Turn Your Home Into a Spa Like Retreat!

by Gilly Brewster
(Burbank, California, USA)

All around you is harmony-the sound of running water, the scent of rose oil, the feel of cool cotton on your skin, the soothing sense of all being well. Nothing is demanded of you, nothing is expected of you. The worries of the future suddenly have no room in your peaceful awareness of the moment. There is nothing but where you are now, and the life-giving orchestra of harmonious bliss that gently plays on your sense of awareness!.

You do not have to go to a health spa or a meditation retreat to have this experience. With some adjustments to your home, you can have this every day. Stress and tension accumulate from our everyday lives - worries about family, pressures at work, unhappiness with our appearance, or just a general sense of our daily life not being in a state of balance.

To come home to a healing, soothing environment is not just a luxury, it is a vital key to alleviating tension and maintaining a state of serenity. But just how is this achieved in the home? Think of serenity as luxury attained not through extravagance, but through simplicity.

Banish Stress-factors in the Home

Take a few hours to yourself when everyone else is out of the house. Starting in your bedroom, and working through every room in the house including hallways and vestibules, sit in every space of the house for 10-15 minutes. Bring your awareness into the area, and use all five of your senses to identify stressors there.

Does it smell stale? Is there an irritating hum from an electric object? Does a lot of traffic pass by outside? Are there harsh colours, a frayed carpet, some maintenance work that needs to be finished?

Make two columns on a sheet of paper, and enter the following headings into the left side:
• Sound
• Smell
• Taste
• Touch/feel
• Sight

In the opposite column, write down the aspects of the room that make it a stressful or bothersome space. What is in your line of vision that irritates you or makes you feel anxious? Does the room feel too cold, too hot, or too damp? Are there sharp corners that you have to avoid bumping into because the space is too cluttered with furniture? Does it smell of pets, socks, laundry?

So this is the starting point to creating a harmonious, stress-free home. Before beginning to think about any of the esoteric features that turn a home into a retreat, these stressors need to be dealt with and eliminated, one by one.

It will feel as though you are shedding centuries of oppressive weariness. Start to de clutter. Objects and possessions can create a congested feel in a room, especially if they have started to accumulate in tired, leaning piles that we feel obliged to keep for any number of nostalgic reasons Too many objects burden us with memories as well as with their presence.

Turn Your Home Into a Spa Like Retreat!

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