The hallucinations that saved my life...
... a journey from inherited trauma to conscious healing!
How refusing to give history permission to repeat itself led me to discover the neuroplasticity power of essential oils
I was twelve when the little people were back climbing up and down our kitchen cabinets on what seemed like a search and rescue mission. My heart racing, I ran to find my mom, desperate to show her that I wasn't ‘making this up.’ But when she saw nothing … again … she grabbed and shook me my shoulders, demanding I ‘stop doing this.’ Confused; what was I doing and how do I make it stop?
Although troublesome to know how she reacted, I was raised to be hyper independent and figure things out for myself, so this moment with my mom carried the same message. What I didn't know was that this experience would mark a turning point for me, influencing both my choices and how I contribute to the world.
The one thing Nature has taught is we can either make the best of any situation OR let our situations get the best of us.
My mom’s reactions figuratively and literally shook me up. Most would judge it as traumatizing and for a while, it was that for me. Yet through contemplation and research, this moment in time was one of many alerting me to inherited survival patterns that had been passed down through generations—patterns I would eventually refuse to accept as my destiny.
The Epigenetic Legacy We Never Asked For
Modern science has revealed something our ancestors couldn't have imagined: the emotional pain and fear that helped them stay alive thousands of years ago left imprints on our collective DNA. This phenomenon, called epigenetic memory, was first identified in plants—not as recall, but cellular signaling—a message in a bottle sort of thing—meant to source future generations with the precise energy to help them survive life-threatening moments.
Picture our early ancestors: infants in the human timeline, learning to survive severe weather, dangerous animals, volcanic eruptions, floods, and illness without any instruction manual. Every day was a fight for survival, and those who could maintain constant alertness lived to pass on their genes. The ones who relaxed too much didn't make it.
Today, we're still carrying those survival programs. Despite our modern safety, we remain epigenetically locked into patterns of hypervigilance, anxiety, and survival of the fittest. Between human ingenuity and technology (i.e. medication), environmental toxins, and growing emotional volatility, our ancestors survival patterns continue to be passed down to every baby born today.
My story, as did yours, began with this inheritance.
Growing Up in Survival Mode
My entire upbringing was was no different than ancient humans—on my own to figure things out.
This wasn't intentional cruelty from my parents. They were simply repeating what they knew. Patterns they had been raised with and passing down the same reactions and behavior they had learned. In some instances, the skills I developed—hyperindependence, problem-solving, resilience—served me wuite well in life. The challenge was I didn’t know I had the power to choose a different response, therefore, I remaind locked in a state of constant high alert.
Looking back, I understand why my parents drank so much alcohol. They had no idea how to unwind and relax without forcing their brain to stop. Their nervous systems, like mine, were locked into survival mode. The comfort zone of hypervigilance, though painful, was familiar—and familiar patterns are notoriously difficult to change.
The Philosophy That Changed Everything
Years ago, a philosophy came to me that would reshape my entire approach to healing: History only repeats itself when we give it permission.
This simple truth became the foundation for everything that followed. I realized that the patterns of anxiety, addiction, and mental suffering I had inherited weren't inevitable. They were choices—unconscious choices, perhaps, but choices nonetheless. And if I could withdraw my permission for these patterns to continue, I could choose something different.
When my father was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in 2015, I knew I had to be more deliberate about how I was caring for myself. I did not want that to be my future. When he passed in January 2018, followed by my mother in May 2024 (who had developed stage 4 Parkinson's with hallucinations), my insistence deepened.
I would not live with the very mental horrors I had experienced as a child. I would not give history permission to continue repeating itself through me.
The Unexpected Ally: Essential Oils and Neuroplasticity
Throughout my adult life, I had been using genuine essential oils, initially without fully understanding their profound impact on brain function. But I began to notice something remarkable: things were softening for me—mentally and emotionally. I was finding more fluidity and fewer rigid behaviors.
