Category: A Mind of Ease

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The Cloud of Unknowing, the ocean of…

Post author By Toby
Post date June 21, 2025

“Relaxing mindfully into your confusion often starts to dissipate the fogginess & return you to clarity without you ‘trying’ to”

Dear Integral Meditators,

This week’s article looks at working with states of mind and emotion that we often consider to be in the way of our wellbeing, transforming them into the path of awakening. If you enjoy the article, you’d be welcome to join us for the Tuesday & Wednesday class where we will be working with this topic!

Also, quick shout out for the beginners meditation workshop on Saturday the 28th June…

In the spirit of clouds & oceans,

Toby

The Cloud of Unknowing, the ocean of sadness

On aspect of tantric meditation is the transformation of difficult emotions, passions or feelings into the path to awakening. It requires a degree of skill and a willingness to experiment a bit, but if you are willing to try, it can bring some decent results quite quickly. In this article I want to focus on ignorance/confusion and sadness.

From confusion to the Cloud of Unknowing

This method can work with a range of feelings such as confusion, overwhelm, dullness, anxiety. Take the feeling of confusion that you might have about what to do in a particular situation. Imagine also that you’re feeling a little tired, and that your brain has been a little overworked, so you have that ‘foggy’ sensation behind your forehead and above your eyes. Most often these feelings are ones that we fight with to overcome and get rid of. In this method however, you simply relax into the feelings and sensations of the confusion. You sense the brain fog behind your eyes and relax into it, letting your mind become foggy and cloudy. You allow your confusion to make you dull. By doing this you relax into a ‘Cloud of Unknowing’, a non-conceptual space of relaxed spaciousness. The dullness becomes your friend in aiding you to let go of your thoughts and into a state where the unknowing-ness leads you into a state of open empty space that is ‘Just this’.

The term ‘Cloud of Unknowing’ is a contemplative expression:
“The Cloud of Unknowing (Middle English: The Cloude of Unknowyng) is an anonymous work of Christian mysticism written in Middle English in the latter half of the 14th century. The text is a spiritual guide on contemplative prayer. The underlying message of this work suggests that the way to know God is to abandon consideration of God’s particular activities and attributes, and be courageous enough to surrender one’s mind and ego to the realm of “unknowing”, at which point one may begin to glimpse the nature of God”.

Our own confusion and dullness can help us to start to awaken to deeper levels of consciousness through the Cloud! You will also find that relaxing into the Cloud also often starts to dissipate the fogginess, and help you return to clarity (without ‘trying’ to).

The Ocean of sadness

When working with confusion, I often use the feelings in my head as the focus point. With sadness the focus changes to the heart and stomach areas, where we often feel sadness most keenly. Here you take a feeling of sadness and relax into it. If you imagine the sadness is like an ocean, and you let yourself gently sink beneath the surface and into the deep depths. I also follow the feeling in my body down into my stomach, it’s like a sinking feeling from your stomach down into the abdomem. As you sink down you start to let go of the specifics of the sadness, and just relax into the deep, non-conceptual, oceanic space that the sadness opens up within you. It’s like you are drifting in the depths of an immense ocean. This technique transforms the specific sadness into a deep non-conceptual space that you can then use to meditate on consciousness itself. In this way you transform an obstacle to meditation into the gateway to meditation.
Like the confusion, you may also find yourself emerging from the sadness quite naturally and without effort as a side effect of this practice.

Related articles: Darkness emerging as light
Messiness, unlabeling, unknowing
Taking the weight off your chest (Transforming sadness)

© Toby Ouvry 2025, 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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The Freedom of your inner garden

Post author By Toby
Post date June 2, 2025

“Work in the inner garden of your mind a little bit every day, like you would work on an outer garden to give it a sense of order & beauty”

Dear Integral Meditators,

This week’s article takes a look at inner and outer gardening. If you enjoy it, it will be the subject of this week’s Tuesday, Wednesday class. You would be welcome to join, either live-in-person, or online!

Beneath the article you can see the full list of events for June, including the Meditation & Mindfulness for working with your Child-self workshop, and the summer solstice balancing & renewing meditation.

In the spirit of our inner gardens,

Toby

The Freedom of your inner garden

Cultivating an inner and outer Garden space

Yesterday, Sunday, I spent about an hour in the front and back garden, bringing a bit of order to the gentle chaos that it was becoming. I dug out the root of a Banyan tree at the back that had gone rogue, and I trimmed the jasmine bushes at the front, putting some eggshells and fertilizer in their pots. The great thing about doing any kind of gardening work is that, by the end of it your mind often feels wonderfully clear and peaceful. As well as the peaceful feeling, there is the sense of having brought order and harmony to the physical space, a sense of benevolent control. This in turn changes (for me at least) the overall sense of having some control and order in my life. When I walk through my front gate now, I have the feeling of satisfaction of having nurtured the garden, and I see the plants I have worked with.

In one sense of course this can also be taken as a metaphor for the ‘inner garden’ of our mind. Mindful attention is very much about noticing and nurturing focus on the things in life you can appreciate and feel good about. Yes, parts of your life may feel in chaos or dis-order, but don’t forget to notice the parts that aren’t (the inner equivalent of jasmine bushes in the above example), and feel good about the work you’ve done today to bring order to the chaos (the Banyan tree root above).

