Category: Inner vision

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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)

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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 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

Energy Meditation Enlightened Flow Enlightened love and loving Inner vision Integral Meditation Integrating Ego, Soul and Spirit Meditation techniques Motivation and scope Presence and being present spiritual intelligence

All you need is Love – Contemplative Non-Duality

Post author By Toby
Post date March 31, 2025

“There is a natural warm, inclusive feeling that arises when you are in touch with your heart energy. Think of this as your foundational, or basic love”

Dear Integral Meditators,

This week’s article looks at Love as a gateway to Non-Dual 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.

Final reminder also of the Liberation & creativity through the observer self (Finding freedom in your roles) mindfulness masterclass that I will be doing at two times over the next week.

In the spirit of Love,

Toby

This week’s article: All you need is Love – Contemplative Non-Duality

You could think of it as there being three gateways to Non-Dual or unitive meditation:

Through the Mind (and/or) head, using the witness or observer self
Through the Heart using the feeling of being, and of love
Through the senses (and/or belly), using non-conceptual sensation

This article focuses on the heart and feelings of love. It includes three meditation positions, all of which ‘work’ by themselves, but if you put them together sequentially, it creates a step-by-step movement from everyday awareness to Non-Dual awareness.

Basic warmth and the simple feeling of being

The first object is the simple feeling of being. Notice how, at the centre of each moment of your experience is a sense of being-ness. Notice that if you drop into that feeling within your heart-space, there is kind of a natural warmth to it, and that the warmth is naturally a friendly, inclusive kind of feeling.
Think of this natural warm, inclusive feeling within your heart as your foundational, or basic love.
Since this is a Big Love meditation, if you like you can imagine this feeling of love as a light within your heart, perhaps with interweaving colours of gold, green, pink and red. After a little practice it should feel like it is quite a natural, easy state to drop into. Tune into your own simple feeling of being, and the warm love within it,

Enhancing using the three types of love

You can enhance this simple feeling of loving warmth by bringing to mind a feeling of love that you have in a relationship. Broadly speaking you could focus on one of these three:

Eros, or romantic love – This put simply is the creative spark that arises between two people or between ourselves and something that we love. This is most often thought of as the romantic love between lovers
Agape – One of the archetypal images of agape is the mother and child (eg: Mary with the baby Jesus), but more broadly speaking agape is empathetic or compassionate love, it embraces its subject ‘parentally’.
Filia – Filial love is classically the love between siblings, but it is also a common way of bonding between friends.

Recall one of these types of love, perhaps the one you find most powerful presently. Breathe that love in and out of your heart space, using it to make your basic loving feeling more powerful and visceral.

Expanding the love outward and inclusively

Reflect that the very same simple feeling of being, with its attendant love lies within the heart of all living beings, human, animal, plant or otherwise. Feel and sense it to be not just in your heart, but all pervasive, everywhere in the landscape around you, in the World and in the Universe. Let your heart expand to include everyone and everything in its embrace. Feel your personal love (agape, eros or filia) becoming an all embracing One Love. Feel all separation and fear melting away, dissolving into this feeling of One Love, One Universal Heart, one All Loving Being.

The final stage is then to view the diverse appearances of all living beings as manifestations or expressions of the One Love you are meditating on, like two sides of the same coin. One Love appears as the many, and the many is a manifestation of the One Love.

Reading through these stages intellectually, it might all seem a bit far-fetched. The key here is to get into the practice of it and let your Love start to feel juicy and embodied enough to really put you in touch with the experience of it.

Related reading: Meditating on Enlightened Love the Easy Way
Three types of relational love

© 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 5th April, 3-5pm (9am start Europe time) & Monday 7th April, 7.30-9.30am ( 7.30-9.30pm Eastern time US) – Mindfulness masterclass: Liberation & creativity through the observer self

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 10^th, Wednesday 11^th May, 7.30-8.30pm – Shamanic meditations for connecting to your animal guides & familiars

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

Tags inner growth, integral meditation, integral meditation asia, integral mindfulness, love, meditation, meditation in singapore, Meditation on love, mindful love, mindfulness, mindfulness in Singapore, mindfulness 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

Awareness and insight Inner vision Integral Meditation meditation and creativity Meditation techniques Primal Spirituality spiritual intelligence

Five types of meditator – Shaman to Non-Dual

Post author By Toby
Post date March 17, 2025

“There are five types of meditator; the Shaman, the Yogi, the Siddha, the Saint & the Non-Dual”

Dear Integral Meditators,

The article below outlines a ‘map’ of different types of meditator within the traditional world wisdom traditions. It’s useful to have categories like this when reflecting upon what type of meditation practice you might like to create for yourself, and also how different schools of meditation fit within each other.

