When Does Self Inquiry Become Self Abidance?
•March 4, 2026
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Why It Matters
Understanding and embodying self‑abidance equips professionals with a low‑effort tool to detach from reactive mental patterns, enhancing focus, resilience, and overall performance in demanding business contexts.
Key Takeaways
- •Ask 'who is aware?' to detach from experience
- •Question is a tool; eventually rest in pure awareness
- •'I am' serves as simple portal to self‑abidance
- •Removing thoughts, sensations, memories reveals unchanged essential consciousness
- •Maintain awareness as life returns to avoid feeling overwhelmed
Summary
The video explores how self‑inquiry can evolve into a state of self‑abidance, offering a practical meditation framework for moving beyond the constant chatter of thoughts and sensations. The host guides listeners to ask simple probing questions—such as “who is aware of this experience?”—to create a momentary gap between the observer and the observed, allowing the underlying awareness to surface.
Key insights include using the question as a temporary scaffold, then transitioning to the bare affirmation “I am” as a portal back to pure being. By systematically imagining the disappearance of thoughts, feelings, memories, and sensory input, the practitioner uncovers an unchanged, formless consciousness that remains when all experiential layers fall away. The dialogue emphasizes that once this awareness is recognized, it no longer requires verbal prompts; it becomes a natural reference point amid daily life.
Notable moments feature the host’s repeated phrasing, “What is it that is aware of my experience?” and a guided visualization where every mental and physical content vanishes, leaving only the “naked self.” The conversation also distinguishes two sensations reported by a participant—a warm chest feeling and a neutral, spacious awareness—illustrating the spectrum between felt presence and the abstract notion of being.
The implication for audiences, especially those in high‑stress environments, is clear: cultivating this simple self‑inquiry can reduce reactivity, improve emotional regulation, and sustain a baseline of calm that persists regardless of external circumstances. By integrating the practice into routine, individuals can maintain clarity and decision‑making capacity even when faced with overwhelming stimuli.
Original Description
After an initial glimpse of one’s true nature through self-inquiry, how does one deepen the practice?
Rupert says: ‘It is only necessary to ask yourself the question if you find yourself lost in the content of experience. A question such as “what is it that is aware of my experience?” takes you directly, in one simple, easy step, from what you are aware of to that which is aware. Then the question has done its work – you’ve come back to yourself and you just rest in that, you sink into that, you abide in that. So self-inquiry has led to self-abidance.
‘In time, you’ll find that you don’t even need to verbalise the question. You could simply sound the words “I am” in your mind just once and allow yourself to be drawn into that to which the words refer – that would be it. The “I am” is just a little portal, a stepping stone to take you back to your true nature. And then in the end you don’t need the words. You just pause and go back.’
*This video is from one of Rupert’s in-person retreats at Mandali, 30 August–6 September 2025. For more information on upcoming retreats (many of which can be attended online via livestream) go to:
Timestamps:
0:00 What is Aware of My Experience?
1:57 A Glimpse of Our True Nature
3:12 Self-Inquiry
6:02 Two Kinds of Inner Experience
8:11 Stripping Away All Experience
12:54 Remaining Yourself in Life
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