Ready to create a sacred space in your home that supports your body and nurtures your soul? Welcome to Ask Dr. Jodi, where I offer trauma-informed mental health and relationship advice you won’t hear anywhere else. Today, I’m diving into the power of sacred spaces - how they can bring peace, intention, and healing into your life, and I’m joined by my dear friend, Asha Ramakrishna, to explore the magic behind them.
In this episode, I sit down with Asha, a modern priestess and founder of the Modern Priestess School, to talk about the significance of sacred spaces. Whether it’s a dedicated room, a small altar, or a special shelf, these spaces hold energy that can help us feel more grounded, supported, and connected. Asha shares how her childhood home was filled with intentional sacred objects and how that shaped her approach to creating altars today.
We also discuss the different types of altars you can create—whether for meditation, manifestation, relationships, or honoring loved ones—and how even the simplest intentional acts, like lighting a candle or placing a cherished object, can shift the energy in your home. I share some of my own altar practices, including how I’ve created spaces for writing, relationships, and even fun! Plus, we talk about the importance of cleansing and refreshing these spaces so they continue to support you in the best way possible. If you’re looking for ways to bring more meaning and peace into your everyday life, this episode is for you!
🔹 Sacred Spaces Hold Energy: Whether big or small, intentional spaces help us feel supported, nurtured, and emotionally held.
🔹 Altars Can Serve Different Purposes: You can create altars for relationships, work, healing, manifestation, or even fun!
🔹 Objects Hold Meaning & Energy: The items we surround ourselves with impact our mindset and emotions, so choosing them intentionally makes a difference.
🔹 Cleansing & Maintaining Sacred Spaces Matters: Refreshing your altar—by cleaning, rearranging, or making offerings—helps amplify its energy and purpose.
🔹 Sacred Energy Travels with You: You can create sacred spaces even when traveling, and incorporating meaningful symbols into daily life can be a powerful practice.
📺Watch the video of this episode at the blog: https://jodiaman.com/blog/sacred_space
🌎Asha's website: https://www.ashaisnow.com/
📖 The Priestess Code by Asha Ramakrishna: https://amzn.to/3CWQdaG
Dr. Jodi Aman’s YouTube Channel: @DoctorJodi
Generation Z Mental Health Resource Guide: jodiaman.com/guide
Your Soul Map: Liberation, Human Design, and the BIPOC Experience By Asha Ramakrishna https://amzn.to/3Da4y3r
📚 Anxiety, I’m So Done with You! by Dr. Jodi Aman: https://amzn.to/3XkSgvZ
🎴 Redirect Positive Mindset Cards: jodiaman.com/order-redirect-flash-cards
🎭 EnCompass SEL Class Activity: jodiaman.com/order-encompass-game
🤍🤍 Follow Asha Ramakrishna on Instagram: @ashaisnow
Thank you so much for listening to Ask Dr. Jodi! If you loved this episode, please leave a five-star review on Spotify or Apple Podcasts and share it with someone who could use a little more sacred space in their life! 💛✨
Dr. Jodi Aman: [00:00:00] Welcome to tonight's episode where you're going to learn about creating a sacred space in your Creating an altar or a place for prayer or meditation whether it's a room or just a corner of a shelf We are going to show you all about it. And I have here with my with me my friend Asha And tell us a little about yourself and why you're here.
Asha Ramakrishna: Why did I hijack this live? So my name is Asha Ramakrishna and I'm trained as a molecular biologist and I'm a Turned modern priestess. I created a program called Modern Priestess School, and I founded this program, Sacred Commerce. I wrote a book called The Priestess Code, and I co authored another book on human design near Soul Map.
And I think the reason you [00:01:00] asked me to talk about this is because my house is all about altars in every space.
Dr. Jodi Aman: Absolutely. So I've been to Asha's house. Asha lives in Massachusetts and she's visiting for a couple of days because we're doing some business brainstorming. And I've known Asha for many years and we've, watched each other grow in our business and I've been to her house. This is her first time to my house So I've seen through video and I seem to being there What how it can transform a space to have sacred objects and have beauty Around intentional beauty around in these sacred spaces.
