OSHO Dynamic Meditation
– the daily morning meditation at the ashram
WHEN the sleep is broken, the whole nature becomes alive; the night has gone, the darkness is no more, the sun is coming up, and everything becomes conscious and alert. This is a meditation in which you have to be continuously alert, conscious, aware, whatsoever you do. Remain a witness. Don’t get lost.
It is easy to get lost. While you are breathing you can forget. You can become one with the breathing so much that you can forget the witness. But then you miss the point. Breathe as fast, as deep as possible, bring your total energy to it, but still remain a witness. Observe what is happening, as if you are just a spectator, as if the whole thing is happening to somebody else, as if the whole thing is happening in the body and the consciousness is just centered and looking. This witnessing has to be carried in all the three steps. And when everything stops, and in the fourth step you have become completely inactive, frozen, then this alertness will come to its peak.
The Dynamic Meditation lasts one hour and is in five stages. It can be done alone, but the energy will be more powerful if it is done in a group. It is an individual experience so you should remain oblivious of others around you and keep your eyes closed throughout, preferably using a blindfold. It is best to have an empty stomach and wear loose, comfortable clothing.
If your meditation space prevents you from making a noise, you can do this silent alternative: Rather than throwing out the sounds, let the catharsis in the second stage take place entirely through bodily movements. In the third stage the sound ‘HOO’ can be hammered silently inside and the fifth stage can become an expressive dance.
Someone has said that the meditation we are doing here seems to be sheer madness. It is. And it is that way for a purpose. It is madness with a method; it is consciously chosen.
Remember, you cannot go mad voluntarily. Madness takes possession of you. Only then can you go mad. If you go mad voluntarily, that’s a totally different thing. You are basically in control, and one who can control even his madness will never go mad.
Osho talks about some of the reactions that can happen in the body as a result of the deep catharsis of the Dynamic Meditation.
If you feel pain, be attentive to it, don’t do anything. Attention is the great sword – it cuts everything. You simply pay attention to the pain.
For example, you are sitting silently in the last part of the meditation, unmoving, and you feel many problems in the body. You feel that the leg is going dead, there is some itching in the hand, you feel that ants are creeping on the body. Many times you have looked and there are no ants. The creeping is inside, not outside. What should you do? You feel the leg is going dead? – be watchful, just give your total attention to it. You feel itching? – don’t scratch. That will not help. You just give your attention. Don’t even open your eyes. Just give your attention inwardly, and just wait and watch. Within seconds, the itching will have disappeared. Whatsoever happens – even if you feel pain, severe pain in the stomach or in the head. It happens because in meditation the whole body changes. It changes its chemistry. New things start happening and the body is in a chaos. Sometimes the stomach will be affected, because in the stomach you have suppressed many emotions, and they are all stirred. Sometimes you will feel like vomiting, nauseous. Sometimes you will feel a severe pain in the head because the meditation is changing the inner structure of your brain. Passing through meditation, you are really in a chaos. Soon, things will settle. But for the time being, everything will be unsettled.So what are you to do? You simply see the pain in the head, watch it. You be a watcher. You just forget that you are a doer, and by and by, everything will subside, and will subside so beautifully and so gracefully that you cannot believe unless you know it. Not only does the pain disappear from the head – because the energy which was creating pain, if watched, disappears – the same energy becomes pleasure. The energy is the same.Pain or pleasure are two dimensions of the same energy. If you can remain silently sitting and paying attention to distractions, all distractions disappear. And when all distractions disappear, you will suddenly become aware that the whole body has disappeared.
Osho has warned against turning this witnessing approach to pain into another fanaticism. If unpleasant physical symptoms – aches and pains or nausea – persist beyond three or four days of daily meditation, there is no need to be a masochist – seek medical advice. This applies to all Osho’ s meditation techniques. Have fun!
