Meditation

Silence is Golden

William R. Colagrande, MS

Have you ever stopped to consider just how much endless chatter goes on inside of your head every waking moment? It is considerable to say the least. It is also about 99% unimportant and the foundation for almost every stress-related disorder you can imagine. If your computer could track and record all of the stream of consciousness thoughts that you have in the course of a normal day, its performance would slow to a virtual crawl by lunchtime.

There is little apparent benefit to all this mental activity. In a classic case of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) obsessive thoughts are viewed as performing a defensive function in that they so occupy the conscious mind as to prevent threatening or anxiety-provoking thoughts from occurring. Perhaps there is something vaguely reassuring in hearing all the constant internal chatter, that we are somehow not alone, like whistling through the graveyard.

Meditation, in my view, is an attempt to learn to silence that chatter and explore the benefits that derive from the experience of inner silence. There are very few things as commonly misunderstood and unappreciated as the simple practice of meditation. Most people react to the idea of meditating as they would to an audit from the IRS. In fact, it is a very refreshing and rewarding experience, easy to learn and to practice.

Part of the misunderstanding that most people have about meditation is that they associate it with mystical eastern religious practices that include shaving your head, wearing saffron robes and eating tofu and bean sprouts three times a day. There are many forms of meditation practice and some of them do emphasize certain specific postures and breathing patterns, while others promote the use of mantras, certain specific sounds, words or phrases to be employed during the meditation. Some believe the true function of these machinations is simply to distract the ego by giving it something to do, much as you would a cranky child. But, in my experience, none of these activities are necessary to derive benefit from the practice of meditation.

Find a comfortable, relatively quiet location where you are unlikely to be disturbed for 15 minutes. Choose a comfortable chair in which you can sit with you back straight. Rest your hands at your sides and uncross your legs. If you wear glasses, you may wish to remove them. Close your eyes, take a deep breath and slowly exhale. Perform a mental check on your body, starting with the top of your head; are you contracting the muscles at your temples, around your eyes, your jaw, your neck? If so, consciously let them go. Are you contracting muscles in your neck or shoulders? If so, consciously let them go. Continue in this fashion until you release any tension you may be carrying in your feet, arches or toes.

Now comes the fun part. Stop thinking. You’ll know that you’ve stopped thinking when you stop hearing your thoughts. There will be silence. Within a moment or two you will ask yourself: Am I thinking? And guess what, you will be. But here is where a simple rule applies. When you catch yourself thinking, just say to yourself the word thinking and then just let it go and return to the silence. In the beginning you will probably go no more than a few seconds before you start thinking again, but don’t allow that to discourage you. And don’t start getting sore at yourself for thinking. When you catch yourself, just think the word thinking, gently let it go and gently start over again. That’s all there need be to it. Consider devoting fifteen minutes, three to four times per week to get your practice started.

Two things I want to mention. There is no such thing as a bad meditation session: any session you have is as good as it could ever have been. A radical concept I know, but there you have it. You may also have noticed that I have referred to meditation as a practice: as with golf, public speaking or playing the piano, the more you practice the better you will become. With practice you will begin to notice the periods of pure silence in your meditation will get longer and longer. You will notice fewer internal disruptions and will begin to sink deeper and deeper into the silence and yourself.

Space constraints do not permit me to extol the virtues of a regular meditation practice, but they are considerable: physically, mentally, psychologically and spiritually. Not only can you significantly reduce stress levels but you can open yourself up to a wealth of knowledge and decision-making ability that we all carry inside us that goes largely untapped. You may want to pick up a copy of Journey of Awakening by Ram Dass if you are interested in reading more extensively on the subject.

I’m reminded of the old story: What did the Zen Buddhist say to the hot dog vendor? Make me one with everything. I encourage you to give this practice a try. You’ll soon notice yourself feeling more relaxed, less stressed and less reactive to incidents in your environment that may have set you off in the past. You’ll begin to see and experience things a little bit differently in a somewhat unfamiliar way, but one I’m sure you’ll come to appreciate.

2006

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I’m always interested in hearing your comments and feedback on my essays. You can send them to be by e-mailing bill@i4hd.com