Category: Meditation techniques

You already have what you seek – Meditating from wholeness

Post author By Toby
Post date June 15, 2026

“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

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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, resilience, wholeness

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Why non-dual meditation should be your go-to practice

Post author By Toby
Post date June 8, 2026

“Non-duality is a view of our experience that invites effortlessness and flow. Integrating it into your practice invites this experience of effortlessness into your life, now.”

Dear Integral Meditators,
This week’s article looks at non-dual meditation, why it is great to make as a central part of your meditation, and how to get started with a simple non-dual breathing practice.

If you are looking for a rich way to integrate non-dual meditation into your life, this week sees the start of the Wednesday evening & Saturday afternoon chakra’s & non-duality meditation programs, they will also be the subject of the Saturday noon meditation masterclass series at Space2B that I run.

In the spirit of the effortless,

Toby

Why non-dual meditation should be your go-to practice

What is non-dual meditation?

Non-dual meditation is a type of meditation that emerged in the 6^th-8^th centuries, explicitly within the eastern Buddhist, Taoist and Hindu (eg Vedanta) traditions, but also implicitly within the western esoteric traditions of the time. Essentially it focuses on the collapse of the subject-object divide within our consciousness into a ‘Just This’ experience. Before that time, the vast majority of meditation was dualistic in nature; there was a subject of consciousness, the ‘I’, meditating on an object of consciousness, this object could be:

Something obvious, like the breathing, “I am focusing mindfully on my breathing”
Something more subtle, like my mind, “I am aware of my thoughts”
Something really subtle, for example “I am aware of my formless timeless consciousness”

Whatever you meditated on, there was a subject and an object of consciousness.

Why it’s a great practice to make your go-to practice

Non-dual meditation is a great practice to make front and centre of your daily meditation because:

It offers access to an effortless level of stress transformation – Non-duality is a view of our experience that invites effortlessness and flow. Integrating into your practice invites this experience of effortlessness into your life, now.
It is the final destination of all meditations. In all of the different great meditation traditions of the world, non-dual reality is the ‘highest’ attainment, the final destination. Since it is that, you may as well bring it in today!
You can practice it on the level you are at – Non-dual meditation is deep but simple. You can practice it on the level you are at today, and have some degree of success. You don’t need to wait until you get ‘better’.
You can integrate your other meditations into your non-dual practice. You can MAKE your current meditation into a non-dual meditation, simply by changing your perspective on it. Non-duality is a VIEW of reality, if you integrate it into your current meditation, it becomes a non-dual practice. For example, in the Chakra meditation series I am about to teach this week, it integrates Chakra meditation with non-duality, which is a great, and very do-able combination!
You being the result into the path – Non-dual meditation focuses on the recognition that awakening is not something you achieve, it is something that you ARE. This is a wonderful understanding to integrate into your daily life; you are already whole and complete as you are, right now!
It is fantastic for living in the world – Non-dual meditation enables us to transform everyday activities into our spiritual practice in ways that would be difficult otherwise. It’s a type of technology that really helps you be ‘in the world but not of the world’.

A simple example

Non-dual breathing meditation – Settle into a rhythm focusing on your breathing, just like a normal mindful breathing meditation. Notice that in the meditation there is a sense of an ‘I’ or self that is focusing on the breathing. Once you have a certain degree of focus and relaxation, gently ‘drop’ the I, so that it is just the breathing doing itself. There is no subject or object of consciousness, just the breathing. Put another way, the ‘self’ is experienced as nothing more than the breathing. To quote Shunryu Suzuki:

“The inner world is limitless, and the outer world is also limitless. We say “inner world” and outer world,” but in reality, there is just one whole world, our throat is like a swinging door. The air comes in and goes out like someone passing through a swinging door. If you think “I breathe,” the I is extra.”

So, one really simple example there, we’ll be looking at seven simple examples in the chakra meditation & non-duality course, which, I promise will be a whole lot of fun!

Related reading: The swinging door – when the breathing does itself
Non-Dual meditation & Organismic reality
Practical dimensions of chakra 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

Watch Toby’s video on chakra meditation & non-duality:

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

12noon on Saturday – Meditation Masterclass Series at Space2B

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

Starts Saturday June 13^th, 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

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

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3 levels of chakra meditation video, & article on varying your intensity level

Post author By Toby
Post date June 4, 2026

Dear Integral Meditators,

A video & article for you today!

