Soul Retrieval

The famous writer Joseph Campbell once said: “People say that what we are all seeking is the meaning for life. I don’t think that’s what we’re really seeking. I think what we’re seeking is an experience of being alive.”

Most of us would agree that a strong sense of self is what we are all looking to find.

As we grow older and wiser, we begin to understand that the sense of calmness and wholeness only comes from within.

Despite our desperate efforts to find outer security, we realize how futile that endeavor is and that the only way to find security is to look inside ourselves.

In her book “Soul Retrieval: Mending the Fragmented Self,” Sandra Ingerman proposes an exercise that can help us feel what it is like to be solid and secure.

First, you need to sit or lay down, close your eyes, and take a few deep breaths.

Take an inventory of your body and target all the places in which you are experiencing pain or tension.

Slowly send your breath to all those blocked areas of your body, releasing them from tension.

Now, imagine yourself going to a place in nature in which you truly feel calm and happy. Imagine going to a place that fills you up with energy.

Walk around that place and try to take in as much information as you can. Feel the temperature and the air on your skin, listen to the sounds of life around you, smell the smells.

If possible, find a tree that will allow you to sit with it, lean back on it, and feel the support it provides you with.

Then, take a symbolic journey inside the tree, starting with its root system. Imagine sucking the water through the roots and carrying it upwards through the tree trunk, going all the way up to the branches. Feel yourself getting filled with energy.

The goal is to feel connected with all of life. We are all part of a greater whole. None of us is here alone.