Creating your own sacred spiritual space is essential if you wish to develop and focus upon your spiritual progression on a daily basis.
Just as Christians go to Church, Muslims go to a Mosque or Buddhists go to a temple, having your own space to focus within, honour your spiritual nature and find inner peace with God/Divinity/ Universal Source is vital to your own spiritual development.
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The good news is that you can create your own spiritual space at home. You don’t need a big room to do it in. All you need is a small cosy space where you can create your own altar or shrine. A corner of a bedroom is ideal but if you can have your own room, even better.
1. Set your intention
What is the focus of your altar? What is your intention by setting it up? Once you have clarity and know the purpose upon which your alter will serve you, then you can begin to create it accordingly.
Ask yourself the simple question: What is my reason for creating this altar? Will I use it regularly as a place to meditate and find inner peace? Or will it be more symbolic and representative of my faith?
Perhaps you will have a Buddha statue or a photo of your favourite guru on the wall. Whatever your intention is keep this in mind when deciding to create your spiritual space.
Once you know your intention for your altar, try and summarise this in a single word. Write it down on a piece of paper and make a mental note that this is what it represents.
2. Go shopping over time
It’s easy to feel that you need to go out and buy all of the so-called spiritual gear such as crystals, sound bowls, Buddha statues, incense sticks, etc. So feel free to go to your local new age shop and explore what’s on offer if that’s what you want.
Yet sometimes the best approach to creating your altar is to allow special objects, symbols, books, etc to come to you. In that way these objects or symbolic representations usually have more meaning.
You may even have objects around your house already that are unique to you. There’s really no set rule when it comes to creating your own sacred space. Simply find the objects that work best for you in terms of meaning and intention – whether old or new.
3. Choose A Theme
There’s no set theme for what works or what doesn’t work when it comes to creating your own altar.
What is essential is that you do something to focus your mind. This is why choosing a colour or style theme can be helpful as it sets your focus in a certain direction.
Without direction it is easy to get lost in the chaos of the mind, any subsequent emotions it generates and to feel overwhelmed by all of the objects or colours.
By choosing colours such as yellow, it can focus the mind, purple can calm and relax you, red can fire you up with passion, while green hues may allow you to reconnect with nature and the earth.
4. Make It Feel Good
It goes without saying that you want to create an altar that creates positive feelings within you. There’s no point in placing objects that hold bad memories or remind you of old habits on to your altar. For this reason you may want to buy new objects or symbols that create new feelings within.
Similarly, too much clutter is bad for the mind. Choose carefully and do not add too much to your altar. Ideally you want to create a clean open space that invites you to focus within. Too many objects can be distracting and encourage your mind to look outwards instead of going deep inside yourself.
Not only will a sacred space that makes you feel good make you want to go there regularly, the energy you create there are will have an impact on your mind and mental state too.
5. Keep It Clean
Cleanliness is next to godliness as the old saying goes and there is nowhere this is more important than in where you intend to have your spiritual practice.
Ensure that you keep your sacred alter or meditation space clean, free of dust and other lotto for best results.
6. Have Quotes Above Your Space
It’s common to have quotes as wall decor in yoga studios and in the same way you can use your own favourite quotes to make your intentions clear.
As our minds are impressionable, having positive or uplifting quotes in your own spiritual space can leave energy imprints on our minds and emotional bodies. Find or create your own positive quotes or inspiring mottos and show them around your space for best effect.
7. Keep It Quiet
If you want to make the most progress with your spiritual practice, then it’s essential to keep your space quiet as possible.
While it doesn’t have to be silent, nor is it always possible if you have a family…ideally you will be able to set some boundaries where, when you go into to your own spiritual room, a sense of peace and calm is evoked in you.
Perhaps silence is not your thing, in which case some soothing music or sounds of relaxation can lift your spirits, calm your senses and create your own inner awakening.
8. Don’t overthink it
Sometimes it’s tempting to try and make your sacred space look like everyone else’s. Yet your space is unique to you and should be seen as individual as you are. There are no rules, merely see the above as guidelines that will encourage you to go deeper into your spiritual practice.
From incense to crystals, Tibetan chimes to relaxing waves, create a space that makes you happy, feels beautiful and invites you into its calming embrace. All you have to do is to go there and honour the sacred space within you, whenever you feel lost in the world.
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