Similar to the way that people take a rest from eating, or rest their physical body to lower their heart rate, intermittent silence represents taking a break from life. But how exactly does that work?

“Intermittent silence is just what it sounds like it is: taking a break in your day to be silent for some period of time,” says Dr. Krishna Bhatta, a surgeon, author, and inventor. “Mastering this will open the doors to gain a deeper understanding of meditation and learn how to control your thoughts, manage anxiety, combat burnout, feel more energized, and increase your happiness.”

Dr. Bhatta, who is currently practicing as chief of urology at Northern Light Eastern Maine Medical Center in Maine, is also the creator of Relaxx—a meditation app that serves as a portable spiritual guru where users can start with a daily intermittent silence routine and move on to a variety of guided and unguided meditation techniques.

The best way to start intermittent silence is to work through the following four components for 10 minutes each day. According to Dr. Bhatta, as you move through the below steps, you will be in intermittent silence and a door will open to individual consciousness.

• Close your mouth. By closing the mouth, the speech and language area of brain goes into rest. There are several areas of the brain that play a critical role in speech and language. Broca’s area, located in the left hemisphere, is associated with speech production and articulation. Wernicke’s area is a critical language area in the posterior superior temporal lobe connects to Broca’s area via a neural pathway.

• Close your eyes. Similarly, by closing the eyes, the visual pathway is able to rest. 

• Silent listening. Then, by listening in silence and hearing sounds without judgment, the auditory pathways are able to rest. 

• Silent watching. And finally, allowing thoughts to pass through without paying attention to them will give rest to the brain. 

“There is a fifth possible element to achieving intermittent silence, and that is watching emotional storms,” says Dr. Bhatta. “This is not a constant in your intermittent silence routine because it cannot be planned. This step is when anger, sadness, or another intensely negative emotion arises while you are practicing intermittent silence and watching your thoughts. When these opportunities arise, you should use the skills you’ve developed through your Intermittent Silence practice to identify, watch, and then dismiss the emotional storms that are passing through at that time.”

Dr. Bhatta also explains the difference between intermittent silence and meditation, what inspired the creation of Relaxx, and how to use Relaxx to improve your personal wellness. Read on to learn more.

What’s the difference between intermittent silence and meditation?

Intermittent silence is the doorway to meditation. Once your brain rests, your body and mind are becoming finely tuned, and you begin to go into a deeper inner journey and explore the vast world of individual consciousness, which I call your “inner flame.” As you continue on with your practice and become more and more “intermittently silent,” new meditation doors will start to open, depending on which exercise you focus on. Your energy body can take off. Chakras may become alive and/or mantras begin to take on their desired effects.

It’s worth noting that most meditations also have a period of silence where you are likely to are ready to experience the unknown. In fact, there are thousands of so-called meditations that are “feel good” guided routines. And while those all have great merits and help many people, I have found that without a foundation (which is intermittent silence), it can be difficult to start meditative practice. Soon, intermittent silence will become the building blocks to your deeper practice. As you go deeper and deeper, you will find that eventually you are seeking for something more than the standard meditation we are all used to practicing. 

What inspired the creation of Relaxx?

A sequence of recent events. When I released my latest book, Journey from Life to Life: Achieving Higher Purpose, I held author talks at libraries, churches, and universities. These talks mostly turned into intense interactive discussions. I began to receive requests for workshops and I scheduled an all-day workshop in March 2020 as COVID was just starting here in the United States. Soon after that, lockdown began but the interest was still there. Many people were still asking how they could continue practicing meditation and asked for guided help.

So, I launched a series of online workshops and realized that people loved them. From there, the idea of Relaxx began as a little seed in my mind. Even though an app may not replace a guru, I knew that there could be something out there that would provide individualized service to people. There are several mindfulness and meditation apps out there, but as far as I could see, they lacked depth and bandwidth. Once you have completed the exercises, there is nowhere else to go. So, with some encouragement from several people around me, the Relaxx App became real.

How can Relaxx help one with the practices of intermittent silence and meditation? What benefits does it offer?

The App has five categories: Body, Mind, Flame (of consciousness), Intermittent Silence, and Meditation. All categories have exercise routines that can be practiced on a regular basis. The Relaxx member can choose which exercise routines best suits their needs and aptitude. We are also toying with the idea of training appropriate individuals who can receive a certification from Relaxx and then be able to guide people one-on-one. 

Relaxx App is a portable spiritual guru that provides an individualized experience where users can start out with a daily intermittent silence routine and move on to a variety of meditation techniques, both guided and unguided. Just a few minutes of practicing mindfulness, intermittent silence, and meditation will leave users feeling energized and refreshed. 

How often should one use Relaxx?

Ideally, Intermittent silence should be practiced for 10 minutes a day. Meditation practice will depend on several factors. I love this answer given 5,000 years ago:

Arjun:  How do I control this mind that is so wavering?

Krishna:  Practice, Arjun, practice.

The bottom line is: the more you do, the deeper your experience gets. It’s important to realize the value of space and time. If you do the practice (intermittent silence or meditation) at the same place and same time, that place starts waiting for you at that particular time. Sounds strange, but if you’re able to, do it and see it for yourself.

Please share anything else you’d like us to know.

We have not addressed mindfulness. The App does address this as well.

Once you master the art of intermittent silence, anything you do all day becomes a way to continue your mindfulness training. Activities become secondary and achieving awareness through the activity becomes primary. At night, when you drop all activity and go to sleep, your awareness continues. You fall asleep, and the flame watches, observing that, yes, the body is falling asleep. By and by, the body is relaxing. Not that you verbalize, you simply watch. By and by, thoughts are disappearing. You watch the gaps. By and by, the world is very, very distant. You move into the basement of your being—the unconscious. 

For more information, visit krishnauniverse.com. To install the Relaxx app, click here.

Kamala Kirk is a University of Southern California graduate and has been an editor/writer for more than a decade. She has written for E! Online, Total Beauty, TravelAge West, Malibu Times Magazine, and many more. She resides in Los Angeles and is a proud pug mom. Follow her on Instagram: @kamalakirk