Delve Deep Meditation Podcast

When I teach people to meditate on the body, it's a wild ride!

States of expansiveness. Waves of energy. Bliss. The boundaries between inside and outside merge. Feelings of love, joy and contentment spontaneously arising.

Sometimes, even the sense of self can diminish.

And when these experiences appear, meditation feels rewarding. We like these experiences! But there's another side to this.

Working with the body can bring up challenges. Physical discomfort, emotional pain, anxiety, frustration.

Sometimes meditation has a purifying effect on the nervous system and the psyche and we taste the flavour of past pain as it's being processed and released.

These experiences don't feel enjoyable or rewarding, but a huge amount of the long-term benefit of meditation comes from learning to allow this process to happen without suppressing or freaking out.

Here's why . . .

As you develop your ability to feel unpleasant physical sensations and emotions without automatically reacting to them, you're developing something called equanimity.

Equanimity is the ability to remain open and balanced when inner turmoil is present. Developing equanimity means you wont be pushed and pulled around by every sensation, emotion or thought that appears.

Think about how much of our lives is spent trying to get away from certain experiences, whilst desperately craving others.

We don't want to feel anxious, so we avoid situations. We don't want to feel uncomfortable, so we distract ourselves. We experience something pleasurable and immediately want more of it.

But as your equanimity deepens, that changes.

You become less controlled by inner forces. You experience difficult emotions without being overwhelmed by them, and enjoy pleasure without clinging on to it.

Instagram: @that_meditation_guy

Website: https://www.delvedeep.com

This technique has its roots in traditional Burmese insight meditation, but Shinzen Young spent years refining ways to make it easier to understand, learn and apply, even if you live a busy or hectic lifestyle.

This meditation isn't just about calming your mind or helping you relax. It's also about gaining insight into the nature of who you are and what life is, by learning to see your experience more clearly.

Instagram: @that_meditation_guy

Website: https://www.delvedeep.com

What if your ordinary life isn’t the thing getting in the way of your meditation practice?

What if your ordinary life is the meditation?

In this episode, I explore a different way of thinking about meditation. You don’t have to escape your life, go to a monastery, meditate for six hours a day or wait until everything is calm and peaceful before you can make progress.

Your busy life, difficult relationships, racing thoughts, anxiety, frustration, boredom and uncomfortable emotions can all become part of the practice.

I call this “monasticising your life”: taking the skills you develop during formal meditation and bringing them into the moments that actually make up your life.

At the heart of this approach are three simple words:

Stay. See. Allow.

Stay means learning not to immediately run away from whatever is happening.

See means becoming curious about your direct experience, rather than getting completely caught up in the story about what is happening.

Allow means dropping the struggle with your experience and learning not to be pushed and pulled around by every thought, feeling and emotion that arises.

These three skills correspond to concentration, sensory clarity and equanimity, and together they provide a practical framework for bringing mindfulness into everyday life.

So instead of asking:

“How can I get rid of my anxiety?”

You can start asking:

“Can I be free while anxiety is here?”

Instead of trying to stop every thought, you can learn to see thoughts clearly without automatically believing them.

Instead of trying to eliminate uncomfortable emotions, you can learn how to experience them without becoming completely identified with them.

And instead of seeing meditation as something that ends when the timer goes off, you can start using your entire life as the practice.

Walking the dog. Eating a meal. Driving. Working. Listening to someone. Having an argument. Feeling criticised. Lying awake at night. Experiencing anger, sadness, anxiety or joy.

All of it can become an opportunity to practise.

This is where meditation can move beyond simply helping you feel calm and become a path towards deeper insight, wisdom and inner freedom.

Eventually, the investigation can go even deeper:

Who am I?

What am I?

Who is experiencing all of this?

You don't have to believe any of this. The invitation is to test it for yourself through direct experience.

Your life is the laboratory.

Your difficult experiences are the material.

And every moment gives you another opportunity to Stay. See. Allow.

I'm Jimmy Wightman, also known as That Meditation Guy, and I teach meditation and mindfulness through the Unified Mindfulness approach.

If you want to go deeper, you can find out more about my work and 1:1 transformational meditation coaching at DelveDeep.com.

Instagram: @that_meditation_guy

Website: https://www.delvedeep.com

What does it actually mean to wake up?

In this podcast, Jimmy Wightman explores the deeper dimensions of awakening, nonduality and self-realisation, and what happens when we begin to question the fundamental assumption that we are a separate self.

