“Balancing thoughts and emotions can be tricky, as they are so fast moving and changeable. The best place to start building stable balance is in the body. If you can create the feeling of balance in the body, then you can use it as the basis of resilient psychological balance.”
Dear Integral Meditators,
The article below gives you some simple practical poiters for developing mindful balance under pressure, Enjoy!
This Saturday is the Integral meditation deep dive mini-retreat. If you know how, its not difficult to really take your meditation practice sustainably to the next level, and this session gives you then skills and experiences to do so. Live places are filled up, but you can still attend online!
In the spirit of re-beginning,
Toby
PS: Heads up for the next iteration of the Men’s Goup, starting September 14th.
Mindful Balance – Finding your somatic & psychological balance
Being balanced makes you resilient
Being in a state of balance implies that, even if you are under pressure or stress, the way in which you are experiencing that stress is manageable, and even enjoyable.
Conversely, if we feel imbalanced, then even small experiences of stress of challenge can feel overwhelming.
So, the more stable our access to states of balance, the better!
You can use your body to balance your
mind and heart
Balancing thoughts and emotions can be tricky, as they are so fast moving and changeable. The best place to start building stable balance is in the body. If you can create the feeling of balance in the body, then you can use it as the basis of resilient psychological balance.
The left and right halves: Mindful balancing practices
The practices I’ll explain here involve awareness of the left and right halves of the body. If you get the essential point of these examples, you can invent your own variations
- Balancing the left and right halves of the body – Imagine a line of light and energy going from the crown of your head to the perineum, the point between the middle of the legs. This is your body’s vertical centre. Rock your body from left to right very gently and feel the left and right halves of the body coming into balance. Breathe and relax with this feeling of balance between the two halves of the body.
- Balancing the left and right halves of the brain – This is the same exercise as above, except instead of focusing on the whole torso, you focus on the left and right halves of the brain, feeling them (as well as your left and right brain functions) come into balance.
- Working with other body parts – Be aware of your two hands, feet, eyes, or shoulders. Feel the harmony and balance between them as you breathe and relax.
- Balancing asymmetrically and in motion – Once you have a sense of these somatic balancing exercises sitting still, you can do them whilst in motion. For example while walking you can focus on the swinging movement of the left and right arms, or the stepping of the left and right feet.
- You can also work with vertical balancing, for example balancing the polarity between the crown of the head and the soles of the feet.
Once you have some experience of those somatic balancing exercises, when you are feeling emotionally or mentally out of balance, you can use the felt sense of balance in the body in order to bring a sense of balance to your psychological state. The simplicity of the body balancing helps the complexity of the mind to align with less effort.
Article content © Toby Ouvry & Integral Meditation Asia 2020. you are welcome to share, but please cite the source, thanks! Contact info@tobyouvry.com
Picture © Adrian Ouvry 2020.
Tues 18th of August & Weds 19th August 7.30-8.30pm – Monthly new moon, new beginnings visualization and envisioning sessions
These are meditation classes done monthly around the turn of the new moon that enable us to open to new beginnings, new possibilities and make a fresh start with regard to:
- Our health
- Our inner growth
- And our life’s purpose and future goals
Saturday August 22nd, 3-5.30pm – Integral meditation deep dive mini-retreat
These three-hour meditation ‘mini-retreats’ are a chance to go into much deeper meditation states than you would be able to in your own personal daily practice, or even if you came to a one hour class. Using sitting meditation methods in combination with breathing techniques, Toby will guide you into deep meditation flow states
Read full details…
Starting Monday September 14th – The Men’s Group – The path of conscious manhood
How can you move from coping to thriving in your life as a man?
Much is asked of men in their traditional roles as fathers and sons, partners and husbands, students and teachers, employees and employers. The men’s group is a professionally moderated and confidential forum for men. A forum is a safe place for exploring, learning and sharing the successful perspectives, skills, and strategies needed to address and manage the unique issues, problems, and triumphs in our community.
This is a six-session live weekly program starting Monday, September 14th, 7-8.30pm.
Full details
Life-fullness – The Integral Life-Coaching Program with Toby
Are you looking a coach who can help you to:
- Meet the challenges, stress and changes that you face in a more effective and mindful way
- Become happier within yourself, in your relationships and at work
- Be actively accountable for finding a sense of balance/well-being in your life and fulfilling your personal potential?
- Guide you to find and operate from a deeper sense of meaning, motivation and connectivity in your life?
Online Integral Meditation & Mindfulness classes
Build focus, beat stress, cultivate wellbeing!
Each session involves simple practices that you can apply to make a real difference to your wellbeing and effectiveness in life…full details of classes
At a glance: All upcoming classes and workshops for at IMA:
Ongoing – Weekly Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday Online class schedule
Ongoing on Wednesday’s, 7.30-8.30pm – Wednesday Meditation for stress transformation and positive energy with Toby (Bukit Timah)
Ongoing on Tuesday evenings, 7.30-8.30pm – Tuesday Meditation for stress transformation and positive energy with Toby (East Coast)
Saturday August 22nd, 3-5.30pm – Integral meditation deep dive mini-retreat
Tues 18th of August & Weds 19th August 7.30-8.30pm – Monthly new moon, new beginnings visualization and envisioning sessions
Starting Monday September 14th – The Men’s Group – The path of conscious manhood
Coming soon – High performance bootcamp: Using mindfulness to operate at your peak without burning out
Integral Meditation Asia
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