We live in a world of stimulus, constantly doing and accomplishing, our television or radio on, our phones and computers always nearby. These things have become such a part of our lives that we can't possibly escape it, at least to some degree, if we wish to flow and function in today's society.
This new study is showing the importance of silence. I love that the findings were discovered by mistake: the researchers were simply comparing music to noise. We all can personally attest to how we feel when listening to classical music versus a jackhammer tearing up our street. But what shocked the researchers was what happened to the brain in-between the tests. A notable relaxation response occurred during moments of silence. What's more is that they saw that the more noxious the noise preceding the silence, the more heightened the relaxation response that followed.
Silence does more than just help with the stress response: it improves cognition, sleep and creativity. Basically, the removal of noise seems to mimic many of the well-documented benefits of meditation.
We may be conditioned to having noise and music and stimulus in our backgrounds. It may be somewhat unavoidable. And it's definitely stressing out our nervous systems. The good news is that when we DO take those moments of pause, those silent meditations, even lie in our rooms at the end of a day, simply relaxing, our nervous systems get a bigger dose of calm.
We can use this to our advantage--much like a yoga asana class stresses the body, and we find ways to access ease and calm in those stressful situations, we can create situations where we vary between listening to music or cued meditations, attending a sound bath or chanting, and then really soak in the pause and the silence. Allow yourself to fill up with calm. If you're a teacher, maybe try turning the music off during savasana. If you sing kirtan, perhaps pause a little longer between the songs. If you do sound healing, maybe the silence afterwards is where the golden ticket lies.
Silence is more golden than perhaps we realized. The yogis knew it. Now research confirms it. Read more about the benefits of silence here.