The idea of a safe place or relaxing place is a widely used therapeutic technique that helps people calm their minds, regulate their emotions, and soothe their nervous systems. Creating a sense of safety and relaxation can support deeper emotional processing during therapy sessions, between sessions, and in everyday life.
Research has shown that prolonged psychological stress can affect both emotional and physical wellbeing, contributing to symptoms such as fatigue, muscle tension, anxiety, low mood, sleep difficulties, and other stress-related health problems. Techniques such as deep breathing, progressive muscle relaxation, and safe place visualisation can help reduce stress and promote a greater sense of emotional balance and wellbeing.
Calming imagery combined with slow, controlled breathing can also help activate the body's natural relaxation response, known as the parasympathetic nervous system. When this system is activated, heart rate and muscle tension begin to decrease, allowing the body to move away from its stress response. Our minds often react strongly to worries, difficult memories, or imagined future events, and these thoughts can trigger genuine physical stress responses. Guided visualisation can help interrupt these patterns, bringing the mind back to the present moment and creating a greater sense of calm and safety.
By combining deep breathing, body awareness, and visualisation, you can encourage your body and mind to move from a state of tension towards one of relaxation. With regular practice, many people find they feel calmer, less stressed, and better able to cope with everyday challenges. This can leave more physical and emotional energy for the people, hobbies, and activities that are important to them.
How to Practise the Safe Place Visualisation
A safe place exercise usually begins with gentle relaxation, bringing your attention gradually from your feet to the top of your head while incorporating slow, steady breathing. Once your body begins to relax, you imagine a place where you feel safe, calm, peaceful, or comfortable.
For some people, this may be a beach, woodland, a favourite room in their home, a childhood location, or a peaceful garden. For others, it may be a completely imagined place. There is no right or wrong choice — the most important thing is that it feels comforting and safe to you. If imagining a safe place feels difficult, simply focus on your breathing or choose a place that feels neutral rather than trying to create the "perfect" safe place.
Once you have imagined your special place, gently explore it using all of your senses.
- Sit or lie in a comfortable position.
- Close your eyes and take a few slow, deep breaths.
- Imagine your safe place. What are you doing there? Are you sitting, walking, standing, or resting?
- What can you see? Take your time and notice the colours, shapes, and details around you.
- What can you hear? Notice any sounds nearby or in the distance.
- What can you smell? Are there any familiar scents or fresh aromas?
- What can you touch or physically feel? Perhaps the warmth of the sun, the softness of the grass, or a gentle breeze on your skin.
- Finally, notice how you feel emotionally and physically as you spend time in your safe place.
Practise this exercise regularly and allow your safe place to become familiar over time. Many people find that, with repetition, they can access feelings of calm and grounding more easily whenever they need them. Your safe place is a personal space within your inner world that you can return to whenever you need comfort, rest, reassurance, or simply a few moments of peace.
Resource
Kabat-Zinn, J. (2013). Full Catastrophe Living: Using the Wisdom of Your Body and Mind to Face Stress, Pain, and Illness (Revised Edition). Bantam Books.