The safe place

What it is and where it comes from

Mentally constructing a 'safe place' — an imagined space where the person feels calm and protected — is a common stabilization technique in trauma-focused therapies, including Peter Levine's Somatic Experiencing, where it is used as a regulation resource before addressing more activating content. In a general wellness (non-clinical) context, it serves as a reusable anchor of calm: an imagined place to return to, growing more detailed and familiar each time.

• Peter A. Levine, Waking the Tiger: Healing Trauma (1997) — Introduce el recurso del 'lugar seguro' como herramienta de estabilización dentro de la Experiencia Somática.

How to practice it

1. 1.Think of a place, real or imagined, where you would feel completely safe and calm.
2. 2.Add concrete details: the colors, the sounds, the feel of the air or the ground.
3. 3.Notice what bodily sensation accompanies that calm (where do you feel it? what is it like?).
4. 4.Practice returning to that place mentally several times; with repetition it becomes more accessible and effective.