Altar

Any place that we declare and design and serve as sacred, becomes an altar. A bedroom dresser top, a bathroom or kitchen counter-top, a living room coffee table, a built-in nook in a hallway or stairway, inside a closet – all are suitable locations for a household altar. It can be the dramatic focal point of a formal prayer and meditation space. It can be a small fountain surrounded by flowers in a garden corner.Below are some common things that people place on their home altars.

--Fruit, fresh herbs or flowers picked each day from your garden.
--Spiritual icons, statues and framed pictures connected to your particular path or faith.
--Sacred items like holy ash, oil or incense from ashrams, temples and churches.
--Personal items with special meaning or emotional value for you, which may include photographs, paintings, drawings, found objects, mementos acquired during your travels.
--Sensual items like incense and essential oil infused candles (mint for awakening, lavender to calm, etc).
--A Wish Box or God Box. This can be a wooden box, a ceramic container, or even leather or silk pouch. A Wish Box/God Box is a place to put pieces of paper on which we’ve written our wishes, hopes and dreams, our problems and concerns, our prayers for others and even their photos. By placing them in the box with a prayer or meditation, we symbolically surrender them into “God’s hands”. Reviewing these notes later, you will often find that problems have been resolved, wishes have been fulfilled, and goals have been, or are on their way to being achieved, and individuals prayed for have in fact been helped or healed.
--Beads and jewelry such as malas, rosaries, crystals, or more personal jewelry items.
--Advertisements, pictures and images of things you want to work towards whether material, emotional, spiritual or physical. These images can involve anything that anchors a focus on your particular activity, goal or dream.
--Pictures of a friend or family member who you want pray for because of illness, physical or mental.
--Anything else that you feel moved to place on your altar.

Colors- Set the tone

We’ve known for ages, since long before the advent of color therapy, that various colors express and stimulate diverse moods, reflections and responses. Colors can energize and stimulate, calm and refresh, and even inspire and heal us. Red famously draws attention and stimulates decidedly energetic, aggressive, or erotic responses. Matadors wave red flags at bulls to provoke aggression. It’s no coincidence that sexual zones around the world are called Red Light Districts. Statistically, police pull more red cars over annually than cars of any other color. Blues and greens tend to relax, soothe and calm, which is why talk show guests often wait in a Green Room before going out to face lights, cameras and audiences.
Because colors do affect us, it’s important to choose carefully the color schemes in our living environment. Colors can soften or mute a room, as in “tone it down”. They can make a room warmer and cozier. They can energize a room, making us feel more awake, creative and alive. The key to choosing a color scheme for any room is knowing what we want to experience and how we want to feel in that room. Then we can explore the range of color option and pick the right colors for the right room for our particular needs.

The primary determining factor in any color choice is what you like, whether it be strong, flamboyant colors, rich primary colors, airy pastels or simple conservative shades. Experiment with one wall or area of a room. Be creative, even playful. Liberally paint your chosen color there, or roll wide swathes, vertical or horizontal, of possible colors on different walls. Then let it dry. Sit with it for a while. Sleep on it. See how it looks in different shades of light at different times of day or night. Notice how it draws your eye, how it makes you feel.

Below is a brief general description of the basic effects of colors on the human psyche.

Pink - Pink is physically, mentally, and emotionally soothing. It enlivens compassion, love, and purity.
Yellow - Yellow is awakening and mentally activating. It stimulates intellectual activity.
Red - Red stimulates the mind and body. It encourages sexuality and passion. It can be extreme and very powerful. Use it wisely and sparingly.
Green - Green brings balance, encourages growth, and instills calm.
Blue - Blue enhances creative expression. It is peaceful and expansive, like the sky.
Purple - Purple has a hypnotic effect. It encourages intense emotions – from anger to sublimity. It should be used very sparingly.
Orange - Orange activates optimism and refuels energy reserves.

Your greatness...

“Your greatness is measured by your gifts, not your possessions.”
Yogi Bhajan

I still recall my first meeting, nearly two decades ago, with my spiritual teacher, Yogi Bhajan. In that powerful encounter, I felt myself to be at once in the presence of my teacher, my destiny, my future, and my Self. Over the years he would teach me to serve and uplift others without ego, judgment or attachment, and never to waste one morsel of the grace of God and Guru.
Even in that first meeting, I felt in his presence his love and devotion for my soul, and his healing energy and sacred intention. At one point he asked me in his thick Punjabi accent, “ Do you know the sacred secret of success in this lifetime?”
I offered several excellent answers to his question…the remembrance of God, the repetition of mantra, good hygiene, etc. When I finished, he looked at me and said,

“Son, be the Altar not the alternative.” And again he repeated, “Be the Altar, not the alternative.”

I felt the perfection and completeness of his words. Over time, I have savored and contemplated this simple statement, which had a deep and lasting impact on me.

“Be the Altar, not the alternative.”

What does it mean? What does it mean to you? It keeps meaning something to me as, over time, it evolves and gains more traction in my heart. Much of its meaning is embedded in the pages of this book, in the text, the photographs, and the designs.

For me, being the Altar, not the alternative, means being, living, acting and projecting from a point of neutrality and awareness, wholeness and transcendence. It is about experiencing everything, appreciating all perspectives, being connected to what is before you, without attachment to any one thing or point of view. To me, the Altar is a symbol of this very place, your own center and Self, where you find peace, balance, harmony and grace amidst the dueling polarities of life.

When you live your life as the Altar, and not the alternative, you will live a life that is, in the words of my teacher, “happy, healthy and holy,” and each day will be rich with the blessings of life, of your Soul, of God. Each breath will restore and replenish you. Each action will emerge from a state of consciousness that is balanced, neutral and aware, and from a heart that is prayerful, graceful and grateful.

“Altar Your Space” is about applying these perspectives to your life, starting with your home environment. It is about designing a sacred living space that embodies the architecture of your soul, and connects your consciousness to infinity. It is about making your home the Altar, and not the alternative.

What do you want to experience and feel in your home? Beauty, calmness, grace, radiance, joy? What do you want your home to enhance in your life, and provide for you and your family? Stability, prosperity, opportunity, creativity, spirituality? An Altared home is a sanctuary for the body, heart and soul of you and your family.

In our essence, we are already whole, complete and perfect, and we can create a living environment that reflects and supports this. It is our birthright to be surrounded by beauty, to know peace and joy, to live royally and happily in a sacred home that elevates our life, uplifts our spirit, restores our soul, and connects us with the flow of love and prosperity of the universe.

Lets begin our journey together.