📘 Now available: Expanded Awareness – Book I, which includes a full chapter on epigenetics as part of a multidimensional terrain-based healing model.
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For over a century, we were taught that genes dictated our fate—health, disease, personality, even longevity. But epigenetics has dismantled that deterministic view. The genome, we now know, is more like a piano than a script: it can be played in a multitude of ways, depending on the signals it receives.
This shift—from genetic fatalism to epigenetic plasticity—is a cornerstone of the healing terrain I describe in Expanded Awareness – Book I. It reminds us that healing is not just possible—it is encoded in the very mechanisms of life, waiting for the right conditions to be activated.
The term “epigenetics” was first coined in the 1940s by C.H. Waddington to describe the interaction between genes and environment during development. But as Jablonka and Lamb (2006) explain, the concept has evolved dramatically. It now encompasses the heritable but reversible changes in gene expressioncaused by mechanisms other than DNA sequence—methylation, histone modification, and non-coding RNAs, to name a few.
In lay terms: your life experiences, environment, thoughts, and even traumas can turn genes on or off. This is not metaphor—it is molecular biology. And unlike fixed mutations, these changes can often be reversed.
As highlighted in JAMA’s landmark article, “Epigenetics at the Epicenter of Modern Medicine,” the field is influencing everything from cancer treatment to chronic disease prevention. But its relevance goes far beyond conventional medicine. In my clinical work, I have seen how terrain-based healing—when it includes diet, stress modulation, vibrational therapies, and coherence practices—can visibly shift health outcomes.
The implications are profound:
Epigenetics reframes health as an open system—a dynamic dialogue between inner biology and outer environment.
Kumsta’s (2019) work on epigenetics and psychotherapy confirms what many therapists have long intuited: emotional wounds leave biological traces. Genes related to cortisol regulation, neuroplasticity, and mood can be down- or up-regulated depending on emotional input. And perhaps more importantly, corrective experiences—whether in therapy, loving relationships, or deep internal work—can help rewire those patterns.
In Chapter 4 of Expanded Awareness – Book I, I explore how tools like neurofeedback, intentional coherence, and conscious self-regulation can shift not only how we feel, but how our cells function. The link is not abstract. It is cellular.
Some researchers are beginning to explore epigenetics through a metaphysical lens. Josie Jenkinson’s writings on neuro-psycho-spirituality, and The Hypnotic Niche’s exploration of ancestral memory and past lives, both point to a fascinating frontier: could epigenetic markers carry not just trauma but the echo of soul imprints?
This question—while speculative—resonates with what many of us witness in quantum healing: clients often present emotional patterns or physical symptoms that seem linked to ancestral lines or karmic threads. Whether through symbolic memory, spiritual entanglement, or energy inheritance, these patterns may have biological correlates. The epigenome could very well be the interface between biology and the multidimensional self.
My own introduction to Bruce Lipton came through a Gaia series, where he masterfully bridged science, consciousness, and the power of belief. Epigenetics was at the heart of his message—and the clarity and conviction of his delivery left a lasting imprint on me.
Long before most clinicians or researchers were talking about gene-environment interaction, Lipton was sounding the call: our biology is not fixed. It responds to perception. In The Biology of Belief (2005), he proposed that the environment we believe we are in—not just the one we physically inhabit—can shape cellular behavior. Our thoughts, fears, and emotions act as biochemical signals, turning genes on or off like switches.
While the mainstream dismissed his ideas at the time, many of his insights have since been supported by molecular biology and mind-body medicine. What Lipton offered—beyond the science—was a profound reframe:
"You are not a victim of your DNA. You are the architect of your internal environment."
It was a message that lit a spark in me, one that continues to fuel my work as both psychologist and consciousness practitioner. And now, with a growing body of evidence across disciplines, that spark has become a movement.
Your genes are listening. To your food. To your thoughts. To your environment. To your beliefs. They are constantly updating the software of your biology in response to your inner and outer world.
This is not just the science of change. It is the science of agency. And it reminds us of one simple, powerful truth:
We are not victims of our inheritance. We are participants in its unfolding.
Sophie Guellati-Salcedo, Ph.D.
Telehealth Services via Zoom - Practice based in Miami, Florida
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