What is your refuge?

What is your refuge? Do you have a place you go to when you need to feel safe? Is there something you do when you need to find peace?

Refuge. (noun) 1. a condition of being safe or sheltered from pursuit, danger, or trouble. 2. Something providing shelter.
– Oxford Languages

For a long time now, so many years I have a hard time counting… because I’m not sure when it actually began. Maybe my late teens in college? Meditation and yoga have been my refuge. I’ve always come back to them when I need to find a sanctuary for myself. At times, I’ve occasionally drifted away from my practice, like when I’ve been in relationships, when I’ve been feeling so good that I’d “forget” my own support system, or times when I’ve felt I didn’t have time for myself (hello early days of parenting). But, when I’m not regularly doing yoga and meditating (for me they go hand in hand), I find that I am off balance, easier to anger, and just don’t feel like “myself.”

I am grateful for my yoga and meditation practice. They have given me the tools I need to breathe, take a step back before reacting, find patience, and connect with my own instincts.

Yoga and meditation are my sanctuary, my refuge.

We all have times when we feel like we need to go to a safe place. When we are sad, things feel out of control, when we are overwhelmed, and when we have lost hope.

So, I urge you to take a breathe and think about it… What is your refuge?

Is there a place you can go?
- A hike in nature
- A space in your home
- A trip to the beach
- Go hang out with animals
Is there something you can do where you feel like you can breathe and let go?
- Yoga
- Meditation
- Art – drawing, coloring, painting, sculpting, throwing pottery….
- Dancing
- Music – listening or playing
- Reading
- Writing in your journal, writing short stories
- Exercise – running, cross-training, kick-boxing, so many to choose from
- Something special of your own.

When you think of your refuge, try to make it something of your own. Not something that your kids love or your partner loves or that other people expect you to do. Do what fills your own soul with a feeling of safety and release and maybe a little bit of joy. Trust your own gut and do something just for you.

There have been times when I need extra support, and I’ve needed to dig deeper. My quest for deeper healing helped me to discover yoga nidra, or yoga sleep, a form of deep relaxation.

So, as you search for your own refuge, I am offering this video that I recorded of a bit a easy movement, relaxation, and “safe place” meditation practice. Perhaps it will help you discover a refuge of your own.

(P.S. I did this video at the very beginning of Coronavirus Days, and I still feel we need it big time… )