Today I’ve been guided to pull out a card from the Gaia Oracle, and it is one of my favourites: Zen Garden, and I have a poster of this in my workshop room. As the words show, it is a card of Inner Sanctuary, of finding peace within us no matter how chaotic the world around us becomes. And the world is a chaotic place, isn’t it? The world is created out of the combined mental and emotional nature of the human race – across the globe, within our countries, within our cities, within our families, within ourselves. But we can choose to not get caught up in it, to separate from the ‘crazy’ and vibrate to a different beat, and then to create something new.
The card shows the serenity that comes from a heart protected within its own private space. So let us create an exercise with which to achieve this. Find a short time when you can have a complete break from all your activity. Make yourself as comfortable as you can. There is no need to work hard to stop your incessant thinking or to get your body to let go of its tension. Simply transfer your awareness inside you and imagine you are setting out on an inner journey to find a place of peace.
Then listen to the sound of your own breathing. Feel your lungs expanding and contracting, your chest rising up and down. When you feel ready, on your next out-breath when the air leaves your body, let yourself be drawn into that place between your lungs, between your breaths, between thoughts. With each new breath, focus on letting the out-breath expel more slowly. feeling yourself be drawn ever-deeper. In doing this exercise, you are not trying to slow your breathing to any particular level, and there is no need to struggle with it. Just allow yourself to come to the point of focus, the deep point of awareness within you. This is the gateway to the ‘inner sanctuary’. When you feel steady enough, and your breathing focused enough, let this idea and impression of a gateway build up in your mind, so that it feels real. This is the gateway that is the ‘breath of life’. It is both formed and shaped by your breathing.
It is the access point.
Let the image of the gateway truly solidify in your mind’s eye. Whether dark or luminous, small or majestic, square or arched, it is your individual gateway. Then step through the gateway, allowing your breathing to carry on without your attention. Notice what you see and feel now. This place is your sanctuary, because it is out of time and space as you know it. It is you, beyond your reaction to the world. It is the place to escape to, when things get too much, too overwhelming.
You may become aware of your breathing again, yet more peacefully. If you have strong connections with the worlds beyond this world, you may find people waiting to speak to you. But ultimately, this is your sanctuary. What else do you experience here? Allow the scene to expand if you wish. Fill it with the light, the colours, the animals, perhaps, that you associate with peace. What you need will come to you naturally, for this is the garden of your heart, and your heart knows what it needs to feel soothed in its inner world.
