Quiet That Holds: A 75-Minute Class to Find Stillness in a Loud, Overwhelmed Life

When everything is loud—news, notifications, even your own thoughts—“being still” can feel impossible or unsafe. This class gives you a kind, practical way to touch quiet without performing it, and to carry that quiet back into real life.

Class Description (what it is)

A 75-minute guided experience in silence and stillness that meets you where you are. We’ll begin with gentle grounding, then step—kindly—through short and lengthening periods of quiet (30s → 1m → 2m → 5m → 10m), with body-aware strategies that support nervous-system safety. You’ll learn how to notice without judgment, how to discern distraction vs. gift, and how to let silence be less about outward posture and more about inward Presence. No one “does this right” or “fails”; we practice, notice, and return.

What You’ll Receive (outcomes)

• A simple, repeatable progression for quiet (30s to 10m) you can reuse at home

• Body-based anchors (breath, contact points, tactile objects) to steady your nervous system

• Practical discernment: naming noise vs. noticing a nudge

• Ways to integrate stillness into ordinary life (walking, dishes, commute)

• A gentle reframing: silence isn’t performance—it’s Presence

Bring With You

• A notebook/pen (or notes app)

• One small tactile item (stone, ring, bracelet, photo) to use as an anchor

• Optional: a chair or cushion you can sit on comfortably; water; tissues

75-Minute Flow (what to expect)

0:00–0:07 — Arrive & Frame

• Welcome, tone-setting: this is invitation, not performance

• Safety + permission: eyes open or soft gaze, choose your own posture

• Brief orientation to anchors and the arc (toward a 10-minute quiet)

0:07–0:12 — Grounding Practice (guided, ~5m)

• Notice feet/seat/breath, temperature, fabric on skin, sounds in room

• Three slow breaths with the inward phrase be still

• Quick journaling: “What’s happening now?”

0:12–0:18 — Why We Start Small

• Kindness to the nervous system; different histories need different on-ramps

• Reframe: stillness as Presence, not emptiness; fruit over performance

0:18–0:21 — Quiet #1 (30 seconds, supported)

• Choose an anchor (feet, breath, object, image/phrase)

• Debrief prompt: one sentence—what surfaced first?

0:21–0:25 — Quiet #2 (1 minute, supported)

• Notice loops, label gently: planning / remembering / worrying

• Debrief prompt: What anchor helped?

0:25–0:31 — Quiet #3 (2 minutes, supported)

• Curiosity as an anchor; permission to adjust posture or gaze

• Debrief prompt: Body cues—tension, softening, urge to move?

0:31–0:40 — Teaching: Discernment in Silence

• Not every thought is noise; some are gifts (remembering, clarity, image)

• Simple grid: “Noise or Nudge?” Ask: Is there anything for me here now?

• Trauma-aware note: difference between chosen silence and being silenced

0:40–0:46 — Quiet #4 (5 minutes, supported)

• Choose an everyday anchor (bracelet beads, photo, keyboard letter)

• Debrief prompt: Did silence feel empty or full?

0:46–0:55 — Stillness in Real Life

• Interior stillness while moving (walking, chores, parenting, commute)

• Normalize edges: when to shrink the goal, when to change the anchor

• “Return” practice: three 30-second pauses woven into the day

0:55–1:05 — Quiet #5 (10 minutes, mostly silent)

• Instructor mutes; participants practice with personal anchors

• Journaling: What surfaced? Body sensations? One possible nudge?

1:05–1:12 — Integration & Sharing

• Light debrief (journal or paired share if group):

  • Where was this delightful? Where edgy?

  • One practice you’ll carry into the next 48 hours

1:12–1:15 — Sending & Blessing

• Encourage a personal progression: 30s → 1–5m daily → 30m weekly → 1h monthly

• Benediction (below)

Suggested Progression After Class

• Daily: three 30-second pauses + one 3–5 minute quiet

• Weekly: one 20–30 minute quiet (walk or sit)

• Monthly: one 45–60 minute quiet (guided or self-led)

Benediction

May the quiet you touched here return to you like breath—
near, steady, unforced.
May thirty seconds open into minutes, and minutes into an hour,
not as a test to pass but a grace to receive.

When the world shouts, may you remember the doorway—
not escape, but return.
Return to Presence deeper than noise,
to the ground beneath your feet,
to the self God holds without hurry or shame.

Go with a calm heart and a listening life.
Be gentle with your edges.
Be faithful to the small pauses.
And may the stillness you carry become a shelter
for you—and for those who meet you along the way.

Quiet That Holds: A 75-Minute Class to Find Stillness in a Loud, Overwhelmed Life