When the Mind Fills the Silence

Like many of you, I experience tinnitus. There are many theories about what causes this constant sound, but one is that the brain creates a tone to fill a gap in hearing. Instead of silence in that input channel, we get a chronic, unhelpful sound.

It occurs to me that this mirrors how the mind works in general—rather than allowing stillness, silence, and space, it creates activity, noise, and thoughts. Some believe the mind generates these ongoing thoughts to reassure us of who we are and where we are. Without them, faced with pure nothingness, we might feel unmoored.

Yoga gives us a framework for moving gradually toward that nothingness—not as something to fear, but as something to rest into. The eight limbs of yoga guide us from the external to the internal, from activity to stillness:

• Yama and Niyama: principles for how we live outwardly and inwardly.

• Asana: moving and strengthening the body, learning the language of sensation.

• Pranayama: regulating the breath, the thread weaving body and energy.

• Pratyahara: drawing the senses inward.

• Dharana, Dhyana, Samadhi: the stages of meditation, from focusing the mind, to quieting it, to dissolving into the hum of the universe.

My yoga practice hasn’t “cured” the ringing in my ears—but it has helped me relate to it differently. I’ve learned how to step back, soften, and touch the still, quiet space beneath and beyond the sound. In this way, working with tinnitus is much like working with the restless mind: not about erasing, but about resting in what’s deeper.