When I think of the inner child, I touch the idea of oneness, and also of non-duality. We are one, and yet we are many. It is not simply black and white.
Each day, each mood, each role we inhabit is a different way of showing up in the world. If you have ever created a résumé, you know how we select fragments of our lives and assemble them into a character we can play. In this way, the inner child is also an archetype. It is still you, and you are still whole, but you cannot express every part of yourself at every moment.
So we move through the world in roles. We inhabit a physical body, emotional states, mental patterns, and archetypes that arise depending on the situation. The inner child is one of these archetypes.

When I practice intentionally with my inner child, I gently separate myself into two presences – the parent and the child. The parent part offers safety, encouragement, and care. This is one of the ways we heal.
And yet, a question arises: what happens when the adult self cannot access the safety it wishes to offer to the child self? Just as real parents sometimes cannot provide what they long to give, we too may feel confused, anxious, or lost. We do not always know the answers. We carry fear. We feel tired.
Sometimes we are already speaking with our inner child, and we have no energy left. Sometimes this exhaustion stops us from practicing at all.

It was here that I began to explore the question of safety more deeply – how to create safety for this precious little being within...

You may imagine your inner child as a little girl, a little boy, or another tender presence. You might place your hands on your heart or your solar plexus, sensing the most innocent and gentle version of yourself. This being deserves love, care, and safety.

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When I feel unable to provide this on my own, I turn to the first path – the Great Mother Nature.
Nature offers safety in many forms – a city park, a forest, a field, a riverbank, the sea, mountains or hills. Whatever form is accessible to you. This is all one great oneness.
The mothering energy of Nature is vast and available when we allow ourselves to exchange energy with her – walking barefoot on the earth, touching water, hugging a tree, breathing open air.
And yet, safety in Nature can also be elusive. Human interference may disturb our peace. Wildness may awaken fear. As children of civilization, we may not always feel safe in her presence.
Environmental safety is not always guaranteed.

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This brings me to the second path – the body.
Our bodies are Nature. Our organism is a universe. Seen and unseen processes unfold within us, shaped by our unique expression. This is not about "high or low vibe" in any linear scale. It is about being your unique self - like a melody, a color, a presence.. Inside, you replicate yourself through cells and your DNA. Outside, you leave traces of who you are through actions and matter. This ecosystem of you can become a sanctuary for your inner child.

When the outer world feels unsafe, we can turn to the inner world. Ask yourself how your body and your inner world might become the most caring and gentle landscape - like the Nature you dream of: pure, unpolluted, free and beautiful.

Just as you would walk barefoot on grass, you can massage your feet. You can hug yourself like you would hug a tree. You can breathe, yes! And the air that enters you can be a point of focus. If you cannot sit on a riverbank or on a beach and breathe the beautiful sea air, you can breathe the air that you have available and concentrate on the air as it passes through your body - the environment that it encounters within and the qualities that it has while it travels in your lungs.

This is the power that we have to shape the nature of our being and to bathe in it and observe it. and to offer it as a sanctuary to this beautiful inner child that resides in our cells.

But sometimes I don't feel safe or luscious in my own body because I feel that I have either too many or too few sensory stimuli that can influence me in positive or negative ways. It turns me to a third path...

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The third path is the path of minimalism – of reduced stimulation.

Sometimes safety is disrupted not by lack, but by excess. Sounds, lights, textures, conversations, and constant information can overwhelm the nervous system.

In such moments, safety may arise from absence – darkness, silence, stillness. Removing even pleasant stimuli can allow the senses to rest. In the lack of interaction, the inner child can finally exhale.

And yet, what if the environment is actively invasive disruptive? What if noise, pressure, or chaos cannot be avoided?

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This brings us to the fourth and final path – Integrity.

When all external supports fail, integrity remains. The simple truth of being here. Standing on the ground. Feeling your weight. Saying inwardly, I am.

Integrity does not promise that everything will be fine. It does not deny confusion, scarcity, or danger. It simply stays present and honest. If I do not know – I say it as it is: I do not know. But... and... I am still here. I am here. I am. Whole and in my Integrity.

Like holding a child’s hand on a crowded, shaking bus, where you become the pillar of support through your presence alone. Your weight, your contact with the ground, your willingness to stand - they give the support to your inner child, not the absolute certainty or knowledge. Not absence of danger.

When we are faced by disruptive stimuli, fear may arise. Alertness is real. Preparedness is real. Your body and mind signal when something may be dangerous, and this signal has a purpose.
But fear itself is something else. Fear is an imaginary bridge into a future that has not yet happened. It is the constant whisper of "what if" – what if this hurts me, what if it goes wrong, what if I cannot cope. This bridge is made of smoke and spider webs. When we step onto this bridge, we fall. We are pulled away from the present moment, away from the response that is actually needed, away from the intelligence of the body that knows how to assess what is real right now.

Stay with alertness. Stay with awareness. Be present with discomfort if it is here. But do not travel into a negative future that does not yet exist. Your body cannot go there to support you – it exists only here and now.

Safety lives in this moment, where your body is, where your weight meets the ground, where you can stand in integrity and say: I am here.

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Now, gently return to yourself. Take a breath. Feel your fingers, your toes, your shoulders. You have walked four paths – and you have arrived.

May you find safety wherever you tread. Thank you for walking with me.