Generational Trauma
Topics:
“Is Generational Trauma a Thing?”
“Definitions and Types of Trauma”
“Tapping into Experiences of Other Generations”
“The Limitations of Science”
“Trauma in Creatures”
Monday, January 22, 2024 (Private/Phone)
“You’re all interconnected, and you can tap into information and not even KNOW you’re tapping into information…. You as humans and essence incorporate ALL memory of ALL of your focuses…. Creatures tap into other experiences just as much as humans can.”
Participants: Mary (Michael) and Jean (Lyla)
ELIAS: Good morning!
JEAN: Good morning, Elias.
ELIAS: (Laughs) How shall we begin? And what have you been accomplishing?
JEAN: I’ve been accomplishing quite a bit, and in my personal session coming up, we’ll talk about that.
ELIAS: Very well.
JEAN: Today I have a partially funded session on something I’ve always wanted to talk to you about. It’s on generational trauma or inherited trauma, and I’m not coming from the perspective of concentrating on it, I’m just fascinated by it. And Christina, in one of her seminars she gives every Friday, she talked about this, so a lot of us got together and said, “Hey, let’s group-fund a session and see what Elias has to say about this.” Just understand, you know, we want to hear what you have to say in kind of whatever direction you want to go in, kind of from an interesting and a fun perspective.
ELIAS: And what are your questions?
JEAN: Well, I’m reading this book, and it’s called “It Didn’t Start with You: How Inherited Family Trauma Shapes Who We Are and How to End the Cycle,” and I’d actually like to start by asking you, how would you define trauma?
ELIAS: (Pausing often while creating the definition) Trauma at its core can be anything that affects an individual and their perception of themself and their world in a capacity that changes their perception, instilling fear and generating the perception that the world around them is dangerous and not safe.
Now, this can be experienced in a myriad of capacities AND in tremendously varying degrees, depending on the individual. And in that, that can happen with someone… In one person, it could be something that there’s no actual physical threat being expressed but that there is some type of emotional threat in which the individual is being affected in a capacity that they begin to believe that something is wrong with them or that they have to try harder to meet expectations of other people.
Then there are obviously physical traumas, and then there are extreme traumas which create what you now label as post-traumatic stress disorder, which that comes from violent assaults and situations in which the individual either is in a situation themself that is so perilous that they are genuinely fearing for their life, or that they are narrowly escaping with their life, which could even mean that they have been severely injured but they’re still surviving, or that they are witness to violence that results in death that isn’t their own, and they may not be directly in the line of that violence but that they are witnessing it, that they are actually seeing a violent situation that causes death. That creates that post-traumatic stress disorder. That is a tremendous extreme.
But there is a myriad of degrees of trauma that are expressed. And also in relation to defining trauma is that with trauma, with it altering the individual’s perception dramatically, what it does is it immediately creates a situation in which the individual, regardless of their age, begins to develop coping mechanisms that are not natural.
JEAN: Yeah. We’ve been talking a couple of years about that.
ELIAS: Correct.
JEAN: Yeah. Yeah. We’ll take that, and let me give you two examples.
ELIAS: Very well.
JEAN: Okay. So the first is, in experiments – and this is from the book – mice were exposed to a particular smell and then immediately traumatized. And then the researchers noticed for the next three subsequent generations, just the smell alone would elicit fear in the succeeding generations.
And then I want to read something else. I’m going to give a case example –
ELIAS: Very well.
JEAN: — of a young man, Jesse, 20 years old. He was a former star athlete and a straight A student but had a sudden onset of insomnia that led to a downward spiral of depression and despair. This occurred one night just after his 19th birthday when he awoke suddenly at 3 a.m. freezing, shivering and unable to get warm no matter what he tried. And in addition to being cold and tired, he was seized by a strange fear he had never experienced before, that something awful would happen if he allowed himself to go back to sleep. And here in quotes: “If I go to sleep, I will never wake up.” And this went on for some time, and he lost his job, he lost everything.
