Over 7 weeks or so I will post an exploration of each of Kurt Hahn’s “Seven Laws of Salem”. Read Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, or Part 5.
Kurt Hahn was an educator and vocal anti-Nazi in the early days of their rise to power. The principals he called “The Seven Laws of Salem” (the basis for the school he founded in Salem, Germany between the world wars) became the founding principals of the Outward Bound programs now offered at independent schools around the world.
Hahn was focused on developing social change through education of the younger generation. He placed the natural world, our earth, in a position of great importance to the heath and development of a human being at a time when industrialization and modernism was beginning to over take more traditional life styles.
The Seven Laws of Salem
1. Give the children opportunities for self-discovery.
2. Make the children meet with triumph and defeat.
3. Give the children the opportunity of self-effacement in the common cause.
4. Provide periods of silence.
5. Train the imagination.
6. Make games important but not predominant.
7. Free the sons of the wealthy and powerful from the enervating sense of privilege.
"Provide periods of silence."
As Hahn says:
"Unless the present day generation acquires early habits of quiet reflection, it will be prematurely used up by the nerve exhausting and distracting civilization of today."
He wrote that in 1930. That's 84 years ago. If the 1930's were so nerve exhausting and distracting, I wonder what he would make of our pace in life today?
Sitting alone in silence, with the express purpose of rest, is difficult for many of us. Our focus is so easily brought to "what I am I doing?"
When I was young I was taught that I always needed to be doing something. I was told "only stupid people get bored," and taught to memorize "Good, better, best, never let it rest - till the good gets better and better gets best." And later: "Upon the plains of hesitation lie the bones of countless thousands, who upon the dawn of victory paused to rest, and in resting died."
So no, not much early acquisition of habits of quite reflection.
Our relationship to silence says volumes about our relationship to ourselves. With all distraction gone, the fears, doubts, the self criticizing voice within us become louder. Culturally, at least as far as I am aware, we generally share only two social references to silence as we grow.
The first is a silence of sacredness. In school, in church, in the living room on Sunday afternoon during a ball game - if we get too loud we are disrupting something greater than us. Sacraments, whether religious, social, or personal, hold reverence. Silence is one way we are taught that something is important - that we are in the presence of something greater than we are, so we should shut up, sit down and be quiet.
Depending on where and how we were raised this may be during religious services, family meals, the pledge of allegiance, during tests at school (or just at school),or during the last 10 minutes of a particularly important and close ballgame on the TV. We may be asked at events to observe a minute of silence. And of course, almost always, while someone is working. Remember, "Silence is golden."
As we grow up this silence of the sacred sends a message - you are in the presence of something greater than you, something you should not disrupt. How easily do we consciously adopt these values? Some of them have great social value. Others we learn we may struggle with our whole lives. We can learn a lesson about putting aside our personal interests and desires and to observe a larger social interest.
The second predominate time we are taught about silence as we grow up is in punishment. Prisoners are sent to solitary, children are told to stand in the corner or go to their room and be quiet, adolescents get detention - meant in most cases to be a period of reflection on what they did wrong.
Hahn, sees quiet self-reflection as an asset, a life enhancing, and preferably chosen activity. We are taught generally that we should only reflect on ourselves, our choices and behavior, if we are wrong or bad - out of line with the socially accepted.
If these are our only exposures to the idea of silence, by the time we become adults, silence, quietness, is a quality we can hold with sense of real conflict. Being quiet and doing nothing is either for the holy or for the wrong. Why would a regular guy like me want to take time for quiet reflection?
The truth is somewhere in-between. When we make space for quiet or reflection we are making space to listen to see our selves and the impact our often habitual and unconscious behavior has on our lives, what our bodies are telling us, and gives us a chance to connect to the wisdom of what some us call god, or big mind, or inspiration (among other things).
One of the most difficult challenges faced by clients and others I have worked with around sitting in silence is that an intense sense of anxiety arrises. They begin to experience thoughts or fears that they can't quite seem to push away. Its a common problem for beginners in most meditation practices.
Why do so many of us struggle with this concept? Either as silent meditation or quiet self reflection, the challenge to be at peace and be still seems common among us.
The most reliable way to become more skilled in silence and quiet reflection is, as with most things, practice.
