tantra – Toby Ouvry Meditation

“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)

Follow Toby on: LinkedIn, YouTube, Instagram

Integral Meditation Asia

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

“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