So when they dug into the family history, they found that his father’s older brother, an uncle he never knew he had, when the uncle was 19 years old he froze to death checking power lines in a storm in the Northwest Territories of Canada. When he was finally found, there was evidence that he had struggled to hang on but eventually became unconscious and died of hypothermia. His death was a tragic loss, and the family never spoke of him again. But it’s apparent that Jesse was somehow reliving the events of his uncle’s death three decades later, especially a fear of losing consciousness, which meant death. And with this knowledge, Jesse was able to disentangle himself from the trauma endured by his uncle he had never met or even known about.
So that’s what I wanted to go with, inherited trauma. Does this exist?
ELIAS: It can. That doesn’t mean that it always does, but it can. It depends on the individual, as with everything. That just as I can say to all of you, and I have expressed previously, that an individual – and many, many, many people do – can move in a direction of heredity and can automatically be generating some dis-ease or some (pause) emotional or mental dysfunction because of genetics, and they might not even know about it. An individual could be adopted and have no knowledge of their biological parents or family. Or an individual could be (pause) born into a family that… let us say the grandparents are already dead, and the parents never speak of the grandparents. And therefore, the child knows nothing of what the grandparents may have experienced, and then the child develops some expression of physical, mental or emotional difficulty that one of the grandparents suffered from.
In relation to generational trauma, it’s the same as genetics. Is the expression of genetics an absolute? Definitely not. Therefore, an individual can be born into a family that has cancer in every generation, and every person in the family can have cancer at some point, and this one person can be born into that family and never develop cancer. Or vice versa, in which there is no cancer in an entire family line and one individual will develop it. Why? Because genetics are not an absolute. It’s a matter of choice. It’s a matter of what people engage.
Now; I have expressed many times that bleedthrough information is not happening TO an individual, that an individual is moving in a direction and because of their own experiences they draw to themself experiences of other focuses – but it doesn’t have to only be other focuses of themself. It can be other focuses of the people around them, including family members that they don’t even know about. You’re all interconnected, and you can tap into information and not even KNOW you’re tapping into information; you’re doing that in relation to what you begin yourself.
Now, with this individual at the age of 19 expressing suddenly in this unusual capacity, let me say to you, this is the piece that I have been expressing for quite some time about science, that they haven’t moved to the point of the secret of the universe, or reality or life, which is perception. And they haven’t quite got that yet. And in not getting that, they’re still looking at what they can quantify. You can’t necessarily entirely quantify perception; there are pieces of it that you can’t prove.
In this, what they CAN do is generate studies, and what they do in generating studies is they take certain information and then they attempt to either prove it or generate a strong theory.
Now, what the writer of this book is doing is creating a strong theory. It’s not proof. What I would say is, in relation to being so interconnected, you don’t know what the connection was between this young man and the uncle that he didn’t even know existed – but that doesn’t mean anything. That simply means that his objective awareness at that time, at that point in his life, was not aware of this other individual. Does that mean he wasn’t connected with that individual? No. Does that mean he doesn’t share experiences with that individual? No.
Therefore, there are countless reasons that people move in different directions and connect with each other in different capacities. And yes, in some manners it’s fascinating how you do that and what you do with it, but it’s not something that is an absolute. Therefore, is there such a thing or what you want to term now as generational trauma? Yes. Because an individual can tap into the experiences of other generations and can themself experience trauma in relation to that.
It’s no different than an individual that is plagued by terrifying, repeated nightmares, and then they discover that the nightmares that they’re having have to do with experience that happened before they were even born – because you as humans, as essence, incorporate ALL memory of ALL of your focuses. And remember: What was part of the definition of trauma? What is the definition of extreme trauma?
JEAN: Your fear of death. Like PTSD.
ELIAS: Not a fear of death; an experience of either witnessing it or surviving it. Therefore, you yourself either have an experience in which you narrowly escape it, or you witness it. And you don’t simply witness someone going to sleep and dying; you witness a violent death. Violent death can be expressed in many, many, many different manners. Freezing to death can be a violent death.
