Our Lineage

“Not all those who wander are lost...”

-JRR Tolkien

Roam Within is different to other meditation and mindfulness programs which are focussed on using techniques or mantras to guide attention back to the present moment. These practices focus on dharana, or the sixth step, in Patanjali’s eightfold path.

Our programme is an evolution of this path. You will learn a ground-up approach, beginning with understanding how your habits, personal values, and embodied experiences in life can support you in opening up to the present moment.

We introduce you to dyad contemplation exercises, which were developed by the American Charles Berner for the Enlightenment Intensives. These are precise, timed, communication exercises, done in groups of two, to help you build your skills in communicating with others and to accelerate your practice.

Walking path in hillside

To roam within is to enter into self-enquiry. The Sanskrit term for this is vichara.

Self-enquiry is a path first set down by the Indo-Europeans who lived in northwest India. It is described in the poems of the Rigveda in the second millennium BCE. Over the centuries it has been found in Buddhism, Japanese Zen teachings, and modern-day psychology.

Jnana Yoga, the path of knowledge or self-realisation, Patanjali's eightfold path for meditation, and Zen Sesshins are all core to our programme and teaching.

With breakthroughs in cognitive sciences over the last 75 years, the evidence base continues to grow to support these ancient practices as key to relational wellbeing.

There are no texts to study, no doctrine to follow. Self-enquiry is simply about getting to the truth of who you are. The list below may be helpful on this journey.

Topography map

Reading List