What does Intergenerational trauma have to do with healing?
Intergenerational trauma, also called transgenerational or multi-generational trauma, is becoming more widely known in the study of Epigenetics, and I thought it fitting to write this blog about intergenerational trauma in honor of St. Patrick’s Day, given that my family heritage is Irish.
We now know that intergenerational trauma does exist, and thus, traumas that are not processed are passed along to future generations. Traumas can be abuse and violence but can also be effects of poverty, suppression, and racism.
Why are we so afraid to look at the negative?
- Amy Lee, Singer/Artist
It’s true that alot of people are afraid to acknowledge the shadow parts of themselves. Those parts that don’t feel so good to feel, that we just don’t like and would rather not look at or even admit are there. Most of us were never taught that it’s ok to have our feelings, and the postive thinking movement, which certainly has a place, hasn’t helped this fear of focusing on the negative as if doing so is going to cause an instant manifestation of things we fear. But there is another reason why most of us tend to be so afraid of the shadows, and one that I believe is a helpful and essential piece to know, and that is self-protection.
What the…. freeze??
I have a confession to make! Even though I am a Nurse, I did not recognize the anxiety I had been carrying for years – which I just called stress. That is, until a few years ago, when I myself experienced a very heightened state of freeze.
This part of me that feels unsafe (Part 1)
I thought I had it down. I was, after all, meditating and breathing every day, practicing mindfulness and presence, reading spiritual teachers like Eckhardt Tolle and Deepak Chopra, believing in the mind/body connection and had adopted a spiritual perspective of love and oneness that we are each an integral part of (a departure from the religion with which I was raised). And I was a Nurse. How could I, of all people, being heading for a nervous system breakdown with depression and anxiety?
This part of me that feels unsafe (Part 2)
“The body has just as much (if not more) to do with healing from suffering as the mind. In our development as embryos, there was a body and a heart before there was a mind or nervous system. Heart first, brain second.”
– Dr. Russell Kennedy, MD, Anxiety RX
Emotional Freedom Techniques to Calm the Nervous System
“If we stimulate an acupuncture point, whether that’s with Tapping or using a traditional acupuncture needle, the amygdala, that stress center, does deactivate – and quickly.”
- Dr. Peta Stapleton, Psychologist, PhD
How to use EFT Tapping as a self-help tool
I am sharing an alternative EFT Tapping practice here that I have found a helpful and effective practice as a self-help tool. When you are tapping on yourself, it can, for some people, be confusing, overwhelming, or distracting to focus on the “what to say”. What I am presenting here is more of a “stream of consciousness” practice with an emphasis on tuning into and scanning your body and breathing while you tap. It fosters presence and grounding into the body as you calm the nervous system with tapping!