It Didn't Start with You: How Inherited Family Trauma Shapes Who We Are and How to End the Cycle

the DNA responsible for transmitting physical traits, such as the color of our hair, eyes, and skin—surprisingly makes up less than 2 percent of our total DNA.14 The other 98 percent consists of what is called noncoding DNA (ncDNA), and is responsible for many of the emotional, behavioral, and personality traits we inherit.

The most common epigenetic tag is DNA methylation, a process that blocks proteins from attaching to a gene, suppressing its expression.

We’re born with an intrinsic skill set—an “environmental resilience,”

Noncoding DNA is known to be affected by environmental stressors, such as toxins and inadequate nutrition, as well as stressful emotions.

“When stress hormones cross the [human] placenta . . . they cause fetal blood vessels to be more constricted in the viscera, sending more blood to the periphery, preparing the fetus for a fight/flight behavioral response.”

“The mother’s emotions, such as fear, anger, love, hope among others, can biochemically alter the genetic expression of her offspring.”

signals from the environment could operate through the cell membrane, controlling the behavior and physiology of the cell, which in turn could activate or silence a gene.

DNA can be affected by both negative and positive thoughts, beliefs, and emotions.

When your grandmother was five months pregnant with your mother, the precursor cell of the egg you developed from was already present in your mother’s ovaries.
This means that before your mother was even born, your mother, your grandmother, and the earliest traces of you were all in the same body—three generations sharing the same biological environment.

Sometimes pain submerges until it can find a pathway for expression or resolution.