Signs That your Body is Holding Ancestral Trauma
- Safa
- Dec 12, 2020
- 16 min read
Updated: Jul 3
You might be reading this because you sense there’s something deeper influencing your life—something rooted in the experiences of your ancestors. Ancestral trauma is the emotional pain and suffering passed down through generations, often hidden beneath the surface but shaping our mental, emotional, and physical well-being. It can show up as anxiety, addiction, or other struggles that feel hard to explain. The important thing to know is that recognizing this inherited pain is the crucial first step toward healing. By facing the past, you begin to understand your present challenges, break harmful generational cycles, and open the door to a brighter, more empowered future.
Healing ancestral trauma goes beyond simply acknowledging wounds; it invites you to explore the deeper messages, emotions, and lessons embedded within your family’s history. By uncovering and releasing suppressed feelings, you can restore balance to your mind, body, and spirit. This journey offers clarity, strength, and a renewed connection to your inner power and purpose.
What makes this process truly transformative is that it not only helps you heal old wounds but also reconnects you with the wisdom and gifts your ancestors carried. Through a combination of vibration, psychology, spirituality, somatic practices, and movement, you can tap into the resilience of your lineage, unlocking your full potential and creating a more meaningful life for yourself and generations to come.
What is Ancestral Trauma ?
repeated abuse, addiction, chronic illness, and other traumatic experiences, their survival instincts kicked in. They developed behaviors, belief systems, and ways of relating that felt safe and necessary at the time. For many of them, these patterns were essential to surviving in harsh, unsupported environments with limited opportunities. But what happens when these survival mechanisms are unconsciously passed down to you through parenting styles, cultural norms, and family dynamics?
You may find yourself living out core beliefs rooted in fear, dysfunction, and spiritual disconnection—patterns that keep you stuck in survival mode when you long to thrive, dream boldly, and feel supported and abundant. As Dr. Rachel Yehuda, a leading trauma researcher, explains, “Trauma can leave a biological imprint on the body and be passed down through generations.” Research shows that trauma experienced by your ancestors can influence you genetically up to three generations or more, meaning your gene expression may carry the echoes of their pain—even if you haven’t directly experienced those events yourself.
This transgenerational trauma shows up as emotional and energetic imprints that shape your behaviors, reactions, and even health—often without your conscious awareness. It can feel confusing and overwhelming until you begin the healing process and start to unravel these inherited patterns.
To truly thrive, ancestral healing is essential for you. You are not only the living embodiment of your ancestors’ struggles and survival tactics but also their resilience, wisdom, and courage. By exploring your ancestral history and working through the trauma passed down to you, you can release the burdens you carry and create space for new, healthier patterns. This work benefits not only you but also future generations, allowing you to break free from the weight of inherited trauma and build a future rooted in healing and freedom.
As Maya Angelou wisely said, “We are not only responsible for what we do but also for what we fail to do.” Ancestral healing invites you to take responsibility for your inherited stories and transform them into legacies of strength and hope.
How Does Ancestral Trauma Gets Passed Down?
Ancestral trauma is transmitted through multiple interconnected layers—scientific, emotional, relational, individual, and collective—each influencing how trauma echoes across generations.
On a biological level, epigenetics plays a key role. Trauma experienced by your ancestors can cause chemical changes in gene expression without altering their DNA sequence. These epigenetic markers can be inherited by you, influencing how your body and brain respond to stress and increasing your vulnerability to anxiety, depression, or other health challenges. Trauma can also affect the development and regulation of your nervous system, with heightened stress responses passed down through prenatal exposure and early caregiving environments.
Emotionally, unresolved trauma creates wounds within your family that often remain unspoken or unconscious. These emotional imprints—such as fear, grief, or shame—are transmitted through subtle cues, behaviors, and the emotional atmosphere you grew up in. You may carry these feelings without fully understanding their origin, which can lead to unexplained emotional distress or patterns of reactivity that mirror your ancestors’ pain. Click here to explore my inner child healing course
Relationally, trauma is passed through family dynamics and attachment patterns. Parenting styles shaped by trauma—like emotional unavailability, hypervigilance, or overprotection—have influenced how you learned to regulate your emotions and relate to others. These relational patterns can perpetuate cycles of trauma, as you may unconsciously absorb and reenact the unresolved struggles of previous generations.
