Gibberish Meditation is an Osho cathartic method that invites total, expressive release through sound and movement. It is distinct from the gentle flow of Devavani; here, the emphasis is on energetic discharge and breaking the mind’s habit of constant inner talking. The word “gibberish” traces back to the Sufi mystic Jabbar, who spoke in no known language—only spontaneous, meaning-free sounds.
In the first stage, you pour out everything in nonsensical vocalization and expressive movement, going consciously wild to interrupt the stream of words that binds the mind. In the second stage, you lie on your belly and softly melt into the earth with each exhalation, letting the storm settle into deep grounding and silence. This meditation can be done alone or in a group and is designed to free, unburden, and center you.
Phase Instructions
First Stage: Gibberish and Expressive Release (15 minutes)
Alone or in a group, stand or sit comfortably, close your eyes, and begin making nonsense sounds—pure gibberish. Do not speak any language or use words you know. Let any inner pressure, thoughts, or emotions pour out as sounds without meaning. Go totally mad—consciously crazy—throw everything out without suppressing anything. Keep it continuous; do not allow gaps or silence. If you can’t find sounds, repeat simple syllables like “la la la,” but do not stop. Let your body be expressive: you may cry, scream, wave or fling your arms and legs—whatever wants to move, allow it, without harming yourself or others. If practicing in a group, do not interfere with anyone; stay with your own process and don’t concern yourself with what others are doing. A blindfold may be worn if it helps you stay inward.
Second Stage: Merge with the Earth (15 minutes)
Lie down on your stomach for fifteen minutes. With each exhalation, feel as if you are melting and merging with the ground beneath you—sinking into the earth’s embrace. Let your breath guide the softening; with every out-breath, dissolve a little more, allowing the body to settle and the mind to quiet. Remain still, receptive, and connected to the simple sensation of merging.
Core Benefits
- Encourages expressive release through sound and movement
- Interrupts the mind's constant inner talking
- Facilitates energetic discharge
- Promotes deep grounding and silence
- Helps to free and unburden the practitioner
What Osho Said About This Technique
Beloved Osho, often while sitting with you or when first waking in the morning, I am in a very silent space. It is like having a secret twinkling smile inside. And with it is the awareness that problems do not exist and this space is always available. I watch the mind surfacing with thoughts and for some beautiful moments it is very easy to not get engaged. But then as the discourse ends or I begin some activity I seem to go completely unconscious, unable to stop the momentum of my mind and my doing. There is just a nagging memory of the silence and a feeling of being uncentered again and miss
There is no need to worry -- and don't be greedy! Whatever is happening is so much. If listening to me a silence descends on you, thoughts disappear, and you feel a center, a new space, and you also feel that this space is always available... it is true. The moment you feel your center, the feeling that this center is always available is part of it. It is part of the experience, an essential part; hence it has an authority. Or, in the morning when you wake up and the mind is silent... and now that you have become aware of silence, you can recognize it. Everybody wakes up in the morning with a silent mind, but that remains for only a few seconds. And even in those few seconds he does not realize that he is without any thought, because he has had no taste of it, no…Read the full discourse →
MY BELOVED ONES, I am introducing you to a new meditation. It is divided in three parts. The first part is gibberish. The word `gibberish' comes from a Sufi mystic, Jabbar. Jabbar never spoke any language, he just uttered nonsense. Still he had thousands of disciples because what he was saying was, "Your mind is nothing but gibberish. Put it aside and you will have a taste of your own being." To use gibberish, don't say things which are meaningful, don't use the language that you know. Use Chinese, if you don't know Chinese. Use Japanese if you don't know Japanese. Don't use German if you know German. For the first time have a freedom -- the same as all the birds have. Simply allow whatever comes to your mind without bothering about its rationality, reasonability, meaning, significance -- just the way the birds are doing.Read the full discourse →
The society goes on repressing. In fact the real function of a temple is to provide a place where you can go and cathart, where you can throw all the rubbish that the society has forced on you. And society has to force things because it has to think of so many things. It cannot pay attention to each individual singly -- it has to look to the collectivity. And when you live with many people you cannot be absolutely free, so many things are bound to be inhibited. Those inhibited things drive people crazy. But if they can be allowed, soon you will feel such relaxation coming to you as you have never felt before.Read the full discourse →
She has also asked: when we do gibberish, followed by silence, are we experiencing the active, then the inactive mind? And is it possible that we can experience the transcendental during the let-go? Can one have moments of consciousness before being totally and irrevocably conscious?
The whole method is managed in the same way you are describing it. Gibberish is to get rid of the active mind, silence to get rid of the inactive mind and let-go is to enter into the transcendental. And don't think that it is something special, that only special people can do it. You are doing it! -- you just have to recognize it. You have to realize the fact of your dignity. The whole society has destroyed you, spoiled you, undermined you, repressed every possibility of your reaching to yourself. And the whole world is against me, because I am doing exactly the opposite: I am trying to bring the individual back into the world, and the world has killed the individual completely. Just today, I have received an invitation from a small commune of friends in New Zealand. They have a beautiful place; they have sent pictures of…Read the full discourse →
Aum, may my speech be rooted in my mind, and my mind rooted in my speech. O self-illumined brahman, be manifest unto me. Speech and mind form the basis of my knowledge, so please do not undo my pursuit of knowledge. Day and night I spend in this pursuit. I shall speak the law; I shall speak the truth. May brahman protect me; may he protect the speaker, protect the speaker. Aum, shanti, shanti, shanti.
But there are problems; theologicians have created them. The first problem they have created, and because of which this remembering becomes impossible -- to remember that you are already divine becomes impossible -- is a very deep condemnatory attitude. You go on condemning yourself: you are the sinner. They have created guilt in you. So how can a sinner be, right this very moment, the divine? He will have to get rid of the sin; he will have to suffer for his sins, and time will be needed. He will have to pass through purifications, and only when he has become holy, a saint, will he have a glimpse of the divine. Particularly in the West, Christianity has given everybody a deep guilt complex. Everybody is guilty -- not only about your own sins that you have committed, but also about the sin that Adam committed in the very beginning.…Read the full discourse →
Common Questions
The main purpose is to encourage expressive release through sound and movement to interrupt the mind’s constant inner talking.
The term traces back to the Sufi mystic Jabbar, who spoke in spontaneous, meaning-free sounds.
Yes, it can be practiced alone or in a group, designed to free, unburden, and center the practitioner.
It has two stages: the first focuses on nonsensical vocalization, and the second involves lying down to settle into grounding silence.
Yes, Gibberish Meditation emphasizes energetic discharge, unlike the gentle flow of Devavani.