Blips
Creating Sacred Space, Inside and Out
Where do you find sacred space in your life? Perhaps you have your own private room, or a corner of your apartment that you’ve filled with special objects or pictures. My home-office is adorned with the things that mean the most to me… family photos, Goddess statues, a little altar with symbols of the four elements. When I enter it each morning, I light a candle, put on some quiet music, turn on my water fountain and decide which oil to burn in my aromatherapy lamp. It’s my own little temple and it sustains me year-round, whether as a cozy place to snuggle up in the winter, or as a sun-filled haven on summer afternoons.
But most of my very favorite sacred spots are outside in nature, no matter what the season. In fact, being outside in the winter when everyone else is hibernating indoors holds its own magical kind of spaciousness. For instance, I’m one of the few gardeners who has a key to our wonderful little community garden over the winter months. People think I’m crazy that I love to sit in my plot, surrounded by dead foliage and bare trees! For me, it’s a different kind of beauty than the lush, colorful fullness of the summer garden, and it reminds me, especially as a woman, of my cyclical connection to the rhythms of Mother Nature. She surprises me, too, sometimes… I found a single white flower blooming through the snow in February last year (after some detective work I found out it’s a Hellebore, or Christmas Rose) which I never would have seen if I let the cold keep me inside.
I’m also a big tree lover. There’s the cypress tree in Central Park that was the first place I went after I got the call that my father had died, 15 years ago in March. Only later did I discover that cypress is actually an ancient symbol of comfort and solace. Another favorite is “my” willow tree in Central Park, next to a body of water called The Pool – I call it my grandmother tree because I feel so wrapped-up and nurtured when I lean against her trunk, surrounded by her weeping branches. In the 14 years that I roller-bladed around the park, I visited her almost every day to meditate and journal, savoring the sense of expansiveness and connection to nature I experienced there. I don’t get there now as much as I’d like to, but have found other trees that still offer that wonderful combination of outdoor spaciousness, while still feeling deeply held.
I invite you to look around and notice where you might already have created sacred space around you, however you define it, whether it’s indoors or outside. Allow yourself to be immersed there as often as you can… and discover what new possibilities and awarenesses open up within and around you!
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RITE-MINDED MOMENTS
It’s really pretty easy to create sacred space anytime, anyplace... it just takes a little intention and creativity. Here are a few suggestions…
>>>>> How excited are you to walk into your office each morning? Does it feel like a sanctuary? If not, think of a few ways to en-soul it… maybe adding a water fountain or aromatherapy lamp, creating a mini-altar of meaningful objects, or hanging a special picture.
>>>>> If you're feeling completely frazzled in the middle of your day and your attention is scattered in all directions, take some time to re-gather your energy with some intentional breathing. On the inhale, breathe in those qualities you need most (joy, calm, focus, etc) and exhale what you want to release (impatience, anger, negative thinking, etc). Just 2 or 3 minutes will calm your soul.
>>>>> Believe it or not, it’s even possible to bring a sense of inner spaciousness to your commute. Listen to sacred music on your headphones or car radio instead of the news. Even standing on a bus or subway you can practice a powerful little grounding meditation: breathe into your solar plexus on the inhale and as you exhale, imagine energy flowing down through your legs and deep into the Earth where you can "wrap" it around a hook. Then on the next inhale, draw it back into your solar plexis and anchor it there. Try it 2 or 3 times and by the time you get to work, you’ll be grounded and energized and ready for action.
I’d love to hear your ideas for creating sacred space in your life, too! Just email me at Deborah@SpiritedLiving.com with “sacred space” in the subject line.
Rite-Minded Women is brought to you by Deborah Roth