In sacred spaces where people gather to pray, chant, meditate, or simply breathe deeply together, there often lies an unspoken expectation: that healing is linear, that wellness is a mindset, and that pain is merely a lesson waiting to be transcended.
But what if healing doesn't follow a straight path? What if pain is not just a temporary guide, but a constant companion?
As someone who has lived with chronic illness since childhood, I know too well the deep sorrow of waking each day in a body that constantly struggles. I’ve been told my healing depends on my mindset, told to shift my thinking, to stop focusing on the pain, to be more grateful, to release my traumas, and while there's truth in cultivating a powerful mind-body connection, these messages often ignore the lifelong challenges people like me face. They erase the years we spend fighting for a diagnosis, the thousands of dollars poured into both Western and holistic treatments, and the trauma of being misdiagnosed, gaslit, or dismissed entirely.
The Harm of Oversimplified Healing
In the spiritual and wellness worlds, there's a narrative that illness stems from unhealed emotional wounds or spiritual blocks. And yes, trauma leaves lasting effects on the body. Especially for Black, Indigenous, disabled, queer, and other marginalized communities whose trauma is systemic and ancestral.
Studies show adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), racism, intergenerational violence, and medical neglect correlate strongly with autoimmune diseases, heart conditions, chronic pain, and mental health struggles. Our bodies hold the echoes of injustice. But when the conversation stops at “just change your mindset,” it becomes deeply harmful.
Ash Riley writes:
“Ableist attitudes believe that physical perfection, both aesthetically and from a health standpoint, is a sign of social superiority and a reward for good behavior.”
(In My Sacred Space, 2020)
This belief often bleeds into spiritual teachings: that illness reflects spiritual failure, or that full healing is the only mark of spiritual maturity.
Spiritual Bypassing & the Erasure of Reality
Spiritual bypassing, coined by psychologist John Welwood, describes using spiritual ideas to avoid confronting painful truths. When we are told that chronic illness is a result of blocked energy or lack of faith, it denies our humanity. It dismisses our pain. As Justice Unbound explains:
“When people believe that disability is caused by sin or is a test of faith, they create spaces where disabled people are not welcomed, but tolerated—if that.”
Mindfulness Isn’t Negativity—It’s Survival
For many with chronic illness, especially those with invisible conditions, paying attention to our bodies is not an obsession. It is survival.
Some of us must notice the subtle changes before a flare. Ignoring those signals isn’t a spiritual victory, it could mean a fall, a seizure, or worse. Suggesting that we ignore our symptoms or avoid talking about them to “manifest health” is not only dismissive, it can be deadly.
Most of the time I don’t feel my feet. Days when I freeze mid-sentence. Days when my lungs struggle for air. I’ve learned to listen to my body, not because I want to dwell in pain, but because it’s the only way to move through this world safely.
The Cost of “Wellness” Culture
Wellness culture often promotes expensive solutions: clean eating, supplements, retreats, herbal protocols, and therapies not covered by insurance.
While some natural modalities help, they are not sustainable for many of us. Disabled folks often live on fixed incomes, have lost employment due to health, or spend thousands before even getting a diagnosis. We are shamed for taking medication, for needing rest, for not affording “natural” healing.
The United Methodist Church Disability Ministries Committee writes:
“Churches often fail to acknowledge the gifts and graces of people with disabilities, including mental health concerns.”
We are sacred as we are. We are not broken. We are not lazy. And we are tired of being told our health is our fault or that our healing hasn’t happened because we haven’t “done the work.”
A Call to Spiritual Communities
If you are a healer, spiritual teacher, clergy, or practitioner, this is your call to action:
Stop equating health with morality or spiritual strength.
Honor pain without glorifying suffering.
Recognize the impact of systemic and generational trauma.
Ensure your spaces and teachings are emotionally and physically accessible.
Center the leadership, wisdom, and needs of disabled people.
Speak love, not shame.
We Are Already Whole
Our bodies may be in pain. Our energy may ebb and flow. Our minds may freeze or scatter. But we are not less. We are not lacking. We are not unworthy.
As Luke 17:21 reminds us: “The kingdom of God is within you.”
This truth echoes across faiths and lands.
The Upanishads whisper: “Tat Tvam Asi” — You are that.
And as the Gullah Geechee elders say: “De Lawd don lib right een ya heart.”
Resources for Further Learning
In My Sacred Space – On Ableism
Understanding Ableism – UMC Disability Ministries
8 Ways Ableism Shows Up in Religious Spaces – Justice Unbound
Ableism in the Church, Part 1 – Disability and Faith
Is Christianity Ableist? – Christian Courier
Rest Is Resistance by Tricia Hersey
My Grandmother’s Hands by Resmaa Menakem
Let us build spiritual and wellness communities where no one is made to choose between their truth and belonging. Where healing comes in many forms. Where wholeness does not mean perfection, and joy is not postponed until suffering ends.
Because the Divine lives in all of us, right now, exactly as we are.
