Osho insights for busy people
Amrit Sadhana
Tension has nothing to do with anything outside you - it is to do with what his happening within you - you will always find an external excuse to rationalize your tension simply because it looks so weird to be tense without any reason- but tension is not outside you -it is your incorrect lifestyle. Each situation is an opportunity to be meditative. Osho has introduced catharsis before meditation. It really helps you get rid of the stress and become more watchful and calm.
Each situation can become an opportunity to be aware
What happens to you when you feel insulted? Meditate over it; this is changing the whole gestalt. When somebody insults you, you concentrate on the person -- "Why is he insulting me? Who does he think he is? How can I take revenge?" If he is very powerful you surrender. If he is not very powerful and you see that he is weak, you pounce on him. But you forget yourself completely in all this; the other becomes the focus. This is missing an opportunity for meditation. When somebody insults you, look what is happening inside.
Awareness is right, unawareness is wrong
Whatsoever happens -- good, bad, success, failure -- immediately become aware of what is happening. Don't miss a single moment. Be present to it, and you will be surprised, errors will start disappearing from your life. And then whatsoever you do will be right.
People ask me what is right and what is wrong, and my answer is: If something arises out of awareness, it is right. If something arises out of unawareness, it is wrong. Right and wrong is not a question of what you do, but of how you do it.
Talk to the Wall
If you are bursting with stress just sit in your room and talk alone. There is no need for somebody else to listen to you. You can talk to the wall and it will be more human, because you will not be creating any suffering for anybody.
But don't repress it. Repressed, it will become a burden on you. In the beginning you will feel it a little crazy, but the more you do it, the more you will see the beauty of it. It is less violent. It does not waste somebody else's time, and you are relieved. After a good talk with the wall you will feel very, very relaxed. The world would be better and more silent if people started talking to the walls.
Absorb the Attack
The Judo-teacher teaches his pupils not to attack but to await an attack. And when the attack comes remember only one thing – to absorb the attack! If someone abuses you and you take in his abuse, the aggressor becomes weak. Try this out! He who drinks in the abuse – not suppresses it – as if it is a loving gift; he who absorbs it within his whole being, becomes a pool. And this pool is filled with the energy that flows out the one who abuses, and he becomes that much stronger.
Also, when the aggressor finds that no abuse is coming forth from the other, he becomes very uneasy.
You can try this technique in the board meetings.
Courtesy Osho International Foundation/www.osho.com
Sunday, December 30, 2007
It Costs Nothing To Breathe Properly
Osho Insights for Busy people
Amrit Sadhana
Breathing is a wonderful tool naturally available to human beings. Usually we are not aware of our breathing because it is done unconsciously. It can be a great resource for executives as it is very important for them to remain on top of their business affairs , not to lose their cool and be in control of their moods. It is possible by watching one's breathing patterns and staying aware of its changes as the mood swings. Staying relaxed and aware while you work is meditation all about. It is basically bringing consciousness to your daily chores. Just a spark of awareness can work wonders with your everyday life. Here are some Osho insights to guide you.
Rhythmic breathing creates harmony
For the person who wants to develop and influence his energy centers, the first thing is rhythmic breathing. While sitting, standing or moving, his breath should be so harmonious, so peaceful, so deep that he is able to experience a different music, a different harmony of the breath day and night. If you are walking on the road, not doing any work, it will be very blissful if you breathe deeply, silently, slowly and harmoniously.
Harmonious breathing , less thinking
There will be two benefits. As long as breathing remains harmonious, your thinking will become less, there will be almost no thoughts. If the breathing is absolutely even, then the thoughts totally disappear. The breathing affects the thoughts very deeply and to a very great extent. It costs nothing to breathe properly and you do not have to spend any extra time to breathe properly. Sitting in a train, walking on the road, sitting at home -- if the process of breathing deeply and peacefully continues then within a few days this process will become spontaneous. You will not even be aware of it. The breath will move deeply and slowly by itself.
Rub your hands and sleep well!
