Wellness Wednesday: Sacred Space

Here is our beautiful group altar from the Women's Dance Retreat Gillian and I facilitated over Equinox weekend. Each participant brought an offering that spoke to our theme of renewal, and we opened the retreat by placing the offerings on the altar. Over the course of the weekend, participants spent time at the altar, brought new objects to place on it, took pictures of it, talked about it... by the time this picture was taken, towards the end of the weekend, the altar was overflowing and fairly humming with energy. To close the retreat we each took home an offering from the altar - but not the one we brought. The offerings were distributed randomly, and there was some serious magic in the gifts each participant received!! I love this ritual, and am so happy that we have been making it a part of our recent retreats. I find it so beautiful that women coming from truly diverse spiritual backgrounds (this group had devout christians, buddhists mahayana and zen, neo-pagans, as well as women who didn't identify as "religious") can come together with apparent ease and create shared sacred space. Many people seem to have a natural sense of how to do this, and why, yet in our culture it is not the necessarily the norm to create household altars, temporary altars for events, etc... the word itself evokes something grand or exotic or ancient or somber, not something homey and familiar! I am all for reclaiming the word and the practice of altar making for our daily lives! Your practice can be as simple as lighting a candle to begin your work for the day (or your yoga practice, or your dinner-making,) as a reminder to yourself that your actions have meaning and worth. Here are some more ideas for creating sacred space within you or around you to enhance your daily life:

• Place fresh flowers in your entryway weekly as a symbol of life and beauty to all who enter your home (including you!)
• Take some extra care and time with your daily bathing routine, and honour yourself with special oils or perfumes or a candle lit shower or bath.
• Take a moment before you cook a meal to think about the people you are cooking for and what kind of energy you want to impart to the food - I like to light incense when I do this, and let the fragrance mingle with the cooking smells.
  
• Create a personal altar - this can be as simple as a candle and a picture on your bedside table! Start your day by lighting the candle on your altar and setting an intention for the day. Remember to put out the candle when you leave the house, but keep carrying the flame in your heart!
  

How do you create sacred space in your daily life? Do you have a personal altar? I'd love to see it. If you'd like, post a picture of your altar on your blog, and leave a link in the comments - or send it along to me, and I'll post it here.

creating sanctuary

Well, no, this is not my bathtub. Although I do have a nice clawfoot with a view of the meadow & a chandelier hanging over it. I found this gorgeous photo while I was researching Moorish fountains for a custom job. It would be pretty easy to create a sense of sanctuary in this bathroom, no? Most of us have functional bathrooms that we share with partners, maybe with children and pets. I no longer have to clear out dozens of plastic bath toys before I take a bath, but, trust me, a 16 year old girl can leave her mark in the bathroom too. And every so often the cat drinks out of the toilet. I know you know what I mean. We need to find ways to create real sanctuary in the midst of our real lives. This is especially important when we are going through real life stuff, like financial stress, loss and change of all kinds, burn-out from caring for others, overwork, overwhelm, health challenges, personal conflicts, and all the other things that come along to make the lives we love a little less lovable for a time. Here are some ideas for creating small islands of peace in the midst of daily life. Some of them are really simple - I often think about doing these things, and then resist actually doing them - minor self sabotage - but when I persuade myself to give them a try, the rewards are bigger than I would have thought. So next time you ar having a little stressy patch in the life you love, try doing just one of the things below, or one each day. Also, I'd love to hear how you would add to this list, so leave a comment with your own special way of creating sanctuary. By the way, I've gleaned some of these ideas from a few of my favorite inspirational women on line, like Kimberly Wilson, Jennifer Louden, and SARK. All these ladies are worth a visit.

• Take a bath. even if your bathroom does not resemble the one above, you can light candles, use wonderful scented oils and soaps that you save for special occasions, use a bath cushion, bring a magazine and a glass of wine with you, and lock the door.
• Use aromatherapy. just carry a little vial of essential oil with you, and close your eyes and inhale when needed. You can choose a scent by its traditional associations, or better yet, let your unconscious mind choose - try out many scents at the store and bring home the one that gives you an immediate, positive feeling.
• Make special playlists and use them. Make a "soothing" list, an "uplifting" list, etc... but choose the music for yourself only. It doesn't have to make sense to anyone else, and you don't have to play it at your next dinner party. (My "soothing" list runs the gamut from Miles Davis to Tibetan chanting, and my "uplifting" has both Spearhead and Vivaldi.)
• Bring order and beauty to one little corner of your world, some place essential to your daily life, like your underwear drawer, your computer desktop, your medicine cabinet, your purse, your dashboard, etc. I had a friend who made a work of art out of her medicine cabinet. It had all the essentials, clean and orderly, but also little statuettes, postcards of beautiful artwork, love notes, a silk flower - an ever-changing tableau. It was a treat to open. You can do this anywhere.
• Use candles and flowers. Get one bouquet a week - it can just be a simple grocery store bunch of whatever is in season. I keep a bouquet on my entryway table, and a single bloom on my bedside table, in the bathroom, and in my workspace. Every week I get one really wonderful candle, and it follows me around for the week, bringing light and fragrance to the spaces where I work, cook, read in bed, etc.
• Do something physical for 15 minutes. Walk outside. Do one or two restorative yoga poses. Dance freely to a couple of songs on your playlist. 15 minutes can make a huge difference.