At the individual level, ancestral trauma can show up as internal conflicts, limiting beliefs, or self-sabotaging behaviors. Without awareness, you might carry inherited fears, guilt, or feelings of disconnection that shape your identity and choices. This internalized trauma can block your personal growth and healing until you consciously address it.
On a collective scale, ancestral trauma reflects the shared histories of your community or culture—such as colonization, slavery, war, or systemic oppression. These collective wounds impact entire populations, influencing social structures, cultural narratives, and group identity. Healing at this level involves acknowledging historical injustices and fostering collective resilience and restoration.
By understanding ancestral trauma as a multi-layered experience, you can approach your healing journey holistically—honoring the biological, emotional, relational, individual, and collective threads that weave your unique story.
Signs Your Body is Holding Ancestral Trauma
Our bodies carry more than just the experiences of our own lives—they also hold the imprints of our ancestors’ traumas. Somatic psychology teaches us that trauma is stored not only in the mind but deeply within the body, influencing how our nervous system responds to stress and safety. Scientific research in epigenetics reveals that traumatic experiences can alter gene expression, passing these changes down through generations and affecting how our bodies and brains react today. When ancestral trauma is present, your nervous system may remain in a heightened state of alert or shutdown, even if you’re unaware of the original source. Understanding these somatic signals is the first step in recognizing how your body may be carrying inherited pain—and how you can begin to heal from it.
Despite your personal healing efforts, major breakthroughs feel out of reach, possibly because ancestral patterns remain unaddressed.
You carry deep, unprocessed grief that feels overwhelming and hard to begin healing.
Intense fear arises during your healing, feeling consuming and disconnected from your own experiences.
A vague but heavy sense of trauma or burden has shadowed your life since birth, like an ancestral curse.
You believe you absorbed your mother’s trauma in the womb, creating confusion about how to handle these feelings.
Close family members may have severe mental health challenges, such as schizophrenia, often linked to unresolved trauma.
You sometimes feel like an “old soul,” especially around your parents, struggling to reconcile this with your trauma.
Stress during your mother’s pregnancy may have caused epigenetic changes affecting you before birth.
Persistent existential despair and questioning life’s meaning arise without clear cause.
You carry guilt and shame that don’t seem connected to your personal experiences.
Grounding yourself is difficult and ancestral memories trigger intense disgust, guilt, or avoidance.
Physical Signs of Ancestral Trauma
This list highlights how ancestral trauma can manifest through a wide range of physical, neurological, and systemic health challenges.
Chronic pain and inflammation, including neck pain, deep shoulder tension, fibromyalgia, and unexplained degenerative conditions
Misalignments and structural issues such as spinal and sacral misalignment, uneven hips, and stiffness in the neck and shoulders
Nervous system overactivity or dysregulation, especially in sacral nerves, leading to tension in the jaw, bruxism (teeth grinding), and chronic stress responses
Autoimmune disorders, chronic fatigue, adrenal fatigue, and hormonal imbalances
Fragile bones, early-onset osteoarthritis, and inflammation affecting kidneys, liver, and digestive system
Persistent brain fog, migraines, hearing problems, fragmented memory, insomnia, and disrupted sleep patterns
Conditions related to reproductive health such as fibroids, endometriosis, and obesity
Symptoms of dissociation, depersonalization, depression, and nervous system dysregulation
Effects linked to birth trauma and prenatal stress
Toxicity in the body that remains despite detox efforts and dietary changes
Emotional Signs of Ancestral Trauma
Carrying the heavy weight of your ancestors’ unresolved traumas and emotional wounds
Family history marked by mental illness, addiction, or harmful patterns impacting your life
Strained family relationships with underlying ancestral conflicts
Deep, inaccessible grief and complex emotions tangled with rage, shame, or guilt
A pervasive sense of disempowerment, inferiority, or feeling cursed despite your efforts
Experiencing terror, hatred, or disgust that feels inherited rather than your own
Persistent distrust in the world, hopelessness, and low self-esteem regardless of achievements
Frequent unconscious self-sabotage and fear of loss or abandonment
Difficulty trusting your own heart, feeling gratitude, or being vulnerable and open
A sense of displacement, disconnection, and not belonging
Ongoing feelings of impending doom or a shortened sense of future
Development of defensive traits, such as narcissism, to mask inner emptiness
Feeling lost, disconnected from your soul, and burdened by a deep sense of injustice
Somatic Signs of Ancestral Trauma
Recurring nightmares or dreams linked to ancestral memories
Dissociation, depersonalization, and feeling disconnected from your body, especially your legs or womb
Difficulty grounding yourself or staying present in your emotions long enough to heal
Experiencing overwhelming fatigue or shame when feeling emotions
A sense of being held back by forces beyond your control, including beliefs in ancestral or family curses
