Groups
Groups were an amazing feature of the Pune One Ashram. They did not end then of course, but they began then and for a good chunk of that time were the main financial support for the ashram. A unique aspect of the groups of that time was that they were one of the major ways Osho's guidance would manifest for "ordinary" seekers, ie those who weren't involved in ashram work or other "special" roles which might define their relationship with the master.
For many of the many people who wrote letters to Osho concerning any "problems" they were experiencing, his answer would come in the form of a suggestion to participate in certain groups. Then, for the period of whatever group it happened to be, situations, experiences and interactions would happen, which would contain the seeds of an insight into the situation which had caused the problem. Osho also assigned groups to people coming to see him in darshan, either taking sannyas, returning from the west, or coming to see him regarding a problem.
Another unique feature of groups in those days was darshan: after every group was completed, the group would come en masse to darshan. Osho would ask the group leader(s) how the group went, they would say a few words, or possibly enter into their own process with him, as it was also an opportunity for them, and then, depending on how crowded the evening schedule was, some group members might ask individual questions.
Groups were of many types, and of course many could not be easily pigeonholed, with categories blurring and overlapping. Basic types were Meditation, Therapy, Play and Bodywork. All were different angles to approach the quintessential seeker's question, "Who am I?" "Therapy" groups took the approach of using methods based on mostly Western schools of psychotherapy, with a strong leaning towards the fashionable "human potential" movement, whose cutting edge included sannyasins like Teertha and Somendra, who were finding that, despite being leaders in their field, their approaches lacked the essential element of spirituality that Osho was offering. These groups used the interpersonal dynamics that arose in their hothouse milieux to shine a light on unconscious patterns which might then, by being made conscious, be less binding on our self-image and -experience. Or something like that.
Focusing here on the therapy groups is not meant to detract from the quality of the others, but it was the cachet of the therapy groups which led in short order to Shree Rajneesh Ashram's fairly legitimate claim of being the largest spiritual growth center in the world. That claim has persisted to this day, though the processes offered have become less cutting-edge, quality may have deteriorated and prices have skyrocketed to the point of making it less attractive in that regard.
Names of most of the groups available in Pune One were found in a timeline in The Sound of Running Water, pages XXIV and XXV. In alphabetical order they are:
- Anatta, Arica, Aum, Awareness, Bioenergetics, Body Awareness, Body Mind, Boredom / Hell, Centering, Couples, Divine Healing, Encounter, Exorcism, Feldenkrais, Gestalt, Hypnotherapy, Intensive Enlightenment, Kyo, Laughing Meditation, Leela, Let Go, Massage, Mime, Movement, Music Group, Nartana, Prasadam, Prema, Primal, Rebirthing, Relationship, Relaxation, Samarpan, Sarjana, Satori, Shraddha, Shunyam, Soma, T'ai Chi, Tantra, Tantra Yoga, Tao, Tathata, Urja, Vipassana, Whirling, Yoga, and Zazen.
The timeline shows the dates that each group was offered. In most cases, they go on through March 1978. Most continued after that as well, through May-June 1981, but that is as far as the book covered. Where groups were discontinued in the book's time frame, end dates are also shown. The first groups began in Aug 1975. They were pretty much the "heaviest" of the groups offered, Encounter and Primal.
The table below contains a sampling of the groups about which some minimal facts are known. Names sometimes evolved over the years and leaders came and went. Assistant leaders' names are also included. Active links (non-red) go to pages about which more is known. Feel free to add your knowledge about any of these groups!
| Group, aka | Leader(s) | a few facts |
|---|---|---|
| Anatta | Aneesha | |
| Centering | Prasad | a "play" group, ie a non-serious, fun group; a "factory" group, ie assigned to most newcomers, with up to 200 people on Krishna House roof, deriving many of its techniques from Arica |
| Couples | Amitabh | |
| Encounter | Teertha | |
| Hypnotherapy aka Dehypnotherapy? |
Santosh | |
| Intensive Enlightenment aka Enlightenment Intensive |
Amida, Vimalkirti, Ganga | |
| Leela | Somendra | |
| Music Group | Anubhava | a free drop-in celebration group, every evening in Buddha Hall, except during camps, differing from most of the "assigned", process-oriented groups in this page |
| Nartana | Amiyo | |
| Primal | Divya | |
| Samarpan | Rajen | |
| Tantra | Sudha | sex, what else?, lots of it, and methods to explore attitudes and blocks |
| Tao | Siddha | Siddha was not the first leader of this group but became so in mid-1978 |
| Vipassana | Pradeepa, Gopal, Paritosh | Paritosh was the first leader, in 1976, along with Pradeepa, for a year or two |
| Zazen | Pradeepa, Gopal |
- see also
- Category:Therapy
