Tag: mindfulness in Singapore

Categories
Integral Awareness Integral Meditation meditation and creativity Meditation techniques

Meditation: Expanding your state-vocabulary

W
“The discipline and art of the meditator is to keep yourself in a balanced, positive state of mind as much as possible as you go through the day, despite what obstacles may come up.” 
 W
Dear Integal Meditators,
What is meditation? How can we understand the principles of it, in order to practice it better? My article below offers one response to this.
Two weeks to the start date of my Mindfulness Program for coaches, trainers and therapists, click on the link below for full details!

In the spirit of  meditation,

Toby

 

 

The Integral Mindfulness Program for Coaches, Counselors and Therapists – Creating sustainable high performance and deep wellness – Starting October 5th & 8th!Overview: This is a six-session dynamic mindfulness program designed for:

  • Those looking for an engaged, practical mindfulness course designed to build resilience, effectiveness and wellness in the face of work and life challenges
  • Trainers, coaches and therapists looking to integrate mindfulness into their own professional practice with clients
  • People who have been through basic conventional mindfulness training programs and are looking for the next level of practice and performance

Meditation: Expanding your state vocabulary

There are many different types of meditation. Looking at all of them can be a bit confusing; What is the right one for me? Which one is the ‘best’? What am I trying to ‘do’?
Here is one basic definition of meditation that I find most useful for getting a ‘big picture’ sense of what meditation is, and how to start using it: “Meditation is state training”
You are in a state of body/mind/heart all the time, and this changes thru-out the day. The three basic states are and waking dreaming and dreamless sleep. Even with the waking state there are many different states of mind:

  • Calm or agitated
  • Anxious or confident
  • Loving or angry
  • Tired or energized
  • Happy or sad

The list goes on, as there are hundreds of waking states!
So, the discipline and art of the meditator is to keep  yourself in a balanced, positive state of mind as much as possible as you go through the day, despite what obstacles may come up.
There are four questions that the meditation is interested in:

  1. What do I notice are my current habitual range of mind-states?
  2. How can I strengthen my existing ‘positive’ states?
  3. How can I work constructively with the states of mind that are currently obstructing my well-being and effectiveness?
  4. How can I expand the range of positive states that are available to me ?

All meditation practices are state trainings. All of them seek to answer these four questions in different ways. If you ask yourself these four questions around a specific area of your life, then you will start to become aware of your own present range of states. You can then identify specific meditations to strengthen and broaden your own range of positive mind-states!

Article content © Toby Ouvry & Integral Meditation Asia 2019.

Upcoming classes and workshops

Ongoing on Wednesday’s, 7.30-8.30pm (Restarts 21st August) – 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)

Wednesday 12.30-1.30 – Integral Meditation classes at Space2B on Stanley Street

Saturday mornings 9-10.15am, June 15th, 29th – Qi Gong workout and meditation class

Monday Setember 2nd, 6-7.30pm – The Men’s Group – The path of conscious manhood

Starting October 5th – The Integral Meditation Program for Coaches, Counsellors and Therapists – Creating sustainable high performance and deep wellness

Integral Meditation Asia

Online Courses * 1:1 Coaching * Books * Live Workshops * Corporate Mindfulness Training *Life-Coaching *  Meditation Technology

Categories
Awareness and insight creative imagery Inner vision Insight Meditation Meditating on the Self meditation and creativity Meditation and Psychology Meditation techniques

Letting your inner landscape come alive

C
“When you turn and face the inner landscape of your mind, you start to see things about your inner self that are interesting and magical, and that unless you sat still and watched, you would never be aware of”
C

Dear Integral Meditators,

This weeks article invites you to see your inner world as a landscape, and shows you how to let that landscape come alive, i hope you enjoy it!

Heads up for the Autumn Equinox balancing and renewing meditation this evening and Wednesday evening. Then on Saturday afternoon there is the the Mindful Resilience workshop, with the Qi gong session and Beginners meditation workshop in the morning.

