Marianismo – the colonial inheritance that taught women survival through sacrifice – didn’t just shape our grandmothers’ behaviors. It changed their genes. Now these patterns live in our bodies as anxiety, perfectionism, and a relentless drive to care for everyone but ourselves.
My Marianismo: Nurturing Myself from the Roots to the Bloom maps how colonization rewired our nervous systems, explains why family patterns feel impossible to break, and gives you practical tools to transform survival strategies into conscious choices.
Through stories from Latina healers, cutting-edge epigenetic science, and proven clinical methods, you’ll learn how to honor your ancestors’ resilience while choosing which traditions to carry forward.
Your jaw clenches when you’re told what a woman should be. Your shoulders tighten at family gatherings. Your chest constricts as you calculate how to keep everyone happy while pieces of yourself fade away.
Our grandmothers and mothers carried it to protect us. They learned the rules of silence, sacrifice, and service because those were the tools of survival during colonization. Now these patterns live on in how we love, work, parent, and move through the world.
I wrote this book because I’ve witnessed thousands of women describe the same feeling – that desperate pull between who they’re expected to be and who they really are. We’re carrying centuries of protective patterns in our nervous systems. It’s time to understand why.
❤︎ Stories from Latina healers that name the unnamed weight you've been carrying
❤︎ The science of how colonial gender roles rewired our nervous systems
❤︎ Tools to transform survival patterns into conscious choices
❤︎ Practices to reclaim safety in your body
❤︎ Healing rituals that honor both legacy and liberation
❤︎ A framework for understanding your inherited protectors
→ The weight of being "the responsible one" is crushing you
→ You feel guilty choosing yourself
→ Your body holds tension your mind can't explain
→ You want to break patterns without breaking cultural bonds
→ The word "Marianismo" illuminates shadows you couldn't name
→ You're a healer seeking to understand this specific inheritance
Marianismo is a complex legacy born from colonialism – a set of rules that taught our grandmothers and mothers to survive through sacrifice. Their bodies learned these lessons so well that the pattern lives in our cells today.
This inheritance shows up in ways we’ve never connected: The constant drive to care for others before ourselves. The guilt that comes with rest. The feeling that our bodies aren’t quite our own.
Epigenetics shows us how trauma and survival strategies pass through generations at a cellular level. Understanding this helps explain why certain family patterns feel impossible to break, and why healing needs to happen at the level of body, not just mind.
I’m Cynthia Alonzo Perez, a first-generation licensed therapist, daughter of immigrants from Yucatan, Mexico. After earning degrees in Xicana/Latine Studies and Social Work from Cal State Long Beach, I’ve spent nearly two decades working with families across Southern California.
In 2021, I founded Rooted in Reflection to bridge clinical psychology with cultural wisdom. Through my podcast “Confetti All Around,” I explore how the latest research in psychology and epigenetics intersects with personal stories and practical advice about breaking generational patterns.
My approach blends neuroscience with ancestral practices, focusing on how colonial patterns live in our nervous systems and how we can transform them. Through courses, workshops, and speaking engagements, I help people understand their inherited patterns and reclaim their right to joy.
Cynthia Perez, LCSW, is the founder of Rooted in Reflection. Podcast Host, Author and creative, she’s an expert in intergenerational trauma and bilingual, culturally sensitive therapy, offering transformative workshops and retreats. Learn More
