Blissful Silence: How Closing your Mouth Quiets your Mind

by Janine Aging Gracefully

Daily life is busy. There are always places to go, people to see, and things to do. There’s lots of chit chat that happens, with store clerks, baristas, and neighbors that happens all day long, filling the void of silence.

What happens when you step back from the chit chat and drop into the silence? Sure, if someone asks you a question it can be rude not to answer, but what if you don’t fill the void, but instead sit in the silence?

Initially, it’s uncomfortable and awkward, but once you get past that, you notice that your mind never goes quiet. The chit chat that doesn’t go out of your mouth rattles around in your brain. Until it doesn’t.

Practicing Silence

A recent addition to my biannual yoga and meditation retreats is a 30 minute silent meditation practice each morning. Usually when I teach meditation I combine guided meditation where I give prompts and things to focus on, with silent meditation where you get to practice what I just prompted.

The fully silent meditation practices are different. I start you off, then we sit in silence for 30 minutes, focusing on the breath and managing the millions of thoughts that come and go as you sit.

Dropping into silence, I find, is what gets you most in touch with yourself. You aren’t listening to or doing anything but observing the moment you’re in. Thoughts will intrude. You notice them and go back to your breath. You’ll become distracted by a sound. You notice and return to your breath. Lather, rinse, repeat.

Silence on Retreat

When I was in my 20s, I attended a 4 day Silent Retreat where I didn’t speak for 4 days. While I found the first 24 hours uncomfortable, I eventually dropped into the silence to the point that I didn’t want to start talking again when the retreat ended.

At first my mind raced, thoughts coming in a mile a minute, and I felt the urge to make small talk with people. I was in a dorm room with 5 other women whom I didn’t know, and we couldn’t speak. We were all on the same retreat though, so we were all in the same boat.

Once I got past the initial discomfort, the real magic began. The racing thoughts slowed. I felt calmer and quieter. A peacefulness took over my body and mind. Not needing to talk was like a balm to my introverted soul. I slept better, I felt whole.

text — Photo by Nick Fewings on Unsplash

Silent Meditation

Silent meditation can offer the same peace but on a smaller scale. Many people practice guided meditation because it’s easier to follow someone’s voice where they tell you what to do. I definitely recommend this for beginners when you first start out, or for more experienced practitioners if you want the guidance.

Silent meditation, however, gives you the chance to get to know yourself, beyond just feeling calmer. As you notice your thoughts, you can create space between you and your thoughts. You begin to see the thoughts, usually, as untrue, maybe judgmental or critical. Most often they are an unnecessary expenditure of mental energy.

Once you notice your thoughts, you notice the space between the thoughts. You let go of your attachment to your thoughts and can more easily release them from your mind.

Here is where you get to touch that peacefulness that exists within all of us. It’s usually buried under worry, anxiety, stress, fear, anger, and other emotions. When you close your mouth and stop talking, your mind, with practice, stops talking too. The thoughts still come in, but at a slower pace. And you care about them less. They bother you less. All that’s left is silence.

Practicing with support

Meditation takes practice, and the best way to practice is in a group on retreat. You get to learn, ask questions, and be supported on your journey toward internal quiet and calm. The more you practice, the easier it gets. On retreat you also get to step away from the distractions of your daily life.

Each practice drops you deeper into the quiet and builds on the one before. You leave feeling refreshed and renewed, ready to step back into your regular life with a new perspective and outlook.

Click the button below if you are interested in joining me in Plainfield, MA from Friday, August 21-Monday, August 24. There are only a couple of spots left!

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To read more about mediation, check out these posts: