Ep. 20 Generational Trauma Healing and Clearing Centuries Old Wounds

Spiritual Activism | Peace for Armenians  Peace for Artsakh | Spirituality and Politics | Generational Trauma Healing  | Healing OLD wounds | Being and ACTIVIST AND taking care of yourself

https://www.heyheart143.com/post/ep-20-generational-trauma-healing-and-clearing-centuries-old-wounds

In this two guest episode I speak with Wahe Guru Kaur and Ani Lalazarian about spiritual activism and generational trauma & healing.

I felt it was very important to highlight what is going on in Armenia and Artsakh.

It’s been about one month now - on September 27th Azerbaijan with the backing of Turkey launched attacks on the region of Nogorno-kharabagh - recognized by Armenians as Artsakh. The Armenian diaspora all over the globe has been calling for help.  This for me is PERSONAL - The silence is deafening and the hearts of every Armenian around the world is aching. Yes ally’s are stepping in educating themselves, celebrities are speaking up, but the international community doesn’t seem to care.

By staying silent the international community and world leaders are  allowing a genocide again. The 1915 genocide of Armenian people remains unrecognized and unpunished. History is repeating itself and the world once again more than 100 years later staying silent.

We’re fighting against misinformation in the media -  social media. High profile celebrities and digital media pages spreading misinformation.

In addition to the war on the ground, where There’s been evidence of Azerbaijan and Turkey using mercenaries and cluster bombs on civilian neighborhoods, churches and schools for 3 weeks straight, there’s also been a cyber war, with thousands of Azeri accounts, both real and fake, posting misinformation and propaganda content produced by the government to distract and confuse the global audience.

Armenians are feeling fear heartache and they feel unheard.

A few weeks ago we gathered for a prayer and meditation circle for Artsakh and the women I spoke with who tell me they feel fear, anxiety and I started to wonder if there is such thing as “ancestral trauma” and “generation trauma” being reactivated.

This is a podcast about self-love self care healing and growth and I feel like I cannot practice self-love right now if I’m not talking about what is going on in the world.

I feel is very important to keep track of because this is part of our growth people are realizing what is important to them and why the choices we make affect everyone and we are all connected

Wahe Guru Kaur speaks about how her inner activist has awakened during the pandemic. “I’ve gone through a lot of anger, rage, frustration and guilt that I never took and stance before. I was in this position in the spiritual community. I always had this projection that I had to be of love and light and never say anything negative. Through a process of the breakdown in the community, I have realized it’s not one or the other. There is a time to be activated and take a stand for what you believe in and there is a time to project healing and peace in a neutral way and hold space for others who are going through a lot of pain.”

Wahe Guru says she’s had the privilege to work with many people of Armenian heritage.  She says she’s noticed similar threads of experience and trauma. In general. “What I have seen is that there is this very common generational trauma that shows up in the Armenian community. It’s a vibration. I can pick up on an energetic level. It’s  “A feeling of very deep wounding, fear, panic, extreme grief. The worst of it.”

Wahe Guru says this is passed down not only in the DNA but also stories told. It’s in our blood, it’s in our DNA and it’s also in our brain. These become deep seeded grooved in our brain that tell us “We are not safe, our voices are not heard, we have to fight to survive. We need to provide for our family so we need to make good money.” This is across the board in any background she says but in the Armenian culture it’s intensified.

“It’s gotten activated, it’s gotten charged within you.”

Several weeks ago I tweeted “Is generational trauma being activated a thing?”

Ani had written something similar about it that day which is why I wanted her on the podcast. Ani is a recent graduate of Kundulini yoga,  she said “The week the attack started, I felt something activate in my womb.  I could literally hear woman and children screaming as if they were next to me. They are witnessing people dying. I felt this on such a cellular level.”

Ani saw Wahe Guru for a healing session. Ani’s grandmother was a  genocide survivor. She was 4 at the time. Ani says she could see her grandmothers fear during her healing session.

“In a million years I never imagined something like this happening, again.” Ani says her family marches on the commemoration day of the Armenian genocide, April 24th, chanting the words “1915 never again.” She says Armenian people have come together so beautifully, and non-Armenian allies around the world to bring awareness to the current attack on Artsakh.

