Common steps and sub-activities
QiFF - the Divine pause
QiFF is the name given to a technique that can only be carried out by a teaching master. For this reason the description is quite brief. As far as I can ascertain it is unique to the Sufis.
The Sufis – Idries Shah
Fariduddin Attar is traditionally associated with having passed down the special Sufi exercise called ‘Halt’ – the exercise of the Pause of Time
This takes place when the teacher, at a special time, calls for a complete freezing of movement by the students. During this ‘pause of time’ he projects his baraka upon the people.
Suddenly suspending all physical action is considered to leave the consciousness open to the receipt of special mental developments whose power is drained by muscular movement……
The exercise is carried out by the teaching masters of the Naqshbandi Order and it is the Ninth Secret Rule of the order, being a method which has been found to be effective in breaking through the web of associative thinking and making possible the transmission of baraka