Struggling to make sense of bodily sensations or life experiences
Blockages in the root space, solar plexus and throat chakras, affecting your sense of self and self-expression
A frozen, trapped inner child that feels unreachable, rejected, or ashamed when approached
Tight, stuck fascia holding ancestral memories throughout the body
Bones carrying ancestral trauma through biochemical processes; unresolved charge can contribute to conditions like osteoporosis and internal breakdown
Feeling as if you are reliving ancient pain that isn’t your own, with grief and fear that feel timeless and overwhelming
A deep, wordless sense of hopelessness and being stuck in ancestral wounds that collapse time within the body
Spiritual Signs of Ancestral Trauma
Feeling a block, corruption, or darkness within your roots and ancestral lineage
Energetic enmeshment with a parent, absorbing their pain and struggles
A strong connection to a specific historical period or culture, mixed with pain or sadness
Recognizing recurring family patterns of behavior or thought passed down through generations
A deep sense of responsibility or duty to heal your family line
Feeling older or wiser than your parents, as if called to guide or save them
Sensations of lightness in your legs paired with feelings of being chained or restricted
Disconnection from your true purpose or feeling stuck in a career that doesn’t align with your gifts
Repeatedly drawing in the same life cycles without understanding why
Difficulty connecting with your higher self or accessing inner guidance and wisdom
Experiencing scarcity, financial lack, or feeling held back without clear reasons
Feeling disconnected from your cultural or ethnic heritage, with a desire to heal this divide
Discovering “dark” ancestors in your ancestral field that call for healing
Feeling threatened or overwhelmed by the vibrational forces in your ancestral lineage
A sense of shallow, corrupted roots tied to parental turmoil or family chaos
Disgust or rejection toward your own roots or lineage
Blockages in your crown chakra and third eye, limiting inspiration and spiritual insight
Experiencing a heavy, dense energy field with dark streaks in your energetic channels
Feeling a heavy womb and difficulty creating or expressing feminine energy, despite healing efforts
A strong desire to connect with your ancestors and ancestral traditions but uncertainty about how to begin
A profound sense of disconnection from your lineage and struggle to find your place in the world
How to Heal Ancestral Trauma
Ancestral trauma is often unconscious and our mind only has access to some murky second hand stories, for example, what your mother told you about the time she was pregnant or how her childhood was. You will have to piece alot together from your somatic experience. This requires a depth of interoception that often comes later on in your somatic healing journey. Interoceptive depth allows you to make sense of the information that every impulse and sensation is carrying through your body. This is how you make the unconscious conscious, by feeling your body and womb and the stories and messages they hold.
Once you are feeling deeply enough into your body there needs to be both structural work on the spine and also organ healing work that facilitates the release and reintegration of somatic charge and heavy emotion. The nervous system layers that have build up survival patterns and responses need to be unravelled and released from the system, creating more space and deeper grounding. The roots need to be healed and recalibrated to go deeper into the field of the ancestry and also the earth.
This healing process requires us to have developed a foundation of self-compassion. This is why we often do ancestral healing work after having already been on a long personal healing journey. If the foundation of self love is not there, if you are not convinced about your healing work and your purpose and why it matters, you will either not go deep enough or you will get triggered by deep healing work and will begin to resist your own release process. We must learn to release patterns of identity structures that have been passed down through generations and replace them with love instead. By doing this, we can begin to transform ourselves for the better and create a healthier future for those who come after us.
Because we carry vibrational imprints from our ancestors in our personal field, it is essential to heal these imprints which can come in many forms including subtle and unconscious belief systems. Rather than just repair and restoration an integral somatic and energetic based healing journey can invoke resolution., purpose, deeper compassion, profound existential meaning and spiritual reconnection. A rebirthing into a higher frequency field is also required. In order to heal ancestral trauma and connect with the gifts of healing and deep holding and support that we get through ancestral connection, we all need to undergo a deep rebirthing process that raises our vibrational frequency. This process involves healing, releasing old patterns, beliefs, and wounds that we inherited from our ancestors that play through our nervous system and energy body, and accessing the higher consciousness and wisdom that is available to us. As we do this, we begin to unravel the gifts and power that have been passed down to us through our lineage, and can use them to support our own healing and growth. This process is a powerful tool for connecting with our ancestors and reclaiming our heritage, and can help us to create a brighter future for ourselves and for future generations.
