Body Wisdom Academy

Rituals and the Power of Ancestral Connection

• Alyssa Stefanson

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Unlock the secrets of ancestral healing and transform your life by understanding how intergenerational trauma shapes our present challenges. What if over half of your struggles are rooted in the experiences of your ancestors? Today, we delve into the fascinating world of ancestral healing work, exploring how inherited family trauma influences dysfunctional relationships, addictions, and chronic health issues. Discover how positive traits like longevity and abundance are passed down through generations, and learn powerful somatic meditation and visualization exercises to heal ruptures in attachments with primary caregivers. Gain insights into the imprints of family history over three generations and the powerful concept of connecting with empowered ancestors through rituals.

Celebrate the profound wisdom embedded in your lineage by honoring ancestral connections and strengthening your intuition. We'll guide you in identifying which ancestral lines carry the most spiritual wellness, with a special focus on maternal ancestors. As winter solstice approaches, embrace this time of grounding and ancestral connection, and explore how dreams, synchronicities, and nature's signs like a great horned owl can bridge communication with your ancestors. Enhance your intuitive abilities with simple yet effective rituals, and conclude with gratitude to solidify these transformative practices. Tune in to experience the timeless wisdom of your ancestors and cultivate a deeper understanding of your ancestral lineage, with a special link to a free ancestral healing meditation for further exploration.

Free Ancestral Healing Meditation

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Speaker 1:

Welcome back to another episode of the Body Wisdom Academy. I'm your host, alyssa Steffensen, and today we are going to be talking about ancestral healing work, otherwise known as intergenerational or inherited family trauma work, and this topic is very near and dear to my heart because this work has been so profound and transformational for me and my clients. And some traditions say that over 50% of our current challenges actually stem back from our ancestors. They are passed down before we are even born, in our genetics, in our morphogenetic field, but it is so intertwined with us that we think that it is actually our problem, when often it isn't so. It could be a relationship pattern. Maybe you have a pattern of dating really emotionally unavailable people or really narcissistic partners. Maybe it's addictions, maybe it's money issues that you keep running into or chronic health problems, and one of the reasons that it is coming up is to be expressed through us and played out, so that it can be acknowledged and cleared, so that we can be more empowered, rather than playing out the conditioning of our lineage.

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Now we also inherit many incredible qualities from our ancestors. The spirit of who we are comes from them. Longevity, abundance and fertility can be passed down through our ancestors as well. So in physics it's seen as a spiral energy coming in from behind you. So think of it as this cord of life force, energy of love, flowing in from behind you seven generations back Now. Whatever traumas your ancestors have gone through over the past several generations maybe it's war, rape, natural disasters, death, illness, poverty this clogs this cord, blocking the full flow of love, life force and abundance from coming through. So one really potent exercise I do with my clients, after taking them through first a somatic meditation and visualization exercise to really get into their bodies and be present. I get them then to imagine mom and dad standing in front of them. So really get into their energy field, feel into them and envision a cord attached to mom and dad's heart, connecting to their heart. And then I ask them to feel into what percentage of love is getting through. So is it 5%, 25%, 50%, 75%, 100%? If the full 100% isn't coming through, we first focus on healing any ruptures in attachment, enmeshment or a break in the bond that may have happened with their primary caregivers. So first we're focusing on mom and dad and then moving down the line and as Mark Wallin stated in his book, it didn't start with you how inherited family trauma shapes who we are and how to end the cycle which is an incredible book, by the way.

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Recent developments in the field of cellular biology, neuroscience, epigenetics and developmental psychology underscore the importance of exploring at least three generations of family history in order to understand the mechanism behind patterns of trauma and suffering that repeat. So, as an unfertilized egg, you already shared a cellular environment with your mother and grandmother, so the precursor cell of the egg you developed from was already present in your mother's ovaries when she was in your grandma's womb, which means that the egg that you came from was formed inside your grandmother's womb. This is wild, so science now tells us that this precursor egg can be imprinted by events, with the potential to affect future generations. So a couple of things that I have been clearing for my ancestry, and these are some big ones. Many of you know that I battled with addiction for many years and really dysfunctional relationship patterns which run on both sides of my family. Now my parents never drank and they are happily married and they have a healthy relationship, so this can skip a generation which has been passed on to me. To clear, so one of the reasons it continued to be passed down, even though my parents didn't carry on the pattern was because it was never actually acknowledged or healed. So it's not as simple as just not taking on the pattern, which of course is extremely powerful in itself. But someone eventually has to do the deep healing work to clear it for the future generations. Otherwise it might skip a generation or two but still continue and it could be a health issue, like breast cancer, for an example. So the breasts are life giving. Many women in past generations were over giving, especially if they lost a husband in war and were left to take care of and provide for the children. And of course there are many factors that contribute to breast cancer, but this is just one. So it could be struggling using your voice.

