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?

Self Observation
"You will see that in life you get back exactly what you put in. Your life is the mirror
of what you are, it is your image. You are passive, blind, demanding. You take all, you
accept all, without ever feeling indebted. Your attitude towards the world and
toward life is the attitude of one who has the right to demand and take. Of one who
doesn't need to pay for gain. You believe that all things are due to you, only because
it's you! All your blindness is there. It doesn't catch your attention. It is however
what, in you, separates a world from another...You have no measure to measure
yourself up. You live only between 'I like it' and 'I don't like it'. Which means that you
have appreciation only for yourself. You do not allow for anything above you -
theoretically or logically maybe, but not in reality. This is why you are demanding and
keep on thinking that everything should be cheap, and you can afford to pay for
anything you want. You don't recognize anything above yourself or outside yourself
or inside yourself. This is why. I repeat, you have no measure and live only to satisfy
your whims...Yes your 'self appreciation' makes you blind! It is the biggest obstacle
to a new life. One has to be able to pass this obstacle, this threshold, before one can
go further. It is the test that separates the 'chaff' from the 'wheat' in people. No
matter how intelligent, how endowed, how brilliant a man is, if he doesn't change his
opinion about himself, he will be lost for inner development, for the work based on
self knowledge, for a real evolution. He will stay as he is all his life...The first demand,
the first condition, the first test for he who wants to work on himself is to change his
appreciation of himself. He cannot just imagine, or simply believe or think, but
actually *see* things in himself that he did not see before, really see them. Never
will his opinion about himself change as long as he will not see inside himself. And in
order to see, he has *to learn* to see: it is the first initiation of man into self
knowledge...Before anything else, he has to know what to look for. Once he knows it,
he has to make efforts, focus his attention, look constantly, with tenacity. By
maintaining his attention on it, by not forgetting about looking, one day he may see.
If he sees once, he can see a second time, and if this is repeated he cannot ignore
seeing. This is the state to look for in our observation; it is from this that the true
desire, the desire to evolve, will be born; from cold we're becoming hot, vibrating;
we will be deeply touched by our reality...Today we have only the illusion of what we
are. We overestimate ourselves. We do not respect ourselves. To respect myself, I
have to have recognized in me a part which is higher than the other parts and to
which I show respect by the attitude I have towards it. In this way I will respect
myself. And my relationships with others will be ruled by the same respect...We have
to understand that all other measuring units, talent, erudition, culture, genius, are
changing units, units of detail. The only true measure, never changing, objective, the
only real one, is the measure of inner vision. "I" see - "I" see myself - and you have
measured. With a higher, real part, you have measured a lower one, also real. And
this measure, defining by itself the respective roles of each part, will bring you to self
respect. But you will see it is not easy. And it is not a bargain. One has to pay a
lot...For the bad payers, the lazy, the losers, no chance. One must pay, pay a lot, pay
immediately and pay in advance. Pay from oneself. With sincere efforts, whole
heartedly, without expectations. The more you will be willing to pay without
reticence, without cheating, without falsity, the more you will receive. And in order
to avoid paying cash. Because you have to pay with all the gratuitous theories, all the
deeply rooted convictions, all the prejudice, all conventions, all "I like it" and "I don't
like it". Without bargaining, honestly, not just make believe. Trying to see while using
fake money...Try for a moment to accept the idea that you are not what you think
you are, that you over estimate yourself, therefore that you lie to yourself. That you
lie to yourself always, every moment, all day long, your whole life. That the lie rules
you to the extent that you cannot control it anymore. You are its victim. You lie
everywhere. Your relationships with others, lies. the education you're giving, your
petty conventions, lies. Your learning, lies. Your theories, your art, lies. Your social
life, your family life, all lies. And what you think of yourself, lies too. But you don't
stop from what you're doing or from what you're saying, because you believe in you.
You have to stop inside and observe...Observe without prejudice. While accepting for
a time this idea of lies. And if you observe in this manner, paying of yourself, without
self-pity, by giving all your false riches for one moment of reality, maybe someday
you'll see all of a sudden something you never saw in you before. You will see you
are someone else from what you thought you are. You will see that you are two. One
that is not, but takes the place and plays the other's role. And the one that is, but so
weak, so inconsistent, that just brought forth it disappears immediately. It cannot
stand the lies. The smallest lie kills it. It doesn't fight, it does not resist, it is
vanquished in advance. Learn to look until you have observed the difference
between your two natures, until you have seen the lies, the imposter in you. When
you will see your two natures, that day, in you, the truth will be born." (GI Gurdjieff,
September 1941, from Question de Gurdjieff by Albin Michel)

Self Remembering
All-Brains-Balanced-Being-Perception

Self Remembering is a global envelope of consciousness that encompasses all things.

***

"We are "harmonized" when our three centers are coordinated in unison rather than
"in chaos" when each center acts independantly of the others (our usual, normal,
mechanical condition). We approach harmony when the three centers are each
relaxed because then they are comfortably related to one another. In meditation we
try to be as physically relaxed or loose as possible, to which is added a neutral
emotional condition, to which is added a quiet mind (no thought). A goal is to do
everything with the three centers harmoniously related."

"We must work toward a constant state of self-observation where we become more
and more connected with the observer who is objectively observing "it" (the
observed). Self-observing requires conscious effort; the observer is the rememberer,
who becomes the doer, who becomes." (Paul Beidler)

Attention Exercises
All the Gurdjieff exercises, all exercises from any tradition, require Attention and in
the course of doing the exercises, the Attention and Concentration are developed as
a matter of course. In the beginning, before ones tries to develop divided attention,
it is good to practice focusing all of ones attention on one thing. As one gets more
proficient, one needs to work on developing divided or global attention.

