Dear Friends,
Today I bring you another interview with a DailyOM course author. I spoke recently with Sara Wiseman. She has many courses with us, but I wanted to speak with her specifically about her course Release Yourself from Family Karma. Almost 40,000 people have bravely stepped into the work of healing their family dynamic. Please read on to hear what Sara has to say about this interesting topic.
Madisyn Taylor: Sara, what is family karma?
Sara Wiseman: Our family karma refers to the soul lessons we're here to work on with our family members plus anyone who is part of a blended family. Karma isn't a curse or something we can't change--it's an active, expanding awareness that we can shift and heal with our intention. In this way, working with the karma we have with our family members is a life journey that holds astounding lessons. In fact, our family is often where we find our greatest teachers.
We have big karma with our family because our family is what we're born into for this lifetime. They're the souls we'll first meet, the ones we'll be raised with, and who we'll know for our whole lives. Our family also provides the culture or lineage we're born into--it's where and who we come from and what we first identify with. Because we're with our family so closely for so many years, it's the perfect "soul petri dish" for us to learn our soul lessons. And of course, that's the same reason we find our family relationships to be so "sticky." There's so much to work on, and we're destined to work on these same lessons, with the same people, for many years.
MT: Why is it important to release yourself from family karma?
SW: If you don't release yourself from family karma, you can't become free. At some point, every conscious person has to come to grips with their family of origin--at whatever level of drama and dysfunction--and figure out how they can heal. And while this can be intensive inner work, it has enormous value and wisdom when you break through to the other side. Our family often teaches us our biggest soul lessons--the most important karma we're here to work on this lifetime. With soul lessons, you can't go around them, you can't escape them--you have to go through them. Releasing ourselves from family karma is a process that takes us from anger and pain to compassion and healing.
The thing to remember is that almost every family has dysfunction. This could be in the form of really big issues such as abuse of any kind--physical, sexual, emotional. Unfortunately, this is really common. But there's also everyday drama--maybe we don't get along, we fight or disagree, or we carry old grudges. All of this--the hurts, wounds, drama, and dysfunction--are issues we're asked to work through as soul lessons.
When we first leave home, typically in early adulthood or at another age, we have this sense of freedom--we can leave all those problems and never come back. But as we become adults we find that you can leave geographically, you can even stop all contact, but the emotional and energetic residue of issues left unresolved will eventually have to be worked out. Our inner work--our soul work--is what creates our healing. There are lots of ways to heal--you can go to therapy or read books or take workshops or join support groups. The approach of this work is spiritual, which means we work through issues from the soul perspective.
The first aspect of releasing family karma is about the belief system. When we're born, we arrive into religions, cultures, and belief systems that our family teaches us. But the journey to be an adult is to decide what you think--not what you're told to believe. That's one part--releasing the family karma means releasing old beliefs and determining what you yourself believe.
The second part of family karma work is about releasing all the hurts and wounds. Many people have experienced abuse in their families. This process is about learning to not be a victim. We need to understand what happened, claim it as our experience, and then decide we won't ever experience this again. If we were abused in our family, releasing ourselves from family karma means stepping into our own power, now and forever.
MT: You talk about the seven shadows or seven key issues most families face. Tell me more about this.
SW: The seven shadows in every family are abuse, addiction, violence, poverty, illness, abandonment and betrayal. Many students who've taken this course report that their family has not one but all of these shadows. This is common. We're humans, we're evolving, and it has taken many generations to come to a place where we can be kind and compassionate to each other. It's important to remember that all of the seven shadows are affected by the time and place our family inhabited. For example, if your parents or grandparents were born around World War II, then you might have a lot of family karma related to violence such as war, and abandonment if someone had to go fight in a war and never returned. If your parents or grandparents emigrated, you might have a lot of issues around poverty, which might be the reason they emigrated. Again, when we do this work, we heal not only ourselves but also our entire lineage for all present, past, and future. We are one, and when one part of the one is healed, the healing extends to everyone for all time.
MT: The karmic mapping exercise is extensive and powerful. What is the purpose of this exercise in your work?
