Frank Skinner recently at Osho Leela in Gillingham, Dorset
Places to meditate in the UK – Osho Leela
Eleven years ago Dhyano was running a centre in London organising the Humaniversity Training which he had brought to England from Holland. With a group of people, all interested in the Training, he decided to move into the country and rent a place near Winbourne ‘to create paradise on earth’!
As he was doing this very successfully the next step – a big leap, in fact – was to buy a place. And so the current Osho Leela, in Gillingham, Dorset, came into being. Not only did the property include the big house, it also had a caravan park which provides accommodation for many people with good amenities. People can even camp on the 15 acres of beautiful grounds.
The Humaniversity Training is the heartbeat of the place and almost everyone living in the community has done the training. Veeresh comes over from Holland a couple of times a year. Sadly, Pragit, who really was the community leader and who brought with him a wealth of clinical expertise, left his body last year, but the community of about 16 adults and 4 kids continues to function beautifully, inviting people to do the Training and many other kinds of workshops at their centre – their home, really. Each summer they have a huge festival in August (this year from 20th to 27th) with loads of music and singing and dancing – and, of course, meditation. Everybody is invited to join the leela: the play and celebration of existence.
text by Veena – June 2007
