Hi Beloved Friend,
We are still in the first day of our 21 days created for the 2 Year ARUN Conscious Touch Training at the Osho Academy in Köln… and already some friends have written to us about how excited and into it they are! Me too! A few others have commented that it is challenging for them to find the time each day, “especially right now, because I have so many other important things to do, etc”. This really made me laugh… because there is ALWAYS TIME for an hour a day if you really care about yourself and your body and your Energy Field. You may need to make a little effort to juggle your time, that is certainly true… but there is always time. Don’t listen to your Mind when it says “there is no time”… it is just a trick to enable the Mind with its DENSITY to remain the BOSS! Listen to your inner light, and it will help you find enough time…. just go for expanding your own light, love, and consciousness. It is not a big deal to do a little Yoga or meditation every day… in fact, it is quite easy! But i want to say it again: What Anasha and i are sharing with you right now is an Invitation... a calling to your Inner Light, and an addition to the ARUN Conscious Touch Training you are in. Never feel obliged or pressured in any way. Use the energy of this group of friends as a positive impulse, { or touch}, to expand your ‘comfort zone’.
This is a precious poem from the Ancient Mystic Rishis, or “Seers” from India:
“Do not tarry anymore,
One has but four days,
Two go in desiring, two in waiting.”
For me, the discipline of ARUN/ OSHO Yoga is a deep love affair… it is an inner “rising in love” with my Body and Consciousness that continues to reveal hidden mysteries of the Human Energy Field. Each time i look inside with gratitude and a sense of wonder, feeling my muscles, nerves, breath, brain, blood, organs, and electro-magnetism- the love and awareness expands. Plus, it is the most amazing “anti-depresant” and “pain reliever” available… it’s like visiting your inner drug store, with no bad side-effects!
Let us examine these 3 words… ARUN/ OSHO Yoga to sense what this inner discipline is pointing towards…
“ARUN” in Spanish is derived from 2 words: “ARmonia UNiversal”, {or “Universal Harmony” in English}. For us, this signifies that the experience of inner harmony is available equally to everyone= no one is higher or lower. The experience of this “Hidden Harmony” {to use Osho’s metaphor} always happens when our Body, Mind, Emotions, and Spirit are all present “in this moment”, as a living, breathing, vibrating “Organic Unity”.
“ARUN” in Sanskrit means “The Dawn”, or the early morning light, and the start of a New Day. It reminds us that “every day” is a new beginning. It is a word from the days of Gautama the Buddha, and is used as a metaphor for the rising, or dawning of inner consciousness that happens through Meditation, or “Watching Inside”. The Sun brings light and life on the outside… watching inside brings the inner light.
“OSHO” is included because he is our most obvious Spiritual Teacher and has showered his love and awareness on us and millions of others. Osho’s vision of Yoga in so deep, that i doubt if anyone alive has ever realized just how deep and radical his vision of Yoga and its mysteries actually is. Plus, on a personal level, he was the first person that told me i should begin teaching Osho Yoga in his Ashram in India back in 1976. From that moment on to this day, i have been absorbing and opening to his teachings on this beautiful “Inner Science” of Yoga. Osho gave a 12 part series of Discourses in Bombay and Pune between 1973-1976 that have become the classic 10 Volume Series “YOGA- The Alpha & the Omega”… it is Osho commenting in great detail on the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, who Osho calls the “Einstein of the Inner World”. These books are from “another world” and way ahead of where most people’s understanding of Yoga and meditation is. I feel a certain urgency to put this out publicly… that is why i include his name in this discipline we are sharing.
Osho has explained that His name is derived from William James’ word “oceanic” which means dissolving into the ocean. Oceanic describes the experience, He says, but what about the experiencer? For that, we use the word “Osho”. Later, he came to find out that “Osho” has also been used historically in the Far East, meaning “The Blessed One, on Whom the Sky Showers Flowers”.
“Osho” is a term derived from ancient Japanese, and was first used by Eka, to address his master, Bodhidharma…
“O” means “with great respect, love, and gratitude” as well as “synchronicity” and “harmony.
“SHO” means “multidimensional expansion of consciousness” and “existence showering from all directions”.
This is how we teach others to approach their Human Energy Field: “with great respect, love, and gratitude”… falling into a deep “synchronicity” and inner “harmony”. This discipline ignites a “multidimensional expansion of consciousness” that lets one realize and become aware that Life, or existence, is “showering from all directions”. Thank you, Osho.
“Yoga” is the ancient Sanskrit word for “Union”… it has many nuances, and has come to represent in most peoples’ minds the physical activity of body postures, or “asanas” that are held for an extended period of time, in a way that is very different to normal “Western ideas of movement or exercise. Yoga also represents an understanding of human Breath and the Energy Chakras and Glands that is very different than what is understood in the West, before it encountered Yoga. Yoga is not a religion… it is a VERY BEAUTIFUL wholistic discipline, encompassing all facets of Human behavior. Osho calls it “the Science of the Inner”.
