09/01/2026
I've had an ongoing debate with a colleague for years. She's a very dynamic yoga teacher who believes teaching yoga is a performance.
I don't. Never have.
When I attend a yoga, meditation or wellness event, I don't want to watch a show. I want to feel something. Learn something. Soften. Be supported.
This weekend, I went to a Sound Bath event, and something happened that reminded me why I take this work so seriously.
It left me thinking A LOT about something I believe we need to talk about more in the wellness world:
Spiritual ego.
I'm not talking about the obvious kind of ego.
I'm talking about what can happen when someone has a profound spiritual experience - like Ayahuasca, psychedelics, an intuitive awakening, a life-altering healing - and begins identifying so strongly as "awake," "healed," "intuitive," "a channel," "a healer" that they stop noticing the actual human beings standing in front of them.
Here's the thing:
Having a spiritual experience doesn't automatically make you a safe person to facilitate one for someone else.
And calling yourself a healer or intuitive doesn't mean you know what another person needs - or give you permission to override their autonomy. It just doesn't.
If you do any kind of work where someone is handing you their vulnerability, you have an immense responsibility. Enormous.
That includes: Yoga teachers. Hypnotherapists. Retreat leaders. Breathwork facilitators. Reiki practitioners. Coaches. Bodyworkers. Spiritual teachers. Astrologers. Therapists. ..anyone who puts themselves in the position of guiding another human being into a vulnerable state.
People close their eyes in front of us.
They breathe differently because we asked them to.
They soften.
They sometimes cry.
They disclose things.
They let their nervous systems down-regulate in our presence.
They trust us to guide them somewhere they may not be able to navigate alone.
That is not a small thing.
Respectfully - just because you had a 'spiritual experience' doesn't mean you're equipped to hold space for someone else.
Having profound insights doesn't mean you know what someone needs.
Calling yourself a healer, or a medium, doesn't give you permission to cross someone's boundaries.
And spiritual language should never become a way of avoiding ordinary human accountability.
Sometimes people need your intuition.
Sometimes your knowledge.
Sometimes your skill.
But sometimes they simply need you to notice that they're cold, uncomfortable, overwhelmed - or that you've stepped on their foot in the middle of meditation and hurt them!
And when that happens, the answer doesn't need to be:
"You need to be careful what you're attracting." 🙄
No b*tch. 🙅🏼♀️
How about:
"OMG. I've stepped on you! I'm so sorry. Are you ok?"
Because sometimes a foot is just a foot. Sure.
But holding space is about being present enough to actually see the people in it.
To respect their autonomy.
To honour their boundaries.
To let them soften, safely, without surrendering their discernment.
To remember that the experience belongs to THEM.
Not you.
If someone trusts you with their vulnerability, that trust deserves to be handled with care.
THAT is the work.
