Category: Awareness and insight

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Going Saffron – being many ways at once

“We can feel many different ways at any given time, & all of them can be true”

Dear Integral Meditators, 

This week’s article looks at the state of being ‘saffron’ which is an idea & experience that I have been working with a lot these last couple of weeks.
 
This week’s Wednesday & Saturday meditation classes are on the subject of the witness self, inner agility & staying on the tail of the sharks of your mind!
 
In the spirit of positive paradox,

Toby
 


Going Saffron – being many ways at once
 
I met a friend whom I had not seen for a while last Thursday. She asked me how I was, to which I replied that I was feeling very ‘saffron’. She asked me what I meant by this, to which I replied that when a cloth is died with saffron (as in the Saffron the spice derived from the flower of the Crocus, used for spices, dyes ect) the saffron ‘colour’ is, in fact a number of colours at the same time. If you look at it from on angle it is yellow, from another gold, another orange, from another red. Saffron is a number of different colours ‘all at once’.
 
So, what I meant when I said I was feeling saffron was that I was feeling lots of different ways all at the same time:

  • In some ways stressed and tired
  • In some ways calm and strong
  • In some ways angry and disappointed
  • In some ways resolute and optimistic
  • In some ways persecuted, in other ways grateful and enthusiastic

The thing about it is that ALL of the way I felt was true, and that I felt comfortable holding the paradox between them all. The totality of it then, was a rich and textured feel, like the depth of colour in saffron.
 
I think most people reading this will be able to relate to this in some way. Much of the time we have a number if ‘dimensions’ to how we are in the moment. We may be able to relate to some of those ways more than others. For example, you might be feeling 40% nervous, 30% excited, 20% calm, 5% catastrophizing and 5% confident (!)
 
Playing with what you identify with
 
Within all those different ways however, you will identify more strongly or weakly with the qualities that are turning up. For example, even though calm is there, your sense of identification may be with the nervousness, so it dominates. It can be really useful to understand that this sense of identity is not fixed and can be played with. You can consciously choose to notice the part of you that is calm, and bring it to the ‘front and center of your awareness, rather than off to the side somewhere. Just changing its position ‘in the field’ can make a surprising difference.
 
Harmonizing your colours, not clashing them
 
Another aspect of this is finding ways for the qualities to complement and harmonize the different qualities, rather than feeling as if they are clashing or fighting with each other. For example:

  • Rather than trying to escape from the stress and make the calmness ‘win’, we can use the calmness as a way of soothing the stressed part. Perhaps the stressed part may then be able to move toward excitement, so you the get a complementary ‘calm-yet-excited state
  • The optimistic part of you can help the ‘disappointed’ part of you to mellow a bit and become a little more accepting
  • The grateful part of self can combine with the resolute self to create a softer, more adaptable strength

With mindful awareness, there are lots of ways in which you can start to notice and play with your saffron states, making your life and experience richer in the process.
Actually, I’ve started using this term ‘saffron’ state after reding about ‘Saffron Tara’, who is one of the twenty-one Tara’s in Tibetan Buddhism. I want to finish this article with a quote from Rachel Wooten’s book ‘Tara – the liberating power of the female Buddha’:
 
“Saffron Tara’s appearance – She appears in a radiant body of saffron light. The otherworldly beauty of this colour, shimmering with multiple shades simultaneously, reminds you –  especially in difficult times – of the preciousness of your life, the wealth of the teachings, the “all at once” quality of limitless awakened consciousness that she embodies, and the joyful aliveness that calls to you from your depths.
Her facial expression conveys both wrathfulness and peace. Contemplate her along with her expression and imagine how this might happen. Could you feel the fierce red of anger, the luminosity of golden-yellow, and the brightness of orange all at once? Can you connect with the peace that resonates in your connection to the Source of existence and the aliveness of your body consciousness while tending to anxieties as they appear in daily life?”

Related reading: Paradox therapy & the difference between a psychological crisis and a spiritual crisis

© 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 

Follow Toby on: LinkedIn, YouTube, Instagram

Integral Meditation Asia

Live workshops & online Courses * 1:1 Coaching * Books * Corporate Mindfulness Training *Life-Coaching *  Meditation Technology

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Awareness and insight Inner vision Integral Awareness Life-fullness Meditation and Psychology Mindful Confidence Mindful Resilience Mindful Self-Leadership Mindfulness

Accelerating your process of mastery (& special offer on Life-fullness Life coaching)

“Sentence-completion practice is a bit like the anti-AI, in that it is designed to stimulate & enhance your active intelligence & capability, rather than reduce it by handing it over to an LLM”

Dear Integral Meditators, 

In this week’s article I describe a way of working that I have been using for many years that is extremely time-effective and accelerates any area that you are trying to achieve mastery in.
It is also a bit like the anti-AI, in that it is designed to stimulate and enhance your active intelligence and capability, rather than reduce it by handing it over to an LLM.
 
Next couple of week’s there is a special offer of 15% off my Life-fullness life coaching and Mindful Self-Knowledge Programs.
 
This week’s Wednesday & Saturday meditation classes are the  Autumn equinox balancing & renewing meditation. It’s an opportunity to digest & recalibrate as we move into the final quarter of 2026!
 
