this is Audible The New York Times bestselling book you are the placebo making your mind matter by Dr Joe dispenser read by Adam Boyce copyright 2014 by Dr Joe dispenser for my mother Franchesca preface waking up I never planned on doing any of this the work I'm currently involved in as a speaker author and researcher sort of found me in order for some of us to wake up we sometimes need a wakeup call in 1986 I got the call on a beautiful Southern California day in April I had the privilege of being run over by an SUV in a Palm Springs Triathlon that moment changed my life and started me on this whole journey I was 23 at the time with a relatively new Chiropractic practice in La Hoya California and I trayed hard for this Triathlon for months I had finished the swimming segment and was in the biking portion of the race when it happened I was coming up to a tricky turn where I knew we'd be merging with traffic a police officer with his back to the oncoming cars wav me on to turn right and follow the course since I was fully exerting myself and focused on the race I never took my eyes off of him as I passed two cyclists on that particular Corner a read four-wheel drive br Co going about 55 mph slammed into my bike from behind the next thing I knew I was catapulted up into the air then I landed squarely on my backside because of the speed of the vehicle and the slow reflexes of the elderly woman driving the Bronco the SUV kept coming toward me and I was soon reunited with its bumper I quickly grabbed the bumper in order to avoid being run over and to stop my body from passing between metal and asphalt so I was dragged down the road a bit before the driver realized what was happening when she finally did abruptly stop I tumbled out of control for about 20 yards I can still remember the sound of the bikes whizzing by and the horrified screams and profanities of the Riders passing me not knowing whether they should stop and help or continue the race as I lay there all I could do was surrender I would soon discover that I had broken six vertebrae I had compression fractures in thoracic 8 9 10 11 and 12 and Lumbar one ranging from my shoulder blades to my kidneys the vertebrae are stacked like individual blocks in the spine and when I hit the ground with that kind of force they collapsed and compressed from the impact the eighth thoracic vertebrae the top segment that I broke was more than 60% collapsed and the circular Arch that contained and protected the spinal cord was broken and pushed together in a pretzel light shape when a vertebrae compresses and fractures the bone has to go somewhere in my case a large volume of shattered fragments went back toward my spinal cord it was definitely not a good picture as if I were in a bad dream gone Rogue I woke up the next morning with a host of neurological symptoms including several different types of pain varying degrees of numbness tingling and some loss of feeling in my legs and some sobering difficulties in controlling my movements so after I had all the blood tests x-rays CAT scans and MRIs at the hospital the orthopedic surgeon showed me the results and somberly delivered the news in order to contain the bone fragments that were now on my spinal cord I needed surgery to implant a Harrington Rod that would mean cutting out the back parts of the vertebrae from two to three segments above and below the fractures and then screwing and clamping two 12-in stainless steel rods along both sides of my spinal column then they'd scrape some fragments off my hipbone and paste them over with the rods it would be a major surgery but it would mean I'd at least have a chance to walk again even so I knew I'd probably still be somewhat disabled and I'd have to live with chronic pain for the rest of my life needless to say I didn't like that option but if I chose not to have the surgery paralysis seemed certain the best neurologist in the Palm Springs area who concurred with the first surgeon's opinion told me that he knew of no other patient in the United States in my condition who had refused it the impact of the accident had compressed my T8 vertebrae into a wedge shape that would prevent my spine from being able to Bear the weight of my body if I were to stand up my backbone would collapse pushing those shattered bits of the vertebrae deep into my spinal cord causing instant paralysis from my chest down that was hardly an attractive option either I was transferred to a hospital in La Hoya closer to my home where I received two additional opinions including one from the leading orthopedic surgeon in Southern California both doctors agreed that I should have the Harrington Rod Surgery it was a pretty consistent prognosis have the surgery or be paralyzed never to walk again if I had been the medical professional making the recommendation I'd have said the same thing it was the safest option but it wasn't the option I chose for myself maybe I was just young and bold at that time in my life but I decid it against the medical model and the expert recommendations I believe that there's an intelligence an invisible Consciousness within each of us that's The Giver of Life it supports maintains protects and heals us every moment it creates almost a 100 trillion specialized cells starting from only two and keeps our hearts beating hundreds of thousands of times per day and it can organize hundreds of thousands of chemical reactions in a single cell in every second among many other amazing functions I reasoned at the time that if this intelligence was real and if it willfully mindfully and lovingly demonstrated such amazing abilities maybe I could take my attention off my external world and begin to go within and connect with it developing a relationship with it but while I intellectually understood that the body often has the capacity to heal itself now I had to apply every bit of philosophy that I knew in order to take that knowledge to the next level and Beyond to create a true experience with healing and since I wasn't going anywhere and I wasn't doing anything except lying face down I decided on two things first every day I would put all of my conscious attention on this intelligence within me and give it a plan a template a vision with very specific orders and then I would surrender my healing to this greater mind that has unlimited power allowing it to do the healing for me and second I wouldn't let any thought slip by my awareness that I didn't want to experience sounds easy right against the advice of my medical team I left the hospital in an ambulance that brought me to the home of two close friends where I stayed for the next 3 months to focus on my healing I was on a mission I decided that I would begin every day reconstructing my spine vertebrae by vertebrae and I would show this Consciousness if it was paying attention to my efforts what I wanted I knew that it would demand my absolute presence that is for me to be present in the moment not thinking about or regretting my past worrying about the future obsessing about the conditions in my external life or focusing on my pain or symptoms just as in any relationship we have with anybody we all know when someone is present or not with us right because Consciousness is awareness awareness is paying attention and paying attention is being present and noticing this Consciousness would be aware of when I was present and when I wasn't I would have to be totally present when I interacted with this mind my presence would have to match its presence my will would have to match its will and my mind would have to match its mind so for 2 hours twice a day I went within and began creating a picture of my intended result a totally healed spine of course I became aware of how unconscious and unfocused I was it's ironic I realized back then when crisis or trauma occurs we spend too much of our attention and energy thinking about what we don't want instead of what we do want during those first several weeks I was guilty of this tendency on what seemed like a momentto moment basis in the middle of my meditations on creating the life I wanted with a fully healed spine I would all of a sudden become aware that i' been unconsciously thinking about what the surgeons had told me a few weeks prior that I would probably never walk again I would be in the midst of inwardly reconstructing my spine and the next thing I knew I was stressing over whether I should sell my chiropractic practice while I was step-by-step mentally rehearsing walking again I would catch myself imagining what it would be like to live the rest of my life sitting in a wheelchair you get the idea so every time I lost my attention and my mind wandered to any extraneous thoughts I would start from the and do the whole scheme of imagery over again it was tedious frustrating and quite frankly one of the most difficult things I've ever done but I reasoned that the final picture that I wanted the observer in me to notice had to be clear unpolluted and uninterrupted in order for this intelligence to accomplish what I hoped what I knew it was capable of doing from start to finish I had to stay conscious and not go unconscious finally after after 6 weeks of battling with myself and making the effort to be present with this Consciousness I was able to make it through my inward reconstruction process without having to stop and start over from the beginning I remember the day I did it for the first time it was like hitting a tennis ball on The Sweet Spot there was something right about it it clicked I clicked and I felt complete satisfied and whole for the first time I was truly relaxed and present in mind and body there was no mental chatter no analyzing no thinking no obsessing no trying something lifted and a kind of peace and silence prevailed it was as if I no longer cared about all of the things I should have been worried about in my past and future and that realization solidified the journey for me because right around that time as I was creating this vision of what I wanted reconstructing my vertebrae it started to get easier every day most important I started to notice some pretty significant physiological changes it was in that moment that I began to correlate what I was doing inside of me to create this change with what was taking place outside of me in my body the instant I made that correlation I paid greater attention to what I was doing and I did it with more conviction and I did it again and again as a result I kept doing it with a level of joy and inspiration instead of such a dreadful compromised effort and all of a sudden what had originally taken me 2 or 3 hours to accomplish in one session I was able to do in a shorter period now I had quite a bit of time on my hands so I started to think about what it would be like to see a sunset again from the water's edge or eat lunch with my friends at a table at a restaurant and I thought about how I would never take any of that for granted in detail I imagined taking a show and feeling the water on my face and body or simply sitting up while using the toilet or taking a walk on the beach in San Diego the wind blowing on my face these were some of the things that I had never fully appreciated before the accident but now they had meaning and I took my time to emotionally embrace them until I felt as if I were already there I didn't know what I was doing at the time but now I do I was actually starting to think about all of these future potentials that existed in the quantum field and then I was emotionally embracing each of them and as I selected that intentional future and married it with the elevated emotion of what it would be like to be there in that future in the present moment my body began to believe it was actually in that future experience as my ability to observe my desired Destiny got sharper and sharper my cells began to reorganize themselves I began to Signal new genes and new ways and then my body really started getting better faster what I was learning is one of the main principles of quantum physics that mind and matter are not separate elements that our conscious and unconscious thoughts and feelings are the very blueprints that control our destiny the persistence conviction and focus to manifest any potential future lies within the human mind and within the mind of the infinite Potentials in the quantum field both of these minds must work together in order to bring about any future reality that potentially already exists I realize that in that way we are all Divine creators independent of race gender culture social status education religious beliefs or even past mistakes I felt really blessed for the first time in my life I made other key decisions about my healing as well I set up a whole regime described in detail in involve your brain that included diet visits from friends who practiced energy healing and an elaborate rehabilitation program but nothing was more important to me during that time than getting in touch with that intelligence within me and through it using my mind to heal my body at 9 and 1/2 weeks after the accident I got up and walked back into my life without having any body cast or any surgeries I had reached full recovery I started seeing patience again at 10 weeks and was back to training and lifting weights again while continuing my Rehabilitation at 12 weeks and now almost 30 years after the accident I can honestly say that I've hardly ever had back pain since but that wasn't the end of this adventure not surprisingly I couldn't go back into my life as my same self I was changed in many ways I'd been initiated into a reality that no one I knew could really understand I couldn't relate with a lot of my friends and I certainly couldn't return to the same life the things that were once so important to me really no longer mattered and I started asking big questions like who am I what is the meaning of this life what am I doing here what is my purpose and what or who is God I left San Diego within a short time and moved to the Pacific Northwest eventually opening a chiropractic clinic near Olympia Washington but at first I pretty much retreated from the world and studied spirituality in time I also became very interested in spontaneous remissions when people healed from a ious disease or condition deemed terminal or permanent without traditional medical interventions like surgery or drugs on those long Lonely Nights during my recovery when I couldn't sleep I had made a deal with that Consciousness that if I were ever able to walk again I'd spend the rest of my life investigating and researching the Mind Body Connection and the concept of Mind Over Matter and that's pretty much what I've been doing in the nearly three decades since then I traveled to several different countries seeking out many people who had been diagnosed with illnesses and treated conventionally or non-conventionally either staying the same or getting worse until all of a sudden they got better I started interviewing these people to discover what their experiences had in common so I could understand and document what had made them improve because I had a passion to marry science with spirituality what I found was that each of these miraculous cases relied on a strong element of mind the scientist in me started getting very itchy becoming even more inquisitive I became re-involved in attending University classes and studying the latest research in neuroscience and I Advanced my postgraduate training in brain Imaging neuroplasticity epigenetics and psychon neuroimmunology and I figured now that I knew what these people had done to get better and now that I knew all about the science of changing your mind or at least I thought I did I should be able to reproduce it in both sick people and people who are well who want to make changes to support not only their health but also their relationships careers families and lives in general I was then invited to be one of the 14 scientists and researchers featured in the 2004 documentary film what the bleep do we know and that movie became an overnight sensation what the bleep do we know invited people to question the nature of reality and then try it out in their lives to see if their observation mattered or perhaps more accurately put if their observation became matter people around the world were talking about the film and the concepts it espoused in the wake of that my first book evolve your brain the science of changing your mind was published in 2007 after evolve your brain had been out for a while people started to ask me how do you do it how do you change and how do you create the life you want it soon became the most common question people ask me so I assembled a team team and started teaching workshops across the United States and internationally on how the brain is wired and how you can reprogram your thinking using neuro physiological principles at first these workshops were mostly just a sharing of information but people wanted more so I added meditations to synergize and complement the information giving participants practical steps to making changes in their minds and bodies and as a result changes in their lives as well after I taught my introductory workshops in different parts of the world people would then ask me what's next so I began teaching another level to the introductory Workshop after that was completed more folks asked me if I could teach another level a more advanced Workshop this continued in most of the places where I presented I kept thinking that I was done that I taught all I could teach but people kept asking for more so I'd learn more myself and then refine the presentations and meditations a momentum developed and I I was getting good feedback people were able to eliminate some of their self-destructive habits and Lead happier lives even though up to this point my associates and I had seen only small changes nothing really significant people loved the information and wanted to continue the practice so I kept going where I was invited I figured that when the time came that they stopped inviting me I'd know I was done with this work about a year and a half after our first Workshop my team and I started receiving several emails from participants commenting on positive changes they were experiencing from doing the meditations on a consistent basis a flood of change began to manifest in people's lives and they were Overjoyed the feedback we received over the next year caught my attention and that of my staff as well our participants began reporting not only subjective changes in their physical health but also improvements in objective measurements from their medical tests