How To Learn From Your Ancestors | Spring Washam
🤖 AI Summary
Overview
This episode explores the transformative power of connecting with our ancestors, featuring Spring Washam, a meditation teacher and author of The Spirit of Harriet Tubman: Awakening from the Underground. Washam shares her journey of writing the book, her visionary experiences with Harriet Tubman, and how ancestral work can help us heal personal and collective wounds. The conversation also delves into the concept of the inner underground railroad
as a path to spiritual liberation.
Notable Quotes
- We live in the basement of a large house, but there are 500 other rooms we haven’t explored.
– Spring Washam, on the unseen dimensions of existence.
- I stand as one, but I come with 10,000.
– Maya Angelou, as quoted by Spring Washam, on the power of ancestral lineage.
- The battle is here now—it’s always in the mind.
– Spring Washam, on the modern struggle for inner freedom.
🧬 Exploring Ancestral Connections
- Washam emphasizes that our ancestors' actions, traumas, and unresolved issues live on in us, shaping our behaviors and emotions.
- She highlights the importance of moving beyond surface-level genealogy (e.g., 23andMe) to engage in deeper healing work, such as forgiving ancestors or addressing inherited patterns.
- Practices like Family Constellation Therapy and direct conversations with ancestors (whether literal or symbolic) can help resolve intergenerational wounds.
🌌 Visionary Experiences with Harriet Tubman
- Washam recounts a vivid dream and subsequent conversations
with Harriet Tubman, which inspired her book. She describes Tubman as a spiritual guide and a bodhisattva
(an enlightened being dedicated to helping others).
- Tubman’s teachings, as channeled by Washam, focus on the inner underground railroad
—a metaphorical journey to spiritual freedom and the end of suffering.
- Washam acknowledges skepticism but encourages a willing suspension of disbelief
to explore these ideas.
🛤️ The Inner Underground Railroad
- The inner underground railroad
represents a spiritual path to liberation from mental and emotional chains, akin to the Buddhist concept of Nirvana (freedom from suffering).
- Washam explains that this journey requires effort, mindfulness, and a commitment to spiritual practice, much like the physical Underground Railroad required courage and resilience.
- Tubman’s role as a conductor extends to this inner realm, guiding individuals toward freedom through consciousness work.
🪞 Healing Through Ancestral Work
- Washam shares a personal story about her grandmother, Arlene, whose suicide left unresolved pain in her family. She is working to honor her grandmother with a proper headstone and forgiveness rituals.
- This process, she explains, not only heals the past but also liberates descendants from inherited emotional burdens.
- Washam encourages listeners to engage with their ancestors, whether through symbolic rituals, therapy, or meditation, to foster healing and empowerment.
🧘♀️ Modern Abolitionism: Inner, Outer, and Ultimate
- Washam outlines three levels of abolitionism:
- Inner: Abolishing greed, hatred, and delusion within oneself.
- Outer: Addressing societal injustices and refusing to participate in harmful systems.
- Ultimate: Achieving spiritual liberation and embodying compassion on a profound level.
- She connects these principles to Tubman’s legacy, framing her as a timeless teacher of freedom and resilience.
AI-generated content may not be accurate or complete and should not be relied upon as a sole source of truth.
📋 Episode Description
Our guest argues that looking back on those who came before us can help us understand who we are and why we do the things we do. Plus, a very special request from Dan.
Spring Washam is a well-known teacher, author, and visionary leader based in Oakland, California. She is the author of A Fierce Heart: Finding Strength, Courage and Wisdom in Any Moment and her newest book, The Spirit of Harriet Tubman: Awakening from the Underground. Spring is considered a pioneer in bringing mindfulness-based meditation practices to diverse communities. She is one of the founding teachers at the East Bay Meditation Center, located in downtown Oakland, CA and has practiced and studied Buddhist philosophy in both the Theravada and Tibetan schools of Buddhism since 1999.
In this episode we talk about:
- How Spring came to write about Harriet Tubman’s life
- Her work with plant medicine and the shamanic tradition
- The dream and the “conversations” Spring had with Tubman
- Why we are all so interested in ancestry
- How we can deepen our relationship with our ancestors
- Family Constellation Therapy as a modality for doing ancestry work
- Spring’s own family history
- Why she is still processing the experience of writing her book about Harriet Tubman
- What she means by the “inner underground railroad” and how it is alive today
- And, how, in the inner underground railroad, freedom equates to nirvana
Content Warning: mentions of suicide
This episode originally aired in February 2023, and we’re re-airing it today for two reasons: first, because it’s awesome; and second, because Spring needs help. A few months ago, Spring was hit by a delivery truck while crossing the street in Atlanta. She suffered extensive injuries and has been largely unable to work since then. As a result, she's been experiencing some financial distress between her mounting medical bills and her inability to be fully employed.
We’ve teamed up with the meditation teachers Jack Kornfield and Trudy Goodman to start a GoFundMe page to help Spring raise a little bit of money. Jack, Trudy and Dan have all contributed. If you can make a contribution, please do. No amount is too small.
You can find the GoFundMe here: https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-spring-washams-healing-journey
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