Teisho by Genjo Marinello Osho

The same is true when we’re approaching the cushion. In order to dance you have to get ready to dance and posture is a lot of it. So, we have to take our seat and learn how to just sit. The more contact points that you can get with the ground, the better off you are. Whether you’re sitting in a kneeling position or a cross-legged position, or even on a chair with your feet on the ground, the more that you can get in contact with the earth the better, because part of learning how to be in the Flow is feeling plugged into the earth.

When I’m sitting cross-legged, it took a while for me to do, but now after forty years, it’s no big deal, and I probably make it look easy. My knees are definitely touching the ground and my tailbone is planted deeply in the zafu. This position is like a three pronged plug, and I’m plugged into the earth. The more contact points that I have, the more plugged into the earth I feel.

I don’t want a position that feels lumpy. If I’m sitting like this [hunching over looking very much like Rhodan’s the “Thinker”], it’s just not going to give me a very good plugged in feeling. The more you can sit like this [sitting very much like a traditional statue of Buddha on the lotus flower] the easier it is to feel plugged into the earth.

You can sit with the legs folded or you can sit seiza (kneeling with your ankles in back), but whatever you do, you want to take your seat and feel plugged into the earth. Next you need an erect spine, which is like raising your antenna to the heavens. When I’m planted in the earth and connected to the heavens, then right here in my own center of gravity [pointing to his hara or lower abdomen], I put a circle around my balance point [taking up the “Cosmic mudra” with his hands], right over my center of gravity.

With hands in this position, it helps me to remain aware of my center of gravity. Whether I’m sitting, moving or I’m dancing, if I act from this center of gravity I can be so much more aware of my surroundings and engage with my surroundings with much more power and harmony. If I’m not aware of my balance point or center of gravity, I’m going to trip, I’m going to fall, I’m going to be out of balance, I am not going to be able to sit or move with any sort of grace or power.

So take your seat. Get plugged into the earth. Raise the antenna. And then find your center of gravity and sit in it… sit in that balance point. [Demonstrating mudra again] sit right here at one’s center of gravity, just at or right below my navel.