In the spirit of  watching,

Toby

The Integral Mindfulness Program for Coaches, Counselors and Therapists – Creating sustainable high performance and deep wellness – Starting October 5th & 8th!Overview: This is a six-session dynamic mindfulness program designed for:

  • Those looking for an engaged, practical mindfulness course designed to build resilience, effectiveness and wellness in the face of work and life challenges
  • Trainers, coaches and therapists looking to integrate mindfulness into their own professional practice with clients
  • People who have been through basic conventional mindfulness training programs and are looking for the next level of practice and performance

Letting your inner landscape come alive

When I was younger my father used to take me, my brother and sometimes my sister into nature in order to watch birds and animals. As we were walking through the landscape to the locations where we would sit, generally we wouldn’t see much (partly because we as children made quite a lot of noise!) However, once we sat down, went quiet and started watching, the landscape stated to come alive. The animals and birds would come out, and start going about their daily business. I’d start to notice the pattern of the wind and light across the landscape, and the patterns of clouds in the sky. What seemed at first glance to be just patches of green, brown, blue and grey started to turn into something magical and fully alive.
Mindfulness practice involves turning to watch the inner landscape of our mind. We turn away from our outer world and become aware of the sensations in our body, the patterns of moods and emotions, the coming and going of thoughts. Unless you have some experience of it, it can seem like when you look within there is nothing much very interesting, just like my green, brown and blue landscape. But then if you can create an intimate space where you watch quietly, then you start to notice things. Your thoughts, feelings, sensations start to ‘come out again’ like the birds and animals in a landscape. You start to see things about your inner life that are interesting and magical, that unless you sat still and watched, you would never be aware of.
The act of turning within and watching, listening, observing is a way of increasing our self-awareness and self-knowledge. It is also a way of bringing a little bit of magic and wonder back into our life, as we discover the inner landscape of our mind is as full of life as an outer landscape within nature.
Turn your attention within and watch the inner landscape of your mind patiently. Let the animal and bird life within yourself start to come out!

Article content © Toby Ouvry & Integral Meditation Asia 2019.

Upcoming classes and workshops

Ongoing on Wednesday’s, 7.30-8.30pm (Restarts 21st August) – Wednesday Meditation for stress transformation and positive energy with Toby (Bukit Timah)

Ongoing on Tuesday evenings (Restarts 13th August), 7.30-8.30pm – Tuesday Meditation for stress transformation and positive energy with Toby  (East Coast)

Wednesday 12.30-1.30 – Integral Meditation classes at Space2B on Stanley Street

Saturday mornings 9-10.15am, June 15th, 29th – Qi Gong workout and meditation class

Monday Setember 2nd, 6-7.30pm – The Men’s Group – The path of conscious manhood

Tues/Weds September 17th/18th – Autumn Equinox blanacing and renewing meditation

Saturday Sept 21st, 11am-12.30pm – Get your meditation pratice started now – The shortest and most time effective meditation workshop ever

Saturday 21st Sept, 2-5pm – Mindful Resilience – Practices for sustaining effectiveness, happiness and clarity under pressure

Tuesday September 24th – An evening of Meditation and Stress Transformation at the TEC centre, Frasers Tower

Starting October 5th – The Integral Meditation Program for Coaches, Counsellors and Therapists – Creating sustainable high performance and deep wellness

 

Integral Meditation Asia

Online Courses * 1:1 Coaching * Books * Live Workshops * Corporate Mindfulness Training *Life-Coaching *  Meditation Technology

Categories
creative imagery Energy Meditation Greenworld Meditation Inner vision Life-fullness meditation and creativity Meditation techniques Presence and being present

Letting your mind come home to roost

W
“Imagine your mind is like a bird that has been flying around busily from this place to that, never resting. Meditation is like that bird coming back to its nest, it’s home, to rest, to regenerate and gain strength.”
 W

Dear Integral Meditators,This weeks article uses an image as its object of meditation, I hope you enjoy it!

In the spirit of  wisdom,

Toby

Letting your mind come home to roost

Imagine your mind is like a bird that has been flying around busily from this place to that, never resting. Meditation is like that bird coming back to its nest, it’s home, to rest, to regenerate and gain strength.
To do this meditation you need to find the bird you are going to be (I sometimes imagine a humming bird, sometimes an eagle at the moment). And you need to picture where your nest is; in a tree in the forest, on a mountain cliff, or under the roof of a house for example. Picture some of the details of that nest, imagine it cozy and inviting, especially since you have been being so busy and active! You can imagine you are with your little bird family if you like, or you can be solitary.
Now imagine that you come home to roost in your nest. You fly in, fold your wings and sit comfortably. Perhaps you close your eyes. Around you the world becomes quiet, you can hear a light breeze in the
branches as you sit, and perhaps the light of the sunset, or the moon and shapes of  clouds in the sky. You let your mind become still, there is just your body, your cosy nest, and the elements of nature around you. Let your mind come home to roost with you, let it rest, recover and be renewed. Stay with this experience for as long as you like. When you are ready you can spread your wings and return back to your life renewed, strengthened and enthusiastic.
Final note, the more you can build this image powerfully in your imagination, the more powerful effect it will tend to have. Also, not a bad one to try with kids 😉

Article content © Toby Ouvry & Integral Meditation Asia 2019.

