Osho talks extensively about freedom. It was one of the first things that drew me to him. I yearned for it but I also did not know what freedom was or what it felt like.
Over the years through different OSHO Active Meditations, Osho related courses, and OSHO Meditative therapies, I began to see how I kept myself in a safe, protective cage.
I saw it but did not know how to leave it until I took a jump into a process that I had been avoiding for years. That process was OSHO Born Again and this year something strong inside me yearned to try it and once I jumped into it I experienced inner freedom.
What is OSHO Born Again?
OSHO Born Again is a meditative therapy created by Osho created. The process takes place over seven days for two hours per day. In the first hour, you be like a child. This means you can do anything you want except touch or harm another. You can laugh, play, cry, weep, sleep, bounce around the space, have a tantrum. It is a chance to enter the space and wonder of a child.
In the second hour, bringing that childlike quality with you, you sit for one hour in silence. It is non-verbal so there is no analysing or talking, you can just be and experience life like a child again.
My own experience of this was subtle, deep, playful, and freeing. Before starting it I thought how will I be like a child for a whole hour? I have a tendency towards doing and being busy. Yet something magical happened, I found it was very easy to be like a child. I went into a space of no thinking, just experiencing life in a moment to moment way.
In that space everything became fascinating. A piece of tissue, a stone, these objects that I took no notice of suddenly took on a whole new dimension because my eyes saw new dimensions. I loved the freedom to be able to express whatever came up in the moment.
Some moments I sulked and did not look at anyone. Some moments I laughed deeply. Some moments I sobbed deeply. Some moments I twisted my body up in weird postures. Some moments I lay down, cuddled deep into myself and rested. Some moments I made babbling nonsense sounds, some moments I was destructive and some moments I was created. I played with it all with no thinking, just experiencing. From that space, silence became much easier.
My past childhood was very restrictive and the fear of freedom I carried was a deep conditioning from it. My childlike feeling now is curious, open, and sees endless possibilities. I feel anew from this process because the thought of “what will they think” is dropping. I find it easier to continue to be like a child and do what I wish without causing any harm or interference to anyone else.
I am profoundly grateful to Osho for his love and wisdom in creating these incredible meditative therapies. If you want to experience OSHO Born Again, you can do it in the OSHO International Meditation Resort. It really is the place to experience this process and they hold it every month. I know it is one I will keep coming back to again and again.
I will close with a beautiful quote from Osho about the child and freedom:
If a child is left open, receptive, alert, and given the incentive for search, he will have psychological freedom. And with psychological freedom comes tremendous responsibility. You don’t have to teach it to him; it comes like the shadow of psychological freedom. And he will be grateful to you. […] The world lives in psychological slavery.
Osho, The Path of the Mystic
Osho Ireland 