Your energy body and your environment

Gardening work and indeed any time in contact with nature can open up some interesting meditation capacities. Here are a few simple ways in which I work with the energy of the environment and nature regularly:

Feet on the ground, in meditation or walking, feel the light and energy from the Earth rising up into your body, activating its vitality. Feel like you have a body of energy interpenetrating your physical body. With your light body, sense into the mineral, plant, and elemental (earth, water, air, fire) energies around you. Let this contact feed and balance you inwardly.
Feel your belly area to be a focus point for your biological energy. Breathe in and out of your belly, feeling the natural bliss of your life-force and vitality building in that space.
Feel your heart-centre to be connected to the sun and its energy. See a beautiful sun at your heart. Breathing in and out of it, making the heart-zone of your body bright, loving & strong
Feel your head to be connected to the energy of the sky and stars. See a bright star-light in the centre of your brain, connecting you to the natural Freedom and spaciousness of the sky and stars all around us.

The above are all very simple focus points that, when you take the time to dwell upon them can lead you into quite deep meditation states relatively easily and quickly, it is not hard work!

Related reading: Finding energy through meditation – Aspects of meditating with your energy body
Meditating with the energy of trees & plants
Trees, birds & Octopuses – Achieving harmony by letting be

© Toby Ouvry 2025, 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 upcoming classes & workshops

Ongoing on Tuesday’s & Wednesday’s (live & online), 7.30-8.30pm – Weekly integral meditation classes

Ongoing Tuesday & Wednesday’s weekly, 7.30-8.30pm – Embodied Transformation – An integrative introduction to Tantric meditation

Ongoing on Saturdays weekly, 5.30-6.15pm – Embodied Transformation – Saturday Tantric deep-dive meditation sessions

Saturday 24th May, 10.30am-12noon – Get Your Meditation Practice Started Now – The Shortest and Most Time Effective Meditation Workshop Ever

Level 1 – Friday 30^th May, 8am-4pm, Level 2 – Friday 13^th June, 8am-4pm – Freedom & Fullness – A practical introduction to Non-Dual Meditation Practice Retreat & Course

Tuesday 17th, Weds 18th June, 7.30-8.30pm – Summer solstice balancing & renewing meditation

Saturday 21^st June, 2-5pm SG time – Meditation & Mindfulness for working with your Child-self

Tags inner growth, integral meditation, integral meditation asia, integral mindfulness, meditation, meditation in singapore, mindfulness, mindfulness in Singapore, mindfulness meditation, power of mind

A Mind of Ease creative imagery Inner vision Integral Awareness Integrating Ego, Soul and Spirit Life-fullness meditation and creativity Meditation techniques mindful dreaming Mindful Resilience Mindfulness Presence and being present Primal Spirituality

Essential Freedom – On the mindful ‘big three’ & Awakening

Post author By Toby
Post date May 26, 2025

“Daily intention, attention, and awareness can be experienced as expressions of our essential Freedom, Love & Bliss”

Dear Integral Meditators,

This week’s article takes a creative look at how to bridge basic mindfulness & deeper states of Awakening. If you enjoy it, it will be the subject of this week’s Tuesday, Wednesday class. You would be welcome to join, either live-in-person, or online!

In the spirit of our essential Freedom,

Toby

Essential Freedom – On the mindful ‘big three’ & Awakening

This article weaves together the fundamentals of mindfulness practice with some essential ‘Tantric’ elements. By ‘fundamentals of mindfulness’ I mean working with our basic intention, attention, and awareness. By Tantric, I mean seeing and experiencing these three in qualities their essential, purified, or awakened form. What it offers is a space where we can explore the space between simple mindfulness and higher/deeper states of meditation presence in a way that is creative and playful.

The mindful big three

As I mentioned, your ‘mindful big three’ are intention, attention, and awareness. They are three what you might call ‘all accompanying characteristics of our everyday consciousness, meaning they are there and functioning pretty much all the time whilst we are awake and sleeping.

Intention is what moves us to step into action. With mindfulness we are trying to be more conscious and less automatic about our intentions, so that they become more caring, constructive, and high quality.

Attention is directed by our intention. If our intention is mindful, our attention will then be focused towards to where our intention channels it. We marshal our attention with our intention. High quality attention then helps us to be more effective in life, and to enjoy it more.

Awareness is our potential to be conscious; it is consciousness itself. Our awareness follows our attention. The energy of our consciousness awareness follows where we place our attention.

Awakened mindfulness – Freedom, love & bliss

So, each moment of our consciousness has these three dimensions, intention, attention, and awareness. What I want to do now is describe a visualization that enables us to relate to these three in their pure or essential form:

Freedom of intention – Imagine your intention as a star sitting in the center of your head/brain. It sits in the freedom of an open sky, and when you focus on it you can feel that open, spacious freedom. Its light is the light of your conscious intention that you can use to navigate your life successfully and wisely.

The Heart of loving attention – See your attention as a diamond at your heart, the facets of the diamond reflecting and radiating rainbow lights around it. The rainbow diamond represents all the different ways that your attention can be directed to yourself and the world in a loving, skillful, benevolent, and compassionate manner.

The bliss of your Ocean of consciousness – See in your lower abdomen there is a drop of water that contains the entire ocean. This is your Blissful Ocean of consciousness, the source from which awareness comes from. If you relax into this Ocean in your belly, you can feel your consciousness becoming open, blissful & calm, like the depths of an Ocean.

