From your eye color to your love of animals to your cooking skills, many inherited traits you enjoy have been passed down from your ancestors. Unfortunately, this goes both ways, and negative aspects of their life experience have also made their way into your DNA.
This is called generational trauma, and everyone has it. Essentially, it’s emotional pain and trauma that your ancestors experienced and passed down to you. It’s coded into your very genes, which makes it particularly difficult to overcome. The science is called epigenetics, which basically refers to the fact that your environment and your behavior can actually change the way your genes work.
The good news is you come into this world with a pre-mixed package of both Genetic Pain — and Genetic Promise™ according to Mental Health Pioneer, Marlise Karlin. The genetic pain is what’s been passed down from your ancestors generation after generation — epigenetic research has proven it’s inherited for a minimum of four generations.
Genetic Promise™ is your SUPERpower of mind/body potential that has been written about in holistic traditions for more than 2000 years. While it is said to be hidden under layers of “blockage,” once it is unlocked, it helps you become your best Self.
The Pain of Generational Trauma
Generational trauma is starting to be more widely acknowledged by scientists, traditional medicine and wellness practitioners all over the world. Epigenetic research has shown that it’s actually passed down through your cells. Another way this happens is called “transference trauma,” where mental pictures have been shown to be passed to children.
“Numerous studies show that children absorb the stress responses of parents and other caregivers in the wake of traumatic events and invest them with their own meaning,” Jungian therapist and rabbi Tirzah Firestone told Psychology Today.
As the BBC reported in a 2019 article: “Tiny chemical tags are added to or removed from our DNA in response to changes in the environment in which we are living. These tags turn genes on or off, offering a way of adapting to changing conditions without inflicting a more permanent shift in our genomes.”
These tags can then be passed down. “There are a growing number of studies that support the idea that the effects of trauma can reverberate down the generations through epigenetics,” the article goes on to say.
Many people notice generational trauma at work in their lives in a variety of ways: getting triggered by what someone says, or does, the same problem appearing in relationship after relationship, and more. Other symptoms include overwhelming stress, crippling depression, and low self-esteem.
Ukrainian Trauma and Its Aftereffects
The war in Ukraine is a tragic example of how trauma in this generation will impact the next. So many people are being affected by the horrific images —whether in person or watching it in the media.
This is a form of transference that can be embedded in a person’s cellular memory, so the consequences of this trauma will echo on for generations to come in the form of depression, anxiety, and increased chronic stress.
Uncovering Genetic Pain & Promise©
Marlise Karlin coined the phrase, Genetic Pain & Promise© once she realized the secrets of the holistic wisdom she researched that helped her overcome anxiety and trauma. Triggered by an abusive childhood and being a teen runaway on drugs, Marlise developed a chronic illness in her 20s. Seeking solutions, she spent 20 years studying with Masters of Meditation, Eastern Traditions and Western Scientists.
This led to the development of the SOS Method, a simple proprietary process that has been proven effective in over two decades of qualitative research helping people overcome trauma in its many forms.
Zola, a former history teacher in Zimbabwe, was haunted by memories of torture and beatings. For 15 years he suffered with these memories… until he met Marlise who was doing research in Africa.
After practicing SOS Method for a week, he was able to feel hope again for the first time in decades. He experienced a massive release of stress and renewal of vitality. While there are various therapies out today that offer relief, Zola’s experience demonstrates that it is possible to heal the past and generate a more empowered future.
Learn more about SOSmethod and NEXTjourney