Home Base with Jeff Warren
Home Base with Jeff Warren
Deliberate Slow Ritual
0:00
-12:17

Deliberate Slow Ritual

Even Before It Begins, You Feel It Has Already Begun

Pause

Take a breath.

Collect myself.

Begin writing ritual.


Hi.

I want to write about ritual, but mostly I want us to be part of one.

Meditation is a ritual for me. It pulses in my day, radiating circles of influence. Radiating through space, to the people and places around me. Radiating through time, to the future – and even, I imagine, to the past.

Image Credit: Meditation space of Home Base community member Suzy T

Like before I begin, the meditation has already begun. Pulsing backwards into the opening beats I take to arrive.

Walk into my practice space.

Light a candle.

Pulse.

Smooth out my meditation blanket.

Ask for support.

Pulse.

What’s your ritual?

Maybe it’s practising at a specific time of day, sitting in a favourite chair, or fixing yourself a tea. Maybe it's watering the peace plant on the altar, or nodding to a framed photo of a sparkly-eyed great-aunt. Or maybe it’s more subtle and internal; simply a decision to meditate that then charges the proceedings with more presence and care.

You can feel it though, right?

The great scholar of religion Mircea Eliade called “it” in illo tempore. Sacred time, ritual time, time outside of time – defying past and present. Like mindfulness, except imbued with something mysterious and ineffable.

Everything in its right place.

In this guided meditation, we explore how approaching practice as ritual may or may not change the feel for you. I’d love to hear in the comments how you approach your own meditation, what you do (or don’t do) to make it feel like a protected and meaningful space.

Love,
Jeff

Image Credit: Meditation space of Home Base community member Kelly S

Leave a comment

Extended Version (Paid Subscribers Only)

A few quick notes—

  • The next Do Nothing Project happens tonight – Sunday, October 12 – at 8pm EDT, on Youtube. Link here. Soon it will move to Substack Live, so be ready for that!

  • New to Home Base? We have over 50 guided meditations in our library. Check out the most popular ones here.

THIS WEEK ON THE MIND BOD ADVENTURE POD

How do we stay present in a world designed to steal our attention? This week, we sit down with my good friend

— designer, meditation teacher, and author of Reclaim Your Mind: Seven Strategies to Enjoy Tech Mindfully — and explore what it means to live mindfully with technology, instead of fighting against it.

Listen Now

Everything In Its Right Place – CEC Meditation

Monday October 13, 2025, 7:30pm EST
Online via Zoom

Image Credit: Roberto Nickson

Everything
Everything
Everything
Everything
In its right place
In its right place
In its right place
In its right place

This is my primary experience of mystery. On Monday, let’s make our visit together.

Learn More

Discussion about this episode

User's avatar