Putting it together:

You can meditate on the star in your head as your essential, awakened Freedom of intention. In daily life you can use the star-image to create and stay with mindful, conscious intentions

You can meditate on the diamond at your heart as your essential, awakened Love. During the day you can use the diamond image to be creative with the different ways you can make your attention loving, constructive and benevolent.

You can meditate on the drop of water in your belly as an Ocean of Bliss-Consciousness. During the day you can be dropping into this simple, blissful state of awareness to recharge, relax and recover, before moving back into more active states of intention and attention.

Related reading: The holy trinity of mindfulness
Indestructible safety (On Therapeutic & Tantric mindfulness)

© Toby Ouvry 2025, 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 upcoming classes & workshops

Ongoing on Tuesday’s & Wednesday’s (live & online), 7.30-8.30pm – Weekly integral meditation classes

Ongoing Tuesday & Wednesday’s weekly, 7.30-8.30pm – Embodied Transformation – An integrative introduction to Tantric meditation

Ongoing on Saturdays weekly, 5.30-6.15pm – Embodied Transformation – Saturday Tantric deep-dive meditation sessions

Saturday 24th May, 10.30am-12noon – Get Your Meditation Practice Started Now – The Shortest and Most Time Effective Meditation Workshop Ever

Level 1 – Friday 30^th May, 8am-4pm, Level 2 – Friday 13^th June, 8am-4pm – Freedom & Fullness – A practical introduction to Non-Dual Meditation Practice Retreat & Course

Tuesday 17th, Weds 18th June, 7.30-8.30pm – Summer solstice balancing & renewing meditation

Meditation & Mindfulness for working with your Child-self – Workshop: Saturday 21^st June, 2-5pm SG time, &
session series: Session 1 – Monday 23^rd June, 7.30-9am (7.30-9pm Eastern time US), Session 2 – Tuesday 24^th June, 7.30-9am (7.30-9pm Eastern time US)

Tags awakened freedom, inner growth, integral meditation, integral meditation asia, integral mindfulness, meditation, meditation in singapore, mindfulness, mindfulness in Singapore, mindfulness meditation, power of mind

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Indestructible safety (On Therapeutic & Tantric mindfulness)

Post author By Toby
Post date May 19, 2025

“Tantric practices such as recognizing your indestructible-safety are all about making educated leaps of perception!”

Dear Integral Meditators,

This week’s article takes vulnerability, safety & invulnerability as the subject. If you enjoy it, it will be the subject of this week’s Tuesday, Wednesday & Saturday class. You would be welcome to join, either live-in-person, or online!

If you enjoy the therapeutic side of the article, then do check out my therapeutic mindfulness coaching, and also the Meditation & Mindfulness for working with your Child-self on the 21st (workshop), & 23/24 (sessions) June. On early bird up until 7^th June 10% off!

In the spirit of the indestructibilty,

Toby

Indestructible safety (On Therapeutic & Tantric mindfulness)

Therapeutic mindfulness

The purpose of therapeutic mindfulness is to create a safe space for us to explore the way that our difficult past experiences impinge upon our present experience. It enables us to work trough them in a way that we increasingly experience the present moment free from the baggage of the past. In a previous article I outline six mindful positions that are useful in this regard:

Grounding in the senses
Recognizing safety
Warmth & compassion
Appreciation
Curiosity & courage
A sense of being supported

In this article I want to use safety as an example of how to combine therapeutic mindfulness and Tantric mindfulness. Therapeutically, recognizing and resting in safety involves acknowledging your vulnerable or fearful self, and then:

Recognizing that in this moment you are physically safe, there are no immanent threats to your wellbeing. Letting your body, mind, and heart rest in this space of safety, using it to feel secure and relaxed as you navigate the day
Creating a psychologically safe space – Consciously abstaining from attacking or negative thoughts/emotions toward yourself, so that your inner space with yourself is one that feels increasingly safe, reliable, and consistent.

Tantric mindfulness

In contrast to therapeutic mindfulness, Tantric mindfulness is about recognizing and experiencing your ‘always already’ awakened, ‘perfected’ nature in the present moment. If it can be combined with therapeutic mindfulness, then they create a wonderful and powerful team. So how can this be applied to safety? The instructions below are short and may seem quite radical, but, well, that’s Tantric practice, it is all about making ‘educated leaps of perception!’
If you relax into the stillness of your consciousness-itself in the present moment, then you will become aware of a dimension of self that is formless and timeless, Eternal, and Free. Recognizing and resting in that formless-timeless self, recognize that it is indestructible;

Because it was not born, it does not die
Because it is formless and timeless, it cannot be destroyed by anything
Even if the outer circumstances in your life are limiting and oppressive, this part of you is completely and radically FREE from this limitation, free from the oppression of fear, free from anxiety around uncertainty

So, you practice recognizing your formless timeless nature, recognize its nature as being indestructible safety, and identify YOU as THAT.

Three positions to explore combining therapeutic & Tantric mindfulness

So, to put these together, practice cycling through:

Breathing and relaxing into physical safety, dialling down your nervous systems’ emergency triggering
Creating a psychologically safe space for yourself to rest and regenerate yourself within
Based on the above two, practice recognizing your formless-timeless indestructible self, and rest in the experience of indestructible safety, both in meditation, and as much as possible in your daily life

This practice invites you to combine the acknowledgement of both your vulnerability, and need for safety at the same time as recognizing your indestructability. Initially this looks like a paradox, but put into practice it quickly becomes working with a complementary polarity.

