Nashville is a city of dreams, soul, and song. People come here to find their voice. But in the search for creative expression and personal truth, another question quietly waits in the wings:
“Can we truly be whole if our relationships are broken?”
At our Nashville therapy collective, we believe that spiritual healing and relational healing are not separate pursuits—they are one and the same. We cannot fully awaken to our sovereignty without addressing the places where our intimacy is fractured. Love—particularly long-term, committed partnership—is not just an emotional experience. It is a spiritual assignment.
And yet, so many couples find themselves stuck in repeating patterns: feeling disconnected, unseen, angry, or lonely—sometimes in the presence of someone they deeply love. Why?
Because every relationship is a mirror. And what it reflects back are the unhealed parts of us we’ve worked so hard to hide.
This is why we say:
Successful coupling begins with healing.
Because we are all carrying the wounds of being human.
Let’s begin with a word you may not hear often in traditional couples therapy: sovereignty.
Personal sovereignty is the ability to stand in one’s truth, make conscious choices, set boundaries, and honor one’s values without outsourcing worthiness to others (Brown, 2010). It is not about independence or detachment. It’s about embodiment—being fully responsible for our energy, emotions, and actions.
When one or both partners in a relationship are disconnected from their sovereignty, the result is often codependency, people-pleasing, resentment, or emotional enmeshment.
We expect our partner to fill the void we have not yet healed.
We confuse love with regulation—hoping the other person will make us feel safe, seen, or whole when we haven’t done that for ourselves.
This isn’t because we’re broken. It’s because we’re human.
And most of us were never taught how to love ourselves, much less another.
Every one of us brings a past into our partnership: childhood attachment patterns, cultural conditioning, family dynamics, and past romantic experiences. These influences shape how we give and receive love.
John Bowlby’s Attachment Theory (1969) explains that our earliest relationships—particularly with caregivers—establish “working models” for how intimacy functions. If we were met with inconsistency, neglect, control, or abandonment, we may internalize beliefs like:
- I’m too much.
- I have to earn love.
- People always leave.
- My needs don’t matter.
These beliefs live in the subconscious and show up as triggers, withdrawal, avoidance, or over-functioning in relationships.
What feels like “relationship conflict” is often two wounded inner children trying to feel safe.
Couples counseling, especially when rooted in both psychological theory and spiritual awareness, helps partners uncover these patterns—not to assign blame, but to restore responsibility and cultivate understanding.
In the West, spirituality is often framed as an individual pursuit: Go inward. Meditate. Be still. And while solitude is essential, it is not the whole path.
Eastern mysticism teaches that we are not separate. The illusion of individuality is a veil over the truth of our interconnectedness. In tantric teachings and Advaita Vedanta, the sacred union of opposites—Shiva and Shakti—is the blueprint for divine partnership.
Relational healing is spiritual healing because:
- Relationships reflect where we are not yet free.
- Love requires the death of the ego.
- Intimacy reveals our deepest longings and deepest fears.
True healing happens in relation to others—not in isolation. That’s why couples counseling is not just “relationship work.” It’s soul work.
Whether you’re married, dating, in a queer relationship, or practicing non-monogamy, all conscious coupling begins with intentional relating—and relating is a skill, not an instinct.
Some common reasons couples seek counseling include:
- Frequent arguments or silent disconnection
- Mismatched needs or attachment styles
- Betrayal, infidelity, or secrecy
- Communication breakdowns
- Sex and intimacy challenges
- Parenting disagreements
- Navigating trauma or loss
- Fear of vulnerability
But beneath all of these are deeper questions:
- Can I trust you with my truth?
- Will you stay when I show you my pain?
- Do I matter to you when I’m not performing?
- Am I safe to be fully seen?
A skilled couples therapist holds the container for these questions to be explored—honestly, gently, and without judgment.
We don’t believe love is about perfection.
We believe love is about presence.
We don’t believe conflict is a sign of failure.
We believe conflict is the curriculum of growth.
We don’t believe relationships are meant to make us whole.
We believe relationships reveal where we have yet to come home to ourselves.
Our therapy collective in Nashville merges Western psychology and Eastern mysticism to create an integrative approach to couples counseling. Here’s what that looks like:
1. Attachment Repair (Psychological Lens)
Using modalities like Emotionally Focused Therapy (Johnson, 2004), we help partners create new patterns of connection rooted in secure attachment.
