Meditating on spirit in a little ring (10)

I believe the answer is:

ruminating

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'meditating' is the definition.
('ruminate' can be a synonym of 'meditate')

'on spirit in a little ring' is the wordplay.
'on' says to put letters next to each other.
'spirit in a little' becomes 'rumina' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'ring' becomes 'ting' (I have seen 'Sharp ring ' mean 'ting' so perhaps 'ring' could also mean 'ting').
'rumina' put next to 'ting' is 'RUMINATING'.

Can you help me to learn more?

I've seen this clue in the Sydney Morning Herald.

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