We all probably know that feeling when we’ve been out in a crowd, or too long around nervy and frantic people – we tend to get the jitters too, and feel tired and drained. We’ve probably all learnt ways to combat this, ways of grounding ourselves and putting up energetic shields so that the chaotic energy of certain places, people, and situations won’t touch us so well, and hopefully won’t sink in.

Doing this is fairly easy, with practice, and I go over the steps for it in my guide Ground & Centre. It’s energy work, and we do it in the beginning by using our imaginations – because what do I always say about imagination?

That’s right. Imagination is the gateway to the other worlds, and to energy work.

Here’s the quick run-down from Ground & Centre on a simple way to ground ourselves:

3. Close your eyes and focus inwards. Be still and let your attention mark how you are feeling. Mark how your body feels, its aches and pains, if any, its vitality, and strength. Seek then how your energy feels and describe it silently to yourself. Does it shift and flow freely through you? Or can you feel disruption, prickliness, the staticky discomfort of the unwanted energy?

4. Underneath that disorganised, clingy energy, feel the strong, clean, and bright essence of your own self, your own energy. There will always be at least a thread of it there. Think of it as light, and send it downwards, out through both feet, and into the ground like roots. Now you are properly steady.

5. It’s time to move that unwanted energy. On your outward breaths, mentally push it downwards. Down through your body, down your legs, down into your ‘roots’ and out into the soil.

6. Breathe slowly and deeply and expel the unwanted energy and emotions, clearing them down and out of your body.

7. Feel yourself get lighter and brighter as you clear away all that unwanted energy.

So, we know how to guard our energies against outside pressures, but it’s also possible to do this the other way around – to affect the atmosphere around us.

I’ve just moved into a new house, and part of settling in means not only setting up all my things, putting books on shelves, making sure I have somewhere to work, but there’s another facet to making my workspace congenial for my writing – and that’s working on the atmosphere of the room.

In our last place, for most of the year I had no dedicated writing space. I ranged around the house trying out places, but because none of them were private spaces, I was making do, rather than working in an optimal space.

The new house we’re now renting is an old beauty and one of the rooms is an old-fashioned library, with fireplace and shelves and shelves and shelves for books. This, much to my pleasure, is to be my new writing space. I’ve put my books on the shelves, installed my desk in the corner for all the business work, and set up the writing space at one end of the sofa (I don’t write at a desk, but find it more comfortable to sit in an armchair or on a couch).

I’ve set up my altar, and there’s really only one thing now to work on – and that’s getting the atmosphere of the room right.

When I come into my writing room, I don’t want to bring the cares and concerns of the outside world with me. I need a space that feels safe and serene, that is expansive and sacred. That’s the best atmosphere for working, particularly as I work on the Wilde Grove books – all of which deal with an expansive metaphsycial world, and some scenes of which are written in a light trance.

I can’t so well enter and enjoy states of calm clarity and gratitude if I am covered in the sticky burrs of the world we live in, a place where division seems to exist as often as community. So, I deliberately foster an atmosphere of calm, sacred serenity in my room, meaning that when I come in to work, the atmosphere wraps around me and makes it easier to feel grounded and clear, ready to work, or pray, or just enjoy the break.

Ideally, my whole house becomes a sanctuary like this, but I usually begin with my writing room. If you’re wanting a space where you can go and feel calm, a space where you can just be, with the door shut out on the clamouring world, then I highly recommend that you try this too.

Now, sit in this space you have created, whether it is a corner or a whole room. As you sit, let your breathing calm. Let your thoughts go where they will for a minute or two, not giving them attention, but concentrating on your breathing. Let your gaze wander over the things you have set in your space, all the while breathing slowly, deeply, in and out, without strain or struggle. Just sit and breathe. If your thoughts become intrusive – with worries and cares – tell yourself calmly, that those thoughts are not for here and now, and move them aside. Sit inside your body, breathing, letting your eyes rest on your space.

Feel your body, and let it relax. Tell your body what a good job it does getting you around, even if it struggles. Tell yourself how glad you are to have a heart full of grace, even if it feels careworn. Tell yourself how pleasant it is to sit there in this space, this soft, sacred space. Let your lips curve upwards into a small smile. Let your shoulders loosen, for right now, there is no burden for them to carry. Let your breathing be steady, in and out. In and out.

Feel your calmness radiate out from inside you, filling your corner, or your room. Feel this serenity, let it fill you so that you will remember this feeling. It feels good. Breathe extra deeply and let the breath out in a sigh that relieves some of the tension that you carry around with you. Here in this space you have created, you are safe. It is a sacred space, one that you easily fill, for really, this is your natural state. Calm, clear, safe, filled with grace.

Now, whenever you come back to this room, or this space, let yourself remember this feeling – your body will automatically relive it – and let it fill yourself and the room around you, because remember that your energy doesn’t end at the boundary of your skin, but swells further, and can influence the air around you.

Repeat these moments of calm in your sanctuary; repeat this remembering of feeling whenever you enter the room, and soon you will find that the room itself has taken on your air of calmness, of stillness, of sweet, soft safety. You can let it wash over you as you enter, and if ever you need a quick refresh, or a longer wallowing, you now have the space for it.

Eventually, you’ll be able to conjure these feelings and atmosphere wherever you are, and radiate them around yourself, finding steadiness and security in a world that often seems to want the opposite for you.

Be blessed, my friends.
Be steady, and calm,
Full of grace.

Katherine Genet is the author of the Wilde Grove fiction series. She has been walking a pagan path for 30 years and is a shamanic Druid, spirit worker, and priestess of  Elen of the Ways.