In the spirit of mastery,

Toby
 


Up until September 9th – Special offer on Toby’s Life-fullness life coaching and Mindful Self-Knowledge Programs
 
Life-Fullness Integral Coaching Program (LICP) is an integral form of 1:1 coaching with Toby that you can sign up for periods of six-months or three-months at a time. It is mindfulness oriented personal coaching that focuses upon the development of three R’s:

  • Re-generate your creative self and curiosity in life
  • Re-connect to deeper levels of motivation and meaning within yourself, your relationships and your career
  • Re-awakening to a sense of your own inner confidence, energy and personal power


Article: Sentence completion – accelerating your process of mastery
 
The process of mastery
 
In his book ‘Mastery’ George Leonard describes the process of becoming a master at anything a journey of peaks and plateaus.

  • The peaks are periods where we make rapid progress, like climbing up the steep part of a mountain ascent, we rise fast, and the feeling is exhilarating. These ‘peaks’ are then usually followed by regressions or descents, where we go back to near the level we were at before we ‘peaked’
  • The plateaus are the longer, ‘flatter’ extended periods after a peak/regression where we practise repeatedly, often with little visible progress, in order to gradually stabilize the previous ‘peak learnings’

In this process, most of the time is spent on the plateau, which involves steady, patient persistence, and the ability to not feel discouraged by the seeming lack of progress. Life on the plateau is very ‘process oriented’, getting gradually, incrementally better. It’s kind of the opposite of a ‘quick fix-immediate result’ mentality, which is why mastering anything is difficult, and most people give up, even though they are capable of it, if they had the persistence.
 
Sentence completion – Helping your mind self-organize
 
One of the things I have found to help my process of mastery is sentence completion. It is a technique I came across in around 2012 in Nathaniel Branden’s work on self-esteem. I order to work on and ‘master’ the creation of self-esteem, he created exercises where you create a sentence stem, and then complete it in 8-10 different ways, as quickly as possible. The effect of this is to invite our conscious and unconscious minds to combine together to develop awareness, insight and integrations around the subject of investigation. In other words, it helps your mind to self-organize, and integrate around the topic, which then increases the overall rate of your subject mastery.
Sentence-completion is an activity that I encourage clients to do quite often in my Life-fullness life coaching, as well as on my Mindful Self-Knowledge Program, as a way of integrating the learning from the sessions.
It is also something that I do for myself. I spent a long-time doing sentence completion around self-esteem mastery, which was Nathaniel Branden main focus, which I thoroughly recommend. Now I do it in any area of my own life where I am trying to master an activity or subject.
For example, I currently have sentence completion processes set up around:

  • My effectiveness in daily-living
  • My business activities
  • My squash game

By doing active sentence completion around these activities, I find that my progress accelerates, and I grow faster. Here are two examples of the first domain, effectiveness in daily living:
 
Example 1:
 
Sentence stem: If I want to stay focused & not procrastinate –
 
Completions:

  1. I can build capacity for humour
  2. I can keep smiling at the stress
  3. I can persist at the list within the list
  4. I can stand & stretch between work stints
  5. I can Relax into the stress & direct it
  6. I can practice witnessing around ‘the drama’
  7. I can stay motivated by my daughters
  8. I can combine the how with the why as motivation
  9. When things get crazy it can all be myself, being the world, doing itself
  10. I can get my inner family to support each other and marshal their resources

 
Example 2:
 
Sentence stem: If I choose the path of skillful acceptance today –
 

  1. I will enhance my effortless-effort
  2. I won’t pretend that I am somewhere that I am not
  3. I will not be overwhelmed by being overwhelmed
  4. I will take the time to be present & aware
  5. I may be more patient
  6. If I am I need of support, I will be better able to extend it to myself
  7. I will be more inwardly coherent
  8. My creative spirit will be in good hands
  9. I won’t feel alone
  10. My ego will be quieter & more singular

 
So, you can see it is quite a simple, time effective way of stimulating insights and helping your mind to self-organize around an activity. The beauty is that once you have done the daily sentence completion, the integration kind of happens ‘by itself’ as a result of the completions.
 
What areas of your life could you accelerate your process of mastery around with sentence completion today?
 
Related reading: Re-discovering joy in your thinking – Five aspects of mindful mental mastery

© 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 
 

Follow Toby on: LinkedIn, YouTube, Instagram

Integral Meditation Asia

Live workshops & online Courses * 1:1 Coaching * Books * Corporate Mindfulness Training *Life-Coaching *  Meditation Technology

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A Mind of Ease Awareness and insight Inner vision Insight Meditation Integral Awareness Life-fullness Meditation techniques Mindfulness Presence and being present Stress Transformation

The Way to be ok, always – liberation and the Witness-Self

“Skilful witnessing creates an increasing sense of ever-present calm even when under multiple forms of stress. We find ourself increasingly “always ok”, nothing we can’t handle”

Dear Integral Meditators,

 
This week’s article looks at the relationship between witnessing practice & your fundamental sense of freedom. It’s a slighly edited verson of something I wrote in 2013, witnessing practice is something that just gets deeper & better over time. It was working well for me in 2013, but the experience I have now 14 years later is undoubtedly richer & better!

This week’s chakras & non-duality meditation sessions: Wednesday @ 7.30pm SG time,  at 5.30pm, Saturday afternoon, & noon at Space2B. The subject will be ‘Third chakra – Confidence, power, union with mind’.

