Practicing Calm

Practicing Calm: Four Benefits of The Silent Yoga Class

Every 9 weeks I teach a silent (physical) class.  My retreats always finish with a silent practice.  And in workshops I will usually have a ‘silent’ break somewhere in the middle.

Verbal silence that is for, as those who have ever tried some sort of silent practice will know, just because you stop talking does not mean things go quiet. 

In fact, the opposite can be true.  You start to hear other sounds more intently.  Other voices, the water trickling, the wind swishing, the sound of clothes rustling. 

It is why many teachers discourage people from leaving a class while others are meditating or relaxing; you might think you are being quiet but when the teacher stops talking all other sounds can be amplified.  

And even if we could be alone in a room, we still would not be in silence.  You start to hear the sounds of your breath, the sounds of the inner workings of your body—stomach gurgling, pulse throbbing.  And, unless you are a seasoned meditator, you will likely find your internal voice can take on a noise all of its own!

That said, a silent (physical) yoga class can help you in many ways.  Since I teach one every 9 weeks you will get to one eventually.  Below are some of the benefits you can expect. 

Letting go

First, it is a practice of letting go.  Without a teacher’s verbal instructions you need to ‘be’ where you are at that present moment in time.  Indeed, you cannot ‘be’ anywhere else.  When no one is telling you how to do bakasana or a handstand (or even something less complex), if you cannot figure it out, you need to let that pose go. 

That means you also get a snapshot of where you ‘are’ at that moment in time and what your level of readiness for particular postures is.  It gives you some insight into what you might need to cultivate further.

Going inside

Second, you gain an appreciation of just how much mental energy it takes to listen. 

Listening is a great skill.  It helps you to be a kinder, more socially able person. 

But language processing, even when people are saying helpful or kind things, takes up a lot of your brain’s capacity.

When you do not need to listen anymore you are free to follow your own internal voice and intuition.  Again, you become more in tune with what is going on with you at that moment in time. 

Many religious orders and spiritual retreats harness the insightful power of this type of silence.

Greater connection

But being in silence does mean being alone.  A third benefit is the amazing capacity of the verbal silence to enhance a feeling of connectedness. 

In a silent class you are not just doing your own thing entirely.  You are still following the basic movements and timing of the class.

And the silence combined with shared movement, helps you feel more connected to others in the group.  You sort of become a bit like a school of fish who move collectively—communicating via something other than spoken language.

The connection is not just to the group, however, because the silence of the group also helps you become more in tune with the environment.  You attain a keener sense of the ground beneath you, breeze and sun on your skin, wildlife around you, and the people passing by. 

Thinking less

A fourth benefit is that this type of practice can help you out of ‘over-thinking’. 

With no verbal instructions you have less to question—what does that mean?  What is she talking about? Am I doing it right? 

Over-thinking is one of things that can block movement of energy through our body and, as such, block feelings of overall wellbeing.  It can make us stiff, rigid, anxious, and prevent us from seeing clearly.

When we cannot ‘see clearly’ we do not feel at our best.  We tend not to make the best decisions. 

Practicing calm

These four things—letting go, going inside, a sense of greater connection to the group and environment, and thinking less—all help you to practice bringing about a sense of calm. 

Most people, at the end of the silent practice, find it easier to meditate and find the quality of their meditation much enhanced. 

We will be sharing some beautiful silent practices with you at our retreats and in the classes we teach around the world.  Looking forward to seeing you somewhere soon!

Key Points For Evaluating A 'Good' Practice

The most important thing to me at the end of a yoga class is that I feel good.  As a teacher, I want my students to feel good as well.

I try to make this clear by asking how people feel at the end of the class and by reminding people if that they don't feel good, or if (gulp) they somehow feel worse than when they came into class, that they should come and talk to me so we can try and nut out what might be going wrong.

Feeling good is understood differently by different people.  And sometimes things that might feel good while we are doing them can actually have harmful consequences.  Here I am thinking, for example, of people engaged in addictive activities that ultimately lead to suffering for themselves or others.   

So I thought it might be good to explore what it is I mean when I say do you feel good and I came up with the 5 points below.

1. You feel like you have done something but you don't feel exhausted or like you need to go and relax because you have done yoga.  Instead you feel energised.

This is an important point.  It means you come to the end of your practice without feeling like you need to 'recover' from the yoga session.  In my recent practice it means I also practice in a way that is nourishing and which means I hardly feel the need to do savasana. Instead of needing to lie down and relax, I feel like I can sit and mediate peacefully.  

2. You feel energised in a way that makes you feel calm, focussed, and relaxed rather than 'buzzing'.

I want to suggest that the 'energy' you feel is one that focusses you and allows you to feel like you can go away and do things in a calm way.  It is not an electric or buzzing 'high' that might be more of a feeling that you have over-stimulated your nervous system.

3. The relaxation you feel is not one that makes you sleepy, scattered or spaced out. 

By the same token, I want you to feel relaxed but not sleepy.  Don't worry if you do fall asleep if you do savasana--it might mean other things are going on.  It is just that I am hoping that your yoga practice has not been so dull (and I mean this in a nervous system way not in the sense of being boring) that you  are under-stimulated or, conversely, that you have worked so hard in class that you need to 'sleep off' your practice. 

4. You feel content with where you are right now and with what you have done.

This is really important.  A part of being content means worrying less about whether you are doing things perfectly or whether you can do everything.  See if you can find contentment in every moment of just being.

5. The body is relaxed in a way that you can move without pain or stiffness (or with less pain and stiffness than you came to class with and certainly not more).

At the end of a physical yoga practice one of my aims is that you have moved your body in specific ways that unblocks any blockages and which allows energy to move through you so that you physically feel good.  If you have pains or aches that are present after class that were not present before class then we need to figure out why so please come and talk to me (or your other teachers). 

Notice how none of the points mentioned above have anything to do with what poses you did, how much you sweated,  how many calories you burned, how deeply you came into a posture, how flat your stomach is (I know people worry about this--my blog posts that have something about stomach in the title are always the most read!), or how long you practiced for.  None of those things will make you a better person and, ultimately, will probably not make much difference to your life.  

Ultimately, I practice because I want to feel good, happy, and healthy.  I want to be a kinder more generous person to myself and to others.  So in my practice I feel for those things.  I feel for them as I practice and at the end of my practice.  

In following posts I will explain some of the 'hows' to generating a practice that makes leaves you feeling good.  Until then, happy and safe practicing!

Much metta,

Samantha