Welcome to Just Like Nana

Welcome to Just Like Nana! Join host Amie Penny Sayler on a deeply personal and wildly curious journey into ancestral trauma and generational healing. In this trailer, Amie introduces her mission: exploring how the unresolved traumas of our ancestors continue to play out in our lives today, and how we can work toward resolution for ourselves, our descendants, and our ancestors.

Discover what inspired Amie and what you can expect in future episodes, including:

• Fiction Stories: Research-based fictional stories about Amie’s Nanas and their experiences, such as her grandmother who moved from Bavaria to America with 10 children.
• Expert Interviews: Conversations with a variety of experts, including mental health practitioners and wellness facilitators, to explore healing modalities.

Hear clips from some of the incredible guests you'll meet, including:

• Dr. Peter Levine, author of Waking the Tiger, discussing the connection between the body and trauma.
• Mona Susan Power, author of A Council of Dolls, sharing a physical experience of releasing generational shame.
• Amy Kuretsky, of Constellation Acupuncture, on the power of cultivating a regulated nervous system.

The podcast is grounded in honoring ancestors and understanding your family dynamics without blame. Tune in every Friday to find your own path to healing!

Connect with Just Like Nana's Website.

A proud member of the Feminist Podcasters Collective.

Theme music by Carter Penny.

Transcript

Amie Penny Sayler: 0:19

A welcome to just like Nana, I am so excited that you're here, and I hope you have a cozy Afghan or cup of tea or something just enjoyable and cozy to listen to this episode. My name is Amy Penny Saylor. I'm so excited to share this journey with you. I've been on a path of healing for about 15 years now, and have really discovered how much ancestral trauma affects each and every one of us still today, and that either the traumas themselves or the effects of the trauma continue to play out in families until they are ultimately resolved by some brave soul in that familial line. And that resolution, I believe, helps not only the descendants, the people who come after you, your children, your grandchildren, nieces, nephews, all of that, but also moves up the line as well to sort of provide a healing and comfort to your ancestors. And I want to be clear that I am not an expert in this area. This is not my day job, but I am passionately and wildly curious about all things, family, ancestral trauma, how that plays out in our lives today and how we can move forward for ourselves and our progeny, our own children, grandchildren. So I'm here to just present you with ideas. There's nothing prescriptive or mandatory about what I'm offering. Some guests might resonate with you more than others, some experts might resonate with you more than others, and it's really about finding your path and what makes sense to you and your family, and I'm just happy to share it all with you. So really excited to talk about all things ancestral. I really got on this journey when I did a DNA test, realized I had 45 grandmas with the name Elizabeth in my family tree, and wanted to start to write their stories, and I'm excited to share some of those stories with you on this podcast. I love learning about where my family came from and how they came to America, what their lives might have been like in their previous countries, and what their lives were like here in America in the 1800s particularly, I love thinking about my grandma's, my Nana's, the women's stories of what they went through to move their families here, you know, for example, I have one Nana who came here with her 10 children, just imagining that journey of this family of 12, going from Bavaria to America is so exciting to me, so I would love it if you listened into Just like Nana. Every Friday you can expect some stories about my Nana's and they are fiction stories, so I want to be clear about that, but they are based on some research about what I think might be realistic about what their lives were like and beyond that, you will hear from many, many experts on various components of mental health and ancestral trauma, and how that plays in to mental health and healing modalities for that. And I want to be really clear too, when we're talking about ancestral trauma, that just like Nana is not looking to blame anyone for anything that's happening today, instead, it's very much grounded in honoring your ancestors, understanding that you don't know what their lives were like, but also figuring out how some of what they might have gone through is still playing out for you today, and how you can Best address that. So and just like Nana, you'll hear from authors who write stories about generational trauma and how that plays out, such as very excited Mona Susan power, who wrote a council of dolls. I

Mona Susan Power: 4:43

all of a sudden, I just felt something happening to me. I had worked towards it, but it's like body, mind, spirit ancestors, present person that I it all came together in a rush that I felt physically. I physically felt all of the shame. My shame parental going back however many generations on however many part, sides of the family all fall away, and it's like I just stepped out of it into a new me. It was physical. It's like the change, the breakthrough, was so massive. It's like even my body felt it. And the heaviness of all that I'd been hauling along was an actual physical hauling.

Amie Penny Sayler: 5:34

You will also hear from mental health practitioners of all types, very excited to welcome Dr Peter Levine, author of waking the tiger, one of the original mental health providers, to understand the connection between the body and trauma and releasing that trauma.

Dr. Peter Levine: 6:02

You even though I've developed this method, it's something that I still need somebody to be there, because it's not just what happened to us, but it's really rather what we hold inside, in the absence of that present, connected, empathetic others. I think that we can't give ourselves a greater gift than find somebody, as I did, to just sit with me, to be with me, to guide me, and because once we've been guided in that way, then we often can just continue the work on our own. But to get started, we really need that other you know, there's a Motown song that goes something like, it takes one to stand in the dark alone. It takes two to let the light shine through. So I think again, it's a gift that we can give to and it's a gift that we deserve. We all deserve to be supported in that way.

Amie Penny Sayler: 7:13

You will also hear from just a variety of wellness practitioners looking at Holistic Health. And so whether that's Reiki practitioners or breath work facilitators, for example, for a breath work facilitator, you'll hear from Amy koretsky of constellation acupuncture,

Amy Kuretsky: 7:39

I think a lot in terms of a regulated nervous system. So when we show up with regulated nervous systems, that vibration expands out and helps other people feel more regulated. That is not only treating that patient, but then it's treating their partners, it's treating their children, it's treating their co workers, it's treating like their patients, or, you know, people that they support in their lives. And so that's where we can kind of have this more expansive view of healing one person. It ripples out to heal many. So like helping one person's nervous system feel more regulated is going to help more people's systems feel more regulated, and it's going to expand and expand. And if we can get like, a critical mass of that, then that like can change the world,

Amie Penny Sayler: 8:37

just like Nana is really intended to one honor our Nana's and sort of invoke that comfort that some of us may have experienced from our Nana's or grandma's or whatever you called them, and also to recognize that sometimes we're just like our ancestors in ways that we don't even understand or appreciate and starting to explore that helps you understand yourself better, understand others in your family, more understand family dynamics, sort of makes you feel more grounded in History and your family and community and the earth, and it's hard, it's hard to think about these things and work on maybe breaking cycles that have been passed down through the generations, either through actions or actually through your DNA. I mean, it is literally a part of you, and so to just sort of take a deep breath, ground yourself, come at this with an open mind and an open heart and make sure you're comfortable. Thank you so much for your interest in just like Nana, I can't wait. To talk with you on Fridays and to interact with you more so excited for where this journey will take you. Please check out, just like nana.com there are resources on the website for exploring your own family dynamics, trauma, healing that trauma, and I would also love to hear your family story so you can submit your story on just like nana.com can't wait to talk to you next Friday. You.