The Nourishment of Silence

On a recent visit to hear the Phila. Orchestra, I was struck by my own need, after the concert, for a pure silence to accompany me on my ride home. I thought it was a bit curious that I was so insistent and sensitive to this need for silence, until I tuned into my body and experienced just how 'full' I felt. I became aware that it wasn't possible for me to ingest anything more. I had partaken in an auditory, sensory feast that was  equivalent to the excellent meal that filled me on Thanksgiving Day. Now I simply had to digest the richness that had filled my senses. A protective womb of silence would provide the space I needed for me to do just that. 

This experience, although not new to me, got me thinking about silence as an essential factor in one's metabolic and psychic health. In our culture, learning to be comfortable in and with silence is easily swallowed up by our insatiable, addictive appetites for the latest information that comes across our air waves. Acquiring a developed taste for inner silence isn't easy to achieve on a constant full stomach.

I remember years ago working with a businessman that came to me for stress relief. Through our conversations about his lifestyle and work habits, he shared that he travelled most days and would end each evening, after a long day of meetings and sales, watching tv. until he fell asleep.  It became evident that what he suffered from was too much stimuli and a lack of silence that could have helped him tune into his own personal rhythm and decompress naturally. Although this isn't an uncommon scenario, it does speak to a broader social addiction that requires constant feeding and creates  a condition I refer to as a"psychic obesity".  How possible is it for one to extract the fullest sense of meaning, essence or nutrients from a present moment experience when systems are already operating on overload? How this translates to our bodies is a topic for another day.

   Fritz Perls , co-founder of Gestalt Therapy identified physio/psycho/emotional health as a human being's basic need to process life's experiences in an uninterrupted, metabolic fashion that could allow for proper assimilation, digestion and elimination. In other words, we are naturally hardwired to break down life experiences one bite at a time. Ask any dream therapist, psychotherapist, holistic doctor or nutritionist. Nothing that is worth chewing on escapes the inner self; and, what we choose to ignore always comes back to bite us in the .... Lastly, everything else that is indigestible requires our rightful refusal.  These principles are whole body wisdom.

 I have one simple exercise that I have developed and can share as a practice that will awaken and sensitize your body to the healing sound of silence and its enveloping presence. Bring you attention to your breath as a whole body activity. Let the inhale and exhale be a full body movement.  Stay with this sensation until you feel all of yourself is breathing. Now evoke the Presence of Silence into your surrounding space. Imagine Silence appears and envelops the atmosphere around you in a sacred, respectful way. Allow the power of Silence to filter out all other noise. Let silence contain you, so you may open up deeply into your space. Now allow yourself to listen to the fullness of Silence as a Presence. It asks nothing of you. Allow yourself to sense the power of Silence. It is fertile in its' emptiness.  If you evoke Silence as a Presence then it can envelop you in a gentle way. You will discover that your breathing relaxes, as does your body. You can begin to feel and take stock in what your body has actually absorbed that day and needs to assimilate, digest and eliminate. Silence provides a mantle of protection for you so you can take the necessary time to slow down and not lose yourself. Practice the art of just being.