These are only a suggested starting point and Seekers are encouraged to discover
and add new categories and specific situations relevant to their personal situation.

Focused Attention Exercises

 One of the classic attention exercises is to watch the flame of a candle.

 Ouspensky suggested watching the second hand of a clock.
 One can pay attention to the sensations in one part of the body.
 One can attend to a particular sight, sound, taste or smell.
 One can attend to ones thoughts, or emotions.
 One can attend to ones breath

Global Attention Exercises

 On entering a room, one can attend to the placement of all objects in the
room. When re-entering the same room one can attend to all the changes that
have occurred since last in the room.
 One can attend to all of the sights, sounds, and smells in ones immediate
environment.
 One can attend to all of ones thoughts, emotions and sensations.

Impartial Attention Exercises

These are associated with assimilating Third Being Food. They can be practiced
individually, sequentially or simultaneously.

 Sightless Gaze - one attends to ones total visual field as one diffuse,
panoramic field of light, taking in everything without identifying or labelling
the impressions as things or actions, good or bad, pleasant or unpleasant.
 Soundless Sound - one attends to ones total aural field as one omnidirectional
field of sound, taking in everything without identifying or labelling the
impressions as things or actions, good or bad, pleasant or unpleasant.
  Odourless Odour - one attends to all odours taking in every odour without
identifying or labelling the impressions as things or actions, good or bad,
pleasant or unpleasant.
 Tasteless Taste - one attends to all taste impressions, taking in everything
without identifying or labelling the impressions as things or actions, good or
bad, pleasant or unpleasant.
 Touchless Touch - one attends to all the sensations in the body, from the skin
to the bone marrow, taking in all sensations without identifying or labelling
the impressions as things or actions, good or bad, pleasant or unpleasant.

The above can be combined as follows:

Heptachord of Sensing Exercise 1

Begin each item with a deep in breath. Perform each item during a long out breath.
1. relax all three centers.
2. sightless gaze.
3. soundless sound.
4. odourless odour.
5. tasteless taste.
6. touchless touch.
7. an ascending octave of "AIEIOIUOA" is sounded from base of spine to crown of
head.

Heptachord of Sensing Exercise 2

1: Relax all three centers.

2: Inhale and follow the smell impressions from the breath and whatever
is emitting the odour. This aroma is attached to
3: a current of inner resonance of sound being followed deep into inner
membrane whose echo corresponds with
4: a taste whose aftertaste invites reversal of
5: a diffused sight into innermost channels leading to
6: a touch in the innermost bone marrow. Having thus experienced the
will of Affirmation and falling short we will experience
7: a remorse and continually murmur "AIEIOIUOA", while longing for a
glimpse through the fog.
Gurdjieff's Attention Exercises

 Soil Preparing Exercise #4

(LIROTWIA 120)

First, all one's attention must be divided approximately into three equal parts;
each of these parts must be concentrated on one of the three fingers of the
right or the left hand, for instance the forefinger, the third and the fourth,
constating in one finger—the result proceeding in it of the organic process
called "sensing," in another—the result of the process called "feeling," and
with the third—making any rhythmical movement and at the same time
automatically conducting with the flowing of mental association a sequential
or varied manner of counting.
For this fourth preparatory exercise explained by me today, first of all it is
necessary to learn with what exists in you now only as a substitute, so to say
"fulfilling the obligation" of what should, in real man, be "self-willed attention"
and in you is merely a "self-tenseness," simultaneously to observe three
heterogeneous results proceeding in you, each coming from different sources
of the general functioning of your whole presence: namely, one part of this
attention of yours should be occupied with the constatation of the
proceeding-in-one-finger process of "sensing," another with the constatation
of the proceeding-in-another-finger process of "feeling," and the third part
should follow the counting of the automatic movement of the third finger.

 Second Assisting Exercise

(LIROTWIA 145)

Well then, I am now sitting among you, as you see, and although I am looking
at Mr. L. yet I am intentionally directing all my attention, which you are not
able to see, on my foot, and consequently any manifestation Mr. L. produces
within my field of vision I see only automatically—my attention, which at the
present moment is one whole, being in another place.
This whole attention of mine, I now intentionally divide into two equal parts.
The first half I consciously direct to the uninterrupted constatation and
continuous sensing of the process proceeding in me of my breathing.
By means of this part of my attention I definitely feel that something takes
place in me with the air I breathe.
 I first clearly feel that, when I breathe in the air, the greater part, passing
through my lungs, goes out again, and the lesser part remains and as it were
settles there, and then I feel that this settled part is gradually penetrating
inward and is as it were spreading through my whole organism.
In consequence of the fact that only a part of my attention is occupied with
the observation of the process of breathing proceeding in me, all the mental,
feeling and reflex associations automatically flowing in my common presence
still continue to be noticed by the free part of my attention, and hinder that
first part of my attention intentionally directed upon a definite object, but
already to a much lesser extent.
Now I direct the second half of my attention to my head brain for the purpose
of observing and possibly constating any process proceeding in it.
And already I am beginning to feel in it, from the totality of automatically
flowing associations, the arising of something very fine, almost imperceptible
to me.
I do not know just what this is nor do I wish to know, but I definitely constate,
feel and sense that this is some definite "something" arising from the process
automatically proceeding in my head brain of associations of previously
consciously perceived impressions.
While this second half of my attention is occupied with the aforesaid, the first
half continues all the time uninterruptedly to watch, with so to say
"concentrated interest," the result proceeding from the process of my
breathing.
I now consciously direct this second half of my attention and, uninterruptedly
"remembering the whole of myself," I aid this something arising in my head
brain to flow directly into my solar plexus. I feel how it flows. I no longer
notice any automatic associations proceeding in me.

