Part 15: Integral Meditation: A Meditation for the New Idealism

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Monday, 31 August 2026

Written by Michael Dargaville

Part 15: Integral Meditation: A Meditation for the New Idealism

“Discover why stillness restores inner health” ~Crystal Wind

This chapter turns the New Idealism toward a practice you can sit down and do. Integral meditation is presented as a passive health method—less a mantra to push and more a wave of ease that lets thought thin out until stillness can be entered. The claim is simple and large at once: when the body stops bracing, mind and immunity may follow.

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Part 15: Integral Meditation: A Meditation for the New Idealism

Integral meditation was founded by a famous Australian psychiatrist called Ainslie Meares. He developed this technique while in his Melbourne clinic during the 1960s, and wrote many influential books including RELIEF WlTHOUT DRUGS (Penguin).

Mearc’s technique was first used to fight mental illness, especially anxiety, and has been taken up by some leading Victorian therapists.

Ian Gawler and Peace of Mind

In the 1970s this meditation technique gained wider recognition when Ian Gawler, a young Melbourne vet, cured his lung and extensive bone cancer.

Gawler at the time had been given just two weeks to live. He went on to attain extremely wide public recognition and wrote two best-selling books, including Peace of Mind. Gawler had lost half his leg prior to coming across the technique because doctors in those days thought surgery would be his best option.

Active Meditation and Health Meditation

Unlike other meditation techniques, which Gawler calls ACTIVE such as mantra meditation, INTEGRAL meditation is passive! The difference between the two forms is that active meditation increases the secretion of the hormone cortisone from the adrenalin gland which is the cause of STRESS throughout the body and immune system. However, integral meditation does not cause the secretion of cortisone and is passive. Thus, it is called Health Meditation.

The Technique Is Simple

The technique is simple. For the first 10 days you progressively relax your groups of muscles from your feet up by flexing each muscle group for 5 seconds and then relaxing them for 5 seconds. After 10 days of this, you change the routine and instead imagine a WAVE of relaxation over all your muscles at the same time, instead of physically doing each muscle group. This is the essence of Mind/Body medicine because by simply using the wave leads to deeper stages of meditation.

All you have to do from here is sit in an armless chair. Just be a passive observer and allow the thoughts to come and go and just imagine a wave of relaxation over all your muscles every time a thought comes. Just apply the wave when thoughts come. You can stop using the wave after a couple of minutes if you wish and just be a passive observer and allow the thoughts to come and go and look for a gap between thoughts where there is a stillness. Move into that stillness as you relax your body.

Don’t force the thoughts away. Just let them come and go and don’t fight them off. They will go by themselves as you experience this stillness between thoughts. Remember, just be a passive observer and use the relaxation wave when a thought comes if you wish or stop using it just being a passive observer waiting for the stillness. If a particular section of muscles in your body keep being tense concentrate the wave on that area. It’s that simple. You can meditate up to 3 hours every day, especially if you have a chronic disease like cancer. Using the wave leads to higher states of meditation.

Six Stages of Integral Meditation

Gawler has written a chart of levels the body’s mental/physiology goes through during Integral Meditation. It is well worth anyone wanting to know an in-depth understanding of the technique to purchase Gawler’s book called Peace of Mind with this chart. But briefly, the chart says there are six major stages during this technique.

The first stage uses the relaxation technique and the mind is active, with lots of thoughts. The second stage involves still using the Relaxation Response and the thoughts come less often. The third stage still involves using the WAVE of relaxation and the thoughts are virtually not coming. The body feels it is being blown up with air and is a very nice feeling.

During the fourth stage the body feels light and extremely relaxed and you are virtually not using the wave while there are no thoughts. The fifth stage is like LIFT-OFF to a new form of consciousness. Some people see colors. Others experience a wonderful sensation. This leads to the six stage which is enlightenment. About 95 per cent of meditators feel they are asleep but are totally conscious at the same time. And this is the highest stage of Integral Meditation.

"About 95 per cent of meditators feel they are asleep but are totally conscious at the same time."

Diet, Movement, and Supplements

If you are interested in a total physical transformation adopt a strict diet of vegetables, grains and fruit and walk at least 2 hours a week if possible. Also, basic yoga postures and breathing correctly should help any chronic illness.

Make sure you supplement vitamin B12 (Adeno/methyl) if you become a vegan vegetarian. Zinc sulphate and vitamin C also are powerful supplements along with the Anthony William anti heavy metals regime of coriander, wild blueberries, Atlantic Dulse seaweed, spirulina and barley. grass juice powder.

First published in 2002, The New Idealism has appeared in multiple international print editions and is now available in digital format through the author and at CrystalWind.ca.

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The New Idealism Table of Contents

Author

Michael Dargaville is an international journalist, poet, philosopher, university professor, singer, performance poet, natural medicine oncologist, meditation teacher, avant garde novelist and pioneering skateboarder who has been based in Asia and China for the past 25 years. He holds a BA in Philosophy from Macquarie University, a Master of Letters on Fritjof Capra and the New Physics, and spent ten years writing his 65,000-word PhD thesis — THE NEW IDEALISM — examining how philosophical idealism underpins mind-body medicine, quantum theory, transpersonal psychology, the worldwide New Age movement, and complementary and alternative medicine. He has taught at more than 20 universities around the world. His journalism has been read by more than 200 million people on the internet and translated into 15 languages. He has published more than 100 books and pamphlets including over 70 works of poetry, five novels, and four major works of philosophy. Visit his website here.

Disclaimer: The information in this article is presented for educational and informational purposes only. Views expressed are those of the contributing author and do not necessarily reflect the views of CrystalWind.ca, which makes no claims regarding the accuracy of any content herein.