Silence and Meditation

Today, we are constantly surrounded by sounds, and it has become such a part of our living spaces, that at times we don’t even notice that our senses are overwhelmed by sounds. So what is silence to us? Is it just the action of not speaking or keeping quiet? Not playing music or having the radio on? Or is silence that moment when we are in the outdoors with not a person in sight for miles, with only the sounds of the wind in our ears?

Whilst on a retreat in my early days of meditating, during a Q&A at the end of our session, we all shared our experiences of our meditation. We all had had different experiences, and not knowing what it was that I was supposed to have experienced, I was quite embarrassed to share that mine had been one of silence. No visions, no lights or deep insights but just a deep silence, that was hard to explain. Today, when I meditate it is that silence that I crave. Meditation is experiencing that silence. It is when we not only have stopped speaking, but calmed our mind and withdrawn our senses – to reach that space of silence and timelessness. As we build our meditation practice, we start experiencing longer moments of it; it is also over time that we realise how much that silence impacts our lives.