In this, what can’t be quantified is the possibility that that young man also has another focus that may have known his uncle OR may have found him. Therefore in that, it doesn’t even matter if he was related to him. In this, he could be tapping into memory of another focus of his that somehow is connected to that person. Those are the pieces that can’t be quantified.
Therefore in that, it’s somewhat of a mystery, and science wants to move in the direction of what they CAN quantify, meaning what they can explain and perhaps prove. And in that, what they’re attempting to explain is that somehow there is a link between generations in families – not simply generations but in families – that will generate, or has the potential to generate, shared experiences.
Now, this is something that also plays into the genetics factor, which science is already moving in the direction of expressing that through genetics you are predisposed to certain manifestations. If you have cancer in your family, it’s likely you will develop that also. If you have what they term to be mental illness in your family, then it’s likely that that will be something that you can develop also. In this, now they’re moving in the direction of generational trauma.
Now, that doesn’t mean that these things don’t exist; obviously they do. And in that, there are countless people that through the ages have moved in directions of creating physical, mental and emotional difficulties in relation to what is expressed in their family.
In association with trauma, let me express to you that it’s very similar to what I have expressed previously in relation to what people in a different capacity could be viewed as inheriting from their family, which is something that is very prevalent or obvious, let us say, in relation to people that have been adopted at birth or before the age of one year, and that they have a tendency to develop mannerisms of their biological family but they’ve never known them, and they might not know anything about them. But even if they did know something about them, they wouldn’t know about the mannerisms of the people in their biological family, because that’s not something that people talk about. It’s not something that people are interested in, in relation to an adopted child. What they’re interested in is, does mental illness run in the family? Are there any significant diseases that run in the family? Are there certain mental issues such as Down syndrome or any type of savant that runs in the family, so to speak? These are things that people look at in relation to children that are adopted.
They DON’T look into expressions such as, do the biological family members speak very fast or speak very slow? How do they walk? How do they sit? How do they eat? Do they have certain motions that they do with their hands? Those are not things that are looked at in relation to what people inherit – which would also be in association with generational trauma. It’s very similar. That people that are adopted and then later in life meet their biological family, they recognize, “I do the same thing as my biological family does. I speak in a certain manner. I use my hands when I’m expressing something. I am interested in certain subjects that my biological family is interested in.” The adopted individual notices those things, but those are not things that science looks to.
In relation to trauma, there are factors that are connected to [other generations]. The closer the generation, the stronger the pull to certain traumas or certain manifestations because of trauma, therefore certain coping mechanisms. Therefore in that, regardless of whether a child is privy to the information of how their parents or one of their parents coped with trauma as a child, that child might display very similar coping mechanisms. Such as: Let us say that a child develops a coping mechanism by creating illnesses, or by, in your terms, creating accidents that create injuries that are significant, such as broken bones. Now in that, that child may not have any information that one of their parents did the same thing when they were very young. But that child will repeat that manifestation, or that coping mechanism, regardless of whether they know objectively about their parent’s experience, because they are very interconnected and their parent is someone that is very close to them. In that, as I said, the closer the generation is, the stronger the pull is.
Now, another child may develop some type of expression such as a fear that seems irrational. And as a child, most parents and adults will dismiss it, but that child may be expressing what WAS a very real fear and a very real threat to perhaps their great-grandparents or a great-aunt or -uncle. Therefore the generations may be more removed from that child, but it depends on what the child’s experience is and what they are expressing in relation to what might be touching a memory.
Remember, that’s what a trigger is. It’s simply something that’s touching a memory. It could be a smell. It could be a color. And the person could have seen this color their entire life and at some point, something changes. And now they see this color and it touches a memory that then is affecting them, and they have no explanation for it. And because they have no explanation for it, they fall victim to it because they don’t know what’s happening, they don’t know how to stop it, they don’t know what it means.