sometimes the test would even come back totally normal these people were able to reproduce the exact physical mental and emotional changes that I studied observed and ultimately wrote about in evolve your brain this was incredibly exciting for me to witness because I knew that anything that is repeatable verges on becoming a scientific law it seemed as though many folks were sending us emails starting with the same verbiage you're not going to believe this and those changes were now more than coincidence then a little later that year during each of the two events in Seattle some amazing things began to happen at the first event a woman with multiple sclerosis Ms who was using a walker when she arrived was walking unassisted by the time the workshop was over at the second Seattle event that year another woman who had suffered with Ms for 10 years started dancing around declaring that the paralysis and numbness she' experienced in her left foot were completely gone you read more about one of these women and others like them them in the chapters to come by demand in 2010 I taught a more Progressive Workshop in Colorado where people started noticing that they were shifting their well-being right there during the event people stood up took the microphone and reported some pretty inspiring stories around this time I was also invited to speak to a lot of Business Leaders about the biology of change the neuro science of leadership and the concept of how to transform individuals in order to transform a culture after a keynote address to one group several Executives approached me about adapting the ideas for a corporate model of transformation so I created an 8-hour course that could be tailored for companies and organizations and the course was so successful that it spawned out 30 days to genius corporate program I found myself working with business clients such as Sony Entertainment Network Gallow Family Vineyards and Telecommunications Company wow originally called wide open West and many others this led to offering private coaching for upper management the demand for our corporate programs became so great that I began training a coaching staff I now have more than 30 active trainers including ex CEOs corporate Consultants psychotherapists attorneys Physicians engineers and PhD professionals who travel all around teaching this model of transformation to different companies we now have plans to begin certifying independent coach in using the model of change with their own clients never in my wildest dreams had I ever imagined this type of future for myself I wrote my second book breaking the habit of being yourself how to lose your mind and create a new one published in 2012 to serve as a practical how-to companion to evolve your brain I not only explained more about the Neuroscience of change and epigenetics but also included a 4-we program with step-by-step Direction for implementing these changes based on the workshops I was teaching at the time then I did another more advanced event in Colorado where we had seven spontaneous remissions of various conditions one woman who was living on lettuce because of severe food allergies was healed that weekend other people were healed of gluten intolerance cilc disease a thyroid condition severe chronic pain and other conditions all of a sudden I started seeing some really significant changes in people's health and in their lives while they retreated from their then current reality in order to create a new one it was happening right before my eyes that event in Colorado in 2012 was the turning point in my career because I could finally see that people not only were being helped to change their sense of well-being but now also we're signaling new genes in new ways right there during the meditations in real time in big ways in order for someone who had been sick for years with a health condition like Lup to become well during a 1hour meditation something significant must have occurred in the person's mind as well as her body I wanted to figure out how to measure these changes while they were happening in the workshops so that we could see exactly what was going on so in early 2013 I offered a brand new type of event that shot our workshops to a whole new level for this event which was in Arizona I invited a team of researchers including neuroscientists technicians and Quantum physicists with specialized instruments to join me for a 4-day workshop attended by more than 200 participants the experts used their equipment to measure the ambient electromagnetic field in the workshop room to see if the energy was changing as the workshop progressed they also measured the field of energy around the participants bodies and the energy centers of their bodies also called chakras to see if they were able to influence these centers to take these measurements they used very sophisticated ated instrumentation including electroencephalography EEG to gauge the brain's electrical activity quantitative electroen graphy qeg to make a computerized analysis of the EEG data heart rate variability HRV to document the variation in time interval between heart beats and heart coherence a heart rhythm measurement that reflects the communication between the heart and the brain and gas discharge visualization gdv to measure changes in bioenergetic fields we did brain scans on many of the participants both before and after the event so that we could see what was going on in the inner world of people's brains and we also randomly selected people to scan during the event to see if we could measure any changes in brain patterns in real time during the three meditations I led each day it was a great event a person with Parkinson's disease no longer had any Tremors another person with a traumatic brain injury was healed people with tumors in their brains and bodies found that these growths went away many individuals with arthritic pain experienced relief for the first time in years all of these occurrences were among many other profound changes during this amazing event we were finally able to capture objective changes in a scientific realm of measurement and document the subjective changes participants reported in their health I don't think it's an exaggeration to say that what we observed and recorded made history later in the book I'll show you what you're capable of doing by sharing some of these stories stories about ordinary people doing the extraordinary here was my idea in developing that Workshop I wanted to give people scientific information and then provide them with the necessary instruction on how to apply that information so that they could achieve heightened degrees of personal transformation science is after all the Contemporary language of mysticism I learned that the most moment you start talking in the language of religion or culture the moment you start quoting tradition you divide your audience members but science unifies them and demystifies the mystical and I discovered that if I could teach people the scientific model of transformation bringing in little quantum physics to help them understand the science of possibility combine it with the latest information in Neuroscience neuroendo chronology epigenetics and psychon neuroimmunology give them the right kind of instruction and provide the opportunity to apply that information then they would experience a transformation and if I could do this in a setting where I could measure the transformation as it was happening then that measurement of transformation would become more information that I could use to teach the participants about the transformation they had just experienced and with that information they could have another transformation and on it goes as people begin to close the gap between who they think they are and who they really are divine creators making it easier for them to keep doing it I called this concept information to transformation and it has become my new passion now I offer an introductory online intensive and also personally teach about 9 or 10 3-day Progressive workshops a year all around the world plus one or two 5-day Advanced workshops where we have the aforementioned scientists come in with their equipment to measure brain changes changes in heart function changes in genetic expression and energetic changes in real time the results are nothing short of astounding and they form the basis of this book introduction making minds matter the incredible results I've seen in the advanced workshops I offer and all of the scientific data that has come out of that have led me to the idea of the placebo how people can take a sugar pill or get a saline injection and then their belief in something outside of themselves makes them get better I began to ask myself what if people begin to believe in themselves instead of something outside of themselves what if they believe that they can change something inside of them and move themselves to the same state of being as someone who's taking a placebo isn't that what our Workshop participants have been doing in order to get better do people really need a pill or an injection to change their state of being can we teach people to accomplish the same thing by teaching them how the placebo really works after all the snake handling preacher who drinks strict n and has no biological effects certainly has changed his state of being right you'll read more about this in the first chapter so if we can then begin to measure what's taking place in the brain and look at all of this information can we teach people how to do it themselves without relying on something outside of them without a placebo can we teach them that they are the placebo in other words can we convince them that instead of investing their belief in the known like a sugar pill or saline injection they can place their belief in the unknown and make the Unknown Known and really that's what this book is about empowering you to realize that you have all of the biological and neurological Machinery to do exactly that my goal is to demystify these concepts with the new science of the way things really are so that it is within the reach of more people to change their internal States in order to create positive changes in their health and in their external world if that sounds too amazing to be true then as I've said toward the end of the book you'll see some of the research compiled from our workshops to show you exactly how it's possible I want to take just a moment to talk about a few things that this book is not about to clear up any potential misconceptions right from the start for one you won't read here about the ethics of using placebos in medical treatment there's much debate about the moral correctness of treating a patient who isn't part of a medical trial with an inert substance while a discussion about whether the end justifies such means May well be worthwhile in a broader conversation about placebos that issue is completely separate from the message this book aims to deliver you are the placebo is about putting you in the driver's seat of creating your own change not about whether or not it's okay for other people to trick you into it this book is also not about denial none of the methods you'll read about here involve denying whatever health condition you may presently have much to the contrary this book is about transforming illness and disease my interest is in measuring the changes people make when they move from sickness to health instead of being about rejecting reality you are the placebo is about projecting what's possible when you step into a new reality you'll discover that honest feedback in the form form of medical tests will inform you if what you're doing is working once you see the effects you've created you can pay attention to what you did to arrive at that end and do it again and if what you're doing isn't working then it's time to change until it is that's combining science and spirituality Denial on the other hand occurs when you're not looking at the reality of what's happening within and around you this book also won't question the efficacy of the various healing modalities many different modali I exist and many of them work quite well all of them have some type of measurable beneficial effect in at least some people but a complete cataloging of these methods isn't what I want to focus on in this book my purpose here is to introduce you to the particular modality that has most captured my attention healing yourself through thought alone I encourage you to continue using any and all healing modalities that work for you bday prescription drugs surgery acupuncture chiropra itic biof feedback therapeutic massage nutritional supplements yoga reflexology Energy Medicine sound therapy and so on you are the placebo is not about rejecting anything except your own self-imposed limitations you are the placebo is divided into two parts part one gives you all of the detailed knowledge and background information you need to be able to understand what the placebo effect is and how it operates in your brain and body as well as how to create the same kind of miraculous changes in your own brain and body all by yourself by thought alone chapter 1 starts off the book by sharing some incredible stories demonstrating the amazing power of the human mind some of these Tales relate how people's thoughts have healed them and others show how people's thoughts have actually made them sick and sometimes even hastened their death you read about a man who died after hearing he had cancer even his autopsy revealed that he had been misdiagnosed a woman plagued by depression for decades who improved dramatically during an antidepressant drug trial despite the fact that she was in the group receiving a placebo and a handful of veterans hobbled by osteoarthritis who are miraculously cured by fake knee surgery you'll even read some startling stories about Voodoo curses and snake handling my purpose in sharing these dramatic stories is to show the wide range of what the human mind is capable of doing all on its own without any help from modern medicine and hopefully it will lead you to the question how is that possible chapter 2 gives a brief history of the placebo tracing accounts of related scientific discoveries from the 1770s when a vianes doctor used magnets to induce what he thought were therapeutic convulsions all the way through the modern day as neuroscientists solve exciting mysteries about the intricacies of how the mind works you'll meet a Doctor Who veloped techniques of hypnotism after arriving late for an appointment only to find his waiting patient mesmerized by a lamp flame a World War II surgeon who successfully used saline injections as an analgesic on wounded soldiers when he ran out of morphine and early psycho neuroimmunology researchers in Japan who switched poison ivy leaves with harmless leaves and found that their test group reacted more to what they were told they were experiencing than to what they actually did experience you'll also read about how Norman Cousins laughed himself to health how Harvard researcher Herbert Benson MD was able to reduce cardiac patients risk factors for heart disease by figuring out how Transcendental Meditation worked and how Italian neuroscientist Fabrizio Benedetti MD PhD Prime subjects who had been given a drug and then switched the drug for a placebo and watched the brain continue to Signal the production of the same neurochemicals that drug produced without interruption and you'll also read a striking news study that's a real GameChanger it shows that irritable bowel syndrome IBS patients were able to dramatically improve their symptoms by taking placebos even though they knew full well that the medication they were given was a placebo not an active drug chapter 3 will take you through the physiology of what happens in your brain when the placebo effect is operating you'll read that in one sense the placebo works because you can Embrace or entertain a new thought that you can be well and then use it to replace the thought that will always be sick that means you can change your thinking from unconsciously predicting that your future is your same familiar past to beginning to anticipate and expect a new potential outcome if you agree with this idea then it means that you'll have to examine how you think what the mind is and how these things affect the body I'll explain how as long as you're thinking the same thoughts they'll lead to the same choices which cause the same behaviors which create the same experiences which produce the same emotions which in turn Drive the same thoughts so that neurochemically you stay the same in effect you're reminding yourself of who you think you are but hold on you're not hardwired to be the same way for the rest of your life I'll then explain the concept of neuroplasticity and how we now know that the brain is capable of changing throughout our lives creating new neural Pathways and new connections chapter 4 moves into a discussion of the placebo effect in the body explaining the next step of the physiology of the placebo response it starts out telling the story of a group of elderly men who attended a week-long retreat set up by Harvard researchers who asked the men to pretend they were 20 years younger by the end of the week the men had made numerous measurable physiological changes all turning back the clock on their bodies and you'll learn the secret behind how they did it to explain that the chapter also discusses what genes are and how they are signaled in the body you'll learn how the relatively new and exciting science of epigenetics has basically torched the old school idea that your genes are your destiny by teaching us that the Mind truly can instruct new genes to behave in new ways you'll discover how the body has elaborate mechanisms for turning some genes on and others off which means that you're not doomed to express whatever genes you've inherited this means that you can learn how to change your neural wiring to select new genes and create real physical changes you'll also read about how our bodies access stem cells the physical matter that's behind many placebo effect miracles to make new healthy cells in areas that have been damaged chapter 5 ties the previous two chapters together explaining how thoughts change your brain and your body it begins by asking the question if your environment changes and you then signal new genes in new ways is it possible to Signal the new Gene ahead of the changing of the actual environment I'll then explain how you can use a technique called mental rehearsal to combine a clear intention with an