The video is a short introducton to the three different levels of the chakras, & how to work with them in meditation. It’s partly for those who may be interested in the Wednesday evening & Saturday afternoon chakra meditation & non-duality summer courses. But it should be interesting & of value to those who are simply curious!

The article on ‘Yin & yang levels of intensity in meditation’ asks the question: “What level of intensity do I want to bring to my practice, & my life today? Which level will work best in the circumstances?”

In the spirit of creation & adaptation,

Toby

Watch Toby’s video on the three aspects or levels of chakra meditation:

Yang & yin levels of meditation intensity

In the same way that there are different levels of exercise, there are different levels of intensity regarding your meditation. If you have an exercise routine, you will likely have:

Some days that are high intensity days, where you are looking to push your body’s capacity by exercising intensely and close to the limit of your capacity
Other days you may exercise at a low level of intensity with the aim to help your body recover its energy
Other days it may be an intermediate level of intensity, somewhere between a 4-6 out of 10 (with 10 as max effort)

Similarly, when you sit down to do a meditation, it can be useful to distinguish whether you are going to meditate:

At a relatively high ‘yang’ intensity level, emphasizing clarity and capacity growth. This may take some energy to do, but if you feel your energy levels are quite good already, then you can invest some of that energy in improving your meditation ‘level’
At a lower, easy ‘yin’ regenerative level. Here you are not going to worry too much about ‘performance’, rather you are creating a space for your meditation that is aimed at recovery and rest. This type of meditation you may well come out with more energy, feeling refreshed and renewed, almost like you had a bit of a sleep

Of course, you can also choose a level in between, at an intermediate or balanced level of intensity, that ‘4-6’ level that I mentioned above!
The point here is that, if you make a conscious decision about the level of intensity before you start your meditation then that can set you up for a better meditation experience as you actually engage in the meditation.
You can create a formal program if you like where you have set days each week that are designated ‘yin meditation’ others ‘yang’ and one or two intermediate days. What I generally like to do is simply decide on the day, according to how I feel.

A daily example

On the way to work on the train this morning, I did a 15minute meditation. Before I started, my body felt really quite tired, so I decided to do it at a low intensity, ‘yin’ recovery level of intensity. So, I began with this ‘soft focus’ type approach, not worrying too much about precision, brightness or energy. As the meditation went on however, I did feel my state moving from a low energy toward a higher energy level as I progressed. In the second half of the meditation, I picked up the intensity and finished feeling both refreshed and quite ‘on point’ around my energy level. It turned into a ‘bit of both’ type meditation!

A final point, you can use the above principles to vary the level on intensity that you bring to your life appropriately. Some days can be high intensity days, others recovery, ‘yin’ days. Yin days can involve work, yang days can involve recovery or leisure. It’s more about the mindful modulation of your effort, rather than the activities themselves.

Related article: Zen ergonomics – Sailing with, rather than rowing against life

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

Starts Saturday June 13^th, 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

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

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Chakra meditation as a gateway to non-duality summer courses

Post author By Toby
Post date May 27, 2026

Dear Integral Meditators,

I’ve just completed the write ups for the summer meditation courses. Both the weekday classes & the Saturday deep-dive sessions will be focused on the chakras as gateways to non-duality.

Actually, all seven chakras have three levels; bio-energetic, mental & consciousness.

In the sessions we will look at all three in an intergral manner, with the emphasis being on the final wisdom-state of the conscious level. The seven gatweays we will cover are:

First chakra – stability, abundance, unity with the world
Second chakra – energy, creativity, union with life
Third chakra – Confidence, power, union with mind
Fourth chakra – Heart, merging, relating – union as love
Fifth chakra – sound, speech, mantra – unity through silence
Sixth Chakra – Observation, integration – union as the witness
Seventh chakra – Consciousness, integration – formless union

I’m pretty excited to facilitate these sessions, I’ve been practising different forms of chakram meditation for the last 30 years, & this will be a conndensation of that expereince into a single 8 session format. If your looking for an ‘inner summer to remember’, this might be your ticket!