Your right hand is joined with your left brain, your left hand is joined with your right brain. Try this: whenever you feel that there is too much thinking, and you cannot stop it, rub both your hands fast, make them hot by rubbing and suddenly you will feel the head has stopped, the energy is moving in the hands.
For people who cannot sleep, this is the best medicine yet known, better than any tranquilizer. Just close your eyes and rub your hands, and feel them getting warmer and warmer and warmer – and through rubbing they will get warmer – and also put into your imagination that they are getting warmer. When the hands are warm, the head becomes cool. These are the two polarities.
Courtesy Osho International Foundation/www.osho.com
Amrit Sadhana
Breathing is a wonderful tool naturally available to human beings. Usually we are not aware of our breathing because it is done unconsciously. It can be a great resource for executives as it is very important for them to remain on top of their business affairs , not to lose their cool and be in control of their moods. It is possible by watching one's breathing patterns and staying aware of its changes as the mood swings. Staying relaxed and aware while you work is meditation all about. It is basically bringing consciousness to your daily chores. Just a spark of awareness can work wonders with your everyday life. Here are some Osho insights to guide you.
Rhythmic breathing creates harmony
For the person who wants to develop and influence his energy centers, the first thing is rhythmic breathing. While sitting, standing or moving, his breath should be so harmonious, so peaceful, so deep that he is able to experience a different music, a different harmony of the breath day and night. If you are walking on the road, not doing any work, it will be very blissful if you breathe deeply, silently, slowly and harmoniously.
Harmonious breathing , less thinking
There will be two benefits. As long as breathing remains harmonious, your thinking will become less, there will be almost no thoughts. If the breathing is absolutely even, then the thoughts totally disappear. The breathing affects the thoughts very deeply and to a very great extent. It costs nothing to breathe properly and you do not have to spend any extra time to breathe properly. Sitting in a train, walking on the road, sitting at home -- if the process of breathing deeply and peacefully continues then within a few days this process will become spontaneous. You will not even be aware of it. The breath will move deeply and slowly by itself.
Rub your hands and sleep well!
Your right hand is joined with your left brain, your left hand is joined with your right brain. Try this: whenever you feel that there is too much thinking, and you cannot stop it, rub both your hands fast, make them hot by rubbing and suddenly you will feel the head has stopped, the energy is moving in the hands.
For people who cannot sleep, this is the best medicine yet known, better than any tranquilizer. Just close your eyes and rub your hands, and feel them getting warmer and warmer and warmer – and through rubbing they will get warmer – and also put into your imagination that they are getting warmer. When the hands are warm, the head becomes cool. These are the two polarities.
Courtesy Osho International Foundation/www.osho.com
Tuesday, December 25, 2007
Consume Change Through Change
By Amrit Sadhana
Change is the only thing in this world that remains unchanging. What we call life is a continuous flux -- people change, things change, landscapes change. If we look within, our emotions, thoughts, notions, beliefs are constantly changing. And yet the mind is averse to change. It resists change because it is comfortable with the old and the known. Change signifies new and the unknown. Considering this natural tendency of the mind, the Tantra experts have devised a meditation which asks us to meditate on change as the basic principle of life.
The meditation is : "Here is the sphere of change, change, change. Through change consume change.'' This meditation is basically a tool that can help us cultivate an attitude towards life. Osho has spoken extensively on the Tantra methods and has designed meditations according to their sutras.These methods are very effective as they give you a direct experience of the Tantra wisdom.
I was facilitating an Osho meditation intensive in Ludhiana, Punjab. It was a chilly winter morning and I selected a luscious rose garden to experience the sphere of change.
Obviously, there couldn't be a better environment to feel the subtle nuances of change. While the soft sunrays tried to beat the chill in the morning, a group of a hundred plus people were asked to roam about among the profusion of colors. Roses of various hues and shades -- from pink to purple to yellow to white. Big and small, all sizes and shapes. If you watched them closely, you could notice that they were in different stages of life: buds, half bloomed, in full bloom, withering and the withered. The leaves, too, varied in age, from the tender greenish sprouts to the dried brownish yellow. The meditators were moving around, consciously watching every phase of the rose bush that participated in living. It is so easy to perceive it in nature as all stages are right there, simultaneously in front of your eyes.
