What Is a Memorized Biological Cycle, and How Could It Be Shaping Your Life Today?
Human life, much like nature, unfolds in cycles. Just as the moon waxes and wanes or the seasons come and go, we too live through repeating patterns—often without realizing it. In the field of transgenerational healing, one of the most revealing concepts is the memorized biological cycle.
This idea, first studied by Marc Fréchet and expanded by Anne Ancelin Schützenberger, refers to unconscious emotional patterns that resurface in specific stages of life. They are usually connected to past events that left a deep imprint in our cellular memory—what some call ancestral trauma or unresolved emotional wounds.
How Do Memorized Biological Cycles Work?
When we go through a life-changing experience—such as abandonment, unresolved grief, abuse, separation, or an accident—the impact doesn’t just fade away. It becomes stored in the body, encoded in our unconscious as a “program.” If the pain was never processed or supported, it tends to repeat itself later in life.
Fréchet observed that these experiences often reactivate in cyclical ways:
- at half one’s age,
- at multiples of the same,
- or at symbolic moments that mirror the original event.
For example:
- At 40 years old, if I go through a painful separation, I might look back at what happened at 20 (half my age). Perhaps that was my first breakup, a move to another city, or a major loss.
- Going back further, at 10 years old, I might find another turning point: my parents’ divorce, a sense of abandonment, or a radical family change.
What feels overwhelming today may actually be the reactivation of old wounds—even those we thought we had forgotten.
A Real-Life Example: When Abandonment Repeats
Imagine a woman who, after years of marriage, is suddenly told by her husband that he wants a divorce. She knew the relationship was deteriorating—marked by infidelity and lack of intimacy—yet she experiences the separation as a devastating collapse of her world.
Why was her reaction so intense?
Looking deeper, we discover that as a child, her father abandoned her mother. No one explained it, no one gave her space to process it. The wound remained frozen in silence.
Decades later, the divorce does more than end her marriage—it reactivates the childhood abandonment she never processed. The present pain carries the echo of the unresolved past.
Why Recognizing the Cycle Matters
The memorized biological cycle teaches us that what we experience today is not always about the present moment. Very often, it is a repetition of unhealed trauma stored in our cellular memory—seeking resolution and healing.
By becoming aware of these cycles, we stop being prisoners of unconscious pain. Instead of repeating old patterns, we can consciously choose new responses and transform inherited suffering into growth.
Recommended Authors for Further Reading
If this topic resonates with you, explore the work of:
- Marc Fréchet – who developed the concept of memorized biological cycles.
- Anne Ancelin Schützenberger – pioneer of the transgenerational approach and author of The Ancestor Syndrome, which explores how unresolved family dramas pass through generations.
- Bert Hellinger – creator of Family Constellations, offering insight into how hidden family bonds and unacknowledged grief affect our lives today.
Reflection Questions
Often, what we live in the present is a mirror of the unresolved past. I invite you to pause and reflect:
- What significant or painful event am I going through right now?
- When was the last time I felt something similar? How old was I then?
- If I divide my current age in half, what was happening at that time? Was there grief, loss, or a major life change?
- Do I see a thread connecting that past event to what I’m experiencing now?
- What new choice or response can I make today to break the cycle?
Remember: cellular memory stores everything, but we are not condemned to repeat it. Awareness is the first step toward releasing the cycle and opening ourselves to new ways of living.