Before I share what stayed with me most, a little context.
This experience took place at Rivendell Retreat Centre, a meditation retreat centre on Bowen Island in British Columbia. It’s a quiet, long-standing lodge tucked into the forest, overlooking the ocean and mountains. I was also supported during the retreat by my spiritual guide, Corrina, whose presence helped me stay with the experience instead of trying to manage it.
If you listened to Episode 80 of the Magnetic Communication Podcast, you already heard the story of the silent retreat itself. Four days in silence. No talking, no eye contact, no phone. No filling the space.
What I didn’t share as much in the episode is what happened after I stopped trying to manage the experience and let it unfold. This is the part that stayed with me, and the part that continues to shape how I think about the power of silence in communication.
Once I wrote the first poem (which I shared in the podcast), the one filled with questions, something settled. That poem mirrored exactly what I knew people would ask me once I was home and speaking again. Was it hard? Was it boring? Did it work? Would I do it again?
The second poem took longer.
It wasn’t a summary or a lesson. It wasn’t trying to explain anything. It was simply what the silent retreat gave back once I stopped needing it to be useful.
I hadn’t written poetry in over twenty years. I even had poems published in my twenties, but somewhere along the way, that kind of writing stopped feeling practical. Sitting in silence brought it back, not as a project, but as a response to having enough space.
This poem isn’t meant to be analyzed. It’s meant to be read slowly, the same way silence asks us to slow down.
What Was It Like, They Ask (The Answers)
Time is a new creature.
Every moment slows.
Anxious to do it right.
Ink to capture it all.
Surrounded by nature.
Mountains.
Ocean.
Deer.
Sanctuary of silence.
Candle flicker glows.
Missing the comfort of words.
Void of social graces.
Available to listen.
Awe in every glance.
Entered silence early.
Rest.
Yoga.
Breath dance.
Voice inside shouting.
Longing for connection.
Clarity and stillness.
Spiritual companionship.
Nourishing food of love.
Opening to the light.
Grounding my little girl.
Release.
Relax.
Allow.
Knowing I’ve grown.
Silence and Communication in Everyday Life
What’s stayed with me since returning home isn’t the quiet itself. It’s how quickly we rush to fill space without noticing what we’re avoiding.
Silence doesn’t remove communication. It reveals it. That’s at the heart of the power of silence in communication.
It shows you how loud your internal commentary is. How often productivity becomes a way to stay comfortable. How unfamiliar it can feel to pause without fixing, improving, or producing something.
You don’t need a silent retreat to experience this. You can start much smaller.
- Let a pause sit in a meeting instead of rescuing it.
- Say out loud, “I want a moment to think before I respond.”
- Take a short walk without a podcast or music.
- Sit for two minutes without reaching for your phone.
Notice what happens. What settles.
Pay attention to how differently you listen and how your responses change.
Silence isn’t the opposite of communication. It’s part of it.
And it’s something I’ll be weaving more intentionally into future retreats and experiences I host, because once you experience the power of silence in communication, it changes how you show up everywhere else.
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