Bridger of Worlds

The Wound and the Womb: Embracing Ancestral Energies and Divine Union

• Ioannis Kokkinos

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In this powerful episode of the Bridger Worlds Podcast, host Ioannis Kokkinos explores the spiritual meaning of injury through a deeply personal story. On September 19, 2010, Ioannis suffered a knee injury while performing a traditional Cretan dance—a moment that would catalyze a profound journey of emotional healing, somatic awareness, and ancestral reconnection.

Now living in Crete for the summer, Ioannis reflects on his struggles with porn addiction, emotional eating, and disconnection from the body. He dives into the symbolic layers of his injury and how it mirrored his internal imbalance. Drawing from yogic wisdom, he unpacks the dance between masculine and feminine energy, exploring how trauma can become a portal for spiritual awakening and soul healing.

This episode offers deep insight into:

  • The spiritual significance of physical injury
  • How addiction disconnects us from the body and soul
  • The power of Greek heritage, Cretan music, and embodied dance
  • The role of ancestral healing in reclaiming one’s truth
  • Integrating divine masculine and feminine energies for wholeness
  • The path from self-abandonment to self-love.

Whether you’re on a healing journey, exploring your roots, or seeking to reconnect with your body and spirit, this episode is a powerful guide through the shadows and into the light.


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Hi everyone. Welcome to another episode of the Bridger Worlds podcast. I'm your host, Ioannis Kokkinos. Thank you so much for joining me. If you're on YouTube watching, thank you for tuning in and if you're on one of the podcast platforms, thank you for tuning in as well. So today's quite an episode. We're going to be going deeper than usual.

By now, you've noticed how much I love symbolism and metaphors and archetypes. This is all my love language. I want to bring to the space today a few pieces that I've talked about already that tie in very much to last week's episode, the Body, the Temple, and Why I'm in Crete, why I am here on this island this summer.

Because I fully well know why I am here and what the connection is to my journey. Uh, let's see what wants to come through. I know what I want to talk about, but it feels a little bit, feels quite big today, like charged. Maybe I don't cover everything in this episode. Let's see, let's see. 

A Life-Changing Event: September 19th, 2010

But let's start with September 19th, 2010, which was a life changing event.

It was a life changing day for me. So at that time I was, what, I was about 23 years old and I was still very much immersed in the world of porn addiction and food addiction. So if you've not watched or listened to last week's episode, I highly recommend now to pause and touch base with last week's episode because there, there will be a lot of context there as far as today's episode is concerned.

But basically on that day, I injured my knee Greek dancing, Cretan dancing. So it was a Sunday evening practice. I used to dance folklore in Montreal with dance troops. I had danced this dance hundreds of times before, the maleviziotikos choros of Crete and I injured my knee. I injured my right knee. I had an ACL tear as well as a meniscus tear.

And it was a tough, it was a tough injury because it was a bucket handle, tear injury, and the surgeon couldn't tell from the MRI scan whether or not the piece of the meniscus was salvageable. So he actually had to wait on the day of the surgery to see if he could salvage the piece of the meniscus to either sew it back in so it can heal on its own or take it out altogether.

Fortunately, it was salvageable, so he actually sewed it back in to its proper position and my knee ended up healing, my meniscus ended up healing, um, naturally. Along with my body, but it was a tough injury in the sense that I couldn't put any weight on my knee for December, about four and a half months until surgery.

And then I couldn't put on weight, any weight on my knee post surgery for about three or four months. Three months I think. Yeah, April's when I started walking with crutches. So for close to a year, I was not walking on my right knee. And for this reason, the whole right side of my body atrophied, muscle wise.

With physio, we were working very much on, the localized area of the leg, but like the whole right side of my body atrophied. 

The Symbolism of the Knee Injury

And because, you know, I love my symbolism and my metaphors and my archetypal meanings. Uh, this was after, of course, this was not during. But really it all made very much sense why this injury happened, why this injury came, why was my right side, why it was my knee, why it was Cretan dancing, right?

So. I'm always one to try and make as many connections as possible when anything happens. Sometimes it gets me into trouble because I dig a little too much, but I also love that, um, about me. It's one of my , assets, I believe, the way I excavate and the way I dig and research. But why I want to bring this to the table today is because it really speaks to what I was talking about last week and having love for the body.

So up until that point, I had absolutely no love for my body. As I mentioned, I was very much immersed in food addiction and porn addiction. I was so, so disconnected from my body.

I think it's really only recently I am fully connecting to my body. That's how deep the work goes. But that also has to do with how much I steered away from my body. And this started from young, right? So I talked about last week how just junk food addiction renders us further disassociated from our bodies.

And then for me, like porn addiction rendered me further disassociated from my body.

