Witnessing

“Watching is the key of meditation: watch your mind. Don’t do anything – no repetition of a mantra, no repetition of the name of god – just watch whatever the mind is doing. Don’t disturb it, don’t prevent it, don’t repress it; don’t do anything at all on your part. You just be a watcher, and the miracle of watching is meditation. As you watch slowly, slowly mind becomes empty of thoughts; but you are not falling asleep, you are becoming more alert, more aware.

As the mind becomes completely empty, your whole energy becomes a flame of awakening. This flame is the result of meditation. So you can say meditation is another name of watching, witnessing, observing – without any judgement, without any evaluation. Just by watching, you immediately get out of the mind.”
Osho, What is Meditation.

 

Essential for witnessing:

no judgement

no identification

relaxed watching

 

Witnessing is not a technique. It is more like a knack which you can get by experimenting in a playful, nonserious way. In the beginning it seems very difficult to just watch your thoughts in a relaxed way, without identifying with them and without any judgement. Still, after a while some moments will come in which you are suddenly watching your thoughts, like you watch clouds moving in the sky… and then these moments will happen more and more.

More on witnessing can be found on the home page.