My reiki master, Hiroshi Doi Sensei, noted that some patients have weakened immune systems from their ancestors' traumas. But c'mon! Is ancestral trauma "real"? Seems colonialism not only creates structural inequality but health inequalities as well. Here's the evidence. #thread
Studies are showing that the cortisol production during stressful times has an effect on not just the body at the moment but leads to statistically higher rates of depression, heart disease, anxiety, and lung disease. California's Surgeon General: kqed.org/forum/20101018…
Descendants of trauma survivors seem to then have lower levels of cortisol as research is showing among the children of Holocaust survivors. #ancestraltrauma
entrepreneur.com/article/249952
entrepreneur.com/article/249952
Stressed out mothers also have stressed out babies. Traumatic environments have been scientifically shown to have an effect on insulin production in African American babies, what the authors of this study call the "long arm of discrimination."
ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/P…
ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/P…
Studying the children of parents who were traumatized by the World Trade Center catastrophe, or by sexual abuse in their life times, has shown that PTSD is epigenetic: we carry our ancestors' responses to trauma in our bodies.
new-synapse.com/aps/wordpress/…
new-synapse.com/aps/wordpress/…
These studies have been carried out on survivors of war with similar results: children of parents who fought in wars tend to die younger, as did children of parents who fought racism. #racism
theatlantic.com/health/archive…
theatlantic.com/health/archive…
"According to the new insights of behavioral epigenetics, traumatic experiences in our past, or in our recent ancestors’ past, leave molecular scars adhering to our DNA." discovermagazine.com/health/grandma…
So whether in my classes on healing, or my classes on colonialism, students are introduced to questions about individual and collective health, the importance of recognizing the trauma of our ancestor, but also how to proactively end the chain of victimization in our own lives.
