Category: spiritual intelligence

Mindful of: Your masculine & feminine balance

Post author By Toby
Post date June 30, 2025

“If our masculine and feminine energies are harmonized, it is a huge plus for our inner resilience and sense of wellbeing.”

Dear Integral Meditators,

This week’s article looks at working with your masculine & feminine balance. If you enjoy the article, you’d be welcome to join us for the Wednesday class & Saturday class where we will be working with this topic!

If you are interested in Qi gong then do check out my workshop on Saturday 12th July, 9am-1pm – Qi Gong for Improving your Health and Energy Levels & for Self-Healing

In the spirit of your feminine/masculine balance,

Toby

Mindful of: Your masculine & feminine balance

In this article I want to explore a few mindful positions around your sense of the masculine and feminine energy within you, and how to bring them together into a harmonic, or mutually supportive partnership. If our masculine and feminine energies are imbalanced, or fighting each other, then this can be a source of conflict and dissonance. If they are working together, it is a huge plus for our inner resilience and sense of wellbeing.

Male & female, masculine & feminine

One thing to distinguish initially is the difference between your male and female energy on the physical and biological level, and our masculine and feminine. It is possible to be physically male and very feminine in terms of energy balance, or female biologically and quite masculine in energy balance. Obviously, we are either a man or a woman, and we will have a sense of how we experience that. We will also, as a man or woman have both masculine and feminine energy flowing through us. It is worth reflecting upon this, making the distinction, and then starting to get an intuitive sense of your own point of balance in terms of masculine and feminine polarities.

A balancing chart

Here is a list of masculine and feminine qualities, roughly arranged in complementary polarities:

It is not the only list, or a ‘complete’ list, but by looking over it you can start to give name and form to some of the natural polarities in terms of masculine and feminine, yin and yang energies. The idea with each of them is to build BOTH qualities within yourself, in a way that they are complementary, mutually supporting and ‘aware’ of each other. For example, if you take the first one, Loving and powerful, which is a fundamental one. Tune into the part of you that is loving in various ways. Then tune into the part that is powerful and expresses power. Working with them consciously, you can practise becoming both powerful and loving in your expression of your thoughts, words, relationships, and actions.

Merging your masculine & feminine self

Sitting quietly, imagine that on either side of you, you have a man and woman. Recognize these as being embodiments of your masculine and feminine selves. Feel into their energy on both sides of you to get a sense of both. When you are ready, as you breathe in, feel both figures moving inwards toward you, so that eventually their bodies merge with yours. Experience yourself as being one masculine and feminine being, balanced, harmonized and strong.
If you like you can do this exercise with one of the polarities in the above list. For example experiencing the ‘willful’ part of your masculine energy in the man, and the ‘nurturing’ aspect of your feminine energy in the woman. Then proceed with the merger as described.

Related articles: The middle way
Polarity meditation – Working consciously with tension

© 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, masculine feminine balance, meditation, meditation in singapore, mindfulness, mindfulness in Singapore, mindfulness meditation, power of mind

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Practical dimensions of chakra meditation

Post author By Toby
Post date June 10, 2025

“When you meditate, you start to learn to move or ‘travel’ between different states of consciousness, which opens up creative possibilities”

Dear Toby,

This week’s article takes at the chakras as a way of navigating between states of consciousness in meditation. If you enjoy it, it will be the subject of this week’s Tuesday, Wednesday class, or the Saturday dee-dive session. You would be welcome to join, either live-in-person, or online!

In the spirit of inner traveling,

Toby

Practical dimensions of chakra meditation

The subtle energy body and levels of consciousness

When you meditate, you start to learn to move or ‘travel’ between different states of consciousness, which opens up creative possibilities. The simplest model of consciousness states is a set of three and looks something like this:

Gross level – Physical body and biological life force (The domains of physics, chemistry & biology)
The subtle level – The level of mind, ranging from the everyday mind and attendant emotions to more subtle, refined, higher levels (The domains of psychology, philosophy & metaphysics).
The causal, or very subtle level of consciousness – The level of consciousness itself, formless, timeless (a ‘living, primal emptiness’) and unitive in nature.

