Resourcing as Refuge
Introduction
As we move through our daily lives, there are moments when we may feel grounded and at ease, and others when we find ourselves unsettled or off balance. Feeling centred brings a natural sense of flow, with a readiness to engage more fully with the world around us.
At certain times, we may need to pause and gather ourselves as the accumulations of everyday demands or change begin to stretch our attention and energy. Finding ways to steady and restore ourselves in these moments is part of what sustains us.
This gentle practice of turning towards what supports and replenishes us – known as resourcing – can become a quiet refuge, a way of returning to steadiness and belonging, even amidst uncertainty. It invites us to notice the small places of sanctuary within and around us so that we can meet our circumstances with greater capacity for flexibility and resilience.
Understanding Resourcing
Resourcing is the process of connecting with the qualities we carry within and the supports available to us, helping to foster a sense of safety, comfort, and stability. It reminds us of what strengthens our adaptability and nurtures our sense of aliveness and wellbeing.
This is a dynamic practice – a gentle attunement to what we need in each changing moment. It is the tangible act of shifting our attention towards something our nervous system perceives as safe, so that we may feel more regulated, with a regained sense of footing. This is how we can remember what helps us come back to ourselves, as a lived, embodied experience.
We can find our resources in two intertwined landscapes: the inner and the outer.
Internal resources include the qualities we cultivate within – our capacity for compassion, creativity, and the values that give direction to our lives. These are the wells of rootedness that remain available through changing circumstances.
External resources are the supports we meet beyond ourselves. This can be the presence of others or the felt sense of belonging that comes from community. It can also be the natural world itself – the warmth of sunlight on the cheek, the sweetness of a ripe fruit, or the sound of rain in the night sky. These moments all serve to remind us that we are held and part of something larger.
In essence, resourcing is a vital act of remembering – of our innate capacities and the networks of support that surround us.
The Body as Pathway
The body offers us a way to reconnect with the ground of our being – to come home to presence through what is immediate and felt. By pausing to feel the rhythmic movement of breath, the steadiness of the floor beneath our feet, or the weight of our body, we come back to the ground that is always available, wherever we find ourselves.
Beneath our changing experiences lies an enduring presence – a spacious awareness, often felt as stillness, that holds everything we meet. This larger sense of presence can reveal itself without effort or striving, in our willingness to meet the body.
In that field of stillness, there is something inherently whole that knows how to orient towards balance when we allow space for it.
Embodied Wisdom
Our bodies, much like the natural world, carry their own lived wisdom and quiet intelligence. When we meet sensations with kindness and curiosity, we align with an attitude of welcome. This is a profound act of care, especially when the body feels unsettled or tender.
As we listen to what arises – a tightening in the chest, warmth in the hands, or the rhythm of breath – pathways begin to open. We may notice the layered textures of our feelings and new associations within the mind. Clarity and insight can emerge through this intimacy with ourselves.
This awareness is, in itself, a practice of resourcing. By cultivating inner listening, we tend to the vital connection between mind and body, and to the essential nature of our being – a quiet resting place within, from which life can be met with greater ease.
Inner Listening and Self-Refuge
From a place of embodied awareness, our listening can begin to deepen. Inner listening is the practice of turning towards ourselves with kindness, allowing what is here to be met with a sense of curiosity and compassion.
There are times when this inward listening may feel easeful, while at others we have an impulse to turn away. Even this resistance can become part of the practice, with a reminder that in each moment we can simply begin again.
We might notice our eyelids drifting closed, asking for rest; a lightness in the chest that longs for contact with a loved one, or an impulse for movement; or the subtle pressure on the temples at the day’s end. Through acknowledging the range of our needs, we can cultivate the refuge of an honest relationship with ourselves.
Each moment of inward listening strengthens our trust. In this trust, a quiet courage can unfold – to stay present with the fullness of our experience, even when life feels uncertain. We can invite a reflection by asking: ‘What lets me know I am okay right now?’ or ‘What do I need in this moment?’ – offering space for connection with our deeper sense of knowing.
The Wider Field of Belonging
This inner listening also widens our lens to the collective. We may begin to notice how we are affected by the welfare of others, our communities, and the larger whole to which we belong. Our personal wellbeing is interlaced and woven into the fabric of our shared life.
