Creating Sacred Spaces in Your Home
It is important to have a space to do the things we do in comfort; without the pressure of other people or distracting activities and noises that take us away from what we are wanting to do. It is even important to have spaces in which we do specific activities throughout the home.
Dedicating certain spaces to certain activity does a few things for us. The first is, when you walk past the space and see it, you can be inspired to enter the space and do what that dedicated space is meant for. It can be a reading room, an exercise room, a hobby room… No setting up required. Just enter and do!
There are many homes with multiple rooms that are not being used, because everything happens in one place. The living room and kitchen tend to be the popular spaces.
The living room tends to be a busy place with a lot of coming and going. In many homes it is dominated by the television or some form of entertainment centre. The focus and usual activity in that room does not serve the purpose of calming the mind and meditating, for instance. The living room is a place for socializing, catching up and connecting. If the TV is on, then that is that! When the television is on, it permeates the room with distracting frequencies and it is very difficult to ignore.
The atmosphere in the room is important. In terms of relaxation or concentration on a project, a room free of electronics and free from main house traffic will serve the purpose better. The best scenario is to have an extra room or bedroom that gets dedicated to de-stressification or to focus, whatever the need. A room with space to do stretching exercises, breathing sessions, yoga, meditation and other activities will inspire that activity. A calm and quiet room can become a reading room or a place or learning. A room with books and pleasant smells is good.
Another great thing to do once you have set up a dedicated space is to make sure it has good clean air. Depending on where you live, this can require an air filtration system. Hepa filtration and ionization is beneficial. The room needs to be clean on every level. Clean air, free of too many electronic frequencies is nice and free of traffic or potential for disturbances and so on.
The next element to look at, is body position; where and how to sit? The body should be in an upright, self-supporting position for doing most activities like reading, thinking, planning, doing a breathing session or meditating. There are some breathing techniques that can be done laying down, there are a few standing positions, but many are better done in the sitting position. Again living rooms have couches, and many of these seating arrangements put the body in a slouched position.
A good body position for breathing exercises and meditation maintains a straight spine. Slouching is not a good thing and most couches and easy chairs put the spine in a bent or crouched position. When we sit in this kind of position we compress the bottom of the lungs, and we cannot fill up with air properly. In an extreme slouch position we cut off air completely to the lower and middle lobs of our lungs. This only permits shallow breathing into the top chest area. This restricts the flow of oxygen into our core.
There are two ways to sit comfortably. One is in a chair with a straight spine with feet on the ground. When using a chair, your legs should not hang in the air at all; the feet should rest flat on the floor. A good chair that lets you sit nice and straight with feet on the floor is excellent.
The other position is sitting cross legged. If your body can do the half lotus, this is a balanced cross legged position. Simply crossing your legs is good. At first you might need back or lumbar support. Some people use a wall for this. Some bigger chairs can lend themselves to sitting cross legged and maintaining a straight back. We have a ‘tub chair’ which is perfect. It is a great morning meditation spot. In time the practice of sitting for long periods of time will strengthen your spine to the point where it can be more self-supporting. Crossing your legs and having some back support is a great position.
Having a dedicated space eliminates set-up time. You don’t want to have to re-arrange any furniture to do your exercises. A dedicated space is very important so that you can slip right into the activity. We put that kind of attention into our entertainment room, the kitchen, the bathroom and bedroom, and so it should be for the re-balancing room, the relaxation room, the re-centering room, the thinking room, the exercise room or the Breathing Room!
You should be able to sit down and launch into whatever the activity without any preparation time. Starting a meditation should be as easy as sitting down, raising and lowering the shoulders a couple of times, a couple of deep breaths and you’re there! Having a dedicated space for an activity, with no distractions, is gold. Sit down and start!
Call it a dedicated space or a sacred space… make sure you have them!
Breath Deep My Friend,
Marcus Dupuis
Founder of Elemental Living & BrainChangeConsulting.com