Reflecting Before -and After- We Die

This is the second part of posting for this year's "Die Before You Die" in Osho Afroz. One of the things Kaifi asked me to do was to take portraits of the stuff and participants right before and after we finished the group. Here, I post only the photos of the stuff team and not of the participants, because of privacy. But if you participated, had your portrait and would like to see it posted here, you can let me know. Another reason for this post, is to mention something I forgot in the previous post. That is, about a member of the stuff, which for private reasons didn't want to be photographed or her name mentioned. I would like to send (surely on behalf of all the stuff and participants) love and respect to her and say that eventhough she's not visible in these posts, her wonderfull presence is always felt in our hearts.
oshoafroz.com

To Live Before We Die (Die Before You Die 2016, Osho Afroz)

Just before I right this text tonight, I was walking through the olive grove in Osho Afroz. I was walking barefoot and I had no flashlight with me. Then I thought that usually people would be scared walking without a light or shoes in the night. For me, after more than a decade of living in this wonderful place, walking barefoot most of the time just feels natural, as well as so connecting to the earth and healing to myself. As for the darkness, I guess I let go of that fear since the time I was studding photography and spending hours in the dark room. And certainly after a life changing experience in Osho Darkness meditation in this place some years ago. So each time I find myself walking in darkness in nature this summer I leave my mind behind and I'm becoming aware of my steps and my environment. Then, as the trees and the stones dimly reach my eyes, they take a form of faitytale, of wonder, of a majestic world. 

So, while walking in woder in the darkness, it came to me that this is a good metaphor to talk about my experience from the “Die Before You Die” group, that my Sufi bro Kaifi facilitates in Osho Afroz and I did last year as a participant and this year as a helper. You see, sometimes I have this feeling that I'm living this life in darkness, kind of like groping in the dark but that doesn't mean that I have to be fearful about it. As a matter of fact I can still enjoy it, marvel and be wonderful in it. And then the light can come from the inside.

As a member of the helpers team, one of my assignments was covering the process with photography and video. Here is a collection of the best photographs. They are unedited and the text is written in a non sophisticated way, by the sea, drinking coffee just before the swim. When I go back to the city, I will retouch the posts of this wonderful summer in Osho Afroz, by editing the photos and the texts. For the meantime, I post them like this as a way to send my love to all the beloved friends with which we connected this summer and as a way of showing my gratitude to this beautiful island, place and the Buddha field.

I am deliberately not writing what the “Die Before You Die” group is about. It is not for me to explain it here and maybe there is no need for explanation anyway. Maybe later I can write about my own experience. The only thing I can say now, is that last year, as a participant, there were sometimes in which somehow I felt I'm dying and these made me come closer to living fully, naturally and in wonder. So, while I'm not going to recommend that you walk barefoot and with no flash light at night through a forest, I certainly recommend this process.

oshoafroz.com

Facilitate This! (Osho Afroz mc, July 2014, Eressos-Lesvos)

I wouldn’t expect a group like the Osho Meditation Facilitator Training to be the exceptionally fun experience that it was when I did two years ago in Osho Afroz.

Making a seminar a fun and exciting experience is the best way to bypass the analytical impediments of the mind and transfuse learning. The Garimo-Kaifi twin was a joy to be led by in this experiential learning. I can say that the images speak for this.
 

There are a lot I could say to recommend this group but the information is already available and the images convey the feeling of this journey. I’ll just add that in this particular group of 2014 somebody turned around and said: “It might not happen again that all the Afroz family meets in a group like this.”

Everyone was in that room. And it brought us even more closer together. I even know about a great love affair that started in Gaia round room but I’m not into gossiping, so you’re not going to take a word from me.

 

 The thing is that every experience like this is unique. When you’re meeting with people in such an energy in the Buddha field and you realize that this exact combination of people and energies are not going to meet again, you start even more seeing everything in your life as a one moment unique experience that it can never repeat again. This doesn’t only make facilitating and meditating deeper but also life richer.

So, I will close this with the link to the group’s page

and two quotes from Osho on this.

http://www.oshoafroz.com/site/event/75/osho-meditation-facilitator-training

“Before you start doing a technique, be fully alert that you have understood it. Each technique is for bringing about a revolution in you. First try to understand the technique absolutely rightly.”  Osho

“It will be good for you also. This is my observation, that there are many things that you learn only when you start teaching them. The best way to learn a thing is to teach it.” Osho

 

For another post from Osho Afroz, check out this: 
http://eliastaris.blogspot.gr/2013/01/12-aug-2012-osho-afroz-rainforest-tribe.html#.Vvu8-3qaXSI
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