Wind in the cave:
Movement in stillness.
Power in silence.
In a cave, all outer sounds are smothered by rock and earth, but this makes the sounds of one’s own heartbeat and breath audible. In the same way, contemplative stillness turns us away from everyday clamor but allows us to hear the subtle in our own lives.
When listening not with the ear but with the spirit, we enter into supreme purity. This is why so many religious traditions pray, sing, or chant as a prelude to silence. They understand that the repetition and absorption of sound leads to sacredness itself.
The deepest sound is silence. This may seem paradoxical only if we regard silence as an absence of life and vibration. But for a meditator, silence is sound unified with all of its opposites. It is both sound and soundlessness, and it is in this confluence that the power of meditation emerges.
I’ve always enjoyed quiet and silence. I thiink for a lot of people, silence is uncomfortable, but for me, it’s always been pleasant. I like being able to hear my own thoughts, and sometimes just to sit and enjoy stillness and quiet. I love to cross country ski, to get out where nobody else is and just enjoy the stillness of the forest. Downhill is cool for the momentum and ease of movement, but cross country gets you to where the world is a peaceful, still place.
I like the beach and ocean, just hearing the sound of the waves. Sleeping on the beach is a great pleasure, even though I’ve only done it a few times.
But shavasana
is still the hardest yoga pose for me. Just to lay still, not moving, listening to silence and trying to still the mind can be a real challenge. We are a busy busy culture, and stopping to relax and be still for a few moments is going against the American way of movement and busy-ness and achievement. But real stillness is in itself an achievement. Realizing that the sounds around you everyday are artificial, that there is no real reason for many of them to exist, and learning to hear the real sounds, the natural sounds of breath and heart, are important lessons.
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