-- From the Orange Book
– the daily morning meditation at the ashram
WHEN the sleep is broken, the whole nature becomes alive; the night has gone, the darkness is no more, the sun is coming up, and everything becomes conscious and alert. This is a meditation in which you have to be continuously alert, conscious, aware, whatsoever you do. Remain a witness. Don’t get lost.
It is easy to get lost. While you are breathing you can forget. You can become one with the breathing so much that you can forget the witness. But then you miss the point. Breathe as fast, as deep as possible, bring your total energy to it, but still remain a witness. Observe what is happening, as if you are just a spectator, as if the whole thing is happening to somebody else, as if the whole thing is happening in the body and the consciousness is just centered and looking. This witnessing has to be carried in all the three steps. And when everything stops, and in the fourth step you have become completely inactive, frozen, then this alertness will come to its peak.
The Dynamic Meditation lasts one hour and is in five stages. It can be done alone, but the energy will be more powerful if it is done in a group. It is an individual experience so you should remain oblivious of others around you and keep your eyes closed throughout, preferably using a blindfold. It is best to have an empty stomach and wear loose, comfortable clothing.
- First Stage: 10 minutes
- Second Stage: 10 minutes.
- Third Stage: 10 minutes.
- Fourth Stage: 15 minutes.
- Fifth Stage: 15 minutes.
If your meditation space prevents you from making a noise, you can do this silent alternative: Rather than throwing out the sounds, let the catharsis in the second stage take place entirely through bodily movements. In the third stage the sound ‘HOO’ can be hammered silently inside and the fifth stage can become an expressive dance.
Someone has said that the meditation we are doing here seems to be sheer madness. It is. And it is that way for a purpose. It is madness with a method; it is consciously chosen.
Remember, you cannot go mad voluntarily. Madness takes possession of you. Only then can you go mad. If you go mad voluntarily, that’s a totally different thing. You are basically in control, and one who can control even his madness will never go mad.
Osho talks about some of the reactions that can happen in the body as a result of the deep catharsis of the Dynamic Meditation.
If you feel pain, be attentive to it, don’t do anything. Attention is the great sword – it cuts everything. You simply pay attention to the pain.
For example, you are sitting silently in the last part of the meditation, unmoving, and you feel many problems in the body. You feel that the leg is going dead, there is some itching in the hand, you feel that ants are creeping on the body. Many times you have looked and there are no ants. The creeping is inside, not outside. What should you do? You feel the leg is going dead? – be watchful, just give your total attention to it. You feel itching? – don’t scratch. That will not help. You just give your attention. Don’t even open your eyes. Just give your attention inwardly, and just wait and watch. Within seconds, the itching will have disappeared. Whatsoever happens – even if you feel pain, severe pain in the stomach or in the head. It happens because in meditation the whole body changes. It changes its chemistry. New things start happening and the body is in a chaos. Sometimes the stomach will be affected, because in the stomach you have suppressed many emotions, and they are all stirred. Sometimes you will feel like vomiting, nauseous. Sometimes you will feel a severe pain in the head because the meditation is changing the inner structure of your brain. Passing through meditation, you are really in a chaos. Soon, things will settle. But for the time being, everything will be unsettled.So what are you to do? You simply see the pain in the head, watch it. You be a watcher. You just forget that you are a doer, and by and by, everything will subside, and will subside so beautifully and so gracefully that you cannot believe unless you know it. Not only does the pain disappear from the head – because the energy which was creating pain, if watched, disappears – the same energy becomes pleasure. The energy is the same.Pain or pleasure are two dimensions of the same energy. If you can remain silently sitting and paying attention to distractions, all distractions disappear. And when all distractions disappear, you will suddenly become aware that the whole body has disappeared.
Osho has warned against turning this witnessing approach to pain into another fanaticism. If unpleasant physical symptoms – aches and pains or nausea – persist beyond three or four days of daily meditation, there is no need to be a masochist – seek medical advice. This applies to all Osho’ s meditation techniques. Have fun!
-- From the Orange Book