Tell us a little bit about you and how you think about how you decorate that connects and supports you and your work.
Asha Ramakrishna: Yeah, I definitely don't consider myself somebody who knows how to decorate. First of all.
Dr. Jodi Aman: Her house is so cool. So cool.
Asha Ramakrishna: Thank you.
Dr. Jodi Aman: It's so like boho cool and unique. I love it
Asha Ramakrishna: I mean, I really [00:02:00] love it, but I also like I realized so i'm originally from venezuela Or I grew up in venezuela. I'm indian and venezuelan and about a year ago, I went back to my childhood home, and I realized that, oh my gosh, my home was like a living, breathing temple. The artwork, the intentionality of all the sacred pieces that my parents had.
And a lot of them were from Venezuela, from India but I think that's where I got the imprint of creating the energy of a space.
The energy of a space yeah. And I like to think of it, because you could see my house too, and I have altars everywhere, but it. supports me. I feel like that it is living and breathing, but it holds a structure that supports me so I don't have to have as much bandwidth.
I think it's like a [00:03:00] relationship. Yes. In some ways, right? It's like we water our plants. I think our altars can sometimes be like that. We water them in different ways. And I think we're going to talk a little bit about how we do that, but then it becomes this relationship where we feed it and then it feeds us.
Exactly.
Dr. Jodi Aman: So let's start with saying, why would we, why would somebody create a sacred space? Why do you create sacred space? Part of it is just the design and holding the space or making your, a place a sanctuary.
Asha Ramakrishna: Yeah, I think we need that, right? I think like the world there's definitely a lot of places of non sanctuary, and I think that our homes are a sanctuary and I think even defining places in our home that go beyond beauty.
That go beyond like it's clean and it's functional, but that [00:04:00] actually is, holds a certain frequency and a certain energetics. I'll tell you a story. Okay. So when I was a young mom and we lived in a small place and it was like, there was like chaos everywhere and because it was small, my altar space was super limited.
And I remember saying to my partner who like, I definitely taught him how to like honor altars and sacred spaces. And there was like no sanctuary for me in that place, like working, being a mom. And I said, okay, the top of this dresser is mine. No one puts anything on there. And then, okay, the kids learn, my partner learn, and then slowly I started adding items that meant something to me.
And it was mine. Like it was like my place where I would go and I'd just see like clean surface, [00:05:00] you know, and the things that I cared about. And I think as a practical way, it's where I started valuing that I had that little piece of property on the top of the dresser that was just for me.
Dr. Jodi Aman: Yeah. Just for you and what you valued and then you in turn valued yourself or that valued you.
Asha Ramakrishna: Like I studied feng shui and I do believe that the space. Reflects our energy. Yes. Whether we're aware of it or not.
Dr. Jodi Aman: Chaos inside. There's chaos around you For sure. Chaos around you.
There's chaos in your mind. Clean it up
Asha Ramakrishna: for sure. And when you're a mom too, little kids, there's chaos, like that's just the nature of the thing, right? And again, having that place where it was like, ah, clean surface, gave me like a little breather.
Dr. Jodi Aman: Yeah.
Asha Ramakrishna: And so then, now it's like I amplified it beyond just clean surface.
Like [00:06:00] now it's these altars that have some significance to me. And then maybe it's also evolved to there are alters that are for specific things.
Dr. Jodi Aman: Yeah, I do. I have alter, when I was writing my book, I had an alter for writing it. And then when I was promoting it, I had an alter for promoting it.
But you have a relationship alter for you and your significant other. You could have an alter for your kids or a health issue that you're going through. Or another project at work, or work in general, our friend has a fun altar. I think that's the best. A fun altar? Yeah, Joy. Oh yeah. Remember Joy had a fun altar and it was like, we were all like, what?
That is amazing! It's amazing!
A fun
altar.
Asha Ramakrishna: I have an actual altar where I have deities and I do like my I have my main altar, yes.
