What Happens When We Stop Filling the Silence
What Happens When We Stop Filling the Silence
I listened to a podcast a while ago that made me reflect a lot about silence and later inspired me to change some habits.
The fact Dr Alok Kanojia shared in this podcast was that the brain has a mode that only turns on when we stop. It doesn't happen if we rest with music on, or when we lie on the sofa with something playing in the background. It happens only when there is no input, no task, nothing coming in.
Recognising the pattern
For most of us, that moment of pure silence barely exists anymore. And if it appears, we fill it almost immediately.
I started paying attention to this in myself. I noticed I'd randomly stop to check the phone and start scrolling, out of nowhere. Pure habit built over time. After a few minutes I'd realise what I was actually doing, stop and get back to what I was doing before.
I realised I was constantly filling the silence: podcast during the shower, music while walking outside, scrolling while waiting for something or someone. It was automatic, without me fully noticing it.
I wonder if you recognise this too.
What changes when you create the space
By seeing what was happening, I could start making some choices and creating the space for these moments of true silence. And by introducing little bits of it in my day, I noticed that my brain would bring things "unprocessed" back to the surface: small realisations about conversations that had happened days ago, feelings I had been carrying without processing, ideas that had been waiting somewhere behind the noise.
The inverse was also true. Whenever I missed these silent moments during the day, I'd notice how agitated I'd be towards the evening. The mind would be more active, even though the body was tired from the day. The processing that had nowhere to go earlier was finding its way into the hour before sleep.
We live in a busy world and it's not always easy to carve out the space for these precious silent moments. But I've found that even a little goes a long way.
What happens on the mat
And then there is the magic that happens during a bodywork session.
About 20 to 30 minutes in, I can already witness a shift in the client's body. The breath gets deeper and the room becomes quieter.
Part of that is the parasympathetic shift, the nervous system moving out of alert and into something closer to rest. But part of it, I think, is something simpler: there is nothing to do. No phone to reach for, no input to process, no to-do list calling.
People often tell me afterwards that they processed something during the session. A feeling they hadn't had words for. A decision that seemed clearer by the end. A tiredness that finally felt like it could be set down rather than just carried.
I think this is the magic of our bodies working for us when they are given the right space and time for it.
A gentle invitation
So if you are noticing this too, you can start small. Introduce little bits of silence into your day and see what surfaces. And if your body is craving a deeper reset, I'm here.
A bodywork session is 1h30 of guaranteed space. No input, no next thing. Just your body doing what it knows how to do when we finally get out of its way.
Looking forward to seeing on the massage mat :)
with love,
Tarsila.