Upcoming classes and workshops

Ongoing on Wednesday’s, 7.30-8.30pm (Restarts 21st August) – Wednesday Meditation for stress transformation and positive energy with Toby (Bukit Timah)

Ongoing on Tuesday evenings (Restarts 13th August), 7.30-8.30pm – Tuesday Meditation for stress transformation and positive energy with Toby  (East Coast)

Wednesday 12.30-1.30 – Integral Meditation classes at Space2B on Stanley Street

Saturday mornings 9-10.15am, June 15th, 29th – Qi Gong workout and meditation class

Monday Setember 2nd, 6-7.30pm – The Men’s Group – The path of conscious manhood

Tues/Weds September 17th/18th – Autumn Equinox blanacing and renewing meditation

Saturday Sept 21st, 11am-12.30pm – Get your meditation pratice started now – The shortest and most time effective meditation workshop ever

Saturday 21st Sept, 2-5pm – Mindful Resilience – Practices for sustaining effectiveness, happiness and clarity under pressure

Tuesday September 24th – An evening of Meditation and Stress Transformation at the TEC centre, Frasers Tower

Starting October 5th – The Integral Meditation Program for Coaches, Counsellors and Therapists – Creating sustainable high performance and deep wellness

 

Integral Meditation Asia

Online Courses * 1:1 Coaching * Books * Live Workshops * Corporate Mindfulness Training *Life-Coaching *  Meditation Technology

Categories
Inner vision Integral Awareness Life-fullness Meditation and Psychology Meditation techniques Mindful Resilience Presence and being present Zen Meditation

Balancing your knowledge with wisdom (letting go)

K
“Knowledge is learning something every day, wisdom is letting go of something every day” – Zen Proverb

Dear Integral Meditators,This weeks article explores how we can balace our accumulation of knowledge with the wisdom of letting go. Enjoy!

In the spirit of  wisdom,

Toby

 

 

Balancing your knowledge with wisdom (letting go)

“Knowledge is learning something every day, wisdom is letting go of something every day” – Zen Proverb

We all know that feeling of being overwhelmed by the amount of information coming our way in modern day life.
Whilst we definitely need to keep increasing our knowledge, in order to make sure that our wisdom also increases in proportion to our knowledge we also need to spend time dropping our knowledge and resting in a state of simplicity and conscious ‘forgetting’. This means not just once every few months, but once a day!

A practice for letting go of things
Imagine you have a mirror in front of you. As you look in the mirror, you see that you are dressed in a jacket that has many big pockets, and you have a backpack loaded with things strapped to your back. As you start to explore what is in your pockets and in the backpack, you see that it is full of all the knowledge and experience that you have accumulated over the years. They are also full of the emotional baggage that you carry around, your personality, and your desire to ‘fix’ all your problems today. Spend a bit of time just noticing the weight of your accumulated life experience and knowledge, both the good and the bad.
Now I want you to see yourself emptying the pockets, and putting down the backpack. You can even take off the jacket. In fact, you can take off all of your clothes and imagine yourself sitting totally naked if you like! As you put all of this, you can feel your mind, body and heart simplifying, relaxing and becoming lighter. You get in touch with that part of you that is happy just to be and doesn’t have to do all the time. You feel yourself letting go and moving into a space of wise, intelligent presence. Breathe and relax in this space for as long as you like. Try and let your body-mind really get a feel for what it is like to let go of all you know rest in a state of simple, wise, being.
When you have finished, you can put your ‘coat and backpack of knowledge’ back on, but you can now balance your state of doing and knowing with a state of being and letting go.
The point here is not to give up knowing and doing, but to create a complementary state of regenerative, wise being that keeps you light, flexible and joyful.

Related article: Four Zen meditations

Article content © Toby Ouvry & Integral Meditation Asia 2019.

