Spiritual Thin Places: The Surprising Miracles Of Iona

Am fear a thèid a dh’I, thèid e trì uairean ann.

He who comes to Iona will come not once but three times.

~Gaelic saying

Spiritual But Not Religious: Finding A Spiritual Home

There’s a lot of data available on what’s happening in the United States with regard to religion: which religions are growing or shrinking, which denominations are up or down, etc. And there’s been a steady increase over the past decade of the SBNRs—spiritual but not religious. (Check out Pew Research Center’s work on that.)

I definitely fall into the SBNR category—and in my perverse need to eliminate the word “but” from regular usage, I’d simply call myself spiritual. As such, I’d never really connected with houses of worship in the past: I admired the art and architecture, and it pretty much stopped there. I’d never felt the need for a “spiritual home” per se.

And then in the summer of 2025, I landed on Iona and found mine. So per the quote above, I have at least one more trip to make there….

Iona: A Thin Place

I went to Iona in 2025 as part of a hiking trip. Ever done a group tour? By day four, people start acting like cranky toddlers who need to be spanked (if you believe in that) and put down for a nap. Luckily, we were simply turned loose on the Isle of Iona with tickets and an audio tour of the famous abbey, advice on how we could hike any/all of the island in a day, and an admonition to be back in time for dinner.

My day on Iona, away from others on the tour, was so deeply mind-bending that I returned there in 2026 on my own. (Damn, it’s so much easier when someone else handles the logistics of feet, train, ferry, bus, train, feet and the reverse!)

What Are Spiritual Thin Places?

Have you ever stepped into a place where the veil between the spiritual and the physical worlds feels … thin? Another way I think about it is that in some places the energy of the earth is palpable. Think Sedona, Stonehenge, Glastonbury Tor, Machu Picchu, Mount Kailash….

George MacLeod, who founded the Iona Community, said of the island that it is “… a thin place where only tissue paper separates the material from the spiritual.” Even in my spiritual novicehood, I feel that.

In Sedona, I found the energy very “buzzy”; on Iona, I find it the reverse. It’s as though whatever you’re carrying on your heart runs down through the soles of your feet to be absorbed into the ground.

Cue The “Coincidences”

Here’s a fun small world story for you (also known as a coincidence): I know a chiropractor in Vermont whose ex-in-laws are part-owners of the hotel where I stayed on Iona in 2025. Okay, there are only two hotels there, so the chances were 50/50 that we’d be there … and really, what are the chances?!?

It gets better: her sister-in-law is a foot reflexologist. If you’ve never heard of foot reflexology, look it up! It goes hand-in-hand with sister modalities like acupuncture, acupressure, and some forms of massage that focus on the energy lines in our bodies.

My First Experience Of Reflexology

My first experience of reflexology was when I was dealing with the flu—and two small children, and global travel, and my mother-in-law all at the same time. The result was magic: I woke up the next morning feeling as though I’d never been ill.

So yes, of course I made an appointment as part of my first stay on Iona! And the second.

Healers + HEALERS

There are healers in the world—lots of them—and then there are capital-H Healers. This reflexologist is definitely the latter.

Releasing Grief And Rage On Iona

Last year, I went to Scotland with the intention of giving myself time to grieve a dear friend who had passed away on Valentine’s Day after a long battle with cancer. I’d found myself in a deep depression in March and April because I hadn’t given myself time to mourn her properly—in part because my initial response was relief that she was no longer in pain and also because I’d bottled it all up to get through the day-to-day.

I left Iona having completely released my grief and knowing that my friend was still with me. (More on that, below.)

This year, my intention was to release some big emotions around some changes in my personal life—and again, reflexology and Iona didn’t disappoint! I returned to Vermont having released a lot of rage and ready to release more than one relationship.

From Coincidence To Miracle

How often do we shrug something off as a coincidence? Ha—funny story about that reflexologist knowing your chiropractor Stateside, wild that she co-owns the hotel you stayed in, etc.

Believe it or not, there are a few more “coincidences” about other parts of the trip I haven’t shared with you.

Hummingbirds, A Solarium, And Messages From The Universe

One more about my sweet friend: Marine was obsessed with hummingbirds and considered them her spirit guide. I’d had a feeder in my backyard for two years with rarely a hummingbird in sight. Last summer, after I returned from Iona, two of them made daily visits to my yard—and this year, they’re back again. I can’t help but feel that it’s Marine in her new form sending me blessings for my life and work.

Okay, just one more coincidence: when I came downstairs to the solarium at the first inn where we stayed in 2025, I said to the trip leader, “This is my dream. I want to own an inn with a solarium like this and run wellness retreats for midlife women.”

“Well,” she said after questioning whether I was serious, “this place goes on the market next week.” Needless to say, I couldn’t drop a cool $1.3M for it last summer, so no—I didn’t buy it. (And pssssst—it’s still for sale. I know because of course, I stalk it.)

You get the idea, though. The Universe is constantly sending us messages—and we usually dismiss them as weird coincidences.

A Miracle Is A Shift In Perception

What if they are actually miracles, though? My favorite definition comes from A Course in Miracles, which defines a miracle as a shift in perception. You can think these events are coincidences … or you can shift your perception and believe they are miracles, communications from the Universe about what is in your heart and on your mind.

And that is truly a spiritual experience, connection with the Divine.

Are You Ready For A Miracle?

Sometimes the most powerful spiritual experiences don’t happen with fanfare. They happen quietly—with simply a shift in perception.

If you’ve been noticing some odd “coincidences” recently, what would they be telling you if they were actually miracles, messages from the Universe? Keep going, sister, you are so on the right track? Or maybe, Hold it, maybe this isn’t for you?

Find yourself a “thin” place and spend some time considering what questions you haven’t been asking out loud—your miracles are probably the answers to them.

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About the Author:

Liza (pronounced Leeza) is a certified Integrative Nutrition® Health Coach, author, and passionate advocate for women’s wellness in perimenopause and beyond. Using her somewhat eclectic background in foreign languages, culinary arts, nutrition, and holistic health, she invites overwhelmed midlife women to stop fixing their broken and start gently unfurling their perfect.

Her programs encourage women to renegotiate their relationship with food, stress, and themselves, come into full alignment with their intuition, and enter a season of sacred harvest rather than decline. Her Second Saturdays dinner salon series connects midlife women with the many wise women who have answers to their endless questions about this stage of life. You can learn more about Liza here: Website: https://simplyhealthcoaching.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lizabakervt/