In reading order
Every Meditation
The List
22 meditations- The Sitting Stone For arriving: finding a seat that holds you, so the mind can stop holding itself up.
- Counting the Tide Breath counted from one to ten and back to one, for a mind that will not stop talking.
- The Listening Tower Letting the sounds of the room come and go, for when you are too restless to sit with the breath.
- Banking the Fire A slow walk of attention down the body at the end of the day, for the hours before sleep.
- The Sovereign Throne Rooting your weight low in the belly, the hara, until nothing outside can tip you over.
- Gaze and Stillness Trataka: resting your eyes on one small point or a candle flame, and staying put.
- The Fierce Deity Stepping inside the strongest, steadiest version of yourself and looking out through their eyes.
- The Heavy Earth Letting each limb grow heavy in turn until the whole body rests like soil after rain.
- The Turned Hourglass A one-minute reset for when you catch yourself drifting into time you didn't mean to spend.
- The Hundred Steps A slow descent: a few even breaths, then counting one to a hundred as if down a long stair.
- The Shuttered Study Watching thoughts come and go until the room behind your eyes grows quiet on its own.
- The Minstrel's Gallery Listening to one piece of music with nothing else to do, then following a single instrument through it.
- The Single Star Choosing one object and one sense, and staying with it until there is nothing else to stay with.
- The Unmasking Loosening the face, jaw, throat and shoulders with a few odd movements, then lying still to feel what's left.
- The Small Heavenly Circuit Walking your attention up the spine and down the front of the body, one slow loop at a time.
- The Numbered Lanterns Watching numbers appear and add themselves up in the mind's eye, without saying them.
- The Spark and the Slate Drawing with a bright spark in the dark, from single lines to shapes you can turn and walk around.
- The Prism Filling the mind with each colour of the rainbow in turn, until they blend into white light.
- The Cartographer's Walk Walking somewhere and taking in everything, then sitting at home and walking the whole route again in your mind.
- The Swan's Word Silently hearing “so” on the in-breath and “ham” on the out-breath, an old mantra that rides the breath.
- The Standing Tree Standing still with your arms rounded as if around a tree trunk, rooted below and light above.
- The Slow Procession Walking very slowly back and forth, feeling each foot lift, move and settle.