Upcoming classes and workshops

Ongoing on Wednesday’s, 7.30-8.30pm (Restarts 21st August) – Wednesday Meditation for stress transformation and positive energy with Toby (Bukit Timah)

Ongoing on Tuesday evenings (Restarts 13th August), 7.30-8.30pm – Tuesday Meditation for stress transformation and positive energy with Toby  (East Coast)

Wednesday 12.30-1.30 – Integral Meditation classes at Space2B on Stanley Street

Saturday mornings 9-10.15am, June 15th, 29th – Qi Gong workout and meditation class

Monday Setember 2nd, 6-7.30pm – The Men’s Group – The path of conscious manhood

Tues/Weds September 17th/18th – Autumn Equinox blanacing and renewing meditation

Saturday Sept 21st, 11am-12.30pm – Get your meditation pratice started now – The shortest and most time effective meditation workshop ever

Saturday 21st Sept, 2-5pm – Mindful Resilience – Practices for sustaining effectiveness, happiness and clarity under pressure

Tuesday September 24th – An evening of Meditation and Stress Transformation at the TEC centre, Frasers Tower

Starting October 5th – The Integral Meditation Program for Coaches, Counsellors and Therapists – Creating sustainable high performance and deep wellness

Integral Meditation Asia

Online Courses * 1:1 Coaching * Books * Live Workshops * Corporate Mindfulness Training *Life-Coaching *  Meditation Technology

Categories
Integral Awareness Integral Meditation Life-fullness Mindfulness Motivation and scope Presence and being present

Ten essential mindfulness practices

Dear Integral Meditators,

Mindfulness is, in essence the art of attention training. Looked at this way there are many, many ways of paying attention, and so there are a huge variety of mindfulness practices. The list below lists ten ‘mindful domains’, each of which play an important part in a truly integral mindfulness practice.

If you enjoy the article, then do have a look at the new Integral Mindfulness Program, which explores many of these practices in depth!

In the spirit of mindful wellbeing,

Toby

The Integral Mindfulness Program for Coaches, Counselors and Therapists – Creating sustainable high performance and deep wellnessOverview: This is a six-session dynamic mindfulness program designed for:

  • Those looking for an engaged, practical mindfulness course designed to build resilience, effectiveness and wellness in the face of work and life challenges
  • Trainers, coaches and therapists looking to integrate mindfulness into their own professional practice with clients
  • People who have been through basic conventional mindfulness training programs and are looking for the next level of practice and performance

Early bird offer: Get 20% off if you sign up before end Monday August 19th. Click here for full details

Ten essential mindfulness meditation practices

Mindfulness is, in essence the art of attention training. Looked at this way there are many, many ways of paying attention, and so there are a huge variety of mindfulness practices. The list below lists ten ‘mindful domains’, each of which play an important part in a truly integral mindfulness practice

  1. Grounding your attention in your body, sense and breathing awareness – The quickest route to basic psychological sanity and stability is through the senses. We should be aiming to develop ‘mountain like stability’ on our body and senses, which enables us to feel centred and stable even in the biggest life storms.
  2. Practicing the non-emergency nature of the present moment – Most situations in our life are not an emergency, yet we spend much of our life in minor (or major) crisis-mode. Recognising present safety and relaxing properly enables us to enjoy our life, and when it does arise to engage risk and danger wisely and intelligently.

With practice 1& 2 solid, we can then commit to increasing your range of functional states and perspectives through:

  1. Cultivating effective focus and concentration – Specifically with integral mindfulness we look to develop high quality ‘mindful flow states’, both in and out of meditation. These flow states are a combination of relaxation and focus, and act as the basis for sustainable, effective concentration
  2. Witnessing, observing, listening, being present – We should be continually stepping back and improving our capacity to observe what is going on within our field of awareness as an observer; being present, witnessing and nothing more.
  3. Committing to be aware – Number five is simply an ongoing commitment to turn and face ourselves, and notice what is going on within. It means consistently turning the light of our awareness inside with curiosity, courage, care
  4. Developing your emotional intelligence – Specifically: Being comfortable feeling emotions ( (both positive and negative), cultivating engaged detachment (the capacity to feel emotions fully and engage with them deeply without being consumed or victimised by them). Cultivating acceptance, appreciation, joy and benevolence/caring as our baseline emotional states. Getting to know the emotions we currently label as ‘negative’ well enough to find and leverage upon their value.
  5. Cognitive intelligence – The skills of thinking less in terms of quantity, thinking better in terms of quality. Also combining ‘positive thinking’ and attention to the good with critical thinking and effective risk assessment.
  6. Intentionality and responsibility – Living our life deliberately and ‘on purpose’. Expanding the depth and range of our intention and motivations for our actions. Setting intention before our actions, so that our actions are aligned with our highest intentions.
  7. Developing your capacity for creative awareness that accesses the non-linear, unconscious, intuitive and imaginative aspects of our potential.
  8. Having an enlightenment practice – A commitment to ongoing insight into the formless, timeless causal dimension of existence. Learning to rest our attention in it and gradually focus our fundamental sense of identity there.