elevated emotion to give the body a sampling of the future experience in order to experience the new future event in the present moment the key is making your inner thoughts more real than your outer environment because then the brain won't know the difference between the two and will change to look as if the event has taken place if you're able to do this successfully enough times you'll transform your body and begin to activate new genes in new ways producing epigenetic changes just as though the imagined future event were real and then you can walk right into that new reality and become the placebo this chapter not only outlines the science behind how this happens but also includes stories of many public figures from different walks of life who have used this technique whether or not they were fully aware of what they were doing at the time to make their Wildest Dreams Come True chapter six which concentrates on the concept of suggestibility begins with a fascinating but chilling story of how a team of researchers set out to test whether a regular low abiding mentally healthy person who is highly suggestible to hypnosis could be programmed to do something he or she would normally deem Unthinkable shoot a stranger with the intent to kill you'll see that people have differing degrees of suggestibility and the more suggestible you are the better able you are to gain access to your subconscious mind this is key to understanding the placebo effect because the conscious mind is only 5% of who we are the remaining 95% is a set of subconscious program States in which the body has become the Mind you'll learn that you must get beyond the analytic mind and enter into the operating system of your subconscious programs if you want your new thoughts to result in new outcomes and change your genetic Destiny as well as learn how meditation is a powerful tool for doing just that the chapter ends with a brief discussion of different brain wave states and which are the most conducive to your becoming more suggestible chapter 7 is all about how attitudes beliefs and perceptions change your state of being and create your personality your personal reality and how you can shift them to create a new reality you'll read about the power that unconscious beliefs exert and have a chance to identify some of those beliefs you've been harboring without realizing it you'll also read about how the environment and your associative memories can sabotage your ability to change your beliefs I'll explain more fully the in order for you to change your beliefs and perceptions you must combine a clear intention with an elevated emotion that conditions your body to believe that the future potential that you've selected from the quantum field has already happened the elevated emotion is vital because only when your choice carries an amplitude of energy that's greater than the hard wide programs in your brain and the emotional Addiction in your body will you be able to change your brain's circuitry and your body's genetic expression as well as recondition your body to a new mind erasing any trace of the old neuros circuitry and conditioning in chapter 8 I'll introduce you to the quantum Universe the unpredictable world of the matter and energy that make up the atoms and molecules of everything in the universe which turn out to be really more energy which looks like empty space than solid matter the quantum model which states that all possibilities exist in this present moment is your key to using the bbo effect for healing because it gives you permission to choose a new future for yourself and actually observe it into reality you'll then understand just how possible it really is to cross the river of change and make the Unknown Known chapter 9 introduces you to three people from my workshops who have reported some truly remarkable results from using these same techniques to change their health for the better first you'll meet Lori who at age 19 was diagnosed with a rare degenerative bone disease that her doctors told her was incurable although the bones in Lor's left leg and hips suffered 12 major fractures over several decades leaving her dependent on crutches for getting around today she walks perfectly normally without even needing a cane her x-rays show no evidence of any fractures in Her Bones then I'll introduce you to Candice who was diagnosed with Hashimoto disease a serious thyroid condition with a host of complications during a time in her life when she was resentful and full of Rage Candace's doctor told her that she'd have to take medication for the rest of her life but she proved him wrong after she eventually was able to turn a condition around today Candace is totally in love with a brand new life and takes no medication for her thyroid which blood test show is completely normal finally you'll meet Joanne the woman mentioned in the preface a mother of five who was a successful businesswoman and entrepreneur who many considered a superwoman before she collapsed quite suddenly and was diagnosed with an advanced form of multiple sclerosis Joanne's condition went downhill quickly and she was eventually unable to move her leg legs when she first came to my workshops she made only small changes until one day when the woman who hadn't moved her legs in years walked around the room completely unassisted after just 1 hour long meditation chapter 10 shares more remarkable stories from Workshop participants along with the brain scans that go with them you'll meet Michelle who completely healed herself of Parkinson's disease and John a paraplegic who stood up from his wheelchair after a meditation you'll read how Cath a CEO living on the fast track learned to find the present moment and how Bonnie healed herself of fibroids and heavy menstrual bleeding finally you meet gweni who went into such states of bliss in meditation that tears of joy ran down her face and Maria whose experience can only be described as having an orgasm in her brain I'll show you the data my team of scientists collected from these people's brain scans so that you can see the changes we witnessed in real time during the Workshops the best part of all of this data is that it proves you don't have to be a monk or nun a scholar a scientist or a spiritual leader to accomplish similar Feats you don't need a PhD or a medical degree the folks in this book are ordinary people like you after reading this chapter you'll understand that what these people did is not magic or even all that miraculous they simply learned and applied teachable skills and if you practice the same skills you'll be able to make similar changes part two of the book is all about meditation it includes chapter 11 which outlines some simple preparation steps for meditation and goes over specific techniques you'll find helpful and chapter 12 which gives you step-by-step instructions for using the meditation techniques I teach in my Workshops the very same techniques that participants use to produce the remarkable results you'll have read about earlier in the book I'm happy to say that although we don't have all of the answers yet about harnessing the power of the placebo all sorts of people are actually using these ideas right now to make extraordinary changes in their lives the kinds of changes that many others consider practically impossible the techniques I share in this book need not be limited to Healing a physical condition they can also be applied to improving any aspect of your life my hope is that this book will inspire you to try these techniques too and to make possible in your life the same kind of seemingly impossible changes author's note while the stories of the IND uals in my workshops who experienced healing are true their names and certain identifying details have been changed in this book to protect their privacy part one information chapter 1 is it possible Sam lond a retired shoe salesman living outside of St Louis in the early 1970s began to have difficulty swallowing he eventually went to see a doctor who discovered that Lon had metastic esophagal cancer in those days metastic esophagal cancer was considered incurable no one had ever survived it it was a death sentence and lon's Doctor delivered the news in an appropriately somber tone to give L as much time as possible the doctor recommended surgery to remove the cancerous tissue in the esophagus and in the stomach where the cancer had spread trusting the doctor L agreed and had the surgery he came through as well as could be expected but things soon went from bad to worse a scan of lon's liver revealed still more bad news extensive cancer throughout the liver's entire left lobe the doctor told lond that sadly at best he had only months to live so L and his new wife both in their 70s arranged to move 300 mil to Nashville where lon's wife had family soon after the move to Tennessee Lon was admitted to the hospital and assigned to internist Clifton midor the first time Dr midor walked into lon's room he found a small unshaven man curled up under benath a mound of covers looking nearly dead L was Gruff and uncommunicative and the nurses explained that he'd been like that since his admission a few days before while L had high blood glucose levels due to diabetes the rest of his blood chemistry was fairly normal except for slightly higher levels of liver enzymes which was to be expected of someone with liver cancer further medical examination showed nothing more a miss a blessing considering the patient desperate condition under his new doctor's orders l begrudgingly received Physical Therapy a fortified liquid diet and lots of nursing care and attention after a few days he grew a little stronger and his grumpiness started to subside he began talking to Dr midor about his life L had been married before and he and his first wife had been true soulmates they had never been able to have children but otherwise had had a good life because they loved boating when they retired they had bought a house by a large man-made lake then late one night the nearby earn Dam burst and a wall of water crushed their house and swept it away L miraculously survived by hanging on to some wreckage but his wife's body was never found I lost everything I ever cared for he told Dr midor my heart and soul were lost in the flood that night within 6 months of his first wife's death while still grieving and in the depths of depression L had been diagnosed with es sophical cancer and had had the surgery it was then that he had met and married his second wife a kind woman who knew about his terminal illness and agreed to care for him in the time he had left a few months after they married they made the move to Nashville and Dr midor already knew the rest of the story once L finished the story the doctor Amazed by what he just heard asked with compassion what do you want me to do for you the dying man thought for a while I'd like to live through Christmas so I can be with my wife and her family they're been good to me he finally answered Just Help Me Make It Through Christmas that's all I want Dr midor told L he would do his best by the time L was discharged in late October APAP than when he had arrived Dr Mido was surprised but pleased by how well L was doing the doctor saw his PA about once a month after that and each time L looked good but exactly what one week after Christmas on New Year's Day lon's wife bought him back to the hospital Dr midor was surprised to find that Lon again looked near death all he could find was a mild fever and a small patch of pneumonia on lon's chest x-ray although the man didn't seem to be in any respiratory distress all of lon's blood tests looked good and the cultures the doctor ordered for him came back negative for any other disease Dr MAA prescribed antibiotics and put his patient on oxygen hoping for the best but with within 24 hours Sam lond was dead as you might assume this story is about a typical cancer diagnosis followed by an unfortunate death from a fatal disease right not so fast a funny thing happened when the hospital performed lawn's autopsy the man's liver was in fact not filled with cancer he had only a very tiny nodule of cancer in its left lobe and another very small spot on his lung the truth is neither cancer was big enough to kill him and in fact the area around his esophagus was totally free of disease as well the abnormal liver scan taken at the St Louis hospital had apparently yielded a false positive result Sam Lon didn't die of esophagal cancer nor did he die of liver cancer he also didn't die of the mild case of pneumonia he had when he was readmitted to the hospital he died quite simply because everybody in his immediate environment thought he was dying his doctor in St Lewis thought Lon was dying and then Dr midor in Nashville thought Lon was dying lon's wife and family thought he was dying too and most important L himself thought he was dying is it possible that Sam Lon died from thought alone is it possible that thought is that powerful and if so is this case unique 26-year-old graduate student Fred Mason not his real name became depressed when his girlfriend broke up with him he saw an ad for a clinical trial of a new anti-depressant medication and decided to enroll he had a bout of depression 4 years previously at which time his doctor prescribed the anti-depressant amitryptiline elil but Mason had been forced to stop the medication when he became excessively drowsy and developed numbness he had felt the drug was too strong for him and now hoped the new drug would have fewer side effects after he had been in the study for about a month he decided to call his ex-girlfriend the two of of them argued on the phone and after Mason hung up he impulsively grabbed his bottle of pills from the trial and swallowed all 29 that were left in the container attempting suicide he immediately repented running into the hallway of his apartment building Mason desperately called out for help and then collapsed on the floor a neighbor heard his cry and found him on the ground writhing he told his neighbor he' made a terrible mistake that he had taken all his pills but didn't really want to die when he asked the neighbor to take him to the hospital she agreed when Mason got to the emergency room he was pale and sweating and his blood pressure was 80 over 40 with a pulse rate of 140 breathing rapidly he kept repeating I don't want to die when the doctors examined him they found nothing wrong other than his low blood pressure rapid pulse and Rapid breathing even so he seemed lethargic and his speech was slurred the medical team inserted an IV and hooked it up to a saline drip took samples of Mason's blood and urine and asked what drug he'd taken Mason couldn't remember the name he told the doctors it was an experimental anti-depressant drug that was part of a trial he then handed them The Empty Bottle which indeed had information about the clinical trial printed on the label although not the name of the drug there was nothing to do but wait for the lab results monitor his vital signs to make sure he didn't take a turn for the worse and hope that the hospital staff could contact the researchers who were conducting the trial 4 hours later after the results of the lab test came back totally normal a physician who had been part of the clinical drug trial arrived checking the code on the label of Mason's empty pill bottle the researcher looked into the records for the trial he announced that Mason had actually been taking a placebo and that the pills he had swallowed contain no drugs at all miraculously Mason's blood pressure and pulse returned to normal within a few minutes and as if by Magic he was no longer excessively drowsy either Mason had fallen victim to the no CBO a harmless substance that thanks to strong expectations causes harmful effects is it really possible that Mason's symptoms had been brought on solely because that's what he'd expected to happen from swallowing a huge handful of anti-depressants could Mason's mind as in the case of Sam L have taken control of his body driven by expectations of what seemed to be the most probable future scenario to the extent that he made that scenario real could that happen even if that meant his mind would have to take control of functions not normally under conscious control and if that were possible could it also be true that if our thoughts can make us sick we also have the ability to use our thoughts to make us well Janice shonfeld a 46-year-old interior designer living in California had suffered with depression since she was a teenager she had never sought help with the condition until she saw a newspaper ad in 1997 the use CLA neuros psychiatric Institute was looking for volunteer subjects for a drug trial to test a new anti-depressant called vacine effect effector shanfeld whose Depression had escalated to the point where the wife and mother had actually entertained thoughts of suicide jumped at the chance to be part of the trial when shanfeld arrived at The Institute for the first time a technician hooked her up to an electroencephalograph EEG to Monitor and record her brain wave activity for about 45 minutes and not long after that shanfeld left with a bottle of pills from the hospital pharmacy she knew that roughly half the group of 51 subjects would be getting the drug and half would receive a placebo although neither She nor the doctors conducting the study had any idea which group she had been randomly assigned to in fact no one would know until the study was over but at the time that hardly mattered to shanfeld she was excited and hopeful that after Decades of battling clinical depression a condition that would cause her to sometimes suddenly burst into tears for no apparent reason she might finally be getting help shanfeld agreed to return every week for the entire 8 weeks of the study on each occasion she had answered questions about how she was feeling and several times she sat through yet another EEG not long after she started taking her pills shanfeld began feeling dramatically better for the first time in her life ironically she also felt nauseated but that was good news because she knew that noria was one of the common side effect effect of the drug being tested she thought that she surely must have gotten the active drug if her Depression was lifting and she was also experiencing side effects even the nurse she spoke to when she returned every week was convinced shanfeld must be getting the real thing because of the changes she was experiencing finally at the end of the 8-week study one of the researchers revealed the shocking truth shanfeld who was no longer suicidal and