THE NEW BIOLOGY
The Science of How Thoughts and Environment Control Life
Based on the book The Biology of Belief by Bruce Lipton, Ph.D
An essential easy read. ISNB 0-9759914-7-7
Heralded by the Wall Street Science Journal in mid 2004 as an important new field
INTRODUCTION - We Are One Universal Interactive Organism
The new breed of physicists since the turn of the twentieth century have come to realise that the Universe is not made up of matter suspended in empty space, but energy.The science of Quantum Physics says the whole planet is made up of matter and all matter is made up of energy. Energy and matter are so deeply entangled it is impossible to consider them as independent elements.. The Universe and our world within, including ourselves, is one interactive living, breathing organism of interconnected energy from the past, present and future.
"Everything is energy and beyond energy is a supreme intelligence", Albert Einstein
Except for the human species the planet itself and all living things on the planet work in harmony with nature - all using enough resource for their needs allowing sufficient capacity to replenish - a balanced ecological existence.
New science says the earth and all it's species constitute one interactive, living organism. Tampering with the balance of that super organism, whether by destroying the rain forest, depleting the ozone layer or altering organisms through genetic engineering can threaten it's survival and consequently ours. We were designed by nature to fit an environment, but not the environment we are now making.
It has been calculated that nature provides approximately $18 trillion per annum of resource and humans are now expending $35 trillion. The effects of this ongoing global imbalance of energy and resource on the increasingly polluted climate and expanding world population is now self evident,
Being part of this universal energy as ' energy formed ' humans, each individual is made up of over 50 trillion electromagnetically charged cells all with individual energy frequencies ( - human beings are multicellular organisms, evolved over billions of years ) which are housed in the form of a human frame.These cells control our mental and physical function and health by receiving and processing environmental information, protein and toxins. Our most complex cellular community is our nervous system. In Eastern Medicine the elaborate array of all our energy pathways holistically interconnecting ourselves are called meridians.
Each cell is surrounded by membrane. This membrane ( ' skin ' ) acts like a human transmitter, controlling the ' switches ' that turn our genes on and off, enabling information to be received upon which the effected energy of each cell will react and carry out their function reflecting the content of this information. Our function is not , as commonly perceived and promoted , controlled by our DNA/genes.
Our cells are made up of polysaccharides ( these complex sugars are found in Aloe Vera ), Lipids ( fats ), nucleic acids ( DNA/RNA ) and proteins ( Aloe Vera has at least 75 known nutrients ). Proteins are the most important single component for living organisms. Amino Acids are the essential building blocks for proteins. 19 of the 20 Amino Acids are found in Aloe Vera including 7 of the 8 essential ones. All the Better by Nature Homeopathic Remedies include 200 : 1 strength Aloe Vera in energy form.
THE ENVIRONMENT CONTROLS OUR BIOLOGY - NOT OUR GENES
Contrary to the invested interests of mainstream fundamentalist science, Quantum Physics and the discovery of epigenetics - hidden influences upon the genes - demonstrates that DNA does not control our biology. DNA is controlled by signals outside the cell including messages emanating from our positive and negative thoughts and environmental proteins and toxins.
At the heart of this new field of epigenetics is a simple but contentious idea - that genes have a ' memory '. That the lives of your grandparents - the air they breathed, the food they ate, even the things they saw - can directly affect you, decades later, despite your never experiencing these things yourself. And that what you do in your lifetime could in turn affect your grandchildren.
The conventional view is that DNA carries all our heritable information and that nothing an individual does in their lifetime will be biologically passed to their children. Epigenetics adds a whole new layer to our genes beyond the DNA. It proposes a control system of ' switches ' that turn genes on or off -and suggests that things people experience, like nutrition and stress, can control these switches and cause, not only effects in themselves' but heritable effects in humans.
Professor Wolf Reik, at the Babraham Institute Cambridge has demonstrated that genes and the environment are not mutually exclusive but are inextricably intertwined, one affecting the other. Research at Washington State University points to toxic effects - like exposure to fungicides or pesticides - causing biological changes in rats that persist for at least four generations.
The Caenorhabditis worm consists of approximately 24,000 genes ( Blaxter 2003 ). The human body, comprised of over 50 trillion cells, contains only 1500 more genes than the lowly, spineless, thousand - celled microscopic worm. Results of parallel genome projects reveal that humans and rodents have roughly the same number of genes. David Baltimore, one of the world's pre-eminent geneticists and a Nobel Prize winner states ( Baltimore 2001) ' But unless the human genome contains a lot of genes that are opaque to our computers, it is clear we do not gain our undoubted complexity over worms and plants by using more genes'.