It's all so symbolic because according to the yogic teachings, the right side of the body is governed by the masculine, Pingala, and the left side of the body is governed by the feminine Ida. So these are two energetic channels that actually circuit around the main channel of the spine, which is Sushumna.

And these are the three main energetic channels of the body according to the yogic teachings. So when we activate, let's say our Kundalini, that happens at the Sushumna. Uh, base the root chakra. So I've been talking about the root chakra, how pivotal it is for foundational work and foundational standing and really building the structure upon that foundation.

So it's so pivotal. So when that gets activated, Sushumna is activated because that is what actually drives the energy upward. And then with Sushumna being activated, we have Ida and Pingala, the masculine and the feminine that circuit around Sushumna, and they all meet here at the third eye. And this is really where the Kundalini yoga teachings come into play.

Like a lot of theory and, but really in a nutshell. Through breath, through concentration, through focus, in even exercises. We bring the energies up through these three main channels. There are many nadis in the body according to the yogic teachings. But these are the three main, and this is where we open the third eye.

And then obviously we want the energy to move up to the crown to experience nirvana bliss, right connection to the source, to oneness. So that was a little tangent because I did mention Pingala. And Pingala is the masculine channel, which is the right side of the body, and Ida is the left side of the body.

So up until that point, I was very much disassociated from my body, hence my root chakra. The knees are associated with the root chakra 'cause the knees have to do with footing and grounding and balancing, right? These are the joints that support our whole body along with the, the pelvis.

So my knee gets injured, which is root chakra, and my right side gets injured, which is masculine. So, so up until that point, if you've listened to my episodes, if you've watched the videos, you fully well know how emphasized the schism was between my masculine and feminine within my body.

So the energetics of the masculine and the feminine within my body were very much separated. So this literally took a toll on my body, right? Uh, when the physical body becomes injured, it's like the last step from the other energy body injuries that exist. So, I won't get into this in this episode, but according to the yogic teachings.

We have seven bodies. We have the physical body, we have the etheric body, the astral body, the mental body, the causal body, the spiritual body, and the nirvanic body. Just keep that in mind. So basically, I. When we are doing spiritual practices, when we are meditating, we're actually opening up ourselves up into these other bodies.

But of course, the physical body is what we can see, what we can touch. Yes, the etheric body, is the second layer, which very much has to do with feeling pain and pleasure. So when we actually feel pain or pleasure in the etheric body, that actually manifests in the physical body.

So subtle body injuries are very real and they do manifest on a physical level. So this knee injury just comes to tell me how much the pain was happening on like an energetic level. And then that obviously manifested, um, physically. 

Connecting to Ancestral Roots

And another very important piece of this injury is, I was dancing to a dance from Crete. I was dancing the maleviziotikos dance from Crete. It could have been any other dance. Right? And I don't have any recent ancestry from Crete, but I feel deeply connected to this island, to its music, to its dancing.

I don't know if it's just because I'm Greek. I love many dances and many songs from all over the country, but Cretan. Dancing also activates my inner teenager. Um, when I first started to Greek dance in Montreal, I was about 15, 16 years old when I started to join these dance troops. I was incredibly introverted Back then, I was incredibly shy.

I was very mute. Um, I had almost had like no voice. I had no body but Greek dancing in some way, shape or form through some miraculous way gave me wings. I realized that I had a certain talent for Greek dancing. I fell in love with Greek dancing. I loved to dance. I loved performing. I loved going to practices.

I loved learning about the songs and the traditions and the dances of my heritage. So it was quite a slap in the face when this knee injury happened at the hands of Greek dancing. Um, back then I couldn't understand. Back then I couldn't know it, but doing the work and many years later, obviously reflecting and eventually like spiritually awakening.

Um, I did realize that it was an ancestral message and this was a channeled message a few months ago in Rhodes, before I found out that I was coming to Crete. I remember that morning I sat down for just like. An a meditation, I didn't have any intention of doing anything specific.

It was just a meditation practice in the morning. I got the strongest urge at some point to put on this maleviziotikos dance that injured me all those years ago. The strongest urge, and I hadn't actually heard Cretan music in a very long time. I think unconsciously I was avoiding it, which I had not realized 'cause I was still listening to folklore music and dances and, and songs.

But Cretan somehow kind of got lost through the cracks. But during this meditation, I, uh, had the strongest urge to blast, not just put on s but to blast it. And I danced my heart out. I mean, I was alone in my kitchen, but I just, it was, it was powerful. It was energetic, it was connective.

It was what felt a message from the other side? Uh, I dunno if it was one Cretan ancestor or if there's a bloodline on this island. Rhodes and Crete are quite connected. There's a lot of cretans in Rhodes. There's a connection there. But I don't have any empirical evidence to confirm that I have Cretan ancestry.

This was meditation, this was channeling. Um, but I trusted that I, like I said, I didn't have any intention of dancing or putting on Cretan music, but um, it just felt like a confirmation because a few weeks later, I found out that I was coming to Crete. So I took that as a sign that I have some karma to complete on this island.

