A Zen story:

“Once a group of monks were practicing their morning meditation when the sound of construction that was taking place outside the meditation hall began to float through the windows, interrupting their mindfulness practice. Gradually all the novice monks became disturbed and frustrated. As they opened their eyes, one by one, they saw that each of them was as disturbed as the other. Seeing their teacher sitting in the front of the hall, the picture of perfect stillness, was the only thing that prevented the novices from standing up and leaving the hall for a quieter place to resume their practice.

When the allotted time for mediation practice was over the the master opened his eyes and asked, ‘Why are none of you practicing?”

The students replied, “We can not practice with all this noise. Even you have told us that meditation practice requires silence. How is it, Venerable Teacher, that you are able to sit in stillness when there is no silence to be had?”

The master replied, “Silence is not the absence of noise. It is the absence of self.”

As is the case with all great anecdotal discourses, this short story perfectly illustrates an elusive and hard to explain idea. Needless to say I really don’t want to add too much commentary in case I take away from it’s succinct effectiveness.

What I will ask though is this: If it is the self that is causing distress due to the sound of the construction, could the self also be responsible for a yoga practice being seen as difficult? And if so, are there other areas in your life where you are creating unnecessary tension in the body and mind, creating noise, through resistance, judgement or just having to “be right”? And what is preventing you from experiencing “the silence of no self”.