The Ancestors’ “collected streams of thoughts and emotions, from the beginning of time, contain the sense of basic trust and the inspirations of the universe.”
— Let your Body Speak, Ewald Kliegel (1)
I came across this hopeful quote just as I began to collect my thoughts for this piece. I have for some years now been drawn towards connecting and knowing more about my ancestral and trans-generational lineage, particularly to be able to sense more about individuals — their dreams, longings and pain — but most of all to meet with compassion and honour that which has been passed to me.
There is a dilemma though: it has become clear that I have carried — and perhaps still carry — some unresolved issues from past generations resulting in burdens and behaviours that did not begin with me, some of which have been detrimental to me. I give support the discovery that our “non-coded” DNA (2) is engendered by stressors in the environment, including emotional stress from parents and therefore previous generations to some extent. Although the DNA sequence does not change, its expression can be mitigated, even resolved, for us and by us through imaginative and meditative practices. Voice Movement Therapy as a body-centred, imaginative, reflective, creative practice can play a significant part in freeing a person from that which is not theirs, as it has done for me.
In tandem with ever-growing gratitude for ancestral blessings, I have spent time easing, understanding and letting go of behaviours and tendencies that are not mine. One personal example: my lineage carried a painful, isolating grandiosity, so by connecting through free voicing with the ‘superior’ part of myself I uncovered the deep underlying fears extending through the generations. This lightened and loosened my own habitual separation and accompanying sense of unworthiness. At the same time compassion for, understanding of and forgiveness towards those who have passed away has grown and continues to grow.
For me, it has been the allowing of breath and voice and the encouraging and embracing of embodied sounding through Voice Movement Therapy that has, more than anything, brought me deep, sacred healing. Freeing the voice to flow with non-verbal sounds allows recognition of and gives freedom to that which is hidden and difficult or impossible to articulate. Free sounding may lead to words, which may further lead to respect, recognition, comfort and resolution.
Vocal sound resonates physically through the body, in addition entraining (3) the vibrations of one part of the body to affect another, including the nervous system and subtle energy centres. Vocal sounding can invite feelings and stimulate our imagination.
For me, the Voice Journey has been the most valuable container: here, emerging from the breath and body, voice begins and and moves where it will. After a number of such explorations there came a palpably full-circle healing encounter: I experienced a Voice Journey where the child I was — am — took the lead, offering healing to my adult self and on to the ancestral beings who seemed to draw breath with expectation and hope. This brought me a sense of melting within my own psyche and a warm, heartfelt connecting gaze with recent ancestors. The writing (below) and the picture I drew would not have taken shape without my embodied Voice Journey.
These are some of the words which formed into song:
Deep melody lies in my soul— Let me listen, let me breathe, let me trust—
Autumn leaves dance so windy so wild
Into the glade comes the magical child
Straight from the eye of the storm —
So bright soul’s mirror I can barely see,
So much light pouring out to me
Can I really dare to know why I am here?
To sing aloud, dispel so much pain and fear?
In the experiences of which I have written, my intention was to allow the Voice Journey to unfold and see where it took me.
Sometimes a more explicitly-defined intention may come about. Here is a picture of another person’s Voice Journey encounter, cited with permission. Mike (not his real name) is a former client of mine. He was an imaginative, creative person who easily stepped into and welcomed the soul space of the Sphere (the subtle field around the body, explored in VMT as a safe container for body and psyche). He already was in touch with his ancestral lineage and aware of blockages in his own psyche that seemed to cause much stress and anxiety. His wish and intention was that the depth and support of his breath and emerging voice should lead to a true connection to his ancestors and a deepening connection to himself.It was Free Air that began his journey. Free Air is a term in VMT which denotes the component of breathiness in vocal sounding, in this instance voiced to calm and slow down, offering childlike innocence and vulnerability which felt safer perhaps than Mike remembered. This vocal quality gave Mike tangible connection with gentleness: he experienced warm, loving feelings for himself within his own body, nurturing and nourishing his vulnerable inner child. Imaginatively he found himself sitting at the roots of a tree and receiving support. After a while, he felt the impulse to voice in deep-pitched Saxophone (in VMT, denoting a wide, open-bodied Timbre), often sensing the tree energy. The tree changed into the figure of a Grandfather who clearly wished Mike to receive what Caitlin Matthews in Singing the Soul Back Home calls the ancestral bequest (4). Mike longed to be able fully to take on this bequest but, until now, had been overburdened by generational, un-empathic shame.
He wrote:
I descended to the root of the tree and stepped forward,
The fibres sticking to me like a jacket being peeled away —
All I have to do is to step back and return to the Universe from whence I came
My “death” in the forest means my life in the world
In these words there is perhaps a melding of the Grandfather’s relief and Mike’s active return to realising and standing in his truth. It was a pivotal experience for him which beautifully and generously enhanced his healing engagement with and commitment to the wider world. He grew in confidence and self-validation, and with great energy began to share more fully his intuitive, controversial and forward-thinking ideas through both verbal and written word.
It is my passionate conviction and hope that vocal sound has so many possibilities for healing: for now, for past generations and for future. We are being urged to find and build more harmonious ways of being for both current and future generations, and indeed to prepare ourselves to become more helpful, less-burdened ancestors when the time comes.
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1) Ewald Kliegel: LET YOUR BODY SPEAK. Page 50. Findhorn Press 2012
2) Mark Wolynn: IT DIDN’T START WITH YOU. Page 29-39 Penguin Books 2016. Eileen Day-McCusick. ELECTRIC BODY, ELECTRIC HEALTH. PAGE 28-30. St. Martin’s Essentials 2021. “It has been discovered that only 2 per cent of DNA is chromosomal encoding. 98 per cent is non-coded and is responsible for the emotional, behavioural and personality traits we inherit.” Quoted from Danny Vendramini: Non coding DNA and the Teem Theory of Inheritance, Emotions and Innate Behaviour, MEDICAL HYPOTHESIS 64 (2005).Page 512-19, in Wolynn page 29. EPIGENETICS deals substantially with the exploration of non-coded DNA.
3) The principle of entrainment is that strong vibrations from one area/source will affect vibrations from another area/ source to reciprocate and be enlivened:
Jonathan Goldman and Andi Goldman: THE HUMMING EFFECT. Page 23-24: “The term ENTRAINMENT comes from physics and it describes the way in which the vibrations of one object can effect the vibrations of another. Through entrainment we can synchronise or harmonize one vibration with another. For example, we can use our own voice to vocalise a tone through humming that can entail vibration in other parts of our bodies, bringing them into a state of balance.”
4) Caitlin Matthews: SINGING THE SOUL BACK HOME. Page 150-151. Connections Book Publishing 1995