The Roots Beneath the Cement: When Science Meets Spirit

Personal thoughts and inspiration coming from life, studies and my own path as a transformational therapist.

There’s an olive tree near a staircase.

The tree was there first, its roots deep in the earth. Then came the cement, poured around it, trying to contain its space. But the tree kept growing, breaking through the cracks, as if to say: you can’t bury wisdom.

That image speaks to what happens in therapy.

We all have roots that came before the cement. Wisdom. Resilience. Truth. Then life added its weight: conditioning, survival strategies, stories we believed about who we were allowed to be. These layers can feel heavy, rigid, unchangeable. But they’re not.

Neuroscience has shown us that the brain is not fixed. Through neuroplasticity, new pathways can be created, old habits reshaped, limiting beliefs released.

I’ve seen this in my work. A client once told me, “I feel like I’ve been walking the same path my whole life, even when I know it leads nowhere”. Through therapy, she learned not only how her brain had wired that path in, but how she could build a new one. The science gave her proof: this is possible.

But it wasn’t science alone that set her free.

The spirit of remembering

Alongside the rewiring, my client discovered something deeper—rituals and practices that connected her to her body, her breath, her sense of meaning. She began to feel part of something bigger than herself.

This is what spiritual traditions have always taught: that the subconscious is not just a machine of habits but a storehouse of memory, intuition, and ancestral wisdom. Shamans, healers, and elders knew long before neuroscience that transformation requires more than logic—it requires connection.

Science explains the how. Spirit reminds us of the why.

Healing is embodied

Healing is not just in the mind. The body keeps its own record.

Tight shoulders. A shallow breath. The knot in the stomach. Sometimes even panic attacks. These are not random. They’re echoes of old patterns, held in the amygdala—the brain’s alarm system—instead of being processed and filed away by the hippocampus, the part of the brain that archives experiences as memories. When experiences aren’t fully processed, the body holds on to them, replaying the old alarm long after the moment has passed.

Transformational therapy helps release these stories, not only by shifting thoughts but by allowing the body to feel safe again. Breath by breath, tension eases. Space opens. Roots push upward.

Beyond the self

And healing is never just personal. Just as the olive tree belongs to the landscape around it, our growth reconnects us to others—our families, our communities, even our ancestors.

What heals in us often heals beyond us.

Freedom through integration

Freedom doesn’t come from choosing between science or spirit. It comes from weaving them together. Science gives us the tools to rewire, to notice why we’ve chosen "path A" instead of "path B". Spirit gives us the meaning to walk a new path with purpose.

That’s when the cement begins to crack. That’s when something ancient, wise, and alive pushes through into the light.

The olive tree symbolises resilience and peace. Its roots were always there. The staircase was temporary. The same is true for us.

An invitation

If you take anything from this, let it be this: the roots within you are stronger than the cement around you!

Ask yourself:

Where in my life do I feel most “cemented in”?
What emotions or body sensations are trying to guide me?
What roots might be waiting to grow if I gave them space?

Transformation isn’t about becoming someone new. It’s about uncovering the wisdom that was always waiting to rise.