Feet on the ground
Stand or sit with both feet flat, and give your full attention to the contact between foot and floor. Nothing to change, only to notice.
3 min
Practice library
Small Practices, Chosen by What You Need
Every practice here takes twenty minutes or less. Filter by the centre you are working with, the kind of practice you are drawn to, or simply by the time you actually have.
Centre
Kind of practice
Time I have
Longer exhale
Breathe in for four, out for six. Eight rounds. The extended exhale is what signals to the body that it can stand down.
5 min
Red at the base
Sit quietly and picture a warm, deep red settling at the base of your spine, heavy and unhurried, like a stone in still water.
5 min
Haematite in the pocket
Carry a grounding stone somewhere you will touch it by accident. The point is the reminder, not the stone.
1 min
Fifteen unstructured minutes
Make something with no outcome in mind and no one to show. Drawing, cooking, rearranging a shelf. Creativity needs somewhere useless to go.
15 min
Name the feeling
Say plainly what you feel, out loud, without explaining or justifying it. "I feel disappointed." Then let the sentence end.
3 min
Warm water, sweet orange
A bath or long shower with a few drops of sweet orange or ylang ylang. Warmth and scent reach the body faster than reasoning does.
20 min
One decision alone
Make one small choice today without asking anyone. Where to eat, what to wear, when to leave. Notice that nothing falls apart.
2 min
Breath into the belly
A hand just above the navel, breathing so that the hand moves rather than the chest. Ten slow rounds, with a pause at the top.
5 min
I can trust what I know
Said aloud each morning, in your own voice, before the day has a chance to make its case otherwise.
1 min
Hand on the chest
One palm flat over the centre of the chest, six slow breaths. The gesture is older than any technique and it works on its own.
3 min
The tone of your inner voice
For one day, listen to how you speak to yourself without correcting it. Awareness softens more than effort does.
10 min
Green and open
Picture a soft green light widening across the chest with each breath in, and staying there on each breath out.
5 min
Humming
Hum one continuous note for a minute and feel where it vibrates. The throat responds to being used before it responds to being understood.
2 min
One unsoftened sentence
Say one thing today that you would normally cushion. No "just", no "sorry", no "maybe". Notice how it lands.
1 min
Listening without preparing
In your next conversation, listen without rehearsing your reply. Expression begins with reception.
10 min
Ten minutes of no input
No screen, no music, no book. Eyes closed, sitting up. Insight rarely arrives in a full room.
10 min
A question left overnight
Write down the thing you cannot decide and deliberately do not answer it. Come back in the morning and read it once.
5 min
Alternate nostril breathing
A slow, even rhythm through one side and then the other. Used for centuries to settle a mind that will not stop offering opinions.
8 min
Five minutes of stillness
No intention, no method, nothing to achieve. The crown is the easiest centre to overthink, so do not.
5 min
Looking up after dark
Stand outside at night and look at the sky for as long as it stays interesting. Perspective arrives without being asked for.
5 min
Singing bowl or single chime
One strike, then follow the sound the whole way down to silence. Then again. Attention has somewhere to rest.
5 min
One note, held
Sing or hum a single note for as long as the breath lasts, then again. Not to sound good — to feel where it sits in you.
3 min
The sound of the room
Close your eyes and count the separate sounds you can hear. Most rooms hold more than you expect, and listening for them empties the mind of everything else.
5 min
Low frequency, long distance
Listen to recorded whale song or low drone tones through headphones, lying down. Low frequencies are felt in the chest before they are heard.
10 min
Chanting a vowel
A long open vowel, repeated. The oldest sound practice there is, and it needs nothing but your own voice.
5 min
Silence after sound
Strike a bowl, chime, or glass, and stay with it until you genuinely cannot hear it. The silence afterwards is the practice.
4 min
Body scan, base to crown
Move attention slowly up through the seven centres, pausing at each one. Whichever draws you back is worth a note afterwards.
12 min
Closing the day
A small end-of-day gesture — a window opened, a candle out, one line written. It tells your system the day is finished.
5 min
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