Grazing

The other day I was asked a question about where does silence play a role in yoga practice. Silence is something that I personally don’t try to achieve in a practice; it seems to be there, as a result of the practice. The deepness of the silence, if I can say it that way, seems to come with the intensity of the practice. Intensity of the practice means how deeply you penetrate yourself, or in other words how much you were in the moment when you were in the practice.
I notice this sometimes in the dogs, when I take them for a walk; that is our purpose, to walk. During the walk in the fields across from our house, I let them go off the leash to graze. During that time they are running or walking with their heads down and scenting all the different smells. When they graze their minds are distracted. But when the leash goes back on, then it is a different story; then they concentrate on walking. When they walk there is no nose down and looking around. That is like concentrating on doing a posture, that’s not silence that’s concentration, don’t get them mixed up.
Sometimes after these walks I notice that one or both the dogs can just sit and be quiet. The way they do this is with so much ease it is always enlightening to me. They do this so naturally.
That why I say that silence isn’t practiced, it is the result of a practice.