STILLNESS
Not emptiness. Just enough quiet to hear what you already know.
Stillness, written down
The books
Twenty years of practice on the page β the same ten quiet minutes I teach, in a form you can keep by the bed. "You don't have to earn rest. You just have to stop performing calm."
BUY ON AMAZON
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 β 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 β 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 β 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 β 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.
β from Chapter One
BUY THE BOOKInside
What makes it different
It isnβt a book about meditation. Itβs a book you practise with β slowly, over a year, in the gaps your life already has.
01
Β
Fifty-two chapters, one per week
Each short enough to read with your morning coffee, each ending in a ten-minute practice.
02
Β
The audio is included
A code inside unlocks all 52 practices in my voice, in your Tirta library β even without a membership.
03
Β
Written for interrupted lives
Chapters on the hard days, the lost weeks and the child at the door β not just the good mornings.
04
Β
Journal margins that work
One honest question per week, answerable in three lines. The margins are wide on purpose.
05
Β
A companion, not a course
It pairs with One Quiet Year, the journal β but stands entirely on its own.
The place
Ten mornings in Ubud
A small villa above the rice terraces, twenty minutes from Ubud, where I first learned to stop trying so hard. Ten days, twelve women at most, two sits a day, and a lot of time in which nothing is asked of you. The retreat is not a course. It is the practice, with the rest of life removed.
- 4β14 October 2026 Β· ten nights, twelve places
- Private or shared rooms, all with a view of the terraces
- Two guided sits a day, gentle yoga every morning
- Three days held in full silence, with care
- Vegetarian meals cooked on site, airport transfers included
Reading circles
Read it the way it was written β together
Each chapter ends with a practice and one question, which makes the book easy to read in a small circle β a friend, a sister, three colleagues at lunch. The first ten circles each season get a free facilitation guide and a live Q&A with me.
Reading alone?
Join a circle
Tell me your timezone and pace, and Iβll connect you with two or three women starting the book the same week.
FIND MY CIRCLEAlready have people?
Register your circle
Get the free facilitation guide β week-by-week prompts, timings for the practices, and how to hold the quiet parts.
GET THE GUIDEWho it's for
You don't need to be advanced. You need to be ready to be quiet.
First retreat
You've practised for a while, mostly alone β ten minutes here, a quiet morning there β and you keep wondering what would happen if the practice had a whole day to itself. This is that day, ten times over: no cooking, no planning, no one needing you. Just the sits, the terraces, and more silence than you've ever been given at home.
Circle & mentoring women
We've sat together on a screen for months β the weekly Circle sits, the mentoring calls, the questions posted to the forum at odd hours. This is the week we finally sit in the same room: same practice, same faces, real air. Most women say it feels less like meeting strangers and more like arriving somewhere they've already been.
In need of a full stop
Something has ended, or is about to β a job, a marriage, a decade of looking after everyone else. Before the next thing begins, you need ten days that belong to no one else: no explaining, no deciding, no performing being fine. The retreat won't solve what's changing at home, but it gives you somewhere steady to stand while it does.
What I offer
RETREAT Β· 10 NIGHTS Β· 12 PLACES Β· BALI
The Investment
One price covers the whole stay. Flights are the only thing you book yourself. A deposit holds your place; the balance is due eight weeks before we begin.
- Ten nights in a shared room with a terrace view
- All meals, teas and airport transfers
- Two guided sits and one yoga session every day
- One private session with me during the stay
- A recorded home practice to take back with you
- Three months in The Circle after you return
β¬2,400
Private room +β¬600. Circle members and mentoring graduates: β¬200 off.
RESERVE A PLACE
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.
A day at the retreat
The same shape, every day, so you can stop deciding
The days are simple on purpose. When nothing needs planning, the mind has nowhere to go but here.
First sit
6:00
We sit together as the light comes up over the terraces β forty minutes, guided at first, then quieter as the week goes on.
you'll bring: nothing. Cushions, blankets and tea are waiting.