Single - gene disorders affect less than two percent of the population. The vast majority of people come into this world with genes that should enable them to live a happy and healthy life. The diseases that are today's scourges - diabetes, heart disease and cancer - short circuit a happy and healthy life. These diseases however, are not the result of a single gene, but of complex interactions among multiple genes and environmental factors.
Only five percent of cancer and cardiovascular patients can attribute their disease to heredity. The malignancies in a significant number of cancer patients are derived from environmentally - induced epigenetic alterations and not defective genes ( Kling 2003; Jones 2001; Seppa 2000; Baylin 1997 ). Philosopher Eva Jablonka and biologist Marion Lamb wrote in their 1995 book Epigenetic Inheritance and Evolution ' In recent years, molecular biology has shown that the genome is far more fluid and responsive to the environment than previously supposed. It has also shown that information can be transmitted to descendants in ways other than through the base sequence of DNA '.
Epigenetics is at the forefront of a paradigm shift in scientific thinking. It will change the way the causes of disease are viewed, as well as the importance of lifestyles and family relationships.
HOW YOUR BRAIN/BODY WORKS - The Magical Membrane
The assembly of proteins are the machinery of the cell. DNA/genes are not the brain of cellular operation and the environment plays the crucial role in the operation of the cell.
The true secret of life lies in understanding the elegantly simple biological mechanisms of the ' magical ' membrane - the mechanisms by which your body translates environmental signals into behaviour. The membrane is so thin - only seven millionths of a millimeter thick - it was not discovered until the electron microscope of the 1950's.
Cell biologists gained insight into the cell membrane by studying the most primitive organisms on this planet - prokaryotes. Prokaryotes consist only of a cell membrane enveloping a droplet of soupy cytoplasm, yet they can sense where there is food moving to that spot and recognise toxins and predators and employ escape maneuvers to save their lives. The only organized cellular structure that can be considered as a candidate for the prokaryotes brain , displaying this intelligence, is it's membrane. DNA is not present in prokaryotes.
The cell membrane employs ' integral membrane proteins ' ( IMPS ). IMPS like ' antennae ' control access of both energy vibration and molecular information into the cells which in turn impact cell physiology. IMPS have two functional classes, receptor ( awareness ) proteins and effector ( action ) proteins. Because energy vibration in the environment resonates with a receptor's antenna ( Tsong 1989 ) receptors can read energy fields and therefore the notion that only physical molecules can impact cell physiology is outmoded. Biological behaviour can be controlled by invisible forces, including thought, as well as it can by physical molecules, a fact that provides the scientific underpinning for pharmaceutical-free energy medicine such as the Better by Nature Homeopathic Remedies.
Only in recent years have scientists realized the importance of membrane's IMPS, which has now led to a new field of it's own called ' Signal Transduction '. The study of Signal Transduction is catapulting the membrane to the centre stage, just as the field of Epigenetics is high-lighting the role of the chromosome's ( structure occurring in pairs in the nucleus of cells ) proteins.
These IMPS or their byproducts provide signals that control the binding of the chromosome's regulatory proteins that form a ' sleeve ' around the DNA. In contrast to conventional wisdom, genes do not control their own activity. Instead it is the membrane's effector proteins, operating in response to environmental signals picked up by the membrane's receptors, which CONTROL the ' reading ' of genes so that worn-out proteins can be replaced , or new proteins can be created.
Understanding how the IMPS work is to conclude the cell's operations are primarily molded by it's interaction with the environment, not by it's genetic code. As remarkable as DNA blueprints are, they do not ' control ' the operations of the cell. Logically genes cannot preprogram a cell or an organism's life, because cell survival depends on the ability to dynamically adjust to an ever-changing environment. The membrane's function of interacting ' intelligently ' with the environment to produce behaviour makes it the true brain of the cell.
Through cellular evolution, from the primitive prokaryotes, cells became smarter by using their outer membrane more efficiently and by expanding the surface area of their membranes so more ' intelligent ' IMPS could be packed in. The end result is more awareness which translates into greater survivability. Cells started to specialize when they clubbed together to form multicellular organisms. An example of this in our advanced bodies is the specialized group of cells we call the nervous system which controls so many functions.