“I realized that as small of a country as we are, this loving energy that is being sent to this region is more powerful than any powerful dictator to the world. I believe that love can win and light can win.”

During our spiritual activism event, we did a lot of clearing. Wahe Guru says the first thing that happens when people are in survival mode is to get quiet. It’s not a natural thing to be big and be loud and take a stand. There has to be a collective voice that comes forward and speaks and shares and doesn’t stop until it’s all out and the wound has been cleansed. When the reparations have been made we can move forward with projections of love and peace and light. If we put “love and light on top of a bunch of crap, it’s not doing anything.” “Spiritual Activism is a new way to think about it. What happens when we get  centered and project that and send that out.”

“We do these events for ourselves so we can get to a place where we are strong so we can be courageous and have a voice and speak the truth.”

Simultaneously these events are to empower leaders to be strong and courageous and say something and do something. Whether it’s  giving money, volunteering, having your voice heard on social media.

This year has taught us we are all connected physically and energetically.

Wahe Guru says there has to be reparation! There has to be an action that comes out of it. What leaves it really unsettling for everyone is that  people get all riled up about a social issue like what’s happening in Armenia, and then the next thing comes along and it gets forgotten. It doesn’t stop. The horrors are still happening. What I have done personally, I have made a commitment to regularly get present about issues I am passionate about.

Ani - How do we fill up the cup? How do we release fear?

“It’s hard not to be fearful, but everything is an energy. Fear is an energy of it’s own. The more fear we have we are feeding into it. It snowballs so you’re feeding into it.”

Ani says for example if you’re having an argument with someone and one person decides to smile and say something positive, they shift the energy.

As a diaspora Ani says we need to hold that space for Armenia and Artsakh to hold space for our brothers and sisters overseas.

The fear might also come back as come up from the past. 

How do we practice SELF CARE during these times? How is it okay? When we’re all consumed by so much going on.

Ani says she was physically feeling ill going through the news feed. We need to have a balance and connect with nature and the divine and  then come back.

WG says self-care and self love can express itself in multifaceted ways. If we are interconnected, and accepting there is one force of love, then self care is making a phonemail, making a donation, posting and educating people on social media. She says our brothers and sisters in Artsakh are us. They’re me and you. There has to be a balance of action, and the daily ‘drinking in the nectar of the moment,’ that’s where our spiritual practice comes in: Eating fresh food, meditation, walking meditation, cold showers, we have so many choices. We have to decide this is how I’m going to be an activist and this is how I am going to take care of ourself.

When the room is dark and you’re taking care of yourself you become the light holder for those around you.

 

Wahe Guru says We’re in the war too, we have to treat our bodies like we’re preparing for the war. We have to be conscious of how we show up for people.

How do you practice Self Love and Self Care? Especially in a time like this.

Wahe Guru:

“I do my practice imperfectly but I do it with compassion”

Daily meditation. “I’ve let go of any need for it to be a certain way.”

Connecting with nature; The animals, the plants, the trees. There is a dynamic exchange that happens in nature.

Yoga, regularly, not everyday but regularly. Chanting, meditation and I read a lot of spiritual text.

Rather than doing things disciplined everyday, I have seasonal practices and traditions I do. 

Ani:

As a mom of 3 year old twins, her way to practice self love has been signing up for a yoga certification class. It’s been a getaway one weekend a month. Taking a few breaths here and there, doing meditation when I can. One important thing is to pay attention to your breath.  You have to experiment what works for you.

@143Jewelry is donating 20% of ALL proceeds to ArmeniaFund.

Vote for love event: Stay tuned to Wahe Guru’s Instagram for time. It’ll be live on instagram. This is beyond politics, beyond debate. A spiritual activation event.

Instagram: 

Wahe Guru Kaur - @WaheGuruKaur_

Ani Lalazarian - @RadiantSolMama

The Armenian Student Association of UCLA has complied a list of all local businesses donating to the Artsakh for humanitarian aid. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Dz3Y0-OX7ibQJwDhLY7dWjgo3xXx9LVVA5zcQ-BBekg/edit#gid=0

@HeyHeart143  @143Jewelry