We all desire to feel loved and accepted, to be understood, and to feel emotionally light and safe to be who we are. But sometimes our family lineages create challenging experiences and circumstances. We are each born with inherited issues and limitations from our mother’s and father’s lineage, but it is our choice to either avoid issues at play or to step up and take full responsibility for the healing that is needed.
According to epigenetics - the study of inheritable changes in gene expression not directly coded in the DNA - our life experiences may be passed on to our children and our children’s children. Studies on survivors in traumatic events have suggested that exposure to stress may have lasting effects in subsequent generations.
What makes ancestral healing (also known as generational or intergenerational healing) so important, is that it is very centred around your experience and lineage that is uniquely you. Generational trauma is a traumatic event that began decades prior to the current generation and has impacted the way that individuals understand, cope with and heal from trauma. Looking at your individual generational trauma, you are able to release and find acceptance of family wounds that occurred in someone else’s life that has shaped the energy and beliefs of your lineage.
The study of epigenetics show us how generational trauma is passed on, not only through genes but the psyche of generations. Certain genes will trigger fight, flight or fawn in your nervous system. Ancestral healing restores the nervous system of you and those of the family you belong to, so you can operate in the world in a way that is not constantly rooted in past / historical hurts and experiences.
All of us in some degree come from a lineage of people who experienced great traumas such as genocide, war, discrimination, poverty, displacement, immigration, slavery, famine, abandonment, etc. However, if over time, we simply say that this is part of being human and that it is ‘normal’ for these things to happen, they create a wound inside our psyches , energetic bodies and behaviour patterns. When that continues to happen with no resetting of the nervous system, we pass those same ideas and energy into the next generation.
The core wound is never really the symptom. These patterns, wound and ancestral traumas manifest in different ways in our careers, finances, relationships, and the way we view ourselves and others. They feel ingrained in us, yet completely separate. They hold us back from what we know to be true about ourselves, how we show up in the world, and how we want our lives in the outer world to look. It alters our reality based on fears that don’t belong to us.
With ancestral healing, the aim in identifying, transforming and integrating these passed-down traumas is that they stop being hard-wired. Defensive patterns can become food for growth and healing. As they become conscious and a narrative is formed, we can stop hurting ourselves and others by unconsciously reproducing them.
Major stages of ancestral healing include:
- confronting the trauma
- understanding the trauma
- feeling and releasing the pain of historical trauma
- connecting with and beholding healthy ancestors.
Signs you are healing ancestral trauma include:
- you are able to objectively view your parents as human beings with flaws, traumas and their own limitations
- you have healthy boundaries
- you aren’t looking for a partner to heal, fix or save
- you prioritise self-care and practise self-love
- you realise the culture of society glorifies trauma bonds, self-neglect and distractions
- you feel less dependant on external validation or receiving approval from others
- you recognise how people treat you is a reflection of how they treat themselves
- you find peace in your solitude and spending quiet time alone.
Because our DNA is modified by our experiences of trauma, the trauma is not only carried in our minds, but is also physically carried and expressed in our bodies. Because epigenetic signatures are modifiable, it means that by working to heal ancestral traumas, we are able to heal future generations and prevent the impacts of negative influences, such as trauma, from continuing to be passed down. When we work to heal from ancestral trauma, we are not only healing ourselves, but also healing future generations.
When we clear trauma from our hearts, minds and bodies, we are also healing our ancestral lineage - as well as clearing negative genetic patterning that would otherwise affect our children and future generations.
When we begin to understand and heal the historical traumas within our bloodlines, an inner revolution occurs - our hearts and minds are freed and energised to claim our human birthright and courageously take up the work of transforming the world around us. Through ancestral healing, it is in our power to transform our families’ traumas. We can learn to release the patterns and behaviours that have come down to us and strengthen and energise the legacies that are positive and life-giving.
Ancestral lineage healing plays an essential role in the individual’s ascension process as we progress along our spiritual path.
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