“Most people connect meditation to Eastern cultures, but meditation was commonly practised by ancient Greeks,” says the gently spoken Poliana on this brisk but sunny Athenian morning, as we stroll the majestic paved promenade of Dionysiou Areopagitou, at the bottom of the Acropolis. “It lay at the core of that highest Greek quest: to ‘know thyself’.”

We’ve only just met but I can already feel Poliana’s calm and grounded energy influencing my own mood (with her long silver leaf earrings, flowing frock and spill of curls, she conjures a classic Athenian). We pass ancient monuments like Odeon of Herodes Atticus, street performers and gorgeous art deco buildings, while Poliana tells me about her years studying the ancient healing philosophies of indigenous tribes in exotic locales like Mexico. Our mission this morning, she says, will be to tap back into the roots of the earliest wisdom of the Greeks and forge a deeper connection with Athens (and ourselves) while we’re at it.

“Listen to the sounds of the city around us,” she instructs now. “Breathe in the air, feel the texture of the streets beneath your shoes. Slow down the rhythm of your daily life. Meditation is about being able to perceive what’s going on around you.”

Shortly afterwards, I’m sitting cross-legged on a mat opposite Poliana, eyes closed, obeying her soothing voice as she guides me through a half hour meditation exercise. The air around us is spiked by the wild camomile that thrives on Philopappou and the scent of Poliana’s Greek spiritual incense (a blend of tree resin and local herbs that dates back some 3,000 years). I tune into the birdsong around me; the children in a nearby school yard; the bong of church bells; the skitter of bouzouki from a taverna down in Plaka.

Then, rising up through this typically Athenian playlist, the primordial beat from Poliana’s large drum and the eerie whale-like keening she skilfully coaxes from its delicate skin. It’s a deeply relaxing encounter. I feel like I’ve fallen outside of time and relish this rare window to push pause on the usual white noise of my inner monologue and daily routine. My mind feels freer; my spirit unburdened. I’m in good company, it seems.

“Plato in his symposiums writes about Socrates sitting still in the same position for many hours, meditating and contemplating life, before making his prayers to the sun,” shares Poliana later. “From this we have a very clear image that the ancient philosophers were meditating here in Athens and recognising the elements of nature as sacred.”