Deconstructive meditation is the most extreme version of taking meditation from the cushion. Other ways are just a watered down version.

It is found in Dzogchen from Buddhism and is the path to madness. The Buddhists say you need a teacher due to the ‘dangers’. It is based on enlightenment, which has lots of definitions, but is more of experiencing enlightening moments as you don’t become enlightened and then rise in the air surrounded by light; you are just the same person but perceive things differently.

The basics of moving your meditation off the cushion is to change thinking patterns, similar to cognitive behavioural therapy, as well being able to reach the clear relaxed mind of meditation whenever you choose.

Deconstructive meditation, such as Dzogchen, goes that next step of experiencing pure awareness and then applying it to your mind and its thoughts. It is confronting because pure awareness is truly neutral and our brains are definitely not. So it is like viewing yourself as someone else would, from a position of absolutely no bias. You then wrestle with many of the bad parts of your nature that make up who you are as a person.

As far a practical uses, you can use that neutral and empty pure awareness as a reset for any experience, to de-value any past experiences and gain control of your brain.