***

The Attention Exercises from Gurdjieff's "Life is Real" are discussed in the following
article.

Possible Foundations Of Inner Exercises

***

Pondering on Attention

 What types of attention do we have?

  What captures my attention at various times?
 What captures my attention in social situations?
 Where does attention go during sleep?
 Who pays attention? Who attends?
 What do I avoid Attending to?

Meditation
We are "harmonized" when our three centers are coordinated in unison rather than
"in chaos" when each center acts independently of the others (our usual, normal,
mechanical condition). We approach harmony when the three centers are each
relaxed because then they are comfortably related to one another. In meditation we
try to be as physically relaxed or loose as possible, to which is added a neutral
emotional condition, to which is added a quiet mind (no thought). A goal is to do
everything with the three centers harmoniously related. (Paul Beidler)

Sunrise Meditation

"So in the meantime, exist as you exist. Only do not forget one thing, namely, at your
age it is indispensably necessary that every day, at sunrise, while watching the
reflection of its splendor, you bring about a contact between your consciousness and
the various unconscious parts of your general presence. Try to make this state last
and to convince the unconscious parts--not as if they were conscious--that if they
hinder your general functioning, they, in the period of your responsible age, not only
cannot fulfill the good that befits them, but your general presence of which they are
part, will not be able to be a good servant of our Common Endless Creator, and by
that will not even be worthy to pay for your arising and existence." (4)

Variation for Sunrise Morning Meditation

Start with taking notice of breathing to achieve inner stillness.

- Sense earth beneath feet, become aware in a simple appreciative way with no
preconceived notions. Notice the shapes, colors, textures, smells of the earth, the
hills, slopes, crevices, rocky formations. Become aware of own physical body, its
mold in the atmosphere, its structure: the skeleton, muscles, and its textures, colors,
smells. Simultaneously sense own site within larger site of earth and theirs
similarities, their earthy nature.
- Then sense all water around, not only from streams but also the moisture in the air,
in the clouds overhead, in the soil and plants. Imagine tasting it on the tongue. Sense
the water that flows thru own body in the blood, inside and between cells. Sense the
exchange of water or moisture between the
outside and inside environment thru mouth, nose, eyes, skin.

- Sense the heat outside and the heat produced inside the body. The heat from the
sun and the heat reflected from the soil and the rocks around. The heat energy
produced by the cells inside to keep the body at a constant temperature. Sense the
exchange of heat thru the skin and the breathing.

- Sense the element of air outside as wind moving thru the grass, trees, plants.
Notice any movements produced by air. Then bring attention to breath as air flowing
in and out, sense the movement of the nostrils, the lungs expanding and collapsing,
the oxygen passing into the blood and carried to the organs.

- Sense all the energies within and without, their sameness and points of connection.
Visualize all life-forms as conduits for the magnificent currents of energies
connecting all and everything.

In this state of quiet receptivity Ponder : Can we receive any number of impressions
and just simply view them as a form of Holy Denying energy entering this conduit
where a Holy Affirming energy is awaiting, working together to transform our inner
environment into a `cultivated soil' for the germination and growth of a seed of
Being? In this same state can we further visualize the Holy Denying's being released
to nourish the earth sprouting new births?

Movement Meditations

All of the Movements could be said to be forms of Meditation and of course

Meditation itself could be said to be a form of Self Remembering. The last Movement
that Gurdjieff created, Movement Number 39, is an excellent meditation. There are
four postures which are to be coordinated with the accompanying music. Each
posture is held for six beats. The Inner Work for this movement consists of three
'inner-postures'. The first involves Sensing the whole body, the second with
attending to a calm, neutral emotional center and the third with attending to a clear
mind, free of thoughts. Eyes are to remain open in a Sightless Gaze, where one
attends to ones total visual field as a panoramic field of light, taking in everything at
once without focusing on objects and without identifying or labelling the impressions
as things or actions, good or bad. It takes about ten minutes to do the movement
three times. At then end, inwardly sound the "aieioiuoa" and ask - "May the result of
this Work become part of my Being."

Sitting Meditations

Any form of quiet meditation is recommended to Seekers provided that it includes

the practice of Sensing and that the eyes remain open. If meditation is seen as a
preparation for the day and indeed all of our future life, then the ability to remain
three-centered while we go about our daily lives with our eyes wide open is a
practice worth cultivating. In this regard, Walking Meditation is also recommended.
Another aspect of keeping the eyes open is that it helps to avoid passive imagination
and visions. Certainly Imagination and Visualization are import parts of Work
training, but they are to be cultivated in a different context and for a different
purpose.

Walking Meditations

Guided Meditations
Meditation on the Divine Compassion

(from Bert Sharp)

Sit in your usual meditation position and relax. Observe your breathing. As you
become aware of the thoughts of the day intruding, turn back simply to watching
your breathing. Your body is breathing for you. When settled in this way, begin the
meditation.

Become conscious of the existence of the cells which form your planetary body;
become conscious of how they freely consented to differentiate in order to go
beyond themselves, their individuality, and become specialist cells, part of a
particular organ of your body. Did they do this consciously or mechanically?

