Wordspace
To see a world in a grain of sand
And a heaven in a wild flower
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand
And eternity in an hour
(William Blake)
On this page you will find some poems and exercises that will help you to meditate, ground yourself and find relief from stress.
Begin by traveling mentally with W. B. Yeats to a place of calm:
Now listen to the Indigenous wisdom of Chief Seattle:
Absorb yourself in a mysterious poem that creates the feel of a traditional Japanese tea ceremony:
Listen to a crackly original archive recording of Welsh poet W. H. Davies telling us to slow down, to look and listen with attention to the beautiful world around us:
Now try a more traditional form of meditation. Listen to team member Sally Bayley telling you how she meditates with the assistance of small everyday objects :
Sometimes an image and/or soundscape can help us to meditate and destress. Remembering Sally’s advice about focus and breathing, use this video to empty your mind and focus in the moment:
Painting by artist Arizona Smith
Mindful words can also help us to meditate, to focus in the moment. In this next video, team member Sally Bayley finds balm in a lemon balsam plant and some words from Virginia Woolf’s first published short story, a “stream of consciousness” of just a few pages, called “The Mark on the Wall” (1917). A full text of the story, from which you could choose an extract to match with a small thing of your own, can be found here.