Osho’s Meditative Therapies for physical and emotional wellbeing

“Psychoanalysis is dead”, declares Osho in the very first minute of his series of talks Zen: The Mystery and The Poetry of the Beyond. He goes on to say that Freud and Reich’s psychoanalysis, as we know it, has completely failed and that the only way to finish a psychoanalytic treatment is when there is no more money left in the bank account.

What Osho says so vividly can be verified in everyday life. Do we know anyone who has been cured by traditional psychoanalysis? Are they fulfilled? Are they in touch with their authentic self? Osho points out that unless the seed, with which we come to this earth, blooms and spreads its fragrance, our whole biography can be summed up in a single word: useless.

So what can we do?

Osho’s solution is brilliant in its simplicity, common sense and empirical support: combining therapy with meditation. It was he who coined the term ‘meditative therapy’. During the Meditative Therapy™ process we bypass the analytical mind and involve the body 100%, while remaining attentive to emotions that arise and giving them a privileged place to be expressed safely, within the group. This creates a rare opportunity to dissolve and overcome traumas, blockages, tensions and anything else that gets in the way of our natural state of being in good health and harmony.

In the last months of his life, Osho created four meditative therapies. And to go back to the source, we spoke to four facilitators and trainers who did these meditative therapies while Osho was still in his physical body. These trainers have a great deal of experience of these processes and have been running them for several decades in Pune, at the Osho International Meditation Resort, as well as elsewhere in the world.

The questions we asked were the same for everyone: What kind of process is it? How does it work? Is it right for everyone? How has this process changed your own life?

We will follow their answers – and I hope this will help you choose the meditative therapy that is right for you, so that wholeness and harmony can permeate your life – inexorably and perennially.

OSHO Reminding Yourself of the Forgotten Language of Talking to your BodyMind

Interview with Garimo Ackerman

Thank you, for meeting me today. You are coming to France in April to give a course and a training in Osho’s meditative therapy Reminding Yourself of the Forgotten Language of Talking to your BodyMind. Could you please explain what this course is about and how it works?

This is a guided process and it’s spread over seven days, each day going deeper, and it is for self love and for healing. That is the simplest way I can catch it for you – one hour a day, just for yourself.

It has a very long title – Reminding Yourself of the Forgotten Language. Now, reminding yourself means that it’s already there, it’s just to remember. The Forgotten Language of Talking to your BodyMind – the message is again to reconnect with your own inner capacity to look after yourself.

And the way it works in the method is that there are two parts: you are to again learn how to love yourself, like you did when you were born. There was never any question about accepting yourself just the way you were, loving yourself, having the joy of being you, yeah? And somehow in our education, in growing – however our parents did their best, our teachers did their best – we have lost that trust in ourselves, that we are one with ourselves, that our inner impulses will usually guide us rightly.

So, one part of the hour every day is a guided process where people go into a deep relaxation – music is used and the voice of the facilitator, to help people relax deeply and again reconnect with their love for their own self, and the understanding that the body will basically guide you rightly. And we have forgotten to listen to it.

The other part of the course is designed as an effort for healing – healing many things, anything that we have trouble with in our lives: whether it is in the body – maybe we have chronic headaches, stomach aches, or whatever it is that goes wrong with the body. Or habits – how many people are there who are smoking… So many times they have decided to stop and somehow it doesn’t work.

The understanding in this method is that our solutions for many of the things that we are struggling with – whether it’s emotions, habits, or ill health in the body itself – are hidden in our unconscious. We have learnt bad habits, they have become fixed and they create these troubles that we are experiencing.

In this process you go into deep relaxation and the voice of the facilitator guides you to go to the part of the unconscious where the solution is hidden and to help it to emerge again. You can say it like that. You can have a wrong habit that you have learnt and now, when you deeply relax and you connect to the part of the unconscious that is responsible for this difficulty, you can team up with your inner creativity and find better solutions, so that you don’t have to be suffering.