An Australian research consortium headed by B. A, Cornell published an article in Nature, which stated that the cell membrane is a homologue of a computer chip ( Cornel et al, 1997 ) ' A chip is a semiconductor with gates and channels. The membrane is a liquid semiconductor with gates and channels '. The first big deal insight that comes from this comparative exercise is that computers are programmable. The second corollary insight is that the programmer lies OUTSIDE the computer/cell. Biological behaviour and gene activity are dynamically linked to information from the environment, which is downloaded into the cell.
The DNA is simply a memory disk. When you remove the memory disk the work of the cellular protein machine goes on because the information that created the protein machine has already been downloaded. The gene-containing nucleus does not program the cell. Data is entered into the cell/ computer via the membrane's receptors, which represent the cell's ' keyboard '. Receptors trigger the membrane's effector proteins, which act as the cell/computer's ' central processing unit ' ( CPU ). The CPU effector proteins convert environmental information into the behavioural language of biology.
We are the drivers of our own biology, just as we are the driver of a word processing programme. We have the ability to edit the data we enter into our biocomputers just a surely as we can choose the words we type. When we understand how IMPS control biology we become masters of our fate, not victims of our genes.
INTEGRATING QUANTUM MECHANICS - The New Biology - Will Deliver Optimum Healthcare
Traditionally the vast majority of scientists were trained on the basis of the physical world of Newton ignoring the quantum world of Einstein, in which matter is made up of energy and there are no absolutes. Most even today have no idea that quantum physics is in any way relevant to biology, the science of living organisms.
Medical schools - tethered to a belief in old-style Newtonian physics disregard the healing claims attributed to acupuncture, chiropractic, massage therapy etc. These healing modalities are all based on the belief that energy fields are influential in controlling our physiology and our health.
The new breed of physicists evolved since the turn of the twentieth century, are probing the relationship between energy and the structure of matter. They abandoned their belief in a Newtonian material universe as they came to realize that the universe is not made up of matter suspended in empty space, but energy.
Quantum physicists discovered that physical atoms are made up of vortices of energy that are constantly spinning and vibrating; each atom is a wobbly spinning top that radiates energy. Because each atom has it's own energy signature ( wobble ), assemblies of atoms ( molecules ) collectively radiate their own identifying energy patterns. So every material structure in the universe, including you and me, and the ingredient signatures of the Better by Nature mother formula herbal remedies now captured in Homeopathic Remedies, radiates a unique energy signature.
The fact that energy and matter are one and the same is precisely what Einstein recognized when he concluded: E = mc2. Simply stated, this equation reveals: Energy ( E ) = Matter ( m, mass ) multiplied by the Speed of Light squared ( c2 ) . Einstein revealed that we do not live in a universe with discreet, physical objects separated by dead space. The universe is ONE INDIVISIBLE, DYNAMIC WHOLE in which energy and matter are so deeply entangled it is impossible to consider them as independent elements.
Linear Versus Holistic Flow of Information
Even after the discoveries of quantum physics, biologists and medical students continue to be trained to view the body only as a physical machine that operates in accordance with Newtonian principles. However because of their Newtonian, materialistic bias, conventional researchers have completely ignored the role that energy plays in health and disease.
Conventional biologists are reductionists who believe that mechanisms of our physical bodies can be understood by taking the cells apart and studying their chemical building blocks. They see the body as an assembly line based on linear flow of information IE :
A to B to C to D to E. This reductionist model suggests if there is a problem in the assembly line system, evident as a disease or dysfunction, the problem cell is provided, for example, with a functional replacement via prescribing a pharmaceutical drug. This assumption spurs the pharmaceutical industry's search for magic-bullet drugs and designer genes. The reductionist's perception of a linear flow of information is a characteristic of the Newtonian universe.
In contrast, the flow of information in a quantum universe is HOLISTIC. Cellular constituents are woven into a complex web of crosstalk, feedback and feedforward communication loops ( see illustration below ). To adjust the chemistry of this complicated interactive system requires a lot more understanding than simply adjusting one of the information pathway's components with a drug. If you change the concentration of C for example, it does not just influence the action of D. Via holistic pathways , variations in the concentration of C profoundly influence the behaviours and functions of A, B, and E as well as D. No wonder so many drugs have side effects.
