Finally, there’s a maximum of four acupressure points to work with, applying steady pressure instead of tapping while stating a healing intention—a modality that can be found in the work of Julie Roberts and into which Myron, who has been initiated in Shona and Zula healing traditions, has incorporated some African viewpoints: the side of the eye (SE, pressing on both sides), identified in this practice with the emotions of rage and loss of power; under the nose (UN), identified with powerlessness and embarrassment or shame; the beginning of the collarbone (CB, also on both sides), identified with indecision, anxiety, cowardice, wanting to punish oneself or others, and loneliness; and the outer sides of the top phalanges of the thumbs (Th, pressing these two points against each other, with one hand open and facing toward you, and the other hand open and facing away), identified with grief, intolerance, scorn, and prejudice. You don’t have to decide or figure out which points are relevant; you’ll feel which ones want pressure. At each point, say, “I am laying down this issue of White racism, which is not mine. It belongs to the ancestors [or the specific lineage you’ve identified]. It is theirs to carry and heal. This issue of White racism is not my issue. I give it to the ancestors to carry and heal.”
On the last pressure point, after repeating the previous declaration, say, “I pray that the pain and suffering of my ancestors be healed and released from the earth, and for the future generations.”
As Julie Roberts has pointed out, you can’t do acupressure wrong, and you can’t hurt yourself with it, so not to worry about whether you’re on the “right” points. This is also true of tapping in general—no bad taps yet.
When I started working with this protocol, I thought, This is great. I’m taking a fearless and searching moral inventory of my ancestors, and it’s all their fault! Later, after pretty much exhausting my poor ancestors’ character defects, it dawned on me that it is really the core beliefs behind their—and my—character defects that hold the power. So the next layer under the character defects—the place where their power resides—is healed by identifying the issue as something along the lines of “the core ancestral belief that we are supposed to be prejudiced,” or “the core ancestral belief that we are supposed to be afraid,” or “the core ancestral belief that we are supposed to uphold and defend the kyriarchy, and know and accept our place in it,” or whatever else resonates. “The core ancestral belief that we’re supposed to hate ourselves” is also a good one, because hating ourselves does not come from teaching the truth about American history, it comes right from whatever we got from our very own ancestors, both biological and cultural, that impels us to behave in ways we’re ashamed of and keeps us from being our whole, true selves.
It could take a number of go-rounds on this practice to really clean things up, but you’ll most likely be feeling better all along—and the ancestors will be grateful.
Finally, there’s a maximum of four acupressure points to work with, applying steady pressure instead of tapping while stating a healing intention—a modality that can be found in the work of Julie Roberts and into which Myron, who has been initiated in Shona and Zula healing traditions, has incorporated some African viewpoints: the side of the eye, identified in this practice with the emotions of rage and loss of power; under the nose, identified with powerlessness and embarrassment or shame; the beginning of the collarbone, identified with indecision, anxiety, cowardice, wanting to punish oneself or others, and loneliness; and the outer side of the first phalange on a thumb, identified with grief, intolerance, scorn, and prejudice. You don’t have to decide or figure out which points are relevant; you’ll feel which ones want pressure. At each point, say, “I am laying down this issue of White racism, which is not mine. It belongs to the ancestors [or the specific lineage you’ve identified]. It is theirs to carry and heal. This issue of White racism is not my issue. I give it to the ancestors to carry and heal.” On the last pressure point, after repeating the previous declaration, say, “I pray that the pain and suffering of my ancestors be healed and released from the earth, and for the future generations.”
As Julie Roberts has pointed out, you can’t do acupressure wrong, and you can’t hurt yourself with it, so not to worry about whether you’re on the “right” points. This is also true of tapping in general—no bad taps yet.
When I started working with this protocol, I thought, This is great. I’m taking a fearless and searching moral inventory of my ancestors, and it’s all their fault! Later, after pretty much exhausting my poor ancestors’ character defects, it dawned on me that it is really the core beliefs behind their—and my—character defects that hold the power. So the next layer under the character defects—the place where their power resides—is healed by identifying the issue as something along the lines of “the core ancestral belief that we are supposed to be prejudiced,” or “the core ancestral belief that we are supposed to be afraid,” or “the core ancestral belief that we are supposed to uphold and defend the kyriarchy, and know and accept our place in it,” or whatever else resonates. “The core ancestral belief that we’re supposed to hate ourselves” is also a good one, because hating ourselves does not come from teaching the truth about American history, it comes right from whatever we got from our very own ancestors, both biological and cultural, that keeps us from being our whole, true selves.
It could take a number of go-rounds on this practice to really clean things up, but you’ll most likely be feeling better all along—and the ancestors will be grateful.
69