Heads up for the new series’ for September are out, The weekday & Saturday ‘ Meditations for transforming negativity & stress into energy, positivity & empowerment sessions. 

In the spirit of liberation, 

Toby


The Way to be ok, always – liberation and the Witness-Self
 
Cultivating the experience of the witness-self means cultivating your experience of self as a detached observer of your mind, body and life experiences, as opposed to having your sense of self totally caught up in them.
 
The witness or observer self has three main qualities:

  1. It witnesses our life with detached awareness
  2. It has no physical or mental form, it is merely formless awareness
  3. It is the ultimate subject of our awareness, the irreducible ‘I’

 
The path to liberation from pain and suffering has an enormous amount to do with the cultivation of the witness self.
 
To the extent that we are able to detach (not dissociate) ourself from our pain we can control it. If we can detach ourself from our pleasure we can engage it without clinging to it and thus avoid the experience of pain that happens when we are separated from that pleasure.
 
In meditation we cultivate and strengthen the witness self, but it is important to understand that the witness self is present with and available to us right now, whatever stage of development we are at. Hee are two short stories that illustrate this in a slightly funny way:
 
As a fifteen year old at school I had a friend the same age (let’s call him Tony) who went out with a seventeen year old girl. She left Tony for an older boy who was a mutual friend. Tony subsequently told me the story of how he had confronted the older boy, shouting and screaming at him in an emotional outburst. He then told me, looking slightly sheepish about how he had felt that there was a part of him watching the whole episode (including himself screaming and shouting) that was not upset at all, but felt detached and calm. That “watcher” that he had experienced amidst his emotional outburst was his witness self.
Later I had a female friend at collage who similarly discovered that her boyfriend had been having an affair with another woman whilst away at university. Again with a similar sense of sheepish confusion she described to me how she had shouted and screamed at her boyfriend whilst simultaneously feeling that a part of her was observing the situation with total calm and detachment. Like my friend Tony, my female friend had found herself aware of her witness self at the same time as she experienced, and was identified with, her emotional turmoil.
 
So, with meditation we cultivate awareness of this witness self, making it increasingly “front and center” of our daily experience, finding an increasing sense of ever-present calm even when under multiple forms of stress. We find ourself increasingly “always ok”, nothing we can’t handle.
 
Reading this some people may think that cultivating the witness self may make us cold, uncaring, emotionally mono-syllabic and so on. The reality is however that when practised in an integrated, balanced way, centring our awareness in the witness increases our capacity to enjoy deeper and more positively a wider range of emotion, pleasure, happiness and wellbeing. You could say that it liberates us to a whole new level of the human experience. We leap in and out of our roles with playful freedom.
 
A final point; being centred in the witness self also liberates us substantially from the fear of making mistakes, looking foolish, taking an appropriate chance. So, whilst finding an experience of liberation through the detachment of the witness, we concurrently find a new way of engaging in our world and human experience more freely and dynamically.
 
Related reading: Witnessing – Being That Which is Not


© 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

Follow Toby on: LinkedIn, YouTube, Instagram

Integral Meditation Asia

Live workshops & online Courses * 1:1 Coaching * Books * Corporate Mindfulness Training *Life-Coaching *  Meditation Technology

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A Mind of Ease Awareness and insight Enlightened Flow Inner vision Insight Meditation Integral Meditation Meditation and Psychology Meditation techniques Mindful Resilience Presence and being present Primal Spirituality Zen Meditation

You already have what you seek – Meditating from wholeness 

“You are whole, a lot of the things you seek, you have already. Proceed from there”

Dear Integral Meditators, 


This week’s article looks at approaching meditation, & life from a perspective of wholeness, & noticing how much easier it can make things!

Head’s up for the Mindful Resilience workshop – Practices for sustaining effectiveness, happiness & clarity under pressure that I’ll be doing on the 28th June, I also talk about an approach to improving resilience in the article…

In the spirit of the effortless, 

Toby


You already have what you seek – Meditating from wholeness
 
Meditating to express your awakened nature
 
One of my favourite expressions from Zen meditation is ‘You don’t meditate to attain awakening, you meditate to express it.’ What this means is that, you already have an awakened, whole and complete essential nature, so you don’t need to achieve it, you need to recognize it! Initially it can be difficult for us to relate to ourselves as whole right from the start of our practice, but this is what Zen and other forms of meditation invite us to do. It means inverting the usual ‘doing something to achieve something’ mentality, and relate to your wholeness, in the sense of having awakened nature right now.
There are also ways in which we can meditate in a wise way, where instead of trying to achieve something, we simply recognize that it is already there. Here are three examples that I have bee working with over this weekend with coachees and students.
 
The presence of stillness and silence
 
‘I wish my mind could be more still, but it’s so hard!’ Really? Reflect upon the environment you are in right now; the sounds and activity are all contained by the stillness and space that enables your environment. There is loads of physical space and stillness. Inwardly, yes you may have many thoughts, but they are arising in the open space of your awareness, which Is pervaded by stillness and silence. With a bit of skilful attention, we start to see that we are swimming in stillness and silence, like a fish in water!
 
