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