felt like a new person after taking the pills had actually been in the sibo group shanfeld was flawed she was sure the doctor had made a mistake she simply didn't believe that she could have felt so much better after so many years of suffocating depression simply from taking a bottle of sugar pills and she'd even gotten the side effects there must have been a mixup she asked the doctor to check the records again he laughed good-naturedly as he assured her that the bottle she had taken home with her the bottle that had given shanfeld her life back indeed contained nothing but Placebo pills as she sat there in shock the doctor insisted that just because she hadn't been getting any real medication it didn't mean that she had been imagining her depression or her Improvement it only meant that whatever had made her feel better wasn't due to affector and she wasn't the only one the study results would soon show that 38% of the placebo group felt better compared to 52% of the group who received aor but when the rest of the data came out it was the researchers turn to be surprised the patients like like shanfeld who had improved on the placebos hadn't just imagined feeling better they had actually changed their brain wave patterns the EEG recordings taken so Faithfully over the course of the study showed a significant increase in activity in the prefrontal cortex which in depressed patients typically has very low activity thus the placebo effect was not only altering shafi's mind but also bringing about real physical changes in her biology in other words it wasn't just in her mind it was in her brain she wasn't just feeling well she was well shanfeld literally had a different brain by the end of the study without taking any drug or doing anything differently it was her mind that had changed her body more than a dozen years later shanfeld still felt much improved how is it possible that a sugar pill could not only lift the symptoms of deep-seated depression but also caus Bonafide side effects like noria and what does it mean that the same inert substance actually has the power to change how brain waves fire increasing activity in the very part of the brain most affected by depression can the subjective mind really create those kinds of measurable objective physiological changes what's going on in the mind and in the body that would allow a placebo to so perfectly mimic a real drug in this way could the same phenomenal healing effect occur not only with chronic Mental Illness but also with a life-threatening condition ition such as cancer in 1957 UCLA psychologist Bruno kloer published an article in a peer review journal telling the story of a man he referred to as Mr Wright who had Advanced lymphoma a cancer of the lymph glands the man had huge tumors some as big as an orange in his neck groin and armpits and his cancer was not responding to all the conventional treatments he lay in his bed for weeks febrile grasping for air completely bedridden his Dr Philip West had given up hope although Wright himself had not when Wright found out that the hospital where he was being treated in Long Beach California just happened to be one of 10 hospitals and research centers in the country that were evaluating an experimental drug extracted from horse blood called probasin he got very excited Wright unrelentingly badged Dr West for days until the physician agreed to give him some of the new remedy even though wri couldn't officially be part of the trial which required patients to have at least 3month life expectancy Wright received his injection of kazin on a Friday and by Monday he was walking around laughing and joking with his nurses acting pretty much like a new man Dr West reported that the tumors had melted like snowballs on a hot stove within 3 days the tumors were half their original size in 10 more days Wright was sent home he had been cured it seemed like a miracle but 2 months later the media reported that the 10 trials showed that kazen turned out to be a dud once Wright read the news became fully conscious of the results and embraced the thought that the drug was useless he relapsed immediately with his tumors soon returning Dr West suspected that R's initial positive response was due to the bbo effect and knowing that his patient was terminal he figured he had little to lose and Wright had everything to gain by testing out his theory so the doctor told rri not to believe the newspaper reports and he had suffered a relapse because the croson that given Riot was found to be part of a bad batch what Dr West called a new super refined double strength version of the drug was on its way to the hospital and Wright could have it as soon as it arrived in anticipation of being cured Wright was elated and a few days later he received the injection but this time the syringe Dr West used contain no drug experimental or not the syringe was filled only with distilled water again right's tumors magically vanished he happily returned home and did well for another two months free of tumors in his body but then the American Medical Association made the announcement that cbas was indeed worthless the medical establishment had been duped the miracle drug turned out to be a hoax nothing more than mineral oil containing a simple amino acid the manufacturers were eventually indicted upon hearing the news Wright relapsed the final time no longer believing in the Poss ility of Health he returned to the hospital hopeless and 2 Days Later was dead is it possible that Wright somehow changed his state of being not once but twice to that of a man who simply didn't have cancer in a matter of days did his body then automatically respond to a new mind and could he have changed his State back to that of a man with cancer once he heard the drug was reported to be worthless with his body creating exactly the same chemistry and returning to the familiar sick condition is it possible to achieve such a new biochemical State not only when taking a pill or getting a shot but also when undergoing something as invasive as surgery in 1996 orthopedic surgeon Bruce Mosley then of the Baylor College of Medicine and one of Houston's leading experts in Orthopedic Sports Medicine published a trial study based on his experience with 10 volunteers all men who had served in the military and suffered from osteoarthritis of the knee due to the severity of their conditions many of these men had a noticeable limp walked with a cane or needed some type of assistance to get around the study was designed to look at arthoscopic surgery a popular surgery that involved anesthesized instrument called an arthroscope which the surgeon would use to get a good look at the patient's joint in the surgery the doctor would then scrape and rinse the joint to remove any fragments of degenerated cartilage that were thought to be the cause of the inflammation and pain at that time about 3/4 of a million patients receive the surgery every year in Dr Mosley's study two of the 10 men were to be given the standard surgery called a debridment where the surgeon scraped strands of cartilage from the knee joint three of them were to receive a procedure called a lavage where High pressured water is injected through the knee joint rinsing and flushing out the decayed arthritic material and five of them would receive sham surgery in which Dr Mosley would deafly slice through their skin with a scalpel and then just sew them back up again without performing any medical procedure at all for those five men there would be no arthroscope no scraping of the joint no removal of bone fragments and no washing just an incision and then Stitches the start of each of the 10 procedures was exactly the same the patient was wheeled into the operating room and given general anesthesia while Dr Mosley scrubbed up once the surgeon entered the operating theater he would find a sealed envelope waiting for him that would tell him which of the three groups the patient on the table had been randomly assigned to Dr Mosley would have no idea what the envelope contained until he actually ripped it open after the surgery all 10 of the patients in the study reported greater mobility and less pain in fact the men who received pretend surgery did just as well as those who'd received a brident or levage surgery there was no difference in the results even 6 months later and 6 years later when two of the men who' received the placebo surgery were interviewed they reported that they were still walking normally without pain and had greater range of motion they said that they could now perform all the everyday activities that they hadn't been able to do before the surgery 6 years earlier the men felt as though they'd regained their lives fascinated by the results Dr Mosley published another study in 2002 involving 180 patients who were followed for 2 years after their surgeries again all three groups improved with patients beginning to walk without pain or limping immediately after the surgery but again neither of the two groups who actually had the surgery improved any more than the patients who'd received the placebo surgery and this held true even after 2 years could it be possible that these patients got better simply because they had faith and believe in the healing power of the surgeon the hospital and even in the gleaming modern operating room itself did they somehow Envision a life with a fully healed knee simply surrender to that possible outcome and then literally walk right into it was Dr Mosley in effect nothing more than a modern-day witch doctor in white lab coat and is it possible to attain the same degree of healing when facing something more threatening maybe something as serious as heart surgery in the late 1950s two groups of researchers conducted studies comparing the then standard surgery for Angina to a placebo this was well before the coronary artery bypass graft the surgery most often used today back then most heart patients received a procedure known as internal memory liation which involved EXP exposing the damaged arteries and intentionally tying them off the thinking was that if surgeons blocked the blood flow in this way it would force the body to sprout new vascular channels increasing blood flow to the heart the surgery was extremely successful for the huge majority of patients who had it although doctors had no solid proof that any new blood vessels were ever actually created hence the motivation for the two studies these groups of researchers one in Kansas City and one in Seattle each followed the same procedure dividing this study subjects into two groups one received the standard internal memory liation and the other received a sham surgery the surgeons made the same small incisions into the patient chests that they made for the real surgery exposing the arteries but then they just sewed the patients back up doing nothing more the results of both studies were strikingly similar 67% of the patients who had received the actual surgery felt less pain and needed less medication while 83% of those who had received the Sham surgery enjoyed the the same level of improvement the bbo surgery had actually worked better than the real surgery could it be that somehow the patients who had received the Sham surgery so believed that they'd get better that they actually did get better through nothing more than holding that expectation for the best and if that is possible what does that say about the effects our everyday thoughts whether positive or negative have on our bodies and our health a wealth of research now exists to show that our attitude does indeed affect our health including how long we live for example the Mayo Clinic published a study in 2002 that followed 447 people for more than 30 years showing that optimists were healthier physically and mentally Optimist literally means best suggesting that those folks focused their attention on the best future scenario specifically the Optimus had fewer problems with daily activities as a result of their physical health or their emotional state experienced less pain felt more energetic had an easier time with social activities and felt happier calmer and more peaceful most of the time this came right on the heels of another Mayo Clinic study that followed more than 800 people for 30 years showing that optimists live longer than pessimists researchers at Yale followed 660 people age 50 and older for up to 23 years discovering that those with a positive attitude about aging live more than 7 years longer than those who had a more negative outlook about growing older attitude had more of an influence on longevity than blood pressure cholesterol levels smoking body weight or level of exercise additional Studies have looked more specifically at heart health and attitude around the same time a Duke University study of 866 heart patients reported that those who routinely felt more positive emotions had a 20% greater chance of being alive 11 years later than those who habitually experience more negative emotions even more striking are the results of a study of 255 Medical students at the Medical College of Georgia who were followed for 25 years those who were the most hostile had five times greater incident of coronary heart disease and a John Hopkins study presented at the American Heart association's 2001 scientific sessions even showed that a positive outlook may offer the strongest known protection against heart disease in adults at risk due to family history the study suggests that having the right attitude can work as well or better than eating the proper diet getting the right amount of of exercise and maintaining the ideal body weight how is it that our everyday mindset whether we're generally more joyful and loving or more hostile and negative can help determine how long we live is it possible for us to change our current mindset if so could having a new mindset override the way our minds have been conditioned by past experiences or could expecting something negative to recur actually help to bring that about according to the National Cancer Institute a condition called anticipatory noria occurs in about 29% of patients receiving chemotherapy when they are exposed to the smells and sights that remind them of their chemo treatments about 11% feel so sick before their treatments that they actually vomit some cancer patients start feeling nauseated in the car on the way to get chemo before they even set foot inside the hospital While others throw up while still in the waiting room a 2001 study from the University of Rochester Cancer Center published in the Journal of pain and symptom management concluded that expecting noria was the strongest predictor that patients would actually experience it the researchers data reported that 40% of chemo patients who thought they would get sick because their doctors told them that they probably would be sick after the treatment went on to develop noria before the treatment was even administered an additional 133% who said they were unsure of what to expect also got sick yet none of the patients who didn't expect to get nauseated got sick how can it be that some people become so convinced that they will get sick from chemo therapy drugs that they get ill before any of the drugs are even administered is it possible that the power of their thoughts could be what's making them sick and if that's true of 40% of chemo patients could it also be true that 40% of folks could just as easily get well by simply changing their thoughts about what to expect about their health or from their day could a single thought that a person accepts also make that person better not long ago as I was about to get off an airplane in Austin I had a woman who was reading a book that caught my eye we were standing and waiting to De plain and I saw the book sticking out of her bag the title mentioned the word belief we smiled at each other and I asked her what the book was about Christianity and Faith she answered why do you ask I told her that I was writing a new book on the placebo effect and that my book was all about belief I want to tell you this story she said she went on to tell me that years ago she hadd been diagnosed with gluten intolerance cilc disease colitis and a host of other ills and experienced chronic pain she had read up on the diseases and gone to see several different health professionals for advice they had advised her to avoid certain foods and to take certain prescription drugs which she had done but she had still felt pain throughout her entire body she also hadn't been able to sleep had skin rashes and severe digestive disturbances and suffered from a whole list of other unpleasant symptoms then years later the woman went to see a new Doctor Who decided to do some BL tests when the blood test came back all of the results were negative the day I found out I was really normal and there was nothing wrong with me I thought I'm fine and all my symptoms went away I immediately felt great and could eat whatever I wanted she told me with a flourish smiling she added what do you believe about that if it's true that learning new information that leads to a 180 degree turnaround in what we believe about ourselves can actually make our symptoms disappear what's going on in in our bodies that's supporting that and making it happen what's the exact relationship between the mind and the body could it be possible that those new beliefs could actually change our brains and body chemistries physically rewire our neurological circuitry of who we think we are and alter our genetic expression could we in fact become different people Parkinson's disease is a neurological disorder marked by the gradual degeneration of nerve cells in the portion of the midbrain called the basil ganglia which controls body movements the brains of those who have this heartbreaking disease don't produce enough of the neurotransmitter dopamine which the basil ganglia needs for proper functioning early symptoms of Parkinson's which is currently considered incurable include motor issues such as muscle rigidity Tremors and changes in gate and speech patterns that override voluntary control in one study a group of researchers at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver informed a group of Parkinson's patients that they were going to receive a drug that would significantly improve their symptoms in reality the patients received a placebo nothing more than a saline injection even so half of them who had no drug intervention in fact had much better motor control after receiving the injection the researchers then scanned the patient brains to get a better idea of what had happened