The feeling of being alive, now
 
Why are you trying to achieve things? So that at upon achieving that thing, you can then really have the feeling of being fully alive. But wait, you are also alive right now, perhaps if you can open more fully to the simple feeling of being alive in the moment, you can experience the fulfilment and joy of it today, now, without waiting until you achieve your goals.
 
How much happiness can you accept?
 
We all have our problems, and those problems can make us unhappy at times, no doubt. But there are also many things in your life great and small that can be causes of happiness. If you can relate to those things now, and accept the happiness that is on offer. This way you can have genuine happiness now, right away. This happiness will then help you deal with your challenges and problems more effectively.
 
Getting resilience from your resilience
 

  • Relating to yourself and life from a position of wholeness
  • Realizing that you already have what you are looking for in many ways

These are the two essential principles here. I use them in many ways, both in my own life, and in my teachings. For example, in the mindful resilience workshop that I teach, the first practice is to:
 
“Understanding the different levels of mindful resilience and tapping into the inner resilience that you already have (but may not be leveraging effectively upon)”
 
So right off the bat, I encourage participants to relate to their resilience as something that they already have, rather than something they lack and need to ‘achieve’. All of this is to say that it is an approach that is ergonomic and flowing, sailing with life rather than struggling against it.
 
You are whole, a lot of the things you seek, you have already. Proceed from there.

© 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

Follow Toby on: LinkedIn, YouTube, Instagram

Integral Meditation Asia

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

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Awareness and insight creative imagery Inner vision Insight Meditation Life-fullness meditation and creativity Meditation and Psychology Mindful Resilience Presence and being present Stress Transformation

No such thing as a bad situation? – Mindful life-sculpting

“How can you create, or ‘sculpt’ your present experience into something valuable, worthwhile, fulfilling? What if it was not primarily about it, but you?”

Dear <<First Name>>, 

This week’s article looks at the theme of mindful-life sculpting, where you use your mind & attention to ‘sculpt’ your expereince. As a sculptor by training, its a perenially interesting theme for me.

A reminder of the Wednesday evening & Saturday afternoon chakra meditation & non-duality summer courses. If you are looking for methods that are both profoundly relaxing & transformative, do have a look!
Programs can be participated in live, online or via the recordngs. Click below for full details.

In the spirit of energised relaxation, 

Toby

No such thing as a bad situation? – Mindful life-sculpting
 
No such thing as a bad sculpture
 
Twice in my degree in the fine arts, specializing in sculpture, I was told by one of the art tutors who taught me “Actually, after you have been making sculptures a while, one of the things that you realize is that there is no such thing as a bad sculpture.” That they meant by this is that, after a while you realize that every object has a certain quality, and that, if you can work your way around to seeing it, you can appreciate, enjoy and even value it.
 
Your own life from this perspective
 
In your own life you may have come across many experiences and situations that look a bit like a ‘bad sculpture’. By this I mean that initially you react with a strong negative judgment about it; “This is bad because”:

  • It’s not what I wanted…
  • It’s not what I’m used to…
  • It’s not what I was expecting…
  • It gets in the way of….

The reasons can go on and on. But then perhaps you have found over time that,

  • It not what you wanted, but there are certain advantages to it, now I have been living with it for a couple of weeks…
  • It’s not what you were used to, but now you are starting to see how what you were used to was holding you back in certain ways…
  • It’s not what I was expecting, but why was I thinking that what I was expecting was going to be the best thing for me anyway?…
  • It got in the way of this goal, but now there is more room for this other possibility to manifest in my life…

No such thing as a bad situation?

So then, the extension of the ‘no bad sculptures’ idea is perhaps, that there are no bad situations? And that actually it’s more a ‘mindset limitation’ that is the issue…

  • Last week I discussed halving the work commitment I have toward an organization. In these uncertain times that might seem like a ‘bad’ thing, but actually I need to create space in my work schedule, as it is getting over crowded
  • I tried to create room for doing some physical sculpture at the end of last year, but I wasn’t able to. Maybe this is inviting me to double down in the idea of my life as my ‘sculpture’, and that I am doing great!
  • My sleep has not been fantastic over the last couple of weeks, but maybe this is helping me to see how much new capacity I have to cope and thrive in life, even when my sleep is not optimal…

What if there were no bad situations in your life?
 
What if it was more a matter of you seeing the value in what you are going through? If you are the most powerful creative force in your life, how can you create, or ‘sculpt’ your present experience into something valuable, worthwhile, fulfilling? What if it was not primarily about it, but you?
 
Related articles: Integral Meditation training page: Using distractions, sculpting thoughts & soft body

Using distractions, sculpting thoughts, softening the body
Being the center of your universe

© 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

Upcoming classes & workshops

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

Ongoing on Saturdays, 5.30-6.45pm SG time – Saturday Integral meditation deep-dive sessions with Toby

Starts on Wednesday June 10th, 7.30-8.30pm – Chakra meditation as a gateway to non-duality, energy & the integrated self -an 8-week course

Starts Saturday June 13th, 5.30-6.45pm – Chakra meditation as a gateway to non-duality, energy & the integrated self – an 8-session deep-dive practice series

Sat 20th, 5.30pm & Weds 24th June, 7.30pm – Summer solstice balancing & renewing meditation
 

Follow Toby on: LinkedIn, YouTube, Instagram

Integral Meditation Asia

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Awareness and insight Insight Meditation Life-fullness Meditating on the Self Meditation and Psychology Mindful Resilience Mindful Self-Leadership Presence and being present

Are you building self-esteem or self-alienation?

