Exploring Ancestral Trauma with Meenadchi
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In This Episode
Meenadchi is many things, including being a somatic healing practitioner, TEDx speaker, and communications expert whose work centers on social change and embodied transformation.
She also helps folks clear ancestral trauma to create intergenerational healing.
Join us as we delve into the fascinating world of generational healing, offering insights that could transform your perspective on personal growth and self-discovery.
The impact of understanding generational trauma extends far beyond individual growth. It plays a vital role in cultural healing, helping us comprehend the broader implications of collective trauma on communities and societies.
This understanding can be a catalyst for personal empowerment, showing how addressing generational wounds can lead to increased resilience, creativity, and joy in our lives.
Perhaps most surprisingly, exploring our ancestral past can contribute to our holistic well-being, revealing unexpected connections between historical experiences and our current physical, emotional, and mental health.
Uncover the profound impact of generational trauma and why it matters for personal and societal growth. This enlightening podcast episode explores the hidden threads that connect our past, present, and future, revealing how understanding ancestral wounds can be a key to unlocking our full potential.
Tune in to discover why understanding generational trauma isn't just about healing old wounds—it's about opening doors to new possibilities for ourselves and the world around us.
About Meenadchi
Meenadchi is a somatic healing practitioner, TEDx speaker, and communications expert whose work centers social change and embodied transformation. Using a blend of Family Constellation Therapy and Non-Violent Communication, Meenadchi supports individuals and changemakers in reconnecting with the intuitive wisdom of our bodies so that we can co-create intergenerational healing by changing the way we speak to ourselves, each other, and the universe. Meenadchi holds a clinical license in occupational therapy and has historically served communities impacted by gender-based violence, complex trauma, and serious mental illness. She is the author of Decolonizing Non-Violent Communication.
Connect with Meenadchi
Website | LinkedIn | Instagram | Workbook
Connect with Maria
Speaking & Training | LinkedIn | Email
Transcripts
Meenadchi wears many hats, including somatic healing practitioner, TEDx speaker, and communication expert. Her work centers on social change and embodied transformation. She also supports people in clearing ancestral trauma to create intergenerational healing.
Intrigued? We were too.
In this episode, we are exploring ancestral trauma and why it matters for storytellers.
Maria Bryan:
I am just so thrilled to have you on the show. We are going to be talking about generational trauma today. First of all, welcome. Thank you for being here.
I want to set a little bit of shared language before we dive in, because we may be using a few different terms. Generational trauma, ancestral trauma, what are some other terms we might be adding to the mix?
Meenadchi:
Ooh. Sometimes I say intergenerational trauma. And if I am being very frank, there are terms people use that I am not entirely sure about. I do not always know the difference between transgenerational trauma and intergenerational trauma. Even when I Google it, it can be unclear.
Maria Bryan:
Right.
Meenadchi:
I think they are often used interchangeably.
Maria Bryan:
Yes, and that is how we will be using them here.
Before we go further, I just want to say how thrilled I am to be having this conversation with you. This is a particular type of trauma that is complicated and can be difficult to explain.
When I learned about your work, I was first thrilled that someone is supporting folks in this way, and also excited to bring someone into my community who can talk about what this means. So let’s start with a definition.
What does generational trauma mean to you?
Meenadchi:
It is like a hand me down. Think of a family heirloom, like your great great grandfather’s leather jacket that keeps getting passed down.
Traumatic experiences can travel through generations in the same way. When something harmful happens in a lineage and it is not sufficiently resolved or cleared from the nervous system, it can be carried forward.
The nervous system responds to trauma with constriction and other physiological responses. Future generations can feel the impact in their bodies without knowing where it comes from or why.
A simple example is clients who have always been housed and fed, yet live with constant fear of running out of money. Often, someone earlier in their lineage experienced famine, displacement, internment, or had to flee. Those fears are still being held in the body generations later.
Maria Bryan:
I am very visual, and that really resonates. With generational trauma, you cannot always pinpoint it because it is not your lived experience. It is fascinating how it can be passed down.
Meenadchi:
One helpful thing to remember is that traumatic experiences change stress hormones in the body and affect how we respond to our environment.
My favorite science fact is that all of us existed in our grandmother’s body. When my grandmother was pregnant with my mother, the eggs that would later become me already existed. Any stressors my grandmother was navigating were encoded biologically.
That does not mean trauma is destiny or that we have no choice in how we live. It does mean that genes can be shaped by stress, and depending on what your lineage has experienced, you may be carrying inherited stress responses that were never unpacked.
Maria Bryan:
Can you talk about how this shows up in communities, especially communities that have been historically oppressed?