Go further and become conscious of how these individual organs have given up their
individuality in order to relate to one another and so form the complex interactive
assembly which is your planetary body. Remember that it is only because of such
sacrifices on the part of the cells, the tissues formed from the cells and the organs
formed from the tissues, that it has been possible for you to inhabit the body which
you consider as your own.

Then go further and become conscious of you, the far in you, observing all this, you
and your body, your body the result of the sacrifice of all these millions of individual
cells. Then begin to realise that you have a responsibility for your body, for its
organs, for each of its individual cells. For providing them with all their natural
essential requirements. Observe this profound thought. Meditate upon it.

At this point you may experience a Divine Compassion coming with the feeling of
responsibility, of compassion for all the living cells which make up your planetary
body. Are you also able to sacrifice your individuality in order to become no longer a
human being but an infinitely small cell in the totality of Humanity?

Hold as long as possible this feeling of the Divine Compassion flowing through you.
What is it that is aware of it? Real I? Be aware of the very small, the very low, and at
the same time of the very large, the very high, and that you, Real I, is the
intermediate between the two, the whole assembly forming the Eternal Totality.

If you want more, then consider the following ‘either or’ of formatory thinking:

Is it that the “irresponsible” human fears God and so in the ultimate expects help
and forgiveness from Him?

Or by contrast, does the “responsible” human know that he or she cannot know God
who therefore may or may not exist, and as a result has to accept that it is all up to
him or her, that he or she is responsible for the future of humanity and so must act
in the interests of humanity and not of himself or herself? So to be a “responsible”
human brings one face to face with the terror of the situation. That one is simply a
tool for the use of the Divine. A tool that is not yet in proper order for its use and so
must be worked upon by YOU so as to become in better order and so of more use to
the Divine.

***
Pondering/Contemplation Exercises
"Questioning makes one open, makes one sensitive, makes one humble. We don't
suffer from our questions, we suffer from our answers. Most of the mischief in the
world comes from people with answers, not from people with questions." (Jacob
Needleman)

***

Pondering is answering questions from essence and answering them practically.

Pondering is a self-interrogation which consists in stripping off all the answers of
association until you finally come to your own essential answer.
One-half the energy of a human being must be spent internally pondering.
One-third of one's time should be spent in pondering. (AR Orage)

***

"Good Lord, help me avoid the pitfalls of judging, knowing, finding and concluding."
(Paul Beidler)

***

Pondering is a three centered state in which the intellect is actively involved. A

question or idea is held before ones mind and any answers are deliberately set aside
or at minimum held as provisional pending new information. Stray thoughts are
gently put aside. Pondering can be performed in any circumstance. Any question can
be asked or idea entertained. The body must be Sensed. The emotions should be
initially neutral, although any of the higher emotions may become manifest in the
course of the Pondering. Answers, insights and revelations should be merely noted
and the Pondering returned to. The goal is not answers to the question, but a
deepening or rephrasing of the question itself. Some of our Ponderings may lead to
Objective Reason but most will lead to more Objective Questions and a sense of
humility before Endlessness.

Subjects for Pondering are endless. Many times I have had a question for my
Teacher, but I resisted the urge for easy answers and instead Pondered the question,
sometimes for many years. Every answer can be rephrased into a new question.

Note : Pondering should be used in conjunction with Sensing, Breathing, Evoking or

Impression exercises, such that all three centers are involved and Working together
towards the common Aim of All Brains Balanced Being Perception.
These are only a suggested starting point and Seekers are encouraged to discover
and add new questions and themes relevant to their personal situation.

Pondering on Pondering Exercises

 Who is Pondering?
 What is Pondering?
 What should I ponder?
 When should I Ponder?
 How long should I Ponder?
 Is Pondering only intellectual?
 When should I ponder and when should I ask for advice?
 How does Pondering relate to Objective Reason?
 Can Pondering give misleading answers?
 Can I ponder more than one question at once?
 Is there ever a definitive answer to a Pondering?

Seekers are encouraged to pose their own Pondering questions.

Imagination Exercises
Gurdjieff, of course, warned us against the dangers of our Imagination. Yet he also
advised us to use it to our advantage in the appropriate situations. One of these uses
is in the 'As If' exercises.

We are advised to sometimes in the course of our daily lives to behave like or take
on, for a certain period of time, the Role of someone who is fully Enlightened or has
Realized their Being.

Conversely, we can Imagine ourselves as someone who is totally ignorant of the

Work or as someone who has a particular skill in the ways of the world.

Imagination is also useful when doing Role Playing exercises. We have to imagine
that we are the person whose Role we are playing. We can try to Imagine their
thoughts, emotions and sensations.
We should guard against self-indulgent Imagination such as daydreaming, fantasy
and wishful thinking.

Visualization Exercises
Visualization can be very a powerful tool when used constructively. It can help us to
plan out new behavior patterns to take us beyond our usual conditioned behavior.

These are only a suggested starting point and Seekers are encouraged to discover
and add new categories and specific situations relevant to their personal situation.

 We can visualize new behavior patterns that take us beyond our usual
Identified roles.
 We can visualize energy flows in the body while Sensing.
 We can visualize the body filled with light.
 We can visualize the bones in our body filled with light. (10 Bone Exercise)
 Visualization can help us anticipate and plan courses of action or sequences of
procedures that we need to perform certain tasks. For instance, visualize
washing the dishes and then observe if your visualization corresponded to the
reality of actually washing them.

