silence Archives | Faulk TaiChi

Create Some Silence Every Day

September 21, 2019 By Arlene Faulk

As I observe my 20th year of teaching Tai Chi, I have been reflecting on what I have learned over two decades. In a recent blog I talked about “patience,” a quality that takes paying attention to every single day. Another life lesson from Tai Chi is “silence”.

Take a few moments to be silent every day. Our health and outlook depend on it.

In our daily world of noise all around us, our nervous system and psyche are under assault at worst, distracted at best. From the moment we get out of bed until we crawl back in at the end of the day, we face noise, from our phone, TV, other people at home, work or on the subway. We are in traffic noise driving to work. Even scrolling through our laptop or mobile device creates, watching videos, even texting is not silent for our minds because we are flooded with thoughts about what to say and how quickly to respond to a request.

Tai Chi is often called a moving meditation, because it creates stillness within through gently flowing movements and intentional shifting of weight. Our thoughts, the chatter ofs internal noise moves out of head into our body allowing us to relax. The lesson from this is that a healthy body and mind depend on these moments of letting go, being in the moment.

Tai Chi, yoga and seated meditation are healthy ways to de-stress, slow down, be still. Short of a class or a practice, there are many options available each day to be still—watch a sunset, the moon rise in the evening, look out the window at a tree, a bird. One of my Tai Chi students told me her stillness each days comes in the shower. Rather than thinking about what she will do during the day, she takes that time to feel the water, listen to water, notice the temperature, feel the cleansing of the soap on her skin. She is in the moment and experiences stillness in her mind to start the day.

The key is taking a few minutes each day to be present in the moment, to de-clutter the mind and feel centered. Each of us has the opportunity to do this. What it requires of us is to be intentional in creating the space to let silence in. It feels so good when we do.

Finding Some Quiet Amidst the Noise

September 6, 2018 By Arlene Faulk

In going through some files, I found a blog post I once wrote for the Heartwood website. Oh, my, how relevant it is this very day. I want to share it with you, since some of these suggestions might help you find a moment or two of quiet:

Are your days really noisy? The answer is ‘yes’ for most of us. We don’t necessarily initiate the noise. It finds us wherever we are. The images and chatter on social media, television, radio and words in blogs and editorials come across like continual static. The TV screen doesn’t have just one image to focus on. There’s often a split screen so we can multi-task, watch two events happening at once. And then there’s the constant scroll of words streaming towards the left at the bottom of the screen. Also, in these days of political campaigning, we are assaulted by candidates with arms high in the air telling us how everything is wrong, how horrible the opponent is. In today’s world, we don’t have this only in our home, because we can watch video clips, news anywhere on our phones.

It’s disconcerting, these attitudes and platitudes that permeate our days, with 24 hour news, sometimes repeating and repeating the same thing. Are you, like me, tired of seeing the words “Breaking News” for just about everything?

Our non-stop news coverage and the internet bring the world instantaneously to us. And it can be addicting. What is happening right now? What did I miss while I was at my doctor’s appointment? We don’t wait. As soon as we can, we look at our phone to see what’s going on, who might have tweeted something that’s worth re-tweeting.

We yearn for some moments of relief, moments when we can have a little stillness, free from all the chatter coming at us and from all the chatter within us, in our own heads.

What do we do? How can we get a breather, a ‘time out’ to lessen the noise?

A few suggestions:

Recognize your need to take some time to be still, be in the moment.
Let go of something tangible – Turn off the television. Don’t watch the evening news today. Wait a half hour after you get up in the morning before you look at your phone.
Go for a leisurely walk or bike ride, without any electronic devices.
Stare out the window for five minutes. Pay attention to what’s outside.
Savor your dinner tonight. Focus on the colors, the enticing aromas, the fragrant spices hitting your tongue.
Visualize yourself in a class that reinforces stillness — Tai Chi, QiGong, Yoga, Guided Meditation. Make the time and sign up for a class.

