In the same way I have enjoyed creating a safe place for you to explore art and creativity through Art Space, I would like to create some safe ways for you to explore your spirituality, should this be of interest to you.
What does spirituality mean to you? Take a moment just to ponder that. What thoughts do you have? What feelings come up? What memories? What questions? Perhaps you feel those things somewhere in your body? Perhaps you feel nothing, or have no interest in it – that’s ok too, it is an individual choice and preference whether you would like to explore this topic, or not, and there is no judgement or expectation from me one way or another.
Counselling is a place where you can talk through your feelings and experiences about your spirituality. You do not need to be in a spiritual crisis to use counselling for this, it can also be a part of your personal development and growth as a person, and it may be just one thing among many that you wish to explore. Existential thoughts and feelings (existential is a term that relates to our ‘existence’) are very common, and sometimes we can find ourselves in an ‘existential crisis’ where we may be more aware of our mortality (perhaps following the birth of a child or the death of a loved one, or some other landmark event in your life), or the strangeness of existence (that feeling of being a drop in the ocean when we think about the age of the Earth, or vastness of space). These are all topics we can explore together, and whilst there may be no definitive answers, we can help you to come to a place of more peace and acceptance, and to foster a sense of your own personal truth.
Counselling is not just helpful for exploring your thoughts and feelings about spirituality, it is also an essential part of a spiritual journey. In many new age schools of thought, there is an emphasis on ascension and being positive and focusing on the light, so to speak. This can sometimes come at the cost of your own well-being as you try to avoid thinking about anything negative or feeling any ‘bad’ feelings. The term ‘spiritual bypassing’ has emerged in recent times to describe how there can be an unhelpful side to some spiritual teachings due to this ‘toxic positivity’ approach, which discounts any experiences that are not deemed positive or light. It is really important to acknowledge that all feelings, be they sad, mad, or glad are a part of your human experience and need to be witnessed in order to process them healthily. Pretending a feeling or thought didn’t happen only puts it in a box in your subconscious to rise another day. ‘Facing your shadow,’ that is, the parts of you that hold your pain, shame and trauma, is an important part of everyone’s development. We cannot embrace the light without first facing the shadow. And counselling can be a safe place to do this.
Usui Reiki can often be a way for people to explore themselves as a spiritual or energetic being. Whilst many people focus on the relaxation benefits of reiki, it can also feel like quite a mystical, spiritual experience for some people. Reiki is universal life-force energy, which all things are made of and which exists within and around everything. During a reiki session, some people (including the therapist!) can see different colours or images while their eyes are closed, or can feel quite floaty after reiki, as they experience the effect of reiki on their physical body, mind, soul, spirit, consciousness and/or energetic body – however you would like to refer to it. Equally, some may feel nothing! It’s so individual.
Divine Remembering works in a similar way to Usui Reiki, except that my role is to hold space for divine energies, sometimes described as angels or ascended masters, to step into my energy field and channel reiki to you, taking my human self a little more out of the equation. Once we begin to remember our own Divinity, and we start to see ourselves as one spark in an intricate web of energy, we can begin to understand that we are not so separate from angels or ascended masters: we are all from the same Source or Oneness, and therefore we are no lesser than them, which opens up so many possibilities for our own potential.
For many people, creativity, and spirituality come from a similar place within themselves. Taking part in a creative activity may help you to connect with yourself and your intuition. When you connect with yourself and are able to listen to the purest part of you inside (some may identify this as the inner child, spirit, intuition), you are able to make choices that are more aligned with your true self, which has very positive effects on your mental health, self-esteem, self-confidence and quality of life. In person-centred counselling, we call this the ‘organismic self’ and see it as a guiding light for who you really are, and what your needs and wants in life are. This is in comparison to all the messages we internalise from everyone else about who we should be, which cause you to be someone you’re not, which can diminish your sense of self over time.