Many of the things that we decide with our conscious mind – to do something different, to go to the gym or to stop smoking, not to overeat or under-eat, whatever it is, not to be so shy at parties – many of these things we try to tackle with the small part of our mind that is called the conscious mind. And, because these things are held in the unconscious, we cannot manage. And it is so simple; when you connect with the unconscious, it is so simple because it is so natural. It is natural to be healthy, it is natural to trust yourself, it is natural to listen to the messages of your body and to listen to your inner impulses. All of that is natural. We have to be reminded how to again connect with that natural state of being – in balance, in harmony with ourselves.

That’s a lot of words, but the method is actually very simple.

Who could benefit from this course? I’ve been noticing that only women facilitate it…

Ah, yes, for facilitating the course… When Osho designed this method originally, his suggestion was that we have women facilitators, because it would be easiest for the unconscious mind to trust the female voice that is guiding them to contact their own inner healing capacity to be loving again, friendly towards themselves.

But who can benefit from doing the process? Anybody. Of course, this doesn’t take the place of medical treatment when you need it, and you cannot do things that are impossible for your body, for example someone might have had an accident and so have a finger that has a little piece missing. You cannot grow it back with this method – but there are so many things that are within our capacity to heal and to bring back into balance and harmony.

What changes has this method brought into your life?

On a very practical level, I used to suffer from migraine headaches – and with this method I don’t have them anymore.

The biggest thing was to really learn again to listen to my body and to trust it over everything else. It sounds very simple, but most of us don’t do it. Most of us are so critical. I learnt to trust the messages of my body and learnt to trust my own intuition again. Then the work is done, because you don’t have to create problems in your health if, early enough, you listen to when the body says – now I need this, now I need that, now it is time to stop this. You know, this has been a very big joy for me, because I trust my body, I listen to it now. I don’t override it, I give it priority, and then all these other things very naturally click into place.

That has made a lot of difference. And when I feel that there’s something that is really bothering me, I will stop and go inside and say, “Okay, what is the message here, what do I need?” Then it’s very simple, I don’t need to again go for one hour into a guided meditation or anything… I learnt how to listen and act directly on the messages. I learnt to use the difficulties as an alarm bell, because it’s not natural that we are feeling bad and having all these difficulties.

Thank you, Garimo!

OSHO Talking to your BodyMind workshop and training in SW France with Garimo, 19-25 April 2024: oshofrance.com

OSHO Born Again

Interview with Vatayana

You have been facilitating the Osho Born Again process for many years – here at the Meditation Resort in Pune, and all over the world. Please tell us what this process is about?

Yes, we call this process OSHO Born Again (not to be confused with other ‘born agains’…) And we call it ‘meditative therapy’, a term that Osho coined – and it’s a therapeutic process as well as it’s a meditation. We do it for 2 hours every day for seven days: this is what Osho asked us to do.

So every day for 2 hours… One hour you go into your playfulness, into your innocence, into the quality of what we had as a child, but which had gotten lost. It got lost with education – and it’s so very valuable, but it got buried. So, what we want is to go back to that, and Osho says, of the barrier between our daily consciousness and this place of play, “It is like a China wall.” We have to really dig deeply, and this is why we do it every day for seven days.

So for one hour we are going into our playfulness, and we are not using any toys or anything like that – it’s an energy thing. We are going with our energy, with this playfulness, in the group room. It is an individual process and at the same time, it is done in a group atmosphere. The group atmosphere is very supportive, but it is your own process. There’s a minimum of interaction: there will be mattresses, there will be some pillows, maybe some paper to play with and to inspire playfulness. But actually, it is an energy process – once you are in the energy of that childlike quality, then it comes and then you discover it again. It’s a discovery, Osho talks about discovery…

So, it works on an energetic level. And can we talk during the session?