Programs can be participated in live, online or via the recordngs. Click below for full details.

In the spirit of energised relaxation,

Toby

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

Overview: The chakras are a traditional, dynamic meditation form that invite us to discover:

A way of bringing greater energy into our body in a way that promotes health & wellbeing
A way of developing ourselves on seven different levels of our being in a balanced & integrated manner
A way of accessing deeper meditation states more easily & effectively
A way of enjoying working with colour in meditation

Read full details…

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

What is unique to these sessions is that Toby will be showing how to meditate on each of the chakras as gateways to the non-dual state, which is considered the highest or ‘ultimate’ level of wisdom-meditation practice.

Non-duality is a state beyond verbal description, but it can be understood more deeply & profoundly by approaching it from the seven different levels of the chakras. In doing so the richness of your non-dual meditation, & your ability to apply it effectively in daily life will be greatly enhanced….read full details

Tags chakra meditation, 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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The seagull whirlpool & other stress transformations

Post author By Toby
Post date May 11, 2026

“You are the seagull above the whirlpool of your life. See yourself centred, relaxed, skilfully adapting to the wind changes, accepting them, working with them moment to moment. You are entirely at home”

Dear Integral Meditators,

This week’s article offers an image for experiencing mindful stress transformation that really struck me.

If you enjoy the article, & would like to shift your own ability to transform your stress tangibly, then do check out my Meditations for Transforming Negativity and Stress into Energy, Positivity and Enlightenment Workshop on this Saturday 16^th & then 23^rd of May.

Also the Wednesday & Saturday Inner smile meditations are also focused on energy and emotional stress transformation, this week we look at moving from fear to fear & stress to gentleness/calm.

In the spirit of seagulls,

Toby

The seagull whirlpool & other stress transformations

At the end of 2014 I wrote an article called ‘The stability of uncertainty’. In it I write about my experience of working with high degrees of uncertainty, stress and change, and learning to quietly thrive on it rather than be oppressed by it. It was a real ‘best of times, worst of times’ period in my life, when I was learning that uncertainty can be transformed and thrived upon if it can be accepted. After awareness, all stress transformation practice begins with acceptance. It is the sure footing that you build in order to then gain the confidence to work with pressure dynamically. Looking back and reading that article, I’m struck by how much of it I still agree with, and find relevant to my own process right now, at this later stage in my life and growth.

On the original article post I noticed that I had used a picture of two seagulls circling above a whirlpool. Looking at it now, I am struck by what a great image this is for becoming a stress transformer. If you imagine you are one of those seagulls. Above the whirlpool there will be strong, fast changing winds, the birds have to adapt moment to moment. Below is a whirlpool that if they get caught up in it would pull them under the ocean. But for a gull, despite all the chaotic energy around them, this feels like home. In fact, this IS their home, their native environment. They are able to stay centred in their bodies, making skilful adjustments to their wings, rejoicing in their capability, enjoying the dance. Compared to the forces around them, they are tiny, like small specks, but they are not thinking about their size or significance, they are busy enjoying being who and what they are, knowing that they can survive, thrive and make their living amidst the turbulence.
Thinking about one of the really big gulls, the albatross, it can go out flying over the open ocean for 6 months at a time, which is really quite something!

You are the seagull above the whirlpool of your life

Imagine yourself now as the seagull above the whirlpool of your life. All of the chaos, the turbulence, the uncertainty, the contending forces in your life are like the whirlpool below you, and the wind and weather around you. See yourself centred in your body, relaxed, skilfully adapting to the wind changes, accepting them, working with them moment to moment. You don’t know exactly what comes next, but you deeply trust in your capability to meet and adapt to it. Constantly moving and adapting, you feel stable in this environment, like it is a home. In the sky and above the whirlpool you live, confident in your ability to find what you need to survive, and able to enjoy what comes your way in the moment. You have made tension your friend, and so you feel free, relaxed, the sovereign of your world. You are connected to your natural intelligence and dignity.
Bring to mind a challenge you are facing in your life right now. Feel the fear, anxiety, overwhelm, or whatever else you feel around it. Now be the seagull.