Movements and Breathing

(Gurdjieff - Quoted from ISOTM Chapter 18)

 You must realize that there are three kinds of breathing. One is normal
breathing. The second is 'inflation.' The third is breathing assisted by
movements. What does this mean? It means that normal breathing goes on
unconsciously, it is managed and controlled by the moving center. 'Inflation' is
artificial breathing. If for instance a man says to himself that he will count ten
inhaling and ten exhaling, or that he will inhale through the right nostril and
exhale through the left—this is done by the formatory apparatus.
...
But as I have already said, there is a third way—breathing through
movements. This third way needs a great knowledge of the human machine
and it is employed in schools directed by very learned people. In comparison
all other methods are 'homemade' and unreliable.
 The fundamental idea of this method consists in the fact that certain
movements and postures can call forth any kind of breathing you like and it is
also normal breathing, not 'inflation.' The difficulty is in knowing what
 movements and what postures will call forth certain kinds of breathing in
what kind of people.
 ***
 Here are some Movements that may modify your breathing:
 Shouting Dervish
Hoya Dervish
Trembling Dervish
5th Obligatory / Counting
Slow Second Obligatory
Alif Lam Mim
Lord Have Mercy Canon
The Octave
Seven Greek Letters
I Wish I Can I Am
Forming Twos


Regarding Movements As Preparation For Life

 How can the Movements be used in preparation for the choreography of
everyday life consciously danced?
 There are several ways that the practice of the movements may assist us in
our everyday life by applying the principles and techniques to our daily work
efforts. While doing the movements we may experience a heightened sense of
awareness, a sharpened attention, an inner quiet, an harmonization of the
three centers, an overall increase in energy. These results of our efforts are
the reconciliation's which feed our being and, if not creatively used in further
work efforts, will be squandered thru mechanical habits such as wiseacring,
gregariousness, inner considering, etc. In the long term the movements aid in
the development of the will, in the the growth of the soul and in the
recognition of the higher emotions. Some of the principles and techniques are
enduring, imagination, visualization, relaxation, breathing, sightless gaze,
sensing and others listed below. I hope that the following observations may
serve co-seekers as guidelines for the creative construction of daily work
agendas.
 First, the Movements are a training ground for the attention.
 As we all know from past experience with movements, we can loose the
sequence if we let our attention wander to distracting stimuli such as
thoughts, emotions, impressions, sensations or anything that lies on the "it"
 side the separation of "I and it". This process of discrimination starts with self-
observation : separating "I" from "it" releasing ridgid identification with
sensory traits observed to be associated with daily life. In life we can also
loose the thread of the work and our daily activities. We will be unable to
maintain an intention, aim or effort without sustained attention. Movements
train us to keep our attention on the task at hand and also develop our will.
Control of attention enables us to shift some of our mechanical, hypnotized
attention and apply it instead to our inner work. With increased attention our
work efforts will be stronger and more continuous. Slowly, with practice, we
acquire the ability to hold more than one thing before a quiet mind. Doing a
movement with vocalizations and inner work exercises requires a division of
attention. This divided attention ability is invaluable in everyday life for with it
we have gained the possibility of simultaneously engaging in inner work while
we live our daily life in an expanded sense of awareness. Pondering requires
holding a question before the mind for a prolonged period as well as an
impartial noticing and setting aside of intruding thoughts and emotions.
 Second, they are a medium for the cultivation of "doing".
 Do the servants obey the master? Do the three centers harmonize and work in
unison to carry out the wish of the master? We are fully present to the task at
hand when I wish, I can, I am are working together towards an aim with an
economy of movement and an abundance of conscience. We aren't really
working until we are doing nothing. we assent to allow the total situation to
elicit the appropriate harmonious pattern of action. We see what is necessary
and it is done. We are neither active nor passive. We are relaxed and poised.
Our lives can benefit from those moments when we are one with the
movement and we can no longer say whether we are doing the movement or
the movement is doing us; when there is no separation - no "I am doing this"
or "this is doing me."
 Thirdly, they are a tool for harvesting the Reconciliations which feed the
soul.
 Balanced being requires that our resistances become energy which enables
greater affirmation. The soul is nourished out of the struggle and
harmonization of the two great forces of god - creation and return , involution
and evolution , holy denying and holy affirming. The process follows the law of
three as expressed by Gurdjieff in his Holy Equation :
 Holy-Affirming,
Holy-Denying,
Holy-Reconciling,
 Transubstantiate in me,
For my Being.
 Holy Affirming - Intention to do a movement, sustaining that intention. Effort
involved in learning and later perfecting the positions. Enduring awkward
postures
 Holy Denying - Laziness, lethargy, pain, forgetfulness, emotions, thoughts,
distractions.
 Holy Reconciling - Those moments when it all comes together and we are
"doing" the movement. Transubstantiation for being. Coatings on an inner
being embryo. We must enter this gate a thousand times.
 Practical suggestions :
 Take daily activities and ritualize some of the postures and motions as a
sequence to which may be added some inner exercise.
 Use the manifestation of holy denying traits as triggers for the adoption of a
predetermined posture (internal or/and external).
 Observe and study the effects of various postures on the quality of ones
presence.
 Try to discover if there are certain postures which assist the evocation of faith,
love, hope, compassion, conscience.

Reminders Exercises
Reminders are little tricks and triggers, such as people, places, events or things, that
we use to remind ourselves to Stop and observe our inner state and remember
ourselves. Each Reminder should be accompanied by explicit three centered Inner
Work and a Sensing exercise. One should change Reminders often, as they tend to
become mechanical otherwise.

