Dear members of the silence community,

I want to thank you for your gracious listening yesterday.  You were practicing deep silence in such compassionate and welcoming listening.  I am grateful. I also learned a lot from your questions and insights.

I wanted to pass on information about the "tree of contemplative practices" which was put out by a secular contemplative group with which I am deeply involved.  I am a Contemplative Practice Fellow of The Contemplative Mind in Society Project.  I would suggest visiting their website: http://www.contemplativemind.org/  I was speaking as a nun yesterday, but those of you who would be more comfortable with a conversation about silence in a context that does not connect with faith might find the Project fascinating.  If you go to the website, be patient and the tree of contemplative practices will emerge with a list of a few dozen contemplative practices that have been part of Eastern and Western contemplative traditions for at least 2000 years.  You can also google more information about each of the practices.  You may find one that suits your lifestyle, relationship to questions of faith, vision of yourself as a secular woman, or temperament.