Stillness: Daily Gifts Of Solitude

Weaving in the words of writers including Mary Oliver, Terry Tempest Williams, Steven Levine, and Anthony Storrs, Mahler shares his wide appreciation of silence and solitude learned from a three-month retreat in the snowy Tusas Mountains of New Mexico.

Richard Mahler was a successful writer and journalist living in the LA fast lane. He was happily married and involved with the arts and the environment. But he found himself increasingly unwilling to accept the distracting exterior clamor of his life. He began practicing meditation and yoga and eventually left LA for the relative calm of Santa Fe. As he began to realize the dramatic benefits of diminishing the chaos that engulfed him, he sought an even more extreme adventure of solitude--"a three-month retreat in the snowy Tusas Mountains of New Mexico.In Stillness Mahler shares what he learned on his retreat and reveals the techniques used to recreate the benefits of solitude any where and for any period of time--even as brief as 3 minutes. As he tells his story, he weaves in the words of writers including Mary Oliver, Terry Tempest Williams, Steven Levine, and Anthony Storrs, presenting different inspirations and different models of solitude. He shares the results of scientific and behavioral studies and statistics that provide irrefutable evidence that silence can immeasurably improve health and well-being.A wider appreciation of silence and solitude can embolden and enrich us in unimaginable ways, and each of us has the power to embrace a kind of focused and purposeful silence in our own daily lives. Richard Mahler writes that one should approach silence with an open mind, a porous heart, and a spirit of excitement and optimism. In Stillness he gives readers tools to do just that. "The benefits of solitude and silence are copious and proven, and can be reaped a few minutes at a time no matter where or how we live. "Mahler translates what he learned in three months of extremesolitude into a program of silence and solitude that can be practiced in the midst of daily life. "Side-bars and exercises throughout the book help readers create their own islands of silence and solitude no matter where they are or how they live their lives.