For over 30 years, meditation has worked miracles in my life. When I first came into contact with meditation at the age of 20, life was dull. I was in the last year of college, already working and earning my money, dating the guy who was going to be the father of my children, with the “golden” future all planned and on course... and I felt empty. My life seemed to be successful in all areas and I just asked myself “so this is it?”. As in the song by Raul Seixas, “I should be happy for having conquered everything I wanted but I confess to my astonishment that I'm disappointed...”, I couldn't believe that life was just that. And if it were, how boring! And this divine restlessness led me to explore paths that were unusual for me until then. And meditation was one of them.
First experience was with the active meditations. I was very impressed because, before they took me to relaxation and connection with the potent silence inside me, they turned me inside out, messing with my body, my feelings, all my energy! It was like shaking me out of a skin that until then I believed was mine to stay there, with my soul naked and very alive. So meditation came to me as a way to reveal reality. And the way to do that was to peel away everything that isn't real. Easier said than done, because our artificial ways of dealing with life stick to us, becoming a kind of second skin, which is why we have to peel it off.
Soon after, I also came into contact with passive techniques, like Zazen and Vipassana. I loved that too. In another way, they also invite us to give up, they also “peel”. When sitting in silence, many internal noises arise, from the body, thoughts, emotions... and these noises are very seductive (even the unpleasant ones), it's easy to get lost in them. Watching this chaotic merry-go-round of distractions without being abducted by it is a great challenge, and a blessing.
I was delighted to discover how relative time was when I was meditating, how my mind was able to have much more clarity and focus and how I no longer became hostage to my emotions so easily.
It seems difficult to meditate, but it doesn't have to be. In any meditation technique, active or passive, we are invited to let go of habitual patterns of thinking, feeling, acting. Back to a childlike innocence, but not childish at all, where there is openness to connect with the present moment.
Where we are available to experience reality with all its surprises and power. And this is all very logical, after all, it is not by repeating the known paths that we will discover new landscapes. And life is always offering new landscapes, despite our stubbornness in staying on the same paths.
Created by the Indian master Osho, they aim to help people to silence. If you've ever tried silent meditation, you'll know how difficult it is to quiet your head and body for even a few minutes.
Thoughts seem like a heavy metal band in a chaotic concert, the body seems to remember all the possibilities of physical pain available and suddenly sitting and doing nothing becomes the worst punishment I've ever experienced... That's why they are called active meditations: they start with action, movement, space for our inner noise.
Focusing on a specific movement, we don't "force" the body and the head to stop, we just direct that energy to an action that is not determined by the ego. With this little trick it's easier to relax and silence later, which is the continuation of all active meditations.
Each technique has its own way of doing this, so it's good to know several, until you find the one that you identify with the most, which can also vary in different moments.
The first active meditation I ever did was Dynamic Meditation. I had an intense start, whoever has done it, knows. The “Dynamic” is an energetic tsunami that leaves no stone unturned in our “neurotic organization” – if we surrender to it. And I surrendered completely to that first Dynamic. Dynamic Meditation is the Active Meditation technique that I consider the most intense and radical and I think many people agree with me. It's not nice and easy... it requires all our energy and, for that very reason, puts us in touch with our energy and with the blockages to access it. Because it is so strong for the body and for the feelings, we have to assess whether we can handle the bump - if the body and mind are ready to face the adventure. And once they are, we go for it like there's no tomorrow, because we end up discovering that there really isn't, there's only here, now.
There are many other Active Meditation techniques. On the osho.com page you will find explanations for each one. Songs are available on Spotify.
If you need a guiding voice to help you find the silence inside, this is for you
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