Drawing on traditions including Zen, Advaita Vedanta and modern nondual teachings, Jimmy explores the question “Who am I?”, the nature of the ego, conditioning, awareness and kensho — seeing your true nature.

But awakening isn’t the end of the journey. What happens after awakening? How do you integrate a profound awakening experience into ordinary human life? Why can old patterns, emotions and conditioning continue even after seeing through the ego? And how do you avoid spiritual bypassing and hiding in the “absolute."

The podcast explores the relationship between awakening and practice, drawing on ideas associated with teachers such as Angelo Dilullo, Rupert Spira and Zen, while offering a practical perspective on embodiment, sincerity, surrender and living from what has been recognised.

Ultimately, this is an exploration of freedom — not becoming someone new, but discovering what you are beneath the story of who you think you are.

Instagram: @that_meditation_guy

Website: https://www.delvedeep.com

In this conversation, Jimmy Wightman sits down with Melvin McLeod to explore Melvin’s new book: A Single Breath: The Complete Path of Mindfulness.

Melvin is the Editor-in-Chief of Lion’s Roar, one of the world’s leading magazines on Buddhism, mindfulness, meditation, and contemplative wisdom. For more than three decades, he has helped bring the teachings of some of the world’s most respected spiritual teachers to a global audience. During his time at Lion’s Roar, Melvin has had the privilege of working closely with and learning from figures including Jon Kabat-Zinn, Thich Nhat Hanh, Tara Brach, Daniel Goleman, Diana Winston, Jack Kornfield, Pema Chödrön, and many others.

In this wide-ranging conversation, Jimmy and Melvin discuss the inspiration behind A Single Breath, Melvin’s own personal journey with mindfulness, and the lessons he has learned from a lifetime immersed in contemplative practice and conversation with some of the greatest meditation teachers of our time.

Together, they explore how mindfulness can become far more than a meditation technique—how it can transform the way you relate to your thoughts, emotions, relationships, work, and the challenges of everyday life. Whether you’re completely new to meditation or have been practising for years, you’ll discover practical insights into bringing mindfulness into every moment, allowing it to reshape both your inner experience and the way you engage with the world around you.

If you enjoy the conversation, don’t forget to like, subscribe, and share it with someone who might benefit from these timeless teachings.

Instagram: @that_meditation_guy

Website: https://www.delvedeep.com

In this interview, Jimmy Wightman (That Meditation Guy) & Daniel Schmidt discuss:

• What is an authentic awakening (kensho/Satori)
• What meditation techniques to do before & after awakening
• How meditation changes after awakening
• Common misconceptions along the path
• What is an Enlightenment Intensive
• Common pitfalls of awakening
• Their personal journey
• The spiritual journey: from surface to source

This conversation represents the deep end of spirituality so here is a quick reference glossary of some terms that are used that you might not be familiar with:

Enlightenment Intensive retreat - A 4-day self inquiry retreat that involves contemplating the question "who am I" while sitting opposite a partner and making eye contact. The act of sitting with a partner and contemplating is known as a dyad.

Kensho - A Japanese Zen term meaning “seeing one’s true nature.” It refers to a direct experiential insight into the nature of self and reality — often described as a glimpse of awakening rather than full enlightenment. In many Zen traditions, kenshō is seen as an important opening or recognition that is then deepened and embodied through continued practice.

Five Skandhas (Aggregates) – The five components that make up human experience in Buddhism: form (body), feeling, perception, mental formations, and consciousness. They are used to explore the nature of self and impermanence.

Sādhana – A dedicated spiritual practice or discipline undertaken to cultivate growth, transformation, and realisation.
Vāsanās – Deep-seated tendencies, impressions, or habitual patterns that shape thoughts, emotions, and behaviour.

Jhāna – Deep states of meditative absorption in Buddhist practice, marked by increasing stillness, concentration, and refinement of awareness.

Savikalpa Samadhi – A profound meditative absorption in which awareness remains present with an object, experience, or sense of bliss; duality is reduced but not fully dissolved.

Turiya – In Vedanta, the “fourth state” of consciousness beyond waking, dreaming, and deep sleep — pure awareness itself.

Ox-Herding Pictures – A series of ten Zen images illustrating the practitioner’s journey from seeking truth to awakening and returning to everyday life with wisdom.

Ramana Maharshi – Indian sage known for the practice of self-inquiry (“Who am I?”) as a path to awakening.

Nisargadatta Maharaj – Advaita teacher who emphasised abiding as the sense of “I Am” and recognising one’s true nature beyond identity.

