Sand Garden
Draw slow lines in the sand with your finger or mouse. Place a stone or two. Smooth it over and begin again. There’s no goal, and no way to get it wrong.
A rectangle of pale raked sand in a dark wooden frame. Drawing on it rakes grooves in the sand. The tools below also rake patterns across the whole garden and place stones.
Draw on the sand to rake it. Drag a stone to move it, or drag it off the edge to take it away.
Rake the whole garden
Stones
How it helps
A slow, repeated movement that leaves a visible trace is quietly absorbing. The lines ask for your attention, and give you something to show for it.
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Move slowly
Rake at the speed of a slow breath. Notice the lines follow exactly where you go.
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Place a stone
Somewhere that feels right. The sand ripples round it, like water round a rock.
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Let it go
When you’re done, smooth it all away. Nothing here is kept, which is rather the point.
Dry gardens, or karesansui, have been made in Japanese Zen temples for over five hundred years. Monks rake the gravel into lines and ripples around stones as a daily, meditative practice. The patterns are meant to be made again and again, never finished for good.
Nothing you rake here is saved when you leave. If you’d like to keep one, use “Save a picture”.