“What are the areas of your life that you tend to get stuck in self-alienation? How can you start using self-acceptance in these situations, strengthening your self-esteem in the process?”

Dear Integral Meditators, 

In this week’s article I look at self-alienation as an object of mindful enquiry. In my view self-alienation is a common, pervasive issue for many people. If we can start to see it, we can start to deal with it! It is a topic that comes up with regularity in both my shadow coaching work, and my therpeutic mindfulness coaching.

If the subject interests you, then you might enjoy the  Mindfulness for emotional intelligence masterclass on Saturday 25th April, 2.30-4.30pm.

In the spirit of integration,

 Toby


Are you building self-esteem or self-alienation?
 
Self-esteem is
 
One way of thinking about self esteem is as having two parts:

  • The part that considers ourself to be worthy of happiness and to have value
  • The part of us that feels capable and effective in the face of life and life’s challenges

 
If you have self-esteem as a foundational building block of your psychological experience of life, it will affect almost everything else in a positive way.
 
Self-alienation is
 
Self-Alienation happens whenever we turn away from, reject, or repress awareness of an aspect of ourself. We literally cut ourselves off from a part of who we are, and this part becomes a stranger to, or alienated from our conscious self. Nathaniel Branden wrote a book ‘The disowned self’ on the subject of all the different ways in which we alienate ourself from ourself. It mostly does not happen consciously, very few people wake up saying to themselves “Today I am going to practice self-alienation, and dis-own different parts of myself.” Nevertheless, without knowing it many of us do exactly this, without understanding that it is happening, or how we are doing it.
 
Why & how we create self-alienation when trying to create self-esteem
 
Let’s say I am deeply disappointed about not getting a job opportunity that I had interviewed for and had a good chance of getting. To protect myself from the difficult feelings and ‘lowness’ of feeling disappointed (and like a ‘loser’) I repress them, banishing them from my consciousness. By doing this I am trying to protect my self-esteem, but what I am really doing is alienating myself from the part of me that feels disappointed. This ‘disappointed self’ is the very part of me needing support and acknowledgement in that moment. Instead, I turn away from him and disown him.
In this example my instinctive efforts to protect my self-esteem actually sabotage it, and make me weaker by cutting myself off from a part of me. Secondarily, and just as importantly, sub-consciously a part of me will know that I have done this, and will know that we have ‘betrayed ourself’ on some fundamental level. This further lowers our REAL self-esteem, but tragically it has been done to protect the very self-esteem that we are damaging.
 
Self-acceptance as a route to genuine self-esteem
 
Let us say that, in the face of my disappointment over the job opportunity, instead of repressing and alienating my disappointment I turn towards it, acknowledging and accepting it. I allow myself to feel and experience my emotions, expressing a degree of understanding and care toward the part of me in pain. By bringing into consciousness the wounded part, and choosing to accept and look after it I:

  • Increase my self-esteem by displaying both courage and competency in the face of a challenge
  • I keep my personality from being divided against itself, it remains interconnected and in integrity
  • I actually pass through the disappointment much more quickly, feeling much more resilient and adaptable as a result

 
Self-acceptance becomes a route to higher self-confidence and self-esteem, preventing the disastrous (and often unconscious) results of self-alienation and dis-association.
 
What are the areas of your life that you tend to get stuck in self-alienation? How can you start using self-acceptance in these situations, strengthening your self-esteem in the process?
 
Related reading: Choosing to be on Your Own Side
Motivating Yourself to Meditate Part 2 – Meeting Your Deeper & Higher Needs Through Meditation

© 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
 

Upcoming classes & workshops

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

Ongoing on Saturdays, 5.30-6.45pm SG time – Saturday Integral meditation deep-dive sessions with Toby

Ongoing on Wednesdays – The inner smile – Meditations for inner regeneration & connecting to the Earth – An 8-week course

Ongoing on Saturdays – The inner smile & Earth healing deep-dive – An 8 session practice series

Saturday 25th April, 2.30-4.30pm – Mindfulness for emotional intelligence masterclass
 

Follow Toby on: LinkedIn, YouTube, Instagram

Integral Meditation Asia

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

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Awareness and insight creative imagery Inner vision Integrating Ego, Soul and Spirit Life-fullness Meditation and Art meditation and creativity Mindful Self-Leadership Motivation and scope Primal Spirituality spiritual intelligence

Getting your imagination & creativity to work for you

“Your reality is a dynamic co-creation between your imagination & your environment. Learn how to use this to open doors in life for you, rather than close them”

Dear Integral Meditators, 

This week’s article focuses on the psycho-dynamic relationship between your imagination and your environment. 
If you enjoy it, then feel free to come along to the Wednesday and Saturday bright shadow meditations, which are psycho-dynamic in the way described below. 

Heads up for the last workshop of the year, Saturday 13th December, 9am-12.30pm – Psychic & Psychological Self-defence half day workshop, also very much an ‘evolutionary magical’ focus here.
 
