Step by step, the Temple of Light is manifesting and around the world, the Ashram family prepares to celebrate this “inclusive sacred space”
1) Exploring Sacred Space
- Begin by brainstorming words for ”sacred space”. Write.
- Chant and bring to mind a time in your life when you experienced “sacred space”. Ask for an image and draw what comes. Allow the drawing to come from a place of intuition by drawing whatever comes forward.
- Do the Divine Light Invocation and place your drawing in the Light. What insights/learnings have you experienced from this exploration of “sacred space”?
- Practice the 4-4 breath and ask yourself how you can apply this understanding to your life, right now. Write.
2) Your Altar and Sacred Space
First, designate and keep some spot in your home as a holy place in which to chant mantra and offer worship.
(Mantras: Words of Power, Swami Radha, p 42)
- Take time to create a sacred space with objects that are meaningful to you. If you have an altar, perhaps add an object to deepen the sacredness of your altar to you or re-arrange the items that are already there. Your altar might have a candle, flowers, statue/s of deities…
- Spend time at your altar each day. What is being reflected back to you? How do you take this into your day?
3) The Luminosity of Sacred Space
It is important to develop a daily practice of focusing the mind on mantra, breath or Light. At the beginning your mind may need to warm up to the concentrated effort, but then the mind settles in its space and eventually becomes familiar as this point of concentration expands. Sacred space is created, and you are sustained by the simplicity of it and protected by your sincere desire to know yourself. It is handy to have a journal to write experience, outcomes and the inspiration of each day, so you remember and start to identify with those luminous times.
(Living The Practice, Swami Radhananda, p 164-165)
- Choose a daily practice of mantra, breath or Light and commit to it for a specific period of time, such as a week. Reflect on your experience and as Swami Radhananda suggests, observe your “experience, outcomes and inspirations of each day”.
4) Hidden Language Hatha Yoga and “Sacred Space”
In the Lion pose, I am learning to contact the source of power within myself. When I embody Durga’s power, I can conquer my demons instead of hiding them or projecting them out onto someone else. The Lion shows me that powerful emotions don’t have to be choked back or flung out. They can be released with the breath, transformed through sound, and elevated through intention.
(In Inner Life of Asanas, Swami Lalitananda, p 62)
- Practice chanting OM to warm up the vocal cords and to create a safe and sacred space. Before springing forward into the pose, chant OM three times and then ROAR.
- Write your reflections.
5) Building Sacred Space – An Action of Building Hope
Swami Lalitananda writes: Swami Radha said of her original vision of the Temple, “Without focusing on the Divine we only struggle for power. But here, in the Temple, we want to be together in the Light”. It is heartening to see her vision manifest once again. Building this inclusive sacred space is an action of building hope and standing for the values so many of us share.
Building Hope, Yasodhara Ashram Newsletter – Issue 1, 2017
- As the Temple of Light takes shape and moves towards completion, reflect on what the Temple of Light means to you. What are you re-building in your life? Is there something ‘taking shape and moving towards completion’? How is the rebuilding of the Temple of Light significant for you?
- What values are precious to you? What are the values that you stand for and share with the Ashram community?