Building Spirit House

Why build a Spirit House?

A spirit house is a relaxation/meditative exercise which help calm and focus the individual who chooses to.  Its application is primarily to help a person maintain a calm temperament while oftentimes combating insomnia or difficult sleep.  Once a person has mastered accessing and maintaining their Spirit House their interaction within its pallet can be deciphered and analyzed to help a person find problems which face them in the everyday life. 

1.     Establish a Zone of Focus.

There are two ways to gain the focus needed to do a spirit house one being Focus Meditation the other being vivid visualization.  Focus Meditation is the easier of the two to ensure you have established the proper focus.  When Doing Focus Meditation once outside distractions and thoughts are centered you have established the proper focus and you may proceed.  If you are an individual who can Achieve Vivid Visualization you can also get and maintain the focus from the focusing on simple thoughts or images in your mind that outside stimulus no longer draws you out.

Ground Rules:  The best way to meditate is finding your best time.  When are you less likely to be interrupted by outside distractions? Many people find that this is either before bed or right when you wake up.  Being able to achieve focus is paramount for this exercise and it is a skill not an inborn talent, it takes time so it is recommended that you practice meditation for a few weeks before you take your Spirit House Journey.

2.     How To Know You’re in the Zone.

One achieves a Zone of focus when outside distractions no longer distract the individual from thought.  This process can take anywhere from a couple of minutes to even hours depending on the circumstances and how practiced the individual trying to achieve it is. When in the Zone you receive tunnel vision you stop having to put effort to blank your mind or in the case of Visualization achieve the un-tempered vision. For instance if one is in the Zone a distraction could arise and do nothing to pull the individual from his center or whatever thought or vision he has is having.

3.     Finding Your Spirit House.

After finding your focus you begin the visualization.  You will first need to visualize your idea of what the most relaxing beautiful place you can think of.  Think of specific senses what does it smell like, what’s the temperature, etc.  Try to stimulate each of your senses in the area.  After you have a good grasp of what your relaxing area you are ready to find your spirit house.  It will be somewhere in this relaxing place as you begin to explore you will come across it first begin at a distance taking steps forward slowly as long as the house is in focus take a step forward.  If for whatever reason you can’t visualize details stop and focus on the house until it comes back into focus.  If you have ventured the while and are unable to find it you may need to build one or try to visualize a new area there are several different ways to go about it try what your most comfortable with.  Another thing you need to keep telling yourself ”this house is me”  more often than not it ends up being a “distressed” house rundown or appears vacant.  Because of this one of you first orders of business will be to fix or repair portions which are in need of repair.  Another thing that helps is to use natural laws while this in this land anything can be possible it is important to ground it in reality to make to feel more “real” to you. 

As you get to you house notice the door is it open? What is the state of the house? Be cautious as you approach try the door if it’s locked you will have to find a way in.  If it’s wide open it is inviting you in and you should take a look.    Congratulations you have arrived at the beginning of your spirit house journey now is the time to view Ground Rules for your spirit house.

4.     Time at Your Spirit House.

Ground Rules (Important)

While at your spirit house it is important to remember that while anything is possible in this realm it is important not to be playing with symbols.   For instance much like the real world one should not play with fire both metaphorically and literally.  Maintain your foot in the real for this to work it must reflect what your subconscious views as you so don’t be placing things that don’t belong.  The more time you spend at your Spirit house you will realize that it will set ground rules for you.  There will be doors that won’t open, parts of the house which lack focus and you must help build or focus into existence etc.  You will begin to realize that whole place has certain rules which it wants you to abide by.  For instance if you come to a locked door you shouldn’t just try to break it down but look around for a key each and every aspect of the house like this under which you have no control don’t force your will onto it let it come naturally.  It will also let you know what task it wants you to fulfill first.  These tasks will be symbolic of things in your life that need to be done, or commented on.  Sometimes to further your progression in your spirit house you may need to do things in the real world, one can never be fully certain. 

