Breaking Generational Trauma
Dear Friend,
Welcome to the very first blog from Breath By Design. When we started this space, our intention was simple: to create a place where you could follow along with us, exploring different topics, learning, reflecting, and healing together. Each post will be different, inspired by the challenges, insights, and experiences we encounter, but we felt it was important to start with this one.
Why? Because so many of us are carrying stories, pain, and patterns that weren’t ours to begin with. Generational trauma lives in our bodies, our nervous systems, our relationships, and even in the way we breathe. Breaking these cycles is one of the most radical acts of self-love we can commit to, and it’s something we’ve all struggled with in our own ways. This blog is about sharing that journey, openly and honestly, so you know you’re not alone, and so that together, we can start to release what no longer serves us.
I used to think healing was just about me, my stress, my anxiety, my patterns. I thought if I could just “fix” myself, everything else would fall into place. But over time, I realized that what lives in my body isn’t just mine. The stories I carry were written long before I ever arrived. They are written in the breath, in the muscles, in the way I hold my heart open, or closed. And the more I looked, the more I saw them in my family, in the generations that came before us.
My grandmother grew up in a world where survival often meant silence. She buried her grief deep in her body and wore resilience like armor. My father learned that showing emotion meant weakness, so he built walls around his heart and kept his words locked inside. My mother carried the invisible weight of everyone’s struggles, the worry in her lungs, the tension in her shoulders, the guilt that whispered in her stomach. They never chose these burdens consciously, yet they passed them down, and without realizing it, I carried them too.
For years, I couldn’t understand why my brain and body acted the way it did. Why I would hold tension in my chest during moments of joy, or why my mind would spiral despite knowing “better.” Why relationships, romantic, familial, and even friendships, replayed patterns of trauma I didn’t consciously choose. That curiosity led me to study counseling, then continue on to my PhD in therapy. In the famous words of my old college Professor Dr. Bain on the first day of class, “ You are all hear to either 1. Fix yourself or 2. Fix yourself and help others”. I wanted to understand not just intellectually, but experientially, why trauma lives in the body and how we can finally release it. If only Dr. Bain could see his truth come to life.
That journey took me far beyond textbooks. I traveled to Peru to work with plant medicine, to sit in ceremonies that allowed me to meet my deepest fears, grief, and ancestral pain. Those experiences gave me access to what words and therapy alone could not. I saw firsthand how trauma is stored in the body, how grief can lodge in the lungs, how fear hides in the gut, how anger stiffens muscles, and how generations of unspoken pain can influence every aspect of our lives. It was humbling, beautiful, and transformative.
Trauma doesn’t always shout. Often, it whispers through the way we breathe, the way we sit, the way we react without knowing why. It shows up in families that can’t talk about feelings, in anger that flares without warning, in self-sabotage that keeps us small, in shame that convinces us we’re never enough. These aren’t just habits, they are inherited patterns living in the nervous system, in the muscles, in the gut, and in the subconscious mind. Sometimes, they are the invisible stories that determine how we show up in life, even when we think we are fully conscious.
This is why somatic therapy and 9D breathwork are so powerful. They give us access to what words cannot reach. In a 9D breathwork journey, your body remembers before your mind does. The lungs open, the heart softens, the stomach untangles, muscles release, and the nervous system feels safe enough to rest. Breath by breath, you meet your inherited patterns with love, compassion, and understanding, and you begin to rewrite your story.
Generational trauma can show up in ways we never expect. It can live in your posture, your relationships, your food patterns, your inability to rest, or the subtle self-criticism that never leaves. It can show up in the way you parent, in the anxiety that flares up over nothing, or in the repeated patterns that keep showing up in your life no matter how hard you try. And yet, when you begin to breathe into it, to feel it, to release it, you create a ripple that doesn’t stop with you. You start to heal the parts of yourself that never had a chance to heal, and in doing so, you heal the generations that come after.
The most radical act of love is choosing to release what was never yours to carry. It is choosing to end cycles that have been passed down silently for decades. And it’s not easy, it’s messy, it’s raw, and it’s beautiful all at once. But there is nothing more empowering than stepping into your body, feeling the stories you’ve carried, and giving yourself permission to let them go.
At Breath By Design, we offer journeys tailored to this work. Each experience is designed to help you step into your body, release what isn’t yours, and reconnect with the parts of yourself that have been waiting. Some of us come with grief we never had space to express. Some come with shame, anger, or exhaustion. Some come with the weight of family expectations or patterns that keep us from thriving. No matter what you carry, breathwork gives you a safe space to meet it, honor it, and let it move through you.
Healing is not just about you, it’s about everyone who came before you, everyone who comes after you, and the life you want to create in the space in between. When you heal, you don’t just free yourself; you free your children, your grandchildren, and the generations who never had the chance. You break the chain. You say, “The pain stops here.” And in that space, you reclaim joy, love, and safety, and you hand that down as a legacy.
If you feel the call to break those patterns, to finally release what has been held for decades, I invite you to come experience a journey with us. Together, we breathe, we release, and we rewrite the stories that no longer serve us. Together, we break generational chains, one breath at a time.
With love and breath,
Dr. Rachel Sims