In the spirit of the imaginal,

Toby

Your inner magician part 2 – getting your imagination & creativity to work for you
 
In my previous article on activating your inner magician I defined your inner magician as:
“The inner magician is that part of our inner self that is both creative and magical, and that if we harness it effectively has the power to change our daily life and experience for the better”


I then went onto define magic as defined magic as:
“The higher expression of our inner magician is that part of self that is able to work with the higher, evolutionary or developmental expression of magic.”  
 
This article looks at the second and third aspect of activating our inner magician:
 
“Engaging our creative imagination consciously to ‘sculpt’ our experience of any given situation for the better,” and
 
“Not being content to let good ideas remain in our head, but actively finding ways of expressing those ideas concretely in our daily life.”
 
Aspect 2: Engaging our creative imagination consciously to ‘sculpt’ our experience of any given situation for the better
 
We think that there is a concrete reality ‘out there,’ waiting to be discovered, that has some kind of fixed or intrinsic qualities. Actually this is not quite the case. What happens is that the “bare facts” our outer reality meets our mind, which then imagines or projects its own ideas onto that outer reality.
From this we can see that what we experience in life has something to do with the “facts” of our life, but equality as much it also has to do with our imaginative response to those facts. Our reality and our imagination are in a constant process of interacting together in a psycho-dynamic manner. To work with magic is to realize the power of your imagination to co-create any given situation in your life, and leverage on that imaginative power effectively. For more on this you can read my past article “Taking your creative imagination as your object of meditation”.
Our imagination is deeply and powerfully magical, it can create great art and great bliss, or it can create our own private hell.
 
Aspect 3: Not being content to let good ideas remain in our head, but actively finding ways of expressing those ideas concretely in daily life.
 
Our inner magician realizes that any good idea that we understand, create or hear about is an INJUNCTION. An injunction is somewhere between an invitation and an obligation. This means that when we have or hear a great idea, we recognize that our understanding of this idea is INVITING us to use the idea as a practical tool with which we can change our life for the better. By virtue of understanding of the idea we could also say that we have an OBLIGATION to try and integrate that idea into our life. If we just let that idea remain in our intellect that would be a great waste right? Many of us are guilty of this; having great insights and ideas about our life, but not implementing them, thus wasting them.
So, our magical self or inner magician is delighted when good idea come our way and immediately seeks ways to start expressing these ideas in a practical way to change our life for the better.
 
Practical Work
 
If you want to follow up on this article on a practical level, here are two suggestions:
 

  1. Use the image above as an object of meditation in order to help you to intuitively connect to your own “Inner Magician”. Alternatively find a picture of a ‘magical person that resonates with you, and use that as a visual base for connecting to your IM.
  2. Observer the interaction between your imagination and inner conditioning with your outer environment. Notice how your reality is a dynamic co-creation between these two. Reflect on how to use this to open doors in life for you, rather than close them.
  3. As soon as you have or understand a good idea intellectually, immediately ask yourself “How can I make this idea a concrete, practical reality in my life?” Do whatever you can to act upon your answer to this question.

 
Related article: Connecting to your magical self or inner Magician part 1

 
© 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

Upcoming classes & workshops

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

Starts Tuesday 11th & 12th November, 7.30-8.30pm – Going beyond your limitations, tapping into your hidden strengths – Meditating with your bright shadow, a 6-week course

Starts Saturday 15th November, 5.30-6.15pm SG time – Bright shadow meditation Deep-dive – A 5 session practice series

Saturday 13th December, 9am-12.30pm – Psychic & Psychological Self-defence half day workshop

Follow Toby on: LinkedIn, YouTube, Instagram

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Awareness and insight creative imagery Inner vision Integral Awareness Integrating Ego, Soul and Spirit Life-fullness Meditating on the Self Meditation techniques Shadow meditation

Re-working the story you tell yourself (about yourself)

“What of you could re-model the story of your life into one you look forward to engaging with, that energises both your experience of the moment, & your visions for the future?”

Dear Integral Meditators, 

This week’s article is something of a sequel to last week’s on creativity with our self-concept. What they both offer are creative ways of using mindful observation & imagination to live a fuller, more dynamic & vibrant life.
If you enjoy the articles, then do have a look at the Bright shadow weekday & Saturday series, which explore this type of creative mindfulness extensively. They can be participated in in-person, online or via the recordings.
 
In the spirit of mindful storytelling,

Toby


Re-working the story you tell yourself (about yourself)
 
Your story
 
The story you tell yourself about you is one that emerges substantially from your self-concept, or your idea of who you are. Here is a quote from a past article of mine on ‘the story’:
 
“The heavy bag of our story: For many of us our ‘story’, our past, our history is something that we are carrying around with us all the time. Unless we are careful it can end up like a heavy bag that we never put down, sapping our energy. It can define what we believe we are capable of; filling out mind with what could have been, what we did wrong, what we wish we could change and so on…”
 
How your story turns up in your daily life
 
Often our story doesn’t turn up as a literal voice in our head narrating away. Most often it turns up more subtly in our body and daily actions. It turns up as instinctive feelings and emotions arising in response to the events of the day. If you listen to yourself talking to people, you will hear it in the things that you say, perhaps more importantly in the tone of voice that you use, and the body language that you adopt when saying it. So, what I am saying here is that, although our story is active within us all the time, mostly it turns up implicitly and unconsciously, without our being fully aware of it.
 