and found that the people who responded positively to the placebo were actually manufacturing dopamine in their brains as much as 200% more than before to get an equivalent effect with a drug you'd have to administer roughly a full dose of amphetamine a mood elevating drug that also increases dopamine it seemed that merely expecting to get better Unleashed some previously untapped power within the Parkinson's patients that triggered the production of the dopamine exactly what their bodies needed to get better and if this is true then what is the process by which thought alone can manufacture dopamine in the brain might such a new internal State brought on by the combination of clear intention and heightened emotional state actually make us Invincible in certain situations by activating our own inner Storehouse of pharmaceuticals and overriding the genetic circumstances of disease that we once considered outside of our conscious control in parts of Appalachia exist pockets of a 100-year-old religious ritual known as snake handling or taking up serpents while West Virginia is the only state where it's still legal that doesn't stop the faithful and local police in other states are to turn a blind eye to the practice in these small and modest churches as congregations gather for the worship service the preacher enters carrying one or more briefcase shaped locked wooden boxes with hinged clear plastic doors perforated with air holes and places the boxes carefully on the platform at the front of the sanctuary or meeting room near the pulpit before long the music starts a high energy blend of country and western and Bluegrass Melodies with deeply religious lyrics about salvation and the love of Jesus live musicians whail away on keyboards electric guitars and even drum sets that any Teenage Band would envy while the parishioners Shake tambourines as the spirit moves them as the energy builds the preacher might light a flame in a container on top of the pulpit and hold his hand in the fire allowing the Flames to lick his outstretched Palm before he picks up the container to sweep the fire slowly over his bare forearms he's just getting warmed up the congregants soon begin swaying and laying hands on one another speaking in tongues and jumping up and down dancing to The Music In Praise of their savior they are overcome with the spirit what they call being anointed then it's time for the preacher to flip open one of the locked boxes reach a hand in and pull out a deadly snake usually a rattlesnake cotton mouth or Copperhead he too is dancing and working up quite a sweat as he holds the live serpent around its middle so that the snake's head is frighteningly close to the preacher's own head and throat he might hold the the snake high in the air before bringing it back down closer to his body dancing all the while as the snake winds its lower half around his arm and Gates its upper half in the air in whatever manner it pleases the preacher might then get a second or even a third snake from additional wooden cases and the congregants men and women alike might join him in handling the serpents as they feel the anointing coming over them in some Services the preacher might even ingest a poison like strick nine from a simple drinking glass without suffering any ill effects although the snake handlers do sometimes get bitten considering the thousands of services where feverish Believers have reached into those hinged wooden boxes without a trace of Doubt or fear it doesn't happen often and even when it does they don't always die even though they don't rush to the hospital preferring instead to have the congregation gather around them in prayer why are these people not bitten more often and why aren't there more deaths when they do get bitten how can they get into a state of mind where they are not afraid of such venomous creatures whose bite is known to be deadly and how can that State of Mind protect them then there are displays of extreme strength in emergency situations known as hysterical strength in April 2013 for example 16-year-old Hannah Smith and her 14-year-old sister Haley of Lebanon Oregon lifted a 3,000 tractor to free their father Jeff Smith who was trapped underneath and what about firew Walkers indigenous tribes practicing sacred rituals and ters taking workshops who stroll across burning coals or even the carnival showmen or Javanese trans dancers who feel compelled to chew and swallow glass a disorder known as high leasia how are such seemingly superhuman Feats possible and do they have something vital in common could it be that at the height of their uncompromising belief these people are somehow changing their bodies such that they become immune to their environments and can the same Rock Solid belief that empowers snake handlers and firew Walkers also go the other way causing us to harm ourselves and even die without our having any awareness of what we're doing in 1938 a 60-year-old man in rural Tennessee spent 4 months getting sicker and sicker before his wife brought him to a 15-bed hospital at the edge of town by this time Vance vanders not his real name had lost more than 50 and appeared to be near death the doctor Drayton DOR suspected that vandas was suffering from tuberculosis or possibly cancer but repeated tests and x-rays came up negative Dr dory's physical examination showed nothing that could be causing vandas distress vandas refused to eat so he was given a feeding tube but he stubbornly vomited whatever was put down the tube he continued to get worse repeating the conviction that he was going to die and eventually he was barely able to talk the end seemed near although Dr dorti still had no idea what the man's Affliction was vander's distraught wife asked to speak to Dr dorti privately and swearing him to secrecy told him that her husband's problem was that he'd been voodooed it seemed that vandas who lived in a community where Voodoo was a common practice had had an argument with a local voodoo priest the priest had summoned vandas to the cemetery late one night where he put a hex on the man by waving a bottle of malodorous liquid in front of vander's face the priest told vandas that he would soon die and that no one could save him that was it vandas was convinced that his days were numbered and thus believed in a new dismal future reality the defeated man returned home and refused to eat eventually his wife brought him to the hospital after Dr dor had heard the whole story he came up with a rather unorthodox plan for treating his patient in the morning he summoned vander's family to his bedside and told them that he was now certain that he knew how to cure the sick man the family listened intently as Dr dorti spun the following fabricated tale he said that on the previous night he had gone to the cemetery where he had tricked the voodoo priest into meeting with him and divulging how he had voodooed vandas it hadn't been easy Dr dor he said the priest had understandably not wanted to cooperate although he finally relented once Dr dor had pinned him against a tree and choked him Dr dor said that the priest had told him that he had rubbed some lizard eggs into vander's skin and that the eggs had found their way to vander's stomach where they' hatched most of the lizards had died but a large one had survived and was now eating vander's body from the inside out the doctor announced that all he had to do was remove the lizard from vander's body and the man would be cured he then called for the nurse who dutifully brought a large syringe filled with what Dr dor claimed was a powerful medicine in truth the syringe was filled with a drug that induced vomiting Dr dorti carefully inspected the syringe to make sure it was working right and then ceremoniously injected his frightened patient with the fluid in a grand gesture he left the room not saying another word to the stunned family it wasn't long before the patient began to vomit the nurse provided a basin and vandas heaved wailed and wretched for a time at a point that Dr dorti judged to be near the end of vomiting he confidently stro back into the room nearing the bedside he reached into his Black Doctor's bag and scooped up a green lizard hiding it in his palm Beyond anyone's notice then just as vanders vomited again Dr dorti slipped the reptile into the Basin look fans he immediately cried out with all the drummer muster look what has come out of you you are now cured the voodoo curse is lifted the room was buzzing some family members fell to the floor moaning vanders himself jumped back away from the Basin in a wide-eyed days within a few minutes he'd fallen into a deep sleep that lasted more than 12 hours when vandas finally awoke he was very hungry and eagerly consumed so much food that the doctor feared his stomach would burst within a week the patient had regained all his weight and strength he left the hospital a well man and lived at least another 10 years is it possible that a man could just curl up and die simply because he thought he'd been hexed does the Contemporary Witch Doctor adorned with a stethoscope and holding a Prescription Pad speak with the same conviction for us as the voodoo priest did for vandas and is our belief the same and if it's indeed true that a person could on one level just decide to die then could it also be true that a person with a terminal disease could make the decision to live can some one permanently change his or her internal State dropping his or her identity as a cancer or arthritis victim or a heart patient or a person with Parkinson's and simply walk into a healthy body just as easily as shedding one set of clothes and Dawning another in the upcoming chapters we'll explore what's really possible and how that applies to you chapter 2 a brief history of the placebo as the saying goes desperate time times call for desperate measures when Harvard educated American surgeon Henry beer was serving in World War II he ran out of morphine near the end of the war morphine was in short supply in military field hospitals so this situation wasn't uncommon at the time beer was about to operate on a badly wounded soldier he was afraid that without a painkiller the soldier might go into fatal cardiovascular shock what happened next astounded him without skipping a beat one of the nurses filled a syringe with saline and gave the soldier a shot just as if she were injecting him with morphine the soldier calmed down right away he reacted as though he'd actually received the drug even though all he' received was a squirt of salt water beer went ahead with the operation cutting into the Soldier's flesh making what repairs were necessary and sewing him back up all without anesthesia the soldier felt little pain and did not go into shock how could it be be you wondered that saltwater could stand in for morphine after that stunning success whenever the field Hospital ran out of morphine beer did the same thing again injected saline just as if he were injecting Morphine The Experience convinced him of the power of placebos and when he returned to the United States after the war he began to study the phenomenon in 1955 beer made history when he authored a clinical review of 15 studies published by the Journal of the American Medical Association that not only discussed the huge significance of placebos but also called for a new model of medical research that would randomly assign subjects to receive active medications or placebos what we now referred to as randomized controlled trials so that this powerful placebo effect wouldn't distort results the idea that we can alter physical reality through thought belief and expectation alone whether we are fully aware of what we're doing or not certainly didn't start in that World War II field Hospital the Bible is filled with stories of miraculous healings and even in modern times people regularly flock to places such as Lords in southern France where a 14-year-old peasant girl named bernardet had a vision of the Virgin Mary in 1858 leaving behind their crutches braces and wheelchairs as proof that they' been healed similar Miracles have also been reported in Fatima Portugal where three Shepherd children saw an apparition of the Virgin Mary in 1917 and in connection with a traveling statue of Mary carved for the 30th anniversary of The Apparition the statue was based on the description given by the oldest of the three children who by then had become a nun and it was blessed by Pope Pas I 12th before it was sent traveling around the world Faith healing is certainly not confined to the Christian tradition the late Indian Guru sathia saai Baba widely considered by his followers to be an avatar a manifestation of a deity was known to manifest holy Ash called theti from the palms of his hands this fine gray Ash has been said to have the power to heal many physical mental and spiritual ills when either eaten or appli to the skin as a paste Tibetan llamas are also said to have healing powers using their breath to heal by blowing on the sick even French and English kings reigning between the 4th and 9th centuries use the laying on of hands to cure their subjects King Charles II of England was known to be particularly Adept at this performing The Practice about 100,000 times what is it that causes such so-called miraculous events whether the instrument of healing is Faith in a deity alone or belief in the ex extraordinary powers of a person an object or even a place deemed sacred or holy what is the process by which faith and belief can bring about such profound effects might how we assign meaning to Ritual whether that ritual is saying the rosary rubbing a pinch of holy Ash on TW skin or taking a new miracle drug prescribed by a trusted physician play a role in the placebo phenomenon what if the internal State of Mind of the people who receive these cures was influenced or altered by the conditions in their external environment a person place or thing at the proper time to such a degree that their new state of mind could actually affect real physical changes in the 1770s vianes physician France Anton msma made quite a name for himself by developing and demonstrating what was considered at that time a medical model of miraculous healing expanding on an idea of Sir Isaac Newton's about the effect of planetary gravitation on the human body mesma came to believe that the body contained an invisible fluid that could be manipulated to heal people using a force he called animal magnetism his technique involved asking his patients to look deeply into his eyes before moving magnets over their bodies to direct and balance this magnetic fluid later he found that he could wave his hands without the magnets to produce the same effect soon after each session began his patients would start trembling and twitching before going into convulsions that mesma considered therapeutic mesma would continue the fluid balancing until they were calm again he used this technique to heal a variety of maladies from serious conditions like paralysis and convulsive disorders to more minor difficulties such as menstrual problems and hemorrhoids in what became his most famous case mesma partially cured teenage conert pianist Maria Theresa Von paradi of hysterical blindness a psychosomatic condition she'd had since about the age of three she stayed in mesmer's home for weeks as he worked with her and finally helped her to be able to perceive motion and even to color but her parents were less than Overjoyed by her progress because they stood to lose a royal pension if their daughter was cured in addition as her sight returned her piano plane deteriorated because she now was able to watch her fingers on the keyboard rumors never substantiated began circulating that mesma relationship to the pist was improper her parents forcibly removed her from mesmer's house her blindness returned and mma's reputation diminished considerably amand Marie ja decast a French Aristocrat known as the Marquee deep Sagar observed mesma and took his ideas to the next level sagur would induce a deep state that he called magnetic somnambulism similar to sleepwalking in which his subjects had access to deep thoughts and even intuitions about their health and that of others in this state they were extremely suggestible and would follow instructions although they had no memory of what happened once they came out of it whereas mesma thought that the power was in the practitioner over the subject s believed that the power was in the thought of the subject directed by the practitioner over his or her own body this was perhaps one of the first therapeutic attempts to explore the mindbody relationship in the 1800s Scottish surgeon James bra took the idea of mesmerism still further developing a concept he called neur hypnotism what we now call hypnotism braid became intrigued by the idea when one day he arrived late for an appointment only to find his waiting patient calmly staring in a intense Fascination at the flickering flame of an oil lamp braid found the patient to be in an extremely suggestible State as long as his attention remains so locked thereby fatiguing certain parts of his brain after many experiments braid learned to get his subjects to concentrate on a single idea while staring at an object which put them into a similar trance that he felt he could use to cure their disorders including chronic rheumatoid arthritis sensory impairment and the various complications of spinal injuries and stroke bra's book neurology details many of his successes including the story of how he cured both a 33-year-old woman whose legs were paralyzed and a 54y old woman with a skin disorder and severe headaches then Este steamed French neurologist Jean Martin Sho weighed in on bra's work claiming that the ability to go into such a trance was possible only in those suffering from the condition of Hysteria which he considered an inherited neurological disorder that was irreversible he used hypnosis not to cure p patients but to study their symptoms finally arrival of shakos a doctor named hippolyte burnheim at the University of Nancy insisted that the suggestibility so Central to hypnotism was not confined to hysterics but was a natural condition for All Humans he implanted ideas in subjects telling them that when they awoke from their trance they would feel better and their symptoms would disappear thus he used the power of suggestion as a therapeutic Tool bernheim's Work continued into the early 1900s although each of these early explorers of suggestibility had a slightly different focus and technique they were all able to help hundreds and hundreds of people heal a wide