As the seasons continue to change and we begin our descent from Fall into Winter, we approach the time of the year that many cultures in the Northern Hemisphere pause to honor their ancestors through festivals and celebrations. Although the focus on remembering and honoring ancestors isn't as prevalent in the US as it is in other countries, we can observe these traditions in many of our close neighbors. Whether you grew up in a family where close relationships with relatives and ancestors were held in high value, or in a family that lacked connection to close family and ancestral roots, connecting with the deeper role that your ancestry plays in your lived experiences and perception of the world is of vital importance on your spiritual journey.
When we work with the body, we work with our ancestors - literally. Our bodies are the culmination of the genetic material of all of our ancestors, human and non-human, and we carry their experiences, and resulting core beliefs in our cells, tissues, and organs. Although many people now have some awareness of the impact our own life experiences (both pleasant and unpleasant) and traumas have on our mind, body, and overall well-being, most still don't fully comprehend the impact that the experiences of our ancestors have on our day-to-day lives.
We think of ourselves as a singular individual being separate from our family rather than recognizing that, although we are a sovereign being, we are inhabiting and experiencing life in a body that is integrally connected to a long line of living beings on this planet. In other words, we are only able to have the unique experience of this life because of the experiences of all of our ancestors. This includes the beautiful, loving, and joyful experiences, as well as the painful, oppressive, and traumatic ones.
For those who have experienced significant trauma within their family and have become distanced from their relatives, either through a conscious choice to live differently or through circumstances outside of conscious control, it is especially important to begin working with the ancestors through the body. For better or worse, they are a part of us, and as long as we remain in conflict with them, we remain in conflict with a part of ourselves. As long as we refuse to see them in us, we refuse to see a part of ourselves. As long as we hate them, we hate a part of ourselves. This does not mean that we need to welcome back into our lives people who are disrespectful, abusive, or otherwise don't respect boundaries. It simply means that we have to look deep inside ourselves for the pieces that we have cast off as unworthy, unloveable, and unacceptable, and begin integrating them back into wholeness through showing them love and compassion. This is a felt sense practice rather than a mental practice.
There is a feeling at the root of all core beliefs we inherited from our ancestors. If there are people in your family who you avoid because of the way they act, or the way they treat you, go inside and ask - how does this person make me feel? Allow yourself to really connect with the felt sense of what is coming up in your body as much as possible. Begin to get curious about the subtleties of what your actually feeling. Let go of the story about the person in question, and focus all of your attention on the feeling they evoked. What actually is this feeling? What about it is unpleasant if there's no story attached to it? Is there anything about it that is actually pleasant to your senses? Set the intention to build a relationship with this feeling, so that rather than rejection you can meet it with curiousty when it arises. Once you feel you've become familiar with it, you can begin directing a feeling of love and compassion towards it, giving the feeling(s) space to expand through the body and be felt and held in a space of love and compassion.
This can be extraordinarily healing to our entire experience of existence when we've been in conflict with a particular feeling in our body for many years - a lifetime in some cases. To begin teaching ourselves to meet all of our experiences with love and compassion, giving them space to move through the body rather than clamping down on them in an effort to keep them as small as possible so we don't have to fully feel them, is how we begin to heal our bodies and transform our lives from the inside out. When we commit to this process, we are committing to transforming not only ourselves, but our entire lineage as well - all the way forward and all the way back.
This is what it means on a very grounded level when we say we are one.
A commitment to yourself is a commitment to your lineage and every other being who is a part of that lineage. As you deepen into this work and into your body, allow yourself to receive support from your lineage, from your ancestors. They are within you - literally. Call on the parts of them that have the capacity to support your transformation, and allow the parts of them that are exhausted from holding the role of protector for so long to transform into a form that is lighter, freer, and more supportive to the reality you desire to create for yourself. In this way we serve as a living conduit for the resolution and transformation of dense and restrictive energies stuck within our lineage due to ancestral experiences. Allow your feelings to guide you, and don't be afraid to deepen into those that are uncomfortable. Remember that you are the medicine and you are supported in this beautiful and transformative undertaking. You have all you need within you. Trust yourself.
Comments