Some correspondences – Chakras as a map of states of consciousness

Chakras are subtle energy centres, or ‘wheels’. They are most often described as being located along a central channel, or energy meridian that runs from the base of the spine to the crown of the head, and then down to the third eye, or point between the eyebrows. different schools and systems use different colours, but the ‘rainbow’ version described below is a good version to start with. The three levels of consciousness are split into the seven levels as follows.

Gross levels of consciousness (Physics, chemistry biology)

Base chakra – Located at the base of the spine, red in colour, related to the world of physical form, and our surviving/ thriving in that domain.

Sacral chakra – Located at along the spine at the level of the sacrum, orange in colour, related to the biological world of sexuality, reproduction, relationships, and the attendant feeling/emotional states

The subtle levels of consciousness

Solar plexus chakra – Located at the solar-plexus level of the spine, yellow in colour, related to the psychological world of everyday thinking, healthy or dysfunctional ego formation, our sense of power or agency, and/or lack of it.
Heart chakra – Located at the heart-level of the spine, green in colour, related to our love energy, both in relation to ourself, others and the world around us.
Throat chakra – Located at the throat-level of the spine, blue in colour, related to our communication energy (speech), both in relation to ourself, others and the world around us. You could also add ‘truth’ to this chakra, as in “speaking one’s truth.”
Third eye chakra – Located between the eyebrows (If you imagine the chakra column of meridian rising from the base of the skull, up to the crown of the head and then down between the eyebrows), indigo in colour, related to our wisdom facility, and depth of perception.

The very subtle, or causal level of consciousness

Crown Chakra – Located at the crown of the head, violet/white in colour, related to our capacity to rest in an expanded state of causal or formless consciousness.

A simple meditation

Sitting in meditation, sense into your subtle body, same shape, and size as your physical body, interpenetrating it
See the chakra column with the attendant chakras extending from the base of your spine to the crown of your head, and then down to the third eye zone between your eyebrows
In meditation feel and see light and energy being activated within your base chakra. Feel it rising progressively through each of the chakras, with their attendant colours and capacities.
See the light rising into your crown chakra, where your personal consciousness dissolves and merges with the timeless emptiness of consciousness itself
See the light from your crown chakra descending to the third-eye chakra between your eyebrows, rest in stillness. After a while imagine seeing the world around you, and yourself being inseparable from the formless timeless emptiness you contacted in your crown charka. The world is a dream-like manifestation of consciousness itself, that you are. They co-exist singularly, like the two sides of one coin…

© 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 chakra meditation, chakras, inner growth, integral meditation, integral meditation asia, integral mindfulness, meditation, meditation in singapore, mindfulness, mindfulness in Singapore, mindfulness meditation, power of mind, tantric meditation

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Indestructible safety (On Therapeutic & Tantric mindfulness)

Post author By Toby
Post date May 19, 2025

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

Dear Integral Meditators,

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

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

In the spirit of the indestructibilty,

Toby

Indestructible safety (On Therapeutic & Tantric mindfulness)

Therapeutic mindfulness

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

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

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

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

Tantric mindfulness

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

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

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

Three positions to explore combining therapeutic & Tantric mindfulness

So, to put these together, practice cycling through:

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

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

Enjoy your indestructibility!

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

© Toby Ouvry 2025, you are welcome to use or share this article, but please cite Toby as the source and include reference to his website www.tobyouvry.com

All upcoming classes & workshops

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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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

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Taking the mountain with you

Post author By Toby
Post date April 15, 2025

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

Dear Integral Meditators,

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

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

In the spirit of the mountain,

Toby

Taking the mountain with you

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

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

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

Bring the mountain you’ve got

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

A mountain poem

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

Some meditation positions

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

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

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

Wherever you go, bring the mountain!

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

© Toby Ouvry 2025, you are welcome to use or share this article, but please cite Toby as the source and include reference to his website www.tobyouvry.com

All upcoming classes & workshops

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Combining your Witnessing with Tantric meditation

Post author By Toby
Post date April 7, 2025

“You are not a drop of love in the ocean. You are the entire ocean of Love in a drop.”

