The Daily Meditation with Brother Richard

In this stillness meditation, I guide you into a simple practice of resting with the breath and discovering the quiet stillness that holds it. We begin by arriving gently, allowing the body to settle and the breath to fall naturally into the belly. From here, awareness deepens, not through effort, but through simple noticing. As you stay with the breath, you are invited to become aware of the stil...

In this meditation, I guide you into a simple grounding practice to help you reconnect with your body and settle into the present moment. We begin by reflecting on what it means to be grounded, not as an idea, but as a lived experience of being here, in this body, at this time. Through gentle awareness of posture, breath and physical contact with the ground, the body becomes a place of stability a...

In this meditation, I reflect on a question at the heart of the contemplative tradition: Who are you, God, and what am I? This simple phrase, associated with St. Francis, is not a question to be answered intellectually, but an invitation into deeper awareness. It opens us to a way of being present to life as it is, without needing to define or resolve it. We begin by settling into stillness, allow...

In this meditation, I guide you into drawing on a deeper awareness that can accompany you throughout your day. Over time, meditation begins to move beyond the boundaries of formal practice. It becomes something we can return to again and again, not just in stillness, but in the midst of daily life. We begin by settling into posture and becoming aware of the body and the breath. From this place of...

In this meditation, I guide you into anchoring your awareness in the breath. The breath is one of the most important tools we have in meditation. It is always with us, always available, and always rooted in the present moment. In becoming aware of the breath, we return to what is happening now. We begin by settling gently into stillness, allowing the body to soften and the breath to move naturally...

In this meditation, I guide you back to the foundational form of the practice. This is a good place to begin if you are new, and a good place to return to whenever you feel the need to renew your practice. Each time we come back to the form, we gently re-establish our intention to live with awareness, presence and steadiness in the world. We begin by settling into posture, allowing the spine to le...

In this meditation, we continue reflecting on the Canticle of the Creatures, turning our attention to Brother Fire and Sister Water. Following on from our reflection on Brother Sun and Sister Moon, this practice invites us to deepen our awareness of the elements that sustain life, and what they can teach us about presence, gratitude and transformation. We begin by settling into stillness and becom...

In this meditation, I guide you into a simple practice for beginning the day well. While meditation can be done at any time, the monastic tradition places particular importance on the beginning and end of the day. The first moments of the morning shape how we move into everything that follows. We begin by settling gently into posture, allowing the spine to lengthen and awareness to gather. With ea...

In this meditation, I guide you into a way of practising that you can carry into any part of your day. One of the great strengths of meditation is that, over time, it becomes something we can do anywhere. In the car, between meetings, sitting at your desk, or moving through a busy environment. This practice shows you how. We begin by becoming aware of the breath, and then gently expand our attenti...

In this meditation, I explore the roots of compassion and what it means to be present to suffering. Compassion, at its simplest, means to be with suffering. It is not always an emotional response, but often a quiet, steady willingness to remain present, even when we cannot fix or remove what is difficult. We begin by settling into stillness and becoming aware of the breath. From there, you are gen...

In this meditation, I invite you to use the body as an anchor into the present moment. We begin by settling gently into stillness, allowing the spine to lengthen and the breath to move naturally. From there, attention is brought into the body, noticing the simple sensations of breathing and the quiet presence of being here. You are invited to ask a simple question: how am I in my body in this mome...

In this meditation, I guide you back to the foundational form of the practice. These “recovering the form” episodes are a good place to begin if you are new, and an essential way to return and renew if you have been practising for some time. Like any skill, meditation deepens through repetition, and returning to the form helps to build steadiness and ease. We begin by settling gently into posture,...

In this meditation, we return to the visualisation practice of the true self, continuing with the second step in this unfolding series. We begin by settling into stillness and becoming aware of the breath, allowing it to anchor us in the present moment. From here, the practice invites a gentle shift in perspective, helping us see ourselves more clearly within the wider context of life. Meditation...

In this meditation, I invite you to sit gently with experiences of anxiety and fear. One of the quiet strengths of a daily meditation practice is that, over time, it helps us meet difficult emotions with greater steadiness. Rather than trying to push anxiety away or overcome fear, we learn how to be with them in a more compassionate and grounded way. We begin by settling into stillness and becomin...

In this meditation, I reflect on the Canticle of the Creatures, the beautiful prayer written by St. Francis of Assisi, as we mark the 800th anniversary of his death. Francis is remembered for his deep sense of kinship with all living things, and this ancient canticle celebrates the great family of creation. In this first reflection, we turn our attention to two of the most familiar companions in t...

In this meditation, I invite you to reflect on the quiet wisdom of creation through a simple meditation on a flower. We begin by settling into stillness and becoming aware of the breath. From there, you are invited to imagine a small flower resting in the palm of your hand, perhaps a simple daisy. With gentle attention we begin to notice its form, its colour and its delicate beauty. Like us, the f...

In this meditation, I reflect on the teaching of Julian of Norwich, one of the great contemplative voices of the Christian tradition. Julian lived a life devoted to prayer and meditation, and she is remembered above all for a phrase that has echoed through centuries: All shall be well. In this practice we allow those words to accompany the breath. As we settle into stillness and become aware of th...

In this meditation, I return to the foundational form of the practice. These “recovering the form” episodes appear regularly because they serve two purposes. For those who are joining the podcast for the first time, they offer a natural place to begin. For those who have been practising for some time, they are an opportunity to return to the foundations and refresh the simplicity of the practice....

In this meditation, I guide you through a visualisation practice centred on three places of awareness within the body. We begin by settling into stillness and becoming aware of the breath. From there, attention moves gently to the first centre just below the navel, a place of grounding and stability. In the imagination, a soft blue-white light begins to grow outward from this point. We then move t...

In this meditation, I invite you to reflect on the meaning of peace and to allow that peace to grow quietly within the breath. We begin by taking our seat and settling into stillness, recognising the simple gift of being alive. With gentle awareness, we dwell in gratitude for life itself and for the countless generations who have carried life forward before us. As the breath becomes steady, we beg...

In this meditation, I guide you through a simple hand meditation, an ancient contemplative practice that brings awareness into the body through gentle movement and touch. We begin by settling into stillness and taking a simple prayer posture with the hands. From there, attention moves quietly to the fingers and thumbs, allowing small gestures to become points of awareness in the present moment. As...

In this meditation, I invite you to pray and meditate with one of the oldest words in the Christian contemplative tradition: Maranatha . This ancient phrase, often translated as "Come, Lord", has been used for centuries as a simple prayer of the heart. Rather than analysing the meaning, we allow the word to accompany the breath and gently gather the attention. As we settle into breath awareness, t...

In this meditation, I introduce the first step in a visualisation practice that we will return to over the coming weeks. This ten-part sequence will appear at regular intervals, each step gradually deepening our awareness and helping us reflect on the truth of who we are within the wider mystery of life. We begin by settling into the familiar form of meditation, consciously choosing this time of s...

In this meditation, I speak about a very old and very familiar experience: the feeling that you would rather be somewhere else. In the monastic tradition, this restlessness has a name: acedia . It is not laziness, but a subtle boredom that arises just when practice begins to deepen. It offers us alternatives — other places to be, other chairs to sit on, other tasks to do. It may even suggest that...

In this meditation, I reflect on the wisdom of St. Francis of Assisi , a master of contemplative awareness who saw all of creation as interconnected. Francis spoke of the elements — fire, water, air and earth — as brothers and sisters. For him, nothing existed in isolation. We are part of a great family of being, woven into the same fabric as the cosmos itself. Through the image sometimes called t...