By Satya Jehman
Why I chose to return to my lineage, and how it shapes my daily life
Coming Full Circle
When I was 16, I ran away from home. I rejected my culture, my tradition, my lineage. Five years later, after a major car accident that left me broken in many places and forced me to learn how to walk again, I found myself returning. Through the study of yoga, pilgrimage to my ancestral land, grief, loss, ritual, practice and self-study, I began to rebuild a relationship with what I had once rejected – as something lived.
Lineage as Foundation
Today, my connection to my ancestors is my life force. It is the ground I stand on. It’s where I bring everything, my grief, my joy, my struggle, my resilience. I light the diya (candle) and the agarbhati (incense), ring the bell, offer flowers and a sweet, pour water into the 10 cardinal directions. These are offerings I make to them. I thank them for their presence, their love, their guidance, their grace – and I humbly ask for their blessings. I feel them in my physical and subtle body, in my dreams, in the space around me, and in the natural world. That closeness came from turning toward them, again and again. Our ancestors are all around us, just waiting for us to call on them. We must clearly call, and they will answer. If we don’t call, then there is no ancestral presence. This is my lived experience.
A Relationship You Can Grow.
This relationship requires tending. The more I give to it, the more I receive. When life is challenging, I bring it to them. I offer it, ask for guidance, and then I get quiet. I wait. I listen. And then, they respond. Sometimes it’s a subtle shift, an inner knowing, a new steadiness, or a grounding, an opening, a profound insight – and so it goes.
Why this matters
We are not meant to do life alone. Whether you feel connected to your ancestors or not, whether you know their names or not, you are part of a lineage. When you begin to consciously relate to that, something changes. There can be more centered, more perspective, a sense that you are supported in ways that are not always easy to put in words, but very real in experience. You no longer carry life by yourself.
Wounding & Wisdom
Every lineage holds both wounding and wisdom. To turn toward it is to meet it honestly, to see what has been carried forward and to decide what continues through you. There is also strength there. Resilience. Ways of being that have endured.
Your ancestral gifts
Not everything you carry is a wound. Some of what lives in you is resourced. For me, that has been devotion, ritual, ceremony, practice, deep listening, and the ability to hold space. These were not things I learned from scratch. They were in me, they were remembered through steady practice and openness, and through the cultivation of presence. And they deepened as I stayed in relationship with them, as I grew that relationship through the consistent tending of it.
Your gifts may look different. They can deepen how you live and what you offer to the world, what you offer in your work, to your community – in your daily life, and even how you show up every day. They can support you in navigating life’s daily ebbs and flows in a more resourced way.
If you feel disconnected
If you feel disconnected from your ancestors, that’s okay. If you don’t know who they are, that’s okay. If there is trauma in your lineage, that’s okay too. This work doesn’t require certainty. It begins with willingness.
A place to begin.
This is the intention behind the Sacred Roots: Ancestral Healing Through Yoga, Breath & Ceremony happening at Hollyhock on Cortes Island from September 28 – October 2, 2026. We’ll practice yoga, work with the breath, engage ritual and ceremony, be quiet, reflect, immerse and in the natural world – as ways to begin, or deepen, your relationship with your ancestors. You don’t need to know your lineage. You don’t need prior experience. You just need to be willing to be present and listen.
If this speaks to you, you warmly welcome to join us in ancestral retreat.
REGISTER TODAY! → Tiered tuition, BIPOC scholarships, and a deferred payment plan after deposit are available.