Instagram: @that_meditation_guy

Website: https://www.delvedeep.com

This is a gentle guided meditation by Jimmy Wightman (AKA That Meditation Guy), inviting you to settle into the natural rhythm of your breathing and discover a quiet sense of ease already within you.

Meditating on restful sensations can calm the nervous system, reduce stress, and soften mental overactivity. Over time, it builds emotional balance, deepens presence, and reveals a more peaceful way of relating to experience.

Instagram: @that_meditation_guy

Website: https://www.delvedeep.com

This meditation is an invitation to come home to what you already are — the living Earth, breathing and aware through human form. It starts at 02:22.

As you turn inward to sense the elements — Earth, Water, Fire, Air, and Space — you begin to notice that this body is not “you” in the usual personal sense.
It’s a process of nature: minerals, moisture, warmth, breath, and awareness, endlessly changing.

Recognising this can soften the tight boundaries of the ego — that small, contracted sense of “me” trying to control life.

When those boundaries loosen, something remarkable can happen.
In the Zen tradition, this is called kenshō — a moment of clear seeing, when the illusion of separateness falls away and you experience reality as it truly is: vast, luminous, intimate.

It’s not an achievement or a mystical escape, but a simple recognition — that the same life moving the tides, the wind, and the stars is moving through you.

Practicing this meditation helps prepare the ground for that insight.
By sensing yourself as nature — stardust, breath, awareness — you begin to rest in a deeper truth: that who you are is not limited to this body or story, but is the living universe expressing itself, here and now.

So as you begin, let go of effort and expectation.
Just feel, sense, and remember.

Instagram: @that_meditation_guy

Website: https://www.delvedeep.com

In this guided meditation, I will lead you through the practice of NSDR (Non-Sleep Deep Rest), also known as Yoga Nidra, a powerful technique designed to bring your mind and body into a state of profound relaxation. Unlike ordinary rest, NSDR allows you to consciously enter a deeply restorative state, where the nervous system can reset, stress levels decrease, and mental clarity increases.

Yoga Nidra, sometimes referred to as “yogic sleep,” is an ancient practice with modern scientific validation. Research has shown that engaging in this form of guided rest can:

• Reduce stress and anxiety by lowering cortisol levels and calming the overactive mind.
• Improve sleep quality by training the body to relax deeply and supporting a healthier circadian rhythm.
• Enhance focus and cognitive performance by giving the brain a chance to restore, making it especially useful for memory, learning, and creativity.
• Support emotional regulation by activating the parasympathetic nervous system and creating a greater sense of inner balance.
• Boost physical restoration by lowering blood pressure, improving heart rate variability, and promoting cellular repair.

Through this practice, you’ll be guided step by step into a state of effortless awareness—neither fully awake nor asleep—where deep rest occurs naturally. With consistent practice, NSDR and Yoga Nidra not only replenish energy but also strengthen resilience, sharpen mental clarity, and nurture overall well-being.

Instagram: @that_meditation_guy

Website: https://www.delvedeep.com

In this guided meditation, Vast Spacious Awareness, I invite you to simply rest back into what’s already here. We start by coming into presence in a really natural way—through the body, through sound, and through what we see. These are easy entry points that help us land in the moment. You don’t need to force anything or try too hard, just noticing what’s here in your direct experience.

From there, the practice opens up into something bigger—what I call vast spacious awareness. This is that alive, open presence that everything is happening in: sensations, thoughts, emotions, the sense of “me,” the sense of “world.” All of it just arises and dissolves within this open field. The beauty is, this awareness isn’t something you have to create or imagine—it’s already here, effortlessly holding everything.

This meditation works whether you’re brand new to mindfulness or you’ve been practicing for years. If you’ve explored teachings from folks like Shinzen Young, Michal Taft, Rupert Spira, Loch Kelly, or Adyashanti, you’ll probably feel right at home here. The invitation is simple: relax back, notice what’s alive right now, and let yourself rest in the spacious awareness that’s always been here.

Instagram: @that_meditation_guy

Website: https://www.delvedeep.com

In this podcast Jimmy Wightman & Stephen Mugen Snyder Sensei discuss the reality of authentic awakening, also known as kensho or satori. In this context, awakening refers to an event that happens in consciousness that reveals the nondual truth of reality. It’s a dramatic shift that goes right to the locus of identity, opening to nonduality.