Dr. Jodi Aman: That's another thing. This could be a space where you pray, or meditate, or set intentions, or it could be just a central place in your house. So my altar, behind the, the, you can imagine where the altar is, behind [00:07:00] the couch you were just sitting on, where I have green tarot.
Yeah, so that I have a main altar, which is like a main altar and then different places And in fact, I brought this because even the tablescapes even the center of my tables or different places I have sacred objects and they change seasonally. Oh So maybe it's for the holiday or whatever, or maybe it's the time of year, or it could be something that we're going through.
Asha Ramakrishna: And these things mean something to you.
Dr. Jodi Aman: Yeah, these things mean something. So we, for example, this is a little pin of a dogwood and that's Ted and I's flower. Oh,
I love dogwoods. Our relationship. We just had our anniversary. So I saw this in an antique store and it's a really unique little. thing. And yes, I know it's a pin for your clothes, but I put it on, I just put it, stuck it in here and it looks cool with all this stuff.
These paperweights are from my dad and the pomegranate symbolized resurrection. And then I have [00:08:00] a little, I saw this in the antique store too. It's so beautiful. It's a little, you tell them about it.
Asha Ramakrishna: I think it's Lakshmi, Ganesha, and Lakshmi, so Ganesha's the remover of obstacle and Lakshmi is the goddess of wealth and prosperity.
Dr. Jodi Aman: Yeah. I have some theater glasses because my daughter's in theater, so I have those on my center table and it just says, I always have it in a little tray or something to lift it up and it's easy because then if I need to remove it. to have dinner or something. I removed the whole thing, but I could put it back.
Asha Ramakrishna: And it contains the energy.
Dr. Jodi Aman: It contains the energy, yeah. But also, even just a candle is a place where a primal source knows, Oh, this just went out. I just blew it out while I was dipping the wax, but this is a little candle holder that my aunt gave me. Sometimes she watches the show. Shout out to Aunt Mary!
Or the cardinal, because cardinals sometimes symbolize people who have passed. And so I always have a candle lit when I'm working because it's just a [00:09:00] place to call that energy and set an intention that I want to have this work blessed and be a blessing to whoever I'm offering it to and back to myself or to my family.
Well, a lot of times in our group, if someone is having a ceremony or going through something or struggling with something the other ones of us. It's light candles for them. And it's just a way to, set an intention in a sacred place. So and there's a lot of options, like even outside I have special places where I put offerings for different projects or things.
Asha Ramakrishna: I know like sometimes people ask me, like, how do I even begin, right? Like it's, I think having objects that we, that mean something to us is a great start. And then I think some people like maybe want to go a little bit further and they. Ask what else can I include in an altar? And like sometimes I will say if you find an item that is connected to each of the elements, so a [00:10:00] water element, earth fire, like a candle air and then ether.
So incense is like a perfect one because it gets both like the air and and the ether with the smoke. And that's a really beautiful way to honor this plane, this material plane that we're in. Yeah. I like that.
Dr. Jodi Aman: Yeah. Or you could just have something that you find outside that just calls to you as you're rocking or a little shell.
that you found at the beach somewhere. Really, anything goes. I have some bells that were my grandmother's.
Asha Ramakrishna: Oh, that's so beautiful.
Dr. Jodi Aman: Isn't that beautiful? She had a bell collection, so I do have a lot of her bells. We've all spread them out, obviously. And I have a little hair clip that was from my trip to Bali.
Oh, sweet. Also, obviously, if someone passes, maybe you put an altar to them for a little while. Our uncle just passed, and so we had an altar up. He liked St. Francis, so I had the St. Francis statue, and his [00:11:00] little prayer card is my dad's prayer card, but we had his prayer card there, and his special flowers that he liked.
So we had that up for a month, and that was a special way to keep walking by and be like, Hi, I'm a Jim. Huh. And stay connected. That's what you mean by having a relationship, so when you walk by, you might be looking at the objects and, I don't know, just thinking good things about them or feeling, like sending good ideas or intentions, or you could write a little note of your intention and put it on there.
