Anatomy of Soul Surgery
ABC's of awakening
Hello lovelies, welcome!
I’m Soul Surgeon, Dr. Tamy, inviting you into the journey of self-discovery.
Permission Slips is your weekly breath of truth - a blend of soul stories, ancient whispers, and grounded tools for the journey home to yourself. With poetry, art, and tales from the battlefield of raising five wild-hearted humans, this is a space for seekers, feelers, and those learning to stay awake. Wherever you are on the path - come, walk with me!
✨If you’re new here, welcome on board and please consider subscribing so we can meet like this more often.
✨For my beautiful subscribing Stackers, I’m so grateful to walk this path with you!
✨To join our C.O.R.E. community - Circle of Oneness and Radiant Expansion - upgrade to a paid subscription and meet-up monthly in our zoom room. More info about our C.O.R.E. Community here.
Today’s Permission Slip : I give myself permission to enter the Soul Surgery journey✨
With so many new beautiful soul-scribers here on the journey, I thought it would be the perfect time to share some of the anatomy of Soul Surgery - and what I really mean when I talk about it.
In prior publications I shared my personal path and how I transformed from Plastic Surgeon to Soul Surgeon. Today I’ll share the foundations of Soul Surgery.
No scalpel, no anesthesia – just truth, transformation and the courage to step into your Truest Self.
What is Soul Surgery?
Soul surgery is spiritual therapy.
It’s the sacred art of tending to the soil of our soul. Just as a gardener doesn’t force a flower to bloom, but instead creates the conditions for it to unfold, Soul Surgery is about loosening the hardened ground of our inner landscape. Through presence and gentle excavation, together we unearth the tangled roots of old wounds, unconscious patterns, and conditioned beliefs that have shaped our experience of life.
By carefully tending to the soil of the soul, I support nurturing growth. In order for growth to occur, the earth must first be healed and balanced. Just as soil must be tilled, aerated, and enriched to foster healthy roots, Soul Surgery operates beneath the surface, where the unseen conditions of the body’s “earth” are adjusted and cultivated for optimal vitality. In this process, the heart-mind-body - like soil - is treated as a living organism. Every maneuver aims to restore harmony and promote flourishing health.
What Is the Soul in the Context of Soul Surgery?
Let me define what I mean by the word soul in the context of Soul Surgery. The soul is not something you have it’s what you are.
It’s the essence beneath the layers of conditioning, the unchanging truth beneath the shifting identities, the part of you that existed before the world told you who to be.
ABC’s of Soul Surgery
The first tools I was taught as a young surgeon working in the Bronx Emergency Room was the ABCs of trauma. Airway. Breathing. Circulation. These are the non-negotiable foundations of saving a life. When a patient arrives to the ER on a stretcher, chaos swirling around the room, these basics guide the hands of the healer. Years ago, when I began heeding my calling as a Soul Surgeon, I discovered another set of ABC’s - just as vital, just as foundational.
The trauma surgeon’s ABCs keep the body alive.
The Soul Surgeon’s ABCs bring the soul to life.
✨Awareness
✨Breath
✨Compassion
Foundations of Transformation
The ABC’s of Soul Surgery - Awareness, Breath, Compassion - are the foundation from which all transformation begins. Just as the trauma surgeon stabilizes the body before deeper healing can take place, we, too, must stabilize the soul.
With awareness, we wake up.
With breath, we ground ourselves.
With compassion, we soften into our humanity.
From here, the real journey begins.
Awareness
Awareness is the first and most essential intervention!
Without awareness of who we are, we move through life like sleepwalkers, mistaking routine for reality. We become lost in the fog of daily obligations - washing dishes, shuttling kids to school, and meeting deadlines. We follow a script handed to us by family, culture, and society. Get the degree. Chase success. Accumulate material goods. Be the best. But beneath that script lies something deeper – something truer. And the key to unlocking it is awareness.
Awareness is not something we gain; it’s something we uncover. It has always been with us, like the blue sky behind clouds. When we begin to explore the deeper dimensions of ourselves through the path of Soul Surgery and self-inquiry, we awaken to a life that was always here, waiting for us to notice our true selves.
Awareness is the light that allows us to see what has been buried beneath the surface. It’s the act of witnessing - without judgment - the landscapes of our inner world.
Breath
If awareness is the awakening, breath is the anchor. It’s the sacred tool that brings oxygen to the soul’s soil, making space for transformation to take place. It softens what has been rigid, allowing movement where there once was stagnation.
