[CedarS]

A strategy for dealing with anxiety and other challenges is to focus on imagination. Imagine a place that calms us, take our time to develop and refine it in our imagination.

The more often we do this, the stronger of a habit it becomes, the more available it is as something that might help.

My imagination place changes from time to time, one constant is that it always has warm sand. I imagine laying down on warm clean sand on a beach somewhere, most likely at twilight. The warm sand relaxes my muscles, is soothing, and I imagine it soaking up and draining away any unnecessary tension and anxiety.

[alan1968]

I usually can't get to a special place, especially when the panic is full blown! At that point any rational thoughts are not there, except the feeling to flee!

I have three special places, depending on who is to the forefront.

The first is my grandma's garden. This is a totally real place, and one which holds lots of memories. I can access it as a child or as an adult, and in times of great stress it is my refuge.

The second is partly imaginary, partly an amalgamation of real places; it is a beach, and is useful when I am a little agitated or want to reach a point of stillness.

The third is totally imaginary and the place I feel least secure about describing. It is a place which nurtures my inner child, a safe room with objects to support and protect me when I feel threatened or in a state of childlike fear. It is hard to reach at times but when I do reach it time and space disappear.

[greenfairy]

when i'm in full blown panic mode i cant make my mind go anywhere but where i am. no escape.
sometimes, when the panic is creeping on kind of slow, i chase it away with my counting place. might not be quite the answer you were looking for, but it seems to help. i start with a number and double it, and double again and again and keep going until i cant go any higher or until i feel myself relax (so 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, etc.) not very imaginative but it keeps my mind from racing.

[Rhapsody]

I cannot find my special place any more..... for it has been tainted by another - no PEACE for me - no PEACE any where I turn.


LoVe,
Rhapsody -

[Lexicon78]

My special place is a real place. It's actually the only place I have ever felt safe. It's where I grew up...my dad's farm. It's so beautiful and safe. Nothing around for miles and miles except for farmland. It's surrounded by a beautiful forest. I really love it there.

[jmo531]

Sarah,

Great thread. Last year I was having some confusion with a "safe place" VS a "calm place". I would run myself right into a panic attack trying for the life of me to find a "safe" place. Finally I resigned myself that I had to find a comfortable place first, familiarize (sp) myself with it and eventually, hopefully, I would be able to call it my "safe place".

Like you, I am a fan of the beach. A warm beach, with warm soft sand at dusk. I like to imagine the beautiful colors in the sky because the sky is very soothing to me. I like to feel the sand between my toes cause sometimes it tickles. LOL.

I also made a list of places where I feel most comfortable. I made this list because in the mists of these anxiety attacks I wanted to refer to something that I could see, hold in my hand and know that these things make me feel comfy. Among these things are my Pooh Bear.

Again, thanks for this thread. I think it is important for all of us to have a place where we can feel "untouchable".

Huggles,

Jen

My safe place is in my mind - a mental safe place called La La Land. La La Land is my mental musical safe place. There's a tree to sit under, fresh summer grass to sit on, white fluffy musical clouds to float and or sleep on, and a sort of stage area where my favorite country music singers sing my favorite songs.

I visited la la land so much as a child and an adult that my memories got separated and stored at the unconscious level, and then every time I visited la la land those memorys replay (ed) causing me to physically acting them out while mentally I was visiting la la land. This is called Dissociative Identity Disorder.

After 3 years of working with a great therapist I don't use la la land as an escape from my problems very often. Instead I am working on remembering those memories that were stored separate in my unconscious and learning new coping tools other than going into la la land to escape them.

These new coping tools include relaxing with imagry but also contain body awareness elements so that I remain physically and mentally connected to what is going on in the here.

Now instead of separating the mental aspects from the physical by use of imagry and imagination I use physically safe activities instead of mental safe places. For example taking a long bubble bath or taking a walk and noticing what is around me like watching and feeding the ducks behind my appartment complex, listening to relaxation music while playing a card game. They all have the same relaxing effect of taking a break on me that my la la land does.

[pegasus]

SarahL

Done a lot of this in therapy. It really is very useful. An imaginary safe place. I have several that I use where the sun is shining, a gentle breeze, buttercups and daisies....arrh!
It really does help a lot especially if for some reason I am stuck indoors and the great thing about it is that you can make it as wonderful and magical as you like.

Thanks SarahL for reminding me of that one.

my special place is lyin g in my bed, o n my ranch, listening to barred owls cussing each other out and coyotes talking in the background..........wolves chiming in occasionally..........window open, of course. that's where i always go.

[CedarS]

Great ideas and replies everyone, appreciated!

I think whatever works for us is what matters. A counting place is a great idea too. I hope anyone who doesn't have something like this to help them, and wants to, can do so.

[Myzen]

A good thread subject.

I have always been wary of special places, as I am afraid that if I rely on a special place it will fail, which is in itself a typical panic thought.

I have strategies. My best strategy is breathing to the numbers, whilst thinking of myself as a survivor. I think that I am not hoping or wishing to feel better, I am a strong person who is not afraid of feeling bad. I say to myself that I will go through what I need to go through.

I find that working on the fear helps to stop panicky feelings of avoidance and calms down the panic. Once I had done this quite a few times I got better at it, and nowadays I can go through the anxiety reasonable well.

One thing that surprises me is that I can go into the exercise feeling like I am just about to die, and then 20 minutes later I feel OK again. This shows just how fickle the mind is, but also that we can control it and that the exercise is effective.

Good thoughts, M

[CedarS]

I have that experience too, of being amazed at how effective self help skills are if I actually do them.

I very much like your idea of knowing you are a strong person who is not afraid of feeling bad. I think this is a key realization. Telling myself that this too shall pass, or at least be different, helps me sometimes. Knowing that all my feelings are okay, including pain and fear helps too.

Practice makes such a difference.

Sometimes when my symptoms increase, I may think that surely nothing simple can help -this-, something complicated is needed. I try some simple things anyway and find that they work.

Reminds me too of how seemingly simple things like making sure I've eaten something and have gotten enough sleep, maybe some B complex vitamins, makes an immense difference. Doing a special place visualization and/or using another skill is effective, even if while in the midst of it I'm not certain that anything will help.