What is Ancestral Healing?
Ancestral healing is a therapeutic approach to exploring and healing any imprints of trauma that have been passed down to you from your ancestors. The imprints can powerfully affect the ways in which you view the world, yourself and others, and influence your responses to stressful events. They can also cause you to experience similar situations to what your ancestors experienced.
Through focusing on ancestral trauma and healing it, you can release harmful transgenerational patterns and reclaim your power to respond differently to life’s challenges. You become more aware, with greater freedom to be more fully ‘you’. From that healed place, you can create a more conscious life for yourself, with more choices in how you respond and relate to others.
The history and science behind ancestral healing
Many cultures around the world have practised ancestral healing as a key element of their healing traditions. It’s a part of many contemporary therapies that address inherited trauma, too.
Modern science is now beginning to understand how trauma is passed down through generations, in the field of epigenetics. In the field of psychology, several forms of ancestral healing have been developed e.g. transgenerational therapy and family constellation therapy.
Epigenetics describes the process of modification of an expression of a gene, without there being changes to the genetic DNA. Changes in the environment of a person’s life, events that impact them, can result in the addition of chemical tags that switch genes on or off in an attempt to adapt to shifting conditions.
As an example, it was found that the sons of American Civil War veterans in prison camps in 1864 had an 11% higher mortality rate than the sons of veterans who weren’t interned. The research took into account other possible factors such as socioeconomic status and the health of sons born before the war.
Those men who had been in prisoner of war camps experienced extreme overcrowding, disease and starvation, and many died while in camp. Their sons experienced higher rates of cerebral haemorrhage and cancer, although their daughters appeared to be unaffected. This could be the result of an epigenetic effect on the Y chromosome. That would be consistent with the outcome of studies in Swedish villages, where shortages in food supply had a generational effect down the male line, but not the female line.
So through the emerging science of epigenetics we are beginning to understand how ancestral trauma leaves a biological marker. But that’s not where it ends. We are not stuck with our inherited wounds. Recent research also shows that we can undo the genetic trauma marker and release blocks to full health.
Let’s consider the 2013 study which found that there was an intergenerational effect of trauma associated with scent. Experiments on mice showed that the descendants of those mice exposed to cherry blossom scent while receiving an electric shock to their feet, had genetic markers that sensitised them to that scent. But - when the parent mice were repeatedly exposed to the scent again, with no shock, after some time their sperm then lost the characteristic epigenetic signature of fear. And their descendants from that point on did not show heightened sensitivity to that particular scent. This research demonstrates that future generations can escape the effects of trauma, when we do the work of ancestral healing.
What are the benefits of ancestral healing?
Ancestral healing can bring closure to family patterns of pain, not only for yourself but for any future generations. It is also a way of honouring the suffering of those who went before you, of those ancestors who found the determination and courage to live on, and have families despite their own experience of trauma.
Research in the field of psychology is confirming the benefits of ancestral healing. These include:
Supporting intellectual capacity. According to an article published in 2011 in the European Journal of Social Psychology, when people consider their ancestors, this “provides…a positive psychological resource that increases their intellectual performance.”
Supporting healthier choices. Focusing on ancestral healing brings up an awareness of inherited genetic traits and tendencies. This in turn can widen the choices you see as available to you, and the conscious choosing of healthy, positive behaviours.
Supporting your capacity for forgiveness. Resentment and emotional pain are often found in families. Understanding and healing ancestral trauma can widen your capacity to forgive. This in turn supports physical and mental health (for more on this subject, read my blog post on forgiveness).
Better management of stress. A 2013 study following generations of survivors of the Holocaust found that they were more likely to be affected by anxiety and depression. These latent tendencies were exacerbated by stress. Bringing awareness to this situation can support active stress management.
Ancestral healing offers hope
Through the process of ancestral healing, we come to understand that we are not ‘stuck’ with negative family traits and behaviours. We can defuse emotional responses to trauma that seem wired into our nervous systems, benefitting not only us but also those around us and those who come after us in our family line. The healing happens at a cellular level.
Finding out about and connecting to ancestral trauma in a safe way can bring a greater feeling of belonging. When we listen to the stories of our ancestors, we also open up to their positive traits – their wisdom and resilience, for example.
Bert Hellinger, the founder of family constellations work, once said “You are the dream of all your ancestors”. When we take time to understand our ancestors’ lives, with all their joy and all their troubles, we can make that dream a more conscious one. Rather than being driven by fear or desire we don’t understand, we can choose to acknowledge, honour our ancestors’ choices and life circumstances - and then make our own choices.