Jivan has been a practicing meditator for many years. She finds that the best way to stay in touch with the centering that meditation gives her is through teaching it to others....

     "I've always heard Osho say, 'Be total in your work and meditation will happen,' and for me that means being totally present in whatever I do. Bringing meditation into the way I live also means to constantly challenge my own limitations and my own programs – being psychological and spiritually 'stretched.' I feel I do that best if I am leading a process that revolves around awareness, because then I have to be present 200% of the time. When I am teaching others awareness skills I am also honing my own. What I teach I learn most. This was also the incentive behind my partner and I setting up the Sky Institute for Transformation and Leadership, in which we work with business people, creating leadership qualities through self-development.
    " I see I have the same issues as everyone – needing to raise my awareness and giving energy to the place inside me where I can 'be with what is'. For example, in a normal day when we go on automatic from time to time, we react with people with our emotions and projections rather than with awareness. If we can slow the process down and become aware of what we are doing, we can 'be with' the feelings that normally make us go on automatic. With this new awareness, we then have the choice to act consciously.

     "Meditation and awareness is central to the way I live. In the groups I always participate in the meditative techniques, and at home I make a point each day to sit in silence or listen to Osho's discourses. But essentially I feel meditation is not so much a technique as the continual practice of awareness and being present in the moment. Working with my partner demands even more awareness because we are so close and open to each other that issues or sensitive areas are easily triggered. This means that I really need to stay centered, to take care of myself and make sure I have enough time to be alone with myself.
     "I think we all ready need to keep "checking in' as it were – to keep giving the space inside us juice; to keep the connection alive. One way of doing this that I love is trough the meditation at the end of the Zen discourses, when Osho gives suggestions like: Be silent, close your eyes, no movement. Just go within; deeper…deeper. Be a diamond thunderbolt. Cut everything that is rubbish in you, and reach to the clearance, the pure space of your being. This moment is blessed, because only this moment can bring you closer to existence's very heartbeat. Don't be afraid and don't hold onto anything. Just take the jump. It is your own inner being.
     "So, it's important to regularly give energy to our center through some meditative technique, in order to stay connected and aware in daily life – that's the key for me."

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