This invitation is for women who resonate with the practice of silence to join us in spending the last Sunday of each month in silence. Each person will organize these days in the ways that fit for her. The distribution of our time zones will form a wave of silence and connection round the world, and for each one a personal root into a universal source of inspiration.
This blog is for those who wish to describe their experience and ask questions, so we can learn from each other and support the richness of the practice. A full explanation of the practice and intent is also listed as “The Invitation” under Pages. This blog is hosted by The Ashland Institute http://www.ashlandinstitute.org.
Below is a video of author Anne LeClaire speaking about her experience of silence, at an Ashland Institute retreat for women called Coming Into Your Own www.ciyowomensretreat.com. In her video Anne speaks of practicing on two Mondays per month for the past 17 years. She will also be joining us on our Sundays.
If you have questions about how to join us, please email the site administrator at: dorian.baroni@gmail.com
This is beautiful Jennifer. I love that book – it ranks as one of my all time favorites – and thank you for reminding me of one of the forty beautiful and meaningful rules.
Love Ann
In Response to the Monthly Message sent August 26, 2011…
As I was pondering this age old way of simply being “present to the moment”, I finished my cup of tea. I picked up the wonderful book that I am reading “The Forty Rules of Love by Elif Shafak, complements of my younger sister, and I began to wonder if there might be a “rule of love” that was related to being in the present moment ~ and lo and behold on the very next page there it was!
We have had many moments of silence here in Norway lately, with the tragedy the whole world has become aware of. It feels as though there is a new awareness of silence in our society. Something has been brought to remembrance, which is a part of life not considered except set apart in nature. People gathered in silence in the cities seem to have been a most powerful experience for many !
Conversations among people also seem to have taken on a deeper meaning, as a spirit of silence have penetrated the society in a special way. Life will go back to “normal”, I am sure, but our country has been touched by something that will undoubtedly have an effect on the future.
Since July 10, three weeks ago, I have been holding a sweet vigil with this Mama Robin as she sat on her nest of blue eggs–through torrential rain, hail storms and hot 95 degree days. Four days ago, to my delight, three pink little heads, on long stretched necks with gaping mouths appeared in the nest just outside my living room window!
Again today, I have loved being with this Robin family, camera in hand, as Mama and Papa Robin took turns feeding their hungry brood!
I have read that Robin totem “medicine” stimulates new growth in all areas of one’s life!
I will now await their moment of becoming fledglings….
In happy silence, Ann B
I am finding that Sundays are often days that are accurate for me to connect with other people (especially as I have been traveling over the last number of months). However, I am with you in spirit in this initiative, and love the tone of it. Over my lifetime I have chosen solitude and silence often, but not as consciously as I have since receiving your initial invitation and reading (and re-reading) “Listening Below the Noise”. Consciously chosen silence has become a powerful way of re-centering for me, and I am deeply grateful to have been led to this.
Gordon Hempton co-author of- One Square Inch of Silence:One Man’s Quest to Preserve Quiet….. Also…. Article in The Sun magazine , Sept. 2010. By Leslee Goodman ” Quiet Please” interview with Gordon Hempton. Quotation by Hempton in article. ” Silence is not the absence of something but the presence of everything.”
Well , my practice of silence is a bit different from your Sunday quietudes. Every year I go into deep quiet for a minimum of 60 straight days. Sometimes I have done up to 90days. I speak on the phone and check emails every week on Sunday from 12 noon to 5 pm. My entrance date this year is February 25 when I am snowmobiled into my isolated cabin. I will keep all you silence-practicers in my awareness as you continue to taste the qualities that entering the vastness brings. Love and encouragement , Grace ( Dr. Tamzon D. Feeney D.O. )
Yesterday I led a day-long workshop/retreat on silence at the Chicago Botanic Gardens, a perfect venue for stillness. There is a natural connection between nature and stillness and walking along the paths to the Japanese gardens, I felt deep peace.Later at the gift shop, I found Sea Beans – smooth, brown pods abot the size of a fig. They had been inscribed with inspirational sayings and I bought one for each of my children. As I read the information slip, I thought of all the women who have come together around the globe in separate but communal silence through these Sundays over the past year. Here is what I read: “Sea Beans are seeds of the Monkey Ladder vine which grows in Central and South America and Africa. It has the largest seed pod in the world. The seeds fall out of the pod onto the florest floor. They are washed into streams, then rivers, and then out to sea. Because they float, the Amazing Sea Beans travel all around the world, carried by the current. Eventually they wash up on beaches, where they are gathered by families who sell them to help support themselves. The environment is not harmed in any way by the harvesting of Sea Beans.”
I imagine our days of silence, like the sea pods, traveling around the world, creating currents that nurture and sustain us. Blessings. Anne
Thank you for sharing so many treasures via email. It was a rare treat to reconnect with Mariliz through her music. Although the sound wasn’t great and video was a bit stop-start, the exquisite essence of the music came through.
With my various duties and responsibilities these days, it hasn’t been possible to have a complete day of silence on the the last Sunday. But I do keep as much silence as possible on the day and consciously hold a place of stillness and openness in my heart from Saturday evening to Monday evening – covering all the time zones. I do feel the connection with the profound womb of silence that is created. Of course the ideal is to live in that place of peace stillness at all times. I am sure that as this practice is maintained that will be the case. I’m working on it!
Much love and profound gratitude to you all,
Louise
Thank you for the lovely music and performance….I met Arvo Part several years back when as I was assigned to personally care for him when I worked at the Bach Festival in Eugene. My great honor was to deliver him flowers on stage after his first performance of new piece he had just written. Wow, an amazing and gifted creator!
Barbara, I’m snuggled into a cottage right on the ocean, awaiting our day of silence tomorrow. A sister-friend of mine, gave me, as a Christmas gift, the use of her beach cottage for a reatreat the last Sunday of the month. Can you imagine a better gift?
I joined you in November for the day of silence. December was a blurr of celebrations. However my intention is to take the day of solitude, with everyone, on the last day of the month for the rest of the year.
This past summer, Ron and I spent 10 weeks on the shores of Lake Superior in a remote log cabin – unhooked from the tech. world. I discovered the healing power of the energies of nature as they transformed by being. And I reveled in the magic of silence. I took several hours in solitude each day, and retreated to what I called my “goddess tent” – a tent of mosquito netting, which swirled around me like a fairy gown. Thankful? Oh yes in deed! To the quick! It is my joy to join you in the current of solitude as it sweeps through all of us, and is a blessing to the larger world each month. Please check out the attached link to see some pictures of where we were. http://copyexchange.org/_unplugged_summer/
My blessings and love go out to each women who is taking solitude tomorrow. And my love to you, and great thanks for opening this adventure to all of us.
love,
Angela Skene
Roberts Creek, BC
angela.skene@gmail.com