This week’s Tuesday & Wednesday meditation is the Spring Equinox balancing and renewing meditation, which combines elements of several of the meditation types mentioned below.

Also, Saturday’s deep-dive meditation focuses upon the Non-Dual, and is entitled “The World within Me, environmental Non-Duality”.

In the spirit of wisdom,

Toby

Five types of meditator – Shaman to Non-Dual

One way of dividing meditation into types is by identifying categories of meditator, according to the level or dimension of reality that they predominantly focus their efforts on. There are of course traditions of meditation that cross over or combine these different types. If you know what they are, you can identify what types of meditation you want to bring into your own practice, and enjoy making combinations according to your aspiration.

Type one, the Shaman

The Shamans were the original meditators, so to speak. The first humans to start looking inwards and reflecting. Correspondingly, they met the first domain of consciousness that you come across when you go beyond the physical, the Bio-energetic, or subtle physical/psychic. Shamanic meditation therefore emphasizes communion with the forces of nature & mother Earth. Within this they encounter animal guides, nature spirits, dream-world journeys and so on. Because Shamanism emphasizes psychic/ bio-energetic practice, quite often they come across as quite ‘powerful’ as their energetic presence is tangibly amplified.

Type two, the Yogi

Yogic practices emphasize the development of the higher dimensions of the psychic or energy body, and the corresponding subtle, expanded dimensions of consciousness associated with them. Kundalini yoga, mantra and chakra-type meditations are examples of this type of meditation. A practitioner of these types of meditation could be characterised as often having a very ‘blissful’ often loving presence.

Type three, the Siddha

The Siddha emphasizes meditation on the ‘Causal’ level of consciousness, or the formless, timeless emptiness that lies beyond all levels of mind, whether gross or subtle. There are many examples of this type of meditator within the Buddhist and Hindu traditions. These meditators might be thought of as being characterised by a ‘Mountainous equanimity’ or even-mindedness coming from the state of consciousness they emphasize.

Type four, the Saint

The ‘Saintly’ traditions of meditation emphasize the ‘Pure Witness Observer’ as their meditation practice, the omnipresent ‘Self’ or ‘I AM’ that accompanies every moment of or experience of life. These types of meditator might be experienced as having a particular ‘peaceful, loving freedom’ that you sense in their presence. This comes from embodying of the pure witness consciousness that they emphasize in their practice.

Type four, the Non-Dual meditator

The Non-Dual meditator emphasizes meditation on the ‘not-two’, or Unitive aspect of reality. It’s scope is inclusive of all levels of consciousness, and so can be practiced on the physical, mental, or causal (formless-consciousness) levels. This type of meditation is more of a ‘relaxing into a recognition’ style of meditation, rather than one where you try to change from one state of meditation into another. This is because Non-Duality is a state (like the previous stage of the Witness) that is present in all other states. Because Non-Dual meditation emphasizes the integration of emptiness and form, worldly and spiritual, quite often a Non-Dual mediator may come across as quite ordinary, living a worldly life surrounded by family and work. However if you sense into them a bit more closely you might notice they have a peculiar ‘same-same but different’ quality, as well as a certain type of relaxation and humour!

In my meditation coaching and training, as well as my personal practice, I emphasize the integration of different aspects of all the above, with a central focus on the Non-Dual as a ‘holding space’ for the rest. This means there is plenty of opportunity for variety and fun, whilst at the same time aiming for balance and in-depth diving into the particulars.

Related reading:
The Five Stages of Meditation Practice from Beginners to Advanced
Five Inner Skills we develop Through Meditation
Non-Dual meditation & Organismic reality
The Three Stages of Non Dual 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

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

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

A Mind of Ease creative imagery Essential Spirituality Inner vision Integral Awareness Integral Meditation meditation and creativity Meditation techniques mind body connection mindful dreaming Mindfulness Presence and being present

Time – a holograph from Eternity

Post author By Toby
Post date March 10, 2025

“Time is a holograph from Eternity”

Dear Integral Meditators,

This weeks article outlines a way of relating to time in a radically different way how we usually do, offering a way to a space of peace and centred-ness wherever you find yourself.

