The Garden Shed
A Welcome from Bruce and Sue
Bruce
Come on in, don’t mind the mess. Every decent garden’s got a shed, a place where you keep your tools, your seeds, and the odd secret you’re not quite ready to plant yet.
This one’s no different. It’s where we keep the good stuff, the sit times, the sounds, the notes, all the bits and pieces that help Presence take root. Nothing flash, just the simple things that work.
Some days you’ll come in here needing to fix a broken handle. Other days you’ll just sit on the bench and listen to the rain on the roof. Either way, it’s all part of the tending.
So, take your time, have a look around. Water what needs watering, rest what needs resting. And don’t worry if you track a bit of mud in, we all do.
Sue
He’s right, you know. Stillness grows best when we stop trying to keep the floor clean.
THE TOOL RACK
Guided Sit Times
These guided sits are the tools of stillness, simple, practical ways to return to Presence.
Each one invites you to pause, breathe, and listen.
Choose the time or theme that suits where you are today.
Bruce
Tools are meant to be used, not admired. Pick one up and see what happens.
Listen Here (11-min)
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Each breath is a prayer, each inhale and exhale a whisper of the sacred name, Yah…weh. Long before words or beliefs, there is this living rhythm within us, the pulse of creation itself. As you settle into this practice, allow your breathing to become slow and gentle, a doorway to Presence. You are not trying to change or control anything, only to remember what has always been. Every in-breath receives the gift of life; every out-breath releases what you no longer need. In this quiet rhythm, you begin to hear the silent prayer that never ceases.
Listen Here (14-min)
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Surrender, rest, and union with Presence: The tender “yes” of awakening, when new life begins to rise. At the heart of contemplation lies rest, a letting go of all doing and becoming. This sit invites you to release the need to achieve, explain, or even pray with words. There is a deeper current carrying you, and it asks only that you surrender to its flow. As you rest, notice how the line between you and God begins to blur. Here, rest and God become one and the same.
Listen Here (11-min)
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The body is not an obstacle to the spiritual life; it is the temple in which the Spirit breathes. In this sit, we turn awareness slowly through the body, from the soles of the feet to the crown of the head. We notice the weight of being here, the sensations, the aches, the warmth, the pulse of aliveness. There is no need to fix or analyse; simply listen. As you welcome each part of your body, you also welcome the One who dwells there. This is the gentle rediscovery that holiness is not somewhere else, it is embodied, breathing, and present within you.
Listen Here (11-min)
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Sometimes the mind races in a thousand directions, searching for meaning or control. This simple phrase, “Just here, just now, just this”, brings you home to the present moment. Each word is a stepping-stone into stillness, a reminder that this moment is enough. As you repeat the phrase softly, you begin to notice the quiet underneath the noise, the awareness beneath the Don’t force the silence; let it arrive in its own time. You may discover that what you were seeking is already here, waiting patiently beneath your attention.
THE QUIET BENCH
Unguided Sit Times
The Quiet Bench is for when you want to simply sit in silence. No guidance, no words, just you, the garden, and the stillness. Choose the length of time that feels right, settle in, and let the quiet hold you.
Sue
Don’t worry if your mind wanders, that’s what minds do. The silence will find you anyway.
10-minute
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Silent 10 Minute Sit Time Bell
20-minute
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Silent 20 Minute Sit Time Bell
30-minute
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Silent 30 Minute Sit Time Bell
THE WATERING CAN
Sounds of the Garden
Sometimes stillness arrives through sound. These gentle recordings invite you to listen with the heart, to the rain on the roof, the song of a bird, the rhythm of waves against the shore. Use them for your sit time, your walk, or your daily rhythm of quiet.
Bruce
Don’t overwater it, mate. Just enough to keep things alive.
20-minute
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This gentle recording invites you to listen with the heart, to the rain on the roof.
20-minute
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This gentle recording invites you to listen with the heart, to the sound “Beneath The Surface”
20-minute
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This gentle recording invites you to listen with the heart, to the Song of the bird.