Recent groundbreaking research in mapping protein-protein interactions in the cell now demonstrates the physical presence of these complex holistic pathways. ( Li et al, 2004; Glot, et al, 2003; Jansen, et al, 2003 ). Multicellular organisms can survive with far fewer genes than scientists once thought because the same gene products ( protein ) are used for a variety of functions. This is similar to using the twenty six letter alphabet to construct every word in our language.
Western Medicine Versus Eastern Energy Medicine
Iatrogenic; ie, illness resulting from medical treatment is now a leading cause of death. Based on a ten year study ( Null, et al, 2003) iatrogenic illness is actually the leading cause of death in the United States and that the adverse reactions to prescription drugs are responsible for more than 300,000 deaths a year. The healing profession has arrogantly dismissed three thousand years of effective Eastern Medicine as unscientific. In Eastern Medicine, the body is defined by an elaborate array of energy pathways called meridians.In Chinese phsysiologic charts of the human body, these energy networks resemble electronic wiring diagrams. Using aids like acupuncture needles, Chinese physicians test their patients energy circuits in exactly the same manner that electrical engineers ' troubleshoot ' a printed circuit board, searching for electrical ' pathologies '. Major surgery is also performed using acupuncture needles to replace the toxicity of anaesthetics.
Because medical students are taught by an archaic medical education founded on Newtonian, matter-only universe, medical doctors are caught between an intellectual rock and a corporate hard place. We need to step back and incorporate the discoveries of quantum physics into biomedicine so that we can create a new, safer system of medicine that is attuned to the laws of nature.
Hundreds upon hundreds of scientific studies over the last fifty years have consistently revealed that ' invisible forces ' of the electromagnetic spectrum profoundly impact every facet of biological regulation. Specific frequencies and patterns of electromagnetic radiation regulate DNA,RNA and protein syntheses, alter protein shape and function, and control gene regulation, cell division, cell differentiation, morphogenesis ( the process by which cells assemble into organs and tissues ), hormone secretion, nerve growth and function. Each one of these cellular activities is a fundamental behaviour that contributes to the unfolding of life. These findings, published in respected biomedical journals have yet to be incorporated into medical school curriculum.( Liboff 2004; Goodman and Blank 2002: Sivitz 2000; Jin et al, 2000; Blackman et al, 1993: Rosen 1992; Blank 1992; Tsong 1989; Yen - Patton, et al, 1988.
Electromagnetic frequencies are a hundred times more time efficient in relaying environmental information than physical signals such as hormones, neurotransmitters ( McClare 1974).
We know that living organisms must receive and interpret environmental signals in order to stay alive. In fact survival is directly related to the speed and efficiency of signal transfer. The speed of electromagnetic energy signals is 186.000 miles per second, while the speed of diffusable chemicals is considerably less than 1 centimeter per second. Energy signals are 100 times more efficient and infinitely faster than physical chemical signaling. What kind of signaling would your 50 trillion - celled community prefer?
If energy healing could be made into a tablet form, drug manufacturers would get interested quickly. Consequently there are no serious research funds available for studying energy medicine. The rub is that without supportive research, energy-based healing modalities are officially labeled ' unscientific '.
Though conventional medicine still has not focused on the role energy plays as ' information ' in biological systems, it has embraced noninvasive scanning techniques such as CAT scans, MRI's and positron emission tomography ( PET ) scans. Doctors also use harmonic resonance energy to treat kidney stones, a rare case where the laws of quantum physics have been harnessed as a therapeutic tool in modern medicine.
The science of physics implies that the same harmonic resonance mechanism by which sound waves destroy a goblet or a kidney stone, can enable similar energy harmonics to influence the functions of our body's chemistry. But biologists have not explored these mechanisms with the passion with which they pursue new drugs. That is unfortunate because there is enough scientific evidence to suspect that we can tailor a wave form energy as a therapeutic agent in much the same way as we now modulate chemical structures with drugs.
UNDERSTANDING OUR THOUGHTS ARE AS TOXIC AS THE ENVIRONMENT
Traditional medicine has historically adopted the notion that the mind and the body are separate and not interconnected. Medically speaking, it would be easier to fix a mechanical body without having to deal with the complexity of the mind. This philosophy still prevails today.