Related reading: Rats, meadows, & the World doing Itself (Stress tolerance & transformation)
The stability of uncertainty

© 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 16th & 23rd May, 3.30-5pm on both days – Meditations for Transforming Negativity and Stress into Energy, Positivity and Enlightenment Workshop

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

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Rats, meadows, & the World doing Itself (Stress tolerance & transformation)

Post author By Toby
Post date May 4, 2026

“I am the Wolrd doing Itself”

Dear Integral Meditators,

This week’s article offers three of my favourite perceptual shifts to help you manage & expand into the stress of your life challenges.

If you enjoy the article, & would like to shift your own ability to transform your stress tangibly, then do check out my Meditations for Transforming Negativity and Stress into Energy, Positivity and Enlightenment Workshop on Saturday 16^th & 23^rd of May.

Also the Wednesday & Saturday Inner smile meditations are also focused on energy and emotional stress transformation, you might enjoy these as well!

In the spirit of transformation,

Toby

Rats, meadows, & the World doing Itself (Stress tolerance & transformation)

Undergoing an expansion of capacity more gently

These last few weeks I have been going through a bit of a life change. I’ve felt an urge to take on a few new projects, and the combination of them, in tandem with my existing commitments has left me feeling somewhat dis-oriented and overwhelmed. The interesting thing about the overwhelm in this case is that I don’t feel ‘overwhelmed by the overwhelm’. What I mean by this is that, previously in a similar situation I would be incapacitated by the overwhelm, and then have to cut back on what I am doing in order to get back into balance. In this situation however, I feel more like what I am doing is something that I can do, and I just need to figure out how to relax into it, and my capacity will expand to the size of the challenge.

How to meditate when your mind is too busy, and you feel overwhelmed

I did a coaching session with a client last week, where he had been facing a similar challenge to me; too many things going on on all fronts. As he sat down to meditate, his mind just would not settle; things he had to do kept jumping into his mind. He was sometimes left feeling that he may as well have not meditated!

The positions we explored to help make his meditation time more productive were:

Noticing – That when we feel over-busy, our field of awareness can feel small, like we are stuck in our head. In our head are a bunch of ‘rats in a bag’ all bumping into each other and creating claustrophobia and friction.
Expanding – I suggested that, rather than trying to control his thoughts in this ‘small-mind’ environment, he could try making his awareness big. I mentioned the Zen expression ‘If you want to control your cow or your sheep, put it in a big meadow. To quote from a previous article on the subject: “When sitting with the thoughts in your mind, rather than trying to control them, stop them or ‘fix’ them, you simply make your mind and awareness bigger, like a large open meadow …. In such an environment an animal will tend to simply wonder off, find its place in the field and be content. So, when you make your awareness big, you can sit there watching the thoughts without being so bothered by them, and they in turn tend to gradually return to equilibrium, without you having to work that hard to control or fix them.”
I am the Word doing Itself – In addition to making our mind ‘big’ in this way, I suggested a non-dual perceptual shift. Rather than seeing himself as in the world, struggling to make his way amongst all of the busyness and activity, he should see himself as the ‘World doing Itself’. This perceptual shift means expanding your sense of your body-mind to be the Whole World, way beyond just your small body and individual life. Everything around you is you, you are the World, and the World is doing itself.

This third position keeps your awareness big, and all your little struggles feel correspondingly much more manageable. Because everything feels less stressful and more manageable, dealing with challenges in your life, on multiple-levels becomes much more manageable. We discover that we can take on more, whilst using less energy, and as a result we find our overall capacity increases.

My client liked these three positions, and we did a meditation on them before concluding. Of course, these three positions are equally useful for me in my life, as I expand into the next chapter and explore the limits of my own capacity!

Related reading: A bag of rats & a big meadow (tactics or strategy?)
The world as an organism
Four Mindful Images for Stress Transformation

© 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

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

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

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How to stop difficult feelings becoming negative emotions

Post author By Toby
Post date April 28, 2026

“Can you distinguish your feelings from your emotions? Oftentimes this skill can help you navigate stressful situations more successfully, & with less effort!”

