“Holding space” may be associated with health benefits such as lowered blood pressure and reduced stress. Keep reading to learn how to hold space for yourself, as well as the potential benefits of doing so.
“Holding space” is a form of mindfulness. When practicing mindfulness, you center your awareness on the present moment.
You can hold space for others, but you can also do it by yourself. Holding space for yourself involves allowing yourself to feel emotions and practice reflection without self-criticism. It may also have some health benefits.
Holding space for yourself entails allowing yourself to feel emotions and practice reflection without self-criticism.
If you have a busy schedule, you may find yourself getting caught up in the day-to-day demands of your routine and not having enough time to yourself at the end of the day.
Even if you aren’t a busy person, you can benefit from taking some time for yourself to reflect on what is going on in your life and how it makes you feel.
How to hold space for yourself
- Find a comfortable spot, such as sitting down on your couch, or stay where you are. You can hold space anywhere.
- Close your eyes.
- Take a few deep breaths. Concentrate on your breathing, and try to ignore any distracting noises or thoughts.
- Allow yourself to feel what you are feeling. You may be pushing emotions down without realizing. Try to break past this barrier.
- Ask yourself why you are feeling what you are feeling. For example, are you feeling sad because you argued with your mom?
- Keep allowing yourself to feel your authentic emotions while avoiding any negative self-talk.
If you can’t dedicate time to focusing only on holding space, don’t worry. You can still practice mindfulness while going about your everyday tasks.
For example, you may consider swapping your music for silence and hold space for yourself while doing the dishes or folding laundry.
There isn’t a lot of research on the benefits of holding space specifically. However, mindfulness in general has several positive effects that you may be able to benefit from through holding space.
A 2018 review of studies found that mindfulness on its own was able to reduce symptoms of anxiety and depression.
A 2021 review of studies found that mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) is associated with reduced diastolic blood pressure in individuals with hypertension.
A 2019 study found that MBSR in the workplace was associated with:
- increased well-being
- increased job satisfaction
- reducing perceived stress
A 2020 study found that MBSR was more effective in treating symptoms of anxiety compared to the control. However, more research is needed for longer interventions.
There are limited drawbacks for holding space.
When you are holding space for yourself, you could find yourself unintentionally ruminating. This is when you become stuck in a loop of negative thoughts.
- intensify or lengthen depression
- increase or worsen anxiety
- worsen sleep
- worsen stress responses
Tips to stop ruminating
- List out action items. Writing out how you can address what you are ruminating on can give you a sense of control: you’ve taken one step towards addressing the issue at hand.
- Sort out what you can and can’t change. Can you do something about what you’re ruminating over, or is there nothing you can do? If you can’t do anything, it’s not worth your mental energy.
- Put it into perspective. Did something like this happen before in your life? What was the outcome? Chances are, it wasn’t as drastic as what you are thinking now.
- Take a deep breath, or change location. Sometimes it can help to slow down or physically change locations.
While the research on holding space specifically is limited, mindfulness in general — which includes practices like holding space — may be able to reduce anxiety, depression, and stress.
There are limited drawbacks to holding space for yourself, but you may find yourself ruminating. If you are ruminating while you are holding space, there are several strategies you can employ, such as listing out action items or getting up and changing your location.
You can carve out dedicated time to hold space or practice holding space for yourself while completing other tasks.