Meditative Self-Inquiry with Oda Lindner, April 19, 2026

We gathered on the lawn by the pool at Swanwick Centre, beginning with introductions and a gentle body meditation, feet on the ground, breath, small movements, arriving not only individually but together in a shared sense of aliveness.

From there, we continued from where we left off in the last dialogue, with the question: Can the intimacy we have with life be shared in a group? What is it that keeps us separate?

As we explored, it became clear how easily thought divides through interpretation, memory, and the need to protect ourselves. We saw that analytical thinking can become a defense mechanism, a way to avoid direct contact with experience. This brought another question. What is our shared interest, perhaps love or truth, and can it be approached at all through seeking?

The question arose: who is it that is seeing, hearing, or aware? As we looked into it, it became clear that the very attempt to identify a “who” may itself be another movement of thought. In trying to name or define it, we seem to create separation again. This led to the sense that the observer may not be separate from what is observed, but part of the same movement.

After some analytical explorations, Oda invited us to pause for a short experiment: sitting in silence for 5 minutes, listening and sensing without thought or want. In that stillness, something shifted. For many, there was a quiet clarity, a soft sense of connection with what is, the birds, the breath, the simple fact of being here. For some, unease or anxiety surfaced, as if silence revealed what is often kept at a distance.

Oda shared that a presence of love was felt in that quietness. Not as an idea, but as something directly felt. And perhaps in such moments, a different kind of togetherness appears, a shared presence and connection to all around us.

• Anastasia Shtamina