By including “Yoga” in the name, we are recognizing that what we are sharing is “not really new”, and was not invented by us. Yoga has been helping spiritual seekers for millenia, and the whole science has been worked out in intricate detail. We are just bringing fresh eyes and hearts to it. I am aware that there are MANY other teachers and forms of Yoga in the world today that are far out…
On another day i will highlight what i feel is perhaps the biggest secret of inner alchemy that ARUN/ OSHO Yoga has to offer, and that is: “Acceptance is Transcendence”.
If you understand why “ARUN/ OSHO Yoga” emphasizes that EACH asana, or EACH CHANGE of ANGLE between 2 or more bones of your skeleton creates an “INNER TOUCH” in this moment; then you can understand why i insist that it doesn’t matter “how long” or “how many times” you have done yoga before. What good does it really do for me “today”, what i did 20 years ago? Or what i did last year? “A Zen garden is never finished” is a true observation, and the Body is a living ecological organism that requires consistent love and care and attention. { ARUN and Osho Yoga are always alive in “Just this Moment”. Touching, like breathing, is NEVER happening in the Past, or in the Future… each stretch, breath, or Conscious Touch ALWAYS happens NOW and HERE }. It also does not matter “how far you go into each stretch”. Small, or even “micro changes” of the angles between bones can have a profound effect on the whole Energy Field. What matters the most is restoring TRUST in your body tissues and nerves… each time you experience a shifting of angles between various bones of your skeleton just bring myself “Present” to feel “this touch”, and that you learn the art and alchemical value of “not comparing”, and not unnecessarily “evaluating or judging” the sensation moving through you in this moment… WITHOUT creating fear or expectations… and that you use the sensations and feelings generated to “watch inside”, and to get to know yourself better in “this moment of the life”, in order to see more clearly the “organic unity” of your physical body, mind, emotions, energy flow, and Spirit. Never feel bad or guilty about your flexibility or tensions… trust and value your own experiences. This is fundamental to ARUN.
Just as in his book “The Hidden Harmony”, where Osho is commenting on the sayings of the great Greek mystic, Heraclitus, “you can not step in the same river twice”… so it is in our own personal “River of Life”. We can not experience the same touch twice... the Human Energy Field is a flux, a flow of electro-magnetic energies. This understanding develops real, authentic “Fitness for the Witness”, which for me is the major key for spiritual, emotional, and physical health and well-being.
“ARUN/ OSHO Yoga Tip of the Day”
Each day, we will share a small tip that may be valuable for you personally, or that may be valuable for one of your friends, family members, students, or clients.
Remember, “ARUN Conscious Touch” began the moment Osho said to me publicly in India in 1988, in answer to a question; “Anubuddha, a totally new kind of education is needed in the world today”. Millions of people need to learn a new way to be with their body… and you can help them! In this 2 Year Training, we said that we wanted you to have the opportunity to not only learn to give incredible meditative healing sessions, but also how to lead classes in Conscious Movement, Breath Awareness, Healthy Eating, and Yoga… all in the Spirit of ARUN. But during each 5 day Module of the Training, there is not near enough time for this transmission. That is why we are adding “Cleanses” and individual “Immersions of a Theme” between the Modules.
For the “A.O.Y Tip of the Day” we will answer your questions, or just share something that we have noticed is helpful in our over 30 years of teaching experience. Please challenge us with juicy questions!
Today’s Tip concerns building trust and flexibility and let-go in the “PLOUGH Asana” or { Halasana in Sanskrit } and why “gravity” is one of our best friends in yoga .
Like I have said before, the “Plough” is one of the best health inducing “skeletal constellations”, without doubt. It may take time for the body to move into it fully, but the effort and perseverance is well worth it. When you first try it, it may be impossible for your feet to go over to the floor with your head and neck on the ground… maybe because of neck muscles, mid-back muscles, low back, or legs. So go over, and if your feet don’t touch, then spread your legs apart a little and bend your knees… just hanging where ever you are! And, you could put some support (blocks or cushions) on the floor where your feet would reach, so your feet rest on the support. Give into “gravity”, let the breath come and go. Maybe just 20 seconds is all you can manage at first… after 3 or 4 consecutive days of just 20 seconds, it’s almost certain you will be able to do it for 30 seconds. After a week of this, you will need less support. But if you push, you may unknowingly hurt or scare your tissues, and then the mind will be convinced that “this is not good, baba!” The body tissues relax deepest with trust, with gravity, with easy breathing, with allowing… accept what you feel, without trying to change anything… merge deeply with the sensations and observe how it keeps changing moment to moment. Be total, and be gentle.
This asana totally touches and helps open the entire Craniosacral System of the body. It is a fabulous “mid-line energizer”. It gives juice to all the spinal joints, ligaments, and nerves. It elegantly lengthens all the posterior muscles and fascial bands of the body (feet to occiput), and enhances the functioning of the organs–especially the kidneys, liver, and stomach.
The accumulated awareness and flexibility generated through the Plough asana can not be overemphasized. Come back slowly into the SHANTI Asana, and rest for 30 seconds up to a minute.
So, as Anasha likes to say, “keep in-joying”… we are in touch.
Cheers, Anubuddha
Cheers, Anubuddha