Breathe into Silence

 Don't listen to the words-listen to breath; listen to body; listen to heart and listen to the flow of Life as it traverses through all. 

Brother Phap Linh

And that is what I did this morning.  I put down my pen and pushed away my notes, closed my eyes and listened.  Though my mind was not on the words, the truth behind them made its way into the very core of me. It was lovely 

The breath and silence go together.  They are what is needed for our healing and we all need healing. In order to heal our wounds we need to rest, to  stop doing for periods of time...and thinking is included in that doing. The compulsive need to interpret,conceptualize and judge everyone and everything is in the way of our healing, our awakening. (Tolle) We are often so lost  in the thoughts in our heads but we are not even there:

  You are not there. All that is there is the egoic mind, the conceptual self saying "This is me and this is my life."  Eckhart Tolle

You are that which observes the thinking, judging, interpreting and conceptualizing.  You are that which  knows it knows nothing. You are in the silence. You are the observing awareness. 

We need to get beyond thinking to the silence.  Breath is the doorway that opens up into the quiet spaciousness of presence. ...into healing...and into awakening.

The simple felt act of breathing, according to Brother Phap Linh, makes the egoic cages we are in dissolve so we can touch Life through the precious moment. We do not control the breath or manipulate it in anyway...we simply observe it.  We are aware we are breathing in when we breathe in, aware  we are breathing out when we breathe out. 

Hmm! Sister True Dedication shares her practice with us.  She tells us that from the very beginning of her journey toward awakening, she was challenging herself to get through ten consecutive breaths without thinking.  Can you do that?  I am trying and it is not as easy as it seems. Every time, a thought comes in, we are to start over. It is a worthy practice goal for all of us. 

Anyway, the universe lined up some teaching for me perfectly this morning.  Grateful.

All is well.

Plum Village/ Brother Phap Linh (August, 2016) Touching Silence.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SMduWlYZsIE

Plum Village/ Sister True Dedication (August , 2016) Know Your Body, Know Your Mind/ Sister True Dedication. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vggg6KYmEUM

Eckhart Tolle ( August 2021) How to Practice Self Observation. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UT3s-pgaEvY