3 out of 4 stars
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What is your secret to health and happiness? Is it an elaborate formula or just one word? Whether or not you have it all figured out, Living in the Space of Light will take you on one woman’s journey of finding her source of health, happiness, and spirituality. Caarna, born René Geldenhuys, works as a physiotherapist in South Africa. Her life’s work has been devoted to teaching people how to heal themselves using their own inner light. From cranial-sacral therapy to acupuncture and healing violet flames, Caarna uses her diverse training and resources to help people find and access their own inner healer.
René Geldenhuys started her healing career at age six when her father was recovering from a serious mining accident. She was fascinated watching the physiotherapists work on her father through his rehabilitation. She found herself inquiring about the body and what is needed for it to heal itself. René began training herself to access her inner light by sitting alone in a dark cupboard. Eventually, she learned to call on her light spontaneously, to help others.
While researching a garden project based on sacred geometry, Geldenhuys was given the name Caarna, which means “Lady of The Light.” Working with light and its healing potential, Caarna now teaches others to find their inner light source, as a way of connecting with divine energies. She believes her purpose here is to live as a “Christed Being,” one who follows the example of Christ.
Living in the Space of Light contains twenty-one chapters, each describing an aspect or practice essential to living a life of Spirit and light. The section on love proclaims, “Loving who you are is the most empowering thing you will ever do for yourself, your life here, and those around you.” Caarna teaches that love in all forms has infinite healing potential and is known to reduce stress, reduce pain, and provide an overall sense of well being.
Happiness, for Caarna, is the result of conscious life choices and is built on a foundation of five aspects: community, gratitude, optimism, present moment awareness, and a sense of purpose. Similar formulas for happiness appear in both ancient and contemporary spiritual teachings. A daily practice of mindful thought, the foundation of Buddhism, is said to reduce suffering and lead to happiness. Eckhart Tolle, in his 2004 book The Power of Now, teaches the importance of present moment awareness. Like Tolle, Caarna’s primary message is that awakened consciousness through awareness is what aligns us with our life purpose.
Caarna’s beliefs are fiercely held and somewhat challenging at times. About gratitude, she asserts that not only is it important to be grateful for the positive aspects of life like family and good health, but also for the difficulties – the hard stuff – because this provides opportunities to find our inner strength. Caarna also teaches that we are the absolute creators of everything in our lives, the good and the bad. Modern culture became interested in this concept through a 2007 book called The Secret and the teachings of the law of attraction. One of twelve Universal laws, this one proclaims that nothing happens by accident – that we invite every person, experience, and circumstance to our lives, even the terrible ones. Caarna writes, “When we start looking at ourselves for reasons of dysfunction and misalignment, we start opening up to reveal the unfolding of all the complex but beautiful layers that make up the uniqueness of who we are.” Similarly, Caarna’s approach to fear is one of acceptance. She claims the only way to transform fear is to accept it, explore it, and welcome it rather than avoid it. I know this to be true for myself, though the practice of welcoming fear can feel counter-intuitive. The book is full of useful exercises or prescriptions for working with experiences such as fear and anxiety.
I found some incongruence in the area of spirituality. Throughout the book, Caarna asserts that we must accept that all circumstances and experiences are the results of God’s divine grace. Numerous times, however, she claims her intentions caused weather or other conditions to change. For instance, Caarna claims her intentions and visualizations caused the weather to clear for her daughter’s wedding and that talking to the wind and visualizing a diamond grid stopped a fire that was encroaching on dwellings. She seems to believe that the elements “obey” certain human commands when conditions are right. Caarna says we all have the same power as Jesus, to do such things. While I understand this basic tenet of New Age spirituality, I think it is a complex concept that deserved more exploration in the book. There are numerous concepts in this book that will likely feel extreme to some readers. The author might have drawn in her audience more had she addressed the potential skepticism and offered some more bridging between different belief systems. For instance, Christ and Christ Consciousness feature prominently in Caarna’s experiences and writings, but her teachings are not traditionally Christian. It may have helped for the author to offer more traditional readers some context for making the leap.
I rate Living in the Space of Light 3 out of 4 stars. I found it to be a pleasant read, free of editing errors, and full of useful spiritual lessons. Other non-fiction books tackle this subject matter, but Caarna’s stories and life experiences make this book worth reading. It is probably not a book for religious traditionalists, though an open mind would undoubtedly appreciate the teachings. If you like reading Eckhart Tolle or Marianne Williamson, you will enjoy this primer for living a life of fulfillment through spirituality. I hope you will find this book inspirational. I did. Caarna states in the introduction, “Human potential is infinite. Your potential has no limits.” Go out there and exercise your potential!
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Living in the Space of Light
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