11. Close your senses, become stonelike.

The second relaxation technique. Stop the doors of the senses when feeling the creeping of an ant. Then.

“What is to be done? Close your eyes and think that you are blind and you cannot see. Close your ears and think that you cannot hear. With all of the five senses, you just close them. How can you close them? It is easy. Stop breathing for a single moment: all your senses will be closed. When the breath has stopped and all the senses are closed, suddenly you are removed - far away.

This sutra says, Stop the doors of the senses. Become stonelike, closed to the world. When you are closed to the world, really, you are closed to your own body also, because your body is not part of you; it is part of the world. When you are closed completely to the world, you are closed to your own body also. Then, Shiva says, then the thing will happen.

And then, when you cannot move, you are thrown back to yourself, you are centered in your self. Then, for the first time you can look from your center. And once you can look from your center you can never be the same man again.”

-Osho


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10. Become the caress.

The first relaxation technique: While being caressed, Sweet Princess, enter the caress as everlasting life.

“Shiva starts with love. The first technique is concerned with love, because love is the nearest thing in your experience in which you are relaxed. If you cannot love, it is impossible for you to relax. If you can relax, you life will become a loving life.

Shiva says, While being caressed, Sweet Princess, enter the caress as everlasting life. What does it mean? Many things! One: while you are being loved the past has ceased, the future is not. You move in the dimension of the present. You move in the now. Have you ever loved someone? If you have ever loved, then you know that the mind is no longer there.

So the first thing: in the moment of love, past and future are no more. Then, one delicate point is to be understood. When there is no past and no future, can you call this moment the  present? It is the present only between the two - between the past and future. It is relative. If there is no past and no future, what does it mean to call it the present? It is meaningless. That is why Shiva doesn’t use the word ‘present.’ He says, everlasting life. He means eternity…enter eternity.”

-Osho


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9. Lie down as died. Stare without blinking.

The ninth technique: Lie down as dead. Enraged in wrath, stay so. Or stare without moving an eyelash. 

“Lie down as dead. Try it: suddenly you have gone dead. Leave the body! Do not move it, because you are dead. Just imagine that you are dead. You cannot move the body, you cannot move the eye, you cannot cry, you cannot scream, you cannot do anything, you are just dead. And then feel how it feels. But do not deceive. You can deceive, you can slightly move the body. Do not move. If some mosquito is there, then treat the body as if it is dead. It is one of the most used techniques.”

“The sutra says: Enraged in wrath, stay so. If you feel enraged, stay so. If you feel sad, stay so. If you feel anxiety, fear, stay so. You are dead and you cannot do anything, so stay so. Whatsoever is in the mind, the body is dead and you cannot do anything, so stay. That staying is beautiful. If you can stay for a few minutes, suddently you will feel that everything has changed. But we start moving. If there is some emotion in the mind, the body beings to move. That is why we call is emotion - it creates motion in the body.”

-Osho


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8. Watch the turning point with devotion.

The eighth breathing technique: With utmost devotion, center on the two junctions of breath and know the knower.

The incoming breath has one junction where it turns, the outgoing breath has another junction where it turns. With these two turnings - and we have discussed these turnings - a slight difference is made: that is, slight in the technique, but for the seeker it may be great. Only one condition is added: ‘With utmost devotion’ - and the whole technique becomes different.

Tantra says that the body is the temple. Your body is the temple of the divine, so do not treat your body as an object. It is sacred, it is holy. And while you are taking a breath in, it is not only you who is taking the breath, it is the divine within you. You are eating, you are moving or walking..look at it this way: it is not you, but the divine moving in you. Then the whole thing becomes absolutely devotional.

-Osho


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7. A technique to be aware in dreams.

The seventh breathing technique: With intangible breath in center of forehead, as this reaches heart at the moment of sleep, have direction over dreams and over death itself.

