You Are the Placebo: Making Your Mind Matter
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| The Genius of Your Genes The answer to that question led to anew idea Genes must work together in systemic cooperation with one another so that many are expressed (turned on) or suppressed (turned oat the same time within the cell it’s the combination of the genes that are turned on at anyone time that produces all the different proteins we depend on for life. Picture a string of blinking Christmas-tree lights, with some flashing on together while others flash o. Or imagine a city skyline at night—with the lights in the individual rooms in each building flipping on or off as the night progresses. This doesn’t happen randomly, of course. The entire genome or DNA strand knows what every other part is doing in an interconnected fashion that’s intimately choreographed. Every atom, molecule, cell, tissue, and system of the body functions at a level of energetic coherence equal to the intentional or unintentional (conscious or unconscious) state of being of the individual personality So it makes sense that genes can be activated (turned on) or deactivated (turned off ) by the environment outside the cell, which sometimes means the environment inside the body (the emotional, biological, neurological, mental, energetic, and even spiritual states of being) and at other times means the environment outside the body (trauma, temperature, altitude, toxins, bacteria, viruses, food, alcohol, and so on). Genes are, in fact, classified by the type of stimulus that turns them on and o. For example, experience-dependent or activity-dependent genes are activated when we’re having novel experiences, learning new information, and healing. These genes generate protein synthesis and chemical messengers to instruct stem cells to morph into whatever types of cells are needed at the time for healing (more about stem cells and 100 their role in healing will becoming up soon). Behavioral-state-dependent genes are activated during periods of high emotional arousal, stress, or different levels of awareness (including dreaming. They provide a link between our thoughts and our bodies— that is, they’re the mind-body connection. These genes offer an understanding of how we can influence our health instates of mind and body that promote well-being, physical resilience, and healing. Scientists now believe it’s even possible that our genetic expression fluctuates on a moment-to-moment basis. The research is revealing that our thoughts and feelings, as well as our activities—that is, our choices, behaviors, and experiences—have profound healing and regenerative effects on our bodies, as the men in the monastery study discovered. Thus your genes are being affected by your interactions with your family, friends, coworkers, and spiritual practices, as well as your sexual habits, your exercise levels, and the types of detergents you use. The latest research shows that approximately 90 percent of genes are engaged in cooperation with signals from the environment And if our experience is what activates a good number of our genes, then our nature is influenced by nurturing. So why not harness the power of these ideas so that we can do everything possible to maximize our health and minimize our dependence on the prescription pad? As Ernest Rossi, PhD, writes in The Psychobiology of Gene Expression, “Our subjective states of mind, consciously motivated behavior, and our perception of freewill can modulate gene expression to optimize health.” 9 Individuals can alter their genes during a single generation, according to the latest scientific thinking. While the process of genetic evolution can take thousands of years, a gene can successfully alter its expression through a behavior change or a novel experience within minutes, and then it maybe passed onto the next generation. It helps to think of our genes less like stone tablets onto which our fate has been ceremoniously carved and more like storehouses of an enormous amount of coded information or even massive libraries of possibilities for the expression of proteins. But we can’t just call the stored information up to make use of it the way a company might order something from its warehouse. It’s as if we don’t know what’s in storage or how to access it, so we end up using just a small portion of what’s truly available. In fact, we actually express only about 1.5 percent of our DNA, while the other percent lies dormant in the body. (Scientists called it junk DNA but it’s not really junk—they just don’t know how all of that material is used yet, although they do know that at least some of it is responsible for making 101 regulatory proteins.) “In reality, genes contribute to our characteristics but do not determine them writes Dawson Church, PhD, in his book The Genie in Your Genes. “The tools of our consciousness—including our beliefs, prayers, thoughts, intentions, and faith—often correlate much more strongly with our health, longevity, and happiness than our genes do The fact is, just as there’s more to our bodies than a sack of bones and flesh, there’s more to our genes than just stored information. Download 5.46 Mb. Share with your friends:
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