20-minute
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This gentle recording invites you to listen with the heart, to the sound of the camo fire at night
20-minute
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This gentle recording invites you to listen with the heart, to the waves on the shore.
20-minute
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This gentle recording invites you to listen with the heart, to the sound of the babbling brook
THE GARDENER’S NOTEBOOK
Notes & Reflections
Every season leaves traces in the soil. This is where we notice what’s growing, and what’s quietly composting. You’ll find downloadable reflections, poems, and meditations. There’s no right way to write, only the honest way.
Sue
Some of my best prayers started as shopping lists.
A Reflection on: Vessels and Containers
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The Vessels and the Containers is a contemplative reflection on a prophetic word Garry received in 1991 - a word that made little sense at the time, but slowly ripened across more than three decades. What began as a seemingly financial “charismatic word” about oil and containers becomes, in hindsight, a sharing on inner capacity, surrender, and the slow formation of the soul.
Through collapse, grief, loss, betrayal, the long descent into silence, and the surprising emergence of the Chrysalis Sanctuary, Garry came to see that the “vessels” were never jars, ministries, or structures. They were the hidden spaces within the heart that only grow through unmaking and Mystery. And the “oil” was never money - it was grace, tenderness, Presence, and the quiet wisdom that comes through suffering and surrender.
This reflection traces that journey: the early assumptions, the breakdown of old containers, the deep vessel formed in grief, and the contemplative life that followed. It is a story of how a word can arrive too early for us to understand, yet still plant a seed that will one day bloom.
A Reflection on: Becoming the Rose
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Becoming the Rose is a quiet companion to The Vessels and the Containers, exploring one small sentence that crossed Garry’s path decades before he understood it: “We are trying to sell a rose bush when we ourselves have not yet become the Rose.”
At the time, it felt like little more than a passing insight - a gentle nudge in the middle of a busy leadership culture. But like many early seeds, its meaning only revealed itself years later, after unravelling, loss, silence, and the slow work of becoming.
This reflection is not a teaching or a principle. It is simply the story of how a single line grew into a way of seeing: the difference between building systems and allowing the soul to blossom; between offering answers and becoming rooted in Presence; between selling rose bushes and slowly becoming the Rose.
It is offered quietly, in the spirit of the mystics - not as authority, but as companionship for anyone who senses that something deeper is trying to bloom within them.
A Reflection on: The Quiet Truth of Becoming
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Awakening is not a dramatic achievement but a gentle shedding.
Old patterns loosen - the need for approval, for explanation, for spiritual identity, for drama, for being right, for managing others, for control.
They fall away naturally as the deeper Self emerges.
You do not force transformation; you simply outgrow what no longer fits.
Awakening reveals a quieter, truer life beneath conditioning - more grounded, more spacious, more real.
It is the soul’s slow unfurling into freedom, discovered not in effort but in noticing, I’m not doing that anymore.
This is the quiet truth of becoming.
THE COMPOST HEAP
Letting Go Practices
Every garden has a compost heap, a place where what is finished can return to the soil. Here you’ll find practices for letting go: releasing what no longer serves, forgiving what weighs you down, and trusting the slow work of renewal. Even what decays becomes part of the story.
Sue
Don’t be afraid of the weeds, they’re just plants looking for another chance.
10-minute
20-minute
30-minute
THE PATH BEYOND THE GATE
Companions & Deepening
The Path Beyond the Gate leads to others who walk this contemplative way, voices and companions who have helped us listen more deeply. Follow the links below to discover their work, teachings, and offerings. .
Closing blessing
May your steps be guided by wonder, and your heart by Presence.
Companions on The Path
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Richard Rohr – Center for Action and Contemplation
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The Contemplative Teachers
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Kent Dobson – Wilderness and Mystery Teachings
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Wayne Jacobsen – The Journey of Love and Trust
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David Whyte – Poetry and Presence
