“Being consciously, creatively responsive to the present moment is a powerful tool (maybe the most powerful) that we have for making the world a better place, & we all have it within us”
Dear Integral Meditators,
This week’s article explores one of the main driving practices in my meditation practice; creativity.
This week also sees the start of three stress-transformation programs:
- The 15minutes a week Stress-Transformation online program starts today (not too late to sign up, as this is done via recordng & can be done anytime in the week)
- The Wednesday class, series starts on the 9th September
- And the stress-transfromation workshop is on Saturday
The theme for this weeks stress-transfromation sessions is ‘Karuna: Using compassion & wisdom to transform your pain & create connection’.
In the spirit of creative transformation,
Toby
Article: Never the same meditation twice
I was in a weekly class at a Business school last recently that I have been running for the last decade. A guy came to the session who has been coming since around 2018. At the end of the experience he said “Toby, I have never been in a session of yours that was the same, I always hear and experience something new!”. This is actually true, as whilst there are always themes and principles that are consistent in my guided meditations, I am always responding to the moment, and trying new ways of expressing and practising meditation.
The beginners mind
One of the reasons for the variation and novelty in my sessions is that part of being a meditator is having a beginner’s mind, a sense of each moment being a new moment, different from the moment before. Every time I come back to a familiar practice or theme, I notice there is something new about it, because in this moment, the experience is different from all the other times I have done the practice.
The artist and creative evolutionary in you
Another reason for the creativity in my sessions is that I am originally an artist by training, and so the idea of creating in the moment, and of life being like a work of art is very strong in me. Not just that, one of the things I am trying to communicate in my work is that you also are creative. Being consciously, creatively responsive to the present moment is a powerful tool (maybe the most powerful tool) that we have for making the world a better place, and we all have it within us.
Alfred North Whitehead, the philosopher also described the process of evolution as the ‘creative advance into novelty’. When we align with the evolutionary impulse of the universe, we become much more spontaneous and creative, naturally. You might say we express the spirit of evolution when we get in touch with our creative nature and express it skillfully.
To create, you need a framework
So, in order to create in meditation, as in other areas of life, you need to have framework, or a set of principles that give you the basis. For example, in my stress-transformation meditations, I tend to work off four main principles:
- Witnessing – from fighting stress to being curious about it
- Flowing – from resisting emotions to feeling and releasing them
- Framing – from being lost in the inner conversation to creating it
- Appreciating – from feeling unlucky and hard done-by to appreciating the opportunity
From these four principles there are a huge variety of types of stress transformation that I have come up with and teach. Also, in my daily life I use these principles to improvise meditations that help me with a presenting challenge. For example, last night I had jet-lag from a recent trip to the UK. Not being able to sleep, and feeling the presence of a variety of challenging emotions and thoughts about my life, I set up a three-stage pattern of meditation:
- Head – nine breaths of brain relaxation meditation to move into non-conceptual presence
- Heart – nine breaths of letting emotions come and go, acknowledging them and letting them flow
- Belly – nine breaths of reverse abdominal breathing to build energetic strength and balance
Practising this as I lay down in bed, after five minutes or so I was feeling really quite good already, a state almost as good as being asleep. After half an hour or so I drifted off into a restful sleep. Waking up the next morning I felt good despite being tired.
I’ve never done a meditation in exactly that manner before, it was new, I created it! But it was based upon the four principles of stress-transformation, which were the basis from which I improvised from.
Wishing you creativity in your own life and meditation practice!
Related article: Four stress-transformation ‘flips’
© Toby Ouvry 2026, 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
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