“You can direct. Once you can direct your dreams you can direct everything, because dream is the very stuff of this world. This life is made out of the stuff of dreams. Once you can direct your dreams you can direct everything…This sutra says, have direction over dreams and over death itself. You will know that death is just a long sleep.”

-Osho


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6. Focus on the gap during your daily activities.

When in worldly activities, keep attention between two breaths, and so practicing, in a few days be born anew.

“This technique, the sixth technique, is just to make yourself a psychodrama - just a play. You are focused on the gap between two breaths and life moves on, in the periphery. You can feel it, you can know it. It is as if it is not happening to you. I will repeat this: if you practice this sixth technique, your whole life will be as if it is not happening to you, as if it is happening to someone else”

-Osho


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5. Focus your attention on the third eye.

Attention between eyebrows, let mind be before thought. Let form fill with breath essence to the top of the head and there shower as light.

“Modern physiology says that between the two eyebrows is the gland which is the most mysterious part of the body. This gland, called the pineal gland, is the third eye of the Tibetans - shivanetra: the eye of Shiva. Between the two eyes there exists a third eye, but it is nonfunctioning. It is there, it can function at any moment, but it does not function naturally. You have to do something about it to open it. It is not blind; it is simply closed. This technique is to open the third eye.

This sutra says that when you are focused between the eyebrows, and you can feel the very essence of breathing, let form fill. Now imagine that this essence is filling your whole head, particular the top of the head, the sahasrar - the highest psychic center. And the moment you imagine, it will be filled. There - at the top of the head - shower as light. This prana essence is showering from the top of your head as light. And it will begin to shower, and under the shower of light, you will be refeshed, reborn, completely new. That is what inner rebirth means.”

-Osho


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4. Be aware when breathing stops.

Or, when breath is all out and stopped of itself, or all in and stopped – in such universal pause, one’s small self vanishes. 

“In this moment there will be a pause. Suddenly breathing stops. If you can be aware in that moment, you can reach the goal. Remember this: mind movement needs breath movement. Mind moving fast needs fast movement in breath.

When the mind is pure - no desire in the mind, no seeking, no motivation; you are not going anywhere, but just remaining here and now as an innocent pool…not even a ripple - then breathing stops automatically. There is no need for it. On this path, the small self vanishes and you attain to the higher self, the supreme self.”

-Osho


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3. Watch the fusion point of two breaths.

Or, whenever in-breath and out-breath fuse, at this instant touch the energy-less, energy-filled center.

“When the out-breath fuses with the in-breathe, when they become one, there is a moment of fusion. It is neither going out nor going in. When it is neither; when it is silent, non moving, you are near to the center. The fusion point of the in and outgoing breath is your center”

-Osho


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2. Watch the turning point between two breaths.

As breath turns down from down to up, and again as breath curves from up to down—through both these turns, realize.

“When breath takes a turn, you are not joined with it. In that moment you can easily become aware of who you are. What is this being? What is it to be? Who is inside this house of body? Who is the master? Am I just the house or is there some master also? Am I just the mechanism or does something else also penetrate this mechanism? In that turning gap, Shiva says, realize. He says just be aware of the turning, and you become a realized soul”

-Osho


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1. Watch the gap between two breaths.

Radiant one, this experience may dawn between two breaths. After breath comes in (down) and just before turning up (out)—the beneficence.

“When the breath touches your nostrils, feel it there. Then let the breathe move in. Move with the breath fully consciously. When you are going down, down, down with the breath, do not miss the breath. Do not go ahead and do not follow behind, just go with it. Remember this: do not go ahead, do not follow it like a shadow; be simultaneous with it.”

-Osho

I’m slowly making my way through Osho’s Book of Secrets. He presents Shiva’s 112 meditative techniques for going beyond the ego - beyond consciousness. As I get to a new technique, I’ll post it, as well as my favorite Osho excerpt regarding the technique. I’m also going to dedicate a session in the float tank to each technique. Stoked to start this journey!


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