Speaker 1 – addicts play a role in our health, from our risk of heart disease to cancer to mental health issues. But our next guest says trauma can also be passed down in our DNA. Dr. Erica Steele from holistic family practice in Virginia Beach is here to explain Hey, Erica, how you doing? Hi, I’m, well, how are you? So good, I hadn’t heard that. So explain what that means trauma being passed in our DNA.
Speaker 2 – So this is a relatively new frontier in healthcare. And being an innovator, I’m always looking at, and always wanting to find the cause, like I always want to see the root cause as a naturopath. And so what they’ve studied, as they’ve become more aware of genetics, and metal genetics, which are all are all of the enzymatic processes that make up the DNA and, you know, move everything in the body is structured around that, they found that there’s actually transgenerational trauma that is passed down from generation to generation, which I find just to be fascinating. And so that impacts the genes of the DNA of children coming in. And then as we know, through epigenetics, the environment to which we put the genes in that that leaves people more susceptible to chronic disease, etc. So it’s really fat. I mean, we’re like at the very beginning of understanding all the impacts of this on our health. But I think it’s fascinating, and I wanted to share it with your viewers today.
Speaker 1 – Yeah, that is fascinating. It’s called ancestral trauma. I mean, for somebody like me, who’s African American, so are you saying my ancestors, who may have been slaves in the past, pass that down to my DNA? Correct. And
Speaker 2 – I have African genetics, obviously, as well. And Native American, right. And so I got it kind of both genocide and the impact of slavery on my mother’s side. And this is what got me intrigued with this. On my mother’s side, my mother’s side, suffered with mental health issues passed down generation to generation, to the point that my mother, unfortunately suffers from di D, which is dissociative identity disorder. So that kind of already started getting me and growing up around that really got me inspired to kind of learn more about how the genetics impact because of course, I didn’t want it to affect me, and impact me; I watched this incredibly brilliant woman, just over the years to grade further and further and further, upon research, and upon learning, I understood that the effects of slavery had negatively impacted the men in the men, the protectors in the African lineage from slavery, etc. And then there were impacts of sexual abuse and things like that that impacted her DNA as well. So all around her neurotransmitters, and even mine, when I got my EEG done, I got my brain map, that whole schizophrenic network was all affected by that. Now, because I was aware and educated, I could do something about it. I wasn’t. I didn’t have to be a victim of my genes; I overcame it. So it’s pretty fascinating the power that we have, now that genetics are coming out, and we’re able to really put all these pieces together,
Speaker 1 – my goodness. So it’s not just the environment you grow in, but you must also consider the DNA. So how do you avoid this? Or how do you get past it like you’ve done?
Speaker 2 – I did an EEG which is a brain map. I’ve got some excellent professionals I work with, in the allopathic world who can do this. So we do EGS look at that, and look at like your 23andme or your ancestry results. We look at those, and we start to stabilise in addition to doing other like CBT style treatments, EFT, I throw in some Kundalini in there, some meditation, some guided imagery, as well as really supporting what we call the HPA axis, the hypothalamus, pituitary-adrenal, because the adrenals when you’re when you come in with trauma, they also found this even with Holocaust, DNA, Jewish DNA that the cortisol was coming in low cortisol is the stress hormone. Just because it had already been exhausted, so making sure we support those nutritionally supplementally, I mean, it’s really a very incredible time. I think some of the current events are traumatizing to people with trauma stored within their DNA. So now is the time to look at this and push this frontier forward in healthcare and medicine throughout Well, I’m very excited to be a part of
Speaker 1 – Dr. Erica Steele, it is fascinating. We’re out of time real quick, how can people find you?
Speaker 2 – So, all over the place, they can call our office and look me up online; we do have classes where we can explore. So if this message calls to anybody to explore their trauma, feel free because lifestyle has so much to do with it. Many people who have been traumatised also experience chronic disease and don’t take care of themselves. We also have a lot of health programmes to help people get back on track. And of course, all this stuff comes up amid everything as we do that. So the webinar dates are June 20 to 24 and June 29. And I look forward to seeing everyone there. All right.
Speaker 1 – Thank you so much Dr. Steele.