Sacred Spaces - Inner Places

by: Louise LeBrun 

In a world with a voracious appetite for compliance to external demands, too easily are we seduced into believing that what we need in life - all that gratifies, sustains and nurtures us - will be found outside of us. Without our own awakened exploration, we mindlessly teach our children what we ourselves have been taught, and strive to put the dominos in place so they will fall in the right sequence and in our favor: the right education leads to the right job which leads to the right way to live.

In a busy world driven by things to do, places to go and people to see, we soon come to believe that like all other things, that which is Sacred will also be found outside of us. This journey to discover or create spaces and places that hold meaning for us begins at a tender age - sitting quietly under the canopy of a familiar tree, counting clouds as they stream by in the summer breezes. As we 'mature', Nature reluctantly loosens her grip and is replaced by our wandering into our local church only to discover that there is no one there but us - and so finding the stillness that can safely hold the chaos of our troubled thoughts.

In our (sometimes frantic) search for a space or place to simply 'be' rather than 'do', we intentionally design our homes or gardens or offices to be welcoming of this need to remove ourselves from the external stimuli that call to us, too loud and too persistent to ignore. Our Sacred Spaces become physical and are intended to invite and allow the space to flow through us and for us to flow through it. When we enter this Sacred Space, the sounds outside of us become muted - and we can hear ourselves.

Imagine if you will, a Sacred Space that is an Inner Place inside you. Always present and accessible; goes with you on all of your journeys; and can be entered in the blink of an eye. Imagine that with no more effort than a long, slow deep breath, you can step into the inner sanctum of who you are without the need for anything other than that which is always with you: your body, your breath and your intention.

In a world that is far too often skewed by that which is expedient rather than shaped by the truth of our experience, our professionalism and worldliness might cause us to lose our way back to that Sacred Space inside us - the one that surrounds the truth of who we are. And yet, given that it is the ground from which the seed of who we are takes root, it is never lost to us… and beckons us home as its gentle, relentless calling awakens the senses.

Breathe… ..allowing your awareness of the Life Force that you are to ride on the crest of the wave of that breath… .moving deeper and deeper into the Sacred Space of your body. With one long, slow deep breath after another, your attention is carried closer to the vast and seemingly empty space of who you are… and the potential of who you might become.

Follow the impulses… .those sometimes small and sometimes massive movements of information and energy… .that tingle along the nerve endings of the tissue that you are… .or rumble through your body, overtaking logic and reason, flooding your senses with what you have long struggled to ignore or forget.

Let yourself know the truth of your experience… that you might become more than the repetitive expression of the accumulation of your habits. Allow yourself to be held in the majestic solitude of that Sacred Inner Place… where no one but you can enter… and where you can safely embrace the full magnificence of your imperfection. It is in that moment that you can touch the face of the god that you are.

Breathe… follow the impulses… and let yourself know the truth of your experience. Reclaim the territory of your body and trust it - it's the one thing you can be sure will never lie to you.

This article was originally published in Body Mind Spirit Magazine   Edition 17 - March 2004. It may be reproduced, provided it is reproduced in its entirety with appropriate acknowledgement of the author, the source, and a weblink to www.WEL-Systems.com