Friday evening I arrived at Mandala Yoga Ashram (www.mandalayoga.net). With an open mind I entered into the spirit of the weekend, which is for ashram residence and visitors see how they get on with each other whilst experiencing what it is like living in the ashram. During our stay we experienced various form of yoga like, asana (physical postures, a.k.a. hatha yoga), mantra (chanting), karma (action, doing jobs) and meditation. There were two main periods of silence, one from 21:00 until the start of breakfast, most of the time we were sleeping, but before breakfast we chanted and did a hatha yoga class. Chanting is considered silence because it silences the mind. The other period of silence was at the beginning of lunch for the first few minutes. There were some other short ad-hoc periods of silence, but in the main there was plenty of time for chatting and getting to know each other.
These experiences are a reflection of my own being in context of the ashram, I’m sure although similar experiences may have been had by most, they are personal and as such my experiences are but a shallow reflection of the experience you could have by visiting such a place.
Hatha yoga sessions were in contrast to my usual invigorating ashtanga flow sequence. It was good though, challenges on a more subtle level of bodily control. One technique of interest was holding in our mind a positive thought, like the thought of something that is going well in your life, whilst holding a posture like warrior. Over the years I have developed an understanding and application of positive thought in my own life, but due to the nature of ashtanga where you are immersed in a flowing sequence that requires intense concentration, negative thoughts don’t have much chance of hanging around. However, the gentler slower paced class at the ashram afforded an interesting experience of holding positive thoughts whilst in a posture, something to be explored more.
Chanting was interesting. I am used to chanting Om (Aum) before the start of my yoga practice. I found chanting longer mantras in a group to be very relaxing. The mantras do help focus and still the mind. Each mantra had its own feeling, or maybe that is induced those feelings within me, which I suppose is no great surprise. Experienced as always is the only way to fully understand mantra. Different moods and feelings were made manifest within my state of being, and for me these were subtle, for some other people this was more intense. Mantra practice is a vehicle for healing and it does so in a variety of ways, I won’t go into detail here, sufficient to say experiencing this really does put a different slant on the intellectual understanding of mantra.
The main period of silence started before bedtime and extended to breakfast time but not during breakfast. When I mentioned to some of my friends that there would be periods of silence, I received a mixture of reactions, all of them a negative response. Most of the negativity seemed to stem from what they would miss, or by having to control themselves. However I found the experience of being in silence for short periods of time to be far removed from these negative reactions. In fact I found periods of silence to be rewarding, enriching and very positive. Everyone I spoke to at the ashram said they liked the periods of silence, they found it most beneficial. I do not recall anyone saying negative or experiencing negative things about the periods of silence. Some wanted the experience of silence to be extended to the karma yoga sessions. Karma Yoga is where by doing work the opportunity for growth and greater understanding is provided. Insights can come to you that shed light on some aspect that is relevant; some of the guests (my friends now) mentioned some of these insights to me, they are like flashes of light that break through the surface into our conscious awareness providing knowledge and understanding.
Here are my experiences of silence. What is the first thing you do when you see someone in the morning? Personally, I say “Hello” or “Morning” or something similar, but you have to catch the instinct to greet people verbally (this is easier than you think), instead you communicate in more subtle and rewarding ways. There is space to experience how you are being, before you act, the mouth can be quicker to act than the person is to understanding their state of being at that moment. For example when you notice someone for the first time the tendency is to say something, but during silence you first catch the instinct to say something, and in this become aware of your inner state, then you become aware of the state of being of the other. You have time to notice their body language, gain a feeling of the interaction between you and them, you have time to absorb the moment and gain a deeper more meaningful connection with that individual, and this happens quickly, being possible because of the space provided by silence. Instead having given time to the deeper aspects of the interaction, I found myself smiling, or if they are further away maybe putting up my hand with a gentle nod in acknowledgement. It is a rewarding way to interact with people. It really must be experienced to be fully understood, I highly recommend it. When we talk it’s very easy to ignore the body language and state of being someone is in, we can allow ourselves to be run by ego and absentmindedness most of the time. The intellect and ego take over and it’s easy to blurt out in a scripted fashion what we always say, or to react to someone based on a historic perception of them, but in silence, no more time is taken in the interaction, but, allot more care comes into the event. Smiling and gesture say allot more than talking, just think about the acts of hugging, holding hands, smiling and waving. All these are positive methods of communication. Without talking, we seem to have mainly positive methods of communication, but in the verbal or written we have the possibility for negativity to cloud our judgement, state of being and our actions. Through words we have the ability to spread negativity to others, obviously we can spread positivity and beneficial influences, but all too often without respect for the tool of words negativity can be made manifest. This becomes an increasingly subtle point as we transform ourselves. A more positive, caring and harmonious world is possible, but if we want it everyone will need to develop the ability spread positive, neutral or life enhancing emanations, so if we feel negative it would be better to understand this negativity before we act or communicate.
Smiling as a form of greeting is very powerful, for me a genuine acknowledging smile brought a feeling of joy and happiness, like a light shining forth filling the room, smiling brings forth feelings of joy and appreciation that light up others. Like ripples in a pond we send out joy and caring through our simple actions. There really is no need to talk as much, but unfortunately we are conditioned in our societies to talk more often than is healthy, in fact, to the point where we are not aware of what we are saying most of the time, although we may think we are ware. Like a record playing in the background, were generating sound but only in a pre-recorded way that does not always relate to what’s going on.
I can see why some would say silence is an introverted thing to practice, but actually it is not so, in my experience I have found it a profound way to a more enriched way of living (being). In silence you can be on the edge of introversion and extroversion, essentially in a state of awareness that joins these two together. So silence is a way to become aware of a balance between introversion and extroversion, it allows one to conserve their energies for what is important, we can remain focused on the present moment and conserve energies that are no longer scattered through careless use, these conserved energies bring health and energy which results in a more joyful state of being. Interestingly Swami Nishchalananda discussed this balance between introversion and extroversion in the Satsang (questions and answers) session, it’s almost like the experiential learning I gained and events during the weekend were perfectly planned, maybe they were! Silence now has a profound meaning for me. I have discovered a very powerful and illumined way to experience and interact with the world and my true nature. I found my understanding of situations and people enhanced and this improved the quality of my mental and physical health, and in this state of being my interaction with others greatly benefitted all, as in fact did others benefit me. I must say that for a long time before the ashram visit, I have had a dual awareness of internal and external worlds; it’s just that I was able to see it more clearly and to a greater depth than before.
Talking like thinking or any other tool has its place, but I feel all too often some of the tools we have at our disposal are either overused or misused. This is understandable because it isn’t an easy thing to be aware and balanced, but periods of silence do help. Experiences and things that bring us experiences are the only way we can transform ourselves into more enlightened states of living. Live fully and in conscience awareness is an excellent goal to have. There is a quote by Swami Vivekananda; “Experience is the only teacher we have”, for a long time I have understood this quote, however, it is on reflecting on my experiences in the ashram whilst writing this that I feel I have gained a much deeper understanding of what Swami Vivekananda meant by the quote.
Ultimately what I found in silence, the balance of introversion and extroversion, is something I would like to achieve in all states of activity and to greater depths. There is no reason why this balance cannot be achieved in everything we do, it’s just that in silence I suppose it’s easier to understand what this balance is, and to experience it.
And finally I must say that I shall always remember the lovely little black cat with its loud contented purring. A most friendly cat and one that someone at the ashram said something like, “We could all learn allot from that cat.”
Copyright © 2009 Russell Smithers