Recently a client asked, “How do you create a sacred space for meditation and quiet.”  These are some tips to create your own sacred space be it an entire room or a small shelf.

 I like to think of sacred spaces as being attached to your senses…

 1.       Visual - Color.  Colors trigger emotional responses from the inside.  Think of it, seeing “red” when you are angry or feeling “blue” when you are sad.  Try painting the sacred space or even the shelf, a calming color to help “queue” your internal response to “relax.”  My office is painted a gorgeous, blue-lavender hue and often my clients will comment how it feels like walking into Springtime upon entering the room…Use color as a way to sooth yourself, instead revving it up.

2.       Smell – Palo Santo and candles.  Whenever I smell burning Palo Santo, Holy Wood, I am instantly connected to divine peace. It smells like nature and mother earth to me.  I like lighting candles and Palo Santo before I meditate or spend time in my sacred space.  I’ve created my own ritual of sorts.  By lighting candles and burning holy wood, I intentionally mark a transition into my sacred space.  This in turn, creates a higher vibration thus more “sacred space.”

3.       Touch – images and photos.  I like to think of this as more about “touching” your heart then physical touch.  What are some images that immediately calm you when you look at them?  Mother Mary?  Angels? Frogs?  Pretty knit-knacks from long ago adventures?  Friends?  Anything that you adorn your sacred space with must be centered in love and tranquility.  Your sacred space is yours alone, a place that speaks to your own heart quietly.  Be creative and even open to what is important…Maybe a favorite rock or two will show up.

4.       Taste – water.  I like balance in sacred spaces.  Water balances fire - candles.  Water nourishes us.  It reminds us to be flexible and that our emotions can be fluid like the ocean.  I have a wonderful Kuan Yin statue that drips water.  Kuan Yin is an Eastern goddess focused on compassion for self and others.  (Kind of like the Mother Mary of the East without the virgin-birth story attached.)  Some clients leave small bowls of water with flower blossoms floating in their meditation spaces to keep the energy fresh.  A nice fountain can also do the trick which also leads to the last tip - sounds.

5.       Hearing – what are you listening to?  This is where things can be interesting…Are you listening to guided meditations?  Great, but what else?  Are you quiet in this space sometimes?  Have you opened the windows to hear what is going on outside – birds?  Have you tried listening to ocean sounds or relaxing music while you are sitting in your sacred space or looking at your shelf?  Try some different things and you will discover how your sacred space can support you in many ways.

 These are just a few suggestions to help you create your own sacred space.  I bet if you look around already in your life today, you can see that you’ve have already gathered your “sacred” tools…It’s really just you allowing yourself the space to blossom. 

Just discovered this LA band, The Airborne Toxic Event and I love them.  The sound is raw, plaintive, punk-like, and incredibly personal – think a cross between Violent Femmes and Crash Test Dummies.

 The album was written while lead singer Mikel Jollett was struggling with heartbreak, his mother’s cancer and his own health problems…Needless to say the album is full of raw emotions and surprisingly – humor. 

 In “Does This Mean You’re Moving On?” with the lines like, “Oh Christ, she’s not alone…” and “I’ll bet your friends all hate me now.  I get the strangest looks from that bitchy crowd…guess I am not quite over you.” – let the giggling begin.  Or in “Something New” - a priceless appreciation of hoping the fighting will stop and the therapy works…If you have been in therapy with your mate, well this is a riot.  Set to a hopeful, happy beat – the couple is falling apart…

 Another wonderful quality of the music is the shifting and building tempos of the different songs, such as in “Sometime Around Midnight.”  The song opens quietly, building softly by adding instruments and strengthening his voice with each bar until you hear his anguish refrain, “You just have to see her,”  over and over.  Who hasn’t been to this broken place?  

Must listen to: Gasoline, Does this Mean Your Moving On?, Sometime Around Midnight, Something New, Missy

Want to instantly feel better – listen to Faulkner’s song “Gone In the Morning.”  Every time I hear it, no matter the where I am – in a clothing store or a car  – I’m dancing like a gyrating fool.  This CD is quirky, creative and unbelievably sexy.  Why?  It’s his voice.  My favorite tracks are: “Feels Like Home,” “U.F.O,.” “Ageing SuperHero,” and “Gone In the Morning.”

 I had to laugh yesterday when I googled Faulkner and saw he was a dread-locked, red-haired singer from the UK – my favorite artist is Van Morrison.  I’m a sucker for a Celtic balladeer with smiling eyes…One of my best friends would always joke, “Give Quasimodo a guitar and a mic and you’ve got instantly hot.”  Anyway, I’m hooked…

A little over a week ago I heard this great story on NPR, http://www.wnyc.org/shows/radiolab/episodes/2008/03/21/segments/93888 - it’s about music transcending cultural divides.  Gregory Warner is a reporter in Afghanistan and one day started playing “Those Were the Days My Friend” on his accordion. His translator, shocked, asks, “How do you know Afghan music?” Greg scratches his head and thinks, “But this is just some folk song my mom used to sing to me!”…

 My very favorite part of the story happens when Warner plays Johnny Cash’s “Ring of Fire” to a wild and thrilled Afghan audience.  Warner exclaims, “It was my best crowd ever!”  I love it!  Happy listening.