However there are numerous examples which disprove this thinking. How is it people can walk on hot coals without scalding their feet! Why do large numbers of people who have been infected by the Aids HIV virus for decades not express the disease! Why do terminal cancer patients recover through spontaneous remission!
As discussed, thoughts, the mind's energy, directly influence how the physical brain controls the body's physiology. Because remissions are outside the bounds of conventional theory, science completely disregards the fact they ever happened.
The conscious mind is the creative one that can conjure up ' positive thoughts '. In contrast the subconscious mind is a repositary of stimulus-response tapes derived from instincts and learned experiences. The subconscious mind is strictly habitual. The subconscious mind is millions of times more powerful than the conscious mind.
Throughout the process of evolution single cells emerged then grouped together as communities of cells eventually creating plants etc. Subsequently these communities created a nerve network and central information processor, a brain , leading to animals and humans. The brain CONTROLS the behaviour of the body's cells. This is very important to consider as we blame the cells of our organs and tissues for the health issues we experience in our lives.
The Belief of Placebos
The placebo effect should be a major topic of study at medical school and major funded research. If the placebo effect could be harnessed doctors would have an efficient, energy-based, side-effect free tool to treat disease. This has been dismissed because drugs companies do not want an alternative to buying drugs.
It inevitably disturbs pharmaceutical manufacturers that in most of their clinical trials the placebos, the ' fake ' drugs, prove to be as effective as their engineered chemical cocktails. The United States Department of Health and Human Services report found that half of severely depressed patients taking drugs improve versus thirty two percent placebos - Horgan 1999. University of Connecticut psychology professor Irving Kirsch found that eighty percent of the effect of antidepressants, as measured in clinical trials, could be attributed to the placebo effect - Kirsch et al 2002. Kirsch had to envoke the Freedom of Information Act in 2001 to get the information on the clinical trials of the top antidepressants. Drug companies are now studying patients who respond to the sugar pills with the goal of eliminating them from clinical trials. The message from the drug companies is, remove the competition.
These placebo results are not ' all in our heads ' - when the mind changes, it absolutely affects your biology.
How The Mind Controls The Body
As explained earlier the cells of our body receive all the signals from our environment via the cell's ' antennae ' membranes and react accordingly. Our conscious mind experiences these signals as emotions. Repeated patterns of signals in turn create ' conditioning ' which becomes part of our ' unconscious ' learned ' reflex ' behaviour.The actions of our subconscious mind are reflexive in nature and not governed by reason or thinking.
The conscious mind's capacity to override the subconscious mind's preprogrammed behaviour is the foundation of free will. The downside is when we accept, as a learned experience, the perception of others as ' truths ' and they become hardwired into our brains. IE ' don't worry Jimmy, the dentist won't hurt you ' mummy says. But what does Jimmy think when he first sits in the dentist's chair? Our perceptions, whether they are accurate or inaccurate, equally impact our behaviour and our bodies. Controlling perceptions become our ' beliefs '. Therefore ' beliefs control our biology '.
Bio scientists are conventional Newtonians - if it isn't matter . it doesn't count. The ' mind ' is a non-localised energy and therefore is not relevant to materialistic biology. Unfortunately that perception is a ' belief ' that has been proven to be incorrect in a quantum mechanical universe.
The Power Of Negative Beliefs - Nocebos
In considering the powerful effects of the placebo conversely we have to be aware of negative thinking. When the same mind is engaged in negative suggestions that damage health, the negative effects are referred to as the ' nocebo ' affect. In medicine the nocebo effect can be as powerful as the placebo effect. IE: the doctor in his white coat says ' you have six months to live '. If you choose to believe your doctor's message, you are not likely to live much more time on this earth.
Positive thoughts are a biological mandate for a happy, healthy life. In the words of Mahatma Gandhi:
Your beliefs become your thoughts
Your thoughts become your words
Your words become your actions
Your actions become your habits
Your habits become your values
Your values become your destiny
HOW WE SURVIVE - Growth and Protection
Our fundamental ability to survive is based on two functional mechanisms - growth and protection. We all understand the importance of protecting ourselves. However even fully grown adults replace the entire cellular lining of their gut every seventy two hours and every day billions of cells in our body wear out and need to be replaced. We must not take for granted the key function of nurturing growth. Gravitating to a life-sustaining signal, such as nutrients, characterizes a growth response; moving away from threatening signals , such as toxins, characterizes a protection response.
