OSHO International Meditation Resort
The OSHO International Mediation Resort (OIMR) in Pune is a unique resort which offers not only the traditional relaxation services of a luxury resort, Basho Spa, swimming pool, sauna, Jacuzzi, etc. But also, true to it’s name, offers more internal ways of relaxation. The various meditation techniques developed by OSHO himself for the modern man, that are held throughout the day and facilitated by many in-resident sannyasins or volunteer sannyasins.
If you manage to stay at the resort for more than a week though, you’ll quickly see the whole place is stuck in a pattern of some sorts, across it’s various aspects, seeping right down to it’s essential core. It’s starts from their mundane weekly schedule of daily meditations, to the food options available at their Zorba the Buddha restaurant.
Of course this affinity for routine and pattern is reflected by the people living here or visiting the place often. You’ll find the same people visiting the resort every year, sticking to the same meditation techniques from the few options, even down to the way people dance at the evening meeting meditation. Everyone has their own pattern of dancing that they knowingly repeat every time, no matter the music, their emotions or the circumstances.
A routine or a repeating structure can indeed be useful in certain situations though. For me, travelling and being in the flow continuously can lead to a certain exhaustion where I don’t have a chance to settle down, collect my thoughts and then turn off my active mind enough to integrate and embody my experiences.
Staying at the OIMR for a month as part of their Work-as-Meditation program gave me just that exact chance. Having a set schedule laid out for me, I didn’t have to continuously tap into how I’m feeling or flowing in order to be able to make any decisions. Letting others, or the existence through others, make the decisions for me on where to flow.
Letting go at a deeper level and just being aware of my resistances, of them being intellectual or actually existential?
With no goals or destination in my mind, coupled with a few meditations I was doing everyday, I was able to completely drop into how I was feeling at the body-sensations level. Being aware of my emotions, feeling and letting go of them one by one.
Learning and practising Qi Gong and Tai Chi taught at OIMR by Raj was also surprisingly quite beneficial in pushing grounding energies throughout my body more consciously, combining physical and psychic effort.
The few odd jobs I did at the resort, did indeed help me in growing out of my own cocoon of feelings and energy dynamics and instead being more aware and sensitive of other peoples energy fields. As well as how much of an effect I can have on them, especially through my words, in addition to my actions.
Of course OSHO’s words through his video talks and books throughout my stay, helped my get an intellectual understanding of what is happening to me as well.
Not surprisingly, in all the communities and communes I have visited so far, this one as well is but just a shadow of what it used to be under the leadership and aliveness of a visionary. Stuck perpetually in a vegetative state, left as it is by its founder.