Gentle yoga
7:00
An hour of slow, unheroic yoga to open the hips and back β so the rest of the day's sitting is comfortable instead of brave.
you'll practise: yin and gentle flow, all levels
Breakfast, slowly
8:30
Fruit, rice, eggs, coffee, the good kind of quiet. In the silent days, the meals are the practice too.
you'll notice: how long a meal takes when no one is looking at a phone
Time that is yours
9:30 β 16:00
Read, swim, sleep, write, walk into Ubud, do nothing at all. Every second day there is an optional hour with me for whatever has come up.
you'll practise: whatever you like β or nothing
Afternoon sit & walk
16:30
A second guided sit, then a slow walk through the rice terraces. Some days we talk on the walk. Some days we don't.
you'll practise: a 30-minute sit, then a walking meditation
Evening circle
19:30
A short sit, then we talk β or, on silent days, we don't. Lights out when you're ready. Tomorrow has the same shape.
you'll practise: a 20-minute sit, then rest
Stories
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?
Where you actually are
SESSIONS 1β2 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 3β6 A plan written for your schedule and your nervous system, adjusted every fortnight based on what actually happened.
Making it yours
SESSIONS 7β8 We take me out of it. You leave with a practice map you can run alone, and know how to repair when it slips.
Who it's for
Three women I usually meet. Mentoring starts with which one you are.
Stuck after the course
You finished Find Your Stillness, loved it, and your practice quietly stopped in month two. You want it back without starting over.
Going through something
A move, a loss, a diagnosis. You need a practice that bends around a life that won't hold still, and someone to help shape it.
Teaching others
You guide yoga, breathwork or clients of your own, and you want your own seat to be honest before you ask it of anyone else.
Between the session
Most of the work happens on ordinary morning, not on the call. So I donβt disappear between them.
Voice notes
Write to me when something comes up. I answer within a day.
Recordings for you
Meditations in my own voice, made for your situation.
A living plan
Your practice changes as your weeks do. So does the plan.
Say Hello
Let's talk before you begin
Not sure where to start? Tell me where you are - I read these myself.
If you've started before
01
YOU'VE TRIED THE APPS
The books, the apps, the cushion that's now a plant stand. Each one worked for about three weeks. The problem was never you β it was that you were doing it alone.
02
Ten minutes isn't the hard part
Ten minutes feels simple until the week goes wrong, and then it's the first thing to disappear. What keeps a practice alive isn't willpower, it's having somewhere to come back to.
03
You don't need more theory
You already know meditation is good for you. You don't need another explainer. You need company while the habit sets, and a hand on the weeks it doesn't.
What you'll leave with
WHAT STAYS WHEN THE COURSE ENDS
A PRACTICE THAT STAYS
Not a streak to break. Something you return to.
TEN HONEST MINUTES
Short enough that the excuse runs out of room.
A BODY THAT SETTLES
You'll feel the calm arrive before you name it.
WORDS FOR THE NOISE
Language to tell restlessness apart from real resistance.
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 β 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 β 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 β 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 β 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.
" 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 β 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 partΒ isΒ 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.
How I teach
Principles that shape my practice
Practice Before Theory
You'll meditate on day one, not read about it. Understanding arrives afterwards.
No Perfect Mornings
Five minutes on a hard day is worth more than an hour on an easy one. Both count.
Ceremony, Kept Simply
Small rituals, honestly held, are what make a practice stay. Nothing elaborate.
Nobody Sits Alone
Community is not a bonus feature. It's the reason most people keep going at all.
Guest, Not Owner
Balinese practices are led by Balinese teachers. I was invited, and I stay a guest.
Honest About the Hard Days
I still have them, twenty years in. Pretending otherwise would help nobody.
Say Hello
Let's talk before you begin
Not sure where to start? Tell me where you are - I read these myself.
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 Β· 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 β come back to it whenever you drift
Graduates get 20% off 1:1 mentoring.
LEARN MORE
ONE-ON-ONE Β· 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
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
A quiet note, once a week.
Get early access, truth drops, and first invites.
Short letters on practice and paying attention β the kind you read with your coffee before the day starts.
