#206 Drawing on Our Ancestors for Courage & Leadership
We are made up of those who came before us, and the story of our lineage (which doesn’t have to be blood relatives) may hold clues for how we want to show up.
Ancestral work can be a way to understand our own voices and can be healing for us and our leadership, helping us show up as fuller, more rooted versions of ourselves. In episode 206 of Quiet Messenger, I’ll help you investigate the themes in your own lineage, what you hold carried down from your ancestors, what patterns you’re here to shift.
I share:
How ancestral connection helps quiet leaders find the courage to speak up
Stickier aspects like cultural appropriation and the erasure that came with “whiteness”
What it means for those of European ancestry to connect back to their indigeneity
Ancestral connection as a spiritual practice & my rituals to connect with ancestors
How to draw on the strength of your ancestors and questions to take you deeper, wherever you’re at in your journey
Mentioned in the episode
Becca Piastrelli’s Belonging Podcast
Susanna Barkataki - Cultural Appropriation in Yoga
Dr Rosales Meza’s Decolonize Your Mind course
Racial Justice educator Lettie Gore - @sincerely.lettie
Mallorie Vaudoise - Honoring Your Ancestors
Ancestral work has been a way to reclaim my roots, to feel a sense of belonging to a lineage, to be part of something bigger than myself.
I grew up eating my grandma’s homemade buckwheat cabbage rolls, pierogies and borscht on holidays, hearing stories of my mom’s days of folk dancing and storing leftovers in “Ukrainian tupperware.”
My parents moved me and my sister to the States when I was five so – aside from a yearly visit “home” – I lived in our little isolated pod, a country away from my grandparents, aunts, cousins and the Ukrainian Canadian community.
Last year, I intuitively started deepening this spiritual practice. I created an earthy, rich playlist, a nod to my Slavic roots. I set up an ancestral altar with old photos, began learning Ukrainian and started a morning ritual of lighting a candle to connect with my ancestors.
And I noticed a deepening, a raw felt connection — to the collective, to myself, to my voice. The more I embraced it, the more I felt grounded in my leadership.
I let that guide my actions as I rebuilt what my work looked like & how I shared my voice and channeled what was there for me to say.
Ancestral connection creates a pathway back to our own power.
To feel safe to be ourselves in ways we haven’t before, to take up more space and to speak quietly but clearly.
Whether it be through food, land, familiarizing ourselves with our family tree, making offerings, or engaging in ritual, it helps us tap into the web of connection, acknowledging that we are one piece in a much broader story.
xoxo