Dear Integral Meditators,

This week’s article looks at combining your basic witnessing practice with a Tantric meditation form.

Tantric practice is also the subject of a new series of classes & sessions that I will be leading in May:
Starts Tuesday 6^th, Wednesday 7^th May, 7.30-8.30pm – Embodied Transformation – An integrative introduction to Tantric meditation
Starts Saturday, 10^th May & then weekly, 5.30-6.15pm – Embodied Transformation – Saturday Tantric deep-dive meditation sessions
If you are motivated to come on this journey with me, you can do so live, online or via recordings.

In the spirit of the Ocean-you-Are,

Toby

Combining your Witnessing with Tantric meditation

Tantric meditation is a tradition of meditation originating primarily, but not solely in the east. It emphasizes the unity of body, sensuality, and spirit. In some of its forms it stops at the awakening of a sense of the Body-as Spirit. In it’s more complete forms it takes this sense of embodied spirituality, merging it with transcendent consciousness to create the path to a fully awakened, non-Dual state. This article outlines a combination of basic witnessing with simple Tantra to supercharge your meditation, and your energy levels.

Deeper into Witnessing – Transcending and including

Basic witness practice is sitting in meditation as the observer self, detaching in a healthy way from the contents of your consciousness. You simply hold this position and practice watching calmly. Deeper witnessing involves developing the capacity to:

Transcend the content of your consciousness by witnessing
Simultaneously include and embrace that content in an unconditionally warm and loving manner

One analogy for this is that you witness like the sun, which shines its light objectively on the world, whilst simultaneously embracing it with its warmth.

Bliss and Love, your basic Tantric ingredients

Love and inclusion

Breathe into your heart and feel the natural, original Love there. Experience it as an embracing warmth and care that builds and grows as you breathe. Let your body soften to this feeling, so that it as you stay centred in Love. A nice object of meditation here is the Rumi line:
“You are not a drop in the ocean. You are the entire ocean in a drop.”
Altered to focus on Love:
“You are not a drop of love in the ocean. You are the entire ocean of Love in a drop.”

Bliss and transcendence

Breathe into your lower-belly, sacral region and sexual organs. Connect to the basic Bliss of your Life-force in the body. This is the basic bliss that, when activated biologically becomes sexual attraction, and ‘peaks’ in the experience of orgasm. Breathe and let the feeling of bliss build a bit in your loins. Then imagine this Blissful feeling rising as an energy from your sexual organs to the base of the spine, and then up the spine and back of the head to your crown. Feel a ball of light building above your crown, filled with transcendent Bliss and the freedom that comes with it.

Creating a Love-Bliss Witness

Bring the ball of transcendent Bliss down from your crown to your heart, where it merges with the inclusive, all-embracing Love. So, you have a feeling of Love-Bliss-Consciousness at your heart.
Now identify your True Witness Self as being Consciousness composed of these two qualities; Transcendent Bliss and an All-inclusive Love. With this set up you can then either:

Witness the content of your consciousness with this Love-Bliss Witness or
Rest in the ocean or sky-like experience of the Witness itself, enjoying the feeling of blissful ‘Fullness & Emptiness’

A final position here is then to practice viewing the content that you are witnessing as arising from the Ocean of your Bliss-Love Witness, not two things, but one thing arising simultaneously, which gives you an approach to a Non-Dual expereince.
Once you are familiar with the above practice, you can ‘short-cut’ sometimes by generating the Bliss in your sacral region, and then just feeling it rise-up directly to meet the Love in your heart. But going up to the crown and then down again has the initial advantage of mixing the Bliss with the freedom of higher levels of consciousness available at the crown.

