(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 22) 2 Must-Dos During this Change of Seasons

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

Once you’ve listened, let us know in the comments below —which of these takeaways will you implement during this seasonal transition?

As the Northern hemisphere welcomes the hottest season of the year, we enter the season of the Fire element.

Positively associated with nourishment of the Earth and transformation, an imbalanced Fire, on the other hand, is notorious for digestive problems. In today’s podcast we discuss the importance of gut health and ways to keep you healthy as we embrace the upcoming season. 

Living with the seasons means being aware of the changes in your surroundings and environment. As we transition into a new season on June 20th, we’re again reminded to adjust our lifestyle to accommodate change of seasons.

In Chinese Medicine, the transitional period between each seasonal change, called Doyo, is greatly emphasized. Mentioned in one of the Classical Chinese Medicine texts, Huang Di Nei Jing Su Wen, the 18 day period (Doyo) is considered a delicate period for the Spleen energy and the associated Earth element. Therefore it’s important to take special care of the Earth organs—the Spleen and Stomach. 

Supporting Your Earth through Hydration

We need to tend to our Earth element. Using the analogy of a garden as our Earth element, we realize the importance of water in keeping plants healthy.

Too much water can create dampness and kill plants while too little water will dry out plants and result in a similar fate. In the body, excessive sugar intake can cause dampness to accumulate and stagnate the energy of the Earth organ systems.

Living in California and being surrounded by the abundance of fruits all year round – whether imported or locally grown – can encourage a diet enriched with fruits, which supports hydration. However, fruits should eaten in moderation to prevent excessive accumulation of dampness internally. 

Spleen Qi 

The Spleen’s function is interconnected with the pancreas, and helps with the transformation and transportation of food into Qi in Chinese Medicine. 

We can think of Spleen Qi’s function as the enzymes produced by the pancreas — helping with the breakdown of food particles and essential in digestion. 

Spleen also helps transform and transport our thoughts and is closely associated with the Yi, or the aspect of the mind. Processing information by our mind relied heavily on Spleen Qi therefore it becomes even more important to strengthen your Spleen Qi to support mental clarity. 

Strong Earth energy supports healthy boundaries

The Earth organs are the Stomach and the Spleen. Stomach Fire is a natural aspect of the digestive system and is related to the hydrochloric acid that helps break down proteins. Pathological fire, on the other hand, is related to toxicity in the stomach — such as an infection from H. pylori bacteria.

It’s fundamental to keep Stomach Fire in balance to support digestion but also help keep unhealthy bacteria in check. 

In order to keep the concentration of hydrochloric acid in our stomach balanced and combat a mild case H. pylori infection, a few tablespoons of apple cider vinegar can supplement a protein enriched meal and support digestion. 

Small Intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO) is also caused by excessive gut Fire. SIBO requires careful attention to your diet so the overgrowth of bacteria is not further encouraged.

Since the excess Fire will also damage the Spleen Qi, physiological boundaries are also compromised — resulting in a common condition called leaky gut syndrome. 

When the Spleen is not able to maintain boundaries internally, you’ll also have trouble maintaining social boundaries.

If you find it difficult to say “no” or feeling as if all your energy is leaking into other people’s issues, it’s a good idea to examine the status or health of your gut. When you’re able to strengthen your gut, you’ll find your relationships flourishing as well!

2 key takeaways to help support your Earth energy:

1. Don’t overeat — overeating will cause the Spleen and Stomach energy to stagnate and make you feel lethargic and bloated. 

2. Avoid cold foods and beverages — since Cold damages the Spleen causing dampness and digestive issues, it should be avoided or at least lessened. 

Once you’ve listened, let us know in the comments below —which of these takeaways will you implement during this seasonal transition?

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(Episode 21) What is Qi? Interview with Ann Cecil-Sterman (Part 2 of 2)

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

Once you’ve listened, let us know in the comments below — which part of our discussion did you find most interesting?

This is part 2 of our interview with Ann Cecil-Sterman. If you haven’t listened to part 1, we highly recommend listening to it here.

Essential in Chinese medicine is the idea that we should be attuned to our “gut” feelings since it relays important information about our wellbeing.

Recent research provides evidence for the important the gut-brain connection, and how the gut can also have profound effects on our thoughts and emotions, for example. 

Qi Stagnation & Anxiety

Anxiety in Chinese medicine is the failure of the Heart and Kidneys to properly communicate. Kidney Qi stores our destiny and Heart Qi is responsible for creating relationships and expanding our connections.

When our Qi is focused on a tiny screen (i.e. phone screens) and our social connections based there, the connection between our Kidney Qi and Heart Qi is interrupted, creating stagnation. Anxiety and depression often result from this stagnation.

As social media expands to control our social network, cases of anxiety and depression will inevitably become more prevalent. 

If we instead spend more time connecting with ourselves and others, the Heart Qi to be released and express itself, thereby leading us to greater creativity and joy.

One of many benefits of Acupuncture include supporting the connection between the Heart and Kidneys. 

Benefits of Acupuncture

A common misconception is that Acupuncture should only be sought out for injuries. Cecil-Sterman emphasizes the fact that Acupuncture’s scope is much broader. Of the 66 channels used in Acupuncture, only 12 channels deal with treating injuries. The rest of the meridians deal with all sorts of issues such as those used for chronic degenerative diseases, emotional distress and with a variety of acute and chronic issues. 

More importantly, if someone presents with no health issue, acupuncture can still offer health support in ensuring smooth functioning of our internal organs and flow of Qi. Cecil-Sterman explains why regular Acupuncture treatments along with a diet low in sugar can keep illness and dis-ease at bay. 

Cultivating Your Qi as a Way of Life

One of the major impediments to healthy Qi aside from excessive use of technology is an unhealthy diet, especially one that includes refined sugars.

Sugar cane is naturally a whole food and digestible, but once it’s refined with the natural enzymes and fibers stripped, it essentially becomes empty calories. Refined sugar thickens and raises the temperature of our blood and contributes to inflamed arteries as your body increases cholesterol levels in order to protect the heart against the raging heat caused by refined sugar. A host of other diseases are also caused by consumption of refined sugar so it’s important to control the amount of sugar in our diet. 

Generally speaking, you can cultivate Qi through your diet by becoming more mindful of what you’re eating and replacing refined sugar with whole, clean foods.

You can also become more aware of your surroundings and actions, and allowing this awareness to guide you to make healthier choices.

Ann recommends simply taking as little as 10 minutes to meditate or simply breathe to cultivate a profound sense of relaxation, comfort and connection. This alone initiates a healing process and allows Qi to flow freely and help us become more aware. 

Once you’ve listened, let us know in the comments below — which part of our discussion did you find most interesting?

References

Ann Cecil-Sterman’s website - https://anncecilsterman.com/