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Pain travels through family lines until someone is ready to heal it in themselves. By going through the agony of healing, you no longer pass the poison chalice onto the generations that follow. It is incredibly important and sacred work. ~ unknown

 

Just like physical traits, dysfunctional behavior in a family can also be inherited. Family members can be similarly reactive or can tend to numb out . While growing up in a family where, for example, all family members tend to be reactive or may lean towards burying emotions,  the characteristic becomes ‘normal’ within the family environment and can ultimately be the inherited way each family member interacts with the world. It is interesting to consider where mom or dad developed these traits that they passed on to their children – and – if you consider their parents’ parents, where the behavior was first birthed. What was the initial spark that started it all? 

 

The article link below speaks to  ‘intergenerational trauma’ as a powerful and mostly unconscious inheritance that may have started with a traumatic experience from your great great grandfather which has become embedded in your actual DNA and has evoked unconscious responses in you today because the initial wounding has been passed on:

“For instance, if your grandmother experienced abuse and neglect from one parent, she might have learned to:

— suppress her own needs and desires

— avoid drawing attention to herself

— do whatever she could to keep that parent happy

— apologize immediately when encountering disapproval from someone else

She might have passed on those behaviors and responses when she became a parent, whether her partner was abusive or not. Your mother, then, learned to avoid upsetting her father or asking for things she wanted. As you grew up, you learned similar behaviors from your mother.”

 

Thus, a person’s responses to trauma can be handed down from generation to generation and becomes part of the molecular responses embedded in your DNA until someone in the lineage heals the dysfunctional wound.

“Research in a field known as “Epigenetics” explores the ways these heritable changes to DNA affect the activity and function of your genes. These changes don’t alter the sequence of the nucleotides in your DNA. In other words, they don’t change the DNA molecule itself, but they can alter which genes activate and deactivate.

Where does the “intergenerational” aspect come in? Well, some of these changes don’t just modify your genes. They lie in your genetic code and shape the genes you eventually pass on to your children.

In short, you don’t have to experience any direct threat to your health and safety. Your genes carry the knowledge of what your parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents lived through, regardless.”

 

As you read the article, consider the vital role that Breathwork can play in healing past trauma. The breath has unprecedented access to affect healing at the very levels where trauma resides. Perhaps there is a reason this process is so powerful in its results!

https://www.healthline.com/health/mental-health/intergenerational-trauma#signs-and-symptoms

 

Take the time to observe  behaviors and actions in your own environment and in the world. Do you notice a pattern? Make the commitment to release and heal from responses that are not really yours because in healing yourself, you heal your ancestors and you release future generations from the same bondage that was handed to you – the work is profound!

 

Be healed and joy-filled

John