I have some ancestral healing to do on this island. My knee injury was very much an ancestral trauma message, uh, root chakra. Anything root chakra related is very much ancestral related because our root chakra is our origin story, and our origin story is from our ancestors' origin stories, right? It's the first chakra that develops.

It is about grounding and rooting into the earth. So when we are dancing. When we are singing, when we are using our body, when we are using somatic modalities for anything, we are actually very much attuning to ancestral healing and ancestral veneration.

So I want to talk about this today because I talked about last week how the body, when we feel like any type of pain in the body, it's usually a messenger for something more deeper that's going on, right? So I want to use this real life experience and how I've applied this to my life, right?

Injury as Masculine-Feminine Schism

Basically how this right knee injury was really just so evident as to how much my masculine really needed to go through a rebirth. Uh, if we touch base with the cutting the cord episode. Right. We talk about how the feminine is birth and the masculine is death.

Usually, when a very difficult life situation comes into our life, this is actually the masculine that is asking us to step up, to go out of ourselves, to leave our comfort zones, no matter how unhealthy those comfort zones may be. The masculine wound comes through usually as a physical injury, an emotional injury, some form of breakup, right?

Masculine is death. Because we need to experience a second rebirth through the feminine. So at that point, right, I fully resisted my emotions. I fully resisted my body. I fully resisted my sexuality, my sensuality, my heart was totally shut down. So that really all translates to resisting the feminine. So I was trying to be very much in my masculine.

I was really just striving to be a porn star. And it failed me, right? It all failed me because that was not the way that was illusion and lies and distortion. What I really needed was to connect back to my heart, connect back to my body, connect back to my truth.

Really, and ultimately the masculine comes in for truth. So the feminine is love and the masculine is truth. And that truth is through initiation, is through a difficult ordeal, is through a injury of sorts. Because in order to discover truth, we have to know what is not true. And most of the time, if not all the time as we grow up, it doesn't mean those that love us and those that take care of us, did not have things to offer us or teach us.

But at the end of the day, we are not our parents. We are not our grandparents. We are not our great grandparents. And yes, we take on, you know, talents and skills from our ancestors and those that came before us. We take on values, we take on blessings, we take on curses. We take on injuries, we take on traumas, but at the end of the day, we are here to individuate.

We are here to come into our own. So that is what it means to embody truth and to know your truth. And that is very much the masculine polarity. So at that point in my life, I had no fuck all idea who I was. I thought I knew. I thought I knew where I was going. I thought I knew who I was. I thought I knew what my environments were.

Who my friends were, uh, what my desires were, what my dreams were, I had fuck all idea. I had no clue. And that's okay. Really, none of us are here to know from the beginning who we are. We are to learn and discover that. And usually it comes through ordeal, it comes through strife, it comes through an injury, which is the masculine.

So on the surface, yes, I had a knee injury. I had an ACL tear. I had a meniscus tear. I needed to rehabilitate for about eight months, but it goes deeper than that because it's all energetics for me, it's all symbolism. For me, it's archetypal. It was my masculine that literally died, right?

My right whole right side of my body atrophied, faded like almost as if like it was never there to begin with, right? So. My masculine had to undergo a rebirth of sorts. And this is where it gets interesting because here there's a energetic symbolic returning toward the womb, toward the feminine. So Robert Bly said one of the most amazing things I've ever read.

Robert Bly a poet, he's done a lot of work with men, men's work, he's written amazing books. He's done all sorts of retreats and talks and workshops. , And this is from his book, iron John, which is about masculine healing and, masculine energetics. But he basically said that the wound is the womb.

So the wound we receive from the masculine is actually the womb that we must return to in order to rebirth. So if we picture a blade, right? I talked about the sword. I talked about the, the, the masculine blade, the masculine sword that comes in to cut the cord, to slice, to get rid of old life. That has to happen through wounding, but it is to the wound and through the wound that we must enter to experience rebirth, to experience the feminine.

and once we experienced that, this is where we experience hieros gamos, this is where we experience the sacred marriage because we start off separated as masculine. We start off as separated as feminine, but in turn they come together. They reunite within us as we realize that these two opposites are actually compliments of one another.

This is where we realize that death is life. This is where we realize that the end is the beginning. This is where we realize that spirit is matter. When I'm talking about masculine and feminine and the symbolism and the energetics, it's really about realizing that oneness exists within the dual nature of things.

So I do believe that I am in Crete this summer because I came here to dance. To honor whatever bloodlines are within me that led me to that knee injury in the first place. so that's why I'm in Crete this summer. I came here to make some form of amends, to realize some form of closure. This is such a big chapter in my life. Um, because yes, it was a course correcting event.