Stop right now. Take time to do this simple exercise:

“Bring your attention to the room you are in, to your body. Stand with your feet parallel, about hip-width apart, knees soft (not locked). Look straight ahead. Be aware that you are breathing.
Slowly start to move from side to side or in small circles, keeping feet flat on the floor. Visualize your legs and feet like a tree, with roots deep into the earth. You are rooted, tall, stable.”

That’s usually how I start my Tai Chi classes, starting to focus on our bodies, on the moment, slowly starting to move. Starting to relax our body helps us to relax our mind; starting to relax our mind helps us to relax our body. The noise of the day starts to disappear. We create stillness within. And we feel so much better.

Do one thing today to create stillness in your mind and body. Turn off the noise. You deserve it and will feel so good that you did.

Silence in the Morning

January 21, 2018 By Arlene Faulk

From the minute we wake up it’s noisy. It might be the television, radio or phone we turn on to catch the latest news. It might be a daughter or husband wanting our attention, wanting lunch to be packed or wanting to hurry to catch the train to work. It doesn’t stop all day. It just keeps coming and coming.

We get used to it, the increasing pace and volume of information coming at us. And, we just think ‘that’s the way it is’ If we stop to think about it, what it is doing to us, usually our answer is not positive. “I feel drained. I am anxious. I am so tired. I can’t keep up. If only I had a few more hours in the day.” Sound familiar?

Want some relief? First, become aware of what all the noise, all the news flashes across a screen are doing to your nervous system and psyche. A friend of mine told me she waits an hour after she wakes up before looking at her phone. That’s a start. Another friend takes 15 minutes in the morning, out of bed and onto the floor for stretching exercises. And that’s before coffee!

I have found five to ten minutes of Tai Chi helps me immensely in the morning. I get my energy moving through the relaxed, slow moves of my form and start the day with some stillness. I think better, don’t rush around and best of all, start the day with some focus.

Just a few minutes of creating silence can make a huge difference in your day. What do you do when you wake up? What do you do to silence the noise for a few minutes?

An Olive Branch Experience

June 17, 2012 By Arlene Faulk

Olive Branch, Mississippi. I love that city’s name. It draws me in. I spent last the last seven days there.

Two hundred Tai Chi enthusiasts, teachers and students, gathered for a one-week workshop with Dr. Paul Lam, to study and “play” Tai Chi. Journeys started as close as Memphis and as far as California, Oregon, Hawaii, Vermont, Florida, England, Scotland, Austria and Australia. With a variety of backgrounds, ages, states of physical health, sizes and shapes, all of us had a common thread and love — Tai Chi.

In advance of the week, each of us selected a particular form that we wanted to study and focus on the entire week. Pat from Florida and Guy from New York, team-taught our class. They are Master Trainers for Dr. Lam and have years of Tai Chi and Kung Fu experience, both having been in competitions. Their love is Tai Chi and teaching it for health. We learned new moves and practiced four hours a day, sometimes more. After class, many practiced in hallways, outside, in open classrooms, all on our own time. It was obvious that everybody wanted to learn, wanted to understand the underlying principles and wanted to use Tai Chi as a tool to promote healthy lives, and for teachers, to pass it on to their students.

Given the concentration of study and practice, it was far from a type-A atmosphere. There were breaks for tea and snacks. We drank plenty of water. Students sat down if they needed to rest. Still echoing in my mind are my teachers’ frequent suggestions – “relax”. “do only what you can”. “nothing should hurt”. “don’t worry about the details — they will come later”.

As the week progressed and we became more confident with the movements and their sequence, there was less talk in class. We started to flow forward, backward as we shifted our weight. We moved less as individuals and more as a group. There was focus and there was silence. The flow and the silence helped us relax. The relaxation helped us with focus and flow. The flowing energy was more than a group of individuals; it was bigger than the individual parts. Our group energy filled the room.

Those moments of silence, focusing only on where we were in the present were key to feeling relaxed and fulfilled. It seems that each of us needs to find those moments.