I know it's beneficial to allow more lights to get to it and stop it from getting too tall and save energy but is there a way around it kind of don't want to hurt her :O
Of course topping is optional mate, and probably isn't for everybody, but if it's done right then it only temporarily shocks the plant for a few days, maybe a week at most, but the rewards are an even canopy and more bud sites, which equals higher yield. I get the not wanting to hurt the plant thought process.....but if you think about it, the only reason you are growing her in the first place is to end up with a decent chunk of homegrown weed, so it makes sense to try and squeeze as much as possible out of her huh? But if you are totally against the idea, then maybe just a bit of lst-ing to give the smaller branches a chance to catch up will help her along the way.
Those plants are damn near indestructable when you are talking about topping, fimming, bending , supercropping or tieing...they not only recover but flourish...the most harm done to your plants will come from too much feed.....but to generalize, indicas or indica doms dont take to manipulation as well as do sativa or sativa doms purely from a structural standpoint....but its relative...use common sense.
If you only top once, or maybe twice, the risk of sending her hermie is very low mate, so long as you wait at least a week inbetween toppings and at least another week after topping before flipping to 12/12, you should be fine.