Visualization: Where Therapy Meets Spirituality
About three years ago, I started noticing a trend. Friends or acquaintances who once seemed firmly rooted in the material world, friends who were cheerleaders in high school, Abercrombie-wearing girls I’d known for years, were suddenly talking about the “divine feminine,” being on the “Priestess path,” or working with crystals and moon cycles. I was curious. How did they get there? How did they transform?
And I want to be clear. My curiosity wasn’t laced with judgment. It came from a deep desire to understand. Maybe because something in me quietly resonated with what they were discovering. Somehow, this once Abercrombie-wearing girl felt a pull toward that same truth, too.
You might be wondering, what is she even talking about? So let’s rewind a bit for some context.
It was around 2020 when the world, for many of us, felt like it was falling apart. Personally, I was navigating a postponed wedding (three times!), planning a separate COVID-safe ceremony, and coping with the early stages of my mother’s dementia diagnosis. Life at home was crumbling under the weight of stress. I knew I needed help.
My first therapist was, to put it plainly, not a fit. But six months later, I found Kaity Rodriguez, and everything began to change.
Kaity introduced me to visualization and a therapeutic approach called Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), which opened up a new way of understanding myself. Instead of seeing myself as a singular, fixed identity, I began to explore the different “parts” that made me who I am.
I identified several internal voices: my true self, inner child, perfectionist, people-pleaser, controller, fixer, ego, and gremlin. The latter being the ego’s sneaky little sidekick, stirring up doubt and drama just enough to keep me stuck.
The power of visualization lies in engaging with these parts consciously. I learned to soothe my inner child, thank my perfectionist for trying to protect me, and ask my controller to step aside. Over time, these parts grew quieter. They stopped trying to drive the car, and my true self got back behind the wheel. From that place, life felt calmer, clearer, more aligned.
So, how does all this therapy stuff intersect with spirituality?
Because once you start seeing your inner world this clearly, you realize your thoughts create your reality. Not all of your thoughts are true. In fact, many are shaped by emotion, trauma, and survival instincts. But just because a thought isn’t true doesn’t mean it’s meaningless or wrong. It’s information. It’s a clue, a window into how you’ve learned to protect yourself.
When you begin sorting through which thoughts come from fear and which come from truth, you start building a deeper relationship with yourself. Shame and guilt begin to melt away because you finally realize your ‘mistakes’ are a result of being human and having “parts”. Then, self-love takes root. You become aware that you are not broken or scattered, and you begin feeling more like one whole being, navigating life with greater presence and intention.
This is where the bridge to spirituality forms.
In both spiritual practice and life, cultivating a relationship with yourself and understanding how you’ve been shaped by the world around you, is essential. This self-awareness empowers you to make conscious choices moving forward, rather than looking back with regret or a victim mindset. The more you visualize your path, the more you commit…and this leads the universe to rise to meet you. Doors open, momentum builds, and life begins to transform. Whether you call it the Priestess Path, a connection to nature, the universe, or a higher power, that energy paired with those visualizations, will carry you where you're meant to go. And when you resist? The universe often responds with what many spiritual teachers call an “initiation”…a life challenge designed to bring you back to yourself.
Something I often skip in my healing story is that my initiation began during COVID. But when I slipped back into old patterns of stress, perfectionism, people-pleasing, controlling, numbing with substances, eating out every meal, obsessing over productivity…the universe nudged again. Harder.
But that nudge wasn’t punishment for me (or for you). It was grace. It was a call to realign with who I truly am.
Therapy taught me how to see myself. Spirituality taught me how to trust and listen to my inner voice.
And the deeper I go into both, the more I understand that healing isn’t about becoming someone new. It’s about remembering who you’ve always been, and having the courage to live from that place, every single day. That’s where life truly begins.