Dancing into the Unknown: Osho Painting and Art Therapy

Philippe Nirav reviewed Meera Hashimoto’s third book which is being launched today. The book teems with exercises and psychological insights from her workshops where she integrated therapeutic methods, including Star Sapphire, Family Constellation and dance therapy.

The book launch will be today, Tuesday 30th January 2018, 4.15pm at Dario’s in Pune, India – at the same time as the launch of Meera’s new DVDs.

Dancing into the Unknown: Osho Painting and Art Therapy by Meera Hashimoto is a stunning expression of Meera’s love and generosity. It is the first book ever to open up the unspoken territory of Art. It is a direct transmission.

Here, in every word and every chapter you can feel her breath; her aliveness is so tangible that you are again and again transported under the bamboos and in the group room, in the so unique and spontaneous space that surrounds Meera’s every move. How, just a year after her sudden and unexpected departure, she could transmit such a monument leaves me in awe. It is rare to find so much aliveness and vibrancy in a book, and I have rarely experienced reading words filled with so much colours and movement as this one.

Meera left this book behind without clearly indicating if it was finished or not. Reading Dancing into the Unknown gives the taste of a vastness rarely found in a clearly finished book; it feels like Meera said all she had to say, pointing to the essence of her work the best she could, and yet keeping space for the reader to feel that which will never be able to be expressed. This book is finished, and more.

For people who have participated in her groups or trainings, either recently or a long time ago, reading this book will most likely bring new and deeper understandings about what her work is about; while reading some chapters I for the first time understood why she told me certain things some 15 years ago! This hands-on text gives all needed explanations and understanding about the purpose of everything and the flow of her work. Although I participated and helped in her trainings continuously for five years I had never wondered why primal painting comes first, why nature is last, and why self-portrait is in the middle. Reading this book made it all clear and the impact of her explanations sunk very deep. At every turn of the page, my jaw dropped at the depth of her wisdom and the scientific precision of her approach.

I also feel that she had kept fine-tuning her work until the very last moment.

In her workshops, we all experienced moments of conflicts and resistance, and we often got confused about what it was all about. As I went through this book I got more understanding as to why she wanted to do this or that, the purpose of her work and the deeper meaning of each and every exercise. I got new glimpses and priceless insights.

For people who never painted or were never interested in creativity and expressing themselves through painting and art, this book may be extremely inspiring and lighten places so far kept in the dark.

Meera developed this work over thirty years in the Buddhafield under the direct guidance of Osho, and the first time you get in touch with this revolutionary approach the impact is bound to be tremendous. This process changed the course of my life many years ago, and I am convinced that this book will change many people’s lives.

This disclosure of the process by Meera herself is proof that this process is for everyone, and yet what happens to you will be so unique and individual.

In the trainings we did not have much opportunity to receive the information through our minds because Meera works in a way which bypasses the mind. This book will help those in need of rational understanding and will act as a beautiful bridge between all the facets of her vision.

Meera has a very deep understanding of the artist’s ego, and for artists, this book may be a challenge, and will probably be disturbing….and this is all her effort, to scratch and break down the artist’s ego. For someone who knows her, this book will reflect your resistance to her work.

Dancing into the Unknown: Osho Painting and Art Therapy is Meera’s last and in many ways most important contribution to the world. It is a delight to read and will provoke you to wake up to your creativity or look at it with fresh eyes. For art therapists it may be a useful manual to work with.

Review by Philippe Nirav

Excerpts:
Intuition and Spontaneity
Primal Painting

Available from meera-art-foundation.com – amazon.com – amazon.co.uk – amazon.de – amazon.in

Meera (Kasue Hashimoto) was born in a small fisherman’s village in Ishikawa, Japan in 1947. She studied Japanese Dance and Art at Tokyo University. In her twenties she travelled via Russia to Europe visiting the famous art museums and eventually settled in Toledo, Spain, where she continued to study and practise art. In Toledo, where she lived for seven years, she became a founding member of a famous art group, the Grupo Tolmo, that exhibited all over Spain.

When, in 1974, she met Osho in India, and became his disciple, her way of painting and her vision of creativity changed drastically. In 1976 Osho asked Meera to create the Rajneesh Art School (later Osho Art School) and she started leading art workshops and trainings around the world, which she continued till her last course in January 2017. Meera died in a scuba-diving accident in South Africa on 21st February 2017. www.meera.de – meera-art-foundation.com

More about and by Meera on Osho News