The Soul Is Calling: Why A Holistic Approach Is The Only Answer
I was 23 years old, sitting in the office of the Criminal Defense Law Firm where I worked, staring blankly at my desk. Becoming an attorney had always been the plan. The path. The identity I had poured years into building. It was safe. It was respectable. And it was what everyone expected of me.
But my actual life?
It looked nothing like what I had imagined.
I was a single mom, trying to hold it together after my fiancé cheated on me. My hormones were a mess from chronic stress. I felt exhausted and wired at the same time. I couldn’t rest. I couldn’t think straight. I didn’t feel like myself in my own body.
And because I didn’t know what else to do, I tried the thing I did know: pushing harder.
I convinced myself that entering another bodybuilding competition would give me purpose—because if I could just discipline myself more, control myself more, sculpt myself into something “perfect”… maybe the rest of my life would fall into place.
Spoiler: it didn’t.
What I called “alignment” was really avoidance.
What I called “discipline” was really self-disconnection.
What I called “strength” was really fear wearing workout clothes.
Underneath it all, I felt like a failure. And that feeling pierced directly into the part of me that had been taught to fear failure more than loneliness, heartbreak, or burnout combined.
My identity felt unfamiliar. My soul felt distant. Even seeing other people happy made me bitter—not because I wanted them to hurt, but because I genuinely couldn’t remember what my happiness even looked like.
There wasn’t one big realization that snapped me back.
No lightning bolt moment.
No dramatic movie-style awakening.
What saved me was slow, honest, deeply human work—a gradual softening back toward myself.
And through that return, I remembered something I had forgotten:
There is a part of you—deep, wise, intact—that never disappears.
A part that knows your worth.
A part that holds your truth.
A part untouched by circumstance.
I wasn’t broken.
I wasn’t lost.
I had just forgotten how to listen.
Why Your Soul Needs a Holistic Approach
Today, in my coaching practice, this is what I help people remember:
We are not just minds trying to think our way into alignment.
We are bodies.
We are nervous systems.
We are emotions.
We are intuition.
We are soul.
And real transformation—lasting, grounded, self-honoring transformation—only happens when all parts of you are moving in the same direction.
This is why “just change your mindset” doesn’t work.
This is why “just meditate more” isn’t enough.
This is why “just set bigger goals” often leads to burnout, not breakthrough.
A soul-led life requires a holistic approach, which is the foundation of all my coaching work. It’s built around five core pillars:
Self-Reconnection
Embodiment
Nourishment
Nervous System Regulation
Purpose Alignment
These pillars work together to bring you back into coherence—mind, body, emotions, and soul working as a unified whole.
Let’s walk through each one.
1. Self-Reconnection: Making Space to Hear Yourself Again
Alignment begins with self-honesty.
And self-honesty requires space.
Your soul doesn’t shout. It whispers.
It speaks through intuition, desire, discomfort, and longing.
But when life gets loud—or when you’re stuck in survival mode—those signals get drowned out fast.
When I was 23, I hadn’t heard myself in years. I was performing. Striving. Numbing. Coping. I was doing everything except connecting with myself.
The moment I started sitting with myself—no distractions, no expectations—something shifted. The voice I had lost started coming back.
Try this:
Take five minutes a day just to sit in silence. No phone. No agenda. Just presence.
This is where reconnection begins.
2. Embodiment: Learning to Trust Your Body Again
I spent years treating my body like a problem.
If I could just control it… perfect it… punish it enough… then maybe I’d feel worthy.
But embodiment taught me this:
Your body is not the obstacle.
Your body is the messenger.
Every sign of misalignment shows up physically first—fatigue, tension, gut feelings, burnout, restlessness. My body had been trying to communicate for a long time before I finally listened.
Try this:
Move in ways that feel good rather than performative.
Stretch. Dance. Walk. Breathe.
Let your body be part of the conversation.
3. Nourishment: Supporting the Energy You Want to Live In
When you’re depleted physically, you can’t expect emotional or spiritual clarity to flow.
Back then, I wasn’t just emotionally drained—I was biologically drained. My hormones were unstable, my energy crashed every afternoon, and I was trying to “mindset” my way out of biochemical chaos.
That’s not how humans work.
You can’t pour soul alignment into a body running on fumes.
Try this:
Choose foods that steady you—protein, fiber, healthy fats, hydration.
Nourishment isn’t about rules; it’s about giving your body what it needs to support who you’re becoming.
4. Nervous System Regulation: Creating Safety for Intuition
This one changed everything.
You cannot access intuition when your body is in survival mode.
Period.
For years, I lived in fight-or-flight. I was anxious, overstimulated, bracing for the next hit. And as long as my nervous system was overwhelmed, my intuition was unreachable—not because it wasn’t there, but because my body wasn’t able to receive it.
When I learned regulation—breathwork, grounding, somatic release, rest—my entire inner world shifted. It created space for intuition to come through clearly.
Try this:
Long exhales, shaking out tension, stepping outside, putting your phone down for 10 minutes.
Regulation is not complicated—it just has to be consistent.
5. Purpose Alignment: Living What Your Soul Already Knows
Hearing your soul is one thing.
Honoring it through action is another.
For years, I made choices based on expectation, not alignment. And even when those choices looked impressive on paper, they felt heavy in my body.
The moment I began making decisions from authenticity—not fear, not pressure, not performance—my life opened.
Purpose isn’t a single revelation.
It’s a series of aligned decisions, day after day.
Try this:
Before making a decision, pause and ask:
“Is this aligned with who I actually am?”
If the answer is no, adjust. Even slightly. Alignment grows through honesty.
Returning to Yourself Is a Full-Body Experience
Soul connection isn’t a one-time moment. It’s a practice.
It’s a lifestyle.
It’s a way of relating to yourself that includes every part of who you are.
The more you embody these five pillars, the more grounded, joyful, and authentic your life becomes.
Inside Ariana Dobson Coaching, this is the work I do every day—helping leaders, creatives, and visionaries come back to themselves in a deep, holistic, sustainable way.
Because true success isn’t just what you achieve.
It’s who you become on the way there.
