Blaze Your Own Path:
Healing Generational Trauma
January 17, 24, 31, Feb 7, 21, 28
8 to 10 p.m. Eastern
In this 12-hour live class, we’ll combine science and spirituality to understand the impact of generational trauma and how you can heal it in the present and the past.
Our Purpose
This class emerged from a collaboration between Dr. Doreen Wiggins and Debra Engle as they worked on Doreen’s soon-to-be-published memoir. While Doreen has a medical background and Deb has a spiritual one, the two found countless intersecting points regarding intuition and spiritual guidance.
In their practices, both women have worked with countless patients and clients whose quality of life has been affected by past trauma—in many cases, trauma that took place in previous generations, long before the patient was even conceived.
These old wounds often are overlooked because their source dates back decades—sometimes even longer, to ancestors you may never have met.
If your life is affected by the burden of old hurts, if you see trauma being passed on from generation to generation in your family, if you feel the physical effects of chronic fear and pain, this class can help.
By addressing generational trauma from both medical intelligence and spiritual wisdom, Doreen and Debra will help you understand the old wounds that are causing subconscious patterns in your thoughts and emotions.
This class is designed to help you move beyond trauma and old pain so that you can live in the present—with joy that you might not have thought possible.
Please note: This class does not take the place of medical or therapeutic advice.
Course Overview
Session 1: Introduction to generational trauma and stress.
What stresses, traumas and fears have been handed down to you through generations of women (and men)? What’s the science behind generational trauma? What effect does it have on the body? How is it typically treated....if at all? How can spiritual and holistic modalities help with healing the past and present?
Session 2: Being in your being.
We are bodies of energetic presence, the koshas or five layers of the self. Many aspects of the self are not part of our daily awareness, which leaves us open to disease. We’ll examine the five layers of the self and how we can align them, creating new patterns of behavior and awareness, and serving as a sacred witness to our own life.
Session 3: Valuing the Self.
What relationship do you have with yourself? Traditionally women have not valued our own wisdom, which makes us feel vulnerable, disempowered and open to disease. We’ll practice three ways of tuning into your own wisdom and guidance so you can see your stress through a new lens. How does your intuition speak to you? How do you tap into it?
Session 4: The power of play.
Past wounds can steal our joy, making it difficult to be playful and open-hearted. How can you practice the art of play in your life as a path to healing?
Session 5: Bringing the past into the present for healing.
Through guided imagery and ritual, we’ll take you to a place of inner strength so you can bring old hurts into a present healing. This is a powerful reset, as you shift from a sense of victimhood, seeing yourself and your history through a new and restorative lens.
Session 6: Claiming your freedom.
This celebration session will acknowledge you and your inner power of passion and purpose, with a simple blueprint for Self-care that you can practice after the class is over.
Meet Your Instructors
Debra Landwehr Engle
Debra is an author, writing and spiritual mentor and co-director of the international Story Summit Writer’s School. She has worked in publishing her entire career, beginning as a copywriter for The Des Moines Register and a book editor for Better Homes and Gardens, then starting her own freelance writing and editing company, GoldenTree Communications.
She has written hundreds of articles for such national publications as Better Homes and Gardens, Country Home, Country Gardens and other lifestyle magazines. She also has served as project manager on publications for Fortune 500 companies, sharpening her skills in crafting a story for any audience.
She is the author of five books, starting with Grace from the Garden: Changing the World One Garden at a Time, which was published by Rodale and reviewed in Oprah magazine.
Her second book, The Only Little Prayer You Need: The Shortest Route to a Life of Joy, Abundance and Peace of Mind, was published by Hampton Roads in 2014. It features a foreword by His Holiness the Dalai Lama and an endorsement by Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu. An international bestseller, it has been translated into multiple languages.
Let Your Spirit Guides Speak was published in 2016 by Hampton Roads in the U.S. and Random House in Germany. It was honored with a silver Nautilus Award, which recognizes “Better books for a better world.”
Dr. Doreen Wiggins MD, MHL, FACOG, FACS
Dr. Doreen L Wiggins is an Associate Professor of Surgery Clinician Educator at the Warren Alpert School of Medicine of Brown University. Her areas of expertise are breast cancer surgery and cancer survivorship. She has been practicing yoga for more than 30 years, has completed yoga teacher training, has taught at international yoga retreats with Rajashree Choudhury since 2011, and is a Yoga Medicine contributor and teacher. Doreen is currently in the Andrew Weil Fellowship in Arizona for Integrative Medicine.
Dr. Wiggins received her B.A. in Chemistry and Psychology in 1984 from the University of Rhode Island and her medical degree in 1988 from Brown University. In 1999, she founded the Center Obstetrics & Gynecology. She pursued further medical training in 2003 at Women and Infants Hospital and completed an SSO Breast Disease Fellowship, and in 2009 graduated from the Intensive Course in Cancer Risk Assessment at the City of Hope in Los Angeles, California. She is a 2015 graduate of Brown University’s Executive Masters in Healthcare Leadership program.
In 2000 she completed training as a children's grief counselor at the Dougy Center in Oregon. She serves as Advisory Board member of Friends Way (Rhode Island's only children's grief center) and in the past has been the Vice President of the Board and volunteered as a facilitator.
She was chosen in 2003 to be one of 26 cyclists in the Tour of Hope, a transcontinental bicycling relay with Lance Armstrong to promote cancer research and clinical trials. Dr. Wiggins has continued her relationship with the Lance Armstrong Foundation, serving as a delegate to meet with members of Congress to support cancer research, and has received grants through LAF for local cancer survivorship outreach programs.
She has been honored to teach at Kripalu with Rajshree Choudhary for her Pregnancy Yoga Series since 2011.
She has published book chapters and journal articles, has received numerous awards for medical teaching at Brown University, and awards for philanthropy. Her areas of expertise are breast cancer surgery, gynecologic surgery, female cancer genetics, female sexuality and cancer survivorship.
