#Stillness, Silence, Solitude Archives - Madhu Bazaz Wangu
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#Stillness, Silence, Solitude

Thursday, April 9, 2026

Posted on April 8, 2026
in #Neuroscience and Meditation, #Stillness, Silence, Solitude, Meditation, Meditation & Journaling at Ashby Ponds, Spirituality
2 Comments

Turmoil and Tranquility, Acrylic on Canvas, 1979 Some of you might be struggling with silent meditation practice. Here are a few suggestions for you to use. Hope this helps!  Establish a formal meditation time when and where you have minimal of distraction. It is crucial to sit regularly. Mornings are great, evenings are good too. Sit in the same place each time. You will associate that space with tranquility and therefore look forward to sitting.  The very act of sitting still in silence and solitude will settle your mental clutter and recharge your battery. Let the practice grow gradually and gently. Fifteen to twenty minutes of silent meditation daily is very beneficial.  The purpose of Mindfulness Meditation is to transform your living experience. You now know  the difference between sensation, conscious thought, and feeling. You...

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Tuesday, April 7, 2026

Posted on April 6, 2026
in #Awareness, #Neuroscience and Meditation, #Stillness, Silence, Solitude, Flourishing, Nonverbal Activities, Originality, Sharper Brain after Retirement
2 Comments

The Hopeful Immigrant, Our Friend 1978, Acrylic on Canvas What does neuroplasticity mean?  Neuroplasticity means that our brain structure changes in response to whatever training we practice. It goes on all the time. Drugs temporarily alter our brain. We feel differently until they are in our system. But meditation alters each and every nook of our brain and our body and impacts our day-to-day life.  4 Pillars of neuroplasticity are Awareness, Connection, Insight and Resilience1. AwarenessMetta (loving friendly) Awareness means knowing where your mind is and what it is doing, and bringing it back to the breath over and over again. 2. ConnectionHealthy social relationships. 3. InsightIntroducing oneself to Self and having positive self-image. It ranges from positive self-image to not ever introducing oneself to Self to extremely negative self-image. 4 ResilienceHaving the ability to recover from adversity. In order to...

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Thursday, April 2, 2026

Posted on April 1, 2026
in #Neuroscience and Meditation, #Stillness and Solitude, #Stillness, Silence, Solitude, Being in Nature, Meditation, Meditation & Journaling at Ashby Ponds, Travel
4 Comments

Lake Louise, Banff National Park, Alberta, Canada In one Buddhist teaching the progress of the mind of a meditator, from being a novice to a skilled meditator, is equated with three bodies of water: waterfall, river and lake.WATERFALLThe mind of a beginner is like a waterfall. When you sit to meditate, your mind thunders with torrents of thoughts and feelings. You are oblivious to physical sensations. Even when torrents of thought tighten your muscles, you are clueless. You don’t know you are tense. Focus on your breath and try to get in touch with your physical sensations. Sit with your eyes closed for 15 minutes and then move on to journaling. Your awareness of what you are doing and who you are is a powerful grounding tool at this stage. Following the meditation,...

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Tuesday, March 24, 2026

Posted on March 23, 2026
in #Stillness, Silence, Solitude, Meditation, Meditation & Journaling at Ashby Ponds, Well Being
4 Comments

Early Spring at Ashby, March 2026 Relationship Between Body and MindWithout mind body is blind and without body mind is disable. Like a log, body can do nothing by itself except grow, decay and die. The mind can do nothing without the support of the body. But both together, as we know, they have power to connect us with our Authentic Self and teach us to be 100% ourselves.   In our day-to-day life, we face unpredictable obstacles or advantages. Without mindfulness, instead of acting we react to negative emotions. We believe we have been treated unjustly. But when we learn to apply mindfulness, it teaches us to pause and investigate our own mind. In doing so we discover truths about the situations and unpleasant truths about ourselves. We realize that the root of...

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Tuesday, March 17, 2026

Posted on March 16, 2026
in #Stillness, Silence, Solitude, Awareness, Meditation, Meditation & Journaling at Ashby Ponds, Spirituality
4 Comments

Early Spring at Ashby Ponds, February 2026 The thought that your year-long journey of meditation and journaling practice will reveal to you your hidden aptitudes and possibilities fill me with gratitude and excitement.  You have ten bountiful months remaining to fulfill your goals. External events will not actualize them. Only your inner resolve will bring about the changes you intend. Your intentions may not unfold exactly the way you imagine them but one thing is certain, by the end of the year mindfulness would have helped you grow happier, kinder and wiser.  To grow into a better person the following attitudes toward meditation are essential during your practice: Sit for meditation as though you have the whole day to meditate even though you plan to sit for ten or fifteen minutes. Relax your body, breathe...

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Thursday, March 12, 2026

Posted on March 11, 2026
in #Stillness, Silence, Solitude, Meditation, Meditation & Journaling at Ashby Ponds, Spirituality
4 Comments

Humanitarian-Scholar Father, Oil on canvas, 1978 “All our lives we are taught to look outwards,” says the Vipassana Meditation teacher S. N. Goenka. “We get accustomed to looking that way. But the only way to experience the ultimate truth is to look within.” Spirituality, compassion and creativity are experienced simply by observing your own self. Paying attention to physical sensations, focusing on the knots in the belly, watching negative thoughts pass by leads to self-understanding and self enhancement. Mindfulness holds our hand and points to our negative as well as positive emotions. The practice teaches self-compassion and kindness toward others. It helps us to let go of mental clutter and connects us with our Authentic Self.  My introduction to meditation was in 1989 when our family moved from Pittsburgh to Massachusetts. I was...

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Thursday, March 5, 2026

Posted on March 4, 2026
in #Stillness, Silence, Solitude, Meditation, Meditation & Journaling at Ashby Ponds, Sharper Brain after Retirement, Spirituality, Well Being
6 Comments

Myths and Misconceptions about Meditation  Mindfulness is relaxation. Relaxation may be one of the outcomes of our practice but it seeks  attention andawareness. The goal of the mindfulness meditation (Vipassana) is insight into our true nature. We practice and transform our ordinary day life into an extraordinary life.  Meditation puts you in a trance. No, it is not hypnosis. When we meditate we are very much under our own control. The attention and awareness are simply stepping-stones on the route to heightened awareness which cultivates mindfulness. Meditation is Mysterious. Meditation deals with levels of consciousness that are deeper than conceptual thought. Such things can be understood without words or logic such as walking, swimming and biking. We learn them by practicing. Similarly we experience meditation by practicing. Meditation is an adventure every time we practice because we can never predict exactly what will come up during any particular session. Each...

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Thursday, October 9, 2025

Posted on October 8, 2025
in #Stillness, Silence, Solitude, Journaling, Meditation, Meditation & Journaling at Ashby Ponds, Spirituality
2 Comments

When I began my spiritual journey, I knew intellectually what I wanted but emotionally I had no clue. I did not know if I would arrive and where. Yet, I was willing to surrender and walk on the path to the great unknown. Midst running a happy household with two daughters and husband I was struggling, first as an artist and then as a writer. My quest was for something beyond being a mother, wife, artist. The thought, “Is this all there is?” loomed large at the back of my mind.  Somehow I ended up learning to meditate. While learning the practice, I learned that the reason you sit still in silence and solitude is because the novice practitioner is like a jar of river water, all shaken up. The requirement...

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