Healing Influences from the Past*

The Gift of Ancestral Healing

Sometimes, that which is “inside us” actually originates in stories from the past—even generations past, the imprints of which continue to vibrate in our energetic bodies, predisposing us to follow certain paths in life and influencing the incidents and experiences we attract to ourselves.[1]

Scott has a hard time making decisions because he “doesn’t know what to do.” Often in our sessions, when I would ask Scott what he wanted to talk about or where he would like to start, he would invariably say, “I don’t know.” Scott reported that he was dissatisfied with his job, and when I asked him what he might like to do instead, he said, “I don’t know.” He could identify things that he liked—such as hiking and being outdoors and in nature—but when I asked him if he might like a job where he worked outside or maybe in something relating to the environment, he replied, “I don’t know.” Scott had “fallen into” his current job because it was offered to him because a friend worked for this company.

Underneath this pattern of “not knowing” what he wanted was also a story. Scott was inwardly afraid that he might not do something well enough or that he might do it wrong. We uncovered that this was a message he had received from his father—that no matter what he did or how hard he tried, it was never enough or good enough. Scott was likely so afraid of not being good enough or not making a “correct” decision that he became frozen in fear. In order to avoid facing those uncomfortable feelings, he avoided making decisions at all by “not knowing what to do.”

After working with this pattern in various ways without any change, I began to suspect that this response—“I don’t know”—may be related to something deeper than just Scott’s fears of not doing something right or of not being good enough. I invited Scott to bring into his awareness the words “I don’t know” and notice what his body did. I asked him where he had feelings or reactions in his body when he thought about or said the words “I don’t know.” Scott noted that he felt an energetic response to those words between his second and third chakras. I invited Scott to keep his focus on that part of his body while I opened sacred space. Operating on the hunch that this was an ancestral wound or story, I tracked this “I don’t know” story five generations back to his great-great-great-grandfather on his father’s side. I had Scott imagine his soul’s timeline, and as I drummed, I suggested that Scott follow that timeline back five generations. I asked him to imagine that he was on a hike, traveling back through his soul’s life until he reached the life of his great-great-great-grandfather.

When I’m working with a client, I often track their energy field to see what story might be imprinted energetically. In Scott’s case, I saw a story in which this grandfather was “frozen” and didn’t know what to do. There seemed to be a tragic outcome to this instance of being frozen in time. I asked Scott what was happening. Scott said the energy had moved to his upper chest area, to the heart and his right shoulder. I encouraged Scott to stay with that energy and notice what happened.

Scott reported that something terrible had happened to his great-great-great-grandmother, either some serious illness or a terrible accident, and his great-great-great-grandfather didn’t know what to do. As a result, his wife died, and he was grief-stricken and guilty. I then asked Scott to find a way to forgive his grandfather, suggesting that he say, “I forgive you. All is forgiven.” I had Scott repeat that several times. I sensed that the forgiveness was allowing his energy field to loosen and relax. I then used my extraction crystal to remove this energetic pattern from Scott’s field and released the great-great-great-grandfather to the light for his complete healing.

As noted above, modern research suggests that the trauma our ancestors experienced can be passed down to future generations epigenetically, which means trauma experienced by an ancestor may affect the way your genes are expressed. Epigenetics is a scientific field investigating how our environment influences our genes, altering not our DNA sequence, but how it’s read and utilized. Think of the genes in your DNA as the dictionary and think of epigenetics as how the words or genes are expressed. We can’t change the dictionary, but science is confirming that our environment—the things that happen to us—can influence which words or genes get turned on and, thus, the story they create. There are a lot of studies indicating that changes in genes can be caused by a person’s environment. The effects can be psychological, behavioral, and social. Thus, Scott’s great-great-great grandfather’s trauma may have affected how his genes are expressed—which ones are turned on and which ones are turned off—thus creating a story in him that, just like his descendant, he doesn’t know what to do. The good news is that Scott can do things now to influence how his genes are expressed. Increasing evidence shows that environmental and lifestyle factors such as diet, exercise, and mindfulness meditation may influence epigenetic mechanisms. There is also some evidence that the techniques used in energy medicine, such as those used in shamanic healing, can influence epigenetic mechanisms. [2] These practices change how we carry the stories of our ancestors in us.

Research shows that the physical effects of trauma can be passed down to children and even to grandchildren. This process, known as epigenetic inheritance, involves changes to the DNA that affect which genes are active and when. There have been a great many studies done in the field of epigenetics—the study of changes in genes that are caused by a person’s environment rather than alterations to their DNA—but researchers are still uncertain how it works and what it means for intergenerational trauma in people.

Experiments in mice are starting to fill in some of the blanks. In a 2013 study of mice, researchers found that trauma associated with scent could pass on to offspring. Researchers exposed adult male mice to the scent of cherry blossoms while giving them small electric shocks on their feet. Over time, the mice learned to associate the scent with pain, even when there was no shock. The pups of those male mice showed an increased sensitivity to the scent, shuddering more when they smelled it, compared to pups whose fathers had not been conditioned to associate the scent with pain. This was true even though the pups had never been exposed to the cherry blossom scent or the shocks themselves. Even the third generation showed the same increased sensitivity to the scent. This sensitivity only occurred with the scent of cherry blossoms, not other scents.[3]

The experiences of our ancestors influence our lives. Exploring the stories of our family lineage, which we are often unaware of, opens us up to potential healing and personal growth.

*An excerpt from my new book, The Power of Shamanism and Energy Medicine: Personal Stories of Healing and Transformation. To learn more about the healing practices of Andean Shamanism and Energy Medicine and to read more stories of healing, I invite you to check out my book at

https://www.amazon.com/Power-Shamanism-Energy-Medicine-Transformation-ebook/dp/B0F9HNG6KB

Or visit Bookbaby’s Bookshop to get 10% off at https://store.bookbaby.com/book/the-power-of-shamanism-and-energy-medicine. Get 10% off with code Shaman at checkout.

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[1] Villoldo, Alberto. Shaman, Healer, Sage. 46

[2] https://www.holisticpsychiatrist.com/holistic-updates/the-epigenetics-of-energy-medicine retrieved 5-23-24

[3] https://scienceandnonduality.com/article/can-the-effects-of-trauma-pass-down-generations/ retrieved 5-23-24.