Space to Be Write to John

One-to-one with John Ooi

A practice shaped around your actual life.

Meditation teaching and spiritual friendship for curious people changing their work, their home, their relationships, or simply the way they want to live.

Online, or in person where practicalEnter the main Space to Be experience

Who this may be for

A place to find a way forward.

Your work may no longer fulfil you. You may be moving country, changing career, starting a business, or seeing that how you meet the people you love must change.

From the outside, life may still work. Inside, perhaps you want to meet it differently, with more kindness, confidence and possibility.

You do not need to arrive with a clear objective. Not knowing what to do next is a perfectly good place to begin.

You also do not need meditation experience. You may already practise, be simply curious, or feel hesitant about meditation. We can begin by exploring what meditation is and why anyone might do it, from first principles, before ever practising.

How it works

Six meetings, with room for what is here.

First, a twenty-minute conversation to see if it feels right. If we both want to continue, we begin six weekly meetings.

01

A first conversation

We talk about what you are looking for, answer practical questions and decide whether meeting again feels right.

06

Weekly meetings

Each meeting responds to what is happening. There is no fixed script to perform.

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Between meetings

We can exchange voice notes and messages. I respond within my capacity and aim to reply promptly.

Meetings change from week to week. We may meditate and talk honestly, and we may explore a practice for daily life. Sometimes I introduce a practice or share an insight or story. Other times I mostly listen.

The sixth meeting continues the work and also leaves room to talk about what might come next. There is no obligation to continue. We may continue, allow time for a decision to become clear, or recognise that the work is complete for now.

Meditation + spiritual friendship

A living practice, held in relationship.

Meditation teaching is explicit. Spiritual friendship describes the wider quality of how we meet.

For me, spiritual friendship means good friendship. It tells the truth kindly, with heart, and supports you to be yourself. It is humble in the face of mystery and still willing to enter the details of an actual life.

Some things become clear only in relationship. Another person may see what you cannot yet see, offer a new perspective, practise alongside you, or help create the conditions in which what you already know can reveal itself.

“John has this rare capacity to make you feel at ease, accepted, and guided.”
Laura F, writer and teacher

Trust + scope

We can simply try it and see.

Trust is built over time. You do not have to grant it in advance, and I will not try to convert you to a belief or persuade you to continue.

This is not therapy, medical care or crisis support. It may sit alongside work with a doctor or licensed mental health professional. If I believe I am not the right person, or that continuing would be unsafe, I will say so.

I cannot offer expert advice in fields where I have no experience. What I can offer is meditation teaching, close attention, honest conversation and the practices and perspectives I genuinely know.

About John, his training and influences

Money

This work is freely given.

There is no fee and no expected amount. After our sixth meeting, I will invite you to give whatever you freely choose.

What you give does not change the care I offer. The work is offered in the spirit of dāna, the Pāli word for giving.

Why the work is offered this way

See if it feels right.

Write a little about what is happening or what you are looking for. John will read your note personally and reply within seven days with a link to choose a time.

Begin with a conversation