Sufi Meeting, with Devo Minas

So, one more hour, one more day, one more meditation weekend in Osho style has passed…

This time it was a workshop centered on sufi methods, namely zikrs (”God remembrance” – saying mantras or expressions of higher truths), whirling like a whirligig and exercises for centering in one’s heart and hara.

There were three and a half days, plus an extra evening with Devo Minas, an Osho disciple from Greece, who came to Romania invited by the Osho Joy Meditation Center :).

The group was less big than other times, around 10 people. The good part in this was that we had more space for whirling…

So, we chanted La Ilaha Ilalah (There Is No God But God), Ishk Allah Mabood Alllah (God is the Love, the Lover and the Beloved), we spined like big children and we laughed, and what a laugh….

For me, the most deep experience was on Saturday evening, when after we chanted and chanted some sufi mantra, we laid down on our backs and we started laughing:))). The thing was that, almost on every chanting we did, we would start laughing from time to time, because the mind interfered, saying: “What the fuck are you doing here? Did you converted yourself to mahommedanism? You are not in your senses!” And after two days and a half of this kind of things, the laughter came naturally…

But for me, who I’m pretty good in controlling things and to keep my serious appearance, this moment was really sensational…It was an incredible release of energy there! Think of 5 or 10 people who are laughing till they die…:))) I really felt myself that at some point I will crack from so much energy. And the sensation was that, for a few moments, there remained only the laughter…just like a waterfall which flows with tremendous power…Yes.

And Devo has such a comforting presence…with a huge smile, a big child simle and a warm look which you cannot fight with.

But still, there is something that I didn’t like in the way he facilitated meditations. The fact that he was not careful enough with the silent moments after the whirling. For me, it is very important in these moments, not to hear a pin falling in the room, because in this way I can dive freely in that silent space inside. And, unfortunately, in our group, that silence was not respected as it should have been…

One remembering moment I had also on Monday evening, after de workshop, when we did Atisha’s Heart meditation, a technique in which you imagine that you take in all the negativity from outside and you give all the possible blessings from your heart, to the world and to the people.

I felt so touched at some point by the suffering of the beings I love, that I started crying…

What can I say, than:

Namaste, dear Devo!

Meditation Flash-Mob, 11.11.2011

Yesterday evening I took part in an interesting and new event, a Meditation Flash-Mob, or MedMob, meaning a short public event, with a certain subject, in this case meditation. ”Flash” because is short, and ”Mob” because it is a mobilization of more people.

An example of a similar event, is this MedMob made in London, this year: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kdIYXrp9hRs

The event that I participated in, took place in Piata Unirii (Unirii Square), in Bucharest, Romania. It was between 5-5.30 pm. The Facebook Page of the event/movement, here: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Med-Mob-Bucuresti-Romania/282832508417755

So, the idea was to go the set place and stay in silence for twenty minutes, and then to unite together to (in)chant something. And so it was…

Let me tell you my experience, in a few words…

So, I went there, I sited on a bank, and at 5 o’clock I closed my eyes…It was pretty strange, the experience. It is very difficult to enter in a silent state, a witnessing state, when people are passing by and some of them they comment about you,  and the policemen are there to guard…what? This really surprised me…is this movement really so dangerous, sir?

Nevermind, I was to find out later that some dudes also established  a meeting there, namely the Romanian version of the “Ocuppy Wall Street!” But I don’t know why, they didn’t came there, but policemen did, to guard 30 people meditating, that is 30 people who are doing nothing.  Hahaha.

Getting back… to the silent sitting part…There were a few moments in which I kind of detached myself from the outside world, it was strange, because you have a state that you experience usually in a very different context, namely in a meditation room, with your friends…I mean, it’s like you’d speak in front of 5000 people and you have the relaxation that is in you when you speak with an old friend. :)

Another interesting thing was with the cold. Yesterday it was pretty cold, I think there were 1 or 2 degrees Celsius. And still, my body and my mind endured quite easily this aspect. In fact, when I was starting to move my attention outwards, even if I had my eyes closed, I was more aware of the cold and somehow worried, and when I was looking inwards, the cold seemed to vanish also…

After  sitting silently, each of us, alone, as if he wouldn’t know anybody, followed a small gathering, in a little circle, on the grass from the Unirii Square, where we (in)chanted the sound AUM.  It was nice, but too short, man.