Note : These are only a suggested starting point and Seekers are encouraged to
discover and add new Reminders and Inner Work relevant to their personal
situation.

Suggested Inner Work

Always include a Sensing of your whole body, a part of the body or parts of the body
in a sequence.

 Use the Holy Equation

 Ponder a particular question.
  Observe which center is predominant.
 Observe ones thought, emotions and sensations.
 Observe which I, Trait or Role is active.
 Observe tension in the body.
 Observe ones posture.
 Observe ones breathing.
 Remember yourself by bringing Attention to all three centers.
 Remember yourself by doing the I AM exercise.
 Quite the intellectual center by stopping thoughts.
 Intone a Repetition or Prayer, verbally or silently.
 Perform a ritual, such as making the sign of the Cross or take a particular
posture or a Movements position.

Suggested Reminders

 On awakening in the morning.

 Feet touching the floor in the morning.
 While washing in the morning.
 While eliminating waste water and solids.
 Beginning of a meal.
 Opening the refrigerator
 Answering the telephone.
 Walking through a doorway.
 Opening the car door.
 Whenever a certain time is shown on a clock.
 Turning on your computer.
 Switching on a light.
 Whenever you say "I", or some other word.
 Whenever someone else says "I", or some other word.
 When a certain sound occurs, such as car horn, dog barking, bird singing.
 Meeting a certain person.
 Entering a certain building or store.
 Whenever a commercial comes on TV.

Evoking Exercises
Evoking exercises are controversial and not much practiced in the Work Community.
They are advanced exercises and require much skill and discrimination from the
intrusion of the Imagination. Evoking is in a way a form of emotional Visualization.
The emotions to be evoked by this exercise involve any one or all of the
manifestations of the Higher Emotional Center, specifically - Faith, Hope, Love,
Compassion, Conscience, Remorse, Gratitude.

There may be times in our life where External Considering requires that we evoke
the external appearance of negative emotions such as anger in order to stress a
point to someone.

A suggested or chosen Evoking exercise involves consciously trying to experience in

the present moment the particular Higher Emotion. In the beginning this may be
hard and fraught with Imagination, but eventually, in the course of our development,
the ability to experience these Higher Emotions is essential, so we might as well
make a start now.

It may help to read what other Seekers have said about the Higher Emotions. Here is
what Orage said :

Faith, Hope and Love are the growing ends of essence.

Faith is confidence, not belief; for example the way a lion walks through the woods.
Hope is effort, not wish; an effort to make it so and not a wish that it may be so.
Of love the first form is of self and of self in others; the second form is love of others
and of self in them; the third form is love of duty or God and the other forms are by-
products of it; that is, it is love of that for which the individual exists.
A being is defined in value according to the degree to which faith, hope and love
have become objective in him.

Pondering on Evoking

 Who is Evoking?
 Is Evoking simply my Imagination?
 Is there any value to Evoking?
 What is the source of the ability to Evoke?
 What Higher Emotions do I avoid Evoking?

Will Exercises
Thanks to this sacred process, intentionally actualized by our All-Foreseeing Common
Endless Father in the three-brained beings of these planets, it has been foreseen that
during the action in their presence of the fundamental holy cosmic law of
Triamazikamno, the excess of its third holy force, namely, the 'Holy Reconciling,'
obtained during the assimilation of cosmic truths of that order, should by itself
crystallize in them the data for engendering that 'something' which is called
'egoaitoorassian being-will. (6)

Exercises

 Plan do do something at a specific time or times and then endeavor to

perform the planned action. You may use your powers of Imagination and
Visualization to formulate the specific task.
 Plan to do a specific Work Exercise at a specific time or in a specific situation.
 Spend half the day agreeing with everyone and half the day disagreeing with
everyone.

Pondering on Will

 Where does our Will originate from?

 Who Wills our actions?
 What is Self-will?
 Is Will different in the three centers?
 Is there a difference between Will and desire?
 Is there a difference between my Will and the Will of His Endlessness?
 What is the Will of His Endlessness?
 What has His Endlessness Willed for me?
 Can Self-will coincide with the Will of His Endlessness?

Impressions Exercises
One of the biggest sources of higher energies for the growth of Being is the taking in
of the energies of Impressions. The two biggest sources of Impressions for us as
humans are the senses of sight and sound. Smell, Taste and Sensing the body are
also good sources of Impressions. Sensing is a particularly important exercise and is
described separately on this web site.

The energy which triggers a sensory nerve never actually gets into the brain, it simply
trips a switch, so to speak, which releases pre-existing energy in the nerve to initiate
an ionic chain reaction and its accompanying electromagnetic field to transmit an
'electrical impulse' to the brain. The higher brain centers are receiving 'information'
about a change of state of our internal electromagnetic environment, not any new
energy from the outside world, like the food and air octaves. The information is
represented by different shapes and sizes of electrical impulses. The interesting thing
about information is that it can be represented by almost any kind of medium. For
example, these words appear on your computer screen by illuminated phosphors,
they may then be printed on a piece of paper with ink. They have been transmitted
to you with binary digits of 0 and 1's represented by pulses of electromagnetic
energy. I could scratch these words in the sand with a stick or spell them out with
stones. In other words, information exists on a different level of reality than the
matter/energy used to represent it.

