Understanding the relationship of soul, body, spirit ...

Soul Spirit diagram

Each of us has a spirit, a soul, and lives in a body.

Simply, we are made up of soul, body and spirit - and they all interact with each other. According to Celtic tradition, the soul shines within and all around the body like a luminous cloud. For me, the Celtic explanation fits best because we can feel the souls of each other which expand far beyond the body. You can feel the energy of the soul before you actually get close to the person. This can be positive or negative, and we react accordingly.

If someone says, 'they have a beautiful soul', they are sensing it, feeling the soul. It is not contained to the body.

Why is this important to know? ...

Our SOUL is what gives us our personality and through which we live out our relationship with the Divine, with other people and with our self. Our soul has three major components - our mind, will and emotions. Our mind also has a conscious part and a subconscious part.

It is in our SPIRIT that we find meaning and purpose in life. At its deepest level our spirit gives us meaning and purpose and enables us to love on all different levels and have a relationship with the Divine in whatever form that is. Our SPIRIT give us intuition between right and wrong. If our SPIRIT is not in a right place, then it will affect our physical health. Our SPIRIT is the IGNITION like the wick in a candle.

Our spiritual heart is connected to our physical heart. Both affect each other.

Then there is our BODY which is how we function through our organs and cells. Our BODY also contains our nervous system and we connect to the physical world with our five senses: sight, smell, hearing, taste and touch.

When we have been subjected to great stress, traumatic events, grief or other serious wounds, there becomes an out of balance between out body, soul and spirit. This means that, for some of us - be they child or adult - our spirit can feel like it has shrivelled, become numb or hidden, or died within us. You may have heard someone say, 'their spirit just gave up'. And that is like the light on the wick of the candle being snuffed out. So the soul departs the body, and only the physical body remains and eventually stops working.

Recognition of the soul

In an emergency a standard question has been, 'how many souls on board'. In the ill-fated Titanic disaster, there were 2,208.

In the dark night of the soul, it is the mind and emotions contained within the soul that wrestle with all the challenges.

Spiritual soul work

In my work with adult women, some of them find that they begin feeling as if parts of their soul are missing, but then - as we work together using empowering, creative processes which bypass the critical mind - their inner wisdom can be accessed naturally, and healing and restoration of the soul can occur from the inside out. The spark of the spirit can re-ignite and the person begins to change over a series of sessions, leading to the emergence of their inner light.  Their spirit has revived to a full flame igniting and lighting their soul.

Shadow work is another way of working with the soul.

Soul Work and Shadow Work is about the inner spirit - your inner spirit. It is not to do with religion. Your faith is your own. The work is about the awakening of your soul and can be a true blessing and gift to yourself.

-Karen