The Power of a Safe Place

Safe Place is one of my favorite activities to utilize with my clients as we begin trauma healing. The objective of Safe Place is to help you access feelings of peace, safety, and even joy despite your current present distressing reality. When we think about places we love and feel safe in, we can access positive emotions related to good experiences we’ve had in those places and feel those sensations in our bodies. God created beautiful biological benefits to imagination that we have access to as we heal.

In this activity, take a few minutes to answer the following questions:

• Where is a place, or what experience have you had where you felt calm and/or safe?
• What does that place look like?
• What smells, sensations, sounds, textures, and temperatures do you experience there?
• What emotions do you feel there?

Imagine this place in as much detail as possible and notice where in your body positive emotions present themselves. Write down what you saw, felt, heard, and smelled, along with the emotions and the physical sensations you felt.

After writing these down, go back to your safe space. Once you notice the physical sensations that are connected to positive feelings of safety and joy, cross your arms over your chest with each hand touching right below the opposite shoulder. Slowly count to ten as you alternate tapping each hand below each shoulder. This is a practice called tapping, it’s a type of body stimulation that helps us consolidate or save memories, thoughts, and emotional sensations. Tapping has several benefits, such as calming our nervous system.

Read your descriptions as needed to help you remember them. But as you add bilateral stimulation (always when you feel the positive emotions and sensations), there will come a time when you can simply name the place (i.e., beach, home) and your brain will flood your mind and body with all the images and sensations of your Safe Place. This is a great resource for people who experience frequent triggers, social anxiety, panic attacks, and the other manifestations of the terror our traumas create.

Set aside a time each day for the week to practice Safe Place so you can familiarize yourself with the process for the next time it might be useful to you.