Asha Ramakrishna: Yeah, and it's a way. So many different ways to do it. And in building that relationship, it's like any relationship. The more that we sit with it, the more that we cultivate it. When we need it, it also shows up for us. Yeah, like I especially notice that with like my altar where I do my spiritual practice.
It's like that sometimes that is the place where I like sit and cry, yeah,
Dr. Jodi Aman: but you go there and the energy you feel it already when you
Asha Ramakrishna: Yeah, like it supports me [00:12:00] because I've been cultivating that and then also because because of what they rep, the items represent, like the figures represent certain aspects of the divine.
Yeah. But that one's like my most special one, I think.
Dr. Jodi Aman: Yeah. There is always a most special one. And then they change. So you clean them I put incense around them.
Asha Ramakrishna: Oh yeah, we should talk about that. Cleaning them.
Dr. Jodi Aman: Cleaning them.
Asha Ramakrishna: Because what I have seen for me is like when something like a little bit funky is going on or just like I'm just like needing, yes.
Dr. Jodi Aman: You need a little energy reboot.
Asha Ramakrishna: A little okay. Cleaning my alters is sure enough, when I do that, something shifts. Something shifts about me. Something shifts about how I perceive things. Yeah that's a really effective way to change yourself.
Dr. Jodi Aman: Usually when I clean, like I adjust it, or I add, or I subtract, or,
Asha Ramakrishna: yeah. And they can be modified, right?
Dr. Jodi Aman: So sometimes I put an offering on my altar, [00:13:00] and then when you're cleaning it, you take it outside to the earth. So if you put a fruit, or if you're putting a little candy on there, and then eventually, then you offer that to the earth.
Asha Ramakrishna: Yeah. And you're all set with that, I like that. Yeah. In India, they always say that one of the secrets one of the secrets, I love secrets.
Dr. Jodi Aman: We're going to get a secret about altars.
Asha Ramakrishna: Is that when we make an offering. To have it be a food item. That the food item is like a way to to be in the relationship with the great spirit who isn't partaking of coffee or apples or whatever and it can be a way to give them something that they don't have
Dr. Jodi Aman: Yeah, sometimes it's sweets.
Asha Ramakrishna: Yeah. Yeah in India. They do sweet
Dr. Jodi Aman: a lot of sweets. Yeah
So yeah, if you have any questions you could ask us some questions. I'll see it on my computer And if you write to us afterwards, we'll reply as well this is a great conversation [00:14:00] about having that sacred space because there it gives you a space To create a routine, to set your intentions, to connect with the field around you, to connect with that energy so you feel supported.
I wanted to say something about trauma. Trauma is a sense that we're unheld that we're alone, that we're so overwhelmed by our emotions because of the event, that's what, that's the definition of trauma. But really, that overwhelm with emotions is Like a free fall, you're not held. And so to heal, and all of us had some kind of trauma in our life, and to heal, the aspect of healing, and this is a metaphor, it's to return to feeling held again.
And I feel like having these spaces in your home or having safe places in your home, sacred places in your home, uncluttered places in your home. And having that relationship with your house, I was talking to my friend [00:15:00] this weekend and I took her, we went away for a couple days, and she didn't, doesn't leave her house that often, she doesn't travel that often.
So she talked to her house. I'm leaving for a couple days. It'll be okay. She always, she creates, she thinks about her house as a living being and it's so beautiful. It's so beautiful because that house is her sanctuary. She nurtures the house and the house nurtures her and she's held. I think that's I think it's so important in this world that we're constantly feeling unheld because we're constantly feeling powerless and there's so many things out there that are making us feel powerless that we need a place.
When people don't have a secure home, and so many people don't have a secure home, it is a lot of energy and bandwidth , to deal with that. And it's not, it's unjust and unfair in our world that we have people that are on house, but and hopefully, we can work towards making a difference there.
