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Beyond Light & Dark
When I lay down on the table for my first session with a new bodyworker trained in craniosacral and myofascial release, I already knew I was there for his skill, not his worldview.
I told him I was a somatic trauma therapist. I shared that I had my own grounding practices and a deep familiarity with fascia, field work, and the nervous system. He nodded. And then, minutes later, there he was: explaining to me how to ground, talking about “light versus dark energy,” as if I’d never stepped into the very terrain I live and breathe every day.
Here’s the thing: his fascia work was excellent. He felt exactly what I felt—heaviness in my knee, tightness along my scar line—and his hands softened tension I’d carried for months. Afterward, I felt lighter, freer, more open.
And this is the paradox many sensitive or experienced clients face: we want the practitioner’s skill, but we don’t want to hand over our sovereignty—or get pulled into their belief system.
The Problem with the Old Healing Model
Most healing spaces still operate on a familiar dynamic: the client lies down, the practitioner assumes authority, the client passively receives.
It’s subtle, but this hierarchy trains people to override their own body’s wisdom—to defer to the practitioner’s language or beliefs even if they don’t fully resonate.
If you already have a deep somatic or energetic practice, this can be jarring. It can even pull you out of your own coherence.
This is also why clinging to ancient modalities as unquestionable authority can limit us. Practices like Ayurveda, Traditional Chinese Medicine, and Reiki were created for humans with different nervous systems, cultural rhythms, and levels of consciousness than we have today.
We are not the same beings those modalities were built for. While they still hold value, they often can’t fully address the complexity of modern stress loads, layered trauma, and our increased energetic sensitivity.
This doesn’t mean we discard them entirely. It means we stop treating them as unquestionable authority and begin evolving our practices to meet who we are now: highly attuned, nine-centered beings navigating a world that asks more of our bodies and energy fields than ever before.
What Healing Looks like in Sovereignty
Healing in sovereignty doesn’t mean rejecting support. It means entering the session as an equal partner—anchored in your own field, even as you receive from someone else’s hands.
During that session, while I was on the table, I silently affirmed: “Only helpful energy may enter. I am protected. My field is sealed.”
I know I’m accompanied by a protector presence—something multiple bodyworkers have felt over the years. From that stance, I don’t need to debate “light” versus “dark.” I don’t need to adopt anyone else’s framework. I can let his hands do their skillful work while staying in my own language, my own knowing.
And it worked. My scar softened. My knee felt lighter. My right side—recently locked in stagnation—opened.
Integration isn’t Regression
After deep bodywork, it’s common to feel lighter and freer—and then, sometimes, old fears or memories surface. You might revisit past betrayals, feel raw, or question things that used to feel clear.
This isn’t regression. It’s integration.
When fascia unwinds, the nervous system lets go of what it no longer needs to hold. These feelings aren’t instructions—they’re exhalations. They show you what’s leaving, not what’s true now.
When this happens, I remind myself:
>> This is the past discharging, not the present collapsing.
>> I ground in my body, breathe deeply, and tell myself, “I am safe now. This is not my reality anymore.”
If you’re a healer or bodyworker, here’s how to meet clients in their sovereignty:
>> Ask before adding energetic work.
>> Invite partnership: “What are you noticing?”
>> Hold your language lightly—not everyone resonates with “light” and “dark.”
>> Don’t assume every client is new to this terrain.
>> Don’t impose your cosmology as if it’s universal truth.
A sovereign client isn’t resisting you—they’re deepening the work. When you meet them as a peer rather than a pupil, the session becomes exponentially more potent.
Energy isn’t Good or Bad
One of the most disempowering narratives in healing is framing energy as “light versus dark.”
Here’s why that’s harmful:
>> It casts practitioners as saviors who must “clear” you.
>> It trains clients to see themselves as unsafe without intervention.
>> It keeps people looping in fear instead of learning embodied resilience.
In reality? Energy isn’t moral—it’s information. What’s often called “dark” is just stuck trauma residue. What’s called “light” is simply flow and coherence—states your body naturally returns to when it feels safe.
You don’t need someone to “save” you. You need to remember how to stand in yourself.
Many healing spaces teach management, not transformation:
>> Meditation to calm the mind.
>> Visualization to shield yourself.
>> Tools to “clear” bad energy.
These can help—but they stop short of what’s possible.
An evolutionary approach goes further. It asks:
>> What if trauma can be metabolized, not just managed?
>> What if coherence replaces protection rituals?
>> What if grounding isn’t imagined roots, but an unshakable presence in your own body?
This is sovereignty: not defense, but embodiment.
If this challenges your beliefs, that’s okay. We’re living in a time when old models—built for different bodies, different nervous systems, different consciousness—are colliding with who we’ve become.
We don’t disrespect tradition by evolving it. We honor it by asking:
Does this deepen my agency—or make me dependent?
The future of healing belongs to those who can stand in their own field, meet practitioners as partners, and trust their body’s wisdom. That’s where true transformation truly begins.
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