Silence

From Tom Gambell Sensei’s blog:

These are some of the guidelines regarding talking on the mat that I use in my own training:

If I’m talking, I’m not training.

If it’s more than three words, it’s a conversation.

Is what I’m about to say more important than maintaining the silence.

Rumi says:

There is a way
between voice and presence
where information flows.
In disciplined silence it opens.
With wandering talk it closes.

Pema Chodron says:

It’s a transformative experience to simply pause instead of immediately filling up the space. By waiting, we begin to connect with fundamental restlessness as well as fundamental spaciousness.