Revised: August 11, 2025
Our ancestors speak through us in whispers of strength. If you are called to heal your ancestral trauma, they have faith in you.
The Science of Inherited Emotions
A friend recently sent me an article from Discover Magazine about fascinating scientific research showing how the emotional experiences of our ancestors can be passed down to us through epigenetic markers in the brain.
Epigenetics is the study of how our environment and experiences affect the way our genes are expressed. It’s not just about the DNA we inherit—it’s about which parts of that DNA are “switched on” or “off” by life events. This means your great-grandmother’s heartbreak, your grandfather’s wartime bravery, or your ancestor’s survival through famine may have left an imprint not just on family stories, but on your biology.
What Does This Mean for Us?
It means we may have a predisposition to certain emotional expressions and experiences based on our ancestors’ lived realities. These patterns are not destiny, but they can influence how we move through the world—until we become aware of them and begin the work to heal them.
Everyday Examples of Ancestral Patterns
If your grandmother was a daredevil—taking flying lessons, traveling extensively, and starting her own business before having three children—you might have inherited her adventurous streak. Risk may feel exciting to you rather than scary, even if you never considered yourself a thrill-seeker.
On the other hand, if your grandfather was orphaned at a young age and raised in foster care, he might have carried deep feelings of insecurity and abandonment into adulthood. Even if you were raised in a safe, stable home, you could find yourself wrestling with the same fears or mistrust of relationships.
The Weight of Emotional Legacies
These emotional legacies can feel heavy and confusing, especially when they don’t seem to “fit” our personal history. The good news is that another growing area of research—Energy Medicine, which includes the practice of Ancestral Healing—has shown promise in helping people release these inherited burdens.
Energy Medicine works with the body’s subtle energy systems to shift the patterns that live beneath our conscious awareness. This can help clear the energetic “signatures” of old trauma from our cells and nervous systems, giving us more freedom to respond to life on our own terms.
How Ancestral Healing Shows Up in My Work
I work with people every week who have challenges in their present that trace back to ancestral patterns. The tricky part is that these patterns don’t always make logical sense. Many of my clients have never directly experienced the trauma they’re reacting to—yet it shapes their behavior and emotional responses.
A Client Story: Healing the Pattern
One client came to me with an intense, almost ruthless reaction to being even mildly betrayed. As we explored her life story, we discovered she had never experienced a betrayal severe enough to warrant such a strong response.
Through energy work, we found that this reaction was an ancestral pattern passed down through her father’s lineage. When I shared this, she said, “Oh yes, my father is exactly the same way.”
Once we worked to heal that ancestor’s trauma, her knee-jerk reaction softened. She still felt the sting of betrayal, but she could pause, assess, and decide if the situation was worth ending a friendship over.
The Intersection of Energy Medicine and Science
Energy Medicine is finding more recognition in scientific circles, particularly as quantum physics gives us tools to study what ancient cultures have always known: everything is energy, and energy can shift. For thousands of years, shamans, medicine people, and intuitive healers have worked to restore balance in both the body and the spirit. Now research is catching up, showing us how these methods may impact everything from emotional well-being to physical health.
Dr. Bruce H. Lipton, a developmental biologist, says, “We are not victims of our genes, but masters of our fates, able to create lives overflowing with peace, happiness, and love.”
Transforming Energy, Transforming Life
Shamans, medicine people, and intuitive energy healers guide the movement of energy within the body and the auric field. Illness, emotional trauma, destructive patterns, and limiting beliefs are all energy forms. When we transform the energy, we change the lived experience.
Ancestral Healing reminds us that we are part of a larger story—one that began long before we were born. By tending to the wounds of those who came before us, we not only free ourselves, we also change the legacy we leave behind. That’s powerful work, and it’s available to every single one of us.
