(Episode 23) Get Unstuck by Healing Your Ancestry with Liza Miron

by Setareh Moafi, Ph.D., L.Ac. & Salvador Cefalu, M.S., L.Ac.

Once you’ve listened, let us know in the comments below — how did this conversation help deepen your awareness to heal the wounds of your ancestry?

Liza Miron’s Journey to Discover Family Constellations

Liza Miron’s passion is to help people grow, develop and connect to a higher level of awareness in order to enjoy life to the fullest.

For the past 15 years, Liza has been working with clients using different healing methods that include Family Constellations, Coaching, Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT), Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP), meditation, channeling and reiki. Having studied and lived in the U.S., France, Singapore, Belgium, Spain, Italy and Guatemala has given Liza a unique perspective on personal development. 

Liza’s passion for Family Constellations came from her desire to work closely with people and help those who find themselves stuck regardless of the amount of support they receive in conventional coaching.

As she began to explore Family Constellation, she realized ancestral trauma can have tremendous effect on family systems. The burden of past ancestral trauma can keep people from accomplishing their goals and hindering their performance in life.

Healing through Family Constellations Therapy

Family Constellations was developed by Bert Hellinger — a German psychotherapist, specializing in family therapy. As a therapist, Hellinger noticed a pattern in the difficulties faced by his clients and as Hellinger delved deeper, he noticed similarities in their struggle. In particular, they seemed to be carrying past familial traumas. By helping clients come to terms with inherited ancestral traumas, Hellinger passed on a powerful therapy modality that has since inspired healers like Liza Miron. 

Family Constellations is rooted in the belief that we make unconscious decisions influenced by our ancestors. Liza’s form of therapy asks that we let go of judgment and instead honor and respect our ancestors — however imperfect or wrong their decisions may seem to us.

The goal is not to justify our ancestors’ actions but to bring awareness to the ancestral entanglements we may be carrying and to let go of the burden it is bringing into our lives. 

Liza focuses on energetics to help heal her clients. Although it helps to know or be conscious of the family members involved in the entanglements, Liza emphasizes that it is not necessary. As a therapist, she works with her clients to bring awareness to those entanglements — whether they’re emotional or unconscious. 

Ultimately, healing oneself involves healing the family system as well. By healing ourselves, we’re thereby helping heal the bloodline that came before us and those that come after us. 

From the Chinese Medicine perspective, Family Constellations can also offer support through freeing our essence or Jing and allowing us to open our hearts to receive and follow our destiny. 

Although there’s love, wisdom, energy and knowledge in our ancestry, trauma or blocked emotions can keep us stuck in life.

Family Constellation allows us to heal and remove the obstacles keeping us from receiving the love, wisdom, success and knowledge we all deserve. 

Once you’ve listened, let us know in the comments below — how did this conversation help deepen your awareness to heal the wounds of your ancestry?

References:

Liza Miron’s website: https://www.coachingandconstellations.com/

(Episode 3) 2 Keys to a Healthier Life

by Setareh Moafi, Ph.D., L.Ac. & Salvador Cefalu, M.S., L.Ac.

“The first wealth is health.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

In the absence of health, you’ll struggle to have the energy or clarity to set goals, let alone achieve them. You can’t enjoy quality time with loved ones.

But In health, all things are possible.

This is why in Chinese Medicine philosophy, health is the first of the Nine Palaces that bring us to completion in our lives.

Nevertheless, we realize that if you’ve ever struggled with your health, the word or topic alone can be overwhelming and instigate a variety of feelings and responses. 

You may even feel shame and guilt about your choices with your health or think that creating a healthy lifestyle may be too costly or too time consuming. 

And quite frankly, with all the information that’s available about the topics of health and wellness, it can be challenging to know what to believe or even where to begin. 

By definition, health is “the condition of being well or free from disease.” And to be healthy means “enjoying health and vigor of body, mind, or spirit.” 

So, to be healthy is to be well, free from disease and have vigor of body, mind or spirit. 

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Note that the spirit is also contained in this definition, which is why we’re going to look at why being healthy is fostered through a deeper relationship with ourselves. 

Having a healthy lifestyle does not mean letting go of all the fun and pleasure in life and it certainly doesn’t mean making healthy choices all of the time. In fact, being healthy means doing things that keep you feeling good physically, mentally and spiritually. 

The World Health Organization’s definition of health as “a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease” illuminates just that. We’re all comprised of a physical body, a mind and a spirit. So why is it that most of us forget about at least one of these parts of ourselves throughout the day?