If you enjoy the article, then you are welcome to join the Tuesday & Wednesday, as well as the Saturday sessions this week, where we will be working with this meditation directly.

In the spirit of unity in diversity,

Toby

Time – a holograph from Eternity

The Eternal Now

Tibetan Dzogchen meditation is one of several of the non-dual meditation schools to emphasize that time is an illusion. An illusion in the sense that, it appears that we move from a ‘real’ past, to a ‘real’ present, to a ‘real’ future in a linear, consecutive fashion. For them it is only the Now moment that exists. You can start to see through the illusion of time by challenging yourself to get out of this current present moment.

You think about the past and what happened there, but wait, that thought about the past is happening Now, right here!
You project yourself into the future, thinking intensely about an outcome, you see it with crystal clarity. But where is that thought about the future? It is right here, Now
When the past or future event you are thinking of happened/happens, were will it happen? Of course, in the Now
You can distract yourself from something that you find uncomfortable in the present by taking your attention away from the thing that is there, but where is that distraction? Once again, the distraction is occurring in the Now moment

All confusion and suffering from this perspective comes from the seeking mind, trying to find fulfilment outside the now, rather than recognising that you have already arrived. Where? In the Eternal, always already Present, where you have always been and always will be. By collapsing the illusion of linear time in to the Eternal Present, we contact the Unitive or Non-Dual condition of reality that underlies all the surface change.

Holographs from Eternity

Imagine you have a many faceted diamond at your heart, radiating rainbow lights out around you. If you go inside that diamond, you find a space that is Just This, the place of the Eternal Now. It is formless, size-less, time-less. You feel like when you are in this space that you are in a place that is infinitely small and infinitely big, all embracing, Unitive.

Sitting within your physical body, with the diamond at your heart, you see that the diamond is projecting time and space around you, just like a holographic projector. It projects the three-dimensional world all around you, with the appearance of time and space. It also projects your inner space, the space of your mind with thoughts, memories, images and emotions. From the space of the eternal Now, the illusory world of time and space arises around you, like a rainbow appearing in the sky.

As you watch and observe the holographic world around you, you can clearly see and feel that it is the dance of the Eternal now; arising from it, not separate from it, the illusion of multiplicity arising from our own singular, formless, timeless consciousness.

I’ve gone into the details of time and timelessness quite extensively in other articles, in this one I wanted to try and paint a picture that you can use and explore in meditation, one that if you can get your imagination behind, then you can really start to get a feeling for the Eternal Now as a gateway to the Non-Dual state. The Non-Dual state that it accesses is not one (like most other meditations) where you shift from an every-day state to a deeper meditative state. Rather it is a way of recognizing what is already Here, Now, whatever state of mind that you might find yourself in. Like other Non-Dual meditations this offers a way of integrating daily life and spiritual life into a mutually coherent, complementary whole.

Related articles: Dancing between time & eternity
Four Types of Present Moment

© 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, integral meditation, integral meditation asia, integral mindfulness, meditation, meditation in singapore, mindfulness, mindfulness in Singapore, mindfulness meditation, power of mind

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Why meditate on & with animals?

Post author By Toby
Post date March 3, 2025

“When meditating with animals, people often remark that their sense of time seems to take on a completely different quality”

Dear Integral Meditators,

This weeks article looks at the subject of meditating with animals, which humans have been doing since the practice of meditation began!

If you enjoy the article, then do have a look at the upcoming Masterclass, mini-retreat & class series that I will be doing on this subject, starting in May….

No classes this week, I’m off to lead a retreat in Australia for a week and commune with the land, nature, and of course the animals!

In the spirit of reconnection,

Toby

Why meditate on & with animals?

I was asked the other day why I continue to guide workshops and classes on meditating with animals, given that to some of my client group it may seem a bit ‘strange’. Here are a few reasons to consider why meditating with animals is of great value, with a short practice at the end to try it out…

We’ve been doing it a long time

Prior to the transcendent spiritual traditions of Buddhism and Hinduism in the ‘east’ and Christianity/Islam in the ‘west’, human beings practiced an earth based spirituality where communion, learning and interaction with animals in the inner and outer worlds was a main part of our path to awakening and enlightenment. Our ability to do this type of meditation is long forgotten, but it is in our ‘dna’ so to speak, so most people find they can do it and have significant experiences without too much difficulty.

