Can you please sit still?

If you lived in a childhood such as mine, these words were expressed to me quite frequently by a parent, a teacher, or even a stranger. Those words now have such a different meaning. Now I have come full circle as I teach my Mindfulness-Meditation students about the importance of stillness and of silence...to sit still!

For some, it can be easy. For others, it may well be a somewhat challenging or excruciating task.  However, the rewards far outweigh the frustration.  In a Neuro-scientific study (published in the journal Brain, Structure and Function), it Is suggested when we sit in stillness (silence), it is helping our cells to form neurons in our brain. In other words, stillness can literally grow your brain. Particularly, new cells are formed in the hippocampus- the region of the brain associated with memory, emotion and learning. When in the stillness, quiet mode, we can ponder challenges in our life in an imaginative way.

As Herman Melville once wrote, “All profound things and emotions of things are preceded and attended by silence.”

Sitting in stillness and silence can also have a profound physical effect on your body as well. A study that was published in Psychological Science (Vol. 13, No. 9) showed that two minutes of silence can prove to be even more relaxing than listening to “relaxing” music.

A valuable tool to help you sustain stillness and to seek silence is your natural breath. Where ever we go, there it is. Focus on it...and begin your journey into stillness.

Silence isn’t empty…it is full of answers

It is within this stillness we can find direction, guidance, and purpose. Every time we employ this state of mind, we quiet the conscious mind and find that we can sift through all the ideas and thoughts in our subconscious. However, it is not the mind alone that tap into, but we discover the wisdom in our hearts.  Some refer to this as the “intelligence of the heart”. 

“When we go into stillness we can hear our soul’s voice loud and clear. (Christina Goetz

The heart is our connection to our soul, that with which we had with us when we entered this life. Yes, it is the center our emotions stirred by our thoughts; however, it is full of wisdom, intuition and guidance. It provides us with the answers we seek, the answers that rarely come when our mind is busy--full of thoughts from our experiences of the past or our projections into the future. It is within the heart where creativity and solutions to our challenges are found.

Stillness relieves chaos along with the physical and emotional challenges that create anxiety, stress and worry in our lives. Stillness is a shelter, a safe haven away from our multitude of thoughts, a place where we can find our true self.

Within you, there is a stillness and a sanctuary to which you can retreat at any time and be yourself.   (Hermann Hesse)