After watching the roses and absorbing their change, people started looking at other participants moving around. Weren’t they going through the same phases? Humans of all ages :young, middle aged, old, on the threshold of death... and one day they will be no more! Pausing in front of each person, looking into each other's eyes this unavoidable truth hit hard in the face. Was there any difference between themselves and the roses?
The same rivering of life could be observed in one's own life. So everybody sat down beween the rose bushes, closed their eyes and looked at the various modes of lives they had gone through. I asked everybody to revisit all the stages of their lives– childhood, puberty, youth, old age; changes in their bodies, thoughts, emotions, dreams, and now at the point of life they were. One day they will be withered like their fellow-travellers, the roses. Tears started rolling down some closed eyelashes. Moments of revelation!
With the revelation comes a deep acceptance: if change is the way of life why not accept it? If this is what living means, why not celebrate it? Isn’t it beautiful that we are all part of the ever changing flow; that a moment is never repeated, everything is ever renewing itself? Let us consume change through the change.This realization made everybody dance vibrantly, triumphantly. Yes, we know the secret! We rejoice in it!
After the meditation, one middle aged Sikh businessman came to see me. His eyes still had a moist hang over of a profound experience. He said, “It has been an eye opener to me. I used to resist change – in my factory, in the office, at home. I thought change was an insult to my decisions, as if it was my defeat. And due to this I had created a hard crust around me. People used to shun me. But today, for the first time, when I saw and felt the river of change outside and inside, I was shaken to the roots. I realized that by fighting change I was fighting life.”
This businessman represents most of the contemporary human beings. In the modern times the human mind is in great confusion. Life around is changing fast but the mind cannot cope with it. Once we realize that to exist is to change, we will relax into change and allow ourselves to be borne by the living current. A small realization that life is eternal, not permanent will help us accept change.
(This article was published in Complete Wellbeing, Deccan Herald, Lokmat Times)
Change is the only thing in this world that remains unchanging. What we call life is a continuous flux -- people change, things change, landscapes change. If we look within, our emotions, thoughts, notions, beliefs are constantly changing. And yet the mind is averse to change. It resists change because it is comfortable with the old and the known. Change signifies new and the unknown. Considering this natural tendency of the mind, the Tantra experts have devised a meditation which asks us to meditate on change as the basic principle of life.
The meditation is : "Here is the sphere of change, change, change. Through change consume change.'' This meditation is basically a tool that can help us cultivate an attitude towards life. Osho has spoken extensively on the Tantra methods and has designed meditations according to their sutras.These methods are very effective as they give you a direct experience of the Tantra wisdom.
I was facilitating an Osho meditation intensive in Ludhiana, Punjab. It was a chilly winter morning and I selected a luscious rose garden to experience the sphere of change.
Obviously, there couldn't be a better environment to feel the subtle nuances of change. While the soft sunrays tried to beat the chill in the morning, a group of a hundred plus people were asked to roam about among the profusion of colors. Roses of various hues and shades -- from pink to purple to yellow to white. Big and small, all sizes and shapes. If you watched them closely, you could notice that they were in different stages of life: buds, half bloomed, in full bloom, withering and the withered. The leaves, too, varied in age, from the tender greenish sprouts to the dried brownish yellow. The meditators were moving around, consciously watching every phase of the rose bush that participated in living. It is so easy to perceive it in nature as all stages are right there, simultaneously in front of your eyes.
After watching the roses and absorbing their change, people started looking at other participants moving around. Weren’t they going through the same phases? Humans of all ages :young, middle aged, old, on the threshold of death... and one day they will be no more! Pausing in front of each person, looking into each other's eyes this unavoidable truth hit hard in the face. Was there any difference between themselves and the roses?
The same rivering of life could be observed in one's own life. So everybody sat down beween the rose bushes, closed their eyes and looked at the various modes of lives they had gone through. I asked everybody to revisit all the stages of their lives– childhood, puberty, youth, old age; changes in their bodies, thoughts, emotions, dreams, and now at the point of life they were. One day they will be withered like their fellow-travellers, the roses. Tears started rolling down some closed eyelashes. Moments of revelation!
