STILLNESS
Not emptiness. Just enough quiet to hear what you already know.
Practice with Stella
About me
I teach women who are tired of being the strong one. Together we build a practice that fits a real life โ not a perfect one โ and a room of women who keep you coming back to it.
Who I am
Hi, I'm Stella.
Most women who find me aren't looking for enlightenment. They're looking for ten minutes that don't get swallowed by the day, and a way to keep them when the week goes wrong.
I teach a six-week group course, private mentoring, an online circle, and one retreat a year in Bali. My approach is unhurried and deeply practical โ no streaks, no perfect mornings, no becoming someone else. Just a practice steady enough to hold you on the days that aren't going well.
" You're not bad at meditating - you've just never been shown how, by someone still learning too."
My story
The long way back to myself
TWENTY-ONE AND ALREADY TIRED
I started meditating at twenty-one, not because I was wise but because I was running on empty and far too proud to say so. I read the books. I bought the cushion. I quit roughly every January for the next ten years, and each time I decided the problem was me.
THE ISLAND
I went to Bali for three weeks and stayed six years. What changed things wasn't a technique โ it was a woman who taught me by sitting beside me and asking nothing at all. She never once checked whether I'd practised. Somehow that was the year it stopped being a test I was failing.
WHY I TEACH
I teach because I remember sitting down for the first time with no idea what I was doing, certain that everyone else had found it easy. Nobody told me the fumbling partย isย the practice. So now I say it first, to everyone.
The path
Twenty years, briefly
2006
First taught. Three women in a borrowed living room.
2016
Moved to Bali. Meant to stay three weeks.
2021
First retreat. Twelve women, one villa, no plan.
2026
The Stillness Book, and 3,000 women later.
2006
First taught. Three women in a borrowed living room.
2016
Moved to Bali. Meant to stay three weeks.
2021
First retreat. Twelve women, one villa, no plan.
2026
The Stillness Book, and 3,000 women later.
All The Tools You Need To Build A Successful Online Business
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, metus at rhoncus dapibus, habitasse vitae cubilia odio sed. Mauris pellentesque eget lorem malesuada wisi nec, nullam mus. Mauris vel mauris. Orci fusce ipsum faucibus scelerisque.
20
YEARS OF PRACTICE
3,000+
WOMEN GUIDED
30+
RETREATS HELD
500
IN THE CIRCLE
Why the practice works
PRACTICE, NOT THEORY
You'll meditate from day one, guided, not lectured. For women who've bought courses before and never finished them.
A ROOM TO RETURN TO
The same circle, the same hour, every week. For anyone who's tried alone and quietly drifted away.
AT YOUR OWN PACE
Five minutes on a hard Tuesday counts as much as fifty on a Sunday. For women whose calendar is already full.
What I offer
Two ways to practise - wherever you're starting from
SELF-PACED COURSE ยท 6 WEEKS
Find Your Stillness
Six weeks of practice, laid out week by week, yours to move through whenever life allows.
- Six weeks of video lessons, filmed by me, watch anytime
- A library of 20+ guided meditations to keep for good
- Gentle yoga sequences to prepare the body before you sit
- A weekly workbook: what to practise, what to notice
- One guided half-day of silence, in your own home
- Lifetime access โ come back to it whenever you drift
Graduates get 20% off 1:1 mentoring.
LEARN MORE
ONE-ON-ONE ยท 8 SESSIONS
Mentoring
When a group isn't enough. A practice built around your life, your body, your week.
- Eight private hours, just the two of us
- A practice plan written for your schedule and your nervous system
- Meditations I record in my own voice, for your situation
- Voice-note support between sessions, so you're never stuck alone
- Your own practice map to keep when we finish
After mentoring: my book, free, and six months in The Circle.
LEARN MORE
Free video meditation
HOW TO BEGIN YOUR MEDITATION PRACTICE, WITH ME
A free 15-minute video where I walk you through my method, show you what really happens inside the course and share the changes women notice in their first weeks. At the end, we do your first meditation together, so you finish the video already feeling calmer.
SEND ME THE VIDEO
Community
The Circle
The Circle is the room I wished I'd had when I started - women practising alongside you, every week, whether or not you've done this course. It's the part of TIRTA that keeps people here after the six weeks end.
- Live sessions every week
- Monthly challenges to keep you going
- Forums and a private space to ask
- Support from women on the same path
- A growing library of video guides
The retreat
Ten Mornings in Bali
Once a year I bring a small group of women to Bali - the place that taught me to sit still. Ten days of sunrise practice, warm water, long silences and the kind of rest that reaches further than any holiday. No itinerary to manage, nowhere to be but here.
About me
Hi, I'm Stella.