The most complicated element of the human experience is the mind - and it’s also the most difficult to condition and change. Luckily, if we notice that our mental state is imbalanced early on enough, we can use our physical body to reshape our thinking. Ancient practices such as Yoga, Qi Gong and Meditation are designed to help us do this.

The ‘monkey mind’, as many of these ancient traditions call it, is like an animal that needs to be trained. Otherwise, the mind can lead us to the demise of both our physical body and our spirit.

You truly are the healer in your life.

When you’re able to focus your mind on healing, you can more effectively uplift your spirit to then help the body recover. This can be done through a variety of spiritual practices and very simply through the daily and routine practice of gratitude. 

Gratitude creates space for positivity and joy to flow into our lives. 

The more you focus on the good you have, the more you magnify those things and begin to cultivate better things to come into your life. This is the fastest way to heal the body, which really is simply a reflection of the health of the mind and spirit.

To be healthy then doesn’t necessarily mean eating the right foods and exercising right and sleeping well. 

2 Keys to a Healthier Life:

1. Each morning when you wake up, move your body & write down 3 things you’re grateful for in your life.

   If movement isn’t possible, close your eyes and visualize yourself moving. That’ll begin the process to move the Qi in your body.

   Just visualizing yourself moving will enhance your physical body because your mind moves the Qi, and as you use your mind you’re conducting Qi through all your tissues and cells.

2. At the end of each day, review the challenges of your day and do your best to make peace with and let go of those things.

   This practice comes from a Daoist alchemist named Ge Hong who used to teach this practice.

   This process will help you not carry the challenges of today to the next day.

   These things aren’t always easy when we have challenges, but this is the cultivation when we come up against uncomfortable aspects.

In its very essence, health is cultivated through a sound, peaceful and positive body, mind and spirit. 

Health is the state of ease you cultivate through an intimate relationship with your body and mind.

This means that you care about and pay close attention to both your body and mind. 

To pay close attention, you have to be fully present. 

Being mindful about how you start and end the day is essential to wire your subconscious mind so you can create a healthier relationship with yourself.

By simply creating a regular morning and evening ritual, you become more present and more aware of your needs.

For many of you this may mean that you do less, rest more and spend time in fewer yet more nurturing relationships and surroundings.

Once you really slow down and pay close attention to yourself, the realization of a truly fulfilling life simplifies making healthy choices.

(Episode 2) New Year, New Intentions: 3 Steps to Have Your Best Year Yet

by Setareh Moafi, Ph.D., L.Ac. & Salvador Cefalu, M.S., L.Ac.

If you’ve already listened to the episode, scroll down to post a comment & please share it with your friends!

Every year on New Year’s Eve for the last several years, we’ve offered a popular New Year’s Eve Yoga-Qi Gong class in which we integrated writing and movement exercises to bring closure to the current year and set intentions and goals for the new year.

This year, we wanted to use our new podcast as a platform to share this experience with those of you listening at home from around the world.

2020 has created a lot of changes not the least of which has been to force many of us into deeper contemplation about our lives. And at the end of a year like this, it’s essential to not only look back and see where we’ve been, but also to look forward to new possibilities.

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We often pressure ourselves to make changes with our new year’s resolutions. But it’s important to keep in mind that since the new year in the West occurs on January 1st, right after the Winter solstice, it’s not an ideal time to create something new in your life. 

Winter is the most Yin and dormant season of the year and is related to the Water element, which is associated with introspection and cultivation, and is the most important time for rest so that you can build back the energy of the Kidneys.

When the Kidney energy is strong, you’ll feel vital and have the Will, known as Zhi, to carry out your goals and dreams during the upcoming Spring season.

While wintertime is not the time to actualize your dreams, it’s an important time to clarify your intentions and, through careful examination and meditation, to glean wisdom from the experiences of your past.

It’s a great time to do the inner work necessary to cultivate the vision you have for months ahead, especially as we get into the more Yang season of Spring which has the energy to support manifestation.

Today we’re going to guide you through a writing exercise I like to call New Year, New Intentions. 

You’ll want to grab your cup of tea, a notebook and pen.

EXERCISE 1: Offer Gratitude for 3 Things in Your Life

The first thing we need to do to begin anything new is to accept and give gratitude for where we are right now. 

Numerous studies at universities like UC Berkeley and Harvard have demonstrated that the expression of gratitude leads to more positive emotions and experiences, improved mental and emotional health, and stronger relationships.

No matter what’s going on in your life, you can always think of a few things to be grateful for, especially if you keep it simple. Perhaps you’re grateful for the gorgeous tree you can see from your office window or the warm bed you slept in last night.

