Curate mini-altars around your home to keep your spirits lifted.
Many home yoga practitioners create altars to heighten the spirituality of and connect to the sacredness of their practice. Altars are full of intention and meaning and are beautiful to look at. Yoga Journal even describes them as "a physical manifestation of your inner spiritual landscape." And the Chopra Center details them even further:
Your altar is an outer representation of your inner attunement. It’s a way of honoring yourself by having a place that is solely yours and represents your ideals. Over time, just entering into the space of the altar has an effect on your energy and mood.
Traditionally, an alter is situated in a person's yoga/meditation space and holds objects of significance to the person: photos of loved ones, artwork, stones and crystals, candles, meditation cards, representations of the elements and directions, words of wisdom, plants and flowers, and so much more.
Spending more time at home lately, though, I've discovered a different perspective on altars. One beautiful spring day, I was airing out the house and giving it a good smudge. And I realized as I walked around my home that I had all of these little "pockets of goodness" scattered around. I realized that I essentially had mini altars in my dining room, my living room, my office, the hallway, my bedroom. Being near any of these little pockets make me feel happy and content. They are reminders of past travels, of family time well spent, of my love for earth and energy, of all of the goodness in my life. They are a way for me to experience gratitude and grounding and honoring of self not just during my practice but all day.
So if the idea of creating one special altar is intimidating, perhaps think about spreading your altar around your home - curating your own pockets of goodness - finding special placement for the things that bring you the most joy.
Scottie is currently a work-from-home school librarian and newly minted homeschool teacher. She now spends a lot of time in and around her home and has rediscovered that she can't work unless her surroundings are organized and clean. There is no way that this is just a made up distraction for her to be able to avoid work.