Bringing Meditative Awareness into Daily Life :

“The body has great wisdom – allow it. Allow it more and more to follow its own wisdom. And whenever you have the time, just relax. Let your breathing go on its own. Do not interfere. Our habit to interfere has become so ingrained that you cannot even breathe without interference….Just

let your breath be as it is: your body knows exactly what it needs….And wherever you feel any tension anywhere relax that part. And slowly, slowly…First begin while you are sitting, resting, and then while you are doing things. When you are cleaning the floor, or working in the kitchen or the office, keep that relaxedness. Action need not be an interference in your relaxed state. And then there is a beauty, a great beauty to your activity. Your activity will have the flavour of meditativeness”. OSHO

Moving from Pain to Joy :

Ordinarily the mind is conscious of pain, never conscious of bliss. If you have a headache you are conscious of it. When you don’t have a headache you are not conscious of the well-being of the head. When the body hurts you are conscious of it, but when the body is perfectly healthy your are not conscious of the health. This is the root cause of why we feel so miserable: our whole consciousness is focused on pain. We only count the thorns….nature makes you aware of pain so you can avoid it. It is a built-in system. ….But nature has no built-in mechanism to make you aware of pleasure, joy, bliss. That has to be learned, to be worked out. It is an art.

From this moment start becoming aware of things that are not natural. For example, your body is feeling perfectly healthy: sit silently, become conscious of it. Enjoy the well-being…..You have eaten well and your body is satisfied, contented: become conscious of it.

…This has to be started from this moment. And you will be surprised that bliss will grow more and more every day, and proportionately pain and misery will become less and less. And the moment comes when life is almost a celebration.

…Become more and more conscious of pleasure, joy, the positive, the flowers, the silver linings in the black dark clouds. OSHO

Re-Connecting With The Body :

“Try to make contact with your body when everything is good. Sit in the sun. Let the sunrays penetrate the body. Feel the warmth as it moves within, as it goes deeper, as it touches your blood cells and reaches to the very bones. And sun is life, the very source, so with closed eyes just feel what is happening. Remain alert, watch, enjoy. By and by you will become aware of a very subtle harmony, a very beautiful music continuously going on inside. Then you have contact with the body…” OSHO

Walking Meditation:

This is a walking meditation from Thich Nhat Hanh taught to me by Juan, a Sivananda Yoga teacher and regular guest of the Yoga Retreat.

Walking, inhale as you place one foot down, exhale as you place the other foot down. Say the following words inwardly, silently, continue to inhale and exhale this way:

In (inhale), Out (exhale)

Deep (inhale), Slow (exhale)

Calm (inhale), Ease (exhale)

Smile (inhale), Relax (exhale)

Present moment (inhale)

Wonderful moment (exhale)