The Trauma You Inherited Isn't Yours — But You Can Break It | Mark Wolynn

The Trauma You Inherited Isn't Yours — But You Can Break It | Mark Wolynn

What makes a recovery story truly inspiring? This conversation with generational trauma expert Mark Wolynn shows how healing can ripple across families for decades. The chat centres on a striking idea: "Is my behaviour mine or is it coming from generational trauma?" Mark explains how anxiety, depression and even self-harm can be linked to events that happened to parents, grandparents and beyond, sometimes stretching five generations back.

He shares his own experience of losing his eyesight, tracing the true cause to the unprocessed anxiety of his orphaned grandparents and a broken bond with his mother. After repairing that bond, his sight returned, pushing him to dedicate his work to inherited family trauma. You’ll hear a powerful case story about "Sarah", a young woman who cut herself so deeply she nearly bled to death.

Through careful questions and a simple pen exercise, Mark uncovers the hidden link to her grandfather’s fatal car accident and her grandmother’s buried guilt. Once Sarah recognises that "I don’t deserve to live" wasn’t actually her belief but something passed down, her urge to self-harm stops. The hosts and Mark talk in detail about attachment wounds, hypervigilance, and how many people grow up feeling unseen or unsupported by their mothers.

Tana’s own experience of becoming "hypervigilant" as a mum and her daughter’s blunt comment, "Mum, don’t put your trauma on me", show how even good intentions can transmit old pain. Mark also breaks down new human research on epigenetics and lays out simple, body-based practices to shift inherited stress responses: tuning into life-giving sensations, gratitude, compassion, and somatic exercises such as family constellations. The message is clear: inherited trauma "isn't yours" — but you can interrupt the pattern.

If you’ve ever wondered why certain fears or behaviours seem to come "out of nowhere", this episode might have you asking new questions about your family story — and what you’re ready to change.