2. Parts Work + Sovereignty (IFS & Soul)
We help clients explore the “parts” of themselves that show up in relationships—inner protectors, exiled children, critics—and reconnect with their Self-led center. This honors sovereignty while building empathy.
3. Somatic Awareness (Body as Messenger)
Through breathwork, movement, and grounding, we bring the body into the session—not just the brain. Many relational wounds live in the nervous system. We work to regulate, not just negotiate.
4. Ritual and Intention (Mystical Tools)
We incorporate practices like intentional eye-gazing, sacred listening, and co-created rituals to restore the sacred container of the relationship.
5. Inner Child + Ancestral Healing (Depth and Lineage)
We explore how family dynamics, intergenerational trauma, and early wounds shape how each partner gives and receives love—and how healing those patterns liberates the present.
Some people fear that focusing on “self-work” will lead to disconnection from their partner.But the opposite is true.
When each partner is anchored in their truth, they can choose love, rather than cling to it.
When you reclaim your sovereignty, you no longer need to:
- Control your partner to feel safe
- Abandon yourself to feel loved
- Silence your truth to maintain peace
Instead, you can say:
- “Here is what I feel.”
- “Here is what I need.”
- “Here is what I choose.”
That is what makes love free. And freedom is what makes love sacred.
Drawing from Eastern teachings and conscious relationship models, here are five spiritual principles we uphold in couples counseling:
1. All Relationships Are Mirrors
Whatever triggers you in your partner is pointing to something unhealed in you. This doesn’t mean your partner is blameless—it means your soul is using them as a teacher.
2. Intimacy Is a Portal
Many of us are challenged with a fear of intimacy because true intimacy requires vulnerability and this fear is due to our socialized resistance to vulnerability. Yet vulnerability is the entry point to the sacred. When you allow yourself to be seen, you return to the original wound—and the original wholeness.
3. Presence > Perfection
Being attuned, open, and willing matters more than always getting it “right.” Love is not performance—it is presence.
4. Union Doesn’t Mean Merger
You can be close without collapsing. You can be devoted without disappearing. Healthy love holds space for difference.
5. Your Partner Is Not Your Healer, But Your Healing Will Show Up Here
It’s not your partner’s job to heal your trauma. But your trauma will appear in your relationship—and your relationship can be a space to meet it with compassion.
If you’re reading this, there’s a good chance that you or your partner—or both—are ready to take a brave step. Maybe you’ve tried to fix things on your own. Maybe you’ve grown tired of repeating the same arguments. Maybe you love each other but feel lost.
We want you to know:
There is nothing wrong with you.
You are not broken.
You are in a process. And that process is sacred.
Couples counseling isn’t about fixing. It’s about seeing. It’s about reconnecting.
It’s about remembering what brought you together—and discovering who you are becoming.
In a world of fast fixes and filtered perfection, choosing to grow with your partner is a radical act.
It requires:
- Courage to confront yourself
- Compassion to hold your partner’s wounds
- Commitment to co-creating something real
As Bell Hooks (2000) wrote, “Love is an action, never simply a feeling.”
When love is chosen again and again, from a place of sovereignty, healing, and truth—it becomes not just a relationship, but a revolution.
So whether you’re in East Nashville, tucked into the hills of Bellevue, or down in Berry Hill chasing dreams by day and harmony by night—if you’re ready to grow, we’re ready to guide.
References
Bowlby, J. (1969). Attachment and loss: Vol. 1. Attachment. Basic Books.
Brown, B. (2010). The Gifts of Imperfection. Hazelden.
hooks, b. (2000). All about love: New visions. William Morrow.
Johnson, S. M. (2004). The practice of emotionally focused couple therapy: Creating connection. Brunner-Routledge.
Article’s Author:
Vic Sorrell, LMSW, is a Space Holder, Psychotherapist, and Anger Release Specialist devoted to authenticity, emotional sovereignty, radical self-acceptance, and the reclamation of wholeness.
He works with individuals, couples, and groups as a founding collective member at Haus of Sovereign. His therapeutic guidance is grounded in presence and ritual, devoted to helping clients reclaim their inner authority by moving through suppressed anger, grief, and shame.
Our work is a sacred fit if…You sense there’s truth beneath your anger, wisdom in your body and an authentic self you’ve silenced for too long.
Contact me: vic@haus-sovereign.com
Connect on Instagram: @vicsorrell
