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Pausing bell

A bell struck at intervals to mark time without interrupting the practice.

Published
6 Sep 2026
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A pausing bell is a timekeeper that does not require you to look at anything. Its attack, decay and the gap that follows are themselves an object of attention, which is why a bell is preferred to a chime or a spoken cue.

The interval should be long enough that the bell arrives as a surprise. Under two minutes it becomes a metronome; four to five minutes is the usual range for a session of twenty minutes or more.

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↔See also

  • Anchor — The one thing attention is asked to return to when it wanders.
  • Open awareness — Attention without a chosen object, resting on whatever arrives.
  • Dullness — The foggy, sinking state that is not sleep but is not attention either.