Meenadchi:
In its simplest form, it shows up in what people believe is possible.
When a lineage has experienced chronic oppression, imagination can be constrained. It can feel impossible to believe that ease, pleasure, joy, belonging, or celebration are available.
Trauma is not pleasant to sit with, so it often gets pushed down instead of metabolized. Without space to be held and processed, it stays in the nervous system.
Maria Bryan:
Your work in ancestral healing is so interesting. What brought you to this path?
Meenadchi:
It was very accidental. Definitely not intentional.
My family is from Sri Lanka. I was born in 1983, three days before riots that initiated a genocide and ethnic cleansing that continues today. I grew up as a first generation kid in the United States.
The violence in my home country and the violence in my home made it easy to see how war, ethnic oppression, and patriarchy shaped my father and his beliefs, and how that translated into harm at home.
Those connections were clear to me at a young age.
In 2002, I was introduced to nonviolent communication, a modality focused on ownership, connection, and reducing shame and blame. Through that work, I was eventually introduced to family constellation therapy, which is the ancestral healing modality I use today.
The way we talk to ourselves and others is often inherited. Our inner critics, our reactions, and our relational patterns are deeply connected to what came before us. Connecting communication, trauma, and relationships led me to the work I do now.
Maria Bryan:
When I started learning about trauma, it was because I saw a gap. Storytellers, marketers, fundraisers, videographers, and podcasters need this knowledge because they are interviewing people who may have experienced trauma.
And what happens next is that we start unpacking our own trauma. I see this often in my six week trauma informed storytelling program. People begin processing their own experiences.
Why is it important for storytellers without a trauma background to understand generational trauma and how it might show up in themselves, story owners, or audiences?
Meenadchi:
At the core, people doing this work want to do good and help others do good.
What we are really trying to do is listen better. Trauma exists in the fabric of everything. Joy does too. But trauma often shows up in what is not said.
When serving impacted or sensitive communities, people may not voice their needs clearly or directly. Being trauma informed helps us listen between the lines, notice body cues, and show up in ways that allow people to relax and feel possibility.
Being trauma informed does not mean carrying the weight of everything. It means recognizing when something needs attention and knowing when to bring in support, refer out, or adjust how a message is shared so it does not reactivate harm.
Maria Bryan:
People often assume trauma only exists in certain sectors or populations. But what I hear you saying is that we should assume trauma may be present, even when it is not obvious.
Someone might have a strong response to a question and not understand why. It could be puppies, voting, or something seemingly neutral. Generational trauma makes this even more complex.
We may not always see dysregulation in the moment. It may show up later. That is why trauma informed practices matter, even when we do not know what someone is carrying.
Meenadchi:
Something came to me as you were talking. Telling our stories is inherently vulnerable.
It can only feel vulnerable if, at some point, it was not safe to speak. When people feel vulnerable sharing something important, it often signals that their voice was shut down or dismissed in the past.
When we look at lineage, how many people before us were told to be quiet or that their story did not matter? Our vocal cords carry those histories.
There are also generational celebrations. Many people share stories in honor of those who could not. Both the heaviness and the joy live together.
Maria Bryan:
That is so beautifully said. Even the opportunity to tell a story can bring up so much, both joy and pain.
Thank you.
For our listeners who are working to build trauma informed practices, what guidance do you have?
Meenadchi:
The more we do our own work, the easier it becomes to hold space for others.
Clearing our own material allows us to be vessels rather than containers. Therapy, mentorship, and embodied healing matter.
Another important practice is helping the body remember that things can go well. Trauma can make new territory feel terrifying because we want to avoid causing harm.
Mistakes will happen. That is part of learning. Having mentorship is essential so that what comes up can be processed safely, rather than passed back into the community.
Maria Bryan:
I am feeling a strong sense of hope in this conversation. Is there anything you want to leave listeners with?
Meenadchi:
Yes.
Our ancestors do not want us to carry their baggage. Healing ourselves creates ripples forward and backward in time.
At the foundation of everything is a river of love and possibility. When we remember that, laughter and play often enter the healing process.
One of my guiding principles is that if we are alive, we are okay. We will figure the rest out.
Maria Bryan:
I feel so much peace and love from you. Can you share where people can connect with you?
Meenadchi:
My website is meenadchi.com.
I work with organizations through communication and wellness workshops, support individuals one on one in clearing generational trauma, and offer workshops and a monthly practice group focused on somatic and communication skills.
All of those pathways can be found on my website, along with links to my social platforms.
Maria Bryan:
I will include those in the show notes. Thank you so much for joining me. This was such an important conversation.
Meenadchi:
This was incredibly sweet. Thank you for inviting me onto the show.
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