Creating Sacred Space In Your Home

Note to visitors: my new book The Meditation Sutras is now available! If you like this post, check out my book, a guide on how to create - and more importantly, stick with - a regular practice. I am also available for online Introductory Meditation Sessions.

When you transform your entire home into a sacred space, you do not have to rely on leaving it to find peace of mind. Waiting for the day you can take a vacation or when you can visit that garden/temple/park to find relaxation and calmness doesn’t allow you the freedom to live each day in the present moment and to experience life in the here and now.

These types of escapes only serve for so long before you feel the responsibilities of everyday life setting in again. Feelings of overwhelm and imbalance begin to take over once more. The struggle over how to find harmony continues to create a challenge.

» Doesn’t it then make more sense that what we surround ourselves with on a daily basis affects our overall health and well-being?

» If home is where we create our lives, then shouldn’t the place where we meet our most basic needs (sleeping, eating, bathing), have the most profound affect on us?

We breathe in and take in the energy of this space every day, so intentionally creating an environment that helps us to feel confident and encourages us to spiritually grow seems like a natural way of living.

After all, everything that happens inside the home prepares us for how we will interact with the outside world.

What inspires you everyday?

1| Create calming & uplifting spaces in different parts of your home.

Whether it is a corner of a room or a space on the wall, whenever you are around it or walk by, it should serve to raise your spirits. It could be aesthetically pleasing, something meaningful, an homage to your travels, anything that helps you to stay positive. This isn’t about what other people would like to see or expressing your individuality, although it could also incorporate aspects of both. Rather, you should be guided by anything that helps to elevate your spirits and supports you to reconnect with yourself.

2| Post inspirational words & phrases around your home.

Words, phrases, excerpts from spiritual texts and inspirational books, help remind us of something bigger than ourselves. It becomes so easy to get stuck on our experiences and falsely view our individual lives as the center of all existence. When we readily make available words of higher thinking and philosophical expressions, it helps to uplift the mind. By writing out and posting these ideas on items we use daily (refrigerator, bathroom mirror) or in places we walk by everyday (hallway, garage), they help bring us back to a sense of balance.

3| Bring in elements from outside of your home.

There is a reason why we keep going back to the places we frequent. Next time you are at your favorite coffee shop, park, friend’s house, anyplace where you feel comfortable and at ease, notice what exactly about this place you appreciate. What about this particular spot keeps you coming back? Is there any inspiration you can take from this place to add to your own home so that you can create that same feeling?

4| Create an altar.

The same principles that go into creating an altar can be applied to making our home a sacred space. Having a designated area/areas inside the home where we pray, chant, meditate, read spiritual and uplifting books, helps inspire a spiritual practice. Every time we walk by this particular area, it immediately signals to us that we need to make time for our inner development.

Personally, I believe every home should have an altar because the best part of creating one is that it is your own, personal manifestation of what helps you to live in higher states of awareness, develop more compassion, and moves you into alignment with Truth/source/universal energy. You get to decide what that looks like for you!

The place where you lay your head down every night should be your sanctuary, a space in which to realize your highest potential. Once you design your haven, you are now ready to create your own meditation retreat at home! You can read exactly how to do it here, a previous post I wrote with a sample schedule for the flow of the day!

“How-To” posts for your meditation practice:

Shanti Path