Each year we open submissions for our Annual Wise Therapy Spotlight, where we ask a question of particular importance to our wider therapist community. We are always moved by the depth and generosity of our community voices.
This year, we asked our community, What Is the Soul of Therapy? Read more about our inspiration for this, our 5th edition, in the letter from the editors and Academy of Therapy Wisdom founders, Brian and Ian.
Continue here to read the submission by Morgane Van Aerschodt. We hope you enjoy it as much as we all did.
Master’s degree in Intercultural Psychology, Bachelor in Anthropology, Holistic psychologist and founder of kamekairu.fr
The soul of therapy: the therapy of the soul
The greatest art of our profession, in the ability to dive in the darkest waters. Without letting them draw us down to the bottom. Without ever losing sight of the surface. With a perfect ability to remain calm and pace our breathing. With no misunderstanding about “why” we are diving THIS time. We need this clarity, because this is the only light our client will have when he courageously accepts to follow us in his internal waters.
The soul of my practice, my soul’s journey
There are a lot of things that a therapist cannot learn at the university, in some courses or books. These are what make the specificities of each practitioner’s therapy. The soul of their therapy, if you will. My soul’s journey is what turns my therapy into a unique piece of art. I firmly believe that the most important part of the therapeutic process does not lie in the protocols or what I say. The soul of the therapy is who I am, for that client, in this instant. The quality of my presence, my ability to regulate my nervous system, my ability to stand there, even when the person in front of me is telling me unbearable things. Especially when he is telling me unbearable things.
It is my responsibility to make my client feel safe enough to share things he can’t share (yet) to any other human being. To let him know his burden is not too heavy for me, that I can handle it, so he can share it with me, and not be alone anymore bearing it.
In order to be able to do that, I must have “done the work”. I can’t safely jump into the deep dark waters of someone else if I haven’t first explored my own waters. I must be comfortable enough diving deep without light or oxygen, to be able to guide my client in their own processes. And this is not a training you do once and you’re set. This is an ongoing process. A lifelong practice. Waters are never still. We constantly need to adjust and keep learning.
Being a therapist is not only guiding the client navigating his waters. It is mostly helping him to learn how to dive without drowning, to open his eyes and see even through the darkest water, so he can be autonomous and comfortable enough to live between swimming at the surface of magnificent turquoise waters and diving in the deep dark ones.
The therapy of the soul
The greatest challenge therapists are facing nowadays in our societies is disconnection.
An enormous part of the problems our clients come to us with is caused by a disconnection. A disconnection from their soul, from their body, from their feeling, from the sense of being part of something greater.
In my understanding, our work, our art as therapists, is to help the client to feel whole again. The point of therapy, when we seek long-lasting effects, is not to get rid of a symptom. That’s why I cultivate a holistic approach, where I see the person in their wholeness to guide them and find reconnection. This is what makes the symptom(s) cease. This is not because we found a way to make it silent. On the contrary, we gave it a way to fully express itself, we made space to receive it, we opened up to listen to what needed to be heard.
However, we also are children of our society, and we must consider that we too have grown disconnected. Therefore, the beliefs we carry, the protocols we design, the theories we develop, are impregnated with this disconnection. We tend to separate the mind from the body, the thoughts from the feelings, the emotions from the nervous system. So it is very common for the therapist to just look at a symptom, and to try and make it stop. But as long as we are unable to listen to what the symptom tries to tell us, it will keep on showing up one way or another. As long as we consider that the problem is the symptom, we will keep on nurturing this disconnection.
Finding the reconnection inside us is the only way to offer our patient a safe space and a co-regulating figure so he can himself experience the reconnection.
We need to embody the reconnection, so that our client can experience the wholeness. We need to be able to regulate our nervous system, so that our client can use the space of therapy to find co-regulation.
That’s why I consider the art of therapy a spiritual path, as much for the therapist than for the client. I am not speaking of religion. By spirituality, I mean the ability to connect to our truth, the one that lies behind the traumas, the acquired patterns, the masks we put on every day, the defence mechanisms,… And the ability to connect with our true nature, remembering that we are part of something way bigger than us, and that our part is only to be us, allowing ourselves to fully turn into who we really are and trust that we are enough, that we are just what the whole system needs. This offers us a sense of belonging, of trust, of self-confidence, of worthiness and peace. This also gives us perspective on life, on our suffering, on our well-being. It allows us to see the big picture, and to understand that we are a piece of a system, as well as our symptoms are pieces of a system. And I’m not saying that we need to change all the systems to heal the symptom. I’m saying that understanding what is causing the symptom and healing it does not only make the symptom disappear, but it also brings a greater healing to the whole system.
That is my creed: making the world a better place, healing one soul at a time.
The views expressed in this essay are not necessarily the opinions of Academy of Therapy Wisdom, its presenters or its staff. This is part of a series featuring the unedited voices of our community in conversation. All content is used with permission and is copyright 2024 by Academy of Therapy Wisdom. Only the author may reproduce their content.
To read more articles or download a free copy of the final publication visit Wise Therapy Spotlight.