It re-connects us to parts of ourselves we have lost touch with

Meditating with animals connects us with our animal and instinctive nature in a benevolent way. It encourages us to use our imagination and capacity for inner visioning, and it encourages us to learn in a right brain creative, intuitive and visual way, very different from the way most of us use our minds and brains during the day.

Read full original article…

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

Learn Shamanic meditation practices for connecting to animal guides in the inner world, & the energies of nature.
These sessions focus on how to re-discover and deepen your inner and outer connection to the animal kingdom as well as stimulate your inner growth and personal wellbeing though meditating with animal guides and familiars…read full details

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

Overview: This is a series of 9 classes where we tap into the ancient tradition of Nature Mysticism in general & Shamanic meditation in particular in order to:

Learn traditional meditation methods adapted for a contemporary time & age
Connect with animal guides in the spirit world to receive their gifts and guidance of wisdom, healing & power

Read full details…

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Integral Meditation Asia

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

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

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Making yourself bigger

Post author By Toby
Post date February 24, 2025

“Whatever us going on in the small temporal experience you are having right now, you are bigger than it, and it is workable”

Dear Integral Meditators,

This weeks article looks at the scale of who you think you are, and suggests some mindful ways to change the balance in a positive way!

If you enjoy the article, we will be meditating on this topic in both the Tues/Weds class and the Saturday deep-dive sessions. I invite you to join us either live, online or via the recording.

In the spirit of bigger (in this case) being better,

Toby

Making yourself bigger

The feeling of oppressed

Whenever we feel, if you observe the experience of being stressed, scared or overwhelmed, it is often something like:

My body feels contracted in on itself, reduced. My sense of ‘I’ follows this
The challenge feels LARGE, much bigger than mee, like a tall building or monster towering over you
A sense of being weak or helpless in the face of this massively larger, more powerful force

This feeling then makes not just the presenting challenge more difficult, but everything that happens to you. Life feels like a struggle, a trap, something that you are a victim of.

Working with scale

About eight years ago I had an experience sitting in meditation where I felt my body was not just a small body sitting in my room, but large, as big, bigger than the apartment block. It was as if I was sitting in the landscape like a large building, looking down upon everything. Along with this literal feeling was an experience of feeling stronger, more powerful in relation to my life. It changed my sense of how I existed in relation to my challenges, in relation to what was possible. As well as power, there was a feeling of calm confidence.
I stayed with this feeling for several weeks, letting it become a part of my foundational way of going and being, I had literally become bigger!

Beyond psychology

The Yogachara school of Buddhism asserts that all our internal problems come from a mistaken sense of self. We perceive ourself as a small being, inside our skin, with a separate, foreign world outside of us. In reality, it asserts, our True Self, or Self-as-Consciousness is infinite and boundless. As this infinite and boundless self, we are not in the world, the world is in us! We are as huge infinite and boundless as consciousness itself!
By engaging in some simple Yogachara-ic ‘mindful shifts’ we can achieve some quite remarkable changes in our experience, I’m placing a few below.

Some mindful positions on Bigness

Sitting in meditation, walking, or otherwise in a state where you can settle into a mindful condition, use the following simple sentences as anchors for exploration:

I am not in my body, my body is in me (as a boundless, timeless consciousness)
I am not in the room, the room is in me
I am not walking/sitting in this landscape, the landscape is in me
I am not on the Earth, the planet is in me
I am not within the orbit of the moon, the Lunar sphere is within me
I am not within the Sun & solar system (Galaxy, Universe, whole of Creation), they are within me
I am not in life, life is within me, I am Life

Everything is happening within you, within your boundless Body, Mind and Heart. Whatever us going on in the small temporal experience you are having right now, you are bigger than it, and it is workable.

