Early this year I decided to commit to get to know my soul. I wrote in my diary in January that I’d like to open up to understand what the soul is, and more closely, get to know my own soul.

For me, the word “soul” was always tinted with what the church/religion painted out what the soul was, and I never really connected to that “it” had anything to do with me…

I now believe that the soul is this sometimes-quiet whisper, gut feeling or intuition that is always there to guide us in our decisions. It shows up as certainty, clarity, meaningfulness, excitement, expansion and joy, when we are aligned with what our soul wants us to choose. And it shows up as uncertainty, fear, doubt and contracted areas in the body when we are not aligned with where the soul would like to guide us towards. It doesn’t have to be that the soul says “no, wrong way or wrong decision”. It might just be that it’s not the right time to make a decision, maybe more information is needed, or it’s not safe!

And then it happens to be exactly what we guide our clients to do, who comes for somatic therapy, to move towards understanding these signs and signals the body sends out as sensations, emotions, images and behaviors, in response to different stimuli. Because we are constantly tracking safety or threat through our amazing autonomous nervous system.

And when we do hesitate or feel a part of us contracting, it’s a sign that there’s more here to learn before we get the “green light” to move ahead. Simply put (it’s much more to this of course), sometimes there’s unhealed trauma that need to be attended to, sometimes we feel stuck in a situation or a relationship, wanting to change but don’t know how. This might show up as tension in the body, a numbness or even no connection to the body at all.

In my own work and healing process I have experienced how all this goes hand in hand, and by getting more in tune with my body, I’ve got to know my soul.

Why do I want to know my soul, what are the benefits?

I believe we all have an inner compass pointing in the direction where we are aligned with our values, interests, talents and longings. By getting more bodily aware (noticing the compass), we can start to navigate life using more of our total capacity then what our mind can offer.

So, what have I learned about my own soul so far? I’ve learnt that my soul navigates towards peace of mind, physical movement, beauty and excitement, and to accomplish that I need time for myself, meditation, yoga, walks in nature, adventures and meaningful conversations with spirit minded people.

Would you like to get to know your soul? One way to start is to make it a habit to regularly write on top of a sheet of paper/notebook; “What does my soul want to say to me today?” And then just write whatever comes up without question it! Keep doing so for some time and you’d might be surprised ❤️

With Gratitude,

Helena