Article content © Toby Ouvry & Integral Meditation Asia 2019.

Upcoming classes and workshops

Ongoing on Wednesday’s, 7.30-8.30pm (Restarts 21st August) – Wednesday Meditation for stress transformation and positive energy with Toby (Bukit Timah)

Ongoing on Tuesday evenings (Restarts 13th August), 7.30-8.30pm – Tuesday Meditation for stress transformation and positive energy with Toby  (East Coast)

Wednesday 12.30-1.30 – Integral Meditation classes at Space2B on Stanley Street

Saturday mornings 9-10.15am, June 15th, 29th – Qi Gong workout and meditation class

Saturday 10th August, 2-5.30pm – Qi Gong for Improving your Health and Energy Levels and for Self-Healing

FOR BEGINNERS: Saturday 24th August, 11-12.30pm – Get your meditation practice started now- The shortest and most time effective meditation workshop ever

 

Integral Meditation Asia

Online Courses * 1:1 Coaching * Books * Live Workshops * Corporate Mindfulness Training *Life-Coaching *  Meditation Technology

Categories
Integral Awareness Life-fullness Meditation techniques mind body connection Mindful Confidence Mindful Self-Leadership Mindfulness One Minute Mindfulness

Mindful of: Your tone of voice 

M
Dear Integral Meditators,

So much of our life is spent communicating, it’s definitely worthwhile investing out time, attention and intelligence to ´craft’ your messages and their tones wisely and benevolently. This weeks article explores some practical ways of doing this!

Final reminder of this Saturdays  Practical introduction to Qi gong workshop, 9.30am-1pm, Tuesday meditation classes re-start next week 😉

In the spirit of tone,

Toby

Mindful of: Your tone of voice 

I have recently come to the end of a three week holiday where we have been travelling in France, Spain and England. As you probably know, holidays can be fun and relaxing, but they can also be quite stressful, as the different personalities of all those traveling run up against each other!
One of the ways that I have focused on mindfulness practice as I have been traveling is to be aware of the tone of my voice as I communicate. I have found this to be a super useful way of managing my own moods, and saying what I want to say in a way that is helpful to my fellow travellers.
Speaking is not just what you say, it’s the way that you say it. Even with very basic words such as ‘Yes’ and ‘No’ here are a huge variety of tones with which you say it that completely change the message and mood.
So, as a mindfulness practice tone of voice can be thought of as consisting of two questions:

  1. ‘What do I want to say?’
  2. ´What is the best way to say what I want to say?’

The first question is about the basic message. The second is about the delivery; what is the tone of voice and way of wording your message that will maximise the chance of it being effective, and giving the best result for everyone concerned? If you spend a few moments before you speak on these two questions, then it’s surprising the changes that you can make for the better.
So much of our life is spent communicating, it’s definitely worthwhile investing out time, attention and intelligence to ´craft’ your messages and their tones wisely and benevolently.

Here are two other areas to pay attention to around tone:
Your tone tells you your mood– Quite often we are not fully aware of our mood or emotional state until we say something, and our tone tells us a lot about what we are feeling. So simply listening to your tone of voice can be a very interesting and useful thing to pay attention to.
Increase your range of positive tones -Get to know what a range of positive tones sound like and practice them. For example, an assertive tone (as opposed to aggressive), loving/caring, light (as opposed to heavy), serious, inquisitive, sincere, calm, or joyful. Try and develop the range of tones that you have available to use consciously.

Article content © Toby Ouvry & Integral Meditation Asia 2019.

