Pune, however, was a different story!
Our aim was to attend the Osho Monsoon Festival, an annual event which runs for 5 days. During those 5 days, daily meditation sessions run as usual, but what draws the crowd is the live music events that happen throughout the day. You could say it's sort of like a music festival, only difference is that the main theme of the event is meditation.
Meditation sessions start as early as 6am, with the first one always being Dynamic Meditation, one of my favourites. The thing I love about this meditation is the part where you get to do whatever the fuck you like. Basically, you get to release your emotions by tapping into your inner child, & that inner child may either throw the biggest tantrum ever, or cry its heart out, or laugh like crazy. Whatever you feel like doing, without thinking, just do it! Oh, I absolutely loved it!
To some this may seem utterly psychotic, even to the extent of citing demonic possession! & I don't see why not; to the untrained eye, a large auditorium full of people screaming, kicking, wailing, shouting & whatnot can be frightening to say the least.
But before you kick Dynamic Meditation as hogwash, hear me out for a second!
What I love & appreciate about Osho's approach is that he really goes deep down to the real root of the problem. He doesn't beat around the bushes nor trim the branches, he knows the ins & outs of the human psyche & develops formulas to work with it.
According to him, our modern lifestyles have caused so much repression within us, and before we can even begin to meditate, all this inner BS has to be gotten rid of first. In a healthy way & without harming others, of course. Unexpressed emotions not only fuck us up energetically, but if they go on unaddressed, will eventually surface as physical ailments, but because of the limitations society has placed on us, often we are unable to express ourselves the way we want to.
So yeah, damn right this woman got down & dirty with all that kicking & screaming! Years & years of being told to sit still & look pretty, oh to hell with that! :P :P :P
Another favourite of mine is the 10.30am Dance Celebration session. Oh me oh my, if there's anything you could be sure of, it's me, right at the Buddha Grove, 10.30am, on the dot, errday!
I could go on & on about why I love Dance Celebration so much! First of all, the Buddha Grove is a beautiful outdoor location, with marble flooring and giant bamboo & rainforest trees surrounding it. At that time of the morning, the sun is just right (well, to me, at least), not too hot, yet bright enough for you to feel it shining on your skin & high enough for its rays to sneak past the leaves & make you squint.
& nobody is dancing with anybody in particular, in fact everyone is dancing on their own; enjoying their own presence, really being in the moment with themselves!
Bring on the Indian music & voila! I can go on for days!
'But...there are so many people here, what if they start judging the way I dance?'
Meh. Balderdash. Ain't nobody got time for that!
& even if they are looking at you, they are happy for you that you are enjoying yourself, regardless of how you are dancing! I can vouch for that, because I merely balter around aimlessly, yet everyone was so nice to me, bahahahahah!
You're probably thinking the same as what both my parents were: 'Dance as meditation???'
Yep. Consider this: if your mind is working, you cannot dance. You have to really feel the rhythm & be in the moment in order to really dance!
Besides that, Osho's teachings is centred around celebrating life. He doesn't want serious, humdrum sanyasins! Sure, there are people who are enlightened & who sit for days on end without moving. But then there are those who are full on bursting with excitement & gist for life! Life holds a myriad of emotions & experiences, why choose to not live them fully?
Next week, I will write about my non-meditative experiences during the festival! ;)
Until then, enjoy, be happy & keep celebrating life!
Our aim was to attend the Osho Monsoon Festival, an annual event which runs for 5 days. During those 5 days, daily meditation sessions run as usual, but what draws the crowd is the live music events that happen throughout the day. You could say it's sort of like a music festival, only difference is that the main theme of the event is meditation.
Photography is not allowed within the centre, so this is the only decent photo I have to share here!
Meditation sessions start as early as 6am, with the first one always being Dynamic Meditation, one of my favourites. The thing I love about this meditation is the part where you get to do whatever the fuck you like. Basically, you get to release your emotions by tapping into your inner child, & that inner child may either throw the biggest tantrum ever, or cry its heart out, or laugh like crazy. Whatever you feel like doing, without thinking, just do it! Oh, I absolutely loved it!
To some this may seem utterly psychotic, even to the extent of citing demonic possession! & I don't see why not; to the untrained eye, a large auditorium full of people screaming, kicking, wailing, shouting & whatnot can be frightening to say the least.
But before you kick Dynamic Meditation as hogwash, hear me out for a second!
What I love & appreciate about Osho's approach is that he really goes deep down to the real root of the problem. He doesn't beat around the bushes nor trim the branches, he knows the ins & outs of the human psyche & develops formulas to work with it.
According to him, our modern lifestyles have caused so much repression within us, and before we can even begin to meditate, all this inner BS has to be gotten rid of first. In a healthy way & without harming others, of course. Unexpressed emotions not only fuck us up energetically, but if they go on unaddressed, will eventually surface as physical ailments, but because of the limitations society has placed on us, often we are unable to express ourselves the way we want to.
So yeah, damn right this woman got down & dirty with all that kicking & screaming! Years & years of being told to sit still & look pretty, oh to hell with that! :P :P :P
Another favourite of mine is the 10.30am Dance Celebration session. Oh me oh my, if there's anything you could be sure of, it's me, right at the Buddha Grove, 10.30am, on the dot, errday!
I could go on & on about why I love Dance Celebration so much! First of all, the Buddha Grove is a beautiful outdoor location, with marble flooring and giant bamboo & rainforest trees surrounding it. At that time of the morning, the sun is just right (well, to me, at least), not too hot, yet bright enough for you to feel it shining on your skin & high enough for its rays to sneak past the leaves & make you squint.
& nobody is dancing with anybody in particular, in fact everyone is dancing on their own; enjoying their own presence, really being in the moment with themselves!
Bring on the Indian music & voila! I can go on for days!
'But...there are so many people here, what if they start judging the way I dance?'
Meh. Balderdash. Ain't nobody got time for that!
& even if they are looking at you, they are happy for you that you are enjoying yourself, regardless of how you are dancing! I can vouch for that, because I merely balter around aimlessly, yet everyone was so nice to me, bahahahahah!
You're probably thinking the same as what both my parents were: 'Dance as meditation???'
Yep. Consider this: if your mind is working, you cannot dance. You have to really feel the rhythm & be in the moment in order to really dance!
Besides that, Osho's teachings is centred around celebrating life. He doesn't want serious, humdrum sanyasins! Sure, there are people who are enlightened & who sit for days on end without moving. But then there are those who are full on bursting with excitement & gist for life! Life holds a myriad of emotions & experiences, why choose to not live them fully?
Next week, I will write about my non-meditative experiences during the festival! ;)
Until then, enjoy, be happy & keep celebrating life!
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