As someone who had spent decades in medical research, I was fascinated by the emerging science showing that essential oil constituents affect the same neural pathways as meditation. The terpenes in therapeutic essential oils weren't just pleasant fragrances—they were molecular allies in the process of rewiring inherited survival patterns.
The research was clear: neuroplasticity—our brain's ability to form new neural connections—could be enhanced through various techniques including sound, movement, and, remarkably, the aromatic compounds in essential oils. These plant allies were helping me interrupt the automatic patterns that had been running my life.
Breaking the Chain: My Daily Practice of Conscious Healing
My approach became multifaceted but simple:
Walking as meditation: Every day, I walk as a meditation practice, clearing stagnant energy and allowing my system to be at peace.
Music as medicine: A day doesn’t go by without music. Using sound frequencies is an option yet as neuroscience is showing, listening to what you enjoy equally supports neural reorganization. A great book for reading up on this is: I Heard There was a Secret Chord
Essential oils as allies: Daily use of genuine essential oils, understanding that these plant compounds support the same neuroplasticity pathways that meditation opens.
Despite the patterns I had adopted from my parents, I can honestly say I am now free of them without ever using medication. In no way is this a recommendation. It took a long time to get here and some situations do warrant medication. Regardless, working with oils alongside other techniques holds tremendous value, and they can absolutely be incorporated with medical treatment when needed.
The Science of Inherited Patterns
What I experienced personally aligns with what researchers now understand about epigenetic inheritance. The survival patterns that helped our ancestors survive—hypervigilance, anxiety, stress reactivity—were adaptive in their environment but have become maladaptive in ours.
Essential oil terpenes work on the same molecular pathways that meditation and other consciousness practices activate:
Reducing inflammatory gene expression that keeps us locked in survival mode
Enhancing GABA neurotransmission that supports our natural capacity for calm presence
Supporting neuroplasticity that allows new neural pathways to form
Modulating stress hormones that help break the cycle of inherited hypervigilance
These compounds don't force change—they support our brain's natural capacity for rewiring and renewal.
The Gift of Conscious Choice
Those childhood hallucinations, as terrifying as they were, became my early warning system. They woke me up. They inspired my curiosity. They became the catalyst to walk a path that eventually led me to discover the profound partnership between plant allies and neuroplasticity.
My mother's final diagnosis of stage 4 Parkinson's with hallucinations could have been a prediction of my future. Instead, it became my motivation to prove that history doesn't have to repeat itself when we withdraw our permission.
Your Permission Slip
If you're reading this and recognizing your own inherited patterns—the anxiety that seems to run in your family, the addictive behaviors that feel like fate, the mental patterns that feel inescapable—know that you have a choice. You can withdraw your permission for these patterns to continue.
The combination of consciousness practices and genuine essential oils offers a path that honors both the wisdom of ancient plants and cutting-edge research on neuroplasticity. You don't have to choose between natural approaches and medical treatment—you can integrate both in service of your healing.
Most importantly, you don't have to accept your adopted patterns as your destiny.
What will you give permission to?
The Journey Continues
My journey from inherited trauma to conscious healing continues every day. Each morning when I apply my essential oils, take my meditation walk, and choose presence over patterns, I'm making a conscious choice to live differently than the generations before me.
The hallucinations that once terrified me have become my teachers, showing me what happens when we're disconnected from our essential wholeness. The oils that once seemed like simple fragrances have revealed themselves as sophisticated allies in the journey back to integrated consciousness.
Most importantly, I've learned that we don't have to be victims of history. We can be conscious creators of our legacy, choosing which patterns to carry forward and which ones to lovingly release.
History only repeats itself when we give it permission.
What are you saying ‘yes’ to?
Ready to explore how essential oils can support your journey from adopted patterns to conscious healing? Learn more about evidence-based approaches to neuroplasticity and plant allies in The Essential Self membership, where we support each other in breaking generational cycles and remembering our wholeness. It’s a Revolutionary kind of Aromatherapy!