We 'eat' the information from impressions by moving electrical impulses that

represent the information around the brain to certain places where that information
is stored in another form of medium, possibly various combinations of proteins.
Memory is a mental accumulator of information. The more attention we pay to our
incoming information, the more of it gets stored in our accumulator.

Dr. B: I would like to ask a question about the relationship between work and
fatigue. It seems to me there is a difference between work efforts and automatic
efforts. Outer work takes energy. Inner work is the opposite - it should accumulate
energy. It should even be restful if it is done correctly. But for me it is the opposite.
At the moment of making an effort something believes that the gates through which
energy escapes will close automatically. But it's the opposite. I become tired. I lose
my energy.

GURDJIEFF: Consciously, we eat the electricity that is in the body and transform it.
This establishes in us a force. In ordinary life you automatically lose this. But here it's
not the same thing; it's not the same kind of fatigue. This other fatigue has a future.
It's tiring but it brings you a substantial result. It refills your accumulators. If you
continue, a certain substance will refill your accumulator. Today, the more you tire
yourself, the more your organism will produce this substance.

Impressions Exercises

Exercises for these modalities can begin with a relaxed three centered state. In the
most simple form of this exercise, one sits quietly in a meditative position and allows
the five senses, sequentially or simultaneously, to impartially receive and record the
arrival of sense impressions at the respective sense receptors in a non-judgmental
and non-discriminatory way. This means that the Formatory Center is not allowed to
label or categorize the various sense impressions and thus they do not become
associated with our habitual emotions as they pass through the emotional center.
These exercises are associated with assimilating Third Being Food.
One can perform these exercises whenever one is sitting, walking, lying in bed,
driving the car or doing in any number of mundane tasks where the senses can be
allowed to roam free, unhindered by the constraints of the task at hand.

 Sightless Gaze - one attends to ones total visual field as one diffuse,
panoramic field of light, taking in everything without identifying or labelling
the impressions as things or actions, good or bad, pleasant or unpleasant.
 Soundless Sound - one attends to ones total aural field as one omnidirectional
field of sound, taking in everything without identifying or labelling the
impressions as things or actions, good or bad, pleasant or unpleasant.
 Odourless Odour - one attends to all odours taking in every odour without
identifying or labelling the impressions as things or actions, good or bad,
pleasant or unpleasant.
 Tasteless Taste - one attends to all taste impressions, taking in everything
without identifying or labelling the impressions as things or actions, good or
bad, pleasant or unpleasant.
 Touchless Touch - one attends to all the sensations in the body, from the skin
to the bone marrow, taking in all sensations without identifying or labelling
the impressions as things or actions, good or bad, pleasant or unpleasant.

 In recognition of the importance of Impressions, explore their absence. Cut off

each of the sensual impressions when conditions allow. Close eyes to curtail
sight. Open mouth to curtail taste. Close up ears to curtail sound. Pinch nose
to curtail smell.
 Listen to others during the day without our usual careless and often distracted
attention.
 Listen to what is really being said and not to our rapidly forming opinions.
 Listen with the utmost respect.

Pondering on Impressions

 Who is sensing impressions?

 Why is sensing impressions necessary?
 How do impressions help His Endlessness?
 Why do I sense impressions differently in different situations?
 How does sensing impressions affect my emotions?
Eating Exercises
There are many exercises that one can use related to eating First Being Food.

The easiest is to say a prayer of thanks to His Endlessness before or after eating.

One can employ Sensing exercises, Repetitions and prayers in the preparation of the
food.

Other exercises involve being aware of ones physical sensations while eating.

Heptachord Before Eating

 1. Relax all three centers.

 2. Attend to the sight or presentation of the food on the table and plates.
 3. Attend to the sounds accompanying the meal situation.
 4. Attend to the smell of the food.
 5. Attend to the taste of the food by taking a small sample into the mouth.
 6. Attend to the touch or physical sensations evoked by the food and setting.
 7. Intone the phrase from Beelzebub's Tales - aieioiuoa.

This exercise is to be done before eating. Each step may be accompanied by the
inhalation and exhalation of a breath and the Repetition of a prayer.

Heptachord During Eating

This exercise is to be done while eating. Direct the Attention to the designated points
on the face and body.

 1. Eyes while looking at food as it is lifted towards the mouth.

 2. Nose while smelling food before putting it in the mouth.
 3. Mouth while chewing food.
 4. Throat while swallowing food.
 5. Chest while food descends.
 6. Solar Plexus while food arrives in stomach.
 7. Breath into the Navel when the meal is finished. Sense the energy radiating
to the extremities.

***
Pondering on Eating First being Food

 Who is Eating?
 How does eating help His Endlessness?
 What do other beings think about my eating them?
 How do I feel about eating other beings to keep me alive?
 Why did His Endlessness create the Trogoautoegocratic process?
 What foods do I dislike and why?

Breathing Exercises
This is a delicate area. Gurdjieff did not advise doing exercises that directly altered
the tempo of our breathing unless they were well integrated with other appropriate
activities such as the Movements or hard physical work. According to Gurdjieff,
altering the tempo of our breathing could disrupt the functioning of our centers and
cause harm to our already malfunctioning organism. On the other hand, a lot of us
don't breath properly to begin with, usually breathing to shallow and only into the
top part of the chest, whereas deep abdominal breathing is natural. This can be
corrected if one is very careful and methodical. Our emotional states are intimately
connected to the way we breathe. Proper breathing will modulate the functioning of
the emotional center and prevent or diminish overly emotional reactions to certain
situations where we tend to become too Identified. Before one proceeds to
normalize ones breathing, one needs to observe ones habitual breathing pattern in
many situations, especially those when one is overly emotional. One needs to notice
the situations where one breaths deeply or shallow and the emotions and thoughts
that accompany those situations. Observe how you breathe in different emotional
states - Fast? Slow? Gasping? Holding? Deep? Shallow?

