Benefits of Stillness.
If you are reading this newsletter you are probably somewhat of a high performer. You are looking to enhance your daily activity level and get as much out of life as you can. You probably have a long list of things you are ready to dominate each and every day. Which is phenomenal!
The questions I have for high performers like yourself is this.
How much of your day is spent in silence?
This is a hard one, at least it was for me. Silence tends to be the loudest. It brings up all the things that are floating around in our noggin that we want to keep hidden. Sometimes it’s the stuff we don’t even know is there, or that we have not looked at in years. We have things on our mind constantly, the more we achieve and have responsibility over the more we utilize our brain during the day. In order to maintain this level of excellence we have to be on the ball and focused all of the time. This produces some serious strain, as well as a conflict of time when it comes to dealing with internal thoughts.
I want to make sure this is said so there is no confusion. I am NOT a wu wu guy. I don’t think planet alignment is an excuse for acting like a child. Nor do I believe yoga solves all problems. However, I do believe in energy levels and people’s ability to manipulate them. I am also a firm believer in science, i.e. facts based on research. That belief in science is what brought me to writing this article. We only understand a fraction of what our brain is capable of. The true power of what is up in our skull is almost silly once you start allowing it to work for you not against you.
What do I mean by this? Well it only makes sense through silence. We have the ability to manipulate our world far beyond our comprehension. The world is energy, we generate energy as well as change it based on our intention. Silence is the only door I have found to actually grapple through the stuff floating around in my head. I found a path to real stillness and silence through Yin yoga and sound baths. This time is dedicated to either one soft voice guiding you through long pauses or Tibetan bowls playing specific wavelengths while you meditate. You are there to do nothing but exist. The first few sessions were a bit weird, but I wanted to get something out of them so I intentionally spent my time there focusing on the stillness. Over time I began to work through some mental blocks, the random thoughts about who else was in the room, the hippie teacher, my inflexibility, my awkwardness. Once I was comfortable with what was going on enough to let go I started to feel some intense emotions about things. Things that were from a while ago that I either forgot or just pushed way down. My regrets as a father, my poor choices in the past, those I hurt, those who hurt me, all of it seemed to slowly come to the surface. It begs the question, Why is silence so loud? the silence noisy or is our brain so busy processing things in order to hide the past/future pain that we can’t hear it without it?
The body is a funny thing. It is literally just a giant defence mechanism. Trying to do all it can to avoid injury and potential pain, emotionally and physically. It does this at all costs in order to protect you. Just like starting a new gym routine you need to work on building your brain’s ability to handle stress and work through issues.
Working out in the gym or through any type of resistance program is raising your bodies awareness to the stress, giving it a consistent level of that stress. This teaches it that it has to grow because the stress is not going away. We can do the same with the mind.
The only difference is that with the body we can visibly see the areas we want to work on, with the mind we have to access it in order to fix it. This takes time, intentional action and above all, silence. We have to remove all stimulus that will cloud our thought processes.
There are tons of hippie experts out there touting the use of hallucinogens as a path to enlightenment. I will never claim to have the way or say someone’s way is wrong into this world of the mind but I do know they all tend to do one thing. Slow you down and force you to exist in your mind. They force you to be present with your thoughts and for the length of the trip you are 100% in it.
Why are we so fascinated with the mind and what is in there? I think it is because we have spent years and years not dealing with it simply because we either don’t know how to are never wondered if we should.
Yoga and sound baths aren’t going to solve all your problems. Just like lifting weights isn’t going to make you perfect. However, lifting weights will enhance your ability to function better as a human because you will have a happy healthy system. Same with working through your mind. You will start to unpack all of the garbage we carry around daily and see how it has been affecting our actions from the minute we went through it. We only act a specific way based on previous stimulus. We learned through trauma or acceptance that our actions were worth continuing or stopping. We learn through pain and joy. This presents us with some items we need to work through. Which is great! We now understand the need so we can take steps towards fixing anything that needs to be.
I didn’t do this on my own, I don’t really know if you can. You need some sort of guide. Someone who has done this before and knows how to process emotion at that level. I think everyone is better off with a coach in multiple areas of their lives, therapists are just coaches with specific skills sets and are a phenomenal add on to building a well oiled machine.
I leaned on yoga instructors, teachers, sound bath practitioners and friends. I made sure to do one thing above all, be open minded.
If you have never spent time in silence or alone for 45 minutes to an hour then I highly suggest starting. The sooner you can start working through the awkward stages the quicker you can get to where your working on some real stuff. You can clear that mind of all the background noise.
I understand most of us, especially hard chargers don‘t think this is worth the time. You have plenty to do in the 168 hours we have each week that it seems like spending an hour or two a week in pure silence is moving backwards.
I challenge you to try this for 30 days two times a week. That is only 8 classes. If you give this your full attention I believe you will start to realize how much we actually have in our head and how it is influencing your without you even knowing it.
I can only speak for myself when I talk about this but I have been able to work through far more intense situations without losing my cool. I am also far more present with my family and friends. I have more space for things because my head isn’t filled up with this internal back and forth of events or conversations.
I learned to let go, I learned to embrace the quiet, I learned to be at peace with myself and my choices.
The silence is the loudest and is also the best form of rehab. For both the body and the soul.
