An Ancestral-Indigenous Approach to Healing Transgenerational/Personal Trauma, Health, Wellbeing, Restoration, & Renewal
Reducing High Risks for Chronic Health Conditions & Weakened Immunity
A Black, Indigenous, & People of Color/BIPOC Healing Community Course
Tuesdays, February 6 – 27; 6:00 – 8:00 pm PT
4 Weekly Groups (8 hrs) + 2 Support Sessions (1 hr; 30-minutes per session)
Online (Zoom); Register
What is this life group about?
In October 2019, the Center for Disease Control indicated that six in ten adults in the US have a chronic disease and four in ten adults have two or more.
The 10 most common chronic health conditions (2018) and the National Health Impact percentage:
- Hypertension, 12.5%
- Major Depression, 9%
- High Cholesterol, 8.6%
- Coronary Artery Disease, 7%
- Type 2 Diabetes, 5.5%
- Substance Use Disorder, 3.4%
- Alcohol Use Disorder, 3.3%
- Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), 3.3%
- Psychotic Disorder, 2.9%
- Crohn’s Disease/Ulcerative Colitis, 2.7%
Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) are 1.5 to 2.0 times more likely than white people to develop many of the major chronic health conditions. Diabetes, lung diseases, and serious heart conditions have been particularly relevant to COVID-19 risk (Price, J.H., Khubchandani, J., McKinney, M., & Braun, R., 2013). A 2020 study by John Hopkins found that chronic stress can weaken immunity, making BIPOC communities more vulnerable to diseases like COVID-19 (and the underlying health conditions that increase the risk of COVID-19). Unresolved emotional pain and trauma significantly increase risks for impaired immunity.
Oppression & Systemic Racism: Chronic Stress, Emotional Pain, & Trauma
Historic, transgenerational, and present-day oppression has contributed to BIPOC stress, duress, and trauma. Daily life includes socio-economic, work-life, partner, family, social/community, and environment- related stressors. Experiences of income disparity, inequality, injustice, prejudice, discrimination, violence, and systemic racism as well as cultural and ancestral-transgenerational trauma add to these stressors. This adversely affects emotional wellbeing and contributes to hormone and metabolism imbalance, inflammation, and weakened immunity. Research has shown that unresolved or unhealed emotional pain and trauma also increase chronic health condition risks for future generations.
BIPOC Healing, Relationship, & Ancestral-Indigenous Culture
Ancient cultures understood the holistic nature of emotional pain, wounding, and trauma and created interventions to regularly release experiences that would otherwise impact the health of the person and the community. Healing space was regularly created in relationship via ritual and ceremony. Personal lineages, family ancestors were included in the work for healing across past, present, and future generations. This was spiritual; but in the context that the mind, body, and heart-soul are spirit manifest, spirit as form. Relationship, (i.e., heart to heart, nature) maintained balance and restored the community. Health, wellbeing, and vitality/prosperity was dependent on healing relationship.
Key Takeaways?
You’ll be able to walk away with:
- An overview of how personal-collective story/narrative and cultural, ancestral-indigenous individual and group practices can help to cleanse emotional pain and trauma
- Increased awareness of transgenerational trauma symptoms and the emotional, mental, physical, and spiritual impact on current and future generations
- Role of stress, emotional wounding/pain, and transgenerational/personal life trauma as contributors to inflammation/physical pain, chronic health conditions, and impaired immunity
- Resources to cleanse conscious and unconscious emotional wounding/pain and trauma
- Evidence-based methods to restore emotional-mental balance; alleviate chronic health problems; strengthen immunity; and improve personal relationships and job-related/social interactions
- Personalized toolbox with a daily practice
- to rejuvenate the mind-body-spirit
- to seed creative prosperity; and
- to support sustainable/long-term change
- Strategies for creating a restorative home environment to support healing work
Who/what is this good for?
The 4-week life group helps to heal emotional pain and trauma (personal, ancestral, transgenerational, community, and cultural) to improve health and wellbeing, manage chronic health conditions, strengthen immunity, and optimize quality of life. Trying to heal pain on our own without sufficient support can be difficult; especially, when experiencing intense or overwhelming emotion. Resources are provided to cleanse oppressive experiences and socialization, emotional wounding/pain, and trauma as well as to navigate challenges related to others’ unsupportive beliefs and judgment. This group offers dedicated safe space holding heart and humanity for personal-collective BIPOC healing. Two individual sessions are included to provide personalized support; additional 1:1 online sessions are available. Contact us to learn more or to create a healing community specific to the needs of your organization or community.