This is The Sanctuary of Practice by Scott Moore.
Your sanctuary is a place where you feel like you can be your absolute best self.
It's a place where you feel perhaps alive,
Embodied,
Relaxed,
Sensual,
Successful,
At peace,
In love,
Spiritual,
Happy,
Or all of the above.
Your sanctuary is the state of mind more than an actual physical location,
Even if an actual location is the model for your sanctuary.
This fact makes this exercise even more effective at relaxing you than if you were at a physical location.
And this exercise makes your sanctuary available whenever you would like to be there.
You will listen to my words as I guide you,
Using your own imagery,
To experience your sanctuary with your own senses.
Because our brains rely on our senses to discern reality,
We will warp the meaning of reality,
And you will effectively find yourself at your most favorite place in the world,
Without ever leaving the comfort of your bed.
This has deep and lasting effect not only on your ability to relax in the moment,
But in your ability to rest in your deep and open heart,
And offer that open heart to the world.
Remember,
You always do your best work when you can be relaxed.
This practice can be done by listening to my words,
Or you can lead yourself through this practice by imagining your sanctuary and involving the details of all of your senses.
Let's begin.
Put yourself in your sanctuary.
This can be a real place or an imagined place.
In this moment,
You are creating reality and not subject to it.
Is your sanctuary inside or outside?
What is the quality of light in your sanctuary?
In your sanctuary,
Really notice everything you can see here.
Notice shapes.
Choose four or five different objects,
Things you see in your sanctuary.
Things with detail,
Shapes,
Colors,
Textures.
Now give yourself a breath in through your nostrils and smell your sanctuary.
What are the smells associated with your sanctuary?
Let those aromas fill your entire being.
Notice how a smell can ground you to a place.
What is something else you smell in your sanctuary?
Now notice what you hear in your sanctuary.
What are the sounds?
Is it soft or loud?
Do you hear voices?
Perhaps sounds of nature or animals?
Perhaps you simply notice the quiet.
Now move to the sense of touch.
What can you feel in your sanctuary?
What do you feel in your skin?
Do you feel temperature?
Your fingertips feel texture?
Does your whole body feel grounded or light,
Warm or cool?
Notice taste.
What do you taste in your mouth?
What are those tastes you taste in your sanctuary?
What kind of emotions exist in your sanctuary?
Allow that emotion to rise to the surface in this moment.
What are the emotions you feel in your sanctuary?
Allow those emotions to rise and feel them in your body in this moment.
Do you feel those emotions in your heart or in your throat or in your belly?
Now notice your thoughts.
Are your thoughts moving quickly?
Are you sharp or are you relaxed?
What are the quality of your thoughts while you're in your sanctuary?
Go back to whatever you can see.
These colors,
Textures,
Choose one thing and focus very closely on this thing,
Whether it's a color,
Texture,
An object.
Maybe it's another person,
An animal or an object.
You can see very detailed all the facets of this thing,
This person.
Then as you breathe in again,
You can smell with heightened clarity everything around you.
What does it smell like in your sanctuary?
What do you hear again in your sanctuary?
Perhaps there's one thing in particular that you can hear very clearly.
Now taste.
What do you taste in your sanctuary?
What are the emotions in your sanctuary?
What's the clarity or relaxed quality of your mind in your sanctuary?
I invite you now to feel yourself resting in your sanctuary as if it were the most natural thing to do.
The best place to be,
Allow your whole body,
Mind and spirit to be completely absorbed in this sanctuary.
Let's take a moment to let yourself relax deeply in your sanctuary.
Let's spend these few minutes really absorbing everything about your sanctuary.
In your mind,
Go back through your senses and again,
One more time,
Explore everything that you see,
Everything that you smell,
Everything you can taste,
Hear,
Feel.
Become completely absorbed in your sanctuary.
Now in a moment,
We're going to end our practice and this feeling of the sanctuary will rest with you.
You will leave this practice feeling refreshed,
Invigorated and your best self.
Having visited your sanctuary,
Move back out into the world and carry this sanctuary with you in your heart.
Allow it to affect each of your actions.
Move from a deep place of compassion knowing you have this sanctuary in your heart.
And in a moment,
You will hear the ringing of a bell that will signal the end of our tradition through the eyes of God.
You