variety of physical and mental problems by changing their minds about their maladies and about how those illnesses were expressed in their bodies during the first two world wars military doctors most notably Army psychiatrist Benjamin Simon used the concept of hypnotic suggestibility which I'll discuss further later to help returning soldiers who suffered from the trauma that was first labeled shell shock but is now known as post-traumatic stress disorder PTSD these veterans had suffered through such horrible War experiences that many of them numbed themselves to their emotions as a form of self-preservation developed Amnesia surrounding the horrific events or Worse kept reliving their experiences in flashbacks all of which can cause stressinduced physical illness Simon and his colleagues found hypnosis extremely useful for helping the veterans face their traumas and cope with them so that they wouldn't have to resurface as anxiety and physical ailments including nausea high blood pressure and other cardiovascular disorders and even suppressed immunity like those practitioners in the century before them Army doctors employing hypnosis helped their patients alter their pattern of thinking in order to get well and reclaim their mental and physical health these hypnosis techniques were so successful that civilian doctors also became interested in using suggestibility although many did so not by putting their patients into a trance but by occasionally giving them sugar pills and other placebos and telling them that these drugs would make them better the patients often did get better responding to suggestibility in the same way that beacher's wounded soldiers responded to the belief that they were receiving shots of morphine this was in fact beacher's era and after he wrote his groundbreaking 1955 review calling for the use of randomized controlled trials with placebos for testing drugs the placebo became a serious part of medical research beacher's point was well taken initially researchers expected that a stud's control group the group taking the placebo would remain neutral so that comparisons between the control group and the group taking the active treatment would show how well the active treatment worked but in so many studies the control group was indeed getting better not just on their own but because of their expectation and belief that they might be taking a drug or receiving a treatment that would help them the placebo itself might have been inert but its effect was certainly not and these beliefs and expectations were proving to be extremely powerful so somehow that effect had to be teased out from the data if that data was to have any real meaning to that end and heeding Beach's petition researchers began making the randomized double blind trial the norm randomly assigning subjects to either the active or the placebo group and making sure none of the subjects or any of the researchers themselves knew who was taking the real drug and who was taking the bbo this way the placebo effect would be equally active in each group and any possibility that the researchers might treat subjects differently according to what group they were in would be eliminated these days studies are sometimes even triple blind meaning not only are the participants and researchers who are conducting the trial in the dark about who's taking what until the end of the study but the statisticians analyzing the data also don't know until their job is done of course there's always a flip side while suggestibility was garnering more attention because of its ability to heal it also became apparent that the same phenomenon could be used to harm such practices as hexes and Voodoo curses Illustrated the negative side of suggestibility in the 1940s Harvard's physiologist Walter Bradford Cannon who had in 1932 coined the term fight or flight studied the ultimate nobo response a phenomenon that he called Voodoo death Canon examined a number of anecdotes reports of people with strong cultural beliefs in the power of witch doctors or Voodoo priests suddenly falling ill and dying despite no apparent injury or evidence of poison or infection after ending up on the receiving end of a hex or curse his research laid the groundwork for much of what we know today about how physiological response systems enable emotions fear in particular to create illness the victim's belief in the power of the curse itself to kill him was only part of the psychological soup that brought about his ultimate demise Canon said another Factor was the effect of being socially ostracized and rejected even by the victim's own family such people quickly became The Walking Dead harmful effects from harmless sources aren't restricted to Voodoo of course scientists in the 1960s coined the term nobo Latin for I shall harm as opposed to I shall please the Latin translation of placebo referring to an inert substance that causes a harmful effect simply because someone believes or expects it harm her the nibo effect commonly pops up in drug studies when subjects who are taking placebos either just expect that there will be side effects to the drug being tested or when the subjects are specifically warned of potential side effects and then they experience those same side effects by associating the thought of the drug with all of the potential causations even though they've not taken the drug for obvious ethical reasons few studies are designed specifically to look at this phenomenon although some do exist a famous example is a 1962 study done in Japan with a group of children who were all extremely allergic to poison ivy researchers rubbed one forearm of each child with a poison ivy leaf but told them that the leaf was harmless as a control they rubbed the child's other forearm with a harmless leaf that they claimed was poison ivy all of the children developed a rash on the arm rubbed with a harmless leaf that was thought to be Poison Ivy and 11 of the 13 children developed no rash at all where the poison ivy had actually touched them this was an astounding finding How Could children who are highly allergic to poison ivy not get a rash when exposed to it and how could they develop a rash from a totally benign Leaf the new thought that the leaf wouldn't hurt them overrode their memory and belief that they were allergic to it rendering real Poison Ivy harmless and the reverse was true in the second part of the experiment a harmless Leaf was made Toxic by thought alone in both cases it seemed as if the children's bodies instantaneously responded to a new mind in this instance we could say that the children Were Somehow freed from the future expectation of a physical reaction to the toxic Leaf based on their past experiences of being allergic in effect they somehow transcended a predictable line of time this also suggests that by some means they became greater than the conditions in their environment the poison ivy leaf finally the children were able to alter and control their physiology by simply changing a thought this astonishing evidence that thought in the form of expectation could have a greater effect on the body than the real physical environment helped to usher in a new era of scientific study called psychon neuroimmunology the effect of thoughts and emotions on the immune system an important segment of the Mind Body Connection another notable nobo study from the 60s looked at people with asthma researchers gave 40 asthma patients inhalers containing nothing but water vapor although they told the subject that the inhalers contain an allergen or irritant 19 of them 48% experienced asthmatic symptoms such as restriction of their Airwaves with 12 30% of the group suffering full-blown asthmatic attacks researchers then gave the subjects inhalers said to contain medicine that would relieve their symptoms and in each case their airways did indeed open back up although again the inhalers contained only water vapor in both situations bringing on the asthma symptoms and then dramatically reversing them the patients were responding to suggestion alone the thought planted in their minds by the researchers which played out exactly as they expected they were harmed when they thought they' inhaled something harmful and they got better when they thought they were receiving medicine and these thoughts were greater than their environment greater than reality we could say that their thoughts created a brand new reality what does this say about the beliefs we hold and the thoughts we think every day are we more susceptible to catching the flu because all winter long everywhere we look we see articles about flu season and signs about flu shot availability all of which reminds us that if we don't get a flu shot we'll get sick could it be that when we simply see someone with flu like symptoms we become ill from thinking in the same ways as the children in the poison ivy study who got a rash from the inert leaf or from thinking like the asmatics who experienced a significant bronchial reaction after inhaling simple water vapor Are we more likely to suffer from arthritis stiff joints poor memory flagging energy and decrease sex drive as we age simply because that's the version of the truth that ads commercials television shows and media reports bombard us with what other self-fulfilling prophecies are we creating in our minds without being aware of what we're doing and what inevitable truths can we successfully reverse simply through thinking new thoughts and choosing new beliefs a groundbreaking study in the late '70s showed for the first time that a placebo could trigger the release of endorphins the body's natural painkillers just as certain active drugs do in the study John LaVine MD PhD of the University of California San Francisco gave placebos instead of pain medication to 40 Dental patients who had just had their wisdom teeth removed not surprisingly because the patients thought they were getting medicine that would indeed relieve their pain most reported relief but then the researchers gave the patient an antidote to Morphine called nxone which chemically blocks the recepto sites for both morphine and endorphins endogenous morphine in the brain when the researchers administered it the patients pain returned this proved that by taking the placebos the patients had been creating their own endorphins their own natural pain relievers it was a milestone in Placebo research because it meant that the relief the study subjects experienced wasn't all in their minds it was in their minds and their bodies in their state of being if the human body can act like its own Pharmacy producing its own pain drugs then might it not also be true that it's fully capable of dispensing other natural drugs when they're needed from the infinite blend of chemicals and healing compounds at houses drugs that act just like the ones doctors prescribe or maybe even better than the drugs doctors prescribe another study in the 70s this one by psychologist Robert ader PhD at the University of Rochester added a fascinating new dimension to the placebo discussion the element of conditioning conditioning an idea made famous by Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov depends on associating one thing with another like Pavlov's dogs associating the sound of the bell with food after Pavlov started ring it every day before he fed them in time the dogs were conditioned to automatically salivate in anticipation of a meal whenever they heard a bell as a result of this type of conditioning their bodies became trained to physiologically respond to a due stimulus in the environment in in this case the Bell even without the original stimulus that elicited the response the food being present therefore in a conditioned response we could say that a subconscious program which is housed in the body I'll talk more about this in the coming chapters seemingly overrides the conscious mind and takes charge in this way the body is actually conditioned to become the mind because conscious thought is no longer totally in control in the case of Pavlov the dogs were repeatedly exposed to the smell sight and Taste of the food and then Pavlov rang a bell over time just the sound of the Bell caused the dogs to automatically change their physiological and chemical State without thinking about it consciously their autonomic nervous system the body's subconscious system that operates below the conscious awareness took over so conditioning creates subconscious internal changes in the body by associating past memories with the expectation of internal effects what we call associative memory until those expected or anticipated end results automatically occur the stronger the conditioning the less conscious control we have over these processes and the more automatic the subconscious programming becomes aah started out attempting to study how long such conditioned responses could be expected to last if fed labra sacarin sweetened water that it spiked with a drug called cyclophosphamide which causes stomach pain after conditioning the rats to associate the Sweet Taste of the water with the ache in their gut he expected that soon refused to drink the spiked water his intention was to see how long they'd continue to refuse the water so that he could measure the amount of time their conditioned response to the Sweet Water would last but what adah didn't know initially was that the cyclophosphamide also suppresses the immune system so he was surprised when his rats started unexpectedly dying from bacterial and viral infections changing gears in his research he continued to give the rat sacaran water Force feeding them with an eye dropper but without the cyclophosphamide although they were no longer receiving the immune supressing drug the rats continued to die of infections while the control group that had received only the sweetened water all along continued to be fine teaming up with University of Rochester immunologist Nicholas Cohen PhD ader further discovered that when the rats had been conditioned to associate the taste of the sweetened water with the effect of the immune supressing drug the association was so strong that just drinking the sweetened water alone produced the same physiological effect as the drug signaling the nervous system to ress the immune system like Sam L whose story was in chapter 1 aah rats died by thought alone researchers were beginning to see that the mind was clearly able to subconsciously activate the body in several powerful ways they' never imagined by this time the Eastern practice of Transcendental Meditation TM taught by Indian Guru Maharishi Mahesh Yogi had caught on in the United States fured by the enthusiastic participation of several celebrities starting with the Beatles in the 1960s the goal of this technique which involves quieting the mind and repeating a mantra during a 20-minute meditation session performed twice a day is spiritual enlightenment but the practice caught the attention of Harvard cardiologist Herbert Benson who became interested in how it might help reduce stress and lessen the risk factors for heart disease demystifying the process Benson developed a similar technique which he called the relaxation response described in his 1975 book by the same title Benson found that just by changing the thought patterns people could switch off the stress response thereby lowering blood pressure normalizing heart rate and attaining deep states of relaxation while meditation involves maintaining a neutral attitude attention was also being paid to the beneficial effects of cultivating a more positive attitude and pumping up positive emotions the way had been paved in 1952 when former Minister Norman Vincent Peele published the book The Power of Positive Thinking which popularized the idea that our thoughts can have a real effect both positive and negative on our lives that idea grabbed the attention of the medical community in 1976 when political analyst and magazine editor Norman Cousins published an account in the New England Journal of Medicine of how he had used laughter to reverse a potentially fatal disease cousins also told his story in his best-selling book anatomy of an illness published a few years later cousins doctor had diagnosed him with a degenerative disorder called anoing spondilitis a form of arthritis causes the breakdown of collagen the fibrous proteins that hold our body's cells together and had given him only a 1 in 500 chance of recovery cousins suffered from tremendous pain and had such difficulty moving his limbs that he could barely turn over in bed grainy nodules appeared under his skin and at his lowest point his jaw nearly locked shut convinced that a persistent negative emotional state had contributed to his illness he decided it was equally possible that a more positive emotional state could reverse the damage while continuing to consult with his doctor cousin started a regimen of massive doses of vitamin C and Mark Brothers movies as well as other humorous films and comedy shows he found that 10 minutes of hearty laughter gave him 2 hours of pain-free sleep eventually he made a complete recovery cousins quite simply laughed himself to health how although scientists at the time didn't have any way to understand or explain such a miraculous recovery research now tells us it's likely epigenetic processes were at work cousin's shift of attitude changed his body chemistry which altered his internal State enabling him to program new genes in new ways he simply downregulated or turned off the genes that were causing his illness and upregulated or turned on the genes responsible for his recovery I'll go into more detail about turning genes on and off in the coming chapters many years later research by Koo Hayashi PhD of the University of sucuba in Japan showed the same thing in hayashi's study diabetic patients watching an hourong comedy program upregulated a total of 39 genes 14 of which were related to natural killer cell activity while none of these genes were directly involved in blood glucose regulation the patient blood glucose levels were better controlled than after they had listened to a diabetic Health lecture on a different day researchers surmised that laughter influences many genes involved with immune response which in turn contributed to the improved glucose control the elevated emotion triggered by the patient brains turned on the genetic variations which activated the natural killer cells and also somehow improve their glucose response probably in addition to many other beneficial effects as cousins said of placebos back in 1979 the process works not because of any magic in the tablet