Self Inquiry

Self inquiry is the direct path to awakening and liberation. Self inquiry can be done individually, in dyads or even in groups. When it is done individually, it really converges with the true purpose of meditation. Our core meditations will take you from a technique based practiced to direct inquiry. At a certain point, self inquiry and meditation are realized as one (after we have moved beyond doing techniques and practices and realize what it means to drop the conditioned mind).

Self inquiry dyad intensives are designed to create conditions of no escape for the ego structure and for the awakening or realization of your true nature. Working continuously from early morning to late at night, participants alternate roles in dyads (groups of two), where one person is a witness and the other engages in deep inner investigation to realize who they are. The intensives are in alignment with the self inquiry of Ramana Maharshi, the Zen traditions, and owe a great debt to the Charles Berner Self inquiry method, as well as the dyad techniques used in modern psychology.

What is direct knowledge of your true nature?
When we usually speak of knowing something, we are speaking about information received from the mind and senses in the form of experience. It is the conditioned self or personality that experiences and knows through the mind and senses. Direct knowledge of your true nature is not mediated by the mind and senses. It is akin to waking up from the dream character that you have been experiencing or identified with, where one “just knows” that one is awake. It is not learned, or conditioned knowledge; it is something intrinsic to our being at a much deeper or more fundamental level. It is a realization of the timeless, eternal, primordial awareness that you are, beyond name and form.

Self inquiry dyads on Zoom
Check out our next upcoming sessions or ideally join a 7 day “I AM” retreat for a deep dive.


Who can participate in a self inquiry intensive?
A self inquiry intensive is the most powerful tool that we know of for awakening. It may be the perfect catalyst for awakening at a certain point on your evolutionary journey, but it is not for everyone. One may have physical or psychological healing that needs to happen before doing one of these retreats. If you have any psychological diagnosis, unresolved trauma or are on any medication, please contact us and arrange a zoom call for more information at contact@samadhi.ca.

We recommend that you come to an intensive or online event to learn the technique rather than attempting to learn it on your own. It often takes days of “unknowing” at an intensive to enter into a don’t-know mind and it is something that is difficult to navigate on one’s own. Once you are grounded in the technique, this space is a place where you can connect with others interested in self inquiry and to find a dyad partner to do dyads via zoom or other online methods. It is also a place to ask questions about the technique and anything that is coming up in your practice.