Osho on Massage, Make Massage a prayer

[A sannyasin who is leaving wants to do massage but doesn’t know if that is right for her. Osho watches her energy movement for some moments and says yes, it is good for her to do massage… ]

Osho– Just remember one thing: keep the attitude of prayer whenever you are massaging the person… feel that the other is divine. This is something very basic – otherwise massage can turn into something sexual, and that’s what has happened in the west: massage has become a cover-up for sexuality.
Massage is tremendously important, but it is a very delicate phenomenon. Either it can become spiritual or it can become sexual; it is just in the middle of both. And the difference is not much: just a little here, a little there, and it makes a lot of difference.

So if you think of the other, the massaged person, as a human being, it is bound to turn the energy towards sexuality. And people are so starved of sexuality, so starved of touch, so starved of relationship, that a small shaking of their energy and their sexuality becomes alive. Then massage still does something good to their body, makes their body more alive – sexuality is a life energy – but much more could have happened.

So make massage a prayer. Before you start massaging a person, bow down to him, feel that he is divine. For two minutes go into a inner space where you can feel the other is just a divine manifestation. And tell the other also to remember that the energy that is going to be showered on him is divine energy. Then you will be tremendously benefited and the person also will be tremendously benefited. A one-hour massage can give such a glimpse into spirituality.

Source: from Osho Book “This Is It”