A preparation for any meditation.
The first thing is to be in an easy relaxed position — relaxed in a position that is easy for you. Don’t try a particular position or asana. Buddha sits in a particular posture. It is easy for him. It also can become easy for you if you practise it for a time being, but in the very beginning it will not be easy for you. And there is no need to practise it: start from any posture that comes easy to you right now. Don’t struggle with the posture. You can sit in an easy chair and relax. The only thing is your body must be in a relaxed state.
So just close your eyes and feel all over the body. Start from the legs — feel whether there is some tension or not. If you feel there is some tension, do one thing: make it more tense. If you feel there is some tension in the right leg, then make that tension as intense as possible. Bring it to a peak — then suddenly relax so that you can feel how the relaxation settles there. Then go all over the body just looking everywhere for some tension. Wherever you feel the tension make it more so, because it is easy to relax when it is intense. In just a mid-state it is very difficult because you cannot feel it. It is easy to move from one extreme to another, very easy, because the very extreme creates the situation to move to the other.
So if you feel some tensions in the face then strain all the face muscles as much as possible, create tension and bring it to a peak. Bring it to a point where you feel that no more is possible — then suddenly relax. In this way see that all parts of the body, all the limbs are relaxed.
And be particular about the face muscles, because they carry ninety per cent of the tensions — the rest of the body carries only ten per cent. All your tensions are in the mind so the face becomes the storage. So strain your face as much as possible, don’t be shy about it. Make it intensely anguished, anxious — and then suddenly relax. Do it for five minutes so that you can feel that every limb in the whole body is relaxed. This is an easy posture for you. You can do it sitting, or lying in bed or howsoever you feel is easy for you. […]
The second thing: when you feel that the body has got to an easy posture, don’t make much fuss about it. Just feel that the body is relaxed, then forget the body. Because really, remembering the body is a sort of tension. That’s why I say don’t make much fuss about it. Relax it and forget it. Forgetting is relaxation.
Whenever you remember too much, that very remembering brings a tension to the body. You may not have observed this, but there is a very easy experiment to try. Put your hand on your pulse and count it. Then close your eyes, bring your attention to your pulse for five minutes, and then count. The pulse will now be beating faster because the attention for five minutes gives tension to it. So really, whenever a doctor counts your pulse it is never the real count — it is always more than it was before the doctor started counting it. Whenever the doctor has taken your hand in his hand you have become alert. And if the doctor is a lady doctor you will be more alert, and it will go faster. So whenever a lady doctor counts your pulse reduce it by ten. Then that will be exactly your pulse count — otherwise there will be ten more counts per minute.
Whenever you bring your consciousness to any part of the body, that part becomes tense. You become tense when someone observes you; the whole body becomes tense. When you are alone you are different. When someone enters the room you are not the same. The whole body is going at a faster rate. You have become tense. So don’t make much fuss about relaxation or you will be obsessed with it. For five minutes simply relax easily and forget. Your forgetting will be helpful and it will bring a deeper relaxation to the body.
Osho, The Book of Secrets, Ch 71
Meditations compiled by Nirav Jayant from Osho’s darshan diaries and discourses – www.youtube.com – Image thanks to Motoki Tonn on Unsplash
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