Upcoming classes and workshops

Ongoing on Wednesday’s, 7.30-8.30pm (Restarts 21st August) – Wednesday Meditation for stress transformation and positive energy with Toby (Bukit Timah)

Ongoing on Tuesday evenings (Restarts 13th August), 7.30-8.30pm – Tuesday Meditation for stress transformation and positive energy with Toby  (East Coast)

Wednesday 12.30-1.30 – Integral Meditation classes at Space2B on Stanley Street

Saturday mornings 9-10.15am, June 15th, 29th – Qi Gong workout and meditation class

Saturday 10th August, 2-5.30pm – Qi Gong for Improving your Health and Energy Levels and for Self-Healing

FOR BEGINNERS: Saturday 24th August, 11-12.30pm – Get your meditation practice started now- The shortest and most time effective meditation workshop ever

 

Integral Meditation Asia

Online Courses * 1:1 Coaching * Books * Live Workshops * Corporate Mindfulness Training *Life-Coaching *  Meditation Technology

Categories
Integral Awareness Meditation techniques Mindfulness Presence and being present

Mindful with your handphone – Four ways

B
Dear Integral Meditators,

If you can be mindful with your handphone, then for most people that means a lot of time each day being mindful! The article below explores how…

In the spirit of being mindful with your mobile,

Toby

PS: Last Wednesday evening class this evening until August, on the subject of How to drop your problems.

Mindful with your handphone – Four ways

I was talking with a colleague this morning about how difficult it is to manage stress with a handphone. Messages coming in, social media, games, it can be so difficult not to get stressed when your always reaching for your phone at the first sign of anxiety or boredom. With this in mind here are four simple ways to use your handphone to become more mindful:

  1. Notice it as a physical object – Rather than opening the screen, use your phone to come to your senses by noticing its colour, its weight and feel in your hand, it’s texture and the little scratches. Decompress your mental stress by coming to your senses.
  2. Message 15% slower – Normally we text fast, making mistakes as we go along, and holding a lot of unnecessary tension in our face and body. Relax your body and face, and type a little slower. If you do this then texting will become more relaxing. You’ll probably get just as many done as there will be fewer typos, and the content you write will be better!
  3. Use it to measure your anxiety – if you notice yourself reaching for your phone impulsively and often, it’s likely due to underlying anxiety or stress. Notice when this is happening and, instead of going on screen, spend a few breaths just looking after your anxiety and extending care and awareness to yourself.
  4. Ask yourself “What good can I do with my phone?” – Use your phone on purpose; text to bring happiness to others, to develop a skill (egg: learn a language), educate yourself, to journal on the way back from work. There are many meaningful and fulfilling ways you can use your phone to create a better life for yourself and others, it begins by asking yourself this question. Go for it!

Enjoy being mindful with your phone!

Article content © Toby Ouvry & Integral Meditation Asia.

Upcoming classes and workshops

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)

Wednesday 12.30-1.30 – Integral Meditation classes at Space2B on Stanley Street

Integral Meditation Asia

Online Courses * 1:1 Coaching * Books * Live Workshops * Corporate Mindfulness Training *Life-Coaching *  Meditation Technology

Categories
Meditation and Psychology Meditation techniques Mindful Resilience Mindfulness One Minute Mindfulness Presence and being present

Mindful thinking: 15% less, 15% better

P
“One of the basic principles of integral mindfulness is to emphasize quality over quantity, with the recognition that, if you slow down enough to do things properly, the actual quantity of things that you get done is often more.”

Dear Integral Meditators,

I’ve been going through a busy time at work and with a house move last few weeks. In the article below I share a method I’ve been using to help deal with the stress!
The Tuesday and Wednesday evening meditation classes will be on the subject ‘How to meditate on Non-doing’, if you fancy coming along your welcome!

Classes and workshops for June are beneath the article.

In the spirit of thinking better,

Toby

Mindful thinking: 15% less, 15% better

One of the basic principles of integral mindfulness is to emphasize quality over quantity, with the recognition that also, if you slow down enough to do things properly, the quantity of things that you get done is often more.
With regard to thinking, one of the mindful principles that I have been applying is to try and think 15% less in terms of volume of thoughts, and then make the actual quality of my thoughts 15% better. I have found that by deliberately slowing my mind in this way I:

  • Become a lot more conscious and deliberate about what I think and don’t think
  • I have time to notice thought patterns that are repeating themselves and making me feel negative. I can make the choice simply to stop these thoughts, because I am going slow enough to see them
  • The quality of my thoughts kind of naturally improves from the ‘thinking slower’ part. The more consciously I think, the easier it is to choose patterns of thinking that are effective, and that ‘frame’ what I am experiencing in a constructive way

In the last few weeks, as well as being busy at work, I have been moving house, with all the logistical and emotional stress that that entails. With so many things to do, it is super easy for the speed of my mind to accelerate to a very stressful speed due to the overstimulation. So I have been practicing the ‘15%’ technique above, dealing with the thoughts that come up by deliberately not over-hurrying, and focusing on quality of thought, rather than quantity.

