Only telling you to be alert will not make you meditative; it will not make any difference. So I create devices, I create situations, in which you cannot help but be alert, situations in which dreaminess is impossible.
Dreaminess becomes more possible if there is more carbon dioxide around you; you will be dreamy. That is why in the day you cannot be so dreamy as in the night. The chemical components change. At night there is more carbon dioxide in the air and the oxygen is less.
     So if the reverse is possible, if the oxygen in you and around you is more and carbon dioxide is thrown out, you cannot be dreamy. That is why I insist on vigorous breathing.
     It is nothing but a chemical device to change the chemical atmosphere in you. More and more oxygen must be there. The more the oxygen, the less you fall victim to the dream, and your memories cannot work without the medium of dreaminess.
      In the morning we feel freshness. What happens in the morning with the rising sun? The carbon dioxide decreases and the oxygen increases. So the same chemical change is needed within you.
     The [Dynamic Meditation] technique that we are using...is the most powerful method to create excess oxygen in the body. And after the first three stages, in the fourth, [the participant] becomes charged with tremendous life energy that makes him very alert.

Osho: "I Am the Gate"

     A great deal of energy lies hidden in your body. It must be aroused and activated towards meditation; it must be channeled into meditation. So the first meditation sutra I give you is to activate that energy. The nearest and the easiest means available to you is your breathing activity.
     Bear in mind all the time that it will be easier for you to go into meditation if you take in as much oxygen as possible. The more oxygen you have in your blood, in your heart, the easier you will find your meditation.The more you expel carbon dioxide, the easier it will be for you. The impurities decrease as you increase the amount of oxygen in your body.
It is interesting to know that the mind finds it difficult to function if the basis of bodily impurity is removed. The opportunity for thoughts to flourish in your mind will lessen as you absorb more fresh air; and as I told you, this will enhance the potential for sutras like this to blossom and flower within you.
So the first thing is: hyper-oxygenate. Let there be an abundance of oxygen in you.
Two or three things will happen if you do this, but don't be afraid of them.

When you start breathing deeply, your sleep will become shorter. This is not something to worry about. When sleep is deep and sound its duration decreases, and as you begin to breathe more deeply, the depth of your sleep will increase also. This is why those who do hard physical work sleep so soundly at night. The depth of your sleep will increase in proportion to the depth of your breathing, and as the depth of your sleep increases, so its duration will decrease. Do not worry about this.
     If you sleep seven hours now, it will become four or five hours. Don't be anxious about it – you will wake up in the morning more refreshed, more joyful and healthier from these five hours' sleep than you used to after sleeping for eight hours. So when your sleep comes to an end in the morning – and this will begin to happen earlier if you have been breathing deeply – you should get up immediately. Don't miss that blissful moment of the morning; use it for meditation.

Osho: "The Heartbeat of the Absolute"

You've explained that increased oxygen intake helps us be more alert. When I enter deep meditation, my body becomes inert and the breathing shallow, which is likely to cause less oxygen in the body.

     Actually, when breathing has reached its full intensity and a gap is created between you and your body, when your sleeping and awakened parts seem to be separate from each other, then you will begin to move to your awakened part. At this stage the body ceases to need oxygen any more. Now it is good that the body goes into sleep, that it becomes inert, as good as dead. Now your life force does not move toward the body, instead it begins to move toward the soul.
     It is the body that needs oxygen; the soul has no need for oxygen really. Do you follow what I say? The body needs oxygen; and when your life force moves toward the soul, the body needs a minimum amount of oxygen – just enough to keep it alive. It does not need more than the minimum, and it will impede your progress if the body receives more oxygen at this stage.
     So it is as it should be that breathing slows down and becomes thin and feeble. Breathing was useful to awaken the energy and, once the energy is awake, breathing ceases to be useful. Now your body can do with the minimum of breathing. and so there will be moments when it will come to a stop completely. It has to stop.
In fact, when you reach the point of right balance, which we call samadhi, breathing will cease.
     Oxygen was necessary at its initial stage. It is as if I turn a key in the lock to open a door. Need I continue turning the key even after it has done its job? Now the key is useless. It hangs by the lock and I am inside the room. You may ask why I don't use the key when I am in the room. No, the key has served its purpose; it was only meant for entering the room.
     As long as the kundalini does not awaken, you will have to use the key of breathing with all your strength. But as soon as it is awakened, breathing becomes unnecessary. Now, as you are on your inward journey, your body will demand very little oxygen. Then you don't have to use your volition to stop breathing; it will slow down on its own. It will slow down to a halt, and a moment will come when everything will seem to have come to a standstill. In fact, this is the moment – when breathing stops halfway between inhalation and exhalation – when you are in a state of utter balance, when you are in ecstasy or samadhi.

     In this very moment you know existence – not life.

Osho: "In Search of the Miraculous"

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