“Victory To The Spirit” via Kathmandu Triennale

 

Active Meditations

OSHO® Active Meditations™ are meditation techniques that are designed to work with the entirety of the bodymind. They all involve conscious breathing (sometimes called breathwork), body movement, silence & music.

Active Meditations incorporate the essentials from many spiritual traditions. They are the result of a long process of experimentation & refinement with people from all walks of life. They are specifically designed for us living in the modern world, with stressful jobs and intense schedules, demanding we use our rational thinking & willpower for achievement and performance — usually while sitting still!

Active Meditations bring our experience & awareness down from our heads and into our hearts and our bodies. In Osho's own words:

“I use chaotic methods rather than systematic ones because a chaotic method is very helpful in pushing the center down from the brain. The center cannot be pushed down through any systematic method because systemization is brainwork. Through a systematic method, the brain will be strengthened; more energy will be added to it. Through chaotic methods the brain is nullified. It has nothing to do. The method is so chaotic that the center is automatically pushed from the brain to the heart.”

We have yet to meet someone who tried these meditation techniques out without being touched — and if applied sincerely over time, they are deeply transformational. Because they involve our body, physical senses and our breath, they have a way of bringing us out of our heads and comfort zones into the centre of our existence.

 

What is OSHO?

OSHO means different things to different people. Broadly speaking, there are three common meanings: A man, a community and a spiritual path.

The Man: Born Chandra Mohan Jain, later called Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh and finally Osho. Osho was an enigma and it seems like everyone has developed their own image of him — we recommend you to do the same. For starters, there is a summary of his life with plenty of pictures available here. Also have a look at the Wikipedia articles on Rajneesh, the Rajneesh movement, the Netflix documentary and the statement given on Osho.com about Osho.

The Community: Although Osho defied categorization and strongly emphasized individual empowerment, there is a loosely organized global network offering meditation classes, workshops, therapies and running OSHO centres, retreats, live-in programs, etc. See Osho.com's global list of meditation centers or Osho in the UK's list here. Good entry points into the OSHO community are Osho Miasto (Italy), Osho Risk (Denmark) Love Osho (Singapore) and Osho Tapoban (Nepal).

What's with the ® and the ™? “OSHO”, “Active Meditations” and the names of OSHO meditations have been trademarked and copyrighted by Osho International Foundation (OIF). OIF is an important part of the global OSHO community as they safe-guard the quality & accurateness of Osho's message. OSHO.LONDON only employs meditation techniques as described by OIF, which means they are given in their purest form, exactly as designed & practised by Osho himself.

The Path: To many, the sound and word OSHO really means the inner witness in each of us. There are a multitude of books, podcasts and recordings of Osho's speeches that are available to anyone interested. The goal of OSHO activities & meditations are the same as that of many other spiritual teachings: to increase awareness. Perhaps we are all walking on our own path regardless of the tradition we subscribe to. If you are curious as to what Osho said about what it means to be an OSHO follower, or “neo-sannyasin”, see this page.