Articles
Can you explain the point of the expressive techniques? The Gibberish meditation seems intriguing……
The point of the expressive techniques is to dump out our stress and inner turmoil into a meditation technique instead of taking it out on others or ourselves. These techniques allow us to transform our anger, grief and fear into creativity, inner peace and wisdom. The Gibberish meditation, created by the Sufi mystic Jabbar, is a good example.
Stage One: Close your eyes. Put on a blindfold if you can because it helps keep the eyes closed. Start speaking in gibberish, any nonsense sounds. Don’t worry about what you sound like. Just go totally mad. This is therapeutic madness. Make any sounds you like; just don’t speak in a language or use words that you know. Allow yourself to express whatever needs to be expressed within you. Go consciously crazy. Sing, cry, shout, scream, mumble. Let your body go free, stamp, stomp, jump, skip, lie down, run in circles. Do whatever you feel like doing without harming anyone. Do not let up. Keep a steady stream of sound going. If you are doing this meditation with other people, don’t get distracted by what they are doing. Stay with what is happening with you. If you cannot make loud sounds, for example if you live in an apartment complex, then mouth the sounds silently but with the same force as if you were shouting out loud.
Stage Two: Sit in silence and watch with non-judgment.
Do each stage for an equal amount of time, start with five or ten minutes.
The benefits are:
- Releasing mental and emotional poisons from our body and mind, which is good for our health
- Discovering an alternative to dumping our anger on another individual, thus avoiding a destructive chain reaction
- Learning how to use the energy of anger and transform the anger into creativity and compassion
- Transforming victim-hood into empowerment, thus freeing ourselves from mental/emotional prisons.
- Discovering the inner silence, peace and wisdom that reside within us all
Excerpted from Laughter, Tears, Silence: Expressive Meditations to Calm Your Mind and Open Your Heart
Copyright Pragito Dove. 2010.
Laugh Your Way To Enlightenment!
As I sat in a restaurant one Sunday evening enjoying my pasta salad and the company of some friends, the sounds of giggles and laughter drifted over from the next table. We turned to see a family with two teenage daughters who had a bad case of the giggles. The father, obviously not in a good mood, became more and more exasperated with the girls’ inability to contain their laughter. Finally, with a very serious straight face, he said, “That’s enough laughing for the weekend, Julia.”
I had to turn away so he wouldn’t see my grin. Julia, meanwhile, tried to talk her father into starting on Monday’s quota of laughter. Her rationale was that she would be at school and wouldn’t be able to laugh as much as on a Sunday.
The absurdity of being given a ration of laughter each day reminded me of the way I was raised. Until then, I hadn’t really thought much about how serious my upbringing had been. My laughter had been largely repressed. Giggling and laughing were definitely frowned upon at school, church and other childhood places.
I wasn’t aware of just how much it had been repressed until I started practicing The Mystic Rose Meditation. This technique has three stages: Laughter, Tears, Sitting in Silence. My teacher Osho developed this practice for Americans, and all people living in high tech societies, because we respond well to expressive forms of meditation. During the first stage, one spends a good deal of time just laughing and it is most effective in a group environment.
During my first experience, it felt strange to laugh for three hours, especially in the presence of other people; however, it didn’t take long to get in the swing of it. After a while, my natural laughter just kept bubbling up to the surface.
We don’t have to wait to be happy. The different laughter meditations I teach and practice are a way to help us relax, loosen up and enjoy life. They provide opportunities for a playfulness, a reminder that life does not have to be a constant struggle.
Happiness is our essential nature.
Rather than waiting for external events to determine our happiness, we can find it deep inside ourselves. Perhaps we think we have to be relaxed and calm, or that all sorts of conditions must exist for us to be happy. This is not the case; happiness can exist for no reason. The more we practice smiling, laughing and enjoying ourselves for no reason, the more we will discover that we already have what we seek.
Many of us know that laughter is good for us, but we might feel that we have nothing to laugh about; we may feel more like crying. The second stage of The Mystic Rose Meditation can help us to release and heal old wounds, unburden sorrows and discover deep peace within.
So try some laughter techniques, but be kind and gentle with yourself. And remember: If you are in the midst of a difficult time in your life, commit an equal amount of time to allow your sadness to exist. The balanced awareness and expression of both of these energies will bring you to a deeper harmony and peace within yourself.
The Benefits
Laughter is good for us in every way as several studies have shown. See, for example, articles by N. Lehrman in Archives of Internal Medicine, April 26, 1993; by Lee Berk, Dr.P.H. in Loma Linda University School of Medicine News, March 11, 1999; by N.Silver in American Health, November 1986; by J. McCormick in Lancet, August 1994. Among these findings:
- Laughter stimulates physical healing.
- Laughter enhances our creativity.
- Laughter is rejuvenating and regenerating.
- Laughter is sexy.
- Laughter is good for relationships.
- Laughter opens the heart.
- Laughter gives us a glimpse of freedom from the mind.
Remember to laugh, a lot, every day!
Copyright Pragito Dove 2010.