Enjoy your indestructibility!

Related reading: Toby’s therapeutic mindfulness anthology
Therapeutic mindfulness coaching
Combining your witnessing with Tantric meditation

© Toby Ouvry 2025, 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 upcoming classes & workshops

Ongoing on Tuesday’s & Wednesday’s (live & online), 7.30-8.30pm – Weekly integral meditation classes

Ongoing Tuesday & Wednesday’s weekly, 7.30-8.30pm – Embodied Transformation – An integrative introduction to Tantric meditation

Ongoing on Saturdays weekly, 5.30-6.15pm – Embodied Transformation – Saturday Tantric deep-dive meditation sessions

Saturday 24th May, 10.30am-12noon – Get Your Meditation Practice Started Now – The Shortest and Most Time Effective Meditation Workshop Ever

Level 1 – Friday 30^th May, 8am-4pm, Level 2 – Friday 13^th June, 8am-4pm – Freedom & Fullness – A practical introduction to Non-Dual Meditation Practice Retreat & Course

Tuesday 17th, Weds 18th June, 7.30-8.30pm – Summer solstice balancing & renewing meditation

Meditation & Mindfulness for working with your Child-self – Workshop: Saturday 21^st June, 2-5pm SG time, &
session series: Session 1 – Monday 23^rd June, 7.30-9am (7.30-9pm Eastern time US), Session 2 – Tuesday 24^th June, 7.30-9am (7.30-9pm Eastern time US)

Tags inner growth, integral meditation, integral meditation asia, integral mindfulness, meditation, meditation in singapore, mindfulness, mindfulness in Singapore, mindfulness meditation, power of mind, tantra, tantric midfullness, therapeutic mindfulness, therapy

A Mind of Ease Energy Meditation Enlightened love and loving Inner vision Integral Meditation Integrating Ego, Soul and Spirit Life-fullness Meditation techniques Motivation and scope

Two heart meditations

Post author By Toby
Post date May 13, 2025

“When the heart truly understands, it lets go of everything”

Dear Integral Meditators,

I hope you are enjoying your Wesak day! For those of you who may not know, Wesak is the celebration of Buddha’s ‘birthday’, and a great time to take a pause.
For those that may be interested I’ll be doing the Wesak compassion & inner visioning meditation on two occasions this week, Wednesday & Thursday 7.30pm SG time. Welcome to join online, live or via the recording!

This week’s article focuses on two heart meditations. If you enjoy it, you are invited to the One Heart Open Day: Heart Opening meditation with singing bowls, where I will be co-leading a Heart meditation with Jaslyn Kee, the founder of One Heart!

Underneath the article are links to a number of upcoming events, two of which are on early bird offer currently, in particular, the Freedom & Fullness – A practical introduction to Non-Dual Meditation Practice Retreat & Course early-bird offer ends 16th May!

In the spirit of the heart,

Toby

Two heart meditations

This article is mostly focused on two quotes, one from Ajahn Chia, and one from Mantak Chia. The first invites us to relate to the heart in a different way through acceptance:

“A Child Playing” – Ajahn Chia (From the book A Tree in the Forest, a collection of Ajahn Chia’s similes)

“When we have contemplated the nature of the heart many times, then we come to understand that this heart is just as it is, and can’t be otherwise. We will know that the heart’s ways are just as they are. That’s it’s nature. If we see this clearly, then we detach from thoughts and feelings. And we don’t have to add anything more if we constantly tell ourselves that “that’s just the way it is.” When the heart truly understands, it lets go of everything. Thinking and feeling will still be there, but that very thinking and feeling will be deprived of power.
It’s like at first being annoyed by a child who likes to play in ways that annoy us so much that we scold or spank him. But later we understand that it is natural for a child to play and act like that, so we leave him alone. We let go and our troubles are over. Why are they over? Because we now accept the ways of children. Our outlook has changed, and we now accept the true nature of things. We let go and our heart becomes more peaceful. We now have right understanding. “

The seven states of compassion within the heart energy – From ‘the Cosmic Orbit’ by Mantak Chia

“Tn the Tao, we believe that the (physical) heart fibres are bundled into seven layers which generate seven electromagnetic fields, and seven states of compassion energy. Listed from innermost to outermost (like layers of an onion):

Love
Appreciation
Gratitude
Thankfulness
Kindness
Gentleness
Compassion”

To meditate on either of these quotes, you can start by simply breathing in and out of the heart, and getting connected to it. In the first meditation you would then simply work on accepting and working with your heart energy, with the associated mental and emotional content as it is.
With the second meditation you are focusing explicitly on the physical heart, feeling it to be radiating a field with these seven layers of compassion energy, taking time to connect and attune to each level. It’s interesting to reflect on the differences of the energy of these seven levels, they are all clearly related and interconnected, but subtly different from each other.

