From medicine to meditation

                                           Osho Dynamic meditation at OSHO International Meditation Resort

Ever wondered why are there so many chemists and druggists' shops in the modern  world? Almost at every corner you will find a shop packed with medicines. Have you ever thought who on earth must be taking all these pills and syrups? And in the first place do they need them?

To be honest  they don't. Recently it has been discovered that fifty to ninety percent of man’s diseases are produced by the mind. But the repercussions occur in the body. Because by and by the poison oozes out from the mind and seeps in the body  who  has to suffer its long lasting effects. Viewing this Osho introduced cathartic meditations. Just by breathing vigorously, gathering your whole energy and expelling the foul air from lungs cleanses the body so much! One feels light like a balloon filled with air. And if you can introduce some chaos in your breathing,  which means breathe irregularly, breaking the rhythm you are giving additional fuel to the mind to break down the old habits and drop the dead patterns.

Osho says," If you can do it wholeheartedly then you will not only find that your mind becomes pure but your body will also attain new dimensions of health, you will find that many illnesses are suddenly released by your catharsis. So many diseases which had firmly gripped you have suddenly disappeared. As as an example, if you have asthma, it means that somewhere the relation between breathing and the mind has become unnatural, somewhere the link is broken, some obstacle has arisen. If you can rightly experiment with the deep un-rhythmic breathing, that obstacle will dissolve, it will drop away.

If you suffer from a constant headache, then more often than not it means that some worries are corroding your brain from within like worms. You are overburdened, you have become loaded. If those anxieties are dropped, suddenly you will find that your head has become light. As if there was a constant weight inside and it has been lifted."

Mysteriously enough, health is something inherent inside everybody; no one can give the gift of health to anybody. Neither physicians nor your friends. They can wish you good health  but they cannot make you healthy.

Then what do the medicines do? They just remove the ill health. They remove the negative blocks and knots that disturb the natural harmony of the physical system. It is interesting that  those who are unhealthy have a close bond with their body whereas the healthy people live in the body but are not bogged down by it. Their body hums with them This state is the prerequisite  to meditation. So move from medicine to meditation at the earliest.

Stay fit, emotionally

 When Darwin observed many species on earth and concluded that those who are the fittest alone survive, little did he think of any other fitness than the physical one. He was certain that to be fit means to be physically fit.  With the evolution of human mind and the modern lifestyle emotional fitness has become  as much important as physical fitness . Researchers are now trying to go into the depth of  the EQ: emotional quotient. The EQ is defined as “the ability to sense, understand, and effectively apply the power and acumen of emotions as a source of human energy information and influence.”

Emotions are  indeed a great reservoir of human energy which are neglected by our education and culture. Emotions are not blind as they are considered to be, they have their own sight, their own intelligence. They may be wild, unruly but that  exactly is their power. Our society has taught us to be afraid of wildness, to be polite and restricted which means repressive. This is why most people are afraid of emotions. They mirror that side of personality which no one wants to see.

It is time we use this human potential for making life healthier and richer. Emotions tend to explode, they are irrational hence the fear. Osho is the only scientist of the inner world who has devised meditations which can be used to  release emotions methodically, and then transform them into creativity. Emotion is a high voltage energy, it needs to be expressed and thrown out. There is no need to be afraid of it. Emotions if repressed, become poisonous, they seep into the body, the organs and the whole system becomes sick. If we allow the anger or fear or jealousy full  expression  it is so cleansing, so relaxing that one feels as if a burden of centuries is off the chest. Sometime alone in your room try to bring your anger out fully, roar like a lion, forget  about  all the social restrictions, be natural and feel the freedom that follows after this explosion. As if a thunder storm has gone away leaving the nature clean and washed. In that emptiness meditation happens naturally. Now just sit down and be silent.

   "Emotion is completely disregarded in our civilization, so the balance is lost and a lopsided personality develops,"   says Osho." If emotion is also used, then there is no imbalance. A balance of emotion and intellect must be maintained in the proper ratio; otherwise the whole personality gets diseased. Emotion and intellect are like two wings: when we use only one wing the outcome will be frustration. Then the bliss that comes from using both wings simultaneously, in balance and harmony, is never attained."

The Great Challenge/Courtesy Osho International Foundation/www.osho.com