Benefits of Ancestral Healing
Improve your physical health and wellbeing: Ancestral healing has the potential to alleviate physical symptoms that have been passed down genetically or developed as a result of inherited emotional patterns. By addressing the root causes of these symptoms, individuals can experience relief and a greater sense of wellbeing. For example, chronic pain or illness may be linked to ancestral trauma or emotional patterns that have been passed down through generations. By engaging in ancestral healing, individuals can work to release these patterns and improve their physical health.
Release of inherited beliefs that sabotage you: Transforming ancient and unconscious belief systems from the inside out creates space for healthier and more positive meanings to emerge. This transformation not only affects individuals, but also future generations and communities. As we release old patterns and embrace new beliefs, we create a ripple effect of healing and positive change. By healing ourselves, we can help heal the world around us. A review of 19 studies on the intergenerational transmission of trauma found that trauma exposure in one generation was associated with increased risk of trauma in subsequent generations.
Understand your family history: Exploring ancestral trauma and patterns can help individuals develop a deeper understanding of their family history and strengthen their connection with their roots. By delving into the past, individuals can uncover hidden truths and stories that have been passed down through generations, and gain a greater appreciation for their cultural heritage. This understanding can provide a sense of grounding and belonging, and help individuals navigate their present and future with more confidence and purpose. A study conducted by Teresa Belton and Esther Priyadharshini found that young people who knew their family history had higher levels of resilience and a stronger sense of identity than those who didn't.
Increase your self compassion: Ancestral healing enables us to come to terms with the past, understand why our needs were not met, and how patterns of disconnection led to great injustice. It provides insight into the bigger picture, which can be particularly helpful when we are seeking answers for our pain. Through this process, we can find a sense of peace and closure, and begin to move forward with greater clarity and understanding.
Experience deep inner joy: Ancestral healing can help us to feel into higher frequencies such as joy, which may have been numbed by ancestral trauma. As we release the patterns of trauma that have been passed down through generations, we create space for more positive emotions and experiences. By addressing the root causes of our pain and suffering, we can unlock our full potential and experience a greater sense of wellbeing. Ancestral healing can also help us to connect with our true selves and embrace our innate gifts and talents. By tapping into these higher frequencies, we can experience greater joy, fulfilment, and purpose in our lives.
Know your self worth and purpose: Ancestral healing is a potent and transformative process that can reveal a deeper purpose, provide a sense of self-compassion and empowerment, and release individuals from generational conditions. Through this process, individuals can experience liberation, a new beginning, and a greater understanding of their own value and worth. By becoming the new ancestors and lifting the ancestral curse, individuals can embark on a deeper spiritual journey and connect with their soul and inherent purpose.
Develop true authenticity: Embracing deep ancestral healing requires individuals to engage in deep reconstruction of existential meaning, self-perception, and purpose. This transformative process leads to greater authenticity and resilience. Without repairing our roots and understanding our ancestral heritage, we can become self-centered and seek validation from external sources. In other words, our sense of self is incomplete until we connect with our ancestry and understand our roots.
Heal your children and inspire the next generation: Ancestral healing has the potential to break the cycles of chronic illness and trauma that are passed down from generation to generation. By healing ancestral patterns, individuals can create a healthier legacy for future generations, consciously bringing new life into the world. The over-reliance on synthetic medication and a lack of addressing trauma and toxicity have resulted in over half of US children suffering from chronic illness. ADHD affects 1 in 10 children, depression affects 4 in 10, asthma affects 1 in 12, and 1 in 5 are obese. It is our responsibility to address these issues and create a better future for our children. The Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) study, which looked at the impact of childhood trauma on health outcomes, found that individuals who had experienced ACEs were more likely to have chronic health conditions, mental health issues, and engage in risky behaviours.