Jimmy & Stephen get specific about what awakening means within different traditions & how awakening is expressed within consciousness. They also discuss the pitfalls of awakening and how the personality can change after an awakening experience. They also talk about the post-awakening state and what you should do after a life-changing shift in consciousness in order to integrate and embody the realisation.

Finally, the pair discuss Stephen's new book: Liberating the self - Buddhist Practices for an Authentic Life.

Jimmy Wightman is the host of this podcast. The guest, Stephen Snyder, is a meditation teacher who began practicing in 1976. Stephen is a recognised master of the Jhanas, which are the absorption states entered through deep concentration taught by the Buddha. He’s also a Zen master, authorised to teach in both the Soto & Rinzai schools of Zen.

Stephen Snyder links:

Website: https://awakeningdharma.org

Stephen’s Interview series: https://youtu.be/bE9oaKl_hPc?si=MrjnWJ_tYKEvhGi8

Jimmy Wightman links:

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Delve_Deep_Meditation

Instagram: @that_meditation_guy

Website: https://www.delvedeep.com

The guided meditation starts at 05:00. In this guided meditation I'll show you how to cultivate exquisite presence by effortlessly holding the entire body in awareness. This is a simple and effective practise that will increase your mindfulness knowledge and skill. This is a great way to develop access concentration, which is the level of concentration needed to enter Jhana (the Jhanas are the deep states of absorption taught by the Buddha). This is also a fantastic way to calm the mind-body system, release stress and tension, and learn how to feel emotions without reacting to them.

In the intro (teaching part) of this meditation I explain the 5 most common blockages or obstacles in mindfulness. I also give advice on how to overcome them. This will help you to sit longer and feel more in control during your practise. The Buddha also taught about these blockages. In the Pali cannon they are known as the 5 hindrances to mindfulness.

I hope you enjoy this practise. Feel free to contact me and let me know how it feels for you.

Instagram: @that_meditation_guy

Website: https://www.delvedeep.com

The guided meditation starts at 04:00. Before that is the explanation. In this guided meditation I will show you how to contact and rest in the pure I AM sense. That's the fundamental alive presence that is there before any ego identity is conjured by the mind.

When you say "I AM" the mind will often add something on that defines you. For example: "I am hungry" or "I am a good person" or "I am a Mum."

This meditation is all about learning to disidentify from all the constructed mental identities added to the "I am" in order to become fully immersed in the open, alive, awake sense of presence that has (and will) always be here. This can lead to awakening and a direct experience of nonduality.

You will like this style of meditation if you enjoy the teachings of Eckhart Tolle, Jack Kornfield, Adyashanti, Angelo Dillulo, Shinzen Young, Michael Taft, Gangaji, Sam Harris, Henry Shukman and Loch Kelly.

Enjoy.

Instagram: @that_meditation_guy

Website: https://www.delvedeep.com

Guided meditation starts: 05:17. In this guided meditation I will explain what the enlightenment contemplation technique is. I will explain where it comes from (Charles Berner) and the context from which I've taken it (the Enlightenment Intensive retreat).

Please note, although the name sounds like clickbait I promise it's not. It's a technique adapted from Zen Buddhism and has a track record for bringing awakening (known as kensho or satori) to practitioners.

This is a self inquiry method that works as a guided meditation and is based on the millennia long tradition of asking the question: "who am I."

Instagram: @that_meditation_guy

Website: https://www.delvedeep.com

The guided meditation starts at 04:10. Before that is the explanation. In this guided meditation I'll show you the correct way to practice mindfulness of breathing, also known as Anapana Sati in Pali. This style of meditation was taught by the Buddha as a gentle way to calm the mind and relax the body.

Many mindfulness teachers use this style of meditation as a starting point for deeper practice, such as Adyashanti, Eckhart Tolle, Michael Singer, Shinzen Young, Tara Brach, Jack Kornfield and more.

Instagram: @that_meditation_guy

Website: https://www.delvedeep.com

In this guided meditation, we will revisit the "See, Hear, Feel" mindfulness technique. In a previous session, I gave you a guided tour of the senses where we used mindful awareness to explore seeing, hearing and feeling sequentially. You find this guided meditation easier if you have been through that, but if not it's no problem. You can still follow along.

The reason for revisiting this technique is because of it's versatility. Once you have the basics down, you can use this technique anytime you like without needing a guided audio. You can do it while sitting in stillness or while going about your daily life. Doing this will train your mind to rest in the reality of the senses (what you can see, hear and feel) in the present moment rather than ruminating or being habitually lost in thought.

