The Energy of Names: How They Can Hold the Key to Healing Your Family Line
I had never even given much thought to my name, let alone it having “energy”…Until I was going through a divorce and my friend Angela asked me if I was going to keep my last name or change it. Legally changing a name is a hassle so I thought, nah…Carla Cole has a ring to it, I’ll just keep it. Then she followed up by saying, “So you’re going to continue healing his family line?” Uhhh, excuse me?...
Normally, if someone says something to me that does not resonate as my truth, I just cancel 🚫it in my mind.
But when Angela asked me that...her words landed inside me and I felt the truth behind the words she spoke. I began to explore the idea of how names can carry energy - and even ancestral patterns - energetic imprints so to speak. They can contain the essences of programs running in the subconscious background…much like an echo that lingers through the ethers. I started to wonder how becoming conscious of my name could actually start a healing process 🤔.
Energy Behind Names
Names are like little sound spells people toss at you every day. They're not just labels, they carry frequencies and vibrations that hold meaning, history, and emotional charge. Some names are fancy and come with flair, others are plain or common. Some come with family baggage, and then there are those that are “unique” or just plain confusing - guaranteeing you'll have to spell it out every single time.
But truly, names often carry more than we realize - emotional weight, old family patterns, generational habits and/or traumas, and old stories - spoken and unspoken.
My Name
My given name is Carla Hassanna Johnson. As a child I was always conflicted by my name. It was so…unique and generic all at the same time. In school I was often the only Carla, with the exception of one time in middle school, a girl with flaming red hair shared my name.
Johnson felt like the most simple and common last name in all of America…
Then there was my middle name, Hassanna. Growing up, I was self-conscious about having this unusual and rare name. I spent many a day wishing I could have had something more basic and mainstream…more along the lines of a Jennifer or Samantha.
Each one of my names had meaning to my parents. Before I was born (and after 🙃) my dad expressed having wanted me to be a boy, and wanted to name me by his middle name, Charles. Spoiler alert…I came out with a vagina. My mom loved the name Carla. And it just so happens that Carla is the feminine form of Charles…so bada bing bada boom…we had a winner for my first name.
Since the patriarchy was alive and well in my family, it was automatic that my last name be Johnson, after my father. My mother got to pick my middle name. My mom used to belong to a spiritual group called Subud. There was a woman who went to the Subud gatherings named Hassanna. My mom remembers Hassanna as super intelligent and one of the only ones she could trust in the group. Hassanna was spiritually connected and also very down to earth. Carla Hassanna Johnson was born.
My father and I had a tumultuous relationship almost my whole life. It really flared when I started coming into puberty (when it became real obvious that I was definitely a girl). My parents were divorced, so there was a time period from ages 15-19 where I didn't see or speak to my dad. Those times were rough. My father was stubborn AF…and so was I (there were some thicc DNA strands in that headstrong department.) It was a challenge to heal anything between us while he was incarnated in his physical body. He passed away in 2015. Thanks to The Work, by Byron Katie and multiple SomatoEmotional Release sessions from colleagues of the Upledger Institute, I was able to incorporate clarity and understanding to my experiences, release hurt, and insert forgiveness and love.
When I got married, I felt complete with the last name Johnson, and eagerly took on my husband’s last name of Cole. I honestly didn’t give it too much thought other than, Carla Cole had a ring to it, rolled off the tongue nicely, plus that’s what many women do when they get married…so I was in! For such a relatively simple last name, or so I thought, I was very surprised and confused at the amount of times I had to continually spell it out for people. Apparently the name ‘Cole’ causes brain glitches and mild cognitive chaos.
My husband and I divorced in 2024. I had no intention of changing my name. Cole was attached to soooooooo much…Until that fateful day Angela’s question invited me to sit with this possibility…this truth that I felt in response to her words. It unfolded within me a quiet curiosity of which last name was truly meant for me.
The Process of Coming into the Energy of My Current Name
I took to heart Angela’s suggestion that a name, when used with intention, could carry the power to heal an ancestral line.
I came to realize that both surnames that I have gone by were linked to male or paternal lineages and patriarchal beliefs. I began to wonder about my maternal side…Could there be a “kink in the chain” somewhere that could use some unkinking?
