26: Everything is Better with Art (even OSHO)
For the most part I can summarize my OSHO experience as, “Thank you, next”. And while this sentiment rings true, there was an abundance here I’d be remiss not to mention.
The absolute best, most inspiring, lovely, amazing and all things radical experience I had at OSHO, (and I’d argue the world over), was a 2 day course titled, “Painting Your Past Lives”. At first I wasn’t sold on taking this course, especially knowing that I had to pay an additional materials fee on top of everything else. (Once again, open your wallet at OSHO…)
In a sort of my-time-is-running-out and painting-sounds-cool panic I paid the extra $35 and signed up for the class. I knew very little about what this class was or even meant but I happened to stumble upon the main plaza right at the end of a course demo where they were wheeling out a massive canvas that was wildly painted. My eyes lit up. Can I keep my painting? This could actually be really awesome. I’m in.
The course started the following day and over the next 2 days I haven’t been so overwhelmed with inspiration, joy and true creativity in a long, long time. I skipped breaks and ended lunch hours early to go back and keep painting. The class was 9-4 with a tea and lunch break. Each day consisted of 2 major meditative / hypnosis sessions and the rest was painting. It was WILD and I LOVED it. One of the highlight meditations was to embody 4 emotions, go deep into that emotion, truly embody it in your heart, soul and body and then paint. For this specific meditation, the sessions were: anger, your biggest fear, the deep loss of something and joy. Each of these sessions and colors shows up on my canvas.
Our studio and group space.
The hypnosis bit was a bit more interesting and hard to define. We had two instructors in the course, one has a background in art and the other actively works / teaches / practices hypnosis. He would lead both the meditations and hypnosis portions. That part was so fascinating and interesting but I think it was really powerful. You relax your body and go into a sort of floating and easy state and you’re much more susceptible to the process he is guiding you through.
The past lives meditation didn’t happen until the last day and unfortunately the gentleman next to me was snoring basically the entire time so I couldn’t go super deep. Regardless, it was still wonderful.
There was nothing I would have changed about this class. Well, perhaps one thing. Adding another day. But besides more painting time I not only loved the process portion I loved the act of creating. The ability to get out of your meditating mind and express yourself on a canvas was amazing. And not only that, I love, love, love my painting.
At the very end of the class our last painting instructions were to write 3 words on your canvas that you embody. The first word that came to me was “messy”. And this painting, getting yelled at for literally being messy and my overall life is just messy. It’s a perfect word and it perfectly fits and I love it. I wouldn’t fix my messiness for anything.
The Process of Painting
(With crappy lighting and poorly shot images, but you get the idea.)
Process 1
Process 2
Process 3
Process 4
The final “masterpiece”.
While painting was definitely the tippy top of my highlight reel my 2nd place “Awesome Award” is tied in two categories: dancing and people.
It’s not a surprise that dancing was also a major draw and a delightful, inspiring and joyous event for me at OSHO. Almost every meditation, ceremony and event at OSHO has some sort of dance included in it. And no surprise of course because dance is art too. And art, in all of it’s many forms, makes everything better.
(Left) Me! This was the Christmas Eve dance celebration. It was awesome. (Right) Imagine this outdoor space filled with 50-100+ people dancing their hearts and spirits out to an eclectic mix of international music. Every single day. Heaven. (And yes, these are illegally taken photos.)
For many, the act of ecstatic dance may be intimidating. The rules are simple, move your body in whatever way, rhythm, movement, stillness or chaos you want. Every morning from 10:45 - 11:45 there is a Dance Celebration in the outdoor courtyard that I would attend. Some days I would be sweating by the end of it, some days the music and vibe didn’t move me at all. But it was my biggest highlight on the daily schedule of classes, I tried hard to never miss it.
Also in 2nd place is a shout out and a passionate thank you to the group of people that I met at OSHO. They were nothing short of amazing. My little crew consisted of wonderful humans from the following countries: Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Israel, Bahrain, Iran, Germany and Hungary. I literally had to Google where Bahrain is on a map. Where else in the world do you get to meet, discuss and experience life with people from such diverse and incredible backgrounds? These humans were fascinating, funny, kind, wise and so other worldly it was intoxicating. Their lives and their cultures could not be more different than mine and I was obsessively peppering them with questions, such as:
“What’s the equivalent to Christmas in your country?”
“Wait, you can’t invite men to your wedding? Why?”
“Do your parents know you’re here?”
“What’s it like to be a woman in your country?”
“What’s the definition of being Arab?”
Celebrating our new friend Ali’s birthday while at OSHO.
These humans were, and still are, endlessly fascinating. I could talk to them for hours learning about their lives and what brings them to OSHO. I connected with people here from places I’ve never really thought about and clearly had no understanding of. It was wonderful.
Week 1 vs week 2 was significantly different and in the most appropriate word, “better”. A large part of that was due to the painting class but the other aspects of building a small community paired with caring less about the rules made for a really enjoyable few days.
Me and my happy place.
What I learned and can fully appreciate about OSHO is that matching art, in many different forms, with meditation is beautiful. And in appreciating this aspect, I can appreciate my experience at OSHO for all that it was. And more importantly, it’s lead me to the beaches of Southern India to do a 5 day painting workshop at a funky little retreat center here. Without doubt I know and will continue to take with me this lesson: art heals, connects, inspires and motivates me. Keep doing it at any cost.
- M