There are moments when we are reminded of our belonging to a wider field of being. We can rest in this shared, simple presence – attuning to birdsong in the early light of dawn, the sway of leaves in a breeze, or the stillness of an oak tree in the evening air. Here, we may sense how life moves in rhythm: body, breath, and earth intertwined.
Each time we turn towards what steadies and sustains us, refuge deepens – a living presence within and around us, continually renewed in our remembering.
Cultivating Equanimity
From this ground of inner listening, equanimity can begin to unfold. It is a spaciousness that allows us to meet the contrasts of life with a calm and open heart. There is a balanced warmth to it – a steady, grounded capacity that can hold both ease and difficulty, joy and sadness, without closing around either.
In the body, it may be sensed as a softening around tension, or a deepening of breath when faced with the unknown. It brings a sense of anchoring and centredness within us, allowing us to see things as they are, rather than through the lens of reaction.
Equanimity carries a calm alertness – a still point within movement that widens our capacity to remain present with the full range of our experience. We might feel it in the pause we take before responding to a challenging encounter, or in the patient breaths while standing in a long queue.
Through pausing, listening, and sensing what steadies us, we invite the conditions for balance to unfold.
A Living Refuge
Resourcing is a living process – a continual return to what restores and supports us. Our capacities shift with the changing rhythms of our lives, shaped by what is available to us in each moment.
On some days, our sense of balance and ease may feel close at hand, while on others we may feel unsettled. This is part of the natural rhythm of being human.
We may also find ourselves navigating a demanding passage in our lives – a time of transition, loss, or illness – that alters our usual way of being in the world. In such times, the practice becomes one of turning gently towards what grounds and nourishes us, even in the smallest of ways.
It might be pausing for a single, centred breath; feeling the warmth of a hand resting over the heart; or gazing at the sky through an open window. These small gestures form embodied memories of care, reminding us that belonging and safety can live in the quiet refuges that meet us here.
Resourcing and Trauma
While the practice of resourcing offers a way to centre ourselves amidst the pressures of daily life, it is also a vital foundation for supporting the body and mind through chronic stress and trauma.
In therapeutic work, resourcing begins with tending to our capacity for stability and a felt sense of safety. From this steadier base, the process of meeting and integrating painful experiences can unfold at a pace that feels contained and supported.
This work is deeply embodied and relational. It asks for patience, sensitivity, and attunement, so that what has been held within can be gently met, integrated, and given new meaning.
Reflecting on Your Own Resources
By taking time to reflect on what sustains and nourishes you, these resources can become more visible and accessible in daily life. Even a few moments of quiet reflection – pausing between tasks or before sleep — can help the body and mind recognise what restores a sense of balance.
The following offer entry points of enquiry:
What helps you feel more at ease in your body and mind right now?
Who or what offers you a sense of care and connection?
What values and inner qualities support you in meeting difficulty with warmth towards yourself?
Which places invite a sense of renewal – within your home and outside?
Where do you feel seen and held with others in community?
What is one small refuge you could welcome into today?
You might find that on some days the answers arise easily, while at other times a sense of uncertainty comes to the foreground. Staying with not knowing is part of the practice; asking the questions themselves is a way of returning to ground.
Belonging and the Collective Field
As our understanding deepens, we recognise that refuge is both personal and collective. We are continuously shaped by the communities we inhabit and by the natural world that holds and sustains us.
Refuge lives in the multiplicity of this shared space – in gestures of support, meals with others, and moments of rest in conversation or silence. Life flourishes through these acts of mutual care and relationship.
The Vietnamese teacher Thich Nhat Hanh described interbeing as a way of seeing how everything exists within a wider field of connection and belonging. We are all affected by each other and by the environment in which we live.
When we sense our interconnection, giving and receiving flow as a living exchange. Refuge, compassion, and kindness arise naturally as expressions of our shared being. In tending to our own grounding, we nurture the ground of belonging itself.
Conclusion
At its heart, Resourcing as Refuge is a practice of relationship – with ourselves, each other, and the living world around us. It invites us to notice what nourishes and sustains life, and to participate intentionally, so that we may feel steadied and supported. Through tending to our resources, we can engage more fully with the world, recognising how our personal wellbeing is interwoven with the collective and the ecological.