New Earth Records Blog

Meditation is something you do alone, preferably in a cave in the Himalayas, far from the maddening crowd, wearing a loincloth and drinking herb tea…. Right?

Well, if you have masochistic tendencies that is certainly an option. But what about the rest of us, who have to live, for better or worse, in the midst of the marketplace, and who actually like being in the marketplace (at least most of the time), who like our food and wine and sex, and all the other accoutrements that go with the material life?

Ok, we wince about not having enough time for ourselves, about a certain quality missing from our lives, and maybe we are aware that we would like to communicate better with people, have friendlier relations, be less reactive, be more creative, more self-confident and less dependant on others’ opinions, more alert and aware, etc, etc. But that has nothing to do with meditation. Or does it?

What if you could find something that could bring you to a space where you are able to relax and be at peace with yourself, just as you are, and regardless of what you are doing and what is happening around you… Just think about it for a minute: if you were totally relaxed and at ease with yourself, just as you are, would you have any problems?? OK, situations would be there to be dealt with, but would you have any problems, anxiety?

Meditation is not about solving all your problems, but that is actually its side effect. The techniques used to reach the inner space of stillness and silent witnessing, which is the nearest you can get to describing meditation, turn out to be perfect for dealing with all the things we don’t like, don’t accept, in our lives.

First, because those techniques help us relax, like taking a deep refreshing bath. Then, they give us the opportunity to take a distance from whatever is bothering us – to look at situations from a different and new perspective, where we are less personally identified and more an objective watcher. From this more relaxed and observant space, it is easy to see that the solution is right there in the facts of the situation. The techniques of meditation give you the opportunity to face those facts, for example to face the fact that you cant change things that are not in your control, and to see that you can have a different attitude about them.

Specific techniques are helpful for different kinds of situations. For instance, techniques that center you in your belly (sometimes called the hara) are great to help you remain calm and centered in difficulties. Techniques to help you be alert and aware of your actions are wonderful for people who tend to space out or panic when they have too many things to do at once (or not enough to do). Techniques to help you be aware of your thoughts or your emotions can help you avoid falling into reactive or destructive patterns and habits.

I particularly like to work with techniques which help us move from the left brain to the right brain, or if you like, from the mind to the heart. These two hemispheres have very different functions and abilities. The left brain works with logic, calculation, science, competition, intellect. The right brain works with spontaneity, creativity, empathy, appreciation of beauty, intuition.

Our education focuses on developing the left brain, which helps us become efficient as far as things are concerned, but the lack of balance in developing the right brain makes us emotionally crippled in our relationships with others and in life generally. The results have been very harmful. The more ‘civilized’ societies become, the higher the incidents of madness, depression, violence, and emotional distress. In the work place, people become less co-operative, more angry and impulsive, and less productive. We call it polite names like burn-out, stress, over-burden, but basically it is a kind of madness from being over-identified with the left brain.

TO BE CONTINUED!

This ancient technique, from the Book of Secrets by Osho, is about connecting your very essence – the part of you that has nothing to do with your identity, your personality, the person you think you are. They belong to your ego, and this technique is about going beyond your ego and experiencing that you are vast and limitless.

The technique is concerned with your bliss body. Osho says you have seven layers or bodies and the bliss body is the last one – the one around the very core of your being.

To practice this technique you need to be in a tranquil place in nature. The very best place is on a hilltop.

First, sit and imagine that you have severed all your relationships – with people, animals, even trees and plants. In the beginning it will be difficult because your mind will haunt you, torture you. You will start thinking of other places and people – your thoughts will seem endless. Your mind will also tell you that you have far more important things to be doing, that just sitting alone doing nothing is useless.

Be aware that this is the mind trying to keep you in the known, in the familiar, and stay with the feeling of just sitting doing nothing. You have a choice: you can either get caught up in the thoughts and give energy to them, or you can dis-identify from them – you can watch them, almost as if they were the thoughts of someone else.

If you persist, eventually the mind gives up and you are left in a state of deep peace and silence. Osho says the feeling is of floating in the womb of existence.

Once you feel this deep silence, then look at the endless sky and imagine that the whole space is filled with silence. Really feel that everything is becoming more and more silent, that the sky has become silence around you.

It is fine if there are natural sounds around you, these are not a disturbance because they are harmonious. Osho says don’t think that silence is necessarily soundlessness, in fact natural sounds on the outside can actually deepen your inner silence.

And as your silence deepens, you will start to feel blissful. When that feeling comes, then you can imagine that the whole space becomes filled with that bliss. The whole sky becomes your body of bliss. He says, “Feel that your bliss body has increased and the whole space is filled with it.”

For more information about this technique, and many others, see The Book of Secrets by Osho, St Martins Press, chapter 69