Healing the Water Element Through Ancestral Healing

I am working on a book called “Immigrace: A Guide to Healing Our Immigrant Consciousness”. Chapter Two is titled “Ancestral Healing”, which is pertinent to healing the Water Element. In particular, the Kidney meridian represents the energy we receive from our Ancestors, and I find it helpful to work with two major points, KI1 and KI27. I have included a meditation which you can do while holding both points, which may help you connect with your Ancestors and open to healing and transformation.

I am including some excerpts from the chapter. I spent many years looking into my ancestry and doing research so that I could find patterns that could be identified, acknowledged, transformed, and healed. It is encouraging to realize that when we do the work of ancestral healing, we help our ancestors as well as our descendants. It is like plucking a guitar string – vibrating it in one place makes it vibrate all along the string. The string represents linear time as we live it, but when everything vibrates all at once, we get a sense of timelessness and transformation.

From “Ancestral Healing”:

SUFFERING AND SACRIFICE

My family history is fraught with suffering and experiences of war, displacement, and death. Both my parents grew up in northern Korea under the Japanese occupation which started in 1910. At the end of World War II in 1945, Korea was liberated from Japanese colonial rule, but five years later the Korean War began, and lasted for three years.  

My mother’s oldest sister was killed while trying to help someone – she went to get her niece-in-law and baby to a safe place during the Korean War. The young mother, baby and my 33-year-old aunt were all killed in the crossfire. My maternal grandpa Lee had to go and bury her by the roadside, and my mom says that was the first time she ever saw him cry. He was a strong man who owned a large farm in Seoncheon, Korea with a lot of land and rode around on a big horse working secretly for the Independence Movement. Unfortunately, he was shot in the spine near the beginning of the Korean War and became paraplegic for 16 years until he died shortly after we moved to Malaysia. He was shot while helping a man procure some rice. The man had come to him three times to beg for help, and my grandpa finally succumbed to his pleading the fourth time. 

Here we have a pattern - sacrificing yourself to the detriment or death of oneself. This has been a theme in my mom’s life, as well as mine. When I became aware of this

pattern, I worked with it to draw strong loving boundaries so that I would have enough energy for myself and to help others.  

I participated in a workshop with a friend, and we invited one of the students to have dinner with us. During dinner, this woman was so focused on herself that she would not stop talking about her issues and her experiences, which were not interesting for either of us. My friend started to zone out, so much so that the woman asked her if she was all right. She later told me that she was glad I was there to distract the woman from noticing that she wasn’t listening to her at all. I had been working on my listening skills, so I put them to use and interjected once in a while but noticed that the woman would not pay any attention to what I was saying, but instead promptly started talking about herself again. On the drive back to the B & B, I mentioned that I thought this woman talked too much, and my friend was relieved that we agreed. And then I had a thought - What if she wants to have lunch with us tomorrow? How will we handle that? My friend thought that we could not say no if she asked us outright. I pondered it over for a while, then came up with a solution. I said that we would say “We already have plans” if she asks to come with us. After making that decision, we went to sleep. The next day, she did not ask us to go to lunch. It helps to pre-pave the way in potentially triggering situations once we realize what is really going on. Once we deal with it internally, the situation will often resolve itself. 

It has taken me many years to get a place where I feel comfortable saying “No.” It is such a simple word, but many people have trouble saying it. There are ways to say it neutrally, such as “I would love to, but I’m not able to help because I have too many 

commitments.” Often, I would feel guilty, because I felt that I was not helping someone. But when I helped without wanting to, I would get exhausted and resent the person for putting me in that position.

KOREANS AND JAPANESE

Both my grandfathers experienced torture at the hands of the occupying Japanese. My Grandpa Kim the Pastor because of his religion and education, and my Grandpa Lee the Independence Fighter, because he was a landowner and was caught riding his bicycle over the Yalu River with gold to fund Korean Independence Fighters in Manchuria. They were both beaten and tortured, and stayed in prison for years. My Grandpa Lee never got over his hatred of the Japanese. Once he was in the hospital attached to an IV. When he turned it over and saw the label “Made in Japan”, he tore it off his arm in a rage.

