by Laurelle Gaia
Over the years I have practiced Reiki I have become keenly aware of the energetic effect that my ancestors have on who I am and also of the energetic effect I have on my children. Values, attitudes, beliefs, and unresolved emotional distress patterns are often passed on from parent to child over many generations. This can take place through verbal and non-verbal communication, including feelings and body language that express family values and beliefs, and in a more open way, through rules and advice. Young children are very attuned to these emotional and verbal cues and tend to absorb them into the fabric of their identity. There is also some evidence that attitudes can be passed on genetically. Therefore, I am aware that I make choices in my life based in part on the beliefs, experiences, feelings, and thoughts of my ancestors. Fortunately, restrictive patterns tend to diminish in strength with each generation as people heal to a certain extent before passing these patterns on.
These patterns may be continued in another way when ancestors present themselves to us as spiritual guides. They may have good intentions; however, they may also be attempting to maintain restrictive family patterns or values. Such attempts may be based on their own unresolved distress patterns. In this way, restrictive patterns that were passed on from one’s parents may be strengthened as a result of one’s ancestors acting as spirit guides. Our personal work with Reiki can help in these situations, if the ancestor is open to healing. And their healing will, in turn, help release us from the restrictive patterns as well.
Considering the challenges and triumphs of our ancestors can help us understand how or where we are personally affected by their values and beliefs. I learned that many of my issues involving self-worth, prosperity, and work ethic go back through many generations. Although I have made much progress in healing them, I still see traces of these issues in my life daily. I regularly send Reiki to my guides, masters, and ancestors. Through this process I am developing clarity regarding healing issues that some of my ancestors did not complete in their lifetime, and which were subsequently passed on to me.
Many of our parents and grandparents lived through the Depression in the 1930’s, and perhaps some of you reading this did also. Living in that time created much fear related to the ability to survive. It also brought up self-worth issues for many and created a workaholic behavior pattern in some. Many people felt powerless to change their circumstances. Whenever there is a sense of powerlessness it is based on a fundamental belief in separateness from the Divine, or perhaps abandonment by one’s own spiritual guidance. Only through reconnecting with that personal Divine power can such a belief system be healed.
One day while I was sending healing energies to my ancestors I felt a particularly strong connection to my paternal grandmother. She lived the nightmare of the Depression when she and her family lost everything they owned except a piece of land in Illinois. For a period of time they lived in a small barn on their property, and they farmed the land to feed themselves and help their neighbors. The earth sustained them through this difficult time, and ultimately they were able to re-establish financial stability. However, this experience further instilled several beliefs in my grandmother, who had already lived through some very challenging times as a child. During this healing session I felt her fear, sense of hopelessness, and unworthiness, and I also felt the anchoring of the belief that life is hard, and that we must work very hard for everything we receive.
Although my life as a child was materially much easier than my grandmother’s, and my parents did their best to provide for all of our needs, the energetic essence of my grandmother’s fears and beliefs were passed on to me. In order to provide for our family, my parents “worked very hard,” and sacrificed many of their personal needs. Although my parents are both basically positive people, I still received messages from them or other family members such as: “Life isn’t always fair.” “Only hard work and perseverance win out.” “If you are going to do something, do it right.” “Always put other’s feelings before your own.” “In the end you can only count on yourself.” And so on.
Conversely I received the message that “You can do anything, if you set your mind to it, maintain a positive attitude, and act with honesty and integrity.” This last message is one I choose to hold as a personal truth; the rest I am re-patterning with the help of Reiki and soul clearing work. Reiki is a tool that helps us reconnect to our true personal power, Divine Love, thus it assists us in healing any sense of separation. Reiki has taught me the following technique to assist in healing myself, my ancestors, and future generations.
Reiki Generational Healing Technique
1. Prepare yourself as you would for any Reiki treatment.
2. State a prayer of intention to be a clear channel for Reiki to flow through and that your personality and ego stand aside. Give thanks that the healing energy flows to you, your guides, masters, your ancestors, and future generations for the highest good of all, and with soul permission of those willing to heal.
3. Invoke the Distant Healing symbol and the Mental/Emotional symbol with the intention of creating a bridge of light through the generations that came before you and those that are yet to come. When you feel this link you may be guided to activate the Power symbol or some of the Reiki Master and Karuna Reiki ® symbols. Bring in any Reiki energies that you feel guided to work with. Then simply let the energy flow.
4. Channel energy and meditate for as long as it feels appropriate. Be aware of anything you feel, sense or think. Often messages will come to assist you in understanding any particular ancestral programming that you may be holding onto that is ready to be released.
5. When the healing/meditation session feels complete, give thanks to the Divine, your guides, masters and ancestors for sharing in the healing, and acknowledge that the healing will continue. Then close the session as you normally do, perhaps with a Power symbol.
6. Do this as often as you can until you notice shifts in your thoughts, feelings, body, or circumstances. I strongly suggest that you do this daily for 21 days for the most magnificent results.
I have been working with this technique for many years. Recently I had a spontaneous experience of connecting with an ancestor. I was facilitating a Reiki Master class. During the class I led a meditation journey into each of the Reiki symbols, an exercise I have conducted hundreds of times. As part of this meditation we breathe a symbol to life and then inhale its essence into our heart. We then allow the energy of the symbol to permeate our physical body, as well as our etheric field. During this process we become more adept at discerning the specific vibrational frequency each symbol holds. Ultimately regular practice of this meditation deepens one’s relationship with each of the symbols.
As facilitator of this meditation journey, I always have a very pleasant experience, but during this most recent class, my experience was much deeper. We had worked with the CKR to clear our physical body and illumine our cells. With the help of SHK, shadows within our emotional body that represented repressed and/or unhealthy emotion were identified and cleared. SHK also helped us identify unhealthy mental patterns, thoughts and beliefs. Once those patterns were located, SHK began the process of clearing, and we consciously began the process of reprogramming with healthier, more positive thoughts.
Then when we began our work with HSZSN, we connected with the origin of all. With intention from this state of awareness, we were able to sense the energy of anything that ever has been, is now, or ever will be. We traveled and beamed Reiki into moments in time that were ready to heal. Once we had done our personal work in this way, we then offered help to our ancestors.
I felt a particularly strong flow of energy for several moments, and then suddenly I felt as though a powerful wave of light was flowing through and washing over me at the same time. Suddenly I heard a voice, which I had not heard for many years, say, “Oh….THANK you! If I had known I could do that, I would never have been so afraid.” The voice I heard was that of my grandmother. I was overcome with emotion because of the strong sense of connection I felt with her. I also physically felt as if every cell in my body was being realigned, and even now, I still have moments where something shifts, and I know it relates to that experience. Since I first began to work with Reiki, it has become much easier for me to let go of worry. However, since my experience during this meditation, it seems that my recognition of a concern and the transmutation happen simultaneously.
Allowing the Reiki energy to assist and guide us in all that we do allows us to enter places within our being and dimensions of consciousness beyond anything we may have previously experienced. Sharing healing and joy with our ancestors allows the essence of their transformation to flow into our life and forward into the lives of future generations. In so doing we are creating a new paradigm of love, joy, peace, and prosperity for all beings.
This article appeared in the Summer 2010 issue of Reiki News Magazine.
