On Living Ritual with Tracee Stanley

Every Monday morning, as the sun is coming up, I walk down my friend’s garden path to her house for tea ceremony.

Gentle music. Incense. Bowls of tea. A handful of women from my little town, sitting together in silence. There is some kind of alchemy there I cannot fully explain. What I walk away with is always more than the sum of its parts.

My guest today on the podcast has just written a book exploring rituals just like this.

Tracee Stanley (she/her) is the author of the bestselling books Radiant Rest and The Luminous Self, and her new book, Living Ritual: Infuse Each Day with Purpose and Spirit, is out this August.

Tracee has been a student of Sri Vidya Tantra and the teachings of the Himalayan Masters for over thirty years, and she is devoted to sharing the wisdom of yoga nidrā, rest, meditation, self-inquiry and ancestor reverence.

In this episode, we talk about ritual as something far bigger than incense and candles.

We explore:

• The difference between internal ritual, external ritual, ceremony and rite of passage
• The sandhyās, the sacred transitional points of the day in Hindu philosophy, and how to weave micro rituals into a busy, householder life
• A threshold practice for marking what you’re leaving behind, what you’re present to, and what you’re walking towards
• Tea ceremony as a portal, including the five vāyus (subtle winds) and how different teas can be felt moving differently in the body
• Ritual and rite of passage as tools for marking life transitions such as divorce, menopause or grief, and the value of sitting in liminal space
• Reclaiming attention from devices, including Tracee’s analog cocoon practice and her yearly six-week break from social media
• The four aims of life (puruṣārthas), artha, kāma, dharma and mokṣa, reframed away from grasping and towards nourishment and support
• Tracee’s own morning ritual, from mantra and chanting through to tea and mind mapping

This conversation left me thinking differently about the small transitions in my own day. I hope it does the same for you.

Connect with Tracee Stanley

Join the Australian 2026 hybrid Mental Health Aware Yoga training

Join the online Mental Health Aware Yoga training in September

Listen to the music for nervous system regulation playlist

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