Listening to and observing your story
 
If you can start picking up cues about your story from your feelings, behavioral reactions and so forth, you can then start to find out the ‘narratives’ behind them. For example, if I notice that often avoid or shy away from confrontations, I can be curious about why that is. I can then enquire within myself about why that is. Listening to the responses I might get answers such as:

  • “I don’t like being disapproved of, it reminds me of being powerless in the face of stern adults when I was a child”
  • “I already often find life overwhelming, to confront would only make things worse”
  • “I hate feeling disliked and judged by others, to confront would risk experiencing this”
  • I’m afraid that I will be violent if I really express how I feel in a confrontational situation

Simply becoming aware of, accepting, and observing this inner narrative, making it into an object, rather than a subject of awareness can be a powerful step in itself toward becoming free from it.
 
Putting it down
 
Having recognised it and observed this aspect of our story, we can than practice dropping it for periods of time. We do this simply by entering into the present moment without the burden of our story, experiencing the freedom of becoming a person without a story, a man or woman of no rank.
 
Re-telling it
 
Putting your story down also gives you a space where you can introduce a new story, a new narrative that liberates you from the prison or limitations of the old one. It opens doors rather than closes them. For example, in the case of confrontation, you can look for people who are good with confrontation and model them in your approach. You can rework the wording of your narrative

  • “Disapproval from others isn’t such a big deal, in fact sometimes it can be a good sign…”
  •  “Confrontations in the present are not linked to my past childhood experiences. I can choose a new way of asserting myself as an adult”
  • “I can use this experience to build confidence around non-violent ways to deal with confronters and bullies”

And so on…
 
Being it
 
The final stage then is to practice doing it and embodying your new story in daily life. By doing so you can gradually go about re-modelling the story of your life into one that you look forward to engaging with each day, and that energises both your experience of the moment, and your visions for the future.
 
Related reading: Change your idea, change yourself – (Five stages to) Working creatively with your self-concept
Mindfully dropping (and picking up) your story
Making Objects of Your Subjects

 
© 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

Upcoming classes & workshops

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

Saturday 25th October, 9am-12.30pm – Finding Freedom From What Holds You Back in Life: Practical meditations & techniques for working with your shadow-self

Starts Tuesday 11th & 12th November, 7.30-8.30pm – Going beyond your limitations, tapping into your hidden strengths – Meditating with your bright shadow, a 6-week course

Starts Saturday 5.30-6.15pm SG time – Bright shadow meditation Deep-dive – A 5 session practice series

21 Nov & 28th Nov, 8am-12pm – The wisdom of Zen meditation practice retreat & course, levels 1&2

Saturday 22nd November, 9am-12.30pm – Meditations for Developing the Language of Your Shadow Self Workshop

Saturday 29th November, 7-9pm – Living Life From Your Inner Center – Meditations for Going With the Flow of the Present Moment

Follow Toby on: LinkedIn, YouTube, Instagram

Integral Meditation Asia

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A Mind of Ease Awareness and insight Integral Awareness Life-fullness Meditation techniques Mindful Resilience Mindfulness Presence and being present Zen Meditation

Finding inner space within your mind by focusing on outer spaces

“Normally, when we walk into a room, it is the objects in the room that we notice, when by far the biggest element in the room is the space, and the light or darkness in it”

Dear Integral Meditators, 

This week’s newsletter features an article I wrote originally all the way back in 2010 which I have updated. If you enjoy it, it will be a part of the focus for this week’s Tues/Weds or Saturday Zen meditations.
 
In the spirit of inner space,

Toby

PS: Final shout out of this Friday morning’s The wisdom of Zen meditation practice retreat & course



Finding inner space within your mind by focusing on outer spaces
 
An ongoing motivation for both beginners’ starting meditation and those who are more experienced practitioners is the need to create and preserve a sense of space within our mind which we can relax into and use to keep the rest of our busy lives in perspective.
One technique I use regularly that I find creates a sense of inner space very quickly is to focus on an awareness of the outer spaces that exist in our physical environment. The mind basically becomes like what it focuses upon, so when you focus on an outer physical space, this in turn quite naturally starts to give rise to a sense of an inner space within our mind. Here is one example of a way in which you can do this:
 
Making your mind BIG

We have been using this technique recently in the class I facilitate. Once you have sat down in a comfortable posture, become aware of the sky and stars up above you and the earth beneath you, allow your awareness to become big and open like the sky above you, and vast solid and stable like the Earth beneath you.
After you have done this, extend your mind horizontally around you, out to the horizon of the land, to the north, east, south and west. Extend your awareness as far out as you can to feel the curve of the Earth’s surface all about you. Now you have a sense of your mind as being BIG, and spacious, taking in the vast physical spaces all around you.
Stay with this feeling for as long as you like, let yourself relax as much as possible into your sense of the big space all around you; above, below, and extending out into the for directions of the horizontal/horizonal plane.
If you do this for a while, you will find quite quickly that a sense of inner space and calm arises within your mind. By focusing on the big space outside, you start to feel the big space inside!
 
Smaller space focus
 
You can also do the above exercise in a similar way but with a much smaller space, such as the room that you might be sitting in. Normally, when we walk into a room, it is the objects in the room that we notice, when by far the biggest element in the room is the space in the room, and the light or darkness in it. We can make our mind much more spacious in a short period of time by relaxing into an awareness of the outer space of the room, and let it create a corresponding sense of inner space within us.
 