I had hit the lowest point in my life with this knee injury because of rehabilitation, because I was still very much an addict at that point, but. It's where I also started to come back up. This is where, you know, I hit rock bottom, psychologically speaking, physically speaking, and this is when I started to climb back up. But the work was not done because yes, I got in better shape.

I became a trainer. I fell in love with exercise and eating right, but I still. I had not learned to love my body in the way that it needed, and for that I needed to tap into my inner mystic, my inner alchemist, which is parts of me that severely got repressed and denied and rejected for I don't know how many generations.

So things like channeling, right? Me, calling myself a mystic, an alchemist, studying astrology, studying the tarot, connecting to guides, connecting to my honorable dead. Right. This has been a very, very, tough part of my journey because I did not grow up believing in any of this, or, you know, supporting it or condoning it.

Um. 

The Role of the Mystic and Alchemist

But it was really the missing piece as far as like self love is concerned because if I'm to love myself, I am to face all parts of myself. And that also meant facing the parts of me that were denied even before my lifetime. So,  I am bringing the Mystic and Alchemist into the conversation because they are the reason why I know and realize , as far as like archetypal meanings are concerned and going deeper and inner seeking and meditating. I would not have gotten here with this knowledge, if not for that mystic and alchemist.

So I wanted to bring this to the table because it's such a big part of my story. As far as Crete is concerned, I still have not danced, and I know when it's time to dance, it's going to be a pivotal moment. Um, it really just touches base with that timeline. 

The Importance of Place and Somatic Healing

And I wanna add a little bit here why it's so important to connect with the places that we visit and call us.

And I talked about this in some previous episodes, but. Any place we go to will activate a timeline or a few timelines. And obviously we have linear time, right past, present, future, linear time, but we also have time that comes through as bits and pieces, spirals, circular moves in all sorts of different directions, right?

So. If there are timelines that are still alive that need our attention, that need witnessing, that need, feeling something's been suppressed or repressed from a specific timeline, a place may call us to really activate that timeline. And coming to Crete not only activated  the knee injury timeline because it was a Cretan dance, but also my inner teen.

Who at 15, 16 years old started to Greek dance in Canada. And really at that point in my life, in that teen's life, um, for the first time, felt like he had wings because that's what Greek dancing gave him. . I was very shy. I had absolutely no confidence.

I had like lost my voice almost because of how much I was suppressing within myself. But Greek dancing for the first time in that teen's life gave him wings and it was just such an amazing time in my life when I started to Greek dance and I think every teenage boy had a certain phase with Cretan dancing because Creatin dancing is very, um, proud.

It's very passionate, it's very intense. There are a lot of maneuvers and acrobatics almost, and kicks, especially for the men that lead the circles. So I was yes, starting to Greek dance. Yes, starting to go to dance troops, but I was also still very much on the outside looking in at , the adolescent boys that were able to go in the front and do these kicks and just dance and just be so in their masculine.

So that too has been activated and I just wanna bring that to the space to just have an awareness around, don't underestimate or don't undermine the places that call you, especially if you're on an inner seeking journey. Inner spiritual journey a lot of the times, right?

We go. We go within, we go inward, and then we get some download. We get some like push, we get a cosmic shove to go in a certain direction or to go to visit a certain place.

So this is why I'm in Crete. This is why I'm in Crete this summer for my knee injury, for my inner teen, for somatic healing, for furthering this mind body connection,

and I'm here to dance, I'm here to dance for my knee. I'm here to dance for my body. I'm here to dance for that teenager. Um, it feels like a full circle moment. Truly. Because, uh, of all the work I've been doing and of course speaking to the masculine and the feminine, um, so touching base with what I said, that the right side is the masculine, the left side is the feminine.

It truly feels now like an inner union. And it's beautiful to feel, but it's also beautiful to express. It's, it's nice to see how it manifests in my day to day, how I interact with people, how I, I just go on about my days. Um, so yeah, I wanted to bring that to the, to the table today.

Um, because I think it ties in very well with what I talked about last week and just you getting to know more about my journey. 

Conclusion and Final Thoughts

I am here to just share what I learned. So I hope, uh, that served you in some way, shape, or form. I hope you enjoyed this episode.

I'm gonna leave it here. I think that's enough food for thought, for sure. If you want to connect with me, I'm on Threads. TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube. Please leave comments. Please hit that like subscribe button. I so greatly appreciate that It motivates me. If you want to connect with me, please reach out.

I'd love to hear, you know, any experience you, you may have had that is similar or not.

Please share the content if you still feel called. If you're on YouTube, please share the video if you're on one of the podcast platforms. Share the episode, uh, in any way you feel called. I will be back next week, of course, every Thursday, brand new episode here on the Bridger of Worlds.

Thank you for being with me. Thank you for being on this journey. And in closing, please remember that you are the medicine and I am just the messenger. Thank you very much.