Dr. Yulin Sun holds a PhD in Educational Psychology and is an expert on generational trauma

The bad news first: Traumas are stored in the body and can be passed down through generations via epigenetic inheritance. The good news: we all have the innate capacity for personal or generational trauma healing.

What we call trauma is not the triggering event we associate with it

Trauma isn’t the event itself but our response to it. When adverse experiences occur too quickly, too intensely, at too young an age, or for a long time, they can overwhelm our nervous system’s ability to cope. If the initial activation of shock isn’t discharged, we may become stuck in trauma mode, cycling through fight, flight, freeze, or fawn responses in reaction to minor situations resembling the original event. Trauma responses — tensed muscles, a racing heart, shallow breathing, mental fog, or a freeze state — can become chronic. These reactions are often triggered by seemingly minor events, manifesting as physical or emotional symptoms or recurring relationship struggles.

Mice and human inherit the burden of fear  

In one study, researchers conditioned mice to associate the scent of cherry blossoms with electric shocks, causing the animals to develop a fear of the smell. Remarkably, their offspring, with no exposure to the shocks, displayed the same aversion to the scent upon their first encounter.

Human research also shows that descendants of war and torture victims—up to great-grandchildren— still exhibited similar trauma responses to triggers as their ancestors. This occurs despite having no exposure to or knowledge of the traumatic events their forebears survived. Our nervous systems are wired similarly to those of our ancestors, a mechanism shaped by nature to enhance survival.

My journey: crossing oceans seeking the unknown lost 

In 2011, while working at a university after earning my Ph.D., my health began to fail catastrophically due to an autoimmune condition. After a series of accidents, setbacks, unexpected turns of plans, new realisations, I found myself crossing oceans on ships and stayed on remote islands whenever possible—beyond New Zealand, beyond Brazil, north of the Arctic Circle, south to the Antarctic Sea, deep into the Pacific, and over 4,000 meters above sea level on Lake Titicaca.

No electricity, no automobiles, no internet—no problem. I crossed mountains and seas, staying for months wherever circumstances allowed. Breathing could be laborious due to the health condition, I found it easier in the middle of water. I craved primitivity, purity, and a breath of fresh air. It was a pull I couldn’t explain — an impulse I couldn't help but follow.

Systematic Family Constellation unfolds forgotten family story

On 2016 in Glastonbury, also known as the Isle of Avalon, I encountered family constellation work, a healing modality that uncovers systemic and generational traumas through the somatic responses of representatives within a family system.

For seven immersive days, more than 70 participants and I delved deeply into generational patterns, buried traumas, and unseen connections. From morning until midnight, we worked relentlessly, addressing 10 to 11 cases a day. 

Our bodies remember what our ancestors went through

I was startled to see, again and again, across cultures and countries, we repeated the sufferings and struggles from our ancestors. Our bodies remembered them and acted out the way, even if our minds are unaware of the history. We are the same as the young mice who smelled the cherry blossoms for the first time in their lives, yet ran away with fear as if the electric shock their parents endured were still present in their bodies. 

Unravelling my own family trauma

When my turn came, the representative for my mother stood at the center, screaming and wailing. Though my mother had never screamed in real life, at that moment, I understood the silent, internal screams she must have carried throughout her life. And there I was, walking in circles around my grandfather, who was lying on the ground. He had been killed by pirates in the ocean while my mother was still in the womb, his body buried on a tiny remote island barely a square kilometer in size.

His death was never spoken of; the trauma was too much for my grandmother to bear. Therefore, in my conscious mind, he didn’t exist. Yet unknowingly, I had spent years searching for him in every remote corner of the world.

Months after that first constellation session, and many more that followed, I found myself in Portugal. For the first time, I felt I could finally stay grounded on land. Gradually, my health improved, and I began to heal.

"Constellation is a way to have others mirror out what we've felt in our bodies.

While SE helps integrate and process these activations within the body."

Dr. Yulin Sun



Healing my illness by unravelling my family history

As I settled in Europe, I enrolled in a Family Constellation training program. In the third module, we focused on trauma work, integrating Somatic Experiencing® techniques to process generational trauma on a deeply personal and somatic level. As the teacher guided us to attune to our nervous systems while unfolding family events, I experienced profound sensations — long suppressed beneath the mask of functioning normally. I realized I had been locked in a state of dissociation, frozen in a dorsal vagal response. Like many others, I was a survivor of countless small and significant neglects, abuses, betrayals, and daily stresses—both from my personal life and inherited through generations. While I struggled to perform as expected, my body eventually collapsed. For many, it is their minds, lives, or relationships that break under this weight.

Typical symptoms of generational trauma

Generational traumas often manifest as emotional, psychological, or physical challenges within the family system. These imprints frequently reside in the body, perpetuating cycles of fear, pain, and disconnection. This understanding inspired me to dedicate three more years to studying Somatic Experiencing (SE), a modality that complements this work by focusing on the nervous system.

Family Constellation & Somatic Experiencing® empowers healing from generational trauma

Somatic Experiencing helps individuals process trauma stored in the body, and through each gently guided activation and discharge, we supported our nervous systems in releasing trapped energy and restoring a sense of safety.

By integrating the insights of Family Constellation with the somatic healing practices of SE®, our amazing Dragonfly Team creates a holistic pathway for addressing generational trauma. Together, these approaches help uncover the roots of long-standing patterns while offering a practical means to release them from the body. The result is a profound sense of empowerment, healing, and presence — not just for the individual but for generations to come. Together with the rest of the team I am happy to share these insights and techniques at one of our one-of-a-kind retreats.

Through this work, I’ve come to appreciate how deeply interconnected our stories and bodies are. Healing begins when we honor this connection, bridging the ancestral narratives that shape us with the embodied awareness that can set us free.