The same holds when an individual has recurring nightmares. In that, if that individual visits a hypnotherapist and they go into that dream, and they discover what that dream is about, that that dream might actually be an experience. But they don’t know that; they simply know that they’re having this nightmare over and over and over again. But if they engage a hypnotherapist, then they go into the dream and they discover, “Oh! This was an actual experience that I had or I witnessed, and that’s why I keep having this nightmare, because I’m remembering something.” Then, generally speaking, they won’t ever have the nightmare again.
When an individual has an explanation for an experience that they are having that seems irrational and seems as if there’s no reason for them to be having this experience – it comes out of the proverbial blue – and that that they are now being plagued by some experience that they completely don’t understand, if they are allowing themselves to engage some types of alternative healings, such as hypnotherapy, they may become aware of something that they’re remembering. Even though it’s not their personal experience in that focus, they’re remembering some other experience. They’ve tapped into a memory, and now they’re reliving it. And once they are aware of what that experience is, generally speaking it does stop almost immediately, because they’re simply reliving the experience over and over and over again.
What have I expressed to all of you repeatedly about the body? It doesn’t differentiate time. Look at how many experiences any of you have that are repeated, that you move in certain directions over and over and over again and you repeat experiences. Why? Because your body doesn’t differentiate time. And that’s how you alter the experience, by reminding yourself, “This is now; this is not then.”
And that’s with experiences that you CAN explain, that you DO know about. How much more baffling and frustrating must it be for an individual who is having experiences that are not theirs and that they can’t explain and that they DON’T know? And in that, they are reliving something over and over and over again because they can’t differentiate time.
Therefore yes, there is such a thing as generational trauma, but that doesn’t mean that it affects everyone. And it doesn’t mean that even if there is TREMENDOUS trauma in someone’s past in relation to past generations, it doesn’t mean that it will be affecting them at all. Some people tap certain memories; some people have experiences in which memories are touched that they didn’t know existed before, and yes, that can translate into generational trauma and can be explained, so to speak, by generational trauma.
It becomes trickier when the person is having a trauma that wasn’t experienced by someone in their familial line but that they may be touching a memory that they witnessed but that they weren’t actually connected to the other individual in a family capacity. But that happens also, and I would say that it’s a curious subject and it’s a vast subject, because it spans more than simply family generations. It includes more than that.
[The timer for the session rings]
JEAN: Elias, I don’t know – I do have 15 extra minutes because I got funding for more time, and I told Mary in an email but she may not have remembered. Can she come back and can we do 15 more minutes?
ELIAS: Yes. Yes. One moment.
JEAN: Okay.
(Mary returns and Jean explains the timing of the session to her; the session continues)
ELIAS: Continuing.
JEAN: Oh Elias, thank you. So let me ask you: In the first case I gave with the mice, how do you explain that with creatures?
ELIAS: (Pause) Creatures tap into other experiences just as much as humans can. Everything is interconnected.
JEAN: Wow. Yeah.
ELIAS: Therefore, an animal may not have a traumatic experience, but they may express in manners as if they did. I would say you can look at animals that you are very familiar with: dogs, cats, horses. In this, any of them could be what you term to be “head shy,” but they’ve never been abused. Why do they react in that manner? Most of the time, it’s because they are touching a memory. An action is happening that is creating a trigger. Or it could be a scent, or it could be… sometimes, food! Cats are notorious in that direction, in which a cat will express a taste for a particular type of food and they will eat that food consistently and very well for a considerable amount of time, and suddenly they won’t touch it, and YOU have no idea what happened. And what humans have done is move in the direction of explaining it away by expressing that cats are very finicky eaters. Cats are not generally (chuckles) finicky eaters, but that doesn’t mean that they don’t have memory, and it doesn’t mean that those memories can’t be touched – and they are, a lot.
And especially with cats that are companion animals, many of them don’t have lives that are tremendously traumatic. That doesn’t mean that none of them do, but many of them don’t. And in that, this is the area that that is displayed the most, is in relation to food.
But there are many behaviors that animals do that seem strange and that there’s no reason for it, but there is.
