Happiness Break: Finding Yourself in Silence

The Science of Happiness

PRX and Greater Good Science Center

Social Sciences, Science

4.5 • 2K Ratings

🗓️ 2 October 2025

⏱️ 7 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Zen and mindfulness teacher Henry Shukman guides us in a meditation that invites us to listen deeply and find clarity in quiet.

How To Do This Practice:

Find Stillness: Sit comfortably in a quiet space. Close your eyes if you’d like, and allow your body to settle.
Bring Your Attention to the Present: Take a few deep breaths. Let go of to-do lists or distractions, gently arriving in this moment.
Tune In to the Sounds Around You: Begin to notice the soundscape of your environment. Near or far, loud or soft. Don’t judge or label the sounds, just hear them.
Notice Background Silence: Beyond individual sounds, sense the quiet in which all sounds arise. This isn’t just an absence of noise, it’s a felt sense of stillness.
Soak in the Quiet: Rest your awareness in this space of quiet. Let it wash over you, soften you, and bring you back to yourself.
Gently Return: When you're ready, bring small movements back to your body. Wiggle your fingers or stretch. Open your eyes and carry this quiet awareness into the rest of your day.

Scroll down for a transcription of this episode.

Today’s Happiness Break Guide:

Henry Shukman, is a poet, mindfulness teacher, and author of Original Love: The Four Inns on the Path of Awakening.

Learn more about Shukman’s work: https://henryshukman.com/about

Order his book, Original Love: The Four Inns on the Path of Awakening: https://tinyurl.com/mwv5cuxr

Related Happiness Break episodes:

A Mindful Breath Meditation: https://tinyurl.com/mr9d22kr

A Meditation for When You Feel Uneasy: https://tinyurl.com/4x27ut3p

Find Calm When You Can’t Clear Your Mind: https://tinyurl.com/3u8k2j8h

A Meditation on Original Love and Interconnectedness: https://tinyurl.com/ye6baxv3

Related Science of Happiness episodes:

How To Tune Out The Noise: https://tinyurl.com/4hhekjuh

How To Show Up For Yourself: https://tinyurl.com/56ktb9xc

How Holding Yourself Can Reduce Stress: https://tinyurl.com/2hvhkwe6

We’d love to hear about your experience with this practice! Share your thoughts at happinesspod@berkeley.edu or use the hashtag #happinesspod.

Find us on Apple Podcasts: https://tinyurl.com/2p9h5aap

Help us share Happiness Break! Leave a 5-star review and share this link: https://tinyurl.com/2p9h5aap

Transcription: https://tinyurl.com/3bs7udur

Transcript

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0:00.0	How much awe and wonder do you experience in your life?
0:03.6	From the John Templeton Foundation, our sponsors at the Science of Happiness,
0:07.3	the Templeton Ideas Podcast, explores the most awe-inspiring ideas in our world
0:12.4	with the people who investigate them.
0:15.0	Host Tom Burnett sits down with inspiring thinkers like Alison Gopnik, David Brooks,
0:20.2	Tyler Cowens, and Gretchen Rubin
0:22.4	to discuss how their investigations have transformed their lives and how they may transform yours.
0:29.2	Learn more at templeton.org slash podcast.
0:36.9	Hi, everyone. I'm Shuka Kalentari, and this is Happiness Break, where we share short science-backed practices to help you connect with yourself and the world around you.
0:48.5	The 13th century Persian mystic and poet Rumi wrote,
0:52.8	Let silence take you to the core of life.
0:56.0	And that's what we're exploring this week, silence.
1:00.0	Because it's often in those quiet moments that we can really connect with ourselves.
1:05.0	Research tells us that cultivating inner quiet can help process emotion and even change our brain structure, improving focus,
1:12.6	sensory perception, and motor skills.
1:16.6	Silence can also help us reduce stress and find more clarity.
1:20.6	Today, Zen and mindfulness teacher Henry Shookman guides us through a practice in silence,
1:26.6	inviting us to truly listen. So when you're
1:29.7	ready, here's Henry.
1:35.7	In this meditation, we're going to explore quiet. We're going to explore coming back to a state of quiet.
1:50.0	That we can all always access a beautiful quiet
1:59.0	that in some ways is kind of intrinsic to our awareness.
	...

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