The Yoga of Silence: The Connective Tissue of the Soul

What is your relationship with silence? How well are you weaving yourself with it?

This is a question I’ve been asking myself lately and, as a result, I’m learning a lot about the power of silence.

Recently, on my way home from teaching in Sarasota, FL, I had quite an insight. If you’ve ever traveled by plane, or by any other means, you know that traveling involves waiting around. I’ve discovered that I’m not so good at waiting. I tend to get impatient, frustrated, and annoyed, whether I’m in the boarding process, waiting for checked bags, or waiting to deplane.

This time, once we landed at Bradley Airport in Hartford, CT and began to deplane, I stood up right away to stretch my legs. I enjoy the aisle seat for this reason. However, there were approximately 100 passengers ahead of me trying to deplane. It was taking so long as each person scrambled to stand up and grab their carry-on bag, then slip through the narrow aisle between the seats to exit the plane. 

As those around me were waiting, several people began complaining about how long it was taking. Then one gentleman sounded out, “Well you could use this time to pray!” When I heard this, I scoffed silently to myself and wondered if this guy was some kind of Evangelical. But after a few seconds of contemplation, I realized that he was right! 

Instead of complaining about the long wait (as if travel should be free any type of waiting at all), one could pray, breathe, or meditate. This realization pushed me into reflecting on how often, especially when I travel, but also in normal everyday life, I am impatient when waiting for others. 

In that moment of realization, I began observing my breath. Although my mind was inundated with commentary about how bold the passenger was to suggest people pray, or how embarrassed I was to not be practicing awareness in that moment, or just how judgmental I was of everything, I found a deep silence in between my thoughts. My whole body relaxed and I felt a gentle smile come to my face. 

Silence is such a powerful tool of consciousness. I like to think of silence as the subtle fascia or “connective tissue” of consciousness.

Silence can’t be created. It can only be allowed. It’s always there, but it’s usually concealed behind the fire wall of mental commentary and judgment. In the moment of my waiting to deplane, I saw – as clear as day – my own mental chatter. This chatter, I’m aware, is happening constantly and takes up most of the space in my mind. In these moments, there’s no room for silence.

I began to see that wrapped around and in between all of my thoughts is silence. Just like in the physical body, where we have fascia that wraps around and through all of the muscles, organs, and bones, so too the soul is wrapped in its own fascia – silence. Silence is like the webbing around our thoughts and offers space for all that is to exist. Silence is the medium for consciousness. It’s the space that allows our conscious awareness to arise. It offers our consciousness the space to step outside of our thinking mind and observe or be the witness of our thoughts without participating and doing anything to change them. 

When you truly enter the silence and pierce it with your awareness, it becomes the most nourishing and healing space of comfort. 

Silence at this level takes us to the deepest space of consciousness, the Turiya State, or fourth state of consciousness. The Turiya state gives us the ability to witness our thoughts and transcend the “hamster-in-the-wheel” nature of our thought cycles. Within the Turiya state, there is a high degree of silence and no thoughts, or almost no thoughts. 

The good news is that we don’t have to wait to enter the Turiya State before we can experience silence. Silence already accompanies us in all activities (like while waiting to deplane). But it needs conscious awareness to be activated. We need to become more intimate with silence, get closer to it, get to know it better, in order to be able to access it. 

As we practice pranayama and meditation and learn how to calm our nervous system, we become more still inside ourselves.

We are then better able to detect the roots of our frustration and annoyance and let them go before they leave the gate. Left unchecked, annoyance rapidly builds and strengthens over time. In its full blown expression, annoyance (along with all other negative emotions) is harder to release. Catching our patterns early is vital to being able to let them go. When we become the observer of our thoughts, our thoughts can arise and be released without our becoming emotionally attached to them. This is one of the powers of silence. 

Silence provides space for whatever’s happening. It offers space for thoughts, annoyances, and the like, to exist. It allows the mental chatter to be as it is. Silence is gentle and unassuming. It doesn’t get in the way and simply allows what is to be.

We can cultivate the skill of silence in the meditation practice. When we practice mantra meditation, we offer the thought of the mantra into the field of our awareness and then let go. In the space of letting go, silence grows. Silence is infused with the universal presence of all that is. Silence is healing and allows the mind and body to calm down, to return to a state of homeostasis.

I see the value of practicing silence in my life, especially during times I wish I didn’t have to wait around. Instead of putting energy into impatience, frustration, anger, or anxiety, silence allows me to expand into the beyond. It’s not an easy practice, but like anything else, practice makes it easier.

One last point. For silence to arise, you need to learn how to listen. The entire practice of meditation is rooted in our ability to listen to the space within without reacting. Can we notice our thoughts, moods, emotions, without doing anything? Observe without needing to change anything? Witness without passing judgment that something is wrong or something should not be happening?

Meditation is a very practical life tool that helps us be able to turn up the volume of silence and turn down the volume of our internal commentary, judgment, comparisons, and complaints. 

Like grace, silence is always there. It’s continuously being dispensed but we’re usually asleep to it. Our thoughts can be so loud that they drown out silence. 

May you pause, breathe, and reflect on where your thoughts are taking you. May you step back from your thinking mind to perceive the world of silence that’s there out beyond your thoughts, surrounding your thoughts, and interwoven throughout your thoughts. May you use silence as the thread of connective tissue to weave yourself back into your heart where you recognize your true nature which is pure awareness, freedom, and bliss.

Namaste,

Todd

Each Morning Sadhana class in the Ashaya Membership gives you the practice of mantra chanting, pranayama, and silent meditation.

To deepen your meditation experience, join me in the upcoming Meditation Initiation, March 21-22, online.