JEAN: Elias, is this something that I could be able to work with them through sound?
ELIAS: You could. Now, that (pause) will require experimentation, but through sound in relation to music, yes. You could; it would simply be a matter of experimenting what type of music the animal responds to and what seems to soothe them.
And let me express to you in relation to that piece, is that what you think is soothing might not necessarily be soothing to an animal. Meaning that I would say most animals would be responsive to types of music that are similar to lullabies, that are soothing in that capacity, but some animals would be soothed by music that is actually faster and more pounding, more staccato. Some animals may be more soothed by Bach than by Chopin.
JEAN: Well let me ask you, because you had said in humans that once they’re made aware that the memory is not necessarily theirs, that a lot of times this is resolved. Is there are way to do the same with animals?
ELIAS: (Pause) It’s different, but yes. I would say that it’s a matter of establishing something that they can connect with as “now” and then helping them to connect with the other thing that isn’t “now” with something different. Therefore if you’re using music, if you are catching the animal in a particular behavior that is disturbed, then you can begin with a piece of music that is expressed in one direction. I won’t say necessarily disturbing or calming, because you could be playing a calming piece of music and now the individual animal is making an association that that calming music, in your perception, is associated with the past experience. And therefore every time you play that calming music it might agitate the animal, and therefore you’re going to have to experiment and find a different type of music then that might not be calming in your perception but is different in quality that you can play for the animal, and then they can make an association that THAT music has to do with “now.” (Pause)
Do you understand?
JEAN: Yes.
ELIAS: Very well. That all is a matter of observation – close observation – and experimentation, and watching how the animal responds or reacts.
JEAN: Elias, can we use an example here?
ELIAS: Yes.
JEAN: I have a cat that I had the entire litter, and I still have this cat. He’s 17. His name’s Simba, and this cat, we just call him “the wiggy boy” [Jean’s note: as in “wigged out”] because all sorts of sounds just freak him out. He’s just hypersensitive. He’s got about four different breaks in his tail, because when you’re starting to shut a sliding door or something, he just feels like he has to escape and he just always rushes it at the wrong moment and gets slammed. Can you tell me what other focus this animal may have had that is influencing that behavior in this particular cat? (Pause) If you can tap into that?
ELIAS: One moment. (Pause) (Chuckles) And you named him after a lion?
JEAN: I did. (Both laugh)
ELIAS: Once again, there are no accidents, and there are no coincidences. And I would say that this animal actually HAS a focus as (chuckles) a lion, or the configuration as a lion. And in that, that lion had experiences of being surrounded and trapped – trapped by a combination of hyenas originally, and then wild dogs. And as a lone animal, it was subject to being victim to packs of animals. And in that, it survived, but it was very skittish. I would say that that would be what the cat is reacting to.
Now in that, obviously it would be a situation in which you as a human would then want to be considerably careful how you are engaging with this cat, because it displays this type of behavior that it is afraid even though your perception is that there is nothing for it to be afraid of – just as I expressed that many times with animals, they may be in what you see as a loving home and they display behaviors that seem irrational. What I would say is also that being surrounded by many other cats was your trigger.
[The timer for the session rings]
JEAN: Was HIS trigger?
ELIAS: Yes.
JEAN: Okay.
ELIAS: In creating touching the memories.
JEAN: Wow. Wow. Elias, there are so many more questions, but that’s all we have time for today. But it just gives us, gosh, so much information. Thank you!
ELIAS: You are exceptionally welcome. And I agree, a fascinating subject.
JEAN: Wow. Maybe we can get some group –
ELIAS: I shall greatly be anticipating our next meeting and more of our explorations.
JEAN: All right, Elias. Thank you.
ELIAS: You are very, very welcome, my dear friend. In tremendous love to you and in an offering of greetings and love to all of the individuals that participated –
JEAN: Definitely.
ELIAS: Until our next meeting, in dear friendship, au revoir.
JEAN: Au revoir.
(Elias departs after 1 hour 3 minutes)
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