The Psyche Lives in the Body

A Soulful Glimpse into Jungian Foundations

There is a kind of pain that does not appear on the surface. It hides beneath the smile, behind the eyes. The body holds it. The breath holds it. The soul hides it under layers of compliance and adaptation. This is the pain of being split from our own truth.

Jung understood that the psyche is not confined to thought. It speaks through dreams, yes, but also through symptoms. Through illness. Through strange moods. Through sudden fear that appears with no clear cause. The soul knows when it is being ignored, and it has its ways of speaking up. Often, we only start listening when something breaks.

One of the deepest insights Jung offers is the structure of the psyche itself. The ego is not the whole of who we are. It is the part of us that knows our name, makes choices, keeps routines. But it is only a fragment floating on a much deeper sea. When the ego believes it is in charge, it becomes inflated. When it loses contact with the soul, it becomes afraid.

James Hollis, in this beautifully grounded course, invites us into the living architecture of the psyche with clarity and care. His presence is steady, shaped by years of listening to the soul in others and in himself.

One of the central figures in this inner landscape is the shadow. It is not an enemy. It is the part of us we disowned to survive. For many of us, the disowned parts are soft and vulnerable. For others, they are fierce and full of fire. Either way, the shadow carries energy that once belonged to our wholeness. It often shows up in projection, in addiction, in depression. It also shows up in the body—as weight, as contraction, as disconnection.

To meet the shadow is to begin to heal the split. But this cannot be done in the head alone. The psyche lives in the body. The shadow lives in the body. The dreams speak from the body’s truth.

The course also explores the persona—the mask we wear to survive. Women often build this mask around being good, being helpful, being acceptable. Men often build it around power or knowledge. We wear the mask for so long we forget it is a mask. Eventually, something cracks. The soul refuses to play along.

Jung also spoke of the anima and animus—the inner feminine and inner masculine. In my own life and work, I saw how a woman’s animus, when negative, can become critical, hard, and shaming. It can live in her thoughts like a tyrant. When healed, it becomes supportive. It becomes the inner voice that says, you can trust your own timing. You can speak from your truth.

For a man, the anima often carries emotion and vulnerability. If exiled, it can erupt in confusion, in longing, in mood swings. When honored, it becomes a source of creativity and compassion. These inner figures are not roles. They are living energies. And they shape the way we love, speak, and act.

The course reminds us that the psyche is not static. It is fluid, dynamic, and layered. We are always living alongside parts of ourselves that long to return. The work is not to become better, but to become whole. Not to perform healing, but to feel it—deeply, slowly, in the tissues of the body.

This is not easy work. It asks for patience, courage, and humility. But it is the work that allows the soul to come home. When we turn toward the unloved parts, we begin to remember who we are—not the mask, not the role, but the deeper self that has been waiting all along.

Rose – Soulful Nuggets Team