“Whatever us going on in the small temporal experience you are having right now, you are bigger than it, and it is workable”
Dear Integral Meditators,
This weeks article looks at the scale of who you think you are, and suggests some mindful ways to change the balance in a positive way!
If you enjoy the article, we will be meditating on this topic in both the Tues/Weds class and the Saturday deep-dive sessions. I invite you to join us either live, online or via the recording.
In the spirit of bigger (in this case) being better,
Toby
Making yourself bigger
The feeling of oppressed
Whenever we feel, if you observe the experience of being stressed, scared or overwhelmed, it is often something like:
- My body feels contracted in on itself, reduced. My sense of ‘I’ follows this
- The challenge feels LARGE, much bigger than mee, like a tall building or monster towering over you
- A sense of being weak or helpless in the face of this massively larger, more powerful force
This feeling then makes not just the presenting challenge more difficult, but everything that happens to you. Life feels like a struggle, a trap, something that you are a victim of.
Working with scale
About eight years ago I had an experience sitting in meditation where I felt my body was not just a small body sitting in my room, but large, as big, bigger than the apartment block. It was as if I was sitting in the landscape like a large building, looking down upon everything. Along with this literal feeling was an experience of feeling stronger, more powerful in relation to my life. It changed my sense of how I existed in relation to my challenges, in relation to what was possible. As well as power, there was a feeling of calm confidence.
I stayed with this feeling for several weeks, letting it become a part of my foundational way of going and being, I had literally become bigger!
Beyond psychology
The Yogachara school of Buddhism asserts that all our internal problems come from a mistaken sense of self. We perceive ourself as a small being, inside our skin, with a separate, foreign world outside of us. In reality, it asserts, our True Self, or Self-as-Consciousness is infinite and boundless. As this infinite and boundless self, we are not in the world, the world is in us! We are as huge infinite and boundless as consciousness itself!
By engaging in some simple Yogachara-ic ‘mindful shifts’ we can achieve some quite remarkable changes in our experience, I’m placing a few below.
Some mindful positions on Bigness
Sitting in meditation, walking, or otherwise in a state where you can settle into a mindful condition, use the following simple sentences as anchors for exploration:
- I am not in my body, my body is in me (as a boundless, timeless consciousness)
- I am not in the room, the room is in me
- I am not walking/sitting in this landscape, the landscape is in me
- I am not on the Earth, the planet is in me
- I am not within the orbit of the moon, the Lunar sphere is within me
- I am not within the Sun & solar system (Galaxy, Universe, whole of Creation), they are within me
- I am not in life, life is within me, I am Life
Everything is happening within you, within your boundless Body, Mind and Heart. Whatever us going on in the small temporal experience you are having right now, you are bigger than it, and it is workable.
Related reading:
Non-Dual meditation & Organismic reality
Making yourself big
Connecting to Your Big Mind (Is the Mind in the Body or the Body in the Mind?)
Born from Life, not into it
Small Focused Mind, Big Open Mind
© Toby Ouvry 2025, you are welcome to use or share this article, but please cite Toby as the source and include reference to his website www.tobyouvry.com
All upcoming classes & workshops
Ongoing on Tuesday’s & Wednesday’s (live & online), 7.30-8.30pm – Weekly integral meditation classes
Starts Tues 11th, Weds 12th February, 7.30-8.30 pm – Freedom & Fullness – A practical introduction to non-dual meditation practice
Begins Saturday 15th February – Freedom & Fullness deep-dive non-dual meditation sessions
Tues 18th, Weds 19th March, 7.30-8.30pm – Spring Equinox balancing and renewing meditation
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