We’re all asking a lot of our homes these days. What used to be a spot to crash and be comfortable after leaving work or school has, in many cases, become forever intermingled with work and school. Now we’re squeezing use out of every square foot – hello, outfitting our own home gyms – which is all well and good but what about that…chill out and be comfortable part?
Enter the newest health and wellness home décor trend: mediation rooms and yoga rooms.
Their popularity makes sense. Who among us wouldn’t benefit from a safe spot in our homes to relax, unwind, and decompress? To listen to soft music (or sit in silence) in a comfortable environment. Or perhaps a yoga room would better fit the bill for you. A space where you could practice movements and stretches while focused on breathing to create mental clarity and physical strength.
After all, we know it’s important. If the pandemic taught us one thing, it’s that the worse we feel mentally, the worse we feel physically. And vice versa. In fact, a major study from the Cleveland Clinic shows that many more people have come to understand the link between physical health and mental health over the past few years. Looks like the trend might be here to stay – for all of our benefit.
So, in the spirit of calmness, Zen and all-around good health, we’ve collected our top tips for your meditation space / home yoga room.
Meditation Room Ideas
A good meditation room is one designed for comfort. It’s a place for you to set aside mental and emotional loads and achieve at least some measure of serenity during your daily life. What that looks like is, of course, individual to each person. But there are some design elements that might help you find inner peace a little bit easier to obtain. Check out our best meditation room ideas below:
Choose calming colors, like pale blues, greens or neutrals like cream or pearl gray to help clear your mind and center your flow. Avoid garish or clashing tones, and remove any artwork or accessories that don’t add to the mood. Sticking to pastel or pale hues will help unite different colors, and make the meditation room feel more intentional.
Add a selection of plants that fit the light conditions in your space. Make sure the planters fit with the overall vibe. Terra cotta is a nice neutral that is easy on the wallet and tends to look good in most design schemes. As for plants, consider succulents in stones, bamboo or a trailing vine like Pothos for low-maintenance, high-impact looks.
Swap out the lighting with easily dimmable fixtures, string lights or flickering, flameless candles. You should also try to set up your meditation space near a source of natural light (like in the picture above) to boost your serotonin and soak up some Vitamin D.
Remove technology unless it helps the cause. Without a doubt, an essential oil diffuser or small speaker set to play calming music is useful, but try to keep the phone, the watch, the laptop and the tv somewhere else completely. It will calm your mind to have those distractions – and the various emotions they stir up – out of the picture.
Consider the view a major part of the design scheme as well. Would looking at a tapestry focus you more than looking out of a window? Would a picture of a serene place help you visualize? You might try a couple of different ideas before settling on one that feels right.
These Zen room ideas are definitely just a start. You’ll want to consider what furniture, accessories or equipment you’ll want in your space as well – especially if you’re looking for it to serve double duty as a yoga room.
If you’re planning to make yoga a regular part of your meditation room, keep scrolling for our best advice about breaking a sweat in your mental haven.
Yoga Room Ideas
Yoga is renowned around the world for its ability to center practitioners through breath work, balance, stretching and even inversions. (That’s right, all you non-yogis – sometimes we do headstands. And they feel good!) The benefits are many: from easing arthritis symptoms to decreasing stress to reducing back pain, yoga is widely accepted as an effective form of both mental and physical self-care. Plus, it keeps you toned.
Below are yoga room ideas that might be helpful if you are looking to add this functionality to any kind of meditation room. It really all depends on what you want to do to unite mind and body while relaxing in a chilled-out environment. So take what suits you and ignore what doesn’t.
Make sure you’ve got space to get your stretch on. If you’re planning a yoga room, it might be necessary to pack up some unused items and move them to your self-storage unit. Recently, a lot of our customers have been storing their dining room sets, extra clothes, and personal mementos to make more space for their at-home pursuits.
Use bins and baskets to tidy up your blocks, straps and mats when not in use. More rustic materials like seagrass can ground the space and make it feel earthy. Plastic bins or boxes also work, and can give the space a modern, fresh and clean look, but most yogis tend to like the authenticity of natural materials. It all depends what’s functional, affordable and makes you feel at ease.
Create ‘relax room’ for your little ones too. The younger generation needs space to be alone, move and disconnect as much as older people. Help them carve out a little yoga room by building a fort with sheets, twinkle lights and maybe a child’s size yoga mat or small rug. You might be surprised how much they like it – and use it.
Add accessories to bring in a little Mother Earth. No home yoga room would feel quite complete without a Himalayan salt lamp or two, crystals, and dried or fresh flowers. If you’re near water, driftwood and sea glass would be easy to collect and add to the vibe. If you’re not, consider incorporating branches and beautiful local stones.
Turn on different colored lights to fit different objectives. According to lighting manufacturer Philips, blue light cranks up the energy, green light calms the mind, and red light actually stimulates melatonin for a better night’s sleep. Consider buying a small fixture that can be adjusted to any of these modes, rather than repeatedly swapping out different light bulbs.
One of the greatest things about yoga rooms and meditation rooms is that how they look, feel and function is entirely about you – and what you want and need to create space for inward focus in your life. Whether you want to go all in on relaxing or use the space to work up a sweat, it’s your call.
Listen to your own intuition about what makes the room connect. Because having an area to call your own (and enjoy on your own terms) is a major boon to mental, emotional, and physical health. Namasté.