Dear Integral Meditators,

This week’s article looks at how to distinguish feeling states from emotional states, & use it to navigate difficult circumstances more easily. If you enjoy it, then I invite you to my Mindfulness for emotional intelligence masterclass this Saturday 25th April, 2.30-4.30pm, live or online!

This week’s Wednesday & Saturday class continue our inner-smile meditation series, which is also focused on mindfulness around emotions. All welcome.

In the spirit of ease,

Toby

How to stop difficult feelings becoming negative emotions

The difference between feelings and emotions

One of the most useful distinctions in Buddhist insight meditation that I have found is the distinction between feelings and emotions. Broadly speaking feelings are simply the experience of that which is pleasant, unpleasant or neutral. By contrast emotions arise from a psychological process that involves thinking in a particular way about a feeling. Here are two simple examples:

I see a person who has wronged me in the past, instinctively an unpleasant feeling arises. I then start to reflect on the harm that they have caused me and develop anger or anger. This anger is the emotion, arising from the psychological process of paying attention to the harm done in combination with the initial unpleasant feelings.
I am sick, giving rise to unpleasant feelings in my body. I start to think about how this sickness is ruining my only two weeks of holiday in the year and I start to develop the emotions of frustration, despair and sadness.

Here we can start to see the basic distinction; pain is simply the feeling arising within the moment. We experience emotion when we combine a feeling with a psychological process of focusing on the feeling in a particular way.
With regard to painful feelings, often we compound the pain they cause us by focusing on them in a way that causes us to experience emotional suffering, as in the examples above. The key therefore in preventing painful feelings becoming full blown emotional suffering is to avoid thinking about them or focusing on them in such a way that negative emotions are stimulated.

Some sources of painful feelings

The five sources of painful feelings below are a non-exhaustive list, but it gives an idea of the variety of different sources that can cause painful feelings within us. Any of them if focused on in the wrong way can cause negative emotions to arise:

Physical pain arising from sickness or injury
Pain or irritability arising from hormonal or other biological or energetic imbalances within the body
From people who say or do harmful things to us or have done so in the past
From psychological and/or existential anxiety, e.g.: Worried about not being good enough, fear of dying, fear of stepping out of comfort zone etc…
From spiritual crisis; for example, when the old self or ego structures are collapsing in order for a new level of self-sense to arise.

An insight meditation for acknowledging and releasing negative feelings

Here is a brief insight meditation form that we can use to prevent difficult feelings turning into negative emotions:

Stage 1: Breathing in I am aware of my painful feelings,
Breathing out I acknowledge those feelings fully.
Stage 2: Breathing in I experience my tight grasping at those painful feelings,
Breathing out I relax my grasping at those feelings,
Stage 3: Breathing in I detach from those feelings,
Breathing out I extend compassion and understanding to those feelings.

In stage one as we breathe in, we become consciously aware of any painful feelings we may be experiencing, as we breathe out, we acknowledge them fully. Often, we try and repress or deny negative feelings, which in turn allow them to build and transform into negative emotions. Fully acknowledging what is there and gives feelings the attention they need in order to be addressed.

In stage two we observe how we are clinging to these painful feelings, grasping at them tightly. Then, as we breathe out, we consciously release that tight grasping, energetically relaxing our body and mind.

In stage three we detach from those painful feelings, at the same time as extending a feeling of compassion and understanding toward them. We combine the objective experience of detachment with the positive emotional tonalities of compassion and understanding.

Suggestions for Daily Practice

The essential point is that feelings can be distinguished from emotions, and we can prevent negative emotions from arising by avoiding focusing on painful feelings in the wrong way.
The brief meditation technique I describe above can be done as a two-minute exercise or as an extended meditation, taking a few minutes to focus on each of the stages. It is a meditation that is worth doing sometimes even if we are not fully aware of any negative feelings inside us, as often it will bring to light feelings within us the need a bit of tender loving care.
Of course if there are also practical things that we can do to alleviate the negative feelings, like taking medicine, or having a conversation to clear the air with our partner about a hurt we have then this should be done to!