My Abuelita Raquel instantly came on my radar. My sweet grandmother who helped raise me from the time I was 2 years old. She passed away in 2011 from dementia and complications of falling and breaking her hip. I found the dementia diagnosis to be interesting…I always wondered what it was that my precious grandmother was “trying to forget”? I got the sense that it was incredibly painful to live a life of suppression, one confined by the expectations of others…so naturally her physical body responded to this tortuous reality by releasing its humanness. Her life experiences contributed to her ‘forgetting who she was’...so naturally the physical body followed suit by forgetting not only who she was, but the meaning to all things that surrounded her. Spirit showed me that she was the tangle in the lineage, the one that held the pain that longed to be healed.
Both my Great-Great Grandmother (Demofila Villena) and Great Grandmother (Carmen Dias Villena) were medicine women in their small towns in Chile. My mom, (Marcela Urzua Johnson) currently has a healing sanctuary in Queretaro Mexico in the town of San Antonio De La Cal, called El Descanso. I get to do my healing work in its various forms; hands on CranioSacral Therapy, Subconscious Facilitation, Sound and Frequency work, Akashic Record Consults, and my signature QALM Distance Sessions conducted at a distance through phone or zoom. My daughters are still young and figuring things out, but are both free to choose whatever service they want to give to the world with support and without fear.
My Abuelita Raquel did not seem to inherit this freedom to do what she wanted…nor did it appear that she inherited my great grandmothers’ abilities…or did she? Were the abilities somehow suppressed or repressed? The answer to all those questions felt like a resounding ‘yes’.
Carla Hassanna Carrasco is Born
My Abuelita, Elba Raquel Carrasco, became the obvious choice of ‘who’ needed healing in my maternal line. ‘What’ exactly needs healing is currently beautifully unfolding.
In August of 2024 I welcomed the last name Carrasco with open arms 🤗…and jovial disdain for how many areas of life I needed to change and update 🫠.
Somewhere inside me I believed/knew that my grandmother’s wounds were creating static in receiving crystal clear wisdom from my ancestors. I sense that healing those afflictions will liberate the ancestral line, allowing clear, conscious communication and insight to come through.
What I am Doing to Heal My Ancestry
With the help of my past life regression therapist, Steve Burgess, I have been able to unlock areas that need healing. During a session in February of 2025 I regressed into the ancestry of my Abuelita. I was able to tap into various stories and beliefs. One was, ‘I don’t get to do what I really want to do.’ Another layer that came to be was, ‘Men hurt women deeply and block them from doing what you are truly meant to be doing’. 🤯 Holy magical moly…I sensed both of these programs like distant whispers playing in the background of my life!
During that session I realized an area of life where my Abuelita DID get to do healing work…and it was through her cooking. It was at that moment that I made a pact with her, I would allow her to work through me while I cook. I would channel her with intention, and in doing so, her magical healing abilities would come through me into the food. So even though her physical form no longer plays on this ‘game field’, her essence and medicine live on.
I’m still working on the “man blocker” part…😳🤣🙃
I am coming to notice that the work our ancestors were not able to do while living on the earth, continues to pass down to the next generation to heal. If the following generation does not take it upon themselves to heal, it will continue to get passed down until it reaches someone who has the courage to do what it takes to release the corrosive energy so it can be alchemized back to love.
Practices that help me heal these ‘stories’ include:
Mindfulness meditation. Slowing down and bringing consciousness to areas of life that feel out of balance. I can tell something is out of balance when I feel anything in the realm of ‘not good’.
Stress, anxiety, anger, sadness, fear, etc.
Journaling and asking myself curious questions, while being radically honest when I answer.
What am I noticing about my thoughts?
What stories are coming up?
What feelings are arising in me when I think those thoughts?
What am I making the stories or thoughts mean about myself?
What subconscious program/belief is surfacing? Etc.
Making music
Making up songs about my life is incredibly therapeutic and highly entertaining to me
Professional help through Somatic therapies
SomatoEmotional Release & Hypnotherapy
Spending time in nature; particularly being in the ocean surfing or paddling canoe
Connecting with trusted friends and family who hold a non-judgmental space for me to process out loud
I hope you enjoyed reading this glimpse into the inner workings of Carla Hassanna Carrasco. This is a personal recount of my experience and is not intended to be taken as universal truth or fact. I’d love to hear your thoughts of your own experiences - feel free to share in the comments below!