The simple act of regularly acknowledging what’s good in your life can over time make you happier, healthier and more fulfilled.

With that in mind, write down 3 things you're most grateful for/proud of from the past year. 

During the time of this recording we’re in the middle of a pandemic and that 2020 was not an easy year for a lot of people, but this is exactly what makes this particular exercise so important.

Pause the audio as you take a few minutes to write those down and then come back.

EXERCISE 2: Let Go of 3 Things That No Longer Serve You

Ok, the next exercise has to do with something we all struggle with at times - and that’s the process of letting go. In order to create space for whatever it is you’re looking to cultivate in your life, you have to let go of what no longer serves you. 

You can begin this process with the Waterfall Meditation led by Salvador Cefalu, M.S., L.Ac., visualizing first a pool of water accumulate at the crown of your head then flowing down your upper body into your arms and hands, then gathering into your pelvis before making its way down into your legs and feet.

Now that you’re more clear and have released a lot of the stagnation in your body through the meditation, write down 3 things that you’re willing to let go of as you begin the new year (i.e. projects, people, feelings, etc.).

Pause the audio and we’ll meet you back here in a few.

EXERCISE 3: List 3 Specific Desires

The final exercise is to write down your intentions for the new year. 

Once you’ve accepted and offered gratitude for exactly where you are and let go of anything that no longer serves you, it’s time to get clear about your desires.

This next exercise is not about dwelling on what you need but rather it’s about weaving together a dream or creating a vision of what you want or desire.

To begin, write down 3 specific desires you’d like to manifest in the new year.

Be as specific as possible. You don’t want to say something like “I want a new car.” Instead, write down the specific make and model of your dream car - don’t worry about whether it’s “realistic.” The idea is to allow joy and imagination to take over.

If you have a goal you’d like to achieve, be specific about that goal and maybe even write down why you want to achieve it.

How will you feel when you have that car or achieve that goal?

And always remember that even though you’re setting goals for a new year, you don’t have to achieve them all in this new year. 

Oftentimes we overwhelm ourselves thinking about all that we want to achieve in a year and get discouraged when it doesn’t all happen. 

But some dreams take time (and divine timing!) to manifest.

We often overestimate what we can achieve in a year and we underestimate what we can achieve in a decade.

So be clear about your desires, allow yourself to dream a little and write it down. 

The simple act of clearly writing what you want activates the energy of the Universe to start bringing those things to you.

Review

Here’s a review of the 3 writing exercises from this episode:

1. Write down 3 things you’re most grateful for/proud of from this past year

2. Write down 3 things - behaviors, habits, mindset, projects, people - you’re willing to let go of

3. Write down 3 specific things you desire to bring into your life

Now, we’d love to hear from you—what did you learn about yourself in doing - or even just thinking about - these exercises? Is there a goal you’d like to share and get extra support with from us and our community? Let us know in the comments below.

Please share this episode with your friends and write us a review.

And finally, we’ll leave you with this quote from Mark Twain as inspiration for the year ahead:

“20 years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”

Wishing you a healthy, abundant and magical new year!

Thank you so much for tuning in to the Natural Healing Podcast. Please share it with your friends and family, and leave us a review.

We look forward to connecting with you again next time!

Click here to listen to the episode and follow us on Spotify!

(Episode 1) A Path to Purpose: Salvador's Journey into the Healing Arts

The pandemic and accompanying challenges of 2020 have changed so much, and have forced many of us to really look at what we want and don't want in life.

One thing we've realized is that we want to find new ways to empower and inspire your journey to wellness.

That's why we've decided to start a podcast so we can start a conversation with you about natural healing.

Click below to listen to our very first episode, in which I interview Salvador about his journey into the healing arts.

You might be surprised that he began on a completely different path, only to find "love at first sight" with his first exposure to Chinese Medicine.

Once you've listened, we'd love to hear from you — let us know in the comments below what you found most intriguing about Salvador's story.

Click here to listen to the episode and follow us on Spotify!

Your presence in this community is the inspiration behind the Natural Healing Podcast.✨

We hope it'll inspire you with hope, insights and possibilities to elevate your wellbeing.

We can't wait to connect with you!

💗Dr. Setareh & Salvador

P.S. Be sure to share this with your friends and family, and follow us on Spotify to be the first to listen to future episodes.

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Loved this episode?

Please subscribe and consider rating & reviewing our podcast on Apple Podcasts. Five star reviews help us reach & support more listeners like you. You can also follow us on Spotify to be the first to hear about new & bonus episodes!

Thank you!

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