Related reading: “Insight Meditation – Improving Your Subjective Experience by Developing Your Objective Perspective”

© 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

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

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

A Mind of Ease Energy Meditation Inner smile & Earth healing Inner vision Life-fullness Meditation and Psychology Meditation techniques Mindful Resilience Presence and being present Using the Energy of Negative Emotions

Mindfulness, emotions & your MRVA’s (Mass rapid value assessments)

Post author By Toby
Post date April 6, 2026

“If we can allow ourselves to skilfully acknowledge & experience difficult emotions, there is a corresponding release of a range of positive, enjoyable emotions.”

Dear Integral Meditators,

This week’s article focuses on emotions & how you work with them as a major lynch-pin of your energetic resilience. Its something that we will be exploring in depth in the new Wednesday and Saturday meditation series on building confidence & resilience with the inner-smile practice.

In the spirit of integration,

Toby

Mindfulness, emotions & your MRVA’s (Mass rapid value assessments)

In my upcoming meditation series on building confidence and energetic resilience in life, we will be focusing on developing a range of mindful skills, including:

Healing and regenerating the energy of your physical body and internal organs
Revitalise and transform your emotional vitality
Build a warm, empowered & confident relationship to your life

To really get these skills to work effectively, we need to understand the energy of emotions, their power, and how to get them to flow healthily within us. Emotions are psych-somatic, partaking of both our bodily and mental energy. A good relationship to emotions opens our life-force and joie de vivre tremendously. A blocked or combattative relationship to our emotions tends to constrict our life-force, limiting our energy in life no matter how hard we try. Here is a working definition of emotion from Nathaniel Branden, for the purposes of this article

“An emotion is a value-response. It is an automatic psychological result (involving mental and somatic features) of a super-rapid subconscious appraisal. Emotions are psychosomatic embodiments of value judgments…Since emotions are the product of complex integrations of ideas beliefs and experiences, they cannot be commanded out of existence, neither by and act of will or by repression. It is a disastrous error to imagine that an emotion – merely because it is judged undesirable – can be repressed or dismissed with impunity.” *

Emotions happen very quickly then, as our body-mind engages in many ‘Mass rapid value assessments’ (MRVA’s). Once an emotion has been stimulated, it IS, whether we like it or not. So how should we approach it. To quote Branden again:

“If we acknowledge and permit ourselves to experience our painful or undesired feelings, without self-pity, and without self-condemnation, we facilitate the process of healing integration.” *

If we can allow ourselves to skilfully acknowledge and experience difficult emotions, a corollary benefit will be the release of a whole range of positive, enjoyable emotions.

How to acknowledge and experience emotions

A simple way to begin is to sit down, sense into yourself and simply describe the emotions you are feeling. You can either do this organically with whatever is there in the moment, or with regard to a particular emotion you are struggling with. As you do this you will notice there are both bodily and mental aspects to it. My go-to practice for years now has been something called sentence completion. You create a sentence stem, and then complete it, either writing or verbally around ten times, in whatever way occurs to you, as quickly and non-judgmentally as you can.

Here is an example around depression:
If I allow myself to experience and acknowledge the feeling I am calling depression within me –

I feel like there is a huge weight on my shoulders
My eyes stare from hollow sockets
My mouth hangs open like a zombie
I want to sleep for a thousand years
I feel overwhelmed by all the things I have to do
I resent others for leaving me with all the responsibility
I feel confused about what to do next
The world feels like an insurmountable mountain
I can feel myself more present in my body now, landing and feeling stronger
I feel a release and renewed enthusiasm and I move through it

Here you can see that, by the end of the sentence completion I’m already kind of pulling out of the difficult emotion, and moving toward something better. Better still, I have processed the emotion and an now move on from it into the next part of the day in freedom.
All this can sound a bit too good to be true until you actually try it, but once you get the hang of it all sorts of possibilities start to open up!

* Quote: Nat Branden, from ‘the Disowned Self’, chapter on the undiscovered self (Page 27 & 33)

Related reading: Mindfulness around emotions
Accepting & recycling your difficult emotions
Connecting to higher, deeper emotions (Enjoying emotional resilience)

© 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

Starts Wednesday 8^th April, 7.30-8.30pm, & then ongoing – The inner smile – Meditations for inner regeneration & connecting to the Earth – An 8-week course

Saturday 11^th April, 5.30-6.15pm SG time, & then ongoing – The inner smile & Earth healing deep-dive – An 8 session practice series

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

A Mind of Ease creative imagery Enlightened Flow Inner vision Insight Meditation Meditation techniques Mindful Resilience Presence and being present Zen Meditation

Which type of meditator are you? ( & muddy water article)

Post author By Toby
Post date March 30, 2026

“’Muddy water is best cleared by leaving it alone’. The tricky thing is that with a busy mind, where there is conflicting or competing energies, this is often the last thing that we feel like doing!”

