Building Your Ideal Meditation Space
If you’ve ever tried to start a mindfulness routine, you know that there’s no shortage of obstacles to engaging in a regular meditation practice. Knowing how challenging this commitment can be, one of the best things we can do is give ourselves the gift of a supported and personalized space dedicated to our meditation practice.
When we commit an area of our home to our meditation it sends the message that this aspect of life is as fundamental as your home office, kitchen, or bedroom. By maintaining a dedicated place in the home for meditation, you can provide yourself a literal and figurative seat for your meditation practice.
There are no hard and fast rules for how to create a meditation space. In fact, the more personalized you can make your space, the better! Here are some traditional, and not so traditional, ideas that will inspire you to build a space that supports your practice day in and day out.
1. Choose a Place with Natural Light
Humans have been called “house plants with more complicated emotions,” and like house plants, we gravitate towards natural light. When we meditate in a patch of sunny brightness, we are setting ourselves up for a receptive, open sit. Just as we are open and available to the light around us, we become open and available to our emotions, thoughts, feelings, and to our highest good or our connection to the Higher Self.
2. Invest in the Meditation Seat that Works for You
Meditation shouldn’t be an endurance test. No one receives a prize at the end for sitting uncomfortably for the longest amount of time. In fact, finding a comfortable, supported seat that allows you to lift upwards is critical to a healthy meditation practice. Take some time to determine what type or style of seat is most conducive to your body and your practice. Don’t be afraid to experiment and give yourself different options.
Do you need a straight back chair? A low-to-the-ground cushion? Find the meditation seat that works best for you and choose a style and color that inspires you to want to take your seat!
Related: Boost Your Work-From-Home Productivity with Meditation
3. Keep it Tidy
We know that maintaining a clean and tidy living space is often a Sisyphean task, especially if you have young children or pets. That said, see if you can make your meditation space the exception.
We use our meditation practice to support us in bringing peace and awareness to your heart and minds. By keeping a physical place for our meditation practice clean and uplifted, we create a natural correlation between the sacredness of the space and that of our practice.
No matter how messy the home around you becomes, you can give yourself the gift of knowing the seat of your meditation practice is available to you at any time as an uplifted space, free from the clutter of daily life.
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4. Consider an Altar
While the word “altar” may carry a wide range of connotations both religious and cultural, in its simplest form, an altar is simply a place to honor the wisdom and sacredness of traditions and ideas that inspire you to practice meditation.
For some, an altar could showcase a spiritual guide, deity, or ancestor that you rely on for spiritual direction. For others, it could serve as a reminder of nature's wonders, with beautiful flowers, houseplants, or crystals.
In the Higher Self Yoga tradition, we often access our Higher Self through a connection to a place in nature that inspires and awakens us. Incorporating a photo of a favorite natural wonder into your altar could keep you connected to the place where you greet your Higher Self.
In general, the altar can be any place where your highest spiritual capabilities are reflected back to you, keeping your aspirations out in the open, ready to inspire at any moment.
Related: 5 Powerful Visualization Exercises for New Meditators
5. Don’t Forget Ambiance
Anyone who has worked with difficult emotions in meditation, knows that practice isn't all candlelight and aromatherapy. But that doesn’t mean that we can’t cultivate a meditation space that allows us to relax into the present moment and feel grounded in whatever we are experiencing.
Similar to finding a meditation seat that supports us, we’ll want to determine what atmosphere for meditation most inspires us to take our seat. Perhaps the textures of soft fabrics can remind us to return to our bodies. Many people enjoy the support of uplifting tonal sounds and beats that drop them into the flow of meditation. Having a nourishing pot of tea on hand can do wonders for relaxing into a mindful mindset.
Like your meditation practice, your meditation space is personal, ever-changing and unique to you. By dedicating a space in your home, keeping that space uplifted and allowing it to support your distinct meditation needs you are giving yourself the advantage of having a helpful home base for your practice.
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