This week you might like to try it, see how it can help you navigate your thoughts and life-challenges more effectively!

Related article: Mental framing – Sculpting your view of life

Article © Toby Ouvry 2019, you are welcome to use or share this article, but please cite Toby as the source and include reference to his website www.tobyouvry.com   

All Courses at Integral Meditation Asia 

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)

Wednesday 12.30-1.30 – Integral Meditation classes at Space2B on Stanley Street

Saturday mornings 9-10.15am, June 1st, 15th, 29th – Qi Gong workout and meditation class

Tuesday/Wednesday 18th&19th June – Summer Solstice balancing and renewing meditation
FOR BEGINNERS: Saturday 15th June, 11-12.30pm – Get your meditation practice started now- The shortest and most time effective meditation workshop ever
Saturday 22nd June, 2-5pm – Going From Over-whelmed to Over-well: Meditation for Quietening the Mind – a three hour workshop

Integral Meditation Asia

Online Courses * 1:1 Coaching * Books * Live Workshops * Corporate Mindfulness Training *Life-Coaching *  Meditation Technology

Categories
Awareness and insight creative imagery Enlightened love and loving Insight Meditation Integral Meditation Meditation and Psychology Meditation techniques mind body connection Mindful Self-Leadership Mindfulness Presence and being present

Lazy compassion (compassion & care through awareness)

t
“If you want to develop your compassion and caring, one of the best places to begin is by improving the quality of your attention”
Dear Integral Meditators,This week’s article focuses on a simple, profound technique for developing compassion in a way that doesn’t require a lot of effort!
The Tuesday and Wednesday evening meditation classes will be on the subject of compassion, if you fancy coming along!

In the spirit of compassion,

Toby

Special offer on Toby’s Qi gong healing sessions; 15% off until Thursday 23rd May

“Of all the different things that I tried, I found that 10-15minutes of daily Qi gong flow had the biggest and most sustainable impact on my energy levels and wellbeing…” – Click herefor more details

Lazy compassion (compassion & care through awareness)

I was doing mindfulness coaching with some executives recently. At one point in the session I asked them to complete the sentence ‘Compassion to me means…’ a number of the replies went something like this:

  • Listening more
  • Being more empathetic
  • Paying attention to the needs of others
  • Caring
  • Taking the time to understand

If you look at all the way in which they completed the sentence, you can see that all of them are simply ways of directing awareness to ourself or others:

  • Listening more begins by paying attention to others, or to ourself
  • Being empathetic to people’s needs follows from awareness
  • Caring and understanding comes quite naturally from focusing mindfully on a person or situation

From this we can see that if we want to develop our compassion and caring, all we need to do is practice being more mindfully aware, and increasing the quality of our attention. You can understand this from your own experience; if you recall the last time you really felt that someone was extending their compassion to you, you’ll see that much of that experience came from the feeling that they were paying you attention fully, in a way that made you feel understood and valued.
So ‘lazy compassion’ comes from simply recognizing that all you need to do to begin developing and increasing your compassion is to pay attention; to yourself, to others, to your environment. When you practice non-judgmental awareness of any of these things, the warmth of your own human compassion will begin to extend quite naturally to your objects of attention.

Sky and sun
Think of your awareness as being like the space of the sky, and your compassion like the rays of the sun.  Just bring your sky-like awareness to people and things, and then let the sunlight rays of your natural compassion follow the direction of your attention. In the Buddhist teachings where I first learned meditation your natural compassion was called ‘Buddha nature’; whenever our minds become clear and unclouded our natural compassion begins to shine out.

Practicing
Bring your attention to your body, sustain gentle non-judgmental awareness upon the body for a short while. Recognize that all you need to do to extend compassion to your body is to bring your attention to it; caring and compassion will follow that awareness. Do the same with your mind and emotions. Then:

  • Extend it out to include significant others in your life, then perhaps to people you don’t know or even have a difficult relationship with.
  • Extend your awareness to aspects of your environment, to the non-human creatures that are there. Make the circle of your compassion as large as you like!

