Raked gravel around a few set stones, herb patches divided into bite-size squares, a winding line of stones you follow one step at a time: meditation gardens are laid out so the body settles and the mind lets go. Visit yours for a few minutes at the same time each day, and the calm deepens.
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Whatever your age, meditation can help reduce stress levels, sharpen focus, and generate happiness and well-being.
A garden is the perfect place to practice this daily or weekly, especially because it connects us to nature and other living things.
Culture and family are how meditation and prayer often become part of us. Indeed, generations connect as individual acknowledge that each of us is part of something bigger – transcendence.
Site the seat where a hedge or wall breaks the prevailing wind.
Some gardens are specifically designed to make meditation and prayer easier.
Part of the strategy is to admit that body and soul are connected. What the body perceives can influence the soul. Through meditation, a person tries to harmonize the different aspects of their being: mind, soul, and body.
Some gardens emphasize one sense over the others, which helps people who are more sensitive to that sense focus and meditate. Other gardens aim to keep the body busy while releasing the mind.
Each of the styles below appeases the body in its own way: some feed you as well as your soul, others keep your hands busy so the mind can wander. Use the table to see which one matches the space and the sense you respond to most.
| Garden style | Defining element | What keeps the body busy | Best known for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cloister garden | Small patches of berry bushes and medicinal herbs, walkways between beds | Watering, weeding or planting, a quarter-hour at a time | Food for the body and fruit for the soul |
| Japanese garden | Miniature landscapes, maples and azaleas, fountains and bamboo water clocks | Tending small-scale plantings and bonsai | Big scenery in a very small space |
| Zen rock garden | Boulders, gravel and rocks, at most a clump of moss | Meticulous raking and picking wind-blown leaves | Patterns that shift with the sun through the day |
| Labyrinth garden | A single long winding line marked out with stones | Walking the curves, one careful step at a time | Thinking a question through while you walk |
Nothing stops you blending two of them: the point is the atmosphere they create, not the label.
Cloister gardens, historically, were set up by monks of Christian origin. Heavily inspired from the Benedictine mantra of “ora et labora”, or “prayer and work”, they are both beautiful and useful.
Often, walkways meander through the growing beds. A few strategically placed benches or sitting stones let one rest and pray. A daily walk around this Christian-inspired meditation garden yields fruits of both kinds: food for the body, and fruit for the soul!
Beauty in small spaces is what makes most Japanese gardens stand out. Even if you’ve only got a dozen square feet of garden space, you can fit an entire continent’s worth of landscapes and scenery in a well-designed Japanese garden.
Japanese gardens often seek to reduce the size of nature, the more to reveal its intricate balance. The art of Bonsai-making goes this way, opening the path to a philosophical quest as well!
Japan is also where some of the world’s most insightful zen rock gardens are located. With only the barest of plant life, sometimes at most a clump of moss, the mineral world stands out here. Boulders, gravel, rocks… not a shrub or tree in sight!
The art of caring for this garden is a meditation that involves the whole body. Meticulous raking and careful picking of wind-blown leaves keep the body busy as the mind wanders free.
A particularly interesting type of meditation garden is the “labyrinth” garden. This isn’t the usual corn-field maze garden designed for family fun and adventure. It’s usually a single long, winding line that looks complicated only from afar. Up close, you simply follow the curves one step at a time to make your way through the labyrinth.
Ancient wise ones used to say that such labyrinth gardens were the key to answering questions important to you.
Regularity is key to make the most of a meditation garden. Try to always spend a few minutes a day at around the same time in your meditative garden area. Your mind will get better and better at making the most of the time you’re giving it!
Credits for images shared to Nature & Garden (all edits by Gaspard Lorthiois):
Meditation garden gateway by James DeMers ☆ under Pixabay license
Cloister garden by Laura Bittner ☆ under © CC BY 2.0
Meditative Japanese garden by Christopher Michel ★ under © CC BY 2.0
Rock garden by el_ave ★ under © CC BY 2.0
Stone labyrinth by Uvo under © CC BY-SA 4.0
Wavy gravel (also on social media) by Ryan Schram ★ under Unsplash license