Finding the Right Healer for Ancestral Lineage Repair
Ancestral healing is a deeply energetic process that requires a willingness to let internal structures collapse and be reborn at a soul level. The healer must have spiritual knowledge of the realms of death and birth and deep energetic sensitivity to feel the way energy components vibrate within a person's field, affecting fluid flow, brain function, and structural formation. During healing sessions, the healer may call upon a person's ancestors to support the release of certain structures in their energy field. Clients can feel and witness the support of their ancestors and the weight lifting out of their field, creating a deep sense of support and connection. This experience can be especially profound for those who have never experienced family love or belonging.
As a healer, the role is to be both the space and the bone - a solid, compassionate force of support, connection, structure, and protection. This requires a keen awareness of the client's carnal desires and distractions, while also being connected to the spirit of the ancients that calls their soul home. The healer must be highly attuned and aware energetically of what is being broken down and what is being rebuilt, finding a balance based on the client's level of consciousness. Through this process, the healer can guide the client towards safe and profound healing and transformation, allowing them to release the burdens of their ancestral trauma and find a deeper sense of connection and purpose.
Discover more in my Ancestral Alchemy online course.
10 FREE Ways to Deepen Your Ancestral Healing
If you're interested to deepen your ancestral healing, check out these free podcasts. My podcasts offer a wealth of information on the topic, including insights and personal stories of healing and transformation.
Whether you're brand new to ancestral healing or have been on the path for some time, these podcasts can offer a valuable source of inspiration and guidance.
From exploring the role of trauma in our ancestral lineage to learning practical tools for healing and transformation, these Kimiya Healing podcasts cover a range of topics that can help you deepen your understanding of the healing journey.
What does ancestral healing involve?
How to feel deeply enough to heal
Healing Session: Meet the Ancestors
Healing your crummy money mindset
What it means to be the new ancestor
20 min grounding practice
What My Clients Say
"I could feel when the work was being done at the root. such an acute pain in 2 symetrical spots at the lower back. When I released, it felt a band come out from under the two spots of pain and hugged my back upwards and the words ''I am here now'' came back to me. Again with the parental imagery. The bands felt like my inner mother and father. I felt inside my own bones, my cells were smiling in peace.I felt the bottom of my spine release a wave of energy up through me. I felt like I was fully able to release trauma in my root space.I can still feel the energy all around me."
"For the first time, I admitted to myself that I have hated where I’ve come from. Realizing I’ve spent most of my life trying to be separate from my family, my ancestors. Desiring to carve a new path separate from them but I realized I am a part of them and they are a part of me. It brought up a lot of grief and I’m still in the process of forgiving myself. The practices, and content helped me to feel this and to have the courage to admit it. Opening myself to see the beauty, the gifts of where I’ve come from by accepting what I have chosen to hide from all my life is going to be a journey but I am so grateful to continue this work. I feel a strong desire to continue exploring my ancestral line, what it feels like to accept their love and support and also what it means to partner with them to bring healing to myself and my family line. This piece feels really big to me and being in this community has given me the courage to be honest and lean into more compassion. My Heart has found comfort in the commonalities that we share, to not feel isolated and separate has been really important to me"
"We worked out the most darkest and deepest fears holding in my system. The maternal line broke up and learned the most important lesson: to love myself and to forgive! By weaving in my divine female and divine male side I have showed my own kingdom and loving myself so deep within my family. I trust myself so much, getting the deep roots and exploring without the mental processing what my heart and Womb Room telling me. To stay so still is the freedom, which I always searched for in my whole life. Safas’ work to help myself to process is so deep. I‘ve never met somebody so serious and specific with this huge open heart like her. Her belief in humanity and her power to transform is unique! Now I am talking the whole resources to create my daily life, my mindsets, my Cranio-sacral work and my love in relationships. What a life. Wow! I feel so gifted and everything make so sense!"
Ready to Heal Your Ancestral Trauma?
If you’re feeling the weight of ancestral trauma and are ready to begin the journey toward healing and freedom, know that you don’t have to do it alone. Healing these deep-rooted patterns takes courage, support, and guidance—and I’m here to help you every step of the way. Whether you’re seeking to understand your family history, release emotional and physical burdens, or reconnect with your true purpose, together we can uncover the wisdom and strength within your lineage. Reach out to me today to start your transformative journey toward healing, empowerment, and a future unburdened by the past. Your ancestors’ stories don’t have to define you—let’s rewrite your legacy together. Book a consultation call with me today
