The Journey Within The Mind

The Journey Within 

“Only when you drink from the river of silence shall you indeed sing. And when you have reached the mountain top, then you shall begin to climb. And when the earth shall claim your limbs, then shall you truly dance.” ~ Khalil Gibran 

Silence can be a tricky thing to handle. Imagine yourself stuck in a traffic jam in rush hour, the cacophony of horns doesn’t seem to bother you as you find yourself teleported on the top of a peaceful hill. 

Have you stepped into the countryside, for a couple of days and start to feel something seems amiss; you realise that you were actually more comfortable in the midst of the maddening noise. Initially, you feel bored and in some time silence gets to you – it becomes deafening. 

To fill this void of silence, you turn to external stimulation like the TV, phone, Internet, social media, etc, but its not the external noise you miss, but perhaps its the inner chatter that has amplified and become more powerful when you are quiet or in a peaceful environment. It’s not the silence you’re uncomfortable with, but the voices coming from within. 

The urge to be surrounded by this external noise is only an escape from the inner turbulence. Over the years, I’ve met several people who are not at ease in a quiet close-to-nature setting for a very long time. Its the mind that doesn’t allow you to immerse yourself in the stillness, instead it floods you with waves of negative thoughts, judgments, fear, jealousy and so on. 

The external commotion of our environment combined with the inner chatter of the mind leaves little room for us to truly experience silence. We seldom anchor ourselves in the present moment long enough to listen and appreciate what silence brings. Time to go Within 

“Within you there is a stillness and a sanctuary to which you can retreat at anytime and be yourself.” ~ Hermann Hesse Silence is the space that allows you to navigate within and open new doorways to places where your mind is frightened to enter/ plunge into. 

Silence is pure, much like the pureness of a child’s smile. If you immerse yourself fully, it gives you the power to silent the ego and refuel your mind. The beauty of silence is that it simply “is”. When I was growing up, my mother use to keep following “vow of silence’ for a day, more as a religious practice. ‘Vow of Silence’ is a personal, voluntary oath to refrain from speaking. 

But when you think of it such practices can be used as a time to introspect and understand ourselves better. Making friends with silence gives us the opportunity to make peace with that part of ourselves that feels separate, apart from the sacred presence within. Silence is all around us, you just have to make an effort to tune into it. 

Fill your heart with the noise of silence, become aware of the pulsating energy flowing through your veins, let go of all that doesn’t serve you and you will find the spot where magic happens. Silence is such a useful tool when you need to resolve issues, arguments, indifferences between people. 

After a heated argument it helps to remain silent; regain calm, composure and clarity in the mind. How can you be friends with silence and make it a part of your daily life? Making time for yourself is important and utilising that “off” time to connect with nature instead of encouraging your thinking mind to take control and drifting away with it. In the past four to five years, nature has played a crucial role in my life, from being an amazing teacher and a reliable doctor, I feel more attuned with the silence of nature. 

Spending time regularly in nature, even if its for 30 mins a day, will clear your mind of negative thoughts and help you unburden and be aware of your insecurities and problems. Throw off those sandals and walk barefoot in a garden or on a beach. Watch the sunset. Tune into the sounds of nature, chirping birds, flowing water, and immerse in all its beauty. 

Dance, meditate, do yoga or any form of exercise that interests you, cook, sing your favorite song, grow plants or vegetables (even if its in a small pot). These activities brings your mind back home, as you find yourself being more aware and submerged in the moment – this is experiencing silence. Silence and stillness work in tandem, taking us deeper into the realm of our true self. 

Thich Nhat Hanh said,“It’s very important that we re-learn the art of resting and relaxing. Not only does it help prevent the onset of many illnesses that develop through chronic tension and worrying; it allows us to clear our minds, focus, and find creative solutions to problems.” Slow down, enjoy the silence. 

You will become more aware of your thoughts and feelings, and not let it mess up with your mind. It is empowering and reveling in its companionship will liberate your innermost fears! “The pause – that impressive silence, that eloquent silence, that geometrically progressive silence which often achieves a desired effect where no combination of words, howsoever felicitous, could accomplish it.” ~ Mark Twain

Many times over the years, I have come across clients who have chronic injuries presenting to be treated, that have occurred and reoccurred over long periods of time. When asked why they have taken so long to do anything, the usual replies are that they were too busy, the injury was better after a few days so I didn't bother having it treated or they ignored the pain and continued doing the same things. In most cases that I see, when people choose to ignore an injury, they can return to their work or lifestyle for a while, especially if they are young, but the body will tell you in no uncertain way when it has had enough. Every time the injury happens, it seems to take only a minute movement to re-injure the same site and the pain and time of recovery is more intense and longer to recover. Once an injury occurs, it is difficult to bring a full recovery to the injury and a weakness exists to present when we are under stress and strain the next time. 

Ideally, it would be beneficial for the client to seek treatment soon after the initial injury from a therapist to achieve best results. But I believe it is necessary to look deeper into why this injury has occurred and continuing to happen. What is going on in the client's life? Are they under stress? Is their work or lifestyle repetitious, boring- possibly depressed. Is there an emotional factor from their past that manifests when under stress causing injury? In other words, the client has to be seen in a holistic approach, recognising that these emotional factors can create injury and disease by the way of our internal dialogue in our mind and the resulting thoughts and words that result from this process. If those thoughts are positive, we are able to cope with what life brings us, we are energetic with a happy disposition, everything we do comes easily. Our body responds to this way of being by better flexibility, more endurance, it functions at its ideal state, we can use our body to perform functions that seem to require little effort. We are mentally more focused, alert, with a strong sense of purpose. As the saying goes" We are in the flow". 

On the contrary, when we are full of fear, doubt, stressed, depressed, emotionally drained, we are listening to the negative dialogue in our mind and the thoughts and words we use will affect us in our beliefs and experiences. Of course, they will be negative and have an effect on all levels of our being-mentally, physically and spiritually. Everytime I have a client with shoulder problems, I bring up the idea that the shoulders can carry our emotional baggage on them, such as Atlas carried the weight of the world on his shoulders, so do people carry the weight of their emotional world on their shoulders. You can see the "light bulb moment" when they realise that what is happening in their life is affecting them. Their muscles tend to be tight, very little blood flow, painful, stiff, making their life miserable and unable to do basic things. In fact, many clients do not know what it feels to be relaxed, they have lived with stress throughout their body for so long it becomes the normal feeling for them. When I ask them to relax an area, clients find it difficult, even impossible to do it. I do this to create an awareness for the client , to become more in touch with their body and to help establish a basic understanding of relaxed and tight muscles. Once that becomes understood by the client, results from treatment are quicker and more lasting. This relaxing exercise helps improve their understanding of their body, and the power of thought and the value of positive thoughts and words to create positive actions physically, mentally and spiritually. 

So when you have an injury, feeling stressed, unhappy with life, doing the same thing at work over and over, your mind has a million thoughts, take the time to explore your thoughts, the dialogue in your mind, listen to the soft voice in your head( the first voice rather than the second one) hear the words that you say(whether positive or negative), find some time to be alone with your thoughts in meditation and tune into your body to feel any sore or tense spots. Start from the top of your head and move down through your body to your toes, paying attention to any areas that feel tight or sore and spend some time in these areas until they feel relaxed. I wish you a happy, contented, positive life enjoyed on all levels of your being. 

Namaste,