Related reading: Sky & sun, freedom & fullness
Re-awakening to your Bliss
All you need is Love – Contemplative Non-Duality

© 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, love meditation, meditation, meditation in singapore, mindfulness, mindfulness in Singapore, mindfulness meditation, non-dual meditation, power of mind, tantra meditation

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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

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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

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

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

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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

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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

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Dancing between time & eternity

Post author By Toby
Post date February 3, 2025

“The Eternal Present a place (or non-place) we can take a holiday, returning to time & our life refreshed,
enthused & ready to go”

Dear Integral Meditators,

This week’s article looks at time mastery from a meditative perspective. If you enjoy it it will be a focus point of this week’s meditation classes on Tuesday & Wednesday.
The Eternal Present will also be a point of deeper focus of the upcoming Tues & Weds Freedom & Fullness – A practical introduction to non-dual meditation practice classes, as well as the companion deep-dive non-dual meditation sessions beginning on Saturday 15th February, 5.30pm SG time.

In the spirit of Presence,

Toby

Dancing between time & eternity

Looked at from a certain point of view, we are points of energy moving in time and space. That may see a little abstract, but really it is quite simple, mastery of human life involves mastery of our time, our energy and our movement, physical, mental, emotional spiritual. In this article I want to focus on time mastery, outlining four mindful positions that can be used progressively and then in a circular, mutually re-enforcing manner. Here they are.

Position 1 – Positivity in time. This first position entails becoming present enough to be aware of the stream of thoughts and experiences flowing through your body-mind and, even though you might still be a bit distracted, steering your attention towards the positive. For example, as I am sitting here now watching my attention, I can notice that;

my sore back is feeling much better today than yesterday
I’m looking forward to doing some gentle exercise tonight
I’m enjoying the process of writing
I’m slept well last night

So, the idea here is that, as I stay generally present and self-aware, I keep my attention primarily centred around objects that give rise to resilient, positive thoughts and feelings.

Position 2 – The present moment in time. In this second position I’m interested in trying to identify THIS present moment in time, as it moves through time, and staying with it. Using my breathing as an orientation point:

As I breathe in, I am focused and aware of this present moment in time
As I breathe out, I relax into the PMIT, noticing what is there

Practising in this way we build proficiency at being more present and in the now-moment in time, not lost in thought, not falling asleep. This builds temporary peace of mind, trains in undistracted concentration and builds relaxed focus that is useful both in meditation and daily life.

Position 3 – The eternal present. As I relax into the present moment in time, I start to notice that there is a watcher, or a witness within myself that is simply awareness, a formless consciousness. This witness-self always remains the same; an always open expanse of pure, free awareness. If I turn my attention away from the objects of consciousness, the things that come and go in time, and instead gently rest in the freedom of consciousness itself I start to drop into the Eternal Present. This is the present moment beyond time. It is not moving from moment to moment, it is the always already here and now. It is the space that contains all time(!) By practising position three, we drop out if time into the formless timeless Present. This is great for a radical deepening and expanding of our consciousness in meditation, but it is also fantastic for giving our everyday mind a complete break from all its worries and concerns in time. It’s a place we can rest and take a holiday, returning to time and our life refreshed, enthused, creative and ready to go!

Position 4 – Integration of the three positions. The three positions above summarized are:

Different degrees of distracted in time, but being present enough to keep your attention sufficiently focused on the positive to build resilience and perspective
Increasing proficiency at being in the present-moment-in-time, both in and out of meditation
Dropping into the Eternal Present to enjoy the radical freedom and bliss of it, then returning to time and life refreshed and enthused

Position 4 then is practising them together, in meditation and informally in daily life, so that most of our time we are in one or other of these conditions, dancing in and out of time lightly, creatively and playfully.

Related reading: Eternal life (& where to find it)
The Eternal Present and the Four Types of Time

© 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

Final session this week! 7.30-8.30pm – The Wisdom of Awakening Series – Meditation for leaping into reality

Saturday February 8^th, 15^th, 22^nd, 10-11.40am – Mindful Life-skills for Teenagers – a three module course

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 eternal present, inner growth, integral meditation, integral meditation asia, integral mindfulness, meditation, meditation in singapore, mindfulness, mindfulness in Singapore, mindfulness meditation, power of mind, present moment