World Health Day: How Healing Ourselves Heals Generations To Come

Did you know our health isn’t shaped only by genes or habits, but also by the emotional and energetic stories we carry—stories that began generations before we took our first breath? This World Health Day, the theme “Healthy Beginnings and Hopeful Futures” invites us to care for mothers and newborns. While nutrition, screenings, and medical access matter, let’s look deeper—toward a more subtle beginning:

The one carried in the womb and whispered through generations.
The one that shapes not only our cells but our spirit.

Because if we want to raise a healthier generation, we must nourish more than the body—we must tend to the mind and soul.
The key is sacred and revolutionary: We must heal the past to design the future.

The Hidden Currents of Inheritance

I remember watching my mother parent—consciously choosing to raise me differently from how she had been raised. She was intentional, loving, and wise.

And yet… in unguarded moments, I’d see her soften into a familiar expression, or react in a way that echoed her mother.

It was like glimpsing the past through a living mirror.

Later in life, people would tell me,
“You laugh like your uncle.”
“You remind me of your grandfather.”
“Your personality is just like your great-grandmother.”

That’s when I really began to see it.

We don’t just inherit cheekbones or cholesterol. We inherit emotional blueprints—patterns of love, silence, worry, survival, resilience. We carry unspoken beliefs, unfinished stories, and sometimes, ancestral longings we can’t quite name. We carry both the wounds and the wisdom. And our biology? It remembers all of it.

Samskaras and Science: When Ancient Wisdom Meets Epigenetics

In the yogic and Ayurvedic traditions, we speak of Samskaras—deep impressions or emotional imprints that live within us. Some are formed in our own lifetime. Others? Passed down like whispers through the family line.

Now, science is catching up.

In the field of epigenetics, researchers like Dr. Rachel Yehuda have shown that trauma doesn’t just impact one generation emotionally—it can alter gene expression. Her research on children of Holocaust survivors showed they had different stress hormone levels—despite never living through the trauma themselves. Their biology remembered what their minds never experienced.

Let that settle for a moment. And here’s something even more profound:

When a woman is pregnant with a baby, she’s not just carrying her child.
She’s carrying the seeds that may become her grandchildren.

Three generations are being shaped—right there in her womb—by her emotions, her thoughts, her inner world.

So yes, her healing matters. Her peace, her fears, her joy—they all matter. This isn’t just poetry. This is physiology. This is legacy.
And also—hope.

Emotional Inheritance: The Legacy You Can’t See, But Feel

Think of your family as a woven tapestry—layered with textures of memory. Some threads glow with joy, strength, and connection. Others hold sorrow, silence, and self-sacrifice.

I call this emotional inheritance—an unspoken legacy passed down not through words, but through energy, glances, and emotional responses. Through the felt atmosphere of your childhood home.

Maybe you’ve heard messages like:

“Don’t cry.”
“You have to be the strong one.”
“Keep the peace, even if it costs you.”

These aren’t just rules—they become patterns. They show up in our nervous system: In the clenched jaw, the sleepless nights, the constant feeling of not being enough.

But here’s the beautiful part: What is inherited can be interrupted. What is unconscious can be brought to light. And what is broken can be healed. We carry the pain—but also the wisdom to transform it.

The Threefold Way: A Holistic Path to Healing Generations

When we care for our body, mind, and spirit, we don’t just heal ourselves—we shift our legacy.

1. BODY: Cultivating Safety

Your body carries memory—yours and your ancestors’. Stress responses like fight, flight, or freeze can be inherited, but so can healing.

Try:

• Grounding barefoot

• Breathwork

• Warm oil massage

• Vagus nerve toning

Every time your nervous system relaxes, you send a message to your future child: “You are safe.”

 2. Mind: Emotional Hygiene & Inner Parenting

What stories did your family teach about emotions? “Don’t cry,” “Stay strong,” “Love means sacrifice”? Healing begins when you pause and ask: Am I parenting my child—or my inner child?

Practice:

• Journaling emotional triggers

• Inner child check-ins

• Affirmations and Visualisations

• Rewriting family narratives

When you witness patterns without judgment, you break the cycle with presence, not perfection.

3. SPIRIT: Living From Your Essence

This is the layer of transformation. You are not your wounds—you are also the courage and creativity of those who came before you. Reflect with:

• Gratitude Practice

• Silence and self-inquiry

• Value-based intentions

As you reconnect with your essence, samskaras dissolve—and legacy becomes liberation.

From Awareness to Action: Begin Your Own Turning Point

Healing doesn’t need grand gestures. It begins with gentle, consistent acts of self-awareness. Each time you choose compassion over criticism, you rewrite your family story. Start here:

1. One-Minute Check-In

Place your hand on your heart and ask: “What does my inner child need today?” Listen. Honour it.

2. Rewrite One Script

Take a belief like: “I must always be strong.” Transform it into: “I am safe to rest. Vulnerability is strength.”

3. Rhythm Over Routine

Replace autopilot habits with conscious rhythms:

• A grounding breath before meals

• A journaling moment before bed

• A hug with full presence

4. Seek Circle, Not Solitude

Healing thrives in a safe, supportive community. Whether it’s a therapist, healing circle, or mentor—let yourself be held as you grow.

You Have the Power

You are not just here to break cycles. You are here to honour your lineage— to evolve it with presence, compassion, and consciousness.

Let this World Health Day be your invitation: To begin again—rooted in love, nourished by truth, and carried forward in freedom. Because when you choose to heal, you don’t just change your story. You change the future.

Saiyami Juvekar is a psychologist on a mission to empower people to heal, nurture and transform to awaken their free true joyful selves. Views expressed by the author are their own.