People commonly talk about stillness as the cessation of physical movement:
- As emptiness.
- As void.
- As quiet.
This is true, to a degree. But when we teach stillness only as a practice of ceasing movement (e.g., sitting in lotus, emptying one’s mind, and finding quiet)…… Well, when we teach only in this way, we become limited.
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Rooted in the Atlantic
Today I stood in the ocean. Feet rooted on the sand, I let one wave come in…. then back out.
Then came another.
Then another.
This beach is turbulent. The waves crash down on rocks. It is loud. It is inconsistent.
I stand here in stillness. One moment turns into an hour, and still the waves come and go.
With time, I find my mind settling. My heart begins to open. I embrace the joy and ease that flows in.
Finally, I find it! That breath: the one that lets me know that I have let go of my holding and am now free to be at ease.
The waves crash around me. My breath flows in and out.
Within, all is still.
All is peace.
Stillness within turbulence
It is common practice to teach meditation today as a practice to be done inside in perfectly quiet conditions where you will not be disturbed. I love this type of practice. It is useful… sometimes.
But life, in its reality, is turbulence. It is chaos. It is noise.
And, because life out there is all these things, life within becomes the same.
My body knows turbulence. It knows noise. It knows chaos. And, because of this, I have found that forcing myself into a quiet, unmoving stillness can be too much of a contrast. Sometimes, the forcing of this state is aggravating! Therefore, it is counter productive.
I have learned to find stillness within through movement. Sometimes, that is my own body in motion. Other times, it is in my own stillness as the earth moves for me.
Stillness looks different for each of us as we move moment through moment through these wild, turbulent, chaotic lives.
Find your stillness: that space where you are free to breathe as you become present, centered, connected.
This is from this space that we become truly alive.
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Note: This post comes from a We Are The Forest Substack post published in September 2024. I re-work and republish it here as part of the Stillness Event.