but because the human body is its own best epoc and because the most successful prescriptions are filled by the body itself inspired by cousins experience and and with alternative and Mind Body medicine now in full swing Yale University surgeon Bernie seagull started to look at why some of his cancer patients with poor odds survived While others with better odds died seagull work to find cancer survivors largely as those who had a feisty fighting spirit and he concluded that there were no incurable diseases only incurable patients seagull also began writing about hope as a powerful force for healing and about unconditional love with the natural Pharmacy of elixir it provides as the most powerful stimulant of the immune system the profusion of new anti-depressants that appeared around the late 1980s and into the '90s would next ignite a controversy that would ultimately although not immediately increase respect for the power of placebos in researching a 1998 metaanalysis of published studies on anti-depressant drugs psychologist Irving kersch PhD then at the University of Connecticut was shocked to find that in 19 randomized double blind clinical trials involving more than 2,300 patients most of the Improvement was due not to the anti-depressant medications but to the placebo kers then used the Freedom of Information Act to gain access to the data from the drug manufacturer unpublished clinical trials which by law had to be reported to the Food and Drug Administration kers and his colleagues did a second meta analysis this time on the 35 clinical trials conducted for four of the six most widely prescribed anti-depressants approved between 1987 and 1999 now looking at data from more than 5,000 patients the researchers found again that placebos work just as well as the popular anti-depressant drugs Prozac effexor soone and paxel are whopping 81% of the time in most of the remaining cases where the drug did perform better the benefit was so small that it wasn't statistically significant only with severely depressed patients were the prescription drugs clearly better than placebo not surprisingly kersa study caused quite an uproar although many researchers seemed quite willing to throw the placebo baby out with a bath water while most of the fracus focused on the fact that these drugs weren't any better than the placebo that patients in the trials did in fact get better on anti-depressants the drugs did work but the patients taking placebos got better too instead of seeing kersh's work as proof that anti-depressants failed some researchers chose to see the glasses half full and pointed to the data as proof that placebos suceeded after all the trials provided stunning proof that thinking that you can get better from depression can actually heal depression just as well as taking a drug the people in the study who got better on the placebos were actually making their own natural anti-depressants just as lavine's patients in the 70s who had their wisdom teeth out made their own natural painkillers what kersch had brought to light was more evidence that our bodies do have an innate intelligence that enables them to service with a chemical array of natural Heat healing compounds interestingly enough the percentage of people who improve while taking placebos in depression trials has gotten greater over time as has the response to active medication some researchers have suggested that this is because the public has greater expectations for the anti-depressant drugs which in turn makes the placebos more effective in these blind trials it was only a matter of time before neuroscientists would start using sophisticated brain scans to take an intricate look at what happens neurochemically when a placebo is administered an example is the 2001 study on Parkinson's patients who regained motor skills after receiving only an injection of saline that they thought was medication described in chapter 1 Italian researcher fabrio Benedetti mdphd a Pioneer in Placebo research did a similar Parkinson study a few years later and for the first time was able to show a placebo effect on individual neurons his studies explored not only the neurobiology of expectation as with Parkinson's patients but also the neurobiology at work with classical conditioning what ader had been able to Glimpse years previously with his nauseated lab rats in one experiment Benedetti gave study subjects the drug Sumatran to stimulate growth hormone and inhibit cortisol secretion and then without the patient knowledge he replaced the drug with a placebo he found that the patient brain scans continued to light up in the same places as when they were getting the sarran this was proof that the brain was indeed producing the substance in this case growth hormone on its own the same was seen to be true for Other Drug Placebo combinations as well the chemicals made in the brain closely track those that the subjects initially received via drugs they were given to treat immune system disorders motor disorders and depression in fact Benedetti even showed that placebos cause the same side effects as the drugs for example in one Placebo study using narcotics the subjects suffered the same side effects of slow and shallow breathing when taking the placebo because the placebo effect so closely mimic the physiological effect of the drug if the truth be told our bodies are indeed capable of creating a host of biological chemicals that can heal protect us from Pain help us sleep deeply enhance our immune systems make us feel pleasure and even encourage us to fall in love reason this for a moment if a particular Gene was already expressed so that we made those specific chemicals at one point in our lives but then we stop making them because of some type of stress or illness that turned off that Gene maybe it's possible for us to turn the gene back on again because our bodies already know how to do that from previous experience stay tuned for research to prove this so let's begin to look at how this happens the neurological research shows something truly remarkable if a person keeps taking the same substance his or her brain keeps firing the same circuits in the same way in effect memorizing what the substance does the person can easily become conditioned to the effect of a particular pill or injection from associating it with a familiar internal change from past experience because of this kind of conditioning when the person then takes a placebo the same hardwired circuits will fire as when he or she took the drug an associative memory elicits a subconscious program that makes a connection between the pill or injection and the hormonal change in the body and then the program automatically signals the body to make the related chemicals found in the drug isn't that amazing Benedetti's research also makes another Point very clear different types of placebo treatments work best with different goals for example in the seatran study initial verbal suggestions that the placebo would work had no effect on the production of growth hormone to use placebos to affect unconscious physiological responses by associative memory such as to secrete hormones or alter the functioning of the immune system system conditioning gets results whereas the use of placebos to change more conscious responses such as to relieve pain or lessen depression a simple suggestion or an expectation works so there isn't just one Placebo response Benedetti insisted but several an astonishing new twist to Placebo research came in a 2010 pilot study led by Harvard's Ted capu Doom that showed that bbos worked even when people knew they were taking bbo in the study capu and his colleagues gave 40 patients with irritable bowel syndrome IBS a placebo each patient received a bottle clearly labeled Placebo pills and was told it contained Placebo pills made of an inert substance like sugar pills that have been shown in clinical studies to produce significant Improvement in IBS symptoms through mind body self-healing processes a second group of 40 IBS patients given no pills served as a control group after 3 weeks the group taking the placebos reported twice as much symptom relief as the no treatment group a difference that capu noted is comparable to the performance of the best real IBS drugs these patients hadn't been tricked into healing themselves they knew full well they weren't getting any medication and yet after hearing the suggestion that the placebos could relieve their symptoms and believing in an outcome independent of the cause their bodies were influenced to make it happen meanwhile a parallel track of studies that examines the effect of attitude perceptions and beliefs is leading the way in current mindbody research showing that even something as seemingly concrete as the physical benefit of exercise can be affected by belief a 2007 study at Harvard by psychologist Aaliyah Crum PhD and Ellen Langer PhD involving 84 hotel maids is a perfect example at the start of the study none of the Ma knew that the routine work they performed in their jobs exceeded the surgeon general's recommendation for a healthy amount of daily exercise 30 minutes in fact 67% of the women told the researchers that they didn't exercise regularly and 37% said they didn't get any exercise after this initial assessment Crum and Langer divided the maids into two groups they explained to the first group how their activity related to the number of calories they burned and told the maids that just by doing their jobs they got more than enough exercise they didn't give any such information to the second group who worked in different hotels from the first group and so wouldn't benefit from conversations with the other Maids one month later the researchers found that the first group lost an average of 2 pounds lowered their percentage of body fat and lowered their systolic blood pressure by an average of 10 points even though they hadn't performed any additional exercise outside of work or change their eating habits in any way the other group doing the same job as the first remained virtually unchanged this echoed similar research done earlier in Quebec where a group of 48 young adults participated in a 10-week aerobic exercise program attending three 90-minute exercise sessions per week the group was divided into two the instructors told the first half the test subjects that the study was specifically designed to improve both their aerobic capacity and their psychological well-being they mentioned only the physical benefits of aerobics to the second half who served as the control group at the end of 10 weeks the researchers found that both groups increased their aerobic capacity but it was only the test subjects not the controls who also received a significant boost in self-esteem a measure of well-being as these studies show our awareness alone can have an important physical effect on our bodies and our health what we learn the language that's used to define what we'll experience and how we'll assign meaning to the explanations that are offered all affect our intention and when we put greater intention behind what we're doing we naturally get better results in short the the more you learn about the what and the why the easier and more effective the how becomes my hope is that this book will do the same for you the more you know what you're doing and why you're doing it the better results you're bound to get we also assign meaning to subtler factors such as the color of the medicine we take and the quantity of pills we ingest as shown in an older but classic study from the University of Cincinnati in this study researchers gave 57 medical students either one or two pink or blue capsules all of them inert although the students were told that the pink capsules were stimulants and the blue ones were sedatives the researchers reported two capsules produced more noticeable changes than one and blue capsules were associated with more sedative effects than pink capsules indeed the students rated the blue pills as being 2 and a half times more effective as sedatives than the pink pills even though all the pills were placebos more recent research shows that belief and perceptions can also effect scores of mental performance on standardized tests in a 2006 study from Canada 220 female students read fake research reports claiming that men had a 5% advantage over women in math performance the group was divided into two with one group reading that the advantage was due to recently discovered genetic factors while the other group read that the advantage resulted from the way teachers stereotype girls and boys in elementary school then the subjects were given a math test the women who read that men had a genetic Advantage scored lower than those who'd read that men had an advantage due to stereotyping in other words when they were primed to think that their disadvantage was inevitable the women performed as if they truly had a disadvantage a similar effect had been documented with African-American students who have historically scored lower than whites on vocabulary reading and math tests including the Scholastic aptitude test sat even when socioeconomic class is not a factor in fact the average black student scores below 70 to 80% of the white students of the same age on most standardized tests Stanford University social psychologist Claude steel PhD explains that an effect called stereotype threat is to blame his research shows that students who belong to groups that have been negatively stereotyped perform less well when they think their scores will be evaluated in light of that stereotype than they do when they feel no such pressure in Steel's land study conducted with Joshua arenson PhD researchers gave a series of verbal reasoning tests to Stanford sophomores some of the students were given instructions that Prime The Stereotype that blacks score lower than Whites by saying that the quiz they about to take was designed to measure their cognitive ability while the others were told that the test was merely an unimportant research tool in the group where the stereotype was primed blacks scored lower than whites who had similar SAT scores when The Stereotype was not primed performance of blacks and whites whose SAT scores were similar was the same proving that the priming made a critical difference priming is basically when someone some place or something in our environment for example taking a test triggers all sorts of associations that are hardwired into our brains that people grading this test think black students score lower than whites causing us to act in certain ways not scoring as highly without being conscious of what we're doing it's called priming because it works just as priming a pump does you have to have water already in the pumping system in order to pump more water out of it so in this example the idea or belief that others expect black students to score lower than whites is like the water that's already in the system it's just there all the time when you do something to stimulate the system grabbing the pump handle or taking the test you're stirring up all those related thoughts behaviors or emotions and you produce exactly what was waiting to emerge from the system all along be that water in the case of a pump or lower test scores if it's a test think about this for a moment most automatic behaviors that priming elicits are produced by unconscious or subconscious programming which for the most part is happening behind the scenes of our awareness are we then primed to behave unconsciously all day long without our even knowing it steel replicated this effect with other stereotype groups as well when steel gave a math test to a group of white and Asian men who were strong in math the white men in the group who were told that Asians do slightly better than whites on the test indeed didn't do as well as the white men in the control group who weren't told that Steel's experiments with strong female math students showed similar results again when the students unconscious expectation was that they would score lower they in fact did the greater meaning behind Steel's research then is quite profound what we're conditioned to believe about ourselves and what we're program to think other people think about us affects our performance including how successful we are it's the same with placebos what we're conditioned to believe will happen when we take a pill and what we think that everyone around us including our doctors expects will happen when we do affects how our bodies respond to the pill could it be that many drugs or even surgeries actually work better because we're repeatedly primed educated and conditioned to believe in their effects when if it weren't for the the feebo effect those drugs might not work as well or at all two recent studies from the University of Toledo perap shed the best light on how the mind alone can determine what someone perceives and experiences for each study researchers divided a group of healthy volunteers into two categories optimists and pessimists according to how the volunteers answered questions on a diagnostic questionnaire in the first study they gave the subjects a placebo but told them it was a drug that would make them feel unwell the pessimists had a stronger negative reaction to the pill than the optimists in the second study the researchers gave the subjects a placebo as well but told them it would help them sleep better the optimists reported much better sleep than the pessimists so the optimists were more likely to respond positively to a suggestion that something would make them feel better because they were primed to hope for the best future scenario and the pessimists were more likely to respond negatively to suggestion that something would make them feel worse because they consciously or unconsciously expected the worst potential outcome it's as if the optimists were unconsciously making the specific chemicals to help them sleep while the pessimists were unconsciously making a pharmacy of substances that made them feel unwell in other words in exactly the same environment those with a positive mindset tend to create positive situations while those with a negative mindset tend to create negative situations this is the miracle of our own free willed individual biological engineering while we may not know exactly how many medical healings are due to the placebo effect Beach's 1955 paper mentioned earlier in this chapter claimed the number was 35% but modern-day research shows it can range anywhere from 10 to 100% the overall number is certainly extremely significant given that we have to ask ourselves what