An Altar You Love

I'm still in the process of moving, but I figured it was about time for a real post. Today I wanted to talk about altars. I love altars. They make me feel all warm and fuzzy. I love seeing my altar... I love my altar and every piece of it.

I came across this one minute video recently on How to Create an Altar from YogaG33k. It's quick and to the point but fun, so give it shot.

My altar is a little different, so I thought I'd talk about mine a bit. You may have seen my altar in the background of my pics here and there. I know I took some pics of it for this post's exact purpose, but I can't find them... and my altar has already been packed up or I'd just take some new ones. It's built primarily of things that "are special to me" and a few fun pieces to keep things light.

My Altar is composed of:

• Purple Wrap - Gift from my longest kept best friend of 21 years.
• Ganesha picture in bright colors - just my style.
• Yellow Ribbon Lei - (draped over Ganesha pic) from my trip to Hawaii
• Large Om Painting - I painted it from scratch. Included to increase creativity.
• Photos of some of my teachers - to remind me to honor them.
• Buddha postcard because it's pretty.
• Wooden Weeping Buddha - had it for ages and it's wooden.
• Incense holder - for burning Nag Champa that smells like the yoga studio where I did my teacher training
• Ting sha bells - for meditation, classes, etc.
• Tiny prayer flags - colorful, cute, no idea where I got them
• Ganesha figure - the whole thing is built around him - The Lord of Obstacles.
• A Love Note to Myself - written at a Sianna Sherman workshop on a heart shaped piece of cardstock and it makes me feel happy
• Bits of Nature - giant pinecone, sea urchin shell, rocks, a few nut shells, small piece of meteor, feathers, occasionally sticks, and sometimes fresh flowers.
• Candles sometimes.
• Malas sometimes.

That sounds like a lot of stuff. I'm surprised and amused. Especially since I'd like to add an offering bowl and I'm sure I'll swap some stuff out later that I haven't thought of yet. Lots of altars are much smaller than mine, some of them are larger - you can't go wrong. Just make it beautiful and special to you.