There are 3 basic practices I teach and recommend - Quiet reflection, active rest and meditation. Though there are invariable forms of each, they all work toward stilling the mind, easing overactive nerves, and creating a clearer sense of who we are beyond the fears and doubts. Here are some examples of each...
Quiet Reflection
There are plenty of great self reflection exercises out there. Some of them have specific aims, others are meant to build our self awareness. The majority of them have one thing in common - sitting in quite and expressing or considering what is on our minds.
The most basic practice is journaling. Sitting at some set time of day and recording our thoughts. By placing them on paper we are able to see them more objectively, to get to the heart of that is charging or driving a specific event or emotional response.
Prayer is also a form of quiet reflection. Often used to express fears or hopes for ourselves or others, a prayer infers a relationship with God or a higher power, however we define it. In this act, in may ways, we are recognizing our limits and our potential.
In Integral Life Practice the authors set out what they call the "3-2-1 Shadow Process." Which is essentially a self examination of the relationships that give us trouble and the part we play in perpetuating them. Many 12-Step groups use a different method, with the same aim, in their inventory processes - looking at the role the individual plays and what they can change, not the other person.
What all of these methods create is an opportunity to view our behavior in an objective way, giving us more knowledge of ourselves, our relationships, our emotions and ideas.
Active Rest
One of the concepts I have been meditating on and finding ways to practice in my own life is the concept of active rest. Meaning, as I have come to use it, doing nothing but focusing on rest. Most people I know, myself some days included, rest by sitting on the couch and turning on the TV. Even on the beach most of us dive into some book. We our constantly feeding our nervous system. Our sense tends less toward being at peace and healing, as it does feeding ourselves information to drown out our thinking.
Having been diagnosed with fibromyalgia at a young age I became aware pretty quickly that my nervous system needed rest. TV and may other forms of entertainment could have a negative effect on my condition, my ability to relax, rest or sleep.
The easiest way I have found to practice active rest is in savasana. A yoga pose where I am simply laying on floor on my back with my hands and legs relaxed, eyes closed. The pose is often called corpse pose (because of course something that still and at rest must be dead.) The aim, as most yoga teachers will give with their instructions is to "melt into the floor".
Savasana is great way to rest. Focusing on relaxing the body and breath, practiced over time, the brain starts checking in with its more basic functioning. Tensions held in the body for years can simply release and be gone.
Without distraction, without constant input, we can relax more fully. Quite often this practice can give us new perspective or insight into our lives. Many yoga studios offer restorative or yin yoga classes, where 3 or 4 supported postures, similar to savasana, are done over the course of the class. This can be a great way to learn and experience active rest.
Meditation
Odd are you have a picture in your head of someone in a robe sitting on a cushion contemplating absolutely nothing.
There are countless forms of meditation. I have come across seated, walking,and written meditations. I've used guided meditations, shamanic journeying, meditation focused on a single object or mantra, mindfulness meditation focused on building awareness, and meditation using sound or drumming to create a trance. And quite a few others.
The simplest, and most effective technique I learned is to find a comfortable seat and bring your attention to your breath, with or without your eyes closed. Feel the cool air coming in, feel the warm air going out. If you have a distracting though just gently bring your attention back to the breath.
A tool I learned from a recored class with yoga teacher Erich Schiffmann, that I found online is the 50-1 technique. Similar to the above, except adding a count down to the mix. As you breathe in start with "50". As you breathe out - "49". Until you get to "25" then just use the count on the out breath. When you reach "0" continue with observing the breath.
With both of these its worth it to use a timer. Set it for anywhere from 3 to 30 minutes.
Meditation, when you hit the sweet spot, provides the same type of benefits to your body as deep sleep. It can help the brain repair the body and correct imbalances in brain chemistry.
But it takes practice. Be patient with yourself. If you struggle doing it alone find a friend or a good instructional CD, or a teacher or a practice group.
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So there are many ways to make periods of silence for ourselves and many benefits to it. Whether we or not we learned a healthy relationship to silence when we are young, or not, its never too late to learn stepping back, taking a few breaths, and renewing our relationship to ourselves, our bodies, our relationships.
Part 1. Part 2. Part 3. Part 5.
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Kurt Hahn's School's and Legacy by Martin Flavin was the primary source for these posts.
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Kurt Hahn's School's and Legacy by Martin Flavin was the primary source for these posts.
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