A final point here is that I have found that this meditation helps ANY problem that I may be facing and that I am concerned about. When your mind feels big, then problems seem much more manageable. In a small mind consumed by itself and its own challenges, even small issues can take on a distorted life of their own!
 
© 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
 



Watch Toby’s video on Meditating with the bright shadow: 

Upcoming workshops & series’  on the shadow & the golden shadow

Starts Tuesday 11th & 12th November, 7.30-8.30pm – Going beyond your limitations, tapping into your hidden strengths – Meditating with your bright shadow, a 6-week course

Saturday 25th October, 9am-12.30pm – Finding Freedom From What Holds You Back in Life: Practical meditations & techniques for working with your shadow-self

Saturday 22nd November, 9am-12.30pm – Meditations for Developing the Language of Your Shadow Self Workshop

All upcoming classes & workshops

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

Ongoing Tuesday & Weds September, 7.30-8.30pm, – Integral Meditation from the Perspective of Zen – A 10 week series

Ongoing Saturdays 5.30-6.15pm – Zen meditation Deep-dive – A 10 session practice series

 17 Oct 2025, 8am-12pm & 21 Nov 2025, 8am-12pm – The wisdom of Zen meditation practice retreat & course, levels 1&2

Saturday 29th November, 7-9pm – Living Life From Your Inner Center – Meditations for Going With the Flow of the Present Moment

Follow Toby on: LinkedIn, YouTube, Instagram

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 techniques Presence and being present Primal Spirituality Zen Meditation

Compassion, wisdom & your original face

“What is your original face before your parents were born?”

Dear Integral Meditators, 

The  ‘Original face’ mentioned above is a well known Zen koan, or riddle. In the article below I outline some simple awareness exercises to use it to develop your wise compassion, or ‘Karuna’. 

If you enjoy it, you’d be welcome to join this week’s Tues/Weds or Saturday Zen meditations, where we will be exploring our original face in the sessions.
 
In the spirit of  originality,

Toby

PS: October & November see the return of my Shadow & Language of the shadow workshops, click the links for full details!

Compassion, wisdom & your original face
 
This article is really a set of pointing out instructions for developing compassion in the spirit of Zen meditation. There are five ‘positions’, each one can be explored as a practice in its own right, but put together they invite a rich and wholistic growth of our wise compassion over time.
 
Position 1: Centering in the six directions
 
Sit comfortably, then become aware of the direction in front of you, behind you, to your left, to your right, above and below. Become aware your vertical center, which you can visualize as a line of light and energy extending from your crown to your perineum. As you breathe in, breathe into your bodily center, as you breathe out let your awareness expand out into the six directions. Us this breathing pattern to become focused, relaxed, and present.
 
Position 2: Reflecting on your own pain & suffering with self-compassion
 
In this state of relaxed presence, become self-aware, creating an atmosphere of warmth and care toward yourself. Become aware of any parts of yourself that are in pain or suffering for whatever reason. As you breathe in, feel yourself contacting these parts of self, as you breathe out extend gentle understanding and compassion to them, embracing them with this energy.
 
Position 3: Meditating on your ‘Original face’
 
Reflect upon the well-known Zen koan:
 
“What is your original face before your parents were born?”
 
Here your ‘original face’ is simply the space of consciousness itself before thoughts are ‘born’, the space and ‘face’ before you think (see the description of the Host in my previous article). Return to position 1, centering in the six directions, but emphasizing moving into stillness and non-thought in the moment. As you breathe in center, as you breathe out let go of your thoughts and relax into the open space of consciousness itself, your ‘original face’.
 
Position 4: Generating wise compassion for all living beings, recognizing them as ‘Self’
 
Position 3 invites us to see that, in the space of consciousness itself, ‘self’ and ‘other’ dissolve into a singular identity as consciousness itself. Consciousness itself appears as both ‘self’ and ‘other’. Recognizing this, allow your care and compassion to extend from yourself to all other living beings, knowing that, in the space of your original face, we are all one aspect of the same being. This combination of compassion and the wisdom recognizing your ‘Original face’ is called Karuna in Zen, which means wise compassion.
 
Position 5: Reflecting on your own opportunities for daily compassionate presence, & small acts of compassion
 
From the ‘metta’ perspective of position 4, now reflect on your own day and life. Look for ways in which you might be able to direct your compassionate presence towards those around you, and express it to them in small, appropriate ways.

Related article: Host & guest – Zen Witnessing


© 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 & Weds September, 7.30-8.30pm, – Integral Meditation from the Perspective of Zen – A 10 week series

Saturdays 5.30-6.15pm – Zen meditation Deep-dive – A 10 session practice series

 17 Oct 2025, 8am-12pm & 21 Nov 2025, 8am-12pm – The wisdom of Zen meditation practice retreat & course, levels 1&2

Saturday 25th October, 9am-12.30pm – Finding Freedom From What Holds You Back in Life: Practical meditations & techniques for working with your shadow-self

Saturday 22nd November, 9am-12.30pm – Meditations for Developing the Language of Your Shadow Self Workshop

Saturday 29th November, 7-9pm – Living Life From Your Inner Center – Meditations for Going With the Flow of the Present Moment

Follow Toby on: LinkedIn, YouTube, Instagram

Integral Meditation Asia

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