But. If you have a space, even if you're [00:16:00] renting, make that space a sanctuary. Even if you have roommates, if you have your little corner, or even if you live with a lot of people, if you have some corner or some little dresser top, that you could create a sacred space. It'll really, and it could be something you fold up.
Asha Ramakrishna: For sure.
Dr. Jodi Aman: Because when we travel, we take a little altar, and there's a couple things that we take, and then you find a little space wherever you are when you're traveling, and you have a little bit of an altar there. So it doesn't, you don't have to leave it out. It could be something and it could be inside you or it could be on you.
Look at this, right? So you know, we could be the alter and we could wear things that have the energy that we're trying to help support us, so a bird for peace or freedom or partnership. Or stones, if you like the energy of certain stones,
Asha Ramakrishna: I, which
I do. Yeah. I, you made me think about how [00:17:00] in, in Bali, there is, they incorporate Buddhism.
Hinduism and also animism. And animism is this belief that everything has a spirit, right? Like the trees have a spirit, animals, the waters, the sun, the air, everything. Your shirt. I guess your shirt.
Dr. Jodi Aman: Yeah.
Like Marie Kondo. Like the Marie Kondo. Oh yeah.
Asha Ramakrishna: Everything has an energy. Everything has an energy about it, right?
Dr. Jodi Aman: And if it's taking you down, get rid of it. And if it lifts you up. So these are items. that lift you up.
Asha Ramakrishna: Yeah. Yeah.
Give you like, it's a little joy. Like my partner does that too. He'll go hiking and then he'll always bring a rock. And it's just I think, he doesn't have alters, but he does.
He does actually. He just keeps bringing the rocks.
Dr. Jodi Aman: Yeah, it's great. It's really great. And some of it could be our art. Sometimes our art is our sacred place, because it's the way we express. [00:18:00] And that could be in decoration, or that could be in a painting, or that could be in a sculpture, or a little craft, or knitting. Whatever it is, your art could be your sacred creation that also could give it as a gift, could support other people, could pass that along.
Is you wear it and if you made a scarf for yourself and put it around you It might feel like a protective little hug for yourself. I really think that's powerful I know my friend wore bracelets and she felt like they were for protection It's I just think that there's energy to all of it And if it makes you feel good or it makes you feel empowered or it makes you feel connected held Then it's sacred. Then it helps. It's beyond you and it helps support you. I love that. Yeah,
Asha Ramakrishna: and it makes us be more deliberate about what surrounds us too.
Dr. Jodi Aman: Yeah, don't buy every little thing That's just made in a factory and a tchotchke that's out there Like those aren't those don't [00:19:00] necessarily have good energy, but this you know I don't even know where my grandma got this, right?
Yeah, because there's like Ganesh and all the people in here, too You know but These one of a kind things they hold energy and if you get stuff at an antique store You might want to clean it because it might not have
Asha Ramakrishna: cleanse it a little cleanse it yeah,
Dr. Jodi Aman: and there's different ways to cleanse an item that you get.
i'm an antique or so. I like unique things but But I always clean it to make sure I don't i'm not taking any other energy with it, but they are I don't know. I really People do feel it when they come in my house. They like that. Yeah. It's different. It's different than you normally see,
Asha Ramakrishna: yeah. Yeah. I suppose that's probably how people feel about my home. But I, it, I don't think you necessarily have to have deities. No. Right? It's a thing, it's a thing that is
Dr. Jodi Aman: I have pomegranates.
Asha Ramakrishna: It's a thing that's like sacred to you.
Dr. Jodi Aman: Yeah.
Yeah. [00:20:00] Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Exactly. Exactly. I know. I, Oh I, so I brought some other examples before we stop.
So I have, these are go fish cards. If any of my cousins ever watched this, they know these cards. Cause these are at my grandparents house. We used to play them when we were little. But it's such a history in Italian. A folk, Lineage that they use cards. That's where tarot cards came from is just regular playing cards or playing cards came from tarot cards But just holding any deck of any kind of cards So I keep that because I think that's really cool that in fish, you know Then I like my little polar bear.
