On Making Drawings While Practising Rajneesh’s Dhyana Yoga

Leomrdo, Vol. 9, pp. 308-310. Pergarnon Press 1976. Printed in Great Britain ON MAKING DRAWINGS WHILE PRACTISING RAJNEESH’S DHYANA YOGA Om Upadhya* 1. This is an account of the drawings that I made with wax crayons while in a psychological state reached while practising a type of Dhyana yoga developed by Acharya Rajneesh, founder of the International Neo-Sannyas Movement in India [l]. Rajneesh’s Dhyana yoga possesses characteristics that may be traced to various schools of mysticismnamely , Hindu (Yogic and Tantric), Jain, Buddhist, Christian, Islamic (Sufi) and Hassidic. It involves the stimulation of certain parts of the body called ‘kundalinis ’ (‘vital energy centres’) that, it is claimed, leads to an experience of ‘pure’ awareness and deep ecstatic bliss. Its four stages of about 10 minutes each may be practised alone or in a group. The first stage consists of fast and deep breathing while standing with one’s eyes closed. The rapid breathing is accompanied by vigorous repetitive motion such that the body seems like a furious breathing machine. Thoughts about anything are to be avoided. Rajneesh writes: ‘Thischaotic breathing is to create a chaos within your repressed system. ... This chaotic breathing is to destroy all your systems of the past .... This creates a chaos because unless a chaos is created you cannot release your repressed emotions ... So this chaotic breathing will make you like an animal -alive, vibrating, vital, with more oxygen in your blood, more energy in your cells . ..you can call it bioenergy . . . ’ [I]. The second stage follows in which a kind of catharsis is to be reached by means of a mental ‘let-go’of rational thought. It may be manifested by weeping, dancing, laughing, shouting, screaming, jumping, rolling and shaking-physical actions that are intended to release deep repressions. ‘ . . . I tell you to be consciously insane, and whatsoever comes to your mind, wlrafsoever , allow it expression and cooperate with it. No resistance: just a flow of emotions .. ..A deep scream, a total scream in which your whole being becomes involved is very therapeutic, deeply therapeutic’ [I]. The third stage is intended to affect the ‘root-energy centre’ that is presumed to exist at the base of the spine. Rajneesh claims that shouting ‘hoo’ (the Sufi mantra) continually is best for this. I have noticed that while shouting ‘hoo’ as loudly as I can, I soon begin to feel exhausted, but this is temporary, as I find that I quickly feel that I am gathering strength. The fourth stage takes place while one is lying on one’s back, completely still and relaxed with one’s eyes closed and the palms of the hands facing up. This *Artist and teacher living at 47 Ravindra Nagar, Udaipur, Rajasthan, India (Received 23 July 1975.) is called ‘shava asana’ or the ‘corpse posture’. Upon reaching deep relaxation, one may continue this state either lying down or sitting on the floor. As propounded by the neo-sannyasins, one’s ability to meditate quietly eventually becomes automatic when this type of yoga is practised daily either in the morning or in the evening. Rajneesh’s Dhyana yoga should not be tried by novices without guidance by qualified persons in order to avoid the danger of serious physical and emotional harm. Light, loose clothing should be worn and the stomach should be empty. Those interested in investigations of the claims for various kinds of yoga should consult Ref. 2 and further information on Rajneesh’s Dhyana yoga may be obtained from the Rajneesh Foundation, 17 Koregaon Park, Poona, India. 2. It is in the second stage of the yoga that I made drawings as a means of release instead of shouting or dancing. I decided that wax crayons and pads of drawing paper would be the most appropriate materials to use. Working with wax crayons can give one a feeling of both drawing and painting. They are available in many transparent colours and some brands of crayon are soft enough for impasto application. Grating and rubbing of the surface can produce additional textural effects. One can speculate about this approach to art by finding analogies in expressionistic painting and in the automatic writing of the surrealists and the dadaists...