Program Description
The Epigenetic Impact of Marianismo: Unburdening Myself and My Lineage
“My mother wounds are my mother’s wounds” –Cynthia Perez, LCSW
If you have done inner child healing, it may have led you down another stone unturned… mother wounds! This talk centers on the intersections of mother wounds that come from ancestral attachment wounds due to separation, colonization, and assimilation.
Marianismo is a term coined in Xicanx psychology as an often unspoken cultural value and way of being for womb holders and the mothers before them.
There is little research done on the effects of Marianismo on emotional wellness.
This talk will discuss the data around health disparities in Latina women and how colonialism, machismo and religion has historically contributed to women’s role in Marianismo and as a mother. It will also highlight and honor the epigenetic impact of Marianismo in intergenerational trauma and continued daily suffering and joy. Marianismo was once a way of survival and a lesson to teach daughters, and now we understand how Marianismo lives in the nervous system, informs the body on how to show up, and when trauma is not released, is stored in the body. We hold sacred space for mother wounds from the perspective of Latine, African and Indigenous mothers colonized by Spain and the impact colonization has had on the epigenetics of our mothers.
This Course is Ideal for:
- Students who can relate to these feelings and mother wounds in their family.
- Individuals who work with marginalized groups who have experienced separation due to immigration, forced displacement or abandonment.
- Those wanting to expand their capacity for intergenerational healing through root work and decolonized approaches for collective care.
Course Overview:
By the End of This Course You Will Be Able To:
- Increase awareness of the effects of toxic stress and inherited family trauma on your nervous system.
- Provide common language to identify and name intergenerational patterns in families.
- Gain personal awareness and coping skills as a clinician or community member serving Latine families. Gain personal awareness and coping skills as a Latine, Indigenous, AfroLatine of the Spanish colonized countries and the Caribbean diaspora.
- Understand the historic role gender and religious constructs have in physical, emotional and spiritual wellness in Latino mothers and their attachment to their children.
- Learn somatic approaches to safely feel through feelings of sacred grief and sacred rage using polyvagal toning and the body.
About the Teacher
Cynthia Perez, LCSW is the founder of Rooted in Reflection, a wellness agency creating soft spaces for intergenerational healing “from roots to bloom”. Cynthia is an author, therapist, host of the Confetti All Around Podcast, and a clinical educator. She hosts clinical educational courses and workshops to support clinicians and students working with the Latine and Indigenous communities in complex trauma informed care. Cynthia has created a framework for addressing intergenerational trauma through “Marianismo” through polyvagal toning rooted in epigenetic science and indigenous intuition. Cynthia’s work highlights the science of inner child healing through ancestral lineage repair as intergenerational and inner-generational healing.
rootedinreflection.org