The Lunatic Meditation is a lunar, ecstatic method of surrender attributed to Osho’s playful, transformative approach. Practiced under the open sky in the days just before the full moon, it invites you to give yourself over to the moon’s pull and let the body move as if possessed by a larger rhythm. You do not direct the experience; you become an instrument, and movement, voice, and feeling arise on their own.
Across the three nights leading into fullness, you gaze at the moon, relax, and declare your availability to it. Then you allow whatever happens—swaying, dancing, singing—to happen by itself. As the moon waxes, the sense of energy and "being played upon" naturally intensifies. The meditation’s core insight is simple and radical: you are not the doer; when you release control, life moves through you with innocence, power, and joy.
Phase Instructions
First Stage: Choose the Nights and Go Outside
Begin three days before the full moon. Each evening, go outdoors under the open sky where the moon is visible. Stand comfortably with your body free to move, and let the surroundings be as simple and unobstructed as possible.
Second Stage: Moon-Gazing and the First Sway
Look at the moon. Soften the body and relax until a natural swaying begins. Do not force anything—let the first gentle movement arise on its own while your eyes remain with the moon.
Third Stage: Surrender to the Moon
Silently or softly tell the moon you are available. Ask it to do whatever it wants with you. Hand over control. Feel as if you have left everything to the moon and are becoming possessed by its pull.
Fourth Stage: Allow Whatever Happens
From this surrender, let everything happen by itself. If swaying comes, sway. If dancing arrives, dance. If singing or sounds want to move through you, let them. Keep the attitude: you are not the doer—movement, voice, and feeling are simply happening.
Fifth Stage: Deepen Night by Night
Repeat on each of the three nights before the full moon. As the moon grows fuller, notice the increase of energy and the sense of being played upon. Allow that intensification to carry you without interference.
Sixth Stage: Natural Completion
Continue until the movement naturally comes to a stop. When it ends, stand or sit quietly for a few moments, feeling the afterglow, with no analysis—just the simple knowing that it happened by itself.
Core Benefits
- Enhanced connection to natural rhythms
- Increased feelings of surrender and openness
- Experience of being an instrument of larger forces
- Development of innocence, power, and joy
- Deepened sense of inner peace through non-doing
What Osho Said About This Technique
The full-moon night has a very alchemical impact on the human consciousness. Buddha became enlightened on the full-moon night -- not only that, he was born on the same full moon night, he became enlightened on the same full-moon night, he died on the same full moon. His birthday, his death day, his enlightenment day, all fall on one day -- the full-moon night... the same month, the same night. The full moon has tremendous importance, so just do one thing: you can remain available, that's all. If it happens, good; if it doesn't happen don't feel worried about it. Next time again you try -- when the full-moon night comes, start at least five days before, sitting in the night, just waiting. Wait one hour every night for five days, then the full moon will come.Read the full discourse →
Then, after ten minutes, when energy is stirred, throw it outward by any route it wants to take. Let the body jump, leap, dance, cry, shout, make sounds — even if you begin to look totally deranged, do not stop. Let go utterly and cooperate. If the body wants to go completely mad, allow it to go completely mad. Why? Because who knows how much madness is accumulated within. Do not do it now — I am speaking for the morning. In the morning — let there be total madness. And total means you keep no fear: What am I doing? I am shouting? But I am a college professor — what am I doing? I am a doctor — I am hopping and skipping — what am I doing? What if a patient sees me! Doctors fear patients; teachers fear students; shopkeepers fear customers.Read the full discourse →
What is dynamic meditation?
The first thing to be understood about Dynamic Meditation is that it is a method of creating a situation through tension in which meditation can happen. If your total being is completely tense, the only possibility that remains is relaxation. Ordinarily one cannot go directly into relaxation, but if your whole being is at a peak of total tension then the second step comes automatically, spontaneously: silence is created. The first three stages of the technique are done in order to achieve this climax of tension throughout all the layers of your being. The first layer is the physical body. Beyond that is the prana sharir, the vital body: this is your second body, the etheric body. Beyond it is the third body, the astral body. Your vital body takes in breath as its food. If the normal intake of oxygen is changed, the vital body is bound to change.…Read the full discourse →
Become a friend to yourself. Allow the whole nonsense that is repressed and unconscious within you to be acted out. Be courageous enough to express your diseases. The moment they are expressed, the moment your unconscious diseases become conscious, they disappear. This is the only way. What is psychoanalysis doing? All the psychoanalysts -- Freud, Jung, Adler and others -- what are they doing? They are doing the same thing by means of a very lengthy process: making your unconscious conscious. By talking with a patient for years on end, the psychoanalyst makes him aware of his unconscious. But this is too long a process, too expensive. And not worthwhile. The results are not very meaningful, not very hopeful. But the base is right. If unconscious repressions are allowed to become open, if they're exposed to the conscious, they disappear; they evaporate. You are freed from them, unburdened.Read the full discourse →
In the cavity of the heart, which is situated in the body, dwells the unborn who is eternal.
THE EARTH IS ITS BODY. IT DWELLS IN THE EARTH, BUT THE EARTH DOES NOT KNOW IT. WATER IS ITS BODY. IT DWELLS IN WATER,BUT WATER DOES NOT KNOW IT. FIRE IS ITS BODY. IT DWELLS IN FIRE BUTFIRE DOES NOT KNOW IT. AIR IS ITS BODY. IT DWELLS IN THE AIR, BUT THE AIR DOES NOT KNOW IT. THE SKY IS ITS BODY. IT DWELLS IN IT,BUT THE SKY DOES NOT KNOW IT. THE MIND IS ITS BODY. IT DWELLS IN THE MIND, BUT THE MIND DOES NOT KNOW IT. THE INTELLECT IS ITS BODY. IT LIVES IN THE INTELLECT, BUT THE INTELLECT DOES NOT KNOW IT. THE EGO IS ITS BODY. IT DWELLS IN THE EGO,BUT THE EGO DOES NOT KNOW IT. THE CONSCIOUSNESS IS ITS BODY. IT DWELLS IN THE CONSCIOUSNESS, BUT THE CONSCIOUSNESS DOES NOT KNOW IT. THE UNMANIFEST IS ITS BODY. IT DWELLS IN THE…Read the full discourse →
Common Questions
It is best practiced under the open sky in the days just before the full moon.
No, you do not direct the experience; you allow movement, voice, and feeling to arise on their own.
Simply relax and declare your availability to the moon, and allow any subtle sensations or movements to happen naturally.
The guide suggests practicing under the open sky to fully connect with the lunar energy.