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Having a blocked throat chakra, perhaps it wasn't safe for your ancestors to speak their truth. But before getting into healing and clearing work, we first have to focus on the foundations, which is why I'm splitting this into three different episodes. So today we are going to focus on cultivating a relationship with our ancestors through rituals and ceremony, and we want to first focus on connecting with our empowered ancestors who are well in spirit. So not all ancestors are well in spirit. Ancestors who are well bring blessings to major life events, and when we are open to the loving support of our healthy ancestors, life tends to go more easily, with higher levels of luck, ease and vitality. To first cultivate a sense of support, connection and safety within our bodies before we dip our toes into any past family traumas, there is a whole somatic process that I take my clients through when doing this work, because there is an order to healing and if we don't have a solid foundation, we can end up feeling more dissociated and disconnected from our bodies. So perhaps you just want to stay here and continue to cultivate a connection with your healthy ancestors and not continue on to explore the deeper healing work, which is beautiful too, and it is highly suggested to do the healing work with others, one-on-one or in community or both. And if you are unsure whether your ancestors are well in spirit, I will walk you through a potent somatic exercise. I just did this with my women's community.

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So ancestor work is very much about reconnecting to the wisdom of our bodies, our intuition, and learning how to receive messages and read energy. So one of the exercises that we did was I first got them to write all their lineages on a different piece of paper. So, for an example, I'm Ukrainian, icelandic, scottish and Irish, so I wrote on four pieces of paper and then we fold them up, we shuffle them so we don't know which is which, and there are a couple ways to do this exercise so you can stand on each of them and see what comes up. So some girls saw full images when they stood on the piece of paper, which was creepily accurate. Some felt a sense of heaviness or lightness, and some of them held the paper in front of their solar plexus and if their body leaned forward slightly it was a yes and if it pulled back it was a no. So this helped us feel into which lineage felt the lightest and most well in spirit, and so we started with that one.

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Ideally, if you are a woman, you want to start with the women on your maternal side, but if that energy feels too dark, then you may choose to go to your paternal side, even if you don't know anything about your family. So say you were adopted, you can still do this. So you can write on a piece of paper maternal mom side, maternal dad side and then your paternal parent side on the other pieces of paper and then just do the exact same thing stand over top of them. Or place the paper in front of your solar plexus and just feel into it top of them, or place the paper in front of your solar plexus and just feel into it.

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Now coming up, in a couple of days, is winter solstice, in which, according to Chinese medicine, is the time of year that corresponds to the kidneys. So during winter, the energy in the environment descends into the ground and into the roots of plants. Many animals and insects follow this, descending into the ground to hibernate. It is also the darkest time of the year, when the days are short, the nights are long. And the kidneys, in Chinese medicine, relate to the water element, to the water in our body and all the ways the water is present in our environment, to the root energy in our body. It's related to our subconscious experience, the cosmic womb deep in our memory, our mother's womb, which is the first watery environment from which we emerge into our life on earth. And the kidney. Also relates to our ears, our bones and marrow, our reproductive system and our ancestral lineage. So this is a really powerful and potent time to give reverence, honor and acknowledgement to our ancestors. So, by tapping into the vibrational signature of our lineage is how we do this.

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Now, the reason tapping into this energy is so important, especially in the West, is because we have lost our roots. We live in cities that have not been around that long. There is no foundation, we don't remember where we came from. We are a very dissociated culture, disconnected culture, and we are also very hyper-focused on the future, goal-oriented. So there is a reason why people with more humility are described as being down to earth grounded. A connection to the support of our ancestors leads to a more realistic self-perception, a healthier concept of ourselves. So our rooting is our support that comes from behind us when it comes to our ancestors. So this is our connection to our tribal soul, which for many of us, is very diverse because of our multicultural background, which is really cool and through this vibrational frequency comes so much wisdom and gifts.