Doing this technique as much as possible will change the way your mind works. It is like an upgrade to the operating system of your mind. It makes you more present and alive in the senses and you can do it with your eyes open on the go so it is really really easy.

Instagram: @that_meditation_guy

Website: https://www.delvedeep.com

In this guided meditation, Jimmy (aka @that_meditation_guy) shows you how thoughts arise in the mind as either visual images that seem to be projected onto a mental screen or auditory sensations such as the inner monologue. By practicing this technique, you will teach the mind the disidentify from thoughts and in so doing, you will be less likely to get lost in the thought stream. You will learn how to step back from thought activity, and become the witness. This is extremely useful if you are prone to rumination, or anxious thought patterns. Even if you are not struggling with those issues, being able to notice thoughts as empty mental phenomena, rather than being lost in the story that the mind is telling, is a great skill to have. This skill is known as meta-cognition and is something you can develop with practice. Thoughts are never a problem in meditation, regardless of the technique being used. However, in this meditation, they are particularly useful. To use a software analogy, this technique makes thinking a feature of the meditation rather than a bug. Often when people meditate they find thoughts to be a nuisance (like a bug in a piece of software, something to be fixed) but in this guided meditation thoughts are an opportunity to gain insight into the nature of the mind. They are a feature that enhances the meditation experience.

Instagram: @that_meditation_guy

Website: https://www.delvedeep.com

On this episode, Jimmy (aka @That_Meditation_Guy) takes you through a meditation to systematically relax your body using a combination of body awareness and breath. This is useful if you are struggling with stress or having a hard time settling down into a meditation. This is also useful if you are struggling with sleep. Just use this meditation before bed time to relax the body and soothe the mind.

Instagram: @that_meditation_guy

Website: https://www.delvedeep.com

In this episode I speak to Henry Shukman and Author, Poet and Zen Master.

We speak about his new book Original Love among many other things.

If you are just starting out on your journey and wanted to dip your toe in the water with a guided meditation, this interview might be a little advanced. You can look at our other podcasts for that.

However, if you want to learn what a path to awakening might look like, this will be of great interest. Enjoy

You can follow me on instagram @that_meditation_guy

Instagram: @that_meditation_guy

Website: https://www.delvedeep.com

JUST FEEL is a mindfulness meditation technique designed by my teacher, Shinzen Young, and is based on his Unified Mindfulness system.

In this guided meditation you will discover how to use Noting and Labelling to explore physical and emotional feeling sensations in the body.

Noting means to notice and pay attention to something. Labelling means to say a label either out loud or in your mind.

In this meditation you will allow attention to freely float between physical and emotional body sensations. You will note (pour your attention into) what you find and use the label “feel” in order to stay on track and stifle the internal monologue (thoughts).

This mindfulness meditation technique cultivates mindful awareness. It increases concentration power and improves equanimity.

This is the perfect meditation technique for improving access concentration which is useful for vipassana, jhana and mindfulness based stress reduction.

Subscribe for more like this😊

00:00 Meditation Introduction
04:54 Guided Meditation - Just Feel
29:05 Coming out the meditation and where for find more information

Instagram: @that_meditation_guy

Website: https://www.delvedeep.com

SEE, HEAR, FEEL is a mindfulness meditation technique designed by my teacher, Shinzen Young, and is based on his Unified Mindfulness system.

In this guided meditation you will discover how to meditate on any and all sensations arising in any and all sense gates.

This mindfulness meditation is also known as open monitoring, mahasi noting and insight meditation.

You will discover how to use Noting and Labelling to keep you on track during the meditation.

Noting means to notice and pay attention to something. Labelling means to say a label either out loud or in your mind.

In this meditation you will be taken on a guided tour of the senses.

This mindfulness meditation technique cultivates mindful awareness. It increases and improves concentration power, sensory clarity and equanimity.

This is the perfect meditation technique for improving access concentration which is useful for vipassana, jhana and mindfulness based stress reduction.

Subscribe for more like this😊

Instagram: @that_meditation_guy

Website: https://www.delvedeep.com

In this guided meditation we will be learning a technique I call Do Nothing meditation, but it’s also known by other names such as Just Sitting, Shikantaza or Natural Meditation.

We won’t be training the mind, using a mantra or investigating the nature of consciousness. The idea here is to simply rest in the natural state, open awareness, without the pressure to fix, change or achieve anything.

This technique reveals through direct experience, that awareness is already free from suffering and nothing needs to be done for that to be achieved.

Instagram: @that_meditation_guy

Website: https://www.delvedeep.com