And when we gathered for the singing part, there showed up some journalists from B1 TV, putting the cameras on us, and they insistently wanted to speak with us. Unfortunately, none of us propose himself to say something….Now, I’m curious what kind of news they’ll make out of it.

One thing I realized during this events was that it is very important when you have such public “shows” that the participants support each other energetically. That’s why, in the future, I’d suggest that the movement to be more defined, like we sit in a delimited area or we make a circle, or I don’t know…I mean, to put that energy literally in the same bowl…

After the event, some part of the participants went to drink a tea and tell this and that. This way I found out that two young people came all the way from Constanta (a city situated at 224 km from Bucharest), only for this. Nice dedication, I’d say. Although I don’t think I would have done such thing…

That’s about all, in short…

Impressions on a Devapath meditation group, february 2011

Last week I had a meeting with Anand Devapath, an Osho disciple and therapist, who came to Romania for a couple of days, invited by Zorba Buddha, namely Veet Cristian, our Romanian guy who organizes Osho meditation group, among other things…

There were three different events, in a five days period:  an oceanic breathing session, at Casa Satya;  an evening just for men, somewhere else, I don’t say where, a very cool place, and a weekend (from Friday evening till Sunday evening), centered again on oceanic breathing.

So, well?

What should I start with?...let’s start with the first evening, at Satya. Devapath introduced himself, said a few things about his life, how did he arrived to Osho, what means his sannyas name, what it is important to work with the breathing…Looking at him, I realized at some point that I had my eyes glued on him. Wow, how weird! I’m usually more acustic, I don’t really need to look the man in the eye when he speaks to me, especially when they don’t say something through them…

But,  let’s get back. Devapath speaks a lot, my friend.  Compared to Bodhiray (deh, I can’t help to compare them…), he is like a tittle-tattler, yakety-yakety-ya. But he is very expressive. And he has that move from the eyebrows…mmm. I’ll tell you later where did he got it from J. The thing is…he tickles you somewhere with it.

Yes, so Devapath is more like fire, wild, alive, sometimes explosive. Bodhiray was more like  water, silent, deep,  so deep that you can drown in it, and still crystal clear.

So Wednesday was an evening of  storytelling, laughter and oceanic breathing.  For me it wasn’t so intense, but I felt I could absorb more energy than other times.

The weekend workshop started somehow shy, but it ended in loudly laughter. Each day we had a breathing session, which I liked very much, because I think that the breathing work is essential in spiritual area.  As Osho also says, you can drop anything else, but not the breathing work.

And I also liked the flowing way of leading the group and the people, from Devapath.  I don’t know where he got this from :), probably from Osho, what I know is that thing were connected to one another very well, which is really strange. Because is clear that those were not ad-hoc created exercises, but they fitted very well in the energy of the group at some point. For example, in the first evening, if I remember right, we did some exercises in which you were supposed to breathe deeply, to connect the earth and the sky, and then he told us just to lie down on the ground and to start to breathe with the mouth slightly open….So natural…

Or, in another session, after we lied down on the floor, he told us to move our legs and arms as if we were running a bicycle. Faster and faster and….faster! And then, continue to breathe with the mouth slightly open…

But what I won’t forget for certain is how he lead the last breathing session… I remember that at some point, during the session, he says: "Well, when your mother and father will ask you: 'What have you learned in this group?', you'll say, 'A, nothin' mamma, just laughter, just to enjoy myself'..'And what else have you learned in this group?' 'Oh, I don't even dare to say the word...I've learned to be sexy! I've learned to move my pelvis'..." Oioioi :)))))))

So, thank you Devapath! A big, big thank you!

PS. Oh, I had almost forgot.  That movement from the eyebrows he “stoled” it from Jack Nickolson.  Because he also likes to be a little mean, sometimes.