I find it incredible that I keep mentioning silence as I am the loudest, most talkative person I know. As a child, I was forever greeted with grimaces and pleas to ‘Stop shouting’ and I often see people visibly wince when I open my mouth, as if the sound is just too much for their delicate eardrums.

The strange thing is, I love silence and only found out quite by chance when my spiritual mentor Marion held a day-long silent retreat last winter. By lunchtime, I had found my inner Prozac. I touched a bliss inside I didn’t know existed and knowing it is there changes everything.

You HAVE to be silent and still to follow a spiritual path or else that higher wisdom we all have cannot be heard through the din.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s not easy. I can only do it when I am frogmarched into a place where you must be silent. The urge to indulge in smalltalk is immense, but once I get going, the silence feels like a warm ocean – limitless, supportive and beautiful.

Marion is holding some more silent retreats. There is one on March 23rd in Ewell, Surrey. You’ll have to e mail her direct for that one via her website here. And then there are two more in Molesey KT8, one on May 8th and another on July 10th at my favourite silent haunt, The House Of Prayer. 

Tickets for May 8th are available here and you can book July 10th here. They’re from 10am – 4pm on a Wednesday, which happens to be my favourite day for silence, bang slap in the middle of the week.

These day-long retreats are perfect for anyone who hasn’t experienced prolonged silence before. Are you ready for the quiet? I am.