Stop! Exercise

The Stop Exercise is very famous in the Gurdjieff Work. 

The Stop Exercise is said to be impossible to do on your own. The aim is to immediately stop whatever you’re doing and freeze in that position, mentally, emotionally and physically, so that you can observe your current inner state.

The command to Stop should come from an external impartial source such as a group instructor or designated assistant or even a randomly activated computer program.

When you Stop, you should remain immobile and observe the state of your physical, emotional and intellectual centers and evaluate whether you were Self Remembering  or were Identified. You should attempt to note your physical position and Sensations, your level of emotional arousal, and the thoughts occurring in your intellectual center.

Observe your physically state – were you in a position of stable balance or an awkward, off-balance position? Were you aware of the sensations of your body? Observe your emotional state – were you worried, angry, depressed, happy, etc.? Were you aware of your emotional sensations? Observe your intellectual state – were you thinking about the past or future or what other people thought about you, or how you would get revenge, etc? Observe if you were you aware of your surrounding environment or lost in an inner world of subjective concerns?

STOP RIGHT NOW!