Latihan

Latihan is a spiritual exercise used in the movement known as Subud (which derives its name from a contraction of Sanskrit words [susila]

, [buddhi]

and [dharma]

, meaning "right living in accordance with the will of God; the inner force residing in the nature of man himself; and surrender and submission to the power of God"). The exercise is generally conducted twice a week by a group of people (from a few to several hundred) gathering together in a large room or hall, where they remain for half an hour. During that time, their effort as individuals is to receive and submit to the power of God. To do so no specific rules are laid down. Some people make movements of the head, the body, the arms or the legs. Others walk, dance, run, lie down, make noises (including chanting, shrieking and animal sounds), or simply relax and do nothing. Individuals are not supposed to feel or do anything in particular, or to relate their actions or experiences to any system of ideas. The latihan is said to be a process of purification in which the individual is gradually freed from the dominance of animal lower energies and dependence on the intellect by opening him or herself to subtle and potentially more powerful divine energies. The latihan exercise provides a setting within which individuals can be injected with such higher energies, which are held to be transmittable integrally and without diminution from one human being to another. All that is required, if it is present in the group, is that the individual should be willing to receive it. By opening himself to a higher energy, the whole individual is gradually brought into a new harmony, with negative aspects of the personality departing, leading to emotional (and physical) healing. However, the process is not clearly understood by the lower nature which is acted upon during the exercise and so brought into harmony.

Although individuals have to submit completely to the action of the latihan, the submission must be absolutely voluntary and can be turned off at will (unlike a trance or hypnotic state). Partial submission brings energy into contact only with that part that submits, fractioning the individual and supplying him or her with a quality of energy lower than that received during total submission.