Laughing Meditation
The Laugh Yourself Daft workshops grew out of my experience with Laughing meditation. This is a five minute meditation that I learned from Osho. You start by pretending to laugh, until you are lost in real laughter. This is a technique you can practice by yourself. It was one of those major life-changing experiences. For me laughing for no reason was a big jump towards taking responsibility for my moods. If I wanted to drop my misery and be happy, I could just choose to do this meditation and be so. It's not like anything you would imagine as meditation if you think meditation is only sitting silently on a cushion, but laughter is a state where the mind disapears in an explosion of joy, and as I understand Osho, this is a sure-fire way to get a taste of meditation. It is certainly relaxing and energizing, and it flushes all your "problems" away. You don't have to limit yourself to only five minutes, nor do you have to do it only in the morning.
Instructions for Osho's Laughing Meditation
"Every morning upon waking, before opening your eyes, stretch like a cat. Stretch every fiber of your body. After three or four minutes, with eyes still closed, begin to laugh. For five minutes just laugh. At first you will be doing it, but soon the sound of your attempt will cause genuine laughter. Lose yourself in laughter. It may take several days before it really happens, for we are so unaccustomed to the phenomenon. But before long it will be spontaneous and will change the whole nature of your day."
- Osho, Meditation, The First and Last Freedom, p. 63, Rebel Publishing House,
John Lejderman (Srajano), doing
laughing meditation,
while remembering his "favorite" problem