It is important to understand that the mechanisms that support growth and protection cannot operate optimally at the same time. Therefore if say you are retreating from a mugger in a dark alley, all reserves are used for the protection mechanism at the expense of the growth mechanism. Similarly someone with a lifestyle under constant high levels of stress will have less growth resources and over a period of time this inhibition leads to lack of vitality and sometimes illness. Mental illness today is now the leading reason for absenteeism in the Western world. To fully thrive, we must not only eliminate the stressors but also actively seek joyful, loving, fulfilling lives that stimulate growth processes.
In our multicellular organisms, growth/protection behaviours are first controlled by the nervous system. It is the nervous system's job to monitor environmental signals, interpret them and organize appropriate behavioural responses. In a multicellular community, the nervous system acts like the government in organizing the activities of it's cellular citizens. When the nervous system recognizes a threatening environmental stress, it alerts the community of cells to impending danger.
The body's second protection system is the immune system, which protects us from threats originating under the skin, such as those caused by bacteria and viruses. When the immune system is mobilized to fight these invasions, it can also consume much of the body's energy growth supply.
Stress Kills
Today's lifestyle dictates we are constantly besieged by multitudes of unresolvable worries about our personal lives , our jobs and our war-torn global community. Such worries do not threaten our immediate survival but they nevertheless activate the protection mode, resulting in chronically elevated stress hormones. We live in a ' Get set, Ready, Go ' world and an increasing body of research suggests that our hyper-vigilant lifestyle is severely impacting the health of our bodies. Almost every major illness that people acquire has been linked to chronic stress - Segerstrom and miller 2004; Kopp and Rethelyi 2004; McEwan and Lasky 2002; McEwan and \seeman 1999.
More researchers are pointing to the inhibition of neuronal growth by stress hormones as the source of depression. A review study published in Science reported: ' Overtaking the monamine hypothesis ( the basis of SSRI drug science ) in recent years has been the stress hypothesis, which posits that depression is caused when the brain's machinery goes into overdrive. The most prominent player in this theory is the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis' ( HPA which mobilizes the protectionist 'fight or flight response' )- Holden 2003.
If we can control our fears, we regain control over our lives. Letting go of fear is the first step toward creating a fuller, more satisfying life.
PARENTS ARE THE GENETIC ENGINEERS OF THEIR CHILDREN
' Gene myopia ' is the term that best describes the current all-pervasive view that our health and destiny throughout life are controlled by our genes alone. We think that because two children grow up in the same environment ( nurture ) the reason for their differences has to be nature ( genes ). Not true.
Frontier science is confirming what mothers and enlightened fathers have known forever. To quote Dr. Thomas Verny, a pioneer in the field of prenatal and perinatal psychiatry: ' Findings in the peer-reviewed literature over the course of decades establish, beyond any doubt, that parents have overwhelming influence on the mental and physical attributes of the children they raise '. - Verny and Kelly 1981. Scientists used to think that the human brain did not become functional until after birth. Dr Peter W. Nathanielsz wrote in Life in the Womb - The Origin of Health and Disease: ' The quality of life in the womb, our temporary home before we were born, programs our susceptibility to coronary heart disease, stroke, diabetes, obesity and a multitude of other conditions in later life '- Nathanielsz 1999. Recently, an even wider range of adult related chronic disorders, including osteoperosis, mood disorders and psychoses, have been intimately linked to pre- and perinatal developmental illnesses '. - Gluckman and Hanson 2004.
Nathanielsz writes: ' There is mounting evidence that programming of lifetime health by the conditions in the womb is equally, if not more important , than our genes in determining how we perform mentally and physically during life '.As Nathanielsz states, ' by improving the prenatal environment parents act as genetic engineers for their children'. This growing awareness of epigenetics is referred to under the earlier section ' The Environment Controls Our Biology - Not Our Genes '.
This epigenetic transgenerational passage of characteristics by nongenetic means does occur. This epigenetic human development can go awry and lead to an array of chronic diseases in older age if an individual experiences adverse nutritional and environmental circumstances during fetal and neonatal periods of development. - Bateson et al 2004.
The same epigenetic influences also occur after the child is born because parents continue to influence their child's environment. ' For the growing brain of a young child, the social world supplies the most important experiences influencing the expression of genes, which determines how neurons connect to one another in creating the neuronal pathways which give rise to mental activity ' writes Dr. Daniel J. Siegal in The Developing Mind. - Siegal 1999. In other words, infants need a nurturing environment to activate the genes that develop healthy brains.
