What does it mean to perceive like a tarsier, to be a flamingo in migration, or a salmon returning upstream? 
Meditation as a deeper entrance into the world —through paws, wings, and gills.

Meditating with the Snail is a deeply original meditation guide that bridges biology, philosophy, and contemplative practice through encounters with the animal world. Written as a series of letters to his daughter, biologist Roberto Ferrari takes us on a journey where whales, slugs, badgers, flamingos, and even ancient hydras are not symbols—but living presences and teachers of consciousness, impermanence, and non-duality. With clarity, tenderness, and wonder, Ferrari offers eight meditative exercises that open our senses to a shared aliveness that flows between all species. Each chapter centers around a different animal—or form of life—as a doorway into meditative experience. From the mysterious collective behavior of the slime mold Dictyostelium to the vast compassion of whales, from the time-suspended world of turtles to the gentle breath of maple trees, Ferrari proposes not to observe animals from a distance, but to inhabit their consciousness, as they arebearers of non-verbal wisdom, embodiments of presence.