SW: The purpose of the karmic mapping--which is a method of drawing your family relationships on paper--is to help us get our emotions and memories out of the way so we can see clearly. We can get really worked up when we think about our family members, so doing this karmic mapping releases some of that immediate emotional trigger and lets us just see what's there. The process is intuitive--you never know what will come out of your pencil or pen! That means you can map your family one day, and one aspect of a relationship will show up. Then you can map it a few days later, and there will be something new to explore. The energy of our relationships is always changing, and karmic mapping can show you a clear picture of what's going on right now.
MT: Once students complete the course, are they done forever or do they need to go back and revisit it every so often? I find that healing is like an onion--there is always a deeper layer we can explore if we choose.
SW: Gosh, our families seem to be pretty active, karmically speaking! A lot of students choose to do this work, and then take a break and return to it later. There's always a big initial healing the first time you do the work and then a time to integrate what we've learned. When you come back to the work, there are more nuances to work through. For example, you could start this course and work with your family karma on your mother's side of the family, and then several months later go back and work on your father's side. That's one way. The other thing is, this work can sometimes be a bit intense, at least at the very beginning. There is a lot of healing that happens quickly. Some people will want to do some work and then take a breather and return when they're ready. The good news is the technique is easy, so once you know how you can use that tool forever. And the course is available 24/7 if you need a refresher.
MT: Tell me about some feedback you have received from students.
SW: I'm glad you asked that. When I first put these teachings together, I was worried that it might be too complex. It's not! Students take to it right away, and it's a very intuitive process. For most people, it's really easy. I love hearing from people from different backgrounds--different generations, countries, cultures--who report that they are having the same result, which is healing--healing for them and healing for their family members.
One thing that happens a lot in doing this work is the example of a student who is estranged from a family member--say a brother or a sister. Maybe they haven't spoken to their sibling for decades due to an old fight. And then the student does this work, and within a day they will get an email or contact from their brother or sister! The universe is full of surprises, and when we do this work with intention, from our heart and from our soul, we can heal generations of pain in our family.
Another common scenario is a student who's been abused will do this work, and they'll come to the realization that what happened was not their fault. A lifetime of shame is instantly lifted. To me, this is what makes this work so worthwhile--that people can understand their true beauty and worth, regardless of what happened to them early on. It's a journey of self-love and compassion.
Each of us enters this lifetime through the miracle of birth--conceived by humans, pushed into the world through the body of our mother. It's said that we choose our families; that we choose our parents, siblings, cultures, even the time and place we are born into, because our souls have determined that this is where we will learn fastest on our journey of soul growth. Well, chosen or not, we are all born into family, lineage, tribe. Now, it would be lovely if the family we've landed into is brimming with nothing but love and light, a continuous feast of honey and roses. However, for many of us this is not the case. In the next four weeks, we will work deeply, and with intention. We'll be contacting the spirits of your ancestors, and we will be connecting, repairing and releasing the energetic strands and emotional cording that exist in every family's karma. It is serious energy work. However, I have crafted this course to be welcoming to all levels. That means, you don't need a background in spiritual intuition or shamanic ritual to do this work. I will guide you through, step by step, at a level that you feel comfortable with.
Starting today, you will receive a new lesson every week for 4 weeks (total of 4 lessons). Each lesson is yours to keep and you'll be able to refer back to it whenever you want. And if you miss a lesson or are too busy to get to it that day, each lesson will conveniently remain in your account so you won't have to search for it when you're ready to get back to it.
We are offering this course with the option of selecting how much you want to pay. No matter how much you pay, you'll be getting the same course as everybody else. We simply trust that people are honest and will support the author of the course with whatever they can afford. And if you are not 100% satisfied, we will refund your money.
Thank you, Sara, for taking the time to educate my readers about family karma. I find it fascinating and have done a lot of this work myself over the years. I think a good takeaway note is that it is never too late to repair a family dynamic, and so much work can be done on the subtle energetic level. I hope you are enjoying this series of interviews. I'll see you next time!
Be well,
Madisyn Taylor
Cofounder, Editor-In-Chief
DailyOM
