4 Freedoms Integration Exercise (12): Sounds of Silence

INTEGRATION EXERCISES
Exercises To Do Together
by Al Link and Pala Copeland

SOUNDS OF SILENCE

Time for Exercise : full day

Properties Required: none

Steps:

1. Designate one day as a “Day of Silence.”
2. Shut off the phone, and don’t answer the door. You might post a note on your door that says you are not available.
3. Go through the entire day, from when you wake in the morning until you go to sleep at night, without speaking a single word to each other, but be fully present together in this space of silence you have created.
4. Don’t ignore each other, but interact physically, sexually, and so on without talking. Communicate in any non-verbal ways you can imagine, but try to avoid a lot of note writing back and forth.
5. The next day, have a conversation about your experience:

• What were you thinking and feeling?
• Was it difficult or easy?
• What insights did you have?
• What did you learn about yourself?
• What did you learn about your lover?

Comments:

You can do this exercise alone, but there is something very magical about being present with your lover in complete silence for a whole day.