our morning ritual

a morning practice community

OUR MORNING RITUAL is an online meditation space for practices & community that inspire the awakened heart.

Our collective intention is to follow the path of bodhichitta. To do this we do the inner work with simple contemplative practices, inspiring reading & a caring, gentle community.

We gather daily online to practice meditation, to remember our breath, to soften back into our true essence which is love.

“Our only job is to listen to our heart.”

— Sonja Lockyer

  • "I genuinely cannot imagine my life without the morning ritual. I cannot put into words the enormity of its wider impact on my life which transcends the morning practice."

    Morning Ritual member 2020-24

  • "Our Morning Ritual is my daily rock and I love joining in the mornings."

    Our Morning Ritual member 2022-24

  • "Our Morning Ritual offers me a reason to wake up, friendly faces to help me to feel company & accountability so that I show up for my practices "

    Member 2020-24

  • "Seeing familiar faces on the screen each morning fills me with joy- people who are gentle, non- judgemental and provide a sense of belonging and friendship with a beautiful community"

    Our Morning Ritual member 2020-24

  • "Our morning ritual gets me up and starting my day with commitment and purpose"

    Member 2021-24

  • "Since joining our morning ritual I feel more grounded and in tune"

    Our Morning Ritual member 2023-23

  • "I'm so grateful to start the day in a gentle, kind way for my own wellbeing which radiates to those around me. "

    Our Morning Ritual member 2020-24

  • "The book club gives me the chance to meet face to face people who I would otherwise not get to meet in person. I am blessed to count these wonderful women as very dear friends and love discussing books alongside a whole range of other unplanned topics."

    Ou MorningRitual member 2020-24

  • "I come back to the sensations of the morning ritual during my day when I find I need that sense of calm."

    Morning Ritual member 2022-24

  • "Our Morning Ritual was an anchor point in 2020 and very quickly became an essential part of my day"

    Morning Ritual member 2020-24

  • "This is a fundamental lifestyle shift, a daily self regulation that opens the door to self awareness.”

    Our Morning Ritual member 2020-2022

what our morning ritual offers

  • Morning Practice

    30 minutes of gently guided meditation, pranayama & yoga nidra Monday to Thursday 6.30am UK time in person via Zoom. Open to members & household.

  • Bodhicitta Bookclub

    Read a book each month that tends to your compassionate, awakened heart and inspires us to keep to doing the work. Read at home or meet in person once a month in Poole, Dorset.

  • Full & New Moon Sauna Ritual

    We host saunas every full & new moon in Poole, Dorset to acknowledge the sacred rhythms of nature that inform our practices. Open to club members & friends, our sauna session costs an additional £25 per person

PLUS a deeply resourcing member area that includes:

  • Yoga Nidra Rest

    Our library of yoga nidra recordings and videos for your home practice of deep rest & liminal attunement. Opens June 2024

  • The Breath Foundation

    A 6 week online journey led step by step with videos to share classical and simple yoga breath practices that soothe, calm and self regulate the systems of the body & patterns of the mind.

    These gentle breath practices are suited to you if you feel anxious, over stimulated & struggle to sleep. Opens September 2024

  • Gratitude Circles

    An invitation to join a small circle of 6 members for a gentle, self organising gratitude circle on Whats’ App.

  • "Gentleness in our practice opens a gateway to gentleness in our life."

    Sonja Lockyer

  • "In sitting practice, there is no way to get it wrong. Wherever you find yourself just be there and allow the moment to unfold. "

    Sonja Lockyer

  • "Whenever we loose heart we can lean on our community and read the written words of teachers who generously share theirs."

    Sonja Lockyer

  • "We find solidarity in one another each morning, we remember that we are not alone."

    Sonja Lockyer

  • "It's about remembering the gold is right here inside you, it was here all along."

    Sonja Lockyer

Grounded in the felt sense of love

Our Morning Ritual is a sanctuary to cultivate the qualities of loving kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy and equanimity.

These qualities - the Brahmaviharas - are the foundations that underpin our practice.

our weekly practice flow

  • Monday

    Mindfulness Meditation - present moment awareness of breath, sensation and ground.

  • Tuesday

    Mantra Meditation - 2o minutes for the silent repetition of a suggested mantra, with the option to use mala beads for 108 repetitions.

  • Wednesday

    Tonglen Meditation - the meditative process of giving and receiving with the breath.

  • Thursday

    Pranayama Breath - sooting breah practices for self regulation, as taught in The Breath Foundation.

  • The New Moon

    Yoga Nidra - wake up on the New Moon to the ancient & sacred liminal practice of yoga nidra.

FOR THE EMPATHS, the carers, the open hearted ones who wish to meet this being human with gentle, spacious tenderness.

For the ones who acknowledge that how we start our day impacts our relationship with all things.

For the ones who are ready to practice and embody loving kindness.

WE INVOKE A FIELD of loving kindness as we invite our awakened hearts to guide us.

We gather online to practice, to remember, to soften.

We offer the fruits of our practice to ourselves and all beings, day by day.

Meet your teacher

Sonja is of Swedish & English descent, inspired by a felt sense of the liminal and committed to the embodied opening of mind & heart to our true essence which is love.

A dharma student of Lama Tsultrim Allione and a senior student of Core Process Psychotherapy within the Karuna Institute, Sonja’s personal meditative practice is inspired by the teachings of Pema Chodrum, Tara Brach & Ellen Emmett.

Join Sonja each morning for her gently guided meditation.

Membership options

Monthly Practice Plan
£35.00
Every month

approx £8 a week

Seasonal Practice Plan
£90.00
Every 3 months

approx £7 a week

Annual Practice Plan
£300.00
Every year

less than £6 a week

Cancel anytime and no further payment will be made. No refund will be given for your agreed commitment.

If you are called to join but do not have the means, email sonja@sonjalockyer and we will find a solution together. We are committed to keeping the practices accessible to all.

And we rest, too.

DAYS OF REST include:

  • 1 rest week every 3 months

  • UK bank holidays

Our schedule is not fixed in stone. On occasion, if Sonja is unwell or unable to attend classes will be cancelled or covered by an excellent alternative senior teacher.

Community

The Morning Practice has created an incredible community who connect online and also in person.

The Bodhicitta Bookclub is and invitation for you to read enlightening material at home & the in person gatherings are based in Poole, Dorset. Book choices share a common intention to awaken our open, spacious mind. In person sessions are co-ordinated via a Whats App group.

The Sauna Ritual is open to members & friends every New & Full Moon, it costs an additional £25 per person and takes place at Saltwater Sauna, Sandbanks beach, Poole, Dorset.

We are dedicated to accessibility, inclusion, diversity and kindness. If you feel the call to join but paying for a subscription makes it impossible, please get in touch. Together we can find a solution. All are welcome.

a journey home to yourself