Trauma is an unfortunate side-effect of living and when it occurs, as it does in everyone’s life, there are emotional, psychological, and physical repercussions. Trauma can range from very mild to extremely debilitating, whether caused by a natural disaster, a war, a bad accident, or a personal tragedy. While many techniques have been developed for treating the intense manifestations of what is now called post-traumatic stress disorder or PTSD, the focus has been primarily on alleviating the physical symptoms that inhibit normal functioning. However, emotional trauma has insidious effects on health that have been less recognized and emotional trauma has often been undertreated. Recent studies have proven that the body stores memories and trauma.
Emotional trauma—whether experienced, witnessed, passed down genetically, or even heard about second-hand—is a pathogen that creates disharmony. If left untreated, it leads to chaos in the body and affects the three treasures, Jing, QI and Shen.
Cellular research has proved that traumas are passed genetically—an ancestral qi imbalance. Certain markers on the DNA relate to trauma and continue down the family line. Children of Holocaust survivors growing up in relatively stable, peaceful environments can experience similar emotions and physical issues to those of their parents. The trauma memory has literally been passed down to them.
Attitudes, personality, emotional make-up, and belief systems are all part of the Jing that is inherited. Strengths and imbalances are passed on. The imbalances can be corrected to prevent them from continuing in a patient’s offspring. Cellular biologist Bruce Lipton demonstrated in his research that emotions experienced by a mother can be transferred to her children through non-coding DNA . The field of epigenetics has significantly increased our understanding of how traumas are passed on to subsequent generations.
Inherited traumas can cause future generations to repeat behavioural cycles and emotions experienced by their parents. Until these trauma memories are treated, a person can manifest PTSD symptoms and pass these markers, including family karma, to the following generation. Now with modern science, one can see the link between the emotional body (Shen) and physical body (Jing).
Chinese medicine has never differentiated between the mind, the emotions, and the body and teaches that what affects one affects all. Combining diagnostic methods allows Chinese medicine practitioners to get a clear picture of the blockages, whatever the cause, and also offers numerous methods for releasing and treating those blockages that have inhibited optimal functioning.