You cannot talk during the session in your normal language, but you can talk in your childlike language, the one before you learnt real words. You can also sing, but it’s not suggested to sing the songs you know already. So it’s utterings like a baby does, and it’s also singing with sounds that the child has before it learns the words.

Who can benefit from this meditative therapy? Is it suitable for everybody?

It’s for everybody – it’s for every age, except for those under 16-18 years old. This is because they still have a connection to that space. We’ve lost it; the grown-ups have lost it. I’ve had people on this course who were over 75, and they were so enthusiastic! They loved this process so much and they really got benefit out of it.

Also the whole body will loosen up, because remember how we were as a child – we were running around, jumping, dancing… Endless energy children have! When we look at the energy children have before they go to school, before they have to sit down and be good pupils – then they have all this energy available and they move and they run.

So we are getting access to this source, an endless energy pool is available. It is also the immediacy, the spontaneity… You know, the child is not thinking, “Oh, I need to prepare to go to bed and sleep now…” No, he just lies down, wherever he is, he just lies down, rests, then moves again. So it’s this kind of quality – the spontaneity which we have lost, the immediacy of being right now in this energy of the moment. That’s the quality of meditation. That’s why we say that this process is a meditation and is therapeutic.

In what way has this meditative therapy brought changes to your life?

I would call it ‘holistic health’. I cannot say that it helped me because I had a heart problem, let’s say. It is not focused like that. But as to my overall health, I feel much more in my body, I feel much deeper in my breathing, and through that, the whole of my body – physical, mental, emotional – because release of emotions from that old time is also happening.

Children just scream and cry whenever they want, they are not holding back. In the supermarket children throw a tantrum, but we adults are holding back. This release in the course will create much good for our emotions: we’ll feel much calmer, much more settled.

And we need to mention the second stage, the second hour in the course – sitting silently. During the silent sitting you are going inward and allowing yourself just to be present and to enjoy the silence. That also takes us back to a subtle calmness, relaxation, not being immediately heated up when any issue arises. All of this gives us what I call ‘holistic health’.

Thank you very much, Vatayana, for sharing with us your experience about this process.

OSHO Born Again workshop and training with Vatayana and Leela in SW France, 24-30 June 2024 – oshofrance.com

OSHO No-Mind

Interview with Nisargan Makoiev

You are one of the first people from the Soviet Union to have met Osho when he was still in his body. Shortly after that, you started facilitating spontaneous art workshops as well as No-Mind. Please tell us what this process is about?

No-Mind is a method to remove the overload from the mind, an overload that lives in us. This helps us to get acquainted with our real selves and to also then express our creativity in life. As far as I am concerned, this process opens the door to the realisation of our potential, removes obstacles, and leads to our innocence.

The technique comes from the mystic Jabar, an enlightened Master who would answer all questions from disciples and visitors in a language that now carries his name – gibberish. The word now means speaking a language you don’t know, speaking nonsense.

What was Jabar doing with this method? He was pointing out that our minds are nothing else than a collection of nonsense. So people were relaxing in his presence, tasting the silence beyond mind… Jabbar would then send them to share this technique with others.

In our day-to-day life we have to follow rules of behaviour, social conventions which are expressed most often though language. Gibberish gives us total freedom. As Osho puts it: we can be as free as the birds.

So, Osho created a scientific technique: two hours a day, for seven days, one hour of gibberish, followed by one hour of silent sitting.

Is this process for everybody, or are there any restrictions?

This process is for everyone, no matter their age or experience in meditation. They have to be in reasonably good health (and to ask their doctor’s advice if in doubt.)

How did this meditative therapy help you personally?

I grew up in Stalinist times in the Soviet Union. We were afraid to say anything to anyone, for fear of deportation or worse. So when I did this process for the first time, it was like a volcano erupting! I found the space to express all that was inside, without thinking about it, without analysing it. It felt so liberating!

Every time I do this process, it opens yet another, deeper space of joy. The stale energy stuck inside is thrown out and I am ready to receive fresh energy.

