The Culturally Shocking Silence by Chelsea O.

I was invited a few months ago to attend a Mediation and Yoga conference promoting world peace. It was very serene, hidden in one of the most beautiful locations known to my eyes, Santa Cruz, California.

Santa Cruz is located in the Northern area of the coastal state and basically anywhere you go in Santa Cruz you'd have a perfect view of the ocean.

My mother and I are rather cacophonous people, so entering into this peaceful resort rather startled us. The resort was a little nook tucked within the rows and folds of perfect forestland.

Our car pulled up with terrible screeches and exhaustion from climbing uphill for about 15 miles. It was 5:30am and the biting cold weather was no bit refreshing.

Some people who attended the retreat were natives to the area and actively went to the events at the retreat location, and others came from out of state to experience something new and different that was my mother and I.

I haven’t done anything similar to that in my entire life so it was shocking how some people handled the situation.

We had activities daily present at such as “mediation sits” and yoga classes. The mediation was so intense for my inexperienced mother and myself! The main idea is to sit cross-legged for long periods of time and to concentrate solely on your breathing.

I have to admit at first I was staring at the clock, counting the seconds go by until the end of the practice. My legs couldn’t stay in the same position for long, and my head couldn’t stand the silence.

Obviously our generation young depends so tremendously on technology and when that resource is taken away, nothing is entertaining- especially not something as simple as your breathing.

My fellow meditaters looked simple and pretty friendly as I made eye contact with a few while passing through the corridor, because of course we had to refrain from sound.

My mother and I did break that rule because we weren't accustom to the practice of silence at all times.

On the breaks between lessons and such there was free time to just walk about the property. It seemed to have dozens of acres of pure beautifully tall trees.

It was fall so leaves covered the forest floor. It was then that my true meditative state came about.

The mixture of the breeze flowing through the trees and the rush of sunshine pouring into my body, and spirit, made myself seem completely content, and somewhat silenced.

Experiencing something so complex at a young age is helpful if you ever plan on achieving it in the future.

The exposure to the Hindu and Buddhist culture really helped me to evaluate what is spiritually available in this lifetime. I wouldn’t of had that experience any other way.