dynamic meditation

Words:  448

          The day began in a fantastic manner.  Sun was bright, skies were clear, and the temperature was moderate, at about 6 degrees.  Dynamic meditation is an exercise I'd never heard of before this trip to Moscow.  It seems to be a fad that occupies people who need to do more than meditate.  Participants get a bit of exercise, and they can scream their guts out if they wish.  

          Today was the second time I have participated.  We gather in a dance studio—empty room with hard wood floor, and mirrors on most of the walls.  The music is loud, but not overbearing, and at one point, a recording comes on.  There is an Indian man speaking for about 60 seconds in soothing tones.  He tells us that the exercise hinges on the deep breathing we will perform for the first 10 minutes—everything good flows from the breathing.  He explains the rest of the exercise and we hear him no more.  Soon everyone is exhaling forcefully and moving their arms, shoulders, and hips as if they are trying to force out the air.  Oftentimes, this comes in the form of hands near the temple with the elbows moving forward and back.  I'm making no joke and I'm not mocking anyone when I say that you would not be incorrect if you said they look like they are doing the 'chicken dance'.  

          As with the other sections, we breathe deeply for about 15 minutes.  Then comes catharsis.  We should let ourselves go, swing out arms and legs, kick, and most importantly of all, we should yell in any manner available.  When was the last time you screamed at the top of your lungs anywhere but a football stadium?  This wasn’t all that unusual or interesting because there were others doing it, too.  Hence, our insanity was not solitary.

          Then comes a cymbal crash as the signal for the next segment.  Everyone put their arms straight up, jumped up and down—trying to land on their flat feet—and hooting like the monkeys I saw at the St. Louis Zoo when I was 12.  “Hoop, hoop, hoop.”  “Hoop, (jump), hoop, (jump), hoop, (jump).”

​          After another 10 minutes, the Indian dude comes back on and says, “Stop!”  Everyone immediately stops jumping and hooting.  Everything becomes totally silent.  We do not move a muscle for 10 minutes.  It seems to me that this is the true 'meditative' portion of 'dynamic meditation’; during this 15 minutes, there is not much to do besides think about myself.  As a novice dynamic-meditator, I'm still trying to make sure I'm doing what I need to do.  There are probably some intricacies that I don’t understand yet.