© Toby Ouvry 2025, 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

Saturday 17th May, 3-4.30pm – One Heart Open Day: Heart Opening meditation with singing bowls

Saturday 24th May, 10.30am-12noon – Get Your Meditation Practice Started Now – The Shortest and Most Time Effective Meditation Workshop Ever

Level 1 – Friday 30^th May, 8am-4pm, Level 2 – Friday 13^th June, 8am-4pm – Freedom & Fullness – A practical introduction to Non-Dual Meditation Practice Retreat & Course

Tuesday 17th, Weds 18th June, 7.30-8.30pm – Summer solstice balancing & renewing meditation

Meditation & Mindfulness for working with your Child-self – Workshop: Saturday 21^st June, 2-5pm SG time, &
session series: Session 1 – Monday 23^rd June, 7.30-9am (7.30-9pm Eastern time US), Session 2 – Tuesday 24^th June, 7.30-9am (7.30-9pm Eastern time US)

Tags heart, heart meditation, inner growth, integral meditation, integral meditation asia, integral mindfulness, meditation, meditation in singapore, mindfulness in Singapore, mindfulness meditation, power of mind

A Mind of Ease Energy Meditation Insight Meditation Integrating Ego, Soul and Spirit Life-fullness Meditating on the Self Meditation and Psychology Meditation techniques mind body connection Mindful Resilience Presence and being present

Re-awakening the Bliss of your childhood

Post author By Toby
Post date May 6, 2025

“Reconnecting to your bliss can have a profound effect on everything else; pain is less wearing, emotional dissonance is easier to harmonize, disappointments & life’s curve-balls are easier to work with”

Dear Integral Meditators,

This week’s article takes bliss and childhood as the subject. If you enjoy it, it will be the subject of this weeks Tuesday, Wednesday & Saturday class. You would be welcome to join, either live-in-person, or online!

Quick reminder of the The Call of the Wild: Shamanic Meditations for connecting to animal guides in the inner world Masterclass & Mini-retreat over the weekend!

In the spirit of thoughtful bliss,

Toby

Re-awakening the Bliss of your childhood

When connecting to the bliss of being alive came naturally

When I was a young boy, I used to ‘twiddle’ my hair. This meant taking a lock of my hair between my index & middle fingers and rubbing it gently between the two. This very quicky sent me into a relaxed, semi-trance state that felt very naturally blissful. This bliss was a physical feeling in my body, not an abstract idea. When it happened, the front of my tongue would rise to the top, front of the roof of my mouth, where I would feel it ‘suck’ rhythmically, like a baby sucking on a bottle, or a breast. Twiddling my hair could go on for long periods, like in the back of a car whilst on a weekend journey. My parents literally called me ‘Toby twirl’ because of this habit, which lasted actively until my early teens.
After my early teens, I forgot about twiddling my hair for several years. But when I started practicing Qi gong, and meditating, I noticed that that familiar ‘sucking’ of my tongue on the roof of my mouth returned, along with the feeling of bliss in my body at certain times. This was something of a discovery, because once I had connected to the experience of childhood bliss, I found I could very easily go into a state of meditation by recalling the experience of twiddling my hair, and activating the feeling of blissful aliveness in my body. The bliss was/is really useful, because it makes it easy for the body-mind to relax, and to stop thinking about stuff. If you can access a state of bliss, since it is so much more pleasant to feel blissful than worried, it easy to choose feeling blissful over compulsive stress, at least for some of your day!

So, then I have a question for you; do you have any memories of childhood bliss, like the ‘hair-twiddling one’ that I mention above? Perhaps it was in your childhood, but it might have been later, in your teens, or a passage of your adult years. If you can find such a memory and remember it, then that can then act as the basis of your own re-awakening to bliss in the here and now.

Re-connecting to that cellular memory now

When you recall your experience of childhood (or other) bliss, what will happen is that you will activate your body’s cellular memory of it. This means you activate the feeling of the blissful memory in the body, and so actually start to experience a little bit of the bliss in the present moment. If you dwell upon that feeling now, you can grow it back to the power of it’s original state, thus bringing back the regenerative energy of bliss into your life. Just a few minutes a day of reconnecting to your bliss can have a profound effect on everything else; pain becomes less wearing, emotional dissonance is easier to harmonize, disappointments and life’s curve-balls are easier to accept and work with.

The bliss-work is nice to explore as a practice by itself, but there are also two further ways in which you can enhance the building of your bliss are:

Combining it with core cellular breathing
You can combine it with the meditation on Making yourself bigger

© Toby Ouvry 2025, 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 upcoming classes & workshops

Ongoing on Tuesday’s & Wednesday’s (live & online), 7.30-8.30pm – Weekly integral meditation classes

Saturday 10th & Sunday 11th May – The Call of the Wild: Shamanic Meditations for connecting to animal guides in the inner world Masterclass & Mini-retreat

Starts Tuesday 6^th, Wednesday 7^th May, 7.30-8.30pm – Embodied Transformation – An integrative introduction to Tantric meditation

Starts Saturday, 10^th May & then weekly, 5.30-6.15pm – Embodied Transformation – Saturday Tantric deep-dive meditation sessions

Tuesday 13th & Wednesday 14th May, 7.30-8.30pm – Wesak compassion & inner visioning meditation

Saturday 17th May, 3-4.30pm – One Heart Open Day: Heart Opening meditation with singing bowls

Tuesday 17th, Weds 18th June, 7.30-8.30pm – Summer solstice balancing & renewing meditation

Saturday 24th May, 10.30am-12noon – Get Your Meditation Practice Started Now – The Shortest and Most Time Effective Meditation Workshop Ever

Level 1 – Friday 30^th May, 8am-4pm, Level 2 – Friday 13^th June, 8am-4pm – Freedom & Fullness – A practical introduction to Non-Dual Meditation Practice Retreat & Course

Tags bliss, childhood, inner growth, integral meditation, integral meditation asia, integral mindfulness, meditation, meditation in singapore, mindfulness, mindfulness in Singapore, mindfulness meditation, power of mind

A Mind of Ease creative imagery Energy Meditation Inner vision Integral Meditation Life-fullness meditation and creativity Meditation techniques Presence and being present Primal Spirituality spiritual intelligence

Creating your inner-world meditation retreat

Post author By Toby
Post date April 28, 2025

“Meditation can be thought of as a way of building communion with your inner world, & the resources that are available to you there”

Dear Integral Meditators,

The article below describes meditation as a way of building communion with your inner world, & the resources that are available to you there. If you enjoy it, it will be the Topic of this week’s Tuesday & Wednesday meditation class on Trusting your truth. Your welcome to join, live or online!