The mind is like an untrained puppy – darting here, sniffing there, chasing after every passing thought. It needs a focal point, something steady to tether it to the present moment. The breath is that anchor. It’s the most accessible tool we have, the one thing we carry with us every moment of our lives. We don’t leave home without it, and yet, we so often forget it.
With each inhale, we arrive. With each exhale, we release.
The breath reminds us that presence is always within reach, no matter how chaotic the world around us becomes, we can always return home - to this breath, to this moment, to ourselves.
Compassion
Compassion is the nourishment, the water and warmth that heal the parts of us that have been left in drought. It teaches us to tend to ourselves and others with gentleness rather than force.
In a world driven by fear, competition, and judgment, compassion is the medicine we are craving. Compassion isn’t a soft sentiment but a radical act. And it must begin within oneself. As the Dalai Lama says, If we don’t know, self compassion, we don’t no compassion at all.
True compassion is not pity. It’s not indulgence. It’s the willingness to meet ourselves – our flaws, our fears, our failures – with gentleness.
Recognizing that we, like everyone else, are doing the best we can with the tools we have, is quite powerful. The magic of self-compassion is that once we cultivate it for ourselves, we begin to extend it outward toward others. And in that expansion, we break free from the illusion of the ego - the illusion of separateness.
We remember that we are not alone.
We remember that we are One.
Invitation
So, I invite you to step beyond the surface of your daily routines and into the vastness of who you truly are.
Soul Surgery is not about fixing what’s broken - it’s about realizing that you were never broken to begin with. It’s about waking up, coming home to yourself, and embracing the depth of your existence with clarity, presence, and love.
Through Soul Surgery, we become both the gardener and the garden - learning to trust the natural process of our unfolding, honoring the seasons of growth, decay, and rebirth, and embracing the truth that healing is not about fixing what is broken but remembering the wholeness that has always been within us.
Ready to begin? Let’s go!
What’s Next?
In next week’s publication I’ll dive deeper into the tools I use in the process of Soul Surgery. These tools bring us closer to an authentic, well-lived life, minimizing suffering and enhancing well-being.
But remember : Soul Surgery isn’t just about scientific tools - it’s also about deep wisdom, intuition, and an understanding that transcends the logical mind.
Science gives us proven methods to begin our journey, but the soul requires something more : a connection to the unseen and an openness to the mystery of being. In the next part of this journey, we’ll explore both - bridging the gap between knowledge and knowing, between method and magic.
Self-Inquiry Journaling Prompts✨Awareness – The Observer Within
Where in your life are you resisting what is? How does that resistance show up in your body, thoughts, or behaviors? What would it feel like to soften into acceptance instead of pushing against reality?
Breath – The Bridge Between Chaos and Clarity
Close your eyes and take five deep breaths, focusing on the inhale and exhale. Now, write about how your breath feels in your body. What does it reveal about your current state of being? What shifts when you consciously slow down your breathing?
Compassion – Turning Towards Yourself
Think of a part of yourself that feels neglected, judged, or unworthy. If you could sit with that part of you as a loving friend, what would you say? How can you offer it more understanding and acceptance today?
Offerings from Dr. Tamy
TheMindFul Space website
1:1 Session: If you feel curious about the path of self-discovery, take the next step by diving into a discovery call together, message to schedule via DM.
Complimentary Consultation : 45-minute Soul Surgery complimentary consultation included with paid subscription.
Monthly Gathering : paid subscribers will receive a zoom link to meet in C.O.R.E. - Circle Of Radiant Expansion - on the first Sunday of every month from 3-4:30 PM EST (NY Time). In our time together, we’ll gather, share, and deepen our path of self-discovery.
*Additional time zones : 12 PM PT / 8 PM UK time / 9 PM CET (Europe) / 5AM on Mondays Australia time
Free Resources: If you would like additional free resources on how to begin on the path of self-discovery, please send your inquiry via DM.
Click on the link below to treat me to my fave oat milk latte with 86% dark chocolate.
*p.s. i love you❣️
Lovely reflections that speak right to what I live and love. Wonderful to connect on the adventure indeed. :)
Hi Tamy, I love how you compare soul surgery to gardening. There's something so grounding and down-to-earth about it. I've often described myself as an overgrown flowerbed in need of weeding. I think I'll explore this metaphor a bit more!