Emotional and Ancestral Healing with yoga, meditation and affirmations.

I’ve had issues with my back for as long as I can remember, long before I could blame it on age. “Inherited from your father”, my Mum will always say. But what else do we pass down through the generations? We seem to repeat beliefs and behaviours, patterns that pass down over and over again unless we actively choose to heal and release. To break the cycle.

Our emotional and physical trauma, both present and past, ours and ancestral, seems stored in our body, ingrained in our very cells. Our body cannot distinguish between old wounds and new, real or imagined, our response is the same. Fight or flight. Tense and guarded.

In order to heal we need to get deep in to our body and minds, to heal our very soul.

Healing with the body

“Emotions are held in the hips” — This is a phrase you may have head in yoga classes or from teachers, when we look at it in relationship to Louise Hay’s symptoms and causes, the hips are what carry the body in balance — any issues here can indicate a fear of moving forward or feeling we don’t have anything to move towards. Poignant for current times of such uncertainty.

If you’ve ever found tears streaming down your face lying in savasana or suddenly sobbing in child’s pose at a yoga class then you are not alone. Yoga works with your subtle, energy body as well as the physical body, you may think you’re working or stretching your muscles but you are also freeing stuck energy and releasing emotional memories that are trapped right there in your cells.

For emotional healing, focus on yoga poses or mindful movement that open the hips and heart.

Yoga poses that open through the hips include:

• Pigeon pose
• Reclined butterfly
• Happy baby

Yoga poses for the chest and heart:

• Puppy pose
• Cobra or Upward Dog
• Camel

Emotional healing is a passion of mine, by managing our emotions better we break the cycle and model healthy emotions for our own children, friends, family and community. Find Your Happy is an online self-study course with holistic tools including guided yoga practices and meditations to support you in managing a range of emotions.

Healing with the mind

Try this simple visualisation meditation for healing and releasing.

Gently close your eyes and settle your breathe, in and out through your nose.

Draw the breathe all the way down to your belly and feel it rise and fall.

As you breathe in, imagine a golden, healing light drawing down from the crown of your head all the way down to your tummy.

On the exhale imagine it expanding out and starting to expand throughout your body.

With each breath the golden light grows and expands, filling every cell.

Keep breathing this way, once your body is filled with the golden light, imagine it seeping through your posers, expanding out even further to create a protective bubble of golden light around you. You are surrounded and protected by this healing light that can stay with you for as long as you need.

When you are ready, close the meditation by with three cleansing breaths in through the nose and out through the mouth, repeating in your mind:

“With this exhale I release all that is not mine”

Gently blink your eyes open, knowing that you have healing light surrounding you and have released what is not yours to hold.

Affirmations for healing

With every breath, I release all that is not mine

I give myself time and space to heal.

I choose to nurture my mind, body and soul.

Love & Light,

Michelle.