Radical meditation – (2) When you can’t meditate

In theory, meditation is easy. You sit, you keep your attention on your breath, thoughts come and go, the mind falls silent, existential joy and peace beyond understanding arise, time for tea.

In real life  the mind doesn’t quieten the way it should. Even when it does, we’d all like out meditation to go deeper. I’ll have a lot to say about this in other posts, and many techniques to use. But for now, here is a very simple, VERY effective method to help the mind to quieten or to help meditation to go deeper. It was invented as a modern method by the enlightened teacher Osho; he attributes it originally to the Sufi mysic Jabbar. It is one of a whole range of “Active Meditations” invented by Osho.

Formally called the Osho No-Mind meditation, or informally gibberish meditation (from Jabbar), it goes like this.

The best way to try this or any meditation exercise is to try it once. If it’s interesting, make a firm committment with yourself to do it for a week; if that is good; then for three weeks; then review. That way you avoid the mind coming in with

First Stage

For a half an hour, with your eyes closed, speak aloud “in any language you don’t know” – in other words, talk gibberish; speak nonsense words or nonsense sounds. Say everything you wanted to say but couldn’t, but say it as gibberish. You can shout, laugh, cry – go crazy. You can be loud or quiet. You may know what you would be saying if you were speaking English, or you may be making sounds or noises or nonsense words that you have no idea the meaning of. Be total, be expressive, make guestures, be energetic. You can stand or sit or move around the room (open your eyes to make sure you don’t bump into anything).  Remain present, alert, feeling your body, feeling your experiences – don’t daydream and let the mind wander while the mouth produces noises on autopilot; listen to yourself,  stay conscious of every sound and every moment. Don’t be shy, don’t be inhibited. Pay no attention to whether you are rational or look stupid. Throw out all the craziness of the mind.

Second stage

For half an hour, with your eyes closed, sit silently and just let things be as they areand witness your experience. If you want something to be different, let that wish too be there and let it be as it is. Just passively watch, witness, be mindful of your experiences. If you ususally watch your breath when you meditate, you can do that, though it’s not part of Osho’s official instructions for this meditation exercise.