With the revelation comes a deep acceptance: if change is the way of life why not accept it? If this is what living means, why not celebrate it? Isn’t it beautiful that we are all part of the ever changing flow; that a moment is never repeated, everything is ever renewing itself? Let us consume change through the change.This realization made everybody dance vibrantly, triumphantly. Yes, we know the secret! We rejoice in it!
After the meditation, one middle aged Sikh businessman came to see me. His eyes still had a moist hang over of a profound experience. He said, “It has been an eye opener to me. I used to resist change – in my factory, in the office, at home. I thought change was an insult to my decisions, as if it was my defeat. And due to this I had created a hard crust around me. People used to shun me. But today, for the first time, when I saw and felt the river of change outside and inside, I was shaken to the roots. I realized that by fighting change I was fighting life.”
This businessman represents most of the contemporary human beings. In the modern times the human mind is in great confusion. Life around is changing fast but the mind cannot cope with it. Once we realize that to exist is to change, we will relax into change and allow ourselves to be borne by the living current. A small realization that life is eternal, not permanent will help us accept change.
(This article was published in Complete Wellbeing, Deccan Herald, Lokmat Times)
Monday, December 24, 2007
Thank god it's Monday!
By Amrit Sadhana
One morning I woke up savouring the freshness of the golden sunlight, enjoying the slender sun rays filtering through my window pane. The first thought that popped up into my mind like a well done toast was: "Thank god, it's Monday!" I was startled by my own thought. While the whole world is grumping and groaning about Monday, unwilling to let go off the lovely lazy Sunday, here I am chirping about the first working day of the week.
And why not? If it is Monday, it means the shops will be open, the government offices will function, we will receive our snail mail, the courier service will bring the much awaited parcel, the printer will bring the proofs and life will move on full speed. Isn't it a cause for jubilation?
The contemporary man is completely sold out to the idea of the week-end and therefore he is horrified by the idea of working seven days a week. But has anybody thought about it, waiting for the week to end is a great drain on the efficiency throughout the week. People drag themselves through each workday so they can relax in the evening, they endure the week so that they rest at the weekend. They work through the year so that they can apply for leave at the end of the year. If we stretch the logic a little further, they put up with life so that they can relax in death.
Instead of justifying the need for holiday, let us look at the quality of our working life.
Perhaps some Osho insights could help to change the way we work:
The basic question is, do you enjoy the work you are doing? Do you go on working wishing you could or would do something else? Is your work a necessary evil--to earn a living, or to fulfil ambition. Is 'work' a four letter word for you?
What and how
What you do is not important, it is how you do it. Whatsoever you do, do it with deep alertness; then even small things become sacred. Then cooking or cleaning become sacred. It is not a question of what you are doing, the question is how you are doing it. You can clean the floor like a robot, a mechanical thing; you have to clean it, so you clean it. Then you miss something beautiful. It could have been a great experience; you missed it. You cleaned the floor and the cleaning would have cleansed you. If you were aware, not only the floor but YOU would have felt a deep cleansing. Clean the floor full of awareness, luminous with awareness.
Remember yourself
You may work or sit or walk, but one thing has to be a continuous thread: remember yourself. While walking, say, ' I am walking.' While sitting, say, 'I am sitting.' While talking, be aware, 'I am talking.' And feel the shift in your awareness. There will be a sudden spark. Make more and more moments of your life luminous with awareness. The cumulative effect, all the moments together become a great source of light.
Are you a perfectionist?
Beware! You are digging a hole for yourself. What counts is being total, not perfect – and this brings out the best in you. The very idea of perfectionism drives people crazy. The perfectionist is bound to be a neurotic, he cannot enjoy life till he is perfect. And perfection as such never happens, it is not in the nature of things. Life is imperfect, only death is perfect. Totality is possible, perfection is not possible.
