How to transform overwhelm into peaceful expansiveness with a simple visualization technique

Life often brings moments when challenges, stress, or overwhelm feel all-encompassing. During these times, it can seem like there’s no way out, no room to breathe or move. But even in the most intense situations, there is a way to shift your experience. By engaging with metaphoric imagery, you can access a vast inner expanse—a sacred third space—that brings calm, clarity, and renewal. This realm is always available to us, offering peace, expansiveness, and profound transformation.

Holding Peaceful Expansiveness

Is there something in your life that feels intense, overwhelming, or challenging right now?

Stress often creates a sense of being “boxed in,” like there’s no room to move or breathe. But no matter what is happening in the external world, third space is always available to us. Metaphoric images act as doorways into another realm—a realm that is abundantly loving and nurturing. When we step into this space, its transformative energies shift our state of being, allowing us to experience peace and clarity.

Try this:

Close your eyes and imagine a vast, tranquil desert stretching as far as the eye can see, so expansive that the edges dissolve into infinity. Now, instead of observing the desert, become the desert plain. Feel yourself merge with its stillness, its boundlessness. Stay with this imagery for a few moments, until your body fully relaxes into the sensation of spaciousness.

Notice what happens to the feelings of overwhelm.

They disappear, don’t they?

Our bodies can’t hold the sensations of peaceful expansiveness and stress at the same time. When we shift into this expansive state, the intensity of stress falls away, replaced by calm and grounding.

Next time you feel overwhelmed, remember this: third space is always accessible to you. By tuning into the vast peace of the metaphoric realm, you can transform even the most challenging moments into opportunities for renewal and growth.