I started meditating twenty years ago because I was running on empty and too proud to admit it. I found my way to Bali - and stayed for six years, long enough for the practice to stop being something I did and start being something I am. I teach because I remember exactly how it feels to sit down for the first time and have absolutely no idea what I'm doing. I still have days like that. And that's the whole point.
- 20 yrs practising
- 3,000+ students
- 6 yrs in Bali
The Stillness Book
by Stella Vance
Everything I teach in the course, written for the nights you can't get to your mat. Twenty years of practice, folded into short chapters you can read in the time it takes tea to cool.
It's not a manual and it's not a memoir โ it's somewhere in between. The false starts, the years I quit, the small practice that finally held. Written for women who've tried before and quietly blamed themselves when it didn't stick.
No app, no login โ just a book you can dog-ear, underline, and hand to someone else who needs it.
It's not a manual and it's not a memoir โ it's somewhere in between. The false starts, the years I quit, the small practice that finally held. Written for women who've tried before and quietly blamed themselves when it didn't stick.
No app, no login โ just a book you can dog-ear, underline, and hand to someone else who needs it.
you don't need to empty your mind. You need to stop fighting it.
โ from Chapter One
BUY THE BOOKStories
Women who found their way back
Questions
Before you begin
DO I NEED ANY EXPERIENCE?
WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE COURSE AND MENTORING?
HOW MUCH TIME DOES THIS TAKE EACH DAY?
CAN I CANCEL MY CIRCLE MEMBERSHIP ANYTIME?
IS THE RETREAT INCLUDED IN ANY PACKAGE?
WHAT IF I'VE TRIED AND FAILED BEFORE?
A quiet note, once a week.
Get early access, truth drops, and first invites.
Short letters on practice and paying attention โ the kind you read with your coffee before the day starts.
Where you actually are
SESSIONS 1โ2 We start with your week as it is, not as it should be. I watch you practise and I ask a lot of unglamorous questions.
Building it
SESSIONS 3โ6 A plan written for your schedule and your nervous system, adjusted every fortnight based on what actually happened.
Making it yours
SESSIONS 7โ8 We take me out of it. You leave with a practice map you can run alone, and know how to repair when it slips.
Six weeks, start to finish
The shape of the six weeks
Each week builds on the last. You never start over โ you add one layer at a time, until the practice holds on its own.
WEEK 01
Sitting down
Posture, breath, and the shape of the first ten minutes โ so the basics stop being something you have to think about.
you'll practise: a 10-min guided sit + one short yoga warm-up
WEEK 02
The wandering mind
What to do when attention leaves, which it always will. Wandering isn't failure โ noticing it is the practice itself.
you'll practise: a 10-min focus meditation + the week's workbook page
WEEK 03
The body first
Gentle yoga sequences that release the back and hips, so sitting still stops being a fight with your own body.
you'll practise: two 15-min yin sequences + a 10-min sit
WEEK 04
Hard days
Practising badly on purpose โ a rushed, distracted, five-minute sit โ so you learn that a bad practice still counts, and you stop quitting over it.
you'll practise: the "five-minute floor" + a self-compassion meditation
WEEK 05
Half a day of silence
A guided half-day of quiet from your own home, at your own pace. The week everything you've built gets room to settle.
you'll practise: a guided 4-hour silent block, broken into stages
WEEK 06
Keeping it
We take me out of it. You leave with your own plan and know how to repair the practice when โ not if โ it slips.
you'll practise: building your personal daily practice map
More than sitting quietly
What's inside, and what it gives you
Room to hear yourself think.
Ten-minute sits that teach attention to settle. Over six weeks the noise quiets enough that you can tell what you actually feel.
A body that lets you sit still.
Slow yin sequences open the back, hips and shoulders โ so stillness feels like rest, not endurance, and energy returns without forcing it.
A switch you can reach for anywhere.
Simple breathing practices that steady the nervous system in minutes โ usable in a meeting, a queue, or a hard conversation, not just on the mat.
Proof it's working, in your own words.
A single page each week that turns a vague "I feel calmer" into something you can see, repeat, and come back to when a week goes wrong.
Room to hear yourself think.
Ten-minute sits that teach attention to settle. Over six weeks the noise quiets enough that you can tell what you actually feel.
A body that lets you sit still.
Slow yin sequences open the back, hips and shoulders โ so stillness feels like rest, not endurance, and energy returns without forcing it.
A switch you can reach for anywhere.
Simple breathing practices that steady the nervous system in minutes โ usable in a meeting, a queue, or a hard conversation, not just on the mat.
Proof it's working, in your own words.
A single page each week that turns a vague "I feel calmer" into something you can see, repeat, and come back to when a week goes wrong.