And there is a tremendous difference between perfection and totality. Perfection is a goal somewhere in the future, totality is an experience here-now. Totality is not a goal, it is a style of life. If you can get into any act with your whole heart, you are total. Totality brings wholeness, totality brings health and totality brings sanity.
The perfectionist completely forgets about totality. He has a vague idea , how he should be. There is a big gap between how he is and how he wants to be. And of course it can't happen now, it is always then, there; tomorrow, or the day after; this life, maybe next life... so life has to be postponed.
Totality generates so much joy, you would never want to stop working.
These are small tools but if you use them you will see the gap between work and holiday decreasing. You will be eagerly waiting for the work to begin. And then you will say like me, thank god it's Monday!
(This article was published in The Times of India, Lokmat Times, Deccan Herald, Business Standard)
One morning I woke up savouring the freshness of the golden sunlight, enjoying the slender sun rays filtering through my window pane. The first thought that popped up into my mind like a well done toast was: "Thank god, it's Monday!" I was startled by my own thought. While the whole world is grumping and groaning about Monday, unwilling to let go off the lovely lazy Sunday, here I am chirping about the first working day of the week.
And why not? If it is Monday, it means the shops will be open, the government offices will function, we will receive our snail mail, the courier service will bring the much awaited parcel, the printer will bring the proofs and life will move on full speed. Isn't it a cause for jubilation?
The contemporary man is completely sold out to the idea of the week-end and therefore he is horrified by the idea of working seven days a week. But has anybody thought about it, waiting for the week to end is a great drain on the efficiency throughout the week. People drag themselves through each workday so they can relax in the evening, they endure the week so that they rest at the weekend. They work through the year so that they can apply for leave at the end of the year. If we stretch the logic a little further, they put up with life so that they can relax in death.
Instead of justifying the need for holiday, let us look at the quality of our working life.
Perhaps some Osho insights could help to change the way we work:
The basic question is, do you enjoy the work you are doing? Do you go on working wishing you could or would do something else? Is your work a necessary evil--to earn a living, or to fulfil ambition. Is 'work' a four letter word for you?
What and how
What you do is not important, it is how you do it. Whatsoever you do, do it with deep alertness; then even small things become sacred. Then cooking or cleaning become sacred. It is not a question of what you are doing, the question is how you are doing it. You can clean the floor like a robot, a mechanical thing; you have to clean it, so you clean it. Then you miss something beautiful. It could have been a great experience; you missed it. You cleaned the floor and the cleaning would have cleansed you. If you were aware, not only the floor but YOU would have felt a deep cleansing. Clean the floor full of awareness, luminous with awareness.
Remember yourself
You may work or sit or walk, but one thing has to be a continuous thread: remember yourself. While walking, say, ' I am walking.' While sitting, say, 'I am sitting.' While talking, be aware, 'I am talking.' And feel the shift in your awareness. There will be a sudden spark. Make more and more moments of your life luminous with awareness. The cumulative effect, all the moments together become a great source of light.
Are you a perfectionist?
Beware! You are digging a hole for yourself. What counts is being total, not perfect – and this brings out the best in you. The very idea of perfectionism drives people crazy. The perfectionist is bound to be a neurotic, he cannot enjoy life till he is perfect. And perfection as such never happens, it is not in the nature of things. Life is imperfect, only death is perfect. Totality is possible, perfection is not possible.
And there is a tremendous difference between perfection and totality. Perfection is a goal somewhere in the future, totality is an experience here-now. Totality is not a goal, it is a style of life. If you can get into any act with your whole heart, you are total. Totality brings wholeness, totality brings health and totality brings sanity.
The perfectionist completely forgets about totality. He has a vague idea , how he should be. There is a big gap between how he is and how he wants to be. And of course it can't happen now, it is always then, there; tomorrow, or the day after; this life, maybe next life... so life has to be postponed.
Totality generates so much joy, you would never want to stop working.
These are small tools but if you use them you will see the gap between work and holiday decreasing. You will be eagerly waiting for the work to begin. And then you will say like me, thank god it's Monday!
(This article was published in The Times of India, Lokmat Times, Deccan Herald, Business Standard)
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