Dear Integral Meditators,

This week I’ll be doing a couple of open talks and meditations on the five types of meditators:

Wednesday 1^st April is online only
Saturday 4^th April is Live in person & online

Details and links are below. If you are not able to make the sessions live, but want to have a listen, let me know & I’ll be happy to send the recordings on…

Beneath the session details you can find this weeks artcle on ‘Muddy water – Meditation as waiting, allowing’.

In the spirit of integral meditation,

Toby

Wednesday April 1^st, 7.30-8.30pm & Saturday, 4^th April, 5-6pm – Which meditator are you? – Free meditation seminars: The five types of meditators & how to build your path to inner freedom

Read full details…

This week’s article: Muddy water – Meditation as waiting & allowing

Back when I was teaching meditation classes as a monk, we used to use the analogy of muddy water to explain meditation. It is quite well known, and you may have heard of it yourself. It basically says that a busy mind is like muddy water; if you leave it to stand for long enough, the mud will settle and the water becomes clear. There are a couple of ‘sources’ for this analogy:

1. In chapter 15 of the Tao te ching, Lao Tsu refers to it:
“Clear as a glass of water.
Do you have the patience to wait
till your mud settles and the water is clear?”

2. It can also be found in the Buddhist sutras, specifically the Surangama sutra, where it says:
“It (meditation) is like purifying muddy water by placing it in a quiet vessel which is kept completely still and unmoving. The sand and silt settle, and the pure water appears. This is called the initial subduing of the guest-dust affliction.”

3. More recently Alan watts refers to it in his teachings in ‘the way of Zen’, where he says “Muddy water is best cleared by leaving it alone”

The main thing I want to emphasize here is that clarity is achieved through leaving alone and waiting. It is very difficult for us to try to clear our mind in meditation, but the effort itself prevents us from letting the ‘mud’ of our mind settle, and achieve clarity. The clarity is ‘achieved’ essentially by:

Waiting
Watching
Letting alone
Being patient
Doing precisely nothing, the less the better!

So then, you could consider it a perfectly valid meditation practice just to sit down and wait. The key here would be to do nothing else; just sit, wait, relax. The tricky thing is that with a busy mind, where there is conflicting or competing energies, this is often the last thing that we feel like doing! We want to:

Get rid of the conflict
‘Achieve’ clarity
Escape from, not have to face, what is within us
Get it done quickly

All of this makes it quite difficult to do nothing other than wait, watch and allow.

Mastering, or at least getting better at this waiting process in meditation then starts to bleed into our daily life. Where we start to see that we can achieve several things much more easily by waiting and non-doing, rather than striving and getting busy. We start to access the art of Wu-wei, or doing-by-non-doing. This is a way of getting things done that is complementary, not contradictory to our striving and achieving approach. Indeed, it can make our striving and achieving more skilful and relaxed when we realize we don’t have to try quite as hard as we thought. Rather it is a matter of trying smarter rather than trying harder…

Related article: Effortless effort – Making everything workable
Relaxing into, not fighting with your fatigue

© 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

Ongoing weekly on Wednesday – Beginners mind, resilient body – a 10-week integral meditation course

Wednesday April 1^st, 7.30-8.30pm & Saturday, 4^th April, 5-6pm – Which meditator are you? – Free meditation seminars: The five types of meditators & how to build your path to inner freedom

Starts Wednesday 8^th April, 7.30-8.30pm, & then ongoing – The inner smile – Meditations for inner regeneration & connecting to the Earth – An 8-week course

Saturday 11^th April, 5.30-6.15pm SG time, & then ongoing – The inner smile & Earth healing deep-dive – An 8 session practice series

Saturday 11^th April, 5.30-6.15pm SG time, & then ongoing – The inner smile & Earth healing deep-dive – An 8 session practice series

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

Energy Meditation Inner smile & Earth healing Inner vision Life-fullness meditation and creativity Meditation and Psychology Meditation techniques Mindful Resilience Mindfulness Presence and being present Stress Transformation

Mindful of – colour therapy & facial expression

Post author By Toby
Post date March 23, 2026

“Awareness of colour & facial expression are two ways of using mindful attention to improve your mood and energy with very little effort. You just need to remember them & return to them often”

Dear Integral Meditators,

This week’s article focuses on working with colour & facial expression, both powerful, enjoyable methods for enhancing mood & energy.