I believe that one aspect of my life purpose is to help heal the relationship between Koreans and Japanese, still fraught with old angers and hurts after so long. That is why I was attracted to aikido and shiatsu, and I continue to be active in those communities. I also believe that the other Asians in those organizations, including Chinese, Vietnamese and other Koreans, are helping bring about healing between the Japanese and other Asian nations. 

A Korean American acupuncturist I know went to Japan to study acupuncture. He wasn’t sure how he would be received, knowing the history between the two nations. He was always treated with incredible kindness and was mentored by a Japanese acupuncturist. He has since traveled back to Japan many times.

Healing Meditation to Access our Ancestors:

This method uses two meridian points in your body that represent ancestral energy which you inherit from your ancestors. A third of the way down the middle of the sole of our foot (down from the top of our toes) is Kidney 1, the Kidney starting point called “Gushing Spring”. Kidney 27 (House of All Energy) is the end point of the Kidney meridian and is located on the chest on the lower border of the clavicle two finger widths from the mid-point. Working with Kidney 1 and Kidney 27, we call on our ancestors to come and communicate with us. Sit cross legged so that you can easily access the point on the sole of your foot. Hold this point with your thumb, with your fingers holding the foot from behind. Hold the point on your chest with a couple of fingers of the other hand. Apply some pressure comfortably. Next take a few deep breaths through your hara - in 4 counts, hold 4 counts, and out 7 counts.

At this time, let’s invite your Ancestor to this place and to take a form that we can communicate with. Your Ancestor may arrive as the older person you knew, a young person, or even as a child who wants to play with you. Welcome this Ancestor into your space and ask the questions that you have in your mind. Listen patiently for the answer to each question. Then ask your Ancestor if they have any information that would be useful for you at this time. Again, listen for the answer. After you feel that the communication is over, thank your Ancestor, affirming that he/she/they are always with us and slowly pull back to the time and space of your room. Take several deep breaths following the same rhythm of in for 4 counts, hold for 4 counts, and out for 7 counts until you feel refreshed and ready to come back to this reality. Write down your experience in a notebook. This act will ground and anchor the information that came through today.

We only have a couple of photos from 1942 because they had to leave North Korea without notice. My mom is on the far right - she was 14-15 years old. My oldest aunt to her left is the one who was killed, leaving four children under age eight. My second aunt on the far left could not escape North Korea and we found out through investigation (there’s been no communication allowed since 1953) that she died in her 80s. The other woman is their aunt.

From the mid-1960s, shortly before we left for Malaysia. In the back are my grandparents, my brothers and I are in front, and my mom is second from the right.

Sooyong Kim is a licensed massage therapist in the State of Maryland (Lic. Reg. Cert. No. M01267) and has a practice in Takoma Park, Md. She also works at Blue Heron Wellness in Silver Spring. A gifted, intuitive practitioner who creates space for your healing, Sooyong combines several modalities in her practice. She believes that every single person has the capacity to heal.

In 1998, she graduated from the Ohashi Institute in New York City, and completed her third level reiki training. She has studied Craniosacral Therapy and SomatoEmotional Release with the Upledger Institute, Vita Flex, Raindrop Therapy, Spiritual Healing, Zero Balancing, and has had extensive experience in the martial arts, including Tang Soo Do, Tae Kwon Do, Karate, Aikido and Qigong.

Sooyong grew up in South Korea, Malaysia, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. She worked in the corporate world in New York City after obtaining a BA in comparative literature and a certificate in European Cultural Studies from Princeton University.

After experiencing a call to the healing arts, she studied at the Ohashi Institute, and eventually moved to the Washington, D.C. area.

A facilitator of workshops on Laughter, Shiatsu, and Energy Healing, Sooyong continues to study the healing arts, since she believes that she is on a lifelong path of learning and discovery.

Location: Takoma Park, Md

Email: sooyongkim@hotmail.com

Cell: 301-404-1314

www.sooyongkim.com