Creating a space in your home or business that is your sanctuary is growing in popularity these days. Personal sanctuaries are not a new concept, and are taking on a new focus as more and more individuals, couples, partners, companies, and families recognize the need for a readily accessible and personal space for sanctuary. Personal altars are seen in a growing number of peoples' living and work environments. Rooms designated for Yoga or meditation take precedence over a home office or guest room. An Area in the garden specifically for quiet reflection figures more prominently in the landscape plans. I see this need for sacred space in our homes and businesses is emerging from a renewed sense of personal responsibility for our lives

Sanctuary Space is a designated area in a room, building, or garden that represents and nurtures that sense of a person's divinity within. It can be a place for meditation and prayer; A place for physically connective activities, such as, yoga, meditative dance and movement; A space for expressive art; A sitting room for writing, spiritual study, playing music: Or even just an intimate place for getting away and being alone with oneself or with a partner.

As a general contractor, I have spent a great deal of time with clients in the process of defining what is important for them in creating a new space, whether that is a remodel of an old room or something entirely new from the ground up. I am now specializing in guiding clients through a process to identify, design and manifest a space specifically for sanctuary in their home, office, building, or landscape area. This process is often a personal odyssey into defining exactly what a personal sacred space really means to them. It can vary widely from faith to faith, from age to age and from lifestyle to lifestyle.

One of the most important elements I and many of my clients bring to the process of deciding what sacred space requires is the essential use of "green and sustainable" materials and plants in the construction of the space. In fact there is no substitute for natural, organic, sustainable produced materials in putting together a sacred space. The energy of a natural, minimally processed, consciously produced building product is the same as that which we find and demand in our organic food and healthy meals. Fast junk food just doesn't nurture our body and soul the way organic and home prepared food does, so why would it be different for our choice of building materials and plants?

The sacred is what connects each of us most intimately with our Divine self. Usually this is most embodied through simplicity and quiet. Being in nature gives most of us the most immediate and profound sense of simplicity. In the overwhelming consciousness and complexity of nature and its forces I am left with a profound sense of quiet and simplicity, if not the natural setting itself, but of the effect it has on my own being. This feeling is what sanctuary and the sacred creates in me. I am transformed. I am received. I am freely given. I am accepted. I am love. Sometimes I experience such eternal quiet especially after spending time with the raging waves crashing against the shore or sitting next to or under a thundering waterfall.

A sacred or sanctuary space in the home or in the work place can be of great support for us in this modern world and culture. We are ever moving faster, feeling the push of greater demands for our time and attention, and in the midst of this we feel the pull of greater needs, wants and desires. An immediately accessible space to reconnect with this sense of simplicity and quiet is growing ever more important in our lives. As human beings we have only a very few actual needs and feelings that need to be met for us to be fulfilled and at peace within. Again we are at peace from a very few needs being met. Simple, quiet space is essential for us to remember this and to reconnect with this state of being when we find ourselves overwhelmed and/or scattered. To create this space many of us make altars and arrange sitting areas for meditation or yoga. We may even create a special space in our garden to have quiet contemplations. These spaces are essential for our well being.

I have noticed that using natural and sustainable materials are essential ingredients to many people building these spaces of sanctuary. Using processed, artificial, or engineered products remove the connection to nature that we are striving for. A plastic table or floor covering puts a lifeless entity into the space when we are working to create a space filled with the energy of nature. A table of rough hewn wood gives the sense of the tree that grew from birth to death in a forest or grove. Manufactured tile gives off a false vibration, filled with the energy of a processing factory grinding it up from scrap and mixing with chemicals to stabilize the end product. On the contrary, natural stone, even cut and shaped, carries the energy of the river bed or subterranean earth from where it came.

The introduction of sacred geometry and feng shui in arranging our sacred spaces also incorporates natural occurring patterns into the design mix, which can also unveil many personal sacred connections and previously unconscious symbols and revealing designs. Many sacred design features are easily recognized as naturally occurring everywhere in nature and its creations. Incorporating natural materials into our sanctuaries can bring great depth and consciousness into our creation of space.

Using sustainable materials and practices show the client's and builder's intention to support future generations, imbuing the sanctuary with a compassionate consciousness towards healing karma with past and future generations. Archaic building practices perpetuate the sense of disregard for future generations' well being by ignoring the impact of today on tomorrow. Planting the seeds of well being today for tomorrow's generations goes far in nurturing our highest good now; Something we are desperately searching for in our daily lives and in our sacred spaces.

For more information regarding conceiving, designing and building sacred spaces please e-mail Robert Gurley at: bgurleyman@comcast.net ,

And may you Breathe into the blessings of the Beloved.