Here’s A Way To Get Some Timeless Stillness

Ryan talks about the vitality of seeking out stillness in your life. For more on tuning out distractions and finding the focus that you need to succeed, check out Ryan Holiday’s best selling Stillness Is the Key. It’s the perfect tool to help you find that critical stillness in your life, even in distracting times like these. Get it here: https://www.thepaintedporch.com/products/ryan3?_pos=1&_sid=fa7b33b70&_ss=r Sign up for the Daily Stoic email: http://DailyStoic.com/emailFollow us: Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, TikTok, and FacebookSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info. 📢 Share | ⚙️ Manage Subscription

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:05Ryan Holiday?

  Welcome to the Daily Stoic Podcast, where each day we bring you a passage of ancient wisdom designed to help you find strength, insight, and wisdom in everyday life. Each one of these passages is based on the 2,000-year-old philosophy that has guided some of history's greatest men and women. For more, you can visit us at dailystoic.com.

• 0:26Ryan Holiday?

  Here's a way to get some timeless stillness. Cato knew the feeling. Seneca knew it. Marcus Aurelius knew it. The stillness of the baths, which the Romans built and enjoyed across the empire for centuries. The quiet of the cavernous rooms with their big, thick stone walls. The darkness that came from laying face down during the massage. The thick air of the steam room. The restorative waters of the heated pool. The white noise of the fountains as they burbled. The quick breath insta-consciousness that came from moving from the hot pool into the cold pool. It was a timeless Roman tradition, a part of daily life, where busy men and women

• 1:09Ryan Holiday?

  could escape from the dusty, noisy outside world. It was a safe place, a place for stillness and solitude, despite being surrounded by activity and other people. It seems quaint and distant, doesn't it? Except you could have this stillness right now. It's the same stillness available at old-timey private clubs and 24-hour fitnesses alike. You can get it at fancy hotel spas and the cheap bathhouses that dot the globe. Crazy enough, you can even access it at the rudest thermal baths in Budapest, which were built in the 1500s. The baths are just a few miles down the Danube River from the ancient Roman baths where Marcus Aurelius would have dipped

• 1:52Ryan Holiday?

  when he was in the city and writing meditations. In fact, this bath in Budapest actually draws from the same ancient spring that Marcus would have used. There are even two old baths from ancient Rome in Italy and Algeria, both more than 2,000 years old, that are still in use today. For thousands of years, humans have been partaking in this experience, slowing down, ducking out from the busy streets and into a quiet place for the wonders of the water, for that restorative alternative between hot and cold, cold and hot. It was available to Paleolithic tribes in the form of natural springs, to the Romans by feats of engineering genius, and to you via the benefit of modern convenience.

• 2:38Ryan Holiday?

  Tap into this, dip into it, you'll feel better after.