Haven of Quietude

Walking into the chamber was an incredible awakening….mother Silence reached out and took my hand, gently guiding me inside, and in the most soothing voice I’ve ever heard, she whispered ‘welcome home’. An immediate feeling of lightness overcame me, I felt the unnecessary sound frequencies packed on my shoulders lifted, and then experienced for the first time a change in muscular tension, the discharge of 'acoustic tension'; I felt a deep wave of muscular relaxation ripple through my body. If this is what Silence does to a body then everyone should have a dose of it; I felt very blessed to have discovered this hidden chamber filled with the treasure of Silence.

The chamber, scientifically known as an Anechoic Chamber (an-echoic meaning non-echoing or echo-

Fiberglass wedges lining all the walls of the chamber

 free) is a specially designed room /chamber lined either completely, on all walls including the roof and floor, or partially, with sound absorbing material thus making the inside of the chamber a haven of quietude. Under normal conditions when talking in a room, the sound waves generated through voice will reach our eardrums as well as the walls of the room. Some of the sound waves that reach the wall will be absorbed by it, while the remaining will be reflect back from the wall into the surroundings, and if loud enough we will hear an echo. In the anechoic chamber, the design and type of absorbing material used to line the walls will absorb most, if not all, of the sound waves that initially contacts the walls. While doing research on the topic of ‘Silence’ I was surprised to learn that the University of British Columbia (UBC) actually has an Anechoic chamber, see the article at this link. (http://www.silentpcreview.com/article45-page1.html)

Feeling beside myself and with extreme excitement I email the Professor inquiring about the possibility of spending some time in the chamber; after all if I am going to research and write about Silence it seems reasonable that an embodied experience might be in order. I was very pleasantly surprised when the professor agreed that time in the chamber was indeed a real possibility depending on his availability to orientate me to the chamber. I arranged my schedule accordingly and met with him at the scheduled place and time. A delightful gentleman who was so very knowledge and patient when explaining the characteristics of the chamber and answering my questions. He even measured the level of the noise in the chamber at 20 decibels, a value that’s normal for most chambers of this sort (I decided to measure the noise level in my clinic space using a free, noise meter, downloadable app …average reading was 62 decibels). For very simplified explanation about decibels see this link (http://www.howstuffworks.com/question124.htm)

A point of interest: the University of Salford’s Anechoic chamber is measured at minus 12 decibels, unarguably the quietest place on earth and perhaps where one would truly hear the ‘sound of silence’. (http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/manchester/hi/people_and_places/newsid_8224000/8224555.stm).

After the orientation chat the professor took his leave and I had the opportunity to sit alone, with lights turn down, for 25 minutes in the chamber.

I sat on a small wooden box in the corner of the room, back straight, chin slightly tuck in and adjusted myself into a relaxed, steady and comfortable posture.  The first noticeable sound was the incredibly loud ringing in my head; this must be my central nervous system at work, neurons firing away, stuck in old habits and patterns and now wondering where the heck are the familiar noises; the 60 decibels I’m usually surrounded by. The ringing held my attention for a few moments not getting any louder, but not getting any quieter either. 

It was clear hearing the high and low pitches, I had a flash of the Nascar race track and the screaming noise of those super fast cars as they fly by. After a few minutes I slowly and carefully focused my attention to the breath, and with each inhale and exhale the movement of the lower belly. The ringing noise gradually subsided into a background noise as my attention shifted to the sound of breath in the nostrils. At first there was one sound in the nostrils, a deeper sound that was soothing to hear, a sound that I focused on for about 2-3 minutes. Then, I hear the second sound, a higher pitch sound, also in the nostrils, now two sounds occurring simultaneously with inhalation and exhalation, the higher pitch sound in the upper nostril and the lower pitch in the lower nostril. According to ancient yogic Pranayama scriptures, on inhalation the sound ‘so’ is heard, on exhalation the sound ‘ham’ is heard; I continued with breath awareness in the hopes of hearing these sounds… but not today.

My Caribbean backyard

I soon felt my breath slowing down becoming more rhythmic and my lungs were now filling and expanding with ease. I envisioned the movement of the diaphragm, the main muscle of respiration, and which in my opinion, is the ‘muscular switch’ that shifts us into physiologic recovery. As I shifted my awareness to the diaphragm another wave of relaxation rippled through my body, the shoulders, face and neck muscles felt really, really relaxed; my belly softened and I relaxed the organs on the inside. Soon after I became aware of the heart beat, the centre of my chest and the upper ribs moving in synchrony with the gentle but strong lub dum sounds of the heart. These sounds are hypnotic, my mind drifted off riding the wave of the pulse, my entire body was now pulsing, at times the pulsing was so strong it moved my torso, I imagined this wave saturated with my vibratory signature merging with the akashic field and telling my story. Another downshift of deep relaxation, this time it was the eyes, the eyelids relaxed so much they felt heavy as if one was hypnotized and unable to open them; the eyeballs were floating, suspended within their bony cavity, my eyes feel refreshed, my mind revitalized.

rational brain: ‘ it’s about 25 minutes, wrap this up’

blissful brain; ‘ no way, my soul is recharging’

There was this deep inner knowing that I was indeed back home.

Namaste to all,

Stay safe until the next post.