Related reading:
Non-Dual meditation & Organismic reality
Making yourself big
Connecting to Your Big Mind (Is the Mind in the Body or the Body in the Mind?)
Born from Life, not into it
Small Focused Mind, Big Open Mind

© 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

Starts Tues 11^th, Weds 12^th February, 7.30-8.30 pm – Freedom & Fullness – A practical introduction to non-dual meditation practice

Begins Saturday 15^th February – Freedom & Fullness deep-dive non-dual meditation sessions

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

Tags Big mind, 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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Prajna – Seeing things from all angles & none

Post author By Toby
Post date February 17, 2025

“Prajna is awareness that does not break reality into opposites. When you are feeling broken-apart by the world, it is a place you can return to, finding wholeness instantly”

Dear Integral Meditators,

The meditation processes I describe below are part of the ongoing theme of Non-Duality practice that I have been writing about the last few weeks. The beauty of them is that they are simple at the same time as profound. Have a go at developing your prajna!

If you enjoy the article, we will be meditating on this topic in both the Tues/Weds class and the Saturday deep-dive sessions. I invite you to join us either live, online or via the recording!

In the spirit of prajna,

Toby

Prajna – Seeing things from all angles & none

Dualistic or conceptual reality

From the point of view of the Madhyamika Buddhist meditation school, confusion and suffering derives at its root from what is called dualistic-appearance. Dualistic appearance is basically what happens when we conceptualize. Conceptual thinking and feeling does two things:

When we see an object or person (or belief etc…) we then throw our idea of the object on top of the object itself, so now there are two things appearing to us, not just one. This is one reason why it is called dualistic appearance.
Secondly, we see the world in terms of opposites, polarities, or dualities, for example good and bad, higher, and lower, better or worse, nirvana (freedom) and samsara (bondage).

Dualistic appearance sees the object together with our idea of the object, and then we conceptualize the object in terms of its opposites.
For example, let us say you or I meet a female primary school teacher. The first instant you see her, you will see her ‘as she is’. In the next moment your mind will start throwing concepts on her based upon things like:

Your experience of primary school
Your assessment of teachers
Whether she is your child’s teacher or not

You will start making assessments in terms of opposites:

She’s a better/worse teacher than my primary school teacher
She is polite/rude
She is admirable/contemptible
She is superior/inferior to me

Of course, using these dualities well is essential for navigating the world effectively. But it is also this same duality that prevents us from seeing the world as it is, from seeing reality from an Ultimate or Absolute point of view, and that creates all sorts of sufferings and problems for us.

Seeing dualistic appearance / Pranja – Dropping dualistic appearance

In our own self-enquiry, we can start to look for and see the processes of our own dualistic appearance. We can watch how we ‘throw’ our ideas onto people and things, and box them into polarities. This is a very interesting and powerful practice in itself. We can then practice dropping our ideas about what we are seeing, and try to encounter things as they are, in a singular, non-dual manner. One way to do this is to practice the ‘mirror mind’ method that I outline in a precious article. You imagine that your awareness is a mirror, simply reflecting back what it sees without adding or subtracting to it. This non-dual way of viewing the world is called prajna, or wisdom.

Seeing things from all angles and none

Another complementary technique to mirror mind that you can use is explained by Ken Wilber in his article on ‘Five Reasons You Are Not Enlightened’. I’m just going to quote it directly below, as it is very clear:
“One little exercise I use to get into a state of pure awareness without any conceptual operation is to: Ask yourself how do you feel physically? So, you start to get a sense of how that is. How do you feel emotionally? How do you feel morally? How do you feel mentally? Now how do you feel from all those angles at once?
As soon as you hear that question, there is a silence in the mind, a quiet, there’s no immediate answer that comes up. And that is because you have an awareness that is not conceptualizing and not feeling. It’s just pure, unqualifiable awareness. And that is an example of prajna, or being in pure awareness without concepts. And so, remaining in that state sooner or later allows you to have a realization of Ultimate Reality, where emptiness and form are not two. Where samsara and nirvana are not two. Because it is an awareness that does not break reality into opposites. And so this type of awareness is the fundamental practice of the Madhyamika, and in many cases Mahayana schools of Buddhism”.

Related reading: Mirror mind meditation
Dualistic Appearance – What you see, and what you think you see

© 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

Follow Toby on: LinkedIn, YouTube, Instagram

Integral Meditation Asia

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

Tags inner growth, integral meditation, integral meditation asia, integral mindfulness, meditation, meditation in singapore, mindfulness, mindfulness in Singapore, mindfulness meditation, non-dual meditation, power of mind, prajna