Creating a Safe Place

• November 8, 2021
• By Michelle Nietert

Creating a Safe Place

When I’m planning a Holy Yoga class, whether it’s for adults or children, the first question I begin with is, “How I can create a safe space for those I will be ministering to?” In the counseling office, we have clients identify a safe place where they have been — whether a beach, a place in nature or even a special moment in their lives — and go there in their minds. We help them by encouraging them to visualize the scene and adding to it sounds, smells, tastes and textures, creating the experience of mindfulness. This place needs to have no negativity attached and truly be a place where their minds and bodies can relax. We then add to their relaxation by asking them to breathe and create a sense of warm peace that can flow throughout their bodies. I often ask them to choose a word that they associate with this place, and hear words such as calm, peace, rest, etc.

Sometimes before I ask the client to go their safe place, if I observe them to seem agitated and rushed, we might take a step back and first do a containment exercise. I ask my clients to visualize a trunk or container of some sort, see themselves grabbing all the thoughts, to-dos and worries, and lock those stressors inside.

What are some worries you could see your class members carrying with them?

• Many people bring in fears regarding their future job options and additional stress for those who love the work they are currently doing. It seems like everywhere I go, employers are looking for entry-level employees. Business owners may be struggling to find the support they need to stay open. As I engage with those who work for companies in higher-level positions, they often wonder how they are going to work at the same job with less people, with the same or increased amount of work demand.
• I recently overheard conversations regarding people’s expenses increasing as shortages continue without the income escalation to match. 
• Many of the women at our studio also share concerns about the changes occurring to their own bodies. Menopause, for example, can have drastic effects on women’s sleep, their ability to think and their desire to produce at the same pace as once before.
• With mental health statistics rising among children and teens, some yogis may be entering your class worried about a child or having just come from some type of escalated interaction with a family member.

I’d love for you to share in the comments additional worries you believe it’s important for us as instructors to be aware of so that we can care for our clients well.  After those worries are contained and the trunk or box is locked, I remind them to add any extra security they wish to keep contained during class. I also make sure to remind them that they have permission to unlock the container and address their concerns whenever the time is right for them. I had one woman, who realized how many she’d locked away, decide she was going to leave some locked behind in class so she wouldn’t be so overwhelmed the following week, knowing they could be examined when she had more life bandwidth. We do this often in counseling offices. For those of you who teach kids, I have a cute worry gobbler you can create with your students. God is a great worry gobbler and wants us to cast our cares upon Him because He cares for us (1 Peter 5:7).

I’m grateful to not only be an instructor but also a student at the studio I attend in Frisco, TX. My favorite class is Restorative. Generally, I find my studio experience to be one of peace, calming the fight or flight part of my brain called the amygdala that often gets stimulated by the type of work I do. When I teach, I face away from the mirror; I try and remind myself that my experience is different when facing the wall-to-wall mirrors in the studio I attend. For those attending classes who are struggling with weight gain or body image issues that they may ignore throughout the day except when seeing their image or getting dressed, they may find sitting or performing certain poses in front of a mirror activates their very real struggle with critical thoughts. During each class, I try to insert a reminder to talk kindly to ourselves about our bodies, express gratitude for how they have served us well, and send a reminder that our bodies as believers hold a very precious gift – the Holy Spirit of God at work in and through us. I’m grateful my studio uses the best-selling, award winning devotional I wrote with Proverbs 31 speaker and writer, Lynn Cowell, titled Loved and Cherished because just like the girls in our lives, we need to realize that in the midst of looking at our bodies in whatever shape, they are not only loved and cherished by the God who created them but also that their value does not come from what they do, how they look, what they own or how many people admire them.

During our classes, we want our students to meet God on a mat and use this time for whatever God wants for them. I pray as we continue our ministry, that God would sensitize us to the burdens, struggles, and emotions they face during the six days and twenty-three hours when they are not with us.