On Practicing Silence — in Body, Speech & Mind — Create Bali at home
Sometime back, I decided to observe Silence once a week. Sundays, I told myself, would be best. The general rule was — No communication all day. 🤐
I planned my meals in advance. Observed Electronic silence. No conversation, not even digital. No phone, internet or TV. No conversations on Social media
The sub-sections to this self laid out rule, allowed me to do some activities — Sketching, yoga, walking, meditation, cooking, writing. I didn’t make eye contact with anyone. If someone started a conversation, I gestured that I had a sore throat. (Shouldn’t have lied, but fine, I was in samsara so made this exception)
Initially it was kind of funny. A couple of times I almost reached out to the phone without thinking.
Hardest part was — not allowing my thoughts to make a movie of their own, in my head, and break the silence inside my own head. Took some effort, but a very valuable experience, it was indeed : )
Silence, in Buddhism, is a powerful way to “purify” the — Body, Speech & Mind.
1. Body experiences silence …when not in trauma
And we perpetually put it through trauma. In addition to stress, Physical trauma of lack of sleep, of an acid reflux, bloating or incessant coughing, smoking, abuse. Imagine trying to achieve zen, when constantly being bothered with the “gas rising…keeps on rising...rising rising” 💨💨😉
What level of purification can there be? The chief agent used to purify the body is — Food. That story, another day. “Silence” in the body creates a calm, grounded feeling. Body is infact, the Easiest place to experience silence.
2. Speech experiences calm… by measuring words. Lesser the better
The verbal diarrhoea that most of us have these days, often indicates a gigantic build up of ego. “Ego” that wants to talk through us, listen to its own voice. Our own opinions become more important than the others. Our Superior thought needs to be heard. But if everyone around is doing the same, so anyway no one is listening. Its just the self, patting its own back. Try speaking less for one day. Try stopping yourself in a mid-conversation, and check, was this even required? Using words carefully saves your own fuel. When the fuel of the mind dips to dangerous levels — anger, anxiety, irritation, nervousness, fear show up as indicators. They need an in-flight refueling — Keep quiet, breathe.
3. The Mind experiences silence… When it doesn't have a mind of its own.
Finally, the final frontier — the mind . Taking a step further, try not to “over-think”. Big question is how?
Maybe, map how many thoughts come in and go. If you work in one of those data obsessed organisations, perhaps use that talent. Make tally marks for Thoughts per minute, mindfully, silently. During the day see if you can reduce the count by 1 or two.
When the Body & Speech experience calm, the external decibel levels impact less. Put yourself through lesser noise, not just decibel, but also digital and emotional noise.
Feeding the brain on lower decibels, lesser emotional & digital noise, creates more space to flex the mind muscle.
One doesnt need to run away from people. You can share silence with friends &loved ones. Interestingly, this also makes thinking more efficient. For starters, One doesn’t need to run away from thoughts or try and control them — Just find a way to structure them nicely.
Paraphrasing the Gita — the Mind is the best friend of the person who conquers it, otherwise it’s the greatest enemy.
Basically, when the mind has a mind of its own. Life is hell.
Incidentally, this experiment was more a leaf, out of a practice from Bali, an island, where I spent considerable last year. Bali has a tradition– Nyepi — A day of silence, radio silence. It’s a public holiday, with no traffic on the streets. The authorities switch off social media. No music allowed, no TV. Even the airport shuts down. Its a day reserved for self-reflection.
Self-reflection needs silence, else the phenomenon around us called — Life — doesn’t reflect fully in our consciousness. Silence gives all the answers. Silence repairs the damage inside. Silence lets the mind & spirit soar.
Anu
PS: I would strongly recommend creating a Nyepi for yourself, maybe just once in a while. Maybe just till lunch time :)
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