By Paola Ranova

Did you ever stop to wonder about the meaning of pausing?

What about the power of pausing?

What does it mean when you need to take a pause in your life, in your day, in your routine?

Pauses have a very powerful spiritual meaning.

They create a sense of peace and centeredness, and most importantly, self-determination.

Pauses create moments of stillness that nurture our souls.

As the well-known philosopher Hannah Arendt used to say, “We find freedom in pauses”, and to her, freedom expresses itself when we “stop and think”.

By the same token, from a spiritual perspective, the Yoga tradition also says something similar: that only when we pause do we feel truly free.

It’s important to understand that pauses do not lead to “stagnation”. On the contrary, pauses can be full of vitality and allow you to connect to what spiritual traditions would call Higher Consciousness.

When we talk about taking time to observe, pause, and develop Higher Consciousness it allows us to see the difference between being busy and being productive.

When we are busy, we never stop, and at the end of the day, they don’t seem to experience freedom at all.

On the other hand, when we become productive people, we contribute to the world. We live through time with lust for life and create meaningful things in the world – and, for some weird mysterious reason, we also seem to have more free time or at least more time to do more things, including pausing to feel free.

We’re not on the move all the time, and we don’t feel guilty about “not doing something” either.

Productivity and pauses create a balance that makes life more meaningful.

To illustrate this using your body as a tool for well-being, let’s focus on our breath for a second.

There is a yoga practice popularly known as the four-second “Square breath” technique that can make this clear in four simple steps.

Step one is to breathe in for four seconds. 

Step two is to pause with your lungs full of air for four seconds.

Step three is to breathe out for four seconds.

Step four is to pause with empty lungs for four seconds.

Breathing in means you’re taking life in, also known as Life Force or Prana.

When you pause with air in your lungs, Prana/Life Force is circulating inside your body that life you have taken in is circling around your body and cleansing it. 

Consciously bringing this life force to the body and activating it is crucial to activate your productivity. In this second step, your breath is, literally, scanning the body and bringing more life force to it.

In the third phase, when you breathe out whatever’s there that doesn’t serve you, which is not just physical toxins, but emotional energy and unwanted thoughts and limiting beliefs as well, you breathe it all out. Let it all go. Whatever doesn’t serve you will leave your body and energy field.

So breathing in, you take life in.

When you pause, you allow life to circulate inside your body.

Breathing out, you let go of what doesn’t serve you.

And when you pause, you become aware of your Higher Self and feel the magic of being. You pause in stillness with empty lungs.

It’s a sensation of stillness that brings peace and bliss.

In this state of consciousness, you become more truthful with self and others, and more connected to what really matters.

You allow belief systems that don’t serve you to evaporate, and consciously you allow illusions to leave your mind.

This is a self-care and self-connection practice that you choose to do. In order to feel this you need to pause and connect to yourself. 

Breathe with these 4 steps and do some conscious soul-searching. When you choose to go within instead of giving in to distractions, giving yourself the opportunity to pause and reach this state of mind, your whole life becomes more meaningful, and you’ll be able to be in the world and contribute to the world in much more powerful ways.

Even if it feels like a “forced pause”, on a spiritual level your Higher Self needs that pause for you to go within.

Pauses are great opportunities to tune in to who you truly are and listen to the guidance of your Higher Self.

And this is one of the most powerful things you can experience. Try it. And feel the magic for yourself.

Paola Ranova is a PhD University Professor, Author, Energy Healing Practitioner, and the Creator of the Cardinal Method of Life Connection.

Get to know more about her on her Instagram, YouTube, and LinkedIn accounts.