This page holds a collection of guided practices led by Vaishali. All the practices are short (4-20 minutes), and intended as explorations to guide you into particular aspects of somatic and/or meditative experience. Below each audio file are a few short notes and some images that may catalyse your imagination and understanding of what is explored.
Please feel free to listen, explore and share. We will be posting new recordings on a regular basis, so please check back or sign up for our newsletter (Inspiration) to stay updated. If you find value in any of these practices, or in any other content that we share, please consider making a donation via our ‘Support Us’ page or the donate button at the bottom of this page.
Note: Practices are grouped according to the position they are done in: any position, floor-based, and seated. For floor-based and seated explorations, there is a short ‘guide to’ recording to explain the position and its main points. I recommend you do the ‘guide to’ practice at least once before any of the others.
‘Any Position’ Meditations
Natural Doorways
recalling a moment in your life when you felt deeply alive/relaxed/at peace/in awe/connected to something greater/at home in the world = your ‘natural doorway’ into the meditative state
A written guide to the Natural Doorways practice can be found in this blog post.
Salute to the Senses
gently explore the sensory world inside and all around you. a wonderful practice to shift into a relaxed-yet-awake state, to center and ground you in the present moment, and to bring you closer to your embodied experience. each sense can also be meditated upon individually, as a mini-meditation or a full practice.
Breath of the Heart
contemplate how breath connects us to the world and to ourselves. learn to self-soothe and experience the support and healing compassion of your breath.
Awakening the Body
wandering through the inner landscape of the body; discovering each part from within and liberating its energy; activating your innate healing and restorative powers
Floor-Based Explorations
Guide to Semi-Supine/Constructive Rest
setting up in semi-supine/constructive rest/supine hook/the ‘knees-up’ posture; what to do with legs, arms, head, eyes etc.
Ground-ing
sensing weight and settling into the earth; softening tension and grounding
Seated Explorations
Guide to Seated Meditation Posture
some considerations on how to find a supportive sitting posture; what to do with your arms, hands, eyes, mouth, etc.
Body on the Earth
an exploration of weight sensing and yielding to the earth; some guidance on upright alignment; experiencing the support of the spine
Did you enjoy any of these practices? If so, consider leaving a comment below, or making a one-time donation. Click on the button below to be taken to our PayPal, where you can give any amount you want directly to us. Thank you for your support.
Music & Meditation
I sometimes get asked about music during meditations. In my personal practice, I vary between:
- having soft music on in the background to help me get into the meditative mood
- meditating to music (especially for moving and dancing meditations)
- meditating without music in silence, experiencing the ‘hum of life’ inside and all around me
When I record guided practices, I tend to not add any music to them. This is partly for the sake of simplicity, and partly so that you have the freedom to meditate both with and without music, and discover what you enjoy. If you’d like to use music while you meditate with these guided practices, my suggestion would be to use another device to play it in the background.
Here are some of my favourite playlists that I use when I’m teaching live, or when I’m practicing yoga and meditation on my own. They are all on Spotify. I’ve listed them in a made-up order with what I feel are the quietest/softest at the top, getting a little more alive/rhythmic towards the bottom. I think of the top of the list as being closest to silence, and as you go down the list, sound emerges from the silence. Feel free to use them for meditation or life in general. Enjoy!
- Deep Sleep · soothing minimalist ambient for deep sleep
- Floating Through Space · ambient drone to make you feel weightless
- Schumann Resonance · solfeggio healing frequencies
- Elemental Soundtracks:
- Water 1 | Water 2 | Water + Ambient
- Fire 1 | Fire 2
- Forest 1 | Forest 2
- to invoke Air and Space, I use the top two playlists (Deep Sleep & Floating Through Space)
- Serenity · peaceful hang drum and ambient
- Gentle Focus · soothing ambient and hang
- Ambient flute · native flute music to float away with
- Peaceful Hideaway · ambient with some instrumentals and nature sounds
- Mind & Body · instrumental ambient
- Savasana · light instrumentals to restore and relax
- Waking up warm & slow · wordless electronic to unwind and chill
The Still Space 