Mouna yoga is also known as the yoga of silence, since the world mouna is silence in Sanskrit. In mouna yoga, the goal is more than just the silence of not talking. It is to achieve an inner silence and greater control over expressions and reach an inner state of balance and peace.
In many forms of yoga, the goal is to channel prana, which is the energy that sustains life. In mouna yoga, the goal is to conserve prana by preserving it in silence, rather than wasting prana through unnecessary talking. The student learns to become more introverted, introspective, and gain a greater awareness of your thoughts and emotions.
This inner silence enhances your meditation practice by providing peace of mind and an end to internal and external chatter. When you begin to practice a deep inner silence, you may find that you feel peaceful and serene. Through your practice you will learn to control anger and other emotions, just as you control when you speak in your daily life.
Another benefit of mouna yoga is an enhanced level of concentration and focus. When your energy isn’t spent in idle chatting, you will find you are able to devote that mental energy to creative and spiritual pursuits.
Mouna yoga is practiced in a wide variety of ways. During the practice, students remain in complete silence. Some practitioners practice mouna yoga throughout their daily life by limiting communication and avoiding talking unless it is necessary. Strict adherents of this form of yoga may go much longer periods without talking, and a small number never speak in their daily lives.
Students of this form of yoga often practice mouna yoga for specific periods of the day, entire days, and even a week or more of silence at a time. Many people feel that practitioners of mouna yoga should devote at least one full week to the practice of inner silence at least once per year. One thing that all agree on is that you should practice silence every day, even if you only have a bit of time in the morning or evening to practice the yoga of silence.