Several years ago, the phrase spiritual bypassing took the spiritual and healing world by storm. And honestly, it was needed.
There was way too much “love and light” being thrown around. People were using positivity as a way to skip the real, messy human work: the feelings, the trauma, the nervous system healing, the shadow. I was a huge advocate for changing that. I taught it, lived it, and reminded anyone who would listen that we have to feel to heal.
And I still believe that’s true.
We can’t bypass the body.
We can’t skip grief, anger, fear, or the raw truth of being human.
But lately, I’ve been feeling something shifting in me.
Somewhere along the way, in my devotion to being “grounded” and “real,” I lost some of my connection to Spirit. To God. To that higher knowing that has always been my compass.
It wasn’t intentional. It just sort of happened slowly, like turning the volume down on something sacred until one day you realize it’s quiet.
Recently, I have been sitting with a new awareness.
In our cultural effort to not spiritually bypass, we may have unintentionally swung to the other extreme – disconnecting from the very Source that nourishes us, the energy that brings healing, inspiration, creativity, miracles, and deep support.
I’ve even started to see how this collective emphasis on only the physical, emotional, and psychological aspects of healing can act like a subtle control mechanism. If we’re told to stay “real” all the time, to take emphasis away from Spirit, to dismiss faith or intuition as “bypassing,” we end up more disconnected, more fearful, and easier to manipulate.
There’s a long history of persecution toward spiritual people. Maybe this is the modern version – convincing us to stay small, body-focused, logical, and “in reality,” instead of remembering the vast spiritual power that runs through us.
A modern-day witch trial.
Sitting in our pain for too long can feel like being on fire. Yes, we need to feel it, but we also need to titrate it, to move through it in manageable ways. Reconnecting with Spirit helps bring calm, peace, and a sense of certainty about what we’re clearing and why we’re doing it.
When we disconnect from the Divine, from intuition, wonder, and the eternal beauty of the universe, we become more controllable. We get caught in loops of effort, fear, and hyper-vigilance. We lose perspective. We lose faith. We forget that we are powerful creators who have the ability to step out of harmful systems.
When we lose touch with Spirit, we lose touch with our deepest freedom.
I don’t believe the answer is to swing back into escapism or “love and light only” thinking. This isn’t about floating off into the clouds or ignoring what’s real. It’s about balance, being fully here, grounded, embodied, feeling, creating, and fully connected to the Divine.
That’s where the real alignment lives.
So I’ve been asking myself lately: where can I open back up to Spirit? Where have I been trying to control my own unfolding instead of surrendering to the greater intelligence moving through me?
Because the truth is, when I return to that connection, life softens. The effort drops. My intuition wakes up again. I remember I’m part of something so much bigger, and everything starts to reweave itself with more grace.
Yes, we absolutely need to be grounded in the body, tending to our human experience. But we also need to remember that healing isn’t just about regulating your nervous system. It’s about connecting to who you are as a spiritual being.
The balance lives in both –
Feeling and Faith. Earth and Heaven. Body and Spirit.
Because when we live in the full embodiment of that spectrum, everything shifts. Life starts to breathe through us instead of feeling like something we have to manage. We return to trust. We return to the mystery.
And that’s where the real healing happens.
I know this is what I have always been striving for, but somewhere along the way I got a little lost. So I ask, Have you, too?
In love + curiosity,
Stacia