The article also describes ways of learning in meditation that relate closely to the Shamanic & Tantric approaches that we will be looking at in my upcoming courses on both subjects.

In the spirit of inner-knowledge,

Toby

The Mindful Self-Knowledge Program with Toby – 15% off until 10th May

The Mindful Self-Knowledge Program is something that I put together to fill the gap between the ‘Waking-up’ practices of meditation with the ‘Growing-up’ practices more traditionally associated with developmental & existential psychology…read full details

Article: Creating your inner-world meditation retreat

Intention: The function of this meditation is to create an inner world retreat, or imagined place within nature where we can simply go and ‘be’ present to and with. It functions as a threshold or ‘in-between place’ between our outer reality and the non-ordinary realities of the inner and spiritual worlds.

Step 1: Finding the centre of the six directions

Sitting comfortably, be aware of the direction in front of you and the direction behind you. Be aware of the direction to your left and to your right. Be aware of the earth beneath you, and the sky and stars above and around you. Briefly allow your awareness to explore what you know of the landscape in each of the physical directions around you.
Become aware of yourself and your body as being at the centre of the six directions, and feel this space, the centre of the six directions to be your home in the world of time and space.
As you breathe in, breathe your awareness fully into your body and the centre of the six directions. As you breathe out, release tension from your body-mind and allow yourself to become physically and mentally still.

Step 2 – Connecting to your inner-world retreat

Now focus on a conscious intention to go your own personal inner-world retreat or landscape. After a short time you will see forming around you within your inner vision a landscape within nature. It may be one that you know from your life and past history, or it may be one that is unfamiliar to you, but that forms itself clearly and intuitively. Trust what you see.
Explore the six directions of your retreat, in front, behind, to the left, to the right, below and above. Notice what time if day it seems to be. Build it as clearly as feels appropriate in your awareness, using all five senses; sight, sound, smell, taste, touch. Relax, enjoy and breathe in the healing energy of your space.

Step 3 – Relaxing, being, regenerating, inviting, watching the coming and going

Your inner-world retreat is principally a place for you to go and relax, be and regenerate your energy whilst communing with the inner-world forces of nature. Also, sometimes and if you like you can invite contact with your inner world guides, guardians and helper spirits. Having made your invitation (and sometimes when you haven’t) you may notice the presence of such guides as they come into your space from somewhere within the surrounding landscape. Sometimes they may come with a particular message, other times it may simply be to exchange companionship and company in silent communion.

Step 4 – Returning

Gradually see your inner-world landscape fading from your inner vision. Take a few breaths, as you inhale connect to your physical body, as you breathe out return to an awareness of your body and external surroundings. Bring the meditation to a close.

© Toby Ouvry 2025, 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

Tags inner growth, inner-retreat, integral meditation, integral meditation asia, integral mindfulness, meditation, meditation in singapore, mindfulness, mindfulness in Singapore, mindfulness meditation, power of mind, shamanism, tantra

A Mind of Ease creative imagery Energy Meditation Integral Awareness Integral Meditation Integrating Ego, Soul and Spirit Life-fullness Meditation and Psychology Meditation techniques Presence and being present Primal Spirituality

Three types of Big Wonderment

Post author By Toby
Post date April 21, 2025

“The core state of philosophy is Wonderment, a state of presence, where we feel gentle awe & curiosity in the face of Life”

Dear Integral Meditators,

This Tuesday 22nd, Wednesday 23rd April, 7.30-8.30pm I’ll be starting a two part meditation series: The Wisdom of Awakening Series – Trusting your truth. If you enjoy the article on Wonderment below, it will be the subject of this weeks class, you’d be welcome to join!

This two part meditation series is also a sort of warm up for the upcoming Tues/Wednesday & Saturday Tantric meditation sessions, so do check them out!

In the spirit of the Big Wonderment,

Toby

Three types of Big Wonderment

Wonderment, philosophy and thinking in principles

Philosophy might be thought of as the art of thinking in principles. Every person has a philosophy in life. However conscious or unconscious, however functional or dysfunctional, we all have a set of ideas and beliefs that act as our core navigating system, our ‘philosophy’. Part of the art of good philosophy is to examine your core beliefs about life and improve upon them, so that your inner navigating system runs on a higher quality ‘true-er, more beautiful and more-good’ set of core principles.
The challenge with philosophy is that it can quite quickly become abstract and dry, not connected to our actual life experience. One way to avoid this is to cultivate the ‘state’ of philosophy, and then think from this experiential state. The core state of philosophy is Wonderment, a state of presence, where we feel gentle awe and curiosity in the face of Life. Wonderment is a lovely state just to breathe and relax with in meditation. I have also developed it in three ways which I find help me keep my philosophy real and experiential. They are implicitly ‘Tantric’ in their approach, but can be easily cultivated by anyone.

