24 hours of silence

Last night, I woke up at 2:15 am. My mind was racing and I couldn't relax or get back to sleep.

At about 5:05 am, I decided that I would not speak a word today. I hoped that this might help to settle my "excited" mind.

The only other time that I had done this was 4 years ago at Heather Star Graham's weeklong yoga retreat in Mexico. At that time, we all took a vote as to whether we'd like 24 hours of silence. At that time, I was the lone vote against it. Being outvoted, I agreed to participate. Contrary to what I expected, I learned that it was surprisingly relaxing.

This morning, I told my travelling buddies that I wouldn't speak for 24 hours as a way to calm my mind. They, being advanced meditators, were completey supportive and welcomed this new twist in our daily routine.

Now, if you're in a yoga retreat and everyone else is silent, and you can hang around the pool all day, that's one thing. But being silent while doing active travelling is a different story. I've had some interesting insights.

1. People in India are supportive of odd practices such as taking a vow of silence for one day.
   When Aleeta told the shopkeeper that I wasn't speaking today as a meditative practice, he looked me in the eye and, after a few hand gestures, gave me a deep discount on my wall hanging.
2. I like to solve problems and I'm a natural leader; but with a vow of silence, I could do/be neither.
   When we got stranded today (our taxi driver did not show up and we were cooking under the hot sun, tired, hungry and needing a toilet). My travelling buddies brainstormed what to do. I just leaned back against the stone wall (covered in cow dung patties) and accepted that they would look after it. Aleeta's resourcefulness and broken Hindi helped us to get a ride on the back of a pickup truck. On the way to town, four more people joined us and we all jostled in the box together. It turned out to be a quintessential India experience. Bonus: we were dropped off one block from our hotel.
3. I discovered that my contribution is not always necessary.
   Several times today I got a very strong urge to contribute to the conversation, but for obvious reasons, I could not. Instead of wild hand gestures and gesticulations, I just let the conversation unfold as it were. Decisions were made without my inupt, and I had to put off discussions until tomorrow. And nobody died without my input.

While it was a challenge to navigate the day without speaking, the experience showed me more about my own impulses and mind chatter than I was expecting. It was a great experience, one that I might duplicate when I'm back home.

Think about it, one day per month without speaking. Would you try it?