One chilly and long ago February morning before the sun had made its presence known, I settled onto a meditation cushion smack in the middle of the meditation hall. Usually when I sat in the hall most of the fifty cushions were occupied but, this morning my early arrival allowed me to indulge in the quiet before the noise of fifty practitioners breathing swamped my awareness. I figured I had thirty minutes before the gatekeeper started arranging things for the morning sit. I shook my body loosing the early morning knots and let the quiet envelop me in its arms.