The Power Of The Subconscious Mind
If a Kinesiologist holds out your arm and asks you to state your correct name, when he presses hard on your arm it resists. However when asked to give an incorrect name there is no resistance in the arm even if you try to resist. In this simple exercise your more powerful subconscious brain has overridden your conscious brain. Your subconscious brain is simply acting on your learned belief ( perception ) of your correct name since you were first called it.
During the first six years of enculturisation, children's brains operate with a lower level of frequency state of mind ( Hypnotherapists drop their patients brains into Delta and Theta frequencies ). This frequency state enables them subconsciously to process so much more of the vast quantity of essential information as they start out in the world. Young children carefully observe their environment and download the worldly wisdom offered by parents directly into their subconscious memory. By the time children reach adolescence, their subconscious minds are chock-full of information that range from the knowledge of how to walk, the ' knowledge ' they will never amount to anything, or the 'knowledge', fostered by loving parents, they can do anything they set out to do. The sum of our genetically programmed instincts and the beliefs we learned from our parents collectively form the subconscious mind. Our physiology and behaviour patterns conform to the ' truths ' of this ' central voice ', be they constructive or destructive beliefs. The subconscious mind is a programmable ' hard drive ' into which our life experiences are downloaded.
The Creative Conscious Mind
Whilst the subconscious mind is our ' autopilot ' the conscious mind is our manual control. The subconscious mind processes some 20,000,000 environmental stimuli per second versus 40 environmental stimuli interpreted by the conscious mind in the same second, The subconscious mind is the most powerful information processor known, while the conscious mind has the ability to focus and be creative in responses to environmental stimuli. Thus the conscious mind offers us free will, meaning we are not just victims of our programming. The conscious mind can also think forward and backward in time, while the subconscious mind is always operating in the present moment.
The conscious mind is the ' self ', the voice of our own thoughts. While we focus our minds on happy thoughts, who is running the show? The subconscious. How is the subconscious going to manage our affairs? Precisely the way it was programmed, because subconscious-generated behaviours are not generally observed by the conscious mind. Many people are stunned to hear they are ' just like their mom or their dad ' the people who programmed their subconscious minds.
The biggest impediments to realizing the successes of which we dream are the limitations programmed into the subconscious. These limitations not only influence our behaviour, they can also play a major role in determining our physiology and our health. Conversely what if we had conscious parents and teachers who served as wonderful life models, always engaged in humane and win-win relations with everyone in the community?
Engaging the subconscious in battle is as pointless as kicking the juke box in the hope it will reprogram its play list. This is similar to surpressing destructive behaviours with drugs and talk therapy. New approaches recognizing the findings of quantum physics understand there is no point in ' reasoning ' with the subconscious tape player. These modalities connect energy and thought. They reprogram previously learned behaviours and can be referred to as energy psychology, a burgeoning field based on the New Biology.
How much easier would it be to be nurtured from the beginning of life so that you can reach your genetic and creative potential? How much better to become a conscious parent so that your children and their children will be conscious parents, making reprogramming unnecessary and making for a happier , more peaceful planet!
Conscious Conception Pregnancy and Parenting
Research reveals that parents act as genetic engineers for their children in the months before conception. In final stages of egg and sperm maturation, a process called ' genome imprinting ' adjusts the activity of specific groups of genes that will shape the character of the child yet to be conceived. - Surani 2001; Reik and walter 2001. ' It makes a difference whether we are conceived in love, haste, or hate and whether a mother wants to be pregnantparents do better when they live in a calm and stable environment free of addictions and supported by family and friends '- Verney and Weintraub 2002. Once the child is conceived, an impressive body of research is documenting how important parents' attitudes are in the development of the fetus.
The developing child receives it's nutrients from the mother's blood. Along with nutrients, the fetus absorbs excess glucose if the mother is diabetic and excess cortisol and other fight of flight hormones if the mother is chronically stressed. When these maternal stress signals enter the fetal blood stream they affect the same target issues and organs in the fetus as they do in the mother. When passing through the placenta, the hormones of a mother experiencing chronic stress will profoundly alter the distribution of blood flow in her fetus and change the character of her developing child's physiology. - Lesage, et al. 2004; Ghristenson 2000; Arnsten 1998; Leutwyte
