Who Is Christopher M. Sove?

Christopher M. Sove is the creator of Retrocession, a guided spiritual process developed through personal suffering, decades of meditation, memory work, and experimentation with therapeutic and spiritual methods. He is a former attorney with degrees in computer science and mathematics, a lifelong explorer of consciousness, and the author of the writing on Retrocession.org.

Why Did I Develop Retrocession?

Retrocession grew out of necessity.

Despite outward success, the toll on my mental health was crushing. Depression, anxiety, panic attacks, and a struggle with alcohol weighed heavily on me, to the point that something had to change.

I spent eight years practicing law after going six figures into debt for law school. I cared deeply about my clients, but it became clear that continuing to practice would spread my problems farther and farther afield. I made the difficult, life-saving decision to close my practice and retire my law license.

Leaving law was the right decision, but it didn't immediately improve my mental health. I sank into deeper depression with daily panic attacks. Despite my consistent optimism, I was starting to believe that I was destined to die broken and sad.

What Had I Tried Before Retrocession?

For better or worse, I've always been an explorer.

At nineteen, I lived in an ashram in the mountains of West Virginia. That experience deepened a love for yoga and meditation that has lasted a lifetime.

My search for relief took many forms: self-help books, yoga, meditation, neural linguistic programming, therapy, spirituality, religion, and obscure therapeutic processes.

Some of those practices soothed me temporarily. But the roller coaster of temporary relief followed by crushing depression and anxiety eventually felt almost worse than constant pain.

I kept exploring.

How Did the Process Emerge?

During that vulnerable period, I learned to sit with suffering and understand how it felt in the body. I developed a process for tracing a present-day reaction, physical sensation, or emotional pattern toward its source.

Drawing on decades of meditation, an interest in obscure therapeutic modalities, and a massive dose of desperation, I began combining what worked.

That process became Retrocession.

I applied it repeatedly to anxiety, sadness, anger, jealousy, low self-worth, fear, procrastination, and the events from the past that appeared to remain active in the present.

In place of constant mental pain and a downward spiral from hell, I had space to breathe, space to grow, and space to develop the life I had once imagined was possible.

What Is My Background?

My roots are in Arlington Heights, a suburb of Chicago. My family later moved through Indiana and Ohio as my father followed a calling to ministry.

I received a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science and a Bachelor of Arts in Mathematics, then moved to San Diego for law school. My legal career focused primarily on estate and tax planning.

That path may look scattered from the outside: computers, mathematics, law, yoga, meditation, business, spirituality, and healing work.

I no longer see it as a collection of mistakes separating me from my real work. It became preparation.

Computer science taught me to see systems and processes.

Mathematics trained me to look for structure.

Law taught me to listen carefully, identify what matters, and work with the relationship between language and lived consequences.

Meditation taught me to observe the mind and body.

Suffering made the work urgent.

What Do I Claim—and What Don't I Claim?

I don't claim to have all the answers.

I'm not offering a belief system. I'm speaking from experience and personal realization. That's the only place from which I know how to speak safely.

I don't know whether every metaphysical interpretation is real. I do know that certain ways of seeing work for me. They reduce suffering. They create freedom. They let life move.

Only speak from experience and personal realization, and you can never go wrong.

That doesn't mean every conclusion is correct. It means being honest about the source.

Say what you saw.

Say what you felt.

Say what you tried.

Say what changed.

Retrocession is presented as a spiritual process, not medical or mental-health treatment. I don't present myself as a physician, psychotherapist, or other licensed healthcare professional.

What Is the Role of a Retrocession Facilitator?

The participant—not the facilitator—is the agent of the work.

The facilitator holds space, offers simple instructions, listens, and notices moments the participant may overlook. The facilitator doesn't impose an interpretation, decide what a memory means, or control the participant's process.

Guide without directing.

Facilitate self-discovery.

Respect the participant's reality.

Promote autonomy.

People don't need to trust me or even trust the process. They need to trust themselves.

Why Write About This Work?

Retrocession isn't just a method. It's my life's work.

I've learned by doing. Wiser people learn by seeing others make mistakes. And the wisest among us learn by hearing about the possibility of mistakes.

I'm grateful for the hard miles because, without making the mistakes, stalls, and backsteps, I wouldn't be well equipped to help others avoid them.

These essays emerged in meditation, in sessions, while driving, while sitting in a park, while building a company, and in the middle of ordinary days.

I've kept the uncertainty because the uncertainty is part of the truth.

Take what lands.

Test it in your own life.

See for yourself.

Continue Exploring

Read "How Retrocession Changed My Life" for the concise personal origin story.

Read "What Is Retrocession?" for the canonical definition and process.

Read "How Can I Evaluate a Spiritual Practice Without Blind Belief?" for the method behind the claims made on this site.