Around 1998, I made an important discovery about healing and stress management. I stumbled upon it accidentally. I had joined a computer course and I had to cycle daily around midday about two kilometers to the institute in peak traffic and under the hot Chennai sun. By the time I’d reach there I would be very stressed and disturbed after having made my way through all the blaring horns and polluted roads. So it became hard for me to focus on the lessons in the class. One day I walked into the class quite irritated and took my seat in the lab instead of the classroom. I just sat there for a few moments staring at the keyboard and simply doing nothing. I noticed that within moments my tiredness went away and my mind cleared up. I couldn’t understand what did that.
It’s like the air curtains you find in some malls…And just like that you are in an entirely different surroundings, leaving behind all the polluted and noisy environment.
It happened the next day too. I just sat in the lab for a few moments as if I put my entire schedule on pause including my mental activity. I was simply gazing at the keys on the board. Again within a few moments my mind became calm and alert. I even noticed that I could listen and comprehend better in the class. I started doing this everyday. I would just enter the lab for a few moments and sit quietly before I entered the classroom and greeted my friends. And every time I paused for a few moments without thinking of anything in particular and simply allowing my body and mind to just rest, my system was releasing out all stress and tensions of the previous experience and becoming calm and rested.
It was like the air curtains you find in some malls and showrooms, where there is an air blower mounted on top of the entrance door which is constantly blowing air downwards. And anyone who passes through it is hit by a gust of wind as if you are passing through a wall of air. And just like that you are in an entirely different surroundings, leaving behind all the polluted and noisy environment.
There is no expectation or direction in this act. You just let everything slide away from your mind and simply be.
The effect was similar, by pausing I could simply leave behind the stress, bad mood and tensions from the traffic and approach the class with a fresh and alert mind. Like I said, it even helped me focus and understand my class better. Though I couldn’t understand the process behind this technique of stress release, it had reminded me of an incident from my childhood. I was 9 around then and I was playing in the terrace of my apartment building with my friends when I suddenly tripped over a water-pipe and sprained my foot. I sat down in pain holding my foot. Somehow I knew instinctively then that I had to quieten down and observe. I do not know how I came to know that. Perhaps it was because I was still a child, and children usually are more in tune with their body wisdom than adults. I stopped crying, looked down at my foot and simply sat still. I wasn’t frozen, it was a relaxed sitting while watching my foot without any serious concentration. In a few minutes the pain subsided and sprain was healed too. The body did it for me. I was both surprised and not surprised at the same time.
Pausing creates this gap in the mental processes and allows the body and mind to return back to their state of rest. I think this allows natural healing to take place without interference and also bring the mind back to a state of instinctive calmness. It not only reduces stress and anxiety for us, but it also, I’ve noticed, promotes healing and boosts creativity. I could always perform the best when I paused just before starting a task. Several years later I could deepen this with the practice of mindfulness. In fact, I think both are the same, just that we call them with different names.
I have to make an important distinction here. The pausing I am talking about is not like the pause button of on a remote. It is not about freezing everything. Nor is it about waiting for something to happen. There is no expectation or direction in this act. You just let everything slide away from your mind and simply be. If gazing without concentration at objects can help you, you do it. That is all.
The most difficult aspect of this practice, I found, is in the beginning when you are trying to bring this into your daily routine. We forget, or we are busy, or we just don’t want to let our minds and thoughts down. You try to do it while still thinking about what you’ll be doing once it’s done. But that doesn’t work. It’s is not pausing. One needs to simply let everything slide for a few moments.
In any case, if you are inclined towards self-healing and improved well-being I’d really urge you to try pausing before and after you do anything in your daily routine. I found this to be more effective than a single long meditation once a day because this pausing is like many small meditations spread across the entire day and gives you, with enough practice, the ability to become composed and alert in almost any circumstance you might encounter in your daily routine.
Purple Room Healing 
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