and listen attentively. Sometimes I fiddle with/read subtitles. I often play a video or podcast while doing indoor stretching/calisthenics workouts. When I read using my reading tool, I will usually play the audio and follow the text for my second "read". I like to load my tiny mp3 player with podcasts and listen to them while hiking/walking/grocery shopping.

And most importantly, I listen to my partner very carefully during conversations.