In your daily life, whomever you are paying (mindful) attention to, allow your compassion to connect with them through the simple act of awareness.

Article © Toby Ouvry 2019, you are welcome to use or share this article, but please cite Toby as the source and include reference to his website www.tobyouvry.com   

All Courses at Integral Meditation Asia 

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)

Monday 6.30-7.20 & Wednesday 12.30-1.30 – Integral Meditation classes at Space2B on Stanley Street

Saturday mornings 9-10.15am – Qi Gong workout and meditation class

Tuesday 21st&22nd May – Wesak meditation on compassion

FOR BEGINNERS: Saturday 18th May, 11-12.30pm – Get your meditation practice started now- The shortest and most time effective meditation workshop ever

 

Integral Meditation Asia

Online Courses * 1:1 Coaching * Books * Live Workshops * Corporate Mindfulness Training *Life-Coaching *  Meditation Technology

Categories
A Mind of Ease Life-fullness Meditation techniques mind body connection Mindful Resilience Mindful Self-Leadership One Minute Mindfulness Presence and being present Stress Transformation Uncategorized

Mindful ergonomics – Making the most of your energy

 Y
“Energy saved is energy you can be using elsewhere in your life to find fulfilment and wellbeing. How can you be more mindfully ergonomic with your energy today?” 

Dear Integral Meditators,

What if you were able to create 10% more energy in your life today, through mindfulness? The article below explores simple ways to start!

 

In the spirit of energy,

Toby

 

Mindful ergonomics – Making the most of your energy

When I was in my last year of college, I found myself suffering from chronically low levels of energy. This was quite an issue because my degree was a specialization in sculpture, and I was doing a lot of heavy lifting in the daytime. So in addition to the intellectual and creative demands, there was also the physicality of the work too. One of the ways in which I got through this successfully was by paying attention to the Qi gong principle of not using any more muscle effort than was necessary for any given movement. For example:

  • When I was lifting a heavy bag of clay or plaster I would only use the muscles I needed; grip strength, shoulders, lower back, glutes and thighs. The rest of my body I kept as relaxed as possible
  • When I was walking I walked using only the leg muscles and the ‘swing rhythm’ of the arm movement. I relaxed the body as much as I could when walking

After a short while of doing this I realized how much unnecessary effort I had been putting into my physical actions, and how much physical energy I could save through this simple mindfulness practice.
Nowadays, this isn’t a practice that I limit to the physical world. I continually notice that there are ways in which I can get ‘less for more’ in the positive sense of the word. for example:

  • This afternoon I was having trouble organizing my education program for next month. I could notice my instinctive response to ‘try harder’ to fix the schedule in my diary. I consciously relaxed, took the intensity of my energy down a little, and worked patiently, step by step. The problem was then resolved without much energy or emotional friction
  • I notice I can’t choose the emotions that I’m having in the moment, but I can choose how much energy I give them. Anxiety that I am unconsciously feeding and investing energy in is far more draining than anxiety I hold lightly and choose not to give too much energy to

Energy saved is energy you can be using elsewhere in your life to find fulfilment and wellbeing. How can you be more mindfully ergonomic with your energy today?

Article © Toby Ouvry 2019, you are welcome to use or share this article, but please cite Toby as the source and include reference to his website www.tobyouvry.com   

All Courses at Integral Meditation Asia 

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)

Monday 6.30-7.20 & Wednesday 12.30-1.30 – Integral Meditation classes at Space2B on Stanley Street

Saturday mornings 9-10.15am, May 11th & 18th – Qi Gong workout and meditation class

Saturday 4th May, 10am-4.30pm – An introduction to meditation from the perspective of Shamanism

Tues 7th & Wednesday 8th May – Monthly Astrological meditation: Taurus – I have: Being mindful of your relationship to manifestation, wealth and possessions

Saturday 11th May, 1:00pm – 4:00pm – Mindful self confidence – Developing your self-confidence, self-belief and self-trust

Tuesday 14th & Wednesday 15th May – Wesak meditation on compassion

FOR BEGINNERS: Saturday 18th May, 11-12.30pm – Get your meditation practice started now- The shortest and most time effective meditation workshop ever

 

Integral Meditation Asia

Online Courses * 1:1 Coaching * Books * Live Workshops * Corporate Mindfulness Training *Life-Coaching *  Meditation Technology