Create a Serene and Sacred Place to Practice

Creating a perfectly peaceful place to practice at home is extremely helpful, not only for finding stillness in mind and body, but also for cultivating the warm feelings of inner peace. Your sanctuary becomes a haven, a refuge, a protective and safe space. It’s sacred ground for sacred time — your personal time.

Your sanctuary can be the home for your yoga and meditation practice, or simply a spot for quiet reflection and retreat from the busy world. It might be where you sip a cup of tea, quietly content and present. Or the place where your creativity flows freely. A serene sanctuary makes those moments so much more peaceful, inspiring, and uplifting.

If you haven’t already, I invite you to create your own home sanctuary — your sacred space. It’s more than just a spot for your yoga props and meditation cushion. No matter how big or small, it has the power to foster a calming, protective, supportive atmosphere for your practice. It can greatly help you cultivate those warm feelings of inner peace. 

Here are a few ideas to inspire you to create your perfectly peaceful personal sanctuary.

Define your space.  Where will you create your sanctuary?  It could be an entire room in your home, a window nook, a corner of your bedroom or living room.  It doesn't matter how big it is. What matters is the love and intention you put into making it sacred.  Find a place where you can settle quietly for your personal time without disruption. If you can’t close a door on your sanctuary, think of separating the space with plants, draperies or strategically placed furniture. 

Choose colours with intention. Colour is energy. The entire colour spectrum, from red to violet, comes from light—and light is energy that travels in waves. Each colour carries its own energetic frequency and can subtly shift your sense of energy, influencing your mood and emotional state. Your colour choices are meaningful and deserve intention—they have the power to change your vibration and shape your inner experience. For a peaceful sanctuary, choose colours that create a calming sense of serenity and harmony.

• Natural tones will connect you with nature, they are grounding, soothing and peaceful.
  
• Indigo symbolizes peace, clarity, insight and invokes imagination and inspiration.  It represents connection to our inner wisdom and to the whole universe.
  
• Red is a sacred colour that embodies protection, vitality, prosperity and joy.  It connects you to the earth and to life itself.
  
• Greys suggest strength, solidity, and ancient wisdom and create supportive foundations for spiritual practice.

Think about light.  A glaring overhead light creates a bright but stark and clinical atmosphere. So instead create a warmer, cozier atmosphere by using small lamps or even candles to create pools of soft light and shadow for an intimate and introspective sacred space.  It will feel much more peaceful.

Create an altar.  An altar is a sacred place to focus your yoga and meditation practice. It should also support and inspire your intention (for example finding inner peace), so keep your intention in mind, like a mantra, and let it guide you as you create your altar.  The energy of your focus and intention turns your altar into a very special and powerful place, a place of connection with the sacred and with our own inner teacher.  For your altar, any small low table, chest, shelf or even a window sill will do.  This can be the place to hold meaningful items and your ritual tools (incense and incense burners, candles, singing bowls).  Ideally, your altar should be placed against a wall as a backdrop of support.

Gather a few meaningful and symbolic objects and art that inspire you and support your practice.  Think of: inspiring imagery, statuary, crystals, elements of nature, for example.  Not too many!  And make sure they are special and meaningful.  I feel that clutter and excess equals disharmony and does not invoke feelings of peace.  But that’s my personal choice.

Get the right tools to support you,  depending on your practice you will need a few carefully chosen essentials:  yoga mat, yoga bolster, yoga block, meditation cushion.  

Purify your sanctuary.  Honour yourself and your practice by keeping your sanctuary fresh, clean and uncluttered.  Use palo santo and sage to purify your sacred space, clearing it of negative energies and inviting in positive energy. Treat your sacred space with reverence.


You can also take all these tips and turn your entire home into a peaceful sanctuary.  Imagine how beautiful and serene that would be!

For more ideas, here are some HUM resources to inspire you:

Talismans…Creating an Altar to Support Your Journey
Can Feng Shui Boost the Positive Energy in Your Meditation Space?
How to Clear Your Spaces of Negative Energy
Create a Sensorial Sanctuary
The Story and Symbolism of the HUM Colours

Everything HUM is designed with love and a clear intention to empower and inspire you to create your home sanctuary, your haven of peace.  Discover all our collections.