HEAL YOUR ANCESTRAL ROOTS

A memoir and New Age self-help guide explores how the traumas of past generations affect present families.

“In this book, I will give you a glimpse into an invisible world,” writes Dayal-Gulati, an Indian-born economist-turned–energy healing practitioner. That world, she says, is one’s “family energy field,” also called “family karma”: an intangible, ancestral link that influences living people of today with the merits and faults of their forebears. Framed this way, everyone lives with the legacies of past generations and can’t unburden themselves from unprocessed trauma without confronting the past; family curses are very real, the author asserts, but can also be broken. Dayal-Gulati’s book is divided into four parts (“Healing My Roots,” “Healing Tools,” “Understanding Your Family Energy Field,” and “The Journey Home”), across which she shares her personal story of spiritual growth and guidance, her advice on the application of healing tools such as flower essences, and tips on how to achieve peace by accepting and honoring one’s ancestors. She peppers the book with anecdotes from her client work as a trained energy practitioner as well as her own life story of moving from India to Europe and finally to the United States while citing therapists, anthropologists, and the work of Carl Jung to effectively contextualize her approach. There are journaling questions, exercises, and guided prayers throughout, with which the author encourages readers to make better use of the book’s principles: “What if the emotions that keep you prisoner may not be your own?” The prose is lively, if sometimes overly optimistic, with ample queries and exclamations that give it a conversational feel. However, one will need to have knowledge and access to their immediate and extended families to fully benefit from this book and practice the rituals it recommends. Dayal-Gulati, who notes that she is not a trained therapist, is also upfront about the parameters of her work, noting that “most of my advice here is for those whose parents were not abusive,” and she recommends seeking the help of licensed professionals for complex trauma.

A compelling, spirited guide that aims to help readers understand who they come from.