Taking a meditation break with the dial

Go to: Project homepage Revised 7/2/2007

The dial can be used by downtown office workers for brief mediation breaks in aid of clearing the mind of stress accumulated during the workday and improving mental health. Some favorable times are when the Sun sweeps across the east pier (Posts 6 and 7) in the afternoon and west pier (Posts 1 and 2) in the morning.

Use the base or post of the central gnomon as a mediation focal point. The sweep of the light gnomon provides a method to reconnect to a natural pace of time.

Other favorable meditation times include:

• During the summer months, the noon shadow sweeps the posts on the inner ring in about 20 minute intervals.
• At the noon mark, stand near the south base of the south analemmatic dial or at the north end of the south analemmatic dial. The framing of the central post by the noon mark provides a restorative focus point.

Use the Handy Table No. 5 to determine the standard (watch) times on a particular day when the noon mark (Post 4) will occur or when the light gnomon will sweep across the morning west pier (Posts 1 and 2) or the afternoon east pier (Posts 6 and 7).

The photograph in the upper right-hand corner of this page is provided Eric Pouhier (June 2005) under a Creative Commons Attribution Sharelike distribution license. Prepared by and report errors or broken links to: K. Fisher 6/2006 fisherka@csolutions.net.