Sanctuary of Your Own: Create a Haven Anywhere for Relaxation & Self-Renewal

by Caroline Dow

Bring a sense of harmony and balance to your environment so that no matter where you are, you can connect with spirit. This book shares insightful techniques for transforming any space into a haven designed to help you achieve serenity and joy.

By engaging your five senses and working with the power of intention, you can create a sacred space anywhere, no matter what your spiritual background is. Sanctuary of Your Own shows how to carve out your own personal refuge at work, in your car, or even in a hotel room. Author Caroline Dow also shares tips for designing your own altar, getting rid of clutter, and establishing spaces to share with family and friends.

Whether you want to facilitate a meditation practice or express your personal interests and cultural background, this accessible guide shows how to take small steps that get big results. With examples from cultures around the world and practical ideas for incorporating colors, fragrances, botanicals, gemstones, textiles, and even special numbers, Sanctuary of Your Own helps you fashion a perfect space where you can feel safe, relax, and rejuvenate.

Genres: Nonfiction

296 pages, Kindle Edition

Published December 8, 2019

Reviews

[Anna Katherina · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was... Eh. Fairly basic at its core, to be quite honest- and certainly situated quite firmly on the New Age pseudo-spiritual end of the spectrum; a combination of stripped-meaning religious content, Neopagan Witchcraft, and various stripped-meaning cultural practices which you can use to decorate your home in order to create a type of "sanctuary" for your own pseudo-spiritual meditation and retreat.

Mostly, however, it was just a bunch of appropriation; she spent the entire book mashing together a bunch of random Asian cultural practices, a heavy dose of Feng Shui, the inevitable mention of "Totems" and Smudging, Singing Bowls, Meditation, and so on; all of your typical white people New Age appropriators make their appearances in the book, alongside some other unfamiliar or more uncommon additions. All of it sits against the backdrop of basic interior design things- like the section on color theory that's just a very weird blend of real color theory mixed with Neopagan magical color symbolism. Half of the time she didn't even get the basic concepts correct, however- like her constant use of the words Shrine and Altar interchangeably (they are not the same thing).

It was interesting that it went room by room in terms of its organization. I did kind of enjoy that. But ultimately the depth with which any of the subjects were covered book was shallow and vapid. Frankly, if you removed all of the appropriative content within it, there wouldn't really be a book here at all. You're better off reading Peg Streep's Altars Made Easy instead; while I haven't even come close to completing it yet, and it suffers from the same pseudo-spirituality problem as this one, it's infinitely better in content by far.

[Jen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although this book taught me about some new plants and how to make an on the go altar I found a lot of the information to be recycled from other text. I felt like I could almost pick out the passages that were word for word Marie Kondo. This book does have everything sited appropriately if you wanted to reference original versions and provides an abridged all inconclusive on way to make anywhere you are seem personalized. I personally just perceived it as recycled and unoriginal.

[Sam (Hissing Potatoes) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very surface coverage of many topics, some of which veer more toward general interior design than specifically sanctuaries. While the author tries to be culturally respectful, some of her suggestions are questionable if not flat-out wrong (e.g. that anyone can smudge), and it's pretty obvious that she's a white woman from the USA writing for other white women from the USA. The book is fine as an introductory, exploratory text for people who have never read anything else on the topic.

[T. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not much new here if you've been reading about decluttering and other books on feng shui and the like. It was a pleasant enough read and I like the idea of making almost any room your sanctuary, but it was a large overview. I would have preferred something a little deeper on the topic and some things I didn't care for (a list of sacred sights to visit).

[Kendra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyable beginners type read, liked the ideas, with a good range of information.