Where The Soul Belongs

Reclaiming Spirituality in Clinical and Cultural Healing

There is a place within all of us that seeks something deeper than symptom relief. A place that longs not just to survive, but to feel whole. In clinical settings, this space is often overlooked. It is not found in a diagnostic manual or a checklist of interventions. Yet it emerges again and again in the quiet between words, in the ache behind the presenting problem, in the question many clients do not know how to ask directly.

It is the space of the soul.

In psychological terms, we may speak of essence, meaning, or the deeper Self. In somatic traditions, it may be described as the innate wisdom of the body. In spiritual and ancestral frameworks, it is simply the knowing that we are more than what has happened to us. Across modalities and cultures, there is a recognition that healing is not only cognitive, not only behavioural, not only emotional, but deeply existential. It is a return to who we truly are beneath the burdens we carry.

The Limits of a Reductionist Approach

Modern clinical frameworks have made significant contributions to our understanding of mental health. Evidence-based modalities such as cognitive behavioural therapy, dialectical behaviour therapy, and psychodynamic approaches offer tools to help people cope, recover, and find relief. However, many of these models remain rooted in a reductionist worldview that separates mind from body, psyche from spirit, and individual from culture.

This separation can be limiting. As Gabor Maté writes in The Myth of Normal, illness and dysfunction cannot be fully understood or treated in isolation from the social and emotional environments in which they develop. He argues that healing requires reintegration, of the self, of the community, and of the innate spiritual dimension that helps people orient toward purpose and belonging (Maté, 2022).

When clients say, “I feel lost,” or “I do not know who I am anymore,” they are not describing a cognitive distortion. They are describing a crisis of meaning. A rupture in connection. A wound to the soul.

What the Research Shows

There is a growing body of empirical research supporting the integration of spirituality into therapeutic work. A meta-analysis conducted by Koenig et al. (2012) found that spiritual and religious beliefs are positively associated with psychological well-being and negatively associated with depression, suicide, and substance abuse. These findings support what many therapists have long observed. When a person feels connected to something greater than themselves—whether that is community, nature, spirit, or the sacred, it has a measurable impact on their resilience and recovery.

From a neuroscience perspective, contemplative practices that invite connection with the soul, such as meditation, prayer, breathwork, or ritual, engage brain regions associated with self-awareness, compassion, and emotion regulation. Research using functional MRI has shown that spiritual experiences activate the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, a region involved in meaning-making and emotional integration (Farb et al., 2007). This suggests that spiritual practices are not just “nice to have,” they are neurologically impactful and therapeutically potent.

Trauma research further supports the need to address the spiritual dimensions of healing. Bessel van der Kolk’s work in The Body Keeps the Score demonstrates how trauma fractures the relationship a person has with their own inner world, leading to dissociation, fragmentation, and an enduring sense of disconnection. Van der Kolk writes that healing trauma requires not only remembering the past but re-establishing a sense of connection to oneself, to others, and to the world. In many cases, this is spiritual work.

Internal Family Systems and the Self

The Internal Family Systems model provides a clinical bridge to the soul. Without needing to invoke religion or impose belief, IFS invites clients to connect with their core Self, a state of being that is calm, compassionate, curious, and connected. This Self is not a part. It is the essence that exists beneath all wounds and protective strategies. As Richard Schwartz explains, the Self is an innate presence within every human being, capable of healing the system from within (Schwartz, 2020).

Clients often describe accessing Self as a spiritual experience. They report feeling spacious, grounded, and deeply at peace. Some experience imagery or sensations that connect them to nature, ancestors, or a sense of universal intelligence. These moments are not framed as pathology, but as a return to something original and trustworthy within.

When Self leads, protectors soften, burdens release, and exiled parts return home. The system reorganises around connection rather than fear. In this way, IFS becomes not just a psychological model, but a soul-based healing pathway that respects cultural, ancestral, and spiritual knowing. This is why I love at a therapist because I am the bridge between the heart and the mind for the client and where the souls heals.

Honouring Cultural and Ancestral Wisdom

Many Indigenous and non-Western healing systems have long recognised what modern science is only beginning to understand, that healing is not solely about the individual, it is about reconnection to community, to land, to lineage, and to spirit. In these traditions, trauma is addressed not just through insight but through ritual, ceremony, and storytelling. Healing is participatory, embodied, and sacred.

To honour the soul in healing is also to honour these traditions. It is to acknowledge that the Western clinical model does not hold all the answers. It is to open the door to ways of knowing that are intergenerational and intuitive, rooted in collective memory and cultural resilience.

As therapists, we are called to hold space for this complexity. We do not need to prescribe spirituality, but we can welcome it. We can listen for it. We can create therapeutic spaces where meaning, essence, and sacred connection are not dismissed, but gently explored and deeply respected.

The Soul as a Therapeutic Ally

When a person begins to heal not just their symptoms but their story, their sense of purpose often returns. They remember what matters. They feel more alive. They reconnect with the wisdom that was never truly lost, only hidden beneath layers of survival.

The soul is not an abstract concept. It is the felt experience of being whole. It is what anchors us in our values, guides us toward our healing, and reminds us that we belong.

In every modality, in every culture, and in every human being, there is a thread that connects healing to the sacred. To ignore this is to offer only partial care. To honour it is to offer healing that is complete.

The soul does not need to be proven. It needs to be welcomed, remembered, and seen.

In abundant love and kindness for all gentle souls,

Angela xox 

References

Farb, N. A. S., Segal, Z. V., Mayberg, H., Bean, J., McKeon, D., Fatima, Z., & Anderson, A. K. (2007). Attending to the present: Mindfulness meditation reveals distinct neural modes of self-reference. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, 2(4), 313–322.

Koenig, H. G., King, D. E., & Carson, V. B. (2012). Handbook of Religion and Health (2nd ed.). Oxford University Press.

Maté, G. (2022). The Myth of Normal, Trauma, Illness and Healing in a Toxic Culture. Penguin Random House.

Schwartz, R. C., & Sweezy, M. (2020). Internal Family Systems Therapy (2nd ed.). The Guilford Press.

van der Kolk, B. (2014). The Body Keeps the Score, Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma. Viking.