Sometimes you have animals animal jewelry or animal little things. I have water that we got when we were in Egypt. I went to Egypt with Asha and we got water from the original felagate. And that's the Isis temple was sinking, I might be saying it wrong, was [00:21:00] sinking, and they had to move it block by block, they took apart this temple that might be, we don't know exactly the date, there's a lot of discrepancy in the date of these Egyptian temples, but maybe 10, years old, we're not sure, maybe 2, 000, I don't know, I think it's probably more than that, but but this was the original.
This water is from where the original gate was after they moved it. There's still a little, I'm going to have to
get that some from you. Oh, you don't have any. You used it all? I don't think so.
All right. Yeah. This is from our past trip. There's stuff floating in it. But then, I took it home and then I could use it in ceremony if I want something, it could be anything, right?
Anything that I wanted to make an offering out to the earth about, I could use this water or I could do it at something that has to do with ISIS. Thank you. Something that has to do with helping other people heal or loving so much and gathering up, the broken pieces and helping that resurrection or, that maternal or feminine [00:22:00] energy, maybe I would use this because then I would be pulling ISIS in and I would use this for ceremony.
Asha Ramakrishna: And something that I learned a long time ago, too, was like, if everything has a spirit it's like we can be playful with it, and if you have a seashell, and you bring it to the forest, it's ooh, that's a novelty, right? Ooh, you're bringing me a seashell, or bring a pine cone to the ocean, right?
As come and see what's on the other side.
Dr. Jodi Aman: Yeah. Oh, that's cool. I love that. I love that idea. Yeah, so we're so happy that you watched this episode about creating a sacred place in your house, creating an altar. What kind of things could you add? Mostly things that are organic, from your ancestors from something that you love, an animal that you love, or symbolizes something for you.
The polar bear for me, it symbolizes, part of what I teach in my medicine. So I like the polar bear. And you could have musical [00:23:00] instruments or bells or, Crystal bowls. There's so many different things. You could write little notes on that and crumble it up and set your intentions.
Something you want to let go, you could put on there for a little while and then take it outside or burn it or whatever. Handles obviously, food, representatives of food whatever that you feel is connected. It could be a stone that you find on a walk. A stone that a friend gave you. Yeah. I have some stones that some of my friends gave me and, that's, It's a special rock.
I remember this rock is from Marie, so I love that. Thank you so much for watching. This has been so fun.
Asha Ramakrishna: I'm glad you invited me. Really a yummy episode.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Dr. Jodi Aman: It's a yummy episode.
Asha Ramakrishna: Yeah, you brought it. I learned some things about you.
Dr. Jodi Aman: You did?
Asha Ramakrishna: Yeah, about your polar bear, and I learned that
Dr. Jodi Aman: I know, I have to remember what it was. But it was. No, you don't
remember?
It's in the Pisces, the the purity gateway. Oh,
okay. Is [00:24:00] it for me?
Asha Ramakrishna: It's a totem for an energy.
Yeah.
Dr. Jodi Aman: Yeah. Which is, in terms of we, we were doing a lot of business stuff today and it was really thinking about like, how do I help people heal? How do I help people heal?
And we're thinking about these two steps, like how do you construct from. That problem story that is so dominant in a life, how to break that down and Empower it, right? Depower it and then how to rewrite the preferred Identity and preferred story to create that life that you love with purpose and happiness and joy And so that's part of the second step Oh, is the polar bear.
Asha Ramakrishna: Thanks for having me.
Dr. Jodi Aman: Thanks for having me. Thanks for having. Thanks for coming. So happy to have you next week. I have Lily on. We're talking about the buy now culture, which is going to be really interesting. So you better tune in next Monday at 8 PM. And if you want to [00:25:00] sign up to be a guest on my show, either in studio or to be a calling guest where I do live coaching, come on over to my website, https://www.jodiaman.com/live
https://www.jodiaman.com/live and sign up because you could be a guest and you could get some free live coaching from me. I'd be so much fun. So I will see you next week.