The hour in silence that follows contrasts perfectly with the dynamic blast of the first hour – the structure is perfect for balancing and bringing our BodyMind to its natural healthy state.

OSHO No-Mind at the Meditation Resort in Pune, monthly: osho.com

OSHO Mystic Rose

Interview with Veet Mano

You are one of the facilitators of the Mystic Rose at the Meditation Resort. I would like to ask you what the Mystic Rose process is.

The Mystic Rose is an energy process which Osho has also called ‘a meditative therapy’. It’s a new kind of therapy that works in a meditative style, in an energetic style, and non-verbally. It lasts for 3 hours a day, for 3 weeks. The first seven days it’s three hours a day laughing for no reason at all. This opens a big channel of happiness, it opens so much energy inside, it gives so much meaning to life, a connection to the earth, a connection to love and joyfulness that has been blocked in almost the whole world.

The first week gets us ready for the deeper level, which is to release the tears, the trauma, the pain that has been stuck inside and repressed. From what Osho is saying, if we go deep into the second week, we can release pain and trauma even from past lives. This is the week of the Tears – sometimes there’s music, sometimes there’s the sound of other people’s tears, in a very safe and beautiful atmosphere. And, because you’ve just gone through seven days of laughter, your energy is ready for a deeper layer to open. With the tears you will feel younger, more loving, softer, more beautiful, and also, stronger. Your immune system gets better and you have more vitality – you are in better physical health.

So these two weeks together get us ready for the third week, which is called Watcher on the Hill. You can imagine, it’s like your consciousness has gotten a lot higher – you are no longer on flat ground, your awareness has gone up and you are using this higher energy that has opened up to watch: learning how to observe whatever is there, to stay alert and, at the same time, you are experiencing this new quality of relaxation which has opened in your life.

So you have awareness, alertness, relaxation, and you also consciously learn how to watch life experiences without the mind making all those judgements: this is good, this tree is a nice tree, that tree is not tall enough. You relax and you learn an acceptance of whatever is there, which gives a big inner peace. Also you see how to bring a playful attitude, a lovely playfulness. A lot of different things like tension, seriousness, start disappearing. There’s a new, more loving attitude filled with alertness, relaxation, playfulness and more acceptance of life.

Does this process suit everyone, or are there any restrictions?

It suits everybody. The only restriction is that if someone has a specific health problem – mental or physical – it’s good that they connect with a doctor to say that for three weeks I’ll be doing this. When people are laughing, they are rolling on the mattress, or they are excited and they are jumping or running – so you want just standard medical precautions, and participants who are mentally stable. You are not going to a mental hospital saying, “Let me find participants for a deep energetic process.” But basically, for all normal people, it’s a fantastic process. Even if you have never done any meditation before, you can start with Mystic Rose.

This is your 60th Mystic Rose. How did it change your life?

Every time I do it, it changes my life. Every time I feel stronger. In the laughter stage I feel I reach the Moon – I become so happy, I become so light, life feels so fantastic. Then next the tears come out – and for many men it is difficult to cry… as well as for some women. So we have to learn how, because some energy had gotten blocked. It does open, it really opens and so many stresses come out.

I feel so light inside, I can face difficult situations in life – and I feel that I have more insight and energy flow with which to meet outside situations. I feel really so happy, so lucky, and I feel younger than when I was 20. I feel fresh and centred and much more love for life. And also the watching, the Watcher on the Hill – you start coming home inside, you get more in touch with yourself…

Thank you, Veet Mano, for sharing your Mystic Rose experience.

OSHO Mystic Rose workshop with Nisargan and Leela in SW France, 29 May – 18 June 2025 – oshofrance.com

 

These interviews were first published in the French holistic magazine Meditation France – meditationfrance.com

Foto credits: Daniel Mingook Kin unsplash.com – istockphoto.com – Justin Young unsplash.com  –Andreea Pop unsplash.com