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Communication with our ancestors can happen intentionally or spontaneously. It can happen through dreams, synchronicity signs, unusual animal encounters. So I actually had this was seven years ago. I had a very profound encounter with a great horned owl. I've shared this story a few times if you haven't heard it, but I was actually just coming home. I was at a 12-step meeting and I pulled into my parking lot and all of a sudden I just saw this massive bird swoop down from a tree in the yard behind my apartment building and I actually thought it was an eagle at first and I was like what was that? It was a massive bird. All of a sudden it flies up from the yard, it flies directly at my windshield. It was a great horned owl and I've never even seen a great horned owl in the city before, let alone a great horned owl that big Like it was massive. And then it sat directly beside my car. So it felt super significant. I was actually scared at first to get out of my car because I was kind of in shock. And then when I got out, it actually flew up and it perched on a tree directly outside my window and it sat there all night and it actually just watched me when it was sitting on the tree walking into my apartment building. So that felt super significant.

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So that is one way that our guides, our ancestors, could be trying to connect with us and get our attention, also through number synchronicities as well. So many people, when they first start opening the channels to connect with their ancestors. It can often feel like we're making it up. Many people say this. So refinement comes from faith, healthy skepticism and continuous practice over time. Because it will feel like that initially, like anytime that you're really trying to build your, even your clairvoyant, your claircognitant or clairaudient. However you receive information. Anytime you're trying to build those abilities, cultivate them, it's going to feel like you're making it up at first. So it just takes refinement and practice.

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And that's why the paper exercise is really powerful, because what I first get my clients to do is we actually just wrote light and dark on a piece of paper so you could do this exercise at home, just to practice. And so they mix the paper around and then they stand on top of them, feel into it, and then they start to discover how they see energy. So maybe some of them actually feel heavy, they feel the darkness or they feel the light, and then maybe some of them get like an image, like a dark cloud for the dark and then maybe they see like bright skies for the light. So just different ways that we receive information and then you check the paper to see if you're right and if not, that's's totally okay. Just keep trying until you start mastering this, so it just practice, and starting to really connect with our bodies, because we're very disconnected from our bodies. We live predominantly anchored in our minds, disconnected from the important information being sent from our bodies to our brains, and our body is so intelligent. So staying open to our ancestors also functions as early warning systems that protect us from illness, hardship or premature death.

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So, as with any ritual that we're doing, clarifying your intent is critical and informs everything that follows. So I suggest, before doing any kind of ritual and I'm actually going to be doing one on the solstice, so that'll be this Saturday so I suggest setting an intention to initiate conscious contact with your loving and supportive ancestors at a level of intensity that is helpful to you at this time. So you want to choose a sacred space somewhere quiet, could be in nature, or somewhere clean and private and peaceful, so you can form the base of a simple altar. So this could be with a cloth, candle, glass of water, incense or a special stone. You could also include pictures of your ancestors that you believe are well in spirit.

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And next, you want to center yourself physically and emotionally. So this may be somatic meditation, breath work, unstructured movement, whatever helps you get grounded and centered and, when you feel ready, directly address your loving and supportive ancestors out loud, if possible. And if you are not sure if your recent ancestors are well in spirit, then only call out to your older ancestors whose names are forgotten. So introduce yourself and speak from your heart about why you are reaching out to them, heart about why you are reaching out to them. So it could be for support for yourself or one of your family members, or for support for a recently deceased ancestor. And you continue, adding in maybe a chant, mantra, singing, poem, whatever feels right for you, and keep continuing until it feels complete and that the call was heard.

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So now, in a circle with your ancestors, you can make an offering near the altar space you have established. So this offering could be food, a drink, flowers, incense, artwork, crafts, whatever you feel that you want to offer. And when you present the offering, explain why you brought what you did. So a glass of water from the heart will have a greater impact than a fancy, elaborate meal lacking in emotional connection. So, after presenting, allow yourself to just be in this state of receptivity and open awareness. So this could be five minutes lying down with your eyes closed 30 minute meditation or spending maybe a solo afternoon in nature reflecting.

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So the point is to allow for an open and curious mind that allows for a response and journal any messages that come through so that you remember them, just like dream, and when we're in dream state it's very common to remember or not remember our dreams once we wake up.

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So it's important, if we do feel like we're receiving any type of information, to write it down. This is also a good practice, just to strengthen our inner knowing and our intuition as well. When we write it down, this is also a good practice, just to strengthen our inner knowing and our intuition as well. When we write it down, the messages will start to actually get stronger over time and when this feels complete, just simply close with a prayer, a thanks and an acknowledgement that the ritual is over. So sometimes a ritual may seem very simple, but it can set in motion forces that play out in our lives for years to come. So I have included in the show notes a link for you to access a free ancestral healing meditation. So please check that out. I hope you enjoyed this episode. This is just the first one of three, so part two will be coming in January and I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and I will see you back in the new year.