If you enjoy it, then do have a look at this Saturdays workshop, that looks at this subject in depth:
Saturday, March 28^th 9:00am – 12:30pm – Inner smile & Earth Healing meditation workshop – Build health, confidence & energetic resilience in life, as well as the class & deep-dive series following on from it.

In the spirit of living-in-colour,

Toby

Mindful of – colour therapy & facial expression

The two ‘mindful positions’ that we explore in this article are:

The energetics of colour, and tuning into the colour you need right now
The expression on your face, and working with what it is communicating

What colour does my body need?

If you have ever drawn or painted with colours, you might have noticed that concentrating on colour can feel great. After an hour of working with a green, blue and yellow landscape picture, you can really feel how these colours make you feel relaxed, calm and energised, even if you aren’t a great artist.
Similarly, if you go outside and just notice the colours in the landscape around you, you will notice that certain colours feel great to just stare at, absorb the energy of and relax.
On a slightly deeper level, if you ask yourself the question what coulor does my body energy need right now to move toward balance? Quite quickly you will notice your body intelligence will suggest a colour to surround yourself with.

If it needs energy it may move toward oranges or reds
If it needs lifting, it might move towards yellows
If it needs balancing and harmonizing, it might move toward greens
For calmness blues, and so on…

You can then just imagine yourself surrounded by that colour and let your body-mind absorb it, with often rapid effect. You might feel also that the colour has a ‘sound’ or vibration, which you can enjoy too.

Variation: You can imagine a point of energy in your belly, heart, and head. Ask each of these areas of your body what colour it needs. Breathe each of these colours into the particular area of the body, building that colour vibration there. You will get to know what colours work for you powerfully very quickly if you do this.

Your facial expression

The expression on your face communicates how you are feeling, but often we are unaware of it. If you are on a commute, and look at people’s faces, you will see this quite clearly!
If you become aware of your face, and notice tension, stress or a bad mood there, here are three stages you can try:

Notice the expression and the mood it embodies. Accept it, even exaggerate the expression a little to really get a feeling for what is there
Next, relax your face, release the expression, move your face toward a calm, neutral position, enjoy it
Third, raise the corners of your mouth a little, so that your face is in the position of a half-smile. Feel the gentle joy and radiance of this expression, let it spread from your face into your body, and any parts of your body-mind that might need a bit of warmth and support.

There you go, two ways of playing with your attention to improve your mood and energy with very little effort. It’s just something that you need to come back to often and put to use!

Related reading: Mindfulness, beauty & slowing the effects of ageing
Your Emotional Colour Palette
Practical dimensions of chakra meditation
Inner smile meditation
What your body posture communicates to you

© 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

Ongoing weekly on Wednesday – Beginners mind, resilient body – a 10-week integral meditation course

Starts Saturday 17^th January, 5.30-6.15pm, & then weekly – Beginners mind, resilient body deep-dive: An 11 -session practice series

Saturday, March 28^th 9:00am – 12:30pm – Inner smile & Earth Healing meditation workshop – Build health, confidence & energetic resilience in life

Wednesday April 1^st, 7.30-8.30pm & Saturday, 4^th April, 5-6pm – Which meditator are you? – Free meditation seminars: The five types of meditators & how to build your path to inner freedom

Starts Wednesday 8^th April, 7.30-8.30pm, & then ongoing – The inner smile – Meditations for inner regeneration & connecting to the Earth – An 8-week course

Saturday 11^th April, 5.30-6.15pm SG time, & then ongoing – The inner smile & Earth healing deep-dive – An 8 session practice series

Tags inner smile