"When we make a place for silence, we make room for ourselves. This is simple. And it is radical. A room set apart for silence becomes a sanctuary — a place for breath, for refreshment, for challenge, and for healing. It is helpful to keep the space plain and simple: a few cushions, a rug  . . . Simplicity allows the senses to rest from stimulation.

"Silent spaces invite us to go to the inner room — the room inside ourselves. By making room for silence, we resist the forces of the world which tell us to live an advertised life of surface appearances, instead of a discovered life — a life lived in contact with our senses, our feelings, our deepest thoughts and values.

"When a space is reserved solely for mindfulness practice, the silence seems to deepen. A room devoted to silence honors and invites the unknown, the untamed, the wild, the shy, the unfathomable — that which rarely has a chance to surface within us. It is a visible, external symbol of an internal reality: An actual room signifying space within ourselves set aside for silence."

Gunilla Norris in Sharing Silence: Meditation Practice and Mindful Living