Meditation teacher

John Ooi

I work with a small number of people, making time and space for depth and care. I listen, respond to what is happening, offer what I can, and stay open to what becomes possible.

Practice since 2017Explore Space to Be

How I work

Flexible in approach.

The approach is flexible because a life is not a method. I create conditions, pay attention and allow the meeting to take shape from what is actually happening.

I keep the number of people I work with small so I can bring depth and care to each person. I listen closely, respond to what is happening, offer what I can and stay open to what becomes possible.

Meditation can help us notice when we are lost in thought, stuck in an old identity or reactive. From there, it may become possible to enter more direct contact with experience, respond mindfully and act from values and desires that have become clearer.

My story

How I came to this work.

Moving to London for medical school unsettled an identity I had felt confident inhabiting. In a new environment, I struggled to find familiar ground. I experienced anxiety, a sense of not belonging, and sometimes panic. I turned to meditation for help.

Over the following years, my experimentation and investigation into the nature of mind and reality deepened. Eventually, I took a year out of medical school to travel. With more time to practise, I continued exploring the challenges and insights I was encountering through meditation and other practices.

During that year, a climbing injury left me unable to move freely for several months. That time gave me an opportunity to feel and process emotions I had previously hidden from myself.

Later, I went to Nepal to volunteer. I began meditating regularly for about an hour a day, while learning about how other cultures understand mind and reality.

John trekking with walking poles beneath snow-covered Himalayan peaks in Nepal — Here I am trekking in the Himalayas of Nepal. February 2020.

When COVID arrived, isolation brought further time for practice. My experience with meditation and strong emotions gave me something to offer, and I began guiding meditations for friends.

I went on to train with Jack Kornfield and Tara Brach through their two-year Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Certification Program. After completing the course, I left medicine and devoted more of my life to this work of learning to live with greater ease and clarity.

I later trained with David Nichtern at Dharma Moon, where my appreciation for simplicity and precision deepened.

I appreciate that simple instructions can bring great freedom.

Training, practice + influences

Rooted in practice, belonging to this age.

I have practised meditation since 2017 and continue to work personally with teachers.

My teacher training includes Jack Kornfield and Tara Brach’s Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Certification Program and Dharma Moon’s Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Training with David Nichtern.

My practice draws most deeply from Plum Village and the Karma Kagyu lineages, alongside an interfaith upbringing and respect for many more contemplative traditions.

I think of my work as secular in the root sense of the word, belonging to this age.

The relationship

Truth, offered kindly.

Meditation teaching happens here. So does spiritual friendship, a broader and more mutual quality of attention.

For me, spiritual friendship means good friendship. It supports you to be yourself, tells the truth with heart and remains humble before what neither of us can fully know.

Trust is not something you need to give immediately. It is built over time and exposure, like trust in any real relationship. We may disagree or find places that need more attention.

Meet the work.

Read how the six weekly meetings work, who they may be for, and what it means to begin.

Explore working with John