Diane

Marsh Lake, YT, Canada

Julie 

Gloucester, UK

Barbara

Toronto, ON, Canada

Marty

Tadley, United Kingdom

Susanna

Borås, Sweden

Jeffrey

Foxton, New Zealand

Explore your imagination to create a sensory-rich healing sanctuary for deep relaxation and inner peace.

English

This transformative guided meditation is designed to help you tap into your imagination and create a peaceful sanctuary, even in times of chaos. We will embark on a journey to discover or create a healing space, whether it’s a serene location you’ve experienced or one you envision. I’ll guide you through identifying the qualities and sensations that make this place special.

This peaceful sanctuary could be by the water, in a lush meadow, atop a mountain, or even in a cozy spot like your bed or by the fireplace. Through reflective questions and sensory imagery, we’ll dive into the sights, sounds, smells, and feelings that bring your oasis to life. 

If you prefer to explore new locations, this practice will help you discover additional healing environments each time you meditate.

Featured music is "Floating" by Christopher Lloyd Clarke, providing an additional 12 minutes to further deepen your journey.

Finding Your Healing Place:  Discover A Peaceful Sanctuary

Hi, I'm Glenda Cedarleaf, and I invite you to take these few minutes to relax into a comfortable space as we take a deep dive into exploring the nature of your unique healing place where you can create and recreate a safe home in your imagination that is deeply calming. In this practice, I will give you a bit of wisdom about the purpose of a healing place. Then we'll embark on a brief body relaxation practice. Next we'll explore suggestions and reflections to help you clarify the nature of your healing place and just how its qualities resonate with you. And finally, there'll be an extended time of just music to enable you to settle in and truly sense into this haven of relaxation. So let's begin. Guided imagery meditation often incorporates the process of settling into a healing place because it can be a foundation for deepening awareness as it enables the unconscious mind to become more receptive to the benefits of meditative guidance. Guided imagery draws on your ability to visualize. We all have our own unique way of visualizing. Not all of us see visual images. Some of us are more auditory or kinesthetic or olfactory. As you move through this process, your style of visualization will become clearer. Just embrace your particular style and allow it to carry you deeper. No matter how you use your imagination, there is a way for you to find this healing place. This ability is a gift that is inherent in all of us, and you can enhance it by practicing regularly. So let's take a few moments to help our bodies soften and relax. I invite you to begin with tuning into your breath, this breath that keeps you alive. The inhale, and then the exhale, beginning to deepen a bit more each time you breathe in and breathe out. Just noticing your breath and allowing the gentle pace to guide your mind and body into a deeper place of calm. And now notice the ways your shoulders can begin to soften and relax as your arms become heavy, loose, and limp like a rag doll. Deeper and deeper relaxed. Noticing now the beat of your heart, perhaps placing your hand on your heart as you sense into the rhythm of the beating of your heart. Focusing now on your belly, softening the belly, relaxing the hips and thighs, knees and ankles. Relaxing the toes as your whole body continues to let go and release. Noticing your thoughts as they come and go, just allowing them to pass by like clouds floating in the sky. Watching your thoughts pass by, and here in this relaxed place, I invite you to imagine looking off in the distance and notice as an image may gradually emerge. An image of a special place, perhaps one that you visited in the past, or maybe recently, or maybe one that you visited as a child. Where you felt safe and relaxed, just taking some time to allow that image to come to mind, making sure that this place has only positive associations for you. Perhaps you're still searching, and if so, I offer these suggestions. Could it be a place in nature, near a body of water, like an ocean, a lake, a stream, a river, or swimming pool? Or perhaps on land, like a beautiful mountain, an ancient forest, a meadow filled with flowers, or a desert with a vivid sunset painting the sky? Or it might be a comforting indoor-outdoor space, indoors, like the bedroom, living room, or kitchen, or perhaps a porch. Another way to access your healing place could be to recall a special being in nature, a loved one, or a group of loved ones, or even a beloved pet. Just continuing to settle into the qualities of this place that resonates with you, and knowing that although you're choosing one place for this meditation, you can always choose another the next time you meditate. So now we move deeper into this experience with these questions. What does this place look like? What do you see around you? Where are you sitting or lying down? What does it sound like? What does it smell like? Who might be there with you in this space? Let's take a moment now as I repeat these questions to further reinforce this imagery into your imagination. If you were in your most relaxing healing place, what would it look like? Where would you be sitting or lying down? Are you indoors or outside in nature? What sounds do you hear? What are the aromas that come to mind? Who else might be there with you in this healing place? What do you feel in your body as you rest here? And now perhaps placing one hand in the other, letting the sensation of your hands touching one another to reinforce this awareness of your calming sanctuary that you have created in your imagination. Taking now the next minutes of just music to just enjoy your place. Welcome to your retreat. And many good wishes to you on this journey. Namaste.