Another important point to be brought to focus is one should find a point within the house once they make it in to be your access point to your spirit house.  For instance mine was the chair in front of the fireplace that is the place or part of the house I would visualize to regain access to my house.  That view from my chair in front of the fire place was my focal point and what I would bring into focus to gain access to the house.  Once you have got you vision back you can go back to exploring your house or doing your chores.   Don’t be surprised if when you come back to your house you find something new waiting for you.  Take note of these and remember them so when you finish you can write them down. 

5.     Maintaining your focus.

The best way to stay attached in your Spirit House and to make it an enjoyable affair is to live in the moment.  Treat it like a dream don’t force it or analyze it just let your interactions come natural.  Try not to stress about a door not opening or the spiders that have infested it that is all something you can do once you leave your house.  When you feel yourself drifting go back to menial tasks to keep you present.  For instance my roof had a leaking problem so I would spend long periods of time thatching the roof.  I don’t know what it was about that activity but it relaxed me in very deeps ways while also reinforcing my vision of my spirit house.   Remember the first and most important aspect of the spirit house if for it to be a relaxing activity for you.

6.     Keeping a Spirit House Journal

The Spirit house Journal is very important because it is a way for you to catalog what happens in the house and chronicle it in the real world.  It also provides a platform for you to problems solve with things that arise in your spirit house, how should I rid my house of the ant infestation, what’s the proper way to fix this creaking chair, etc.  and you can take it back and be better prepared the next time.  This journal is also a way to think of symbolism and the parallels they make to your waking life.  The emotions you feel in the world and symbols along with the emotions all have real world applications.  For instance why is it spiders infesting my house instead of some other animal.  Why can’t I stop thatching my roof? What comments are being made about my waking life? etc,

 These are the basics good luck with your spirit house journey! Enjoy!

Finding Spirit House

Several years back I stumbled upon something amazing, a form of meditation that combines the relaxing focus of meditation while enter-twining dream analysis/ vivid visualization.  I say stumbled upon because it was literally something that just happened due to the circumstances of my life. In writing this down I hope that it can benefit others as it has benefited me and help me make it through some tough times in my life.
To better understand the concept of Spirit House one must understand some of the circumstances of my life at the time it showed itself to me.  At the time I was doing my first and second year of college studying psychology and I had just gotten a very stressful job (working with anti-social teens).  My wife and I were expecting and finances were low, in so much that we were using my student loans to pay to bills.  To not go into too great detail I will just say it was one of the most stressful times of my life.
It was during this time that I was practicing some focus meditation which I had just learned and I had found that it was most helpful before bed.  I was also spending most of my mental journey writing a fantasy novel I had been dreaming up for years.  Because of my work an the many stresses I had, I had high anxiety levels and had troubles falling to sleep at night.  To help with that I would do some focus meditation and then after I had felt in more of a state of calm I began dreaming up the fantasy world of my book.  This did a little to help me with my stress it was when I got to specific part of my book that it happened.
In my book  I had a character which I mirrored after myself and I had gotten to a point in the book that he had come across a derelict house in the woods that he was going to claim as his own.  I would imagine myself as this alter ego of myself and set about the process of acquiring said house and making it my own.  It was in doing this starting with the focus meditation I found a great state of relaxation.  Every night when I got home I would do the same thing and though I had figured out that portion of the story I felt myself drawn back to this cabin in the woods.  In so doing I found I slept better and my stress levels began subsiding more as well.
I never understood what was so appealing about me going back to this house every night and why i felt so drawn to it, I just knew it worked it helped me sleep at night and helped with my stress.  It wasn't until I started taking a class about dream theory that I realized the full significance of what was happening. If one knows how dreams work, they are basically one being able to see to processes of the mind de-fragmenting itself and storing its thought and memories in their proper place and it does so through symbolism a symbol, within a symbol, within a symbol. I came to the realization that the house in my dreamlike meditation and visualization was in fact me, and my mind was commenting on my own life through the different chores and things I experienced while I was visiting there before sleep.
This may seem silly, or like I am up in the night, however through analyzing the different scenes and things that happened in this dream world I have found that my life itself and followed the lines which were revealed to me in this meditative state.  Something I had first used as a form of coping and stress relief in my life had in fact turned into something more deep and meaningful than I had thought it would and I attribute much of my current mental health to that process and what it did for me.  Through building my spirit house my life and my emotions seam to all come into balance.