Alive to wonderment – Bliss & being born from Life

Sink your sense of Wonderment into your lower abdomen and hips. Feel it connecting to the gentle bliss of your biological life force, and its generative energy, so that it becomes blissful wonderment. Experience yourself as being born from Life, and an expression of Life, rather than an isolated, cut off unit of life that must fight for it’s place in the life around it. When you think philosophically, think from this place of Life-full Wonderment.

Heart Wonderment – The magnetic Ocean of Love

Bring the state of Wonderment into your heart and chest, feel it connecting to the natural warmth and care that exists in that part of your body. Feel that ‘small’ love at your heart to be connected to the Ocean of Universal Love that we all exist within. In a state of Wonderment, experience yourself as that Ocean of Love, appearing as this feeling of warmth within your heart. When you think about your life, think from this place of Heart-Wonderment.

Mind Wonderment – The radical freedom of the Witness

Focus the state of Wonderment in your head and brain. Feel the Wonderment mixing with the sky life freedom of your consciousness itself. Not the thoughts but that which observes the thoughts, watching with liberated curiosity. When you reflect on your life, think from this place of Mind-Wonderment, or Freedom.

PHILOSOPHY

Before the visitor embarked upon discipleship he wanted assurance from the Master,
“Can you teach me the goal of human life?”
“I cannot.”
“Or at least its meaning?”
“I cannot.”
“Can you indicate to me the nature of death and of life beyond the grave?”
“I cannot.”
The visitor walked away in scorn. The disciples were dismayed that their Master had
been shown up in a poor light.
Said the Master soothingly, “Of what use is it to comprehend life’s nature and life’s
meaning if you have never tasted it? I’d rather you ate your pudding than speculated on
it.”

Maybe its possible to eat your pudding, and philosophize with Wonderment at the same time!

Related articles: Born from Life
This week’s article: All you need is Love – Contemplative Non-Duality
Combining your Witnessing with Tantric meditation

© Toby Ouvry 2025, 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 upcoming classes & workshops

Tuesday 22/29^th, Wednesday 23/30^th April, 7.30-8.30pm – The Wisdom of Awakening Series – Trusting your truth

Saturday 17th May, 3-4.30pm – One Heart Open Day: Heart Opening meditation with singing bowls

Tuesday 17th, Weds 18th June, 7.30-8.30pm – Summer solstice balancing & renewing meditation

Tags inner growth, integral meditation, integral meditation asia, integral mindfulness, meditation, meditation & philosophy, meditation in singapore, mindfulness, mindfulness in Singapore, mindfulness meditation, power of mind, wonderment

A Mind of Ease Biographical Energy Meditation Insight Meditation Integral Meditation Meditating on the Self meditation and creativity Meditation techniques Mindful Resilience Presence and being present Primal Spirituality spiritual intelligence Zen Meditation

Taking the mountain with you

Post author By Toby
Post date April 15, 2025

“The only Zen that you find on top of a mountain is the Zen that you bring with you” – Robert M Pirsig

Dear Integral Meditators,

This week’s article looks at how to embody the energy of a mountain, its a fun idea with serious applications!

Lots of great events & courses coming up soon, scroll down below the article to have a look!

In the spirit of the mountain,

Toby

Taking the mountain with you

‘Taking the mountain with you’ is a Zen expression. It means that if you are a meditator, rather than needing to go to a mountain to ground, de-stress and recover your balance, you become like the energy of the mountain. By meditating consistently, as you walk around in the city or wherever you go, you take the energy of ‘mountainous-ness’ with you.
You can also take the image of the mountain as a metaphor for enlightenment, or awakening. When we are stabilized in the art of awakening, wherever we go we take that awakening with us, because we embody that energy.

“The only Zen that you find on top of a mountain is the Zen that you bring with you” – Robert M Pirsig.

When I was a monk, there were always members of the Buddhist group that I was in who were obsessed with the idea of going on retreat. They felt that, once they had done a six-month or one year retreat, somehow that would have attained a special state that would once-and-for-all mean that they never had to be bothered by ordinary states of mind and body again. They were looking for a one knock-out punch! Needless to say I also listened to several stories from these people regarding returning to ordinary life after their long retreat and feeling like they were back to square one after a disappointingly short time!

Bring the mountain you’ve got

One middle-way that I have found useful is to simply commit each day to bringing the ‘mountain that you have got’ with you into your life each day. What this means is that you bring to front and centre that part of you that is calm, balanced and stable like a mountain each day. Simply be that to the greatest degree that you are able.

A mountain poem

The birds have vanished down the sky.
Now the last cloud drains away.
We sit together, the mountain and me,
until only the mountain remains.
– Li Bai

Some meditation positions

Sit or stand like a mountain. At first imagine you are standing or sitting on a mountain. There is you and the mountain. Feel into the calmness, solidity, and presence of the mountain, gradually relax into this until as the poem says, “We sit together, the mountain and me, until only the mountain remains.” Go from being with the mountain to being the mountain. Work with this until there is no self-and-mountain, only ‘mountainous-ness’.

In daily life, try and return to this feeling of mountainous-ness often:

When you walk into a room or a meeting, bring it with you
Coming home from work, bring it on the train with you
Sit down to the family dinner with it
Experience your uncertainty with it
Through the highs and lows of your life, bring the mountain with you

Wherever you go, bring the mountain!