Air is second being food. Thus awareness of breathing is more important than any
particular breathing exercise, as long as one breathes properly to begin with, that is,
deep into the diaphragm. Simply following your breathing during your daily activities
and after eating will greatly assist in your efforts toward being present, especially
when combined with sensing and taking in impressions consciously.

Normal breathing is diaphramatic breathing deep into the solar plexus. If you are a
shallow breather you can work at normalizing your breathing by consciously
initiating diaphramatic breathing several times a day until it becomes more natural.
Don't over do it and don't force it as it may take some time. You are slowly
reprogramming you autonomic nervous system from years of unconscious abuse.
This will also help to normalize the functioning of your emotional center.

During meditation the breathing naturally tends to slow down and become quiet. It
has been said that the ultimate breathing exercise is the complete cessation of
breathing. You will only approach this state during deep meditation. During normal
meditation or Sitting, one may simply follow the breath and its associated
Sensations.

During Movements, your breathing will be altered in various ways depending on the
Movement. Some of the Sufi dances are very powerful as is the Fourth Obligatory
because they involve very vigorous breathing.

Sufi Zikrs and Yoga Pranayama can also be very powerful but should not be practiced
without some supervision as hyperventilation can result. Hyperventilation can
produce states of euphoria, but these are of limited value unless combined with
certain other practices. The value of these states is questionable. Extreme cases can
lead to painful spasms in the hands and feet, over-emotional reactions or the
expression of repressed or unconscious emotions and memories. Nevertheless, a
little experience in this area is beneficial. In that spirit I offer the following Sufi Zikr.

The Silent Zikr

There are two variations of this exercise. The first is silent and can be done
anywhere, any time and the second is the more vigorous and is done sitting down.

The first version can be done anytime during the normal course of the day. It is done
silently and without obvious external manifestation or major alteration of normal
breathing.

The basic pattern involves a count of eight, each count of an equal length that is
comfortable and normal. Start with three out breaths, then one pause and finally
one long in-breath to a count of four. This is done for twenty counts whereupon one
makes an out-breath from and holds it for a count of eight and then inhales by
relaxing the diaphram and holds it for a count of eight. The sequence repeated three
times and after a short break may be started again.

The second form has a similar breathing pattern but the breathing is much deeper
and more vigorous and it is done sitting down cross-legged with hands resting on the
knees.
The basic pattern involves a count of eight, each count of an equal length that is
comfortable. Start with three sharp, forceful, loud out breaths from the diaphram,
then one pause and finally one long, slow, relaxed in-breath to a count of four. The
in-breath is done by simply relaxing the diaphram, not forcefully expanding it. This is
done for twenty counts whereupon one makes a deep out-breath from the diaphram
and holds it out for a count of eight and then inhales deeply into the diaphram and
holds it for a count of eight. The sequence repeated three times only and then one
sits quietly for five or ten minutes while doing a Sightless Gaze and Sensing and
holding the emotional center in a neutral state. The final out-breath and in-breath
can be held for longer than the count of eight if it is comfortable. The counting can
be kept with the hands by touching the thumb and fingers together sequentially.

Pondering on Breath

 Who is breathing?
 Why is breathing necessary?
 How does breathing help His Endlessness?
 Why do I breath differently in different situations?
 How does breathing affect my emotions?
 Why did Gurdjieff recommend attention to breathing after eating?

Repetition Exercises
One could include many types of exercises under this title. For now, we will take this
to mean exercises that include the Repetition of verbal phrases such as affirmations,
prayers or mantras. In the Hindu or Vedic tradition this is known as Japa or
continuous repetition of a short mantra.

These type of exercises are meant to stem the flow of habitual thoughts and
associations in the Lower Intellectual or Formatory Center.

Repetitions are meant to be 'spoken' mentally or silently under the breath. They are
repetitive phrases that have a philosophical or religious meaning. Their purpose is to
stem the flow, or short circuit, the habitual thoughts generated by the Intellectual or
Formatory center by the substitution of a repeated phrase. Another purpose is to
provide the Higher Intellectual Center with an object or subject of Contemplation.
The source of these inner vocalizations is to be experienced as emanating from the
heart.
Note : Repetitions should be used in conjunction with Sensing, Breathing, Evoking or
Impression exercises, such that all three centers are involved and Working together
towards the common Aim of All Brains Balanced Being Perception.

Repetition Exercises

The prime Christian Repetition is the Jesus Prayer - Lord God have mercy on me, a
miserable sinner.

Some examples of Repetitions from Gurdjieff and Beelzebub's Tales are :

AIEIOIUOA

PO-DO-BO-LI-ZO-VA-NY

I Wish, I Can, I Am.

Holy-Affirming,
Holy-Denying,
Holy-Reconciling,
Transubstantiate in me,
For my Being.

Holy God,
Holy Firm,
Holy Immortal,
Have mercy on us.

Sources of Divine
Rejoicings, revolts and sufferings,
Direct your actions upon us.

***

Prayer : Kneeling, arms crossed over chest, head down, sensing back of neck, repeat
three times - "Endlessness, thank you for helping me to avoid the pitfalls of judging,
knowing, finding, and concluding.

Seekers are encouraged to compose their own Repetitions.