Related reading: The body is in you – How to go into deep meditation quickly
Four Zen Meditations

© Toby Ouvry 2025, 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 upcoming classes & workshops

Ongoing on Tuesday’s & Wednesday’s (live & online), 7.30-8.30pm – Weekly integral meditation classes

Saturday 17th May, 3-4.30pm – One Heart Open Day: Heart Opening meditation with singing bowls

Tuesday 17th, Weds 18th June, 7.30-8.30pm – Summer solstice balancing & renewing meditation

Tags inner growth, integral meditation, integral meditation asia, integral mindfulness, meditation, meditation in singapore, mindfulness, mindfulness in Singapore, mindfulness meditation, mountain meditation, power of mind

A Mind of Ease Enlightened Flow Enlightened love and loving Inner vision Insight Meditation Integral Awareness Integrating Ego, Soul and Spirit Meditating on the Self Meditation techniques Mindful Self-Leadership Presence and being present Primal Spirituality

None of it & all of it – Who are you really?

Post author By Toby
Post date March 24, 2025

“If you freed your self-sense from it’s current limitations, what creative possibilities might arise?”

Dear Integral Meditators,

This week’s article looks at “Who am I really?” as an object of meditation. If you enjoy it you would be welcome to join us for the Tuesday & Wednesday, as well as the Saturday sessions this week, where we will be working with this meditation directly.

In the spirit of the simple feeling of Being,

Toby

None of it & all of it – Who are you really?

This article focuses on our self-sense as the gateway to a non-dual meditation experience. Really what it is is a series of mindful positions that will lead you progressively from your ‘small I’ to your ‘Big I’. It echoes the Hindu Vedanta school of meditation, some of the esoteric teachings of Christ within the Christian tradition, and Qabalah. All of these three have the ‘I AM’ as a central focus of meditation enquiry.

Out sense of self or I accompanies our every moment. Transforming this sense of self therefore has a tremendous impact in all domains of our life. If integrated well, we can find ourself happier, more motivated, more relaxed and more effective as a result of doing this meditation.

The simple feeling of being

The first object of meditation is the simple feeling of being. Notice how, at the centre of each moment of your experience is a sense of self, me or I, a being-ness.

Being trapped inside the skin

Secondly, notice how your sense of being, your ‘I’ seems to instinctively be located within your body, with the boundary being your skin. You, or ‘self’ is inside the body, with your thoughts, feelings, sensibilities, perspectives. The World and ‘others’ are outside. Small vulnerable self within, big word outside. Notice how this feeling of being/self affects every perception and experience you have.

Witnessing – “Not this, not that”

Notice within you that there is a witnessing consciousness, an observer that is not the body, not the mind, or your thoughts, beliefs, or emotions. It is not the job title you have, or the family position, or your tribulations or successes. Rather it is that which witnesses these with equanimity, transcending and including everything within its gaze. Notice also that this witness self is the source of the ‘simple feeling of being’ mentioned in the first position above. Separate out the Witness Self, and get used to “Holding to the attitude of the non-doer or witnessing Self in the midst of all actions”.

None of this also = All of This!

Once you have freed your inner sense of self from identification with your body or other aspects of your everyday self, the experience is exactly that, a huge sense of freedom, liberation, a big letting go into a vaster, bigger all-encompassing Self.

The movement from here is toward the recognition that, since you are not any part of your small I, then you are free to identify Self as the Whole, as the Whole World, the whole Universe. Here you can simply sit and watch everything that arises within your field of awareness, recognizing it as Self. No more self and other, no more subjects and objects, just the Self, the I AM, the Simple Feeling of Being appearing as the World, as the Universe. To quote from a previous article, Self and the World become ‘Not one, not two’.

This final position also invokes two of my favourite bible quotes:

God’s revelation to Moses in Exodus 3:14, where God (appearing as the burning bush) says, “I AM WHO I AM” (or “I AM THAT I AM”) in response to the question “Who are you?”

Jesus’s response in John 8:58, where he states “Before Abraham was, I am.” What I AM is this? The formless timeless Witness, that lived within Jesus, and lives within us now. The I AM that is not any one part of the World, and so is all of it!

Related reading: Awakening, not over-thinking

Self as the Gateway to the Expanded Self and to Universal Love and Compassion

© Toby Ouvry 2025, 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 upcoming classes & workshops

Ongoing on Tuesday’s & Wednesday’s (live & online), 7.30-8.30pm – Weekly integral meditation classes

Ongoing on Tues & Weds, 7.30-8.30 pm – Freedom & Fullness – A practical introduction to non-dual meditation practice

Ongoing on Saturdays, 5.30-6-15pm – Freedom & Fullness deep-dive non-dual meditation sessions

Tues 18th, Weds 19th March, 7.30-8.30pm – Spring Equinox balancing and renewing meditation

Saturday 2nd & Sunday 3rd May – The Call of the Wild: Shamanic Meditations for connecting to animal guides in the inner world Masterclass & Mini-retreat

Starts Tues 6^th, Wednesday 7^th May, 7.30-8.30pm – Shamanic meditations for connecting to your animal guides & familiars

Tuesday 13th & Wednesday 14th May – Wesak compassion & inner visioning meditation

Tags inner growth, integral meditation, integral meditation asia, integral mindfulness, meditation, meditation in singapore, Meditation on the Self, mindfulness, mindfulness in Singapore, mindfulness meditation, power of mind