percentage of diseases and illnesses are due to the effects of negative thoughts in the nobo considering that the latest scientific research and psychology estimates that about 70% of our thoughts are negative and redundant the number of unconsciously created nobo like illness es might be impressive indeed certainly much higher than we realize this idea makes a lot of sense given that so many mental physical and emotional health condition seem to arise from nowhere although it may seem incredible that your mind could actually be that powerful the research of the past several decades clearly points to a few empowering truths what you think is what you experience and when it comes to your health that's made possible by the amazing pharmacopia that you have within your body that automatically and exquisitly aligns with your thoughts this miraculous dispensary activates naturally occurring healing molecules that already exist within your body delivering different compounds designed to elicit different effects in any number of different circumstances of course this raises the question how do we do it the chapters that follow will explain how this all unfolds on a biological level and that's how you can apply this innate ability to consciously and intentionally create the health and the life that you want to experience chapter 3 the placebo effect in the brain if you read my previous book breaking the habit of being yourself you'll find that this chapter reviews much of that material if you feel that you already have a good command of that information you may choose to either skip this chapter completely or skim it to brush up on those Concepts as needed if in doubt I recommend that you read this chapter because a thorough understanding of what is presented here will be necessary to fully understand the chap chapters that follow as the stories in the last two chapters illustrate when we truly change our state of being our bodies can respond to a new mind and changing our state of being begins with changing our thoughts because of the size of our enormous forbrain the privilege of being a human being is that we can make thought more real than anything else and that's how the placebo works to see how the process unfolds it's vital to examine and review three key elements conditioning expectation and meaning as you'll see these three concepts all seem to work together in orchestrating the placebo response I explained conditioning the first element in the discussion about Pavlov in the previous chapter to recap conditioning happens when we associate a past memory for example taking an aspirin with a physiological change getting rid of a headache because we've experienced it so many times think about it like this if you notice that you have a headache essentially you become aware of a physiological change in your inner environment you're feeling pain the next thing you automatically do is look for something in your outer World in this case an aspirin to create a change in your inner world we could say it was your internal State being in pain that prompted you to think about some past choice you made action you took or experience you had in your external reality that changed how you were feeling taking an aspirin and getting relief does the stimulus or Q from the outer environment called the aspirin creates a specific experience when that experience produces a physiological response or reward it changes your internal environment the moment you notice a change in your inner environment you pay attention to what it was in your outer environment that caus the change that event where something outside of you changes something inside of you is called an associative memory if we keep repeating the process over and over again by association the outer stim Ulus can become so strong or reinforced that we can replace the aspirin for a sugar pill that looks like an aspirin and it will produce an automatic inner response lessening the pain of the headache that's one way the placebo Works figure 31a figure 31b and figure 31 C illustrate the conditioning process expectation the second element comes into play when we have reason to anticipate a different outcome so for example if we have chronic pain from arthritis and get a new medication from the Doctor Who enthusiastically explains to us that it's supposed to alleviate our pain we accept his suggestion and expect that when we take this new medication something different will happen we won't be in pain anymore then in effect our doctor has influenced our level of suggestibility once we become more suggestible we're naturally associating something outside of ourselves the new medication with the selection of a different possibility being painful free in our minds we are picking a different future potential and hoping anticipating and expecting that we'll get that different result if we emotionally accept and then Embrace that new outcome we've selected and the intensity of our emotion is great enough our brains and our bodies won't know the difference between imagining that we've changed our state of being to being painfree and the actual event that caused the change to a new state of being to the brain and the body they are the same consequently the brain fires the same neural circuits as it would if our state had changed if the drug worked to relieve the pain while it releases similar chemicals into the body what we're expecting to be painfree then actually happens because the brain and the body create the perfect Pharmacy to alter our internal condition we are now in a new state of being that is the mind and body are working as one we're that powerful assigning meaning the third element to a placebo helps it work because when we give an action a new meaning then we have added intention behind it in other words when we learn and understand something new we put more of our conscious purposeful energy into it so for example in the study about the hotel maids from the previous chapter once the maids understood how much physical exercise they were doing every day just by performing their jobs as well as the benefits of that exercise they assigned more meaning to those actions they weren't just vacuuming scrubbing and mopping they realized they were working their muscles incre ing their strength and burning calories because the vacuuming scrubbing and mopping had more meaning after the researchers educated them about the physical advantages of exercise the maid's intention or aim as they worked wasn't just to complete their tasks it was also to get physical exercise and become healthier and that's exactly what happened the members of the control group didn't assign the same meaning to their tasks because they didn't know that what they were doing was beneficial to their health so they also didn't receive the same benefits even though they were performing exactly the same actions the placebo works the same way the more you believe that a particular substance procedure or surgery will work because you've been educated about its benefits the better your chances of responding to the thought of improving your health and getting better in other words if you place more meaning behind a possible experience with a person place or thing in your external environment in order to change your internal environment then you're more likely to be successful at intentionally changing your inner state by thought alone in addition the more you can accept a new outcome related to your health because you've been educated about the possible rewards of what you're doing the clearer the model you're creating in your own mind and so the better you'll be at priming your brain and your body to replicate exactly that simply said The more you believe in the cause the better the effect if the placebo effect is a function of how a thought can change physiology we could call it Mind Over Matter then perhaps we should examine our thoughts and how they interact with our brains and our bodies let's begin with our own personal daily thoughts we are a creature of habit we think somewhere between 60,000 to 70,000 thoughts in one day and 90% of those thoughts are exactly the same ones we had the day before we get up on the same side of the bed go through the same routine in the bathroom comb our hair in the same way sit in the same chair as we eat the same breakfast and hold our mug in the same hand drive the same route to the same job and do the same things we know how to do so well with the same people who push the same emotional buttons every day and then we hurry up and go home so that we can hurry up and check our email so that we can hurry up and eat dinner so that we can hurry up and watch our favorite TV shows so that we can hurry up and brush our teeth in the same bedtime routine so that we can hurry up and go to bed at the same time so that we can hurry up and do it all over again the next day if it sounds as though I'm saying that we live a huge part of our lives on autopilot that's that's exactly right thinking the same thoughts leads us to make the same choices making the same choices leads to demonstrating the same behaviors demonstrating the same behaviors leads us to create the same experiences creating the same experiences leads us to produce the same emotions and those same emotions then drive the same thoughts take a look at figure 32 and follow the sequence of how our same thoughts create the same reality as usual as a result of this conscious or unconscious process your biology stays the same neither your brain nor your body changes at all because you're thinking the same thoughts performing the same actions and living by the same emotions even though you may be secretly hoping your life will change you create the same brain activity which activates the same brain circuits and reproduces the same brain chemistry which affects your body chemistry in the same way and that same chemistry signals the same genes in the same ways and the same gene expression creates the same proteins the building blocks of cells which keep the body the same I'll go into more on proteins later and since the expression of proteins is the expression of life or health your life and your health stay the same now take a look at your life for a moment what does this mean for you if you're thinking the same thoughts as yesterday more than likely you're making the same choices today those same choices today are leading to the same behaviors tomorrow the same habitual behaviors tomorrow are producing the same experiences in your future the same events in your future reality are creating the same predictable emotions for you all the time and as a result you're feeling the same every day your yesterday becomes your tomorrow so in truth your past is your future if you agree with me up to this point then we could say that the familiar feeling I just described is you your identity or your personality it's your state of being and it's comfortable effortless and automatic it's the known you who quite frankly is living in the past when you keep this redundant process going on a daily basis because you wake up in the morning and anticipate and remember the feeling of you every day in time that known state of being can drive only the same thoughts that will influence you to Crave the same automatic cycle of choices behaviors and experiences in order to arrive back at that familiar feeling that you think of as you so everything stays the same about your personality if this is your personality then your personality creates your personal reality it's that simple and your personality is made up of how you think how you act and how you feel so the present personality who is reading this page has created the present personal reality called your life and that also means that if you want to create a new personal reality a new life then you have to begin to examine or think about about the thoughts you've been thinking and change them you must become conscious of the unconscious behaviors you've been choosing to demonstrate that have led to the same experiences and then you must make new choices take new actions and create new experiences figure 3.3 shows how your personality influences your personal reality you must observe and pay attention to those emotions that you've memorized and that you live by on a daily basis and decide if living by those emotions over and over again is loving to you you see most people try to create a new personal reality as the same old personality and it doesn't work in order to change your life you have to literally become someone else stay tuned for some sound science to support this process take a glance at figure 3.4 and follow the sequence again so if you understand this model then you should agree with me that your new thoughts should lead to new choices new choices should lead to new Behaviors new behaviors should lead to new experiences new experiences should create new emotions and new emotions and feelings should inspire you to think in new ways that's called Evolution and your personal reality and your biology your brain circuitry your internal chemistry your genetic expression and ultimately your health should change as a result of this new personality this new state of being and it all seems to start with a thought up to this point I briefly mentioned turn like brain circuitry neural networks brain chemistry and genetic expression without giving you much explanation of what they mean so for the rest of the chapter I want to outline some simple scientific understandings of how the brain and body work together in order to build a complete model of how you really can become your own Placebo your brain which is at least 75% water and is the consistency of a softboiled egg is made up of 100 billion nerve cells called neurons that are seamlessly arranged and suspended in this aquous environment each nerve cell resembles a leafless but elastic oak tree with Wiggly branches and root systems that connect and disconnect to other nerve cells the number of connections a particular nerve cell might make can range from 1,000 to more than 100,000 depending on where in the brain the nerve cell resides for example your Neo cortex your thinking brain has about 10,000 to 40,000 connections per neuron we used to think of the brain as a computer and while there are certainly some similarities we now know there's much more to the story each neuron is its own unique bio computer with more than 60 megab of ram it's capable of processing enormous amounts of data up to hundreds of thousands of functions per second as we learn new things and have new experiences in our lives our neurons make new connections exchanging electrochemical information with each other those connections are called synaptic connections because the place where the cells exchange information the gap between the branch of one neuron and the root of another is called a synapse if learning is making new synaptic connections then remembering is keeping those connections wired together so in effect a memory is a long-term relationship or connection between the nerve cells and the creation of these connections and the ways they change over time Alters the physical structure of the brain as the brain makes these changes our thoughts produce a blend of various chemicals called neurotransmitters serotonin dopamine and acetycholine are a few examples you may recognize when we think thoughts neurotransmitters at one branch of one neuron tree cross the synaptic gap to reach the root of another neuron tree once they cross that Gap the neuron fires with an electrical bolt of information when we continue thinking the same thoughts the neuron keeps firing in the same ways strengthening the relationship ship between the two cells so that they can more readily convey a signal the next time those neurons fire as a result the brain shows physical evidence that something was not only learned but also remembered this process of selective strengthening is called synaptic potentiation when jungles of neurons fire in unison to support a new thought an additional chemical a protein is created within the nerve cell and makes its way to the cell's Center or nucleus where it lands in the DNA the protein then switches on several genes since the job of the genes is to make proteins that maintain both the structure and function of the body the nerve cell then quickly makes a new protein to create new branches between nerve cells so when we repeat a thought or an experience enough times our brain cells make not only stronger connections between each other which affects our physiological functions but also a greater number of total connections which affects the physical structure of the body the brain becomes more enriched microscopically so as soon as you think a new thought you become changed neurologically chemically and genetically in fact you can gain thousands of new Connections in a matter of seconds from novel learning new ways of thinking and fresh experiences this means that by thought alone you can personally activate new genes right away it happens just by changing your mind it's Mind Over Matter Noble laat Eric candle MD showed that when new memories are formed the number of synaptic Connections in the sensory neurons that are stimulated doubles to 2,600 however unless the original learning experience is repeated over and over again the number of new connections falls back to the original 1,300 in a matter of only 3 weeks therefore if we repeat what we learn enough times we strengthen communities of neurons to support us in Remembering it the next time if we don't then the synaptic connections soon disappear and the memory is erased this is why it's important for us to continue continually update review and remember our new thoughts choices behaviors habits beliefs and experiences if we want them to solidify in our brains figure 3.5 will help you become familiar with neurons and neuron networks to get an idea of how vast this system really is imagine a nerve cell connecting to 40,000 other nerve cells let's say it's processing 100,000 bits of information per second and sharing that information with other neurons that are also processing 100,000 functions per second this network formed from clusters of neurons working together is called a neural network or a neural net for short neuron Nets form communities of synaptic connections we can also call them your neuros circuitry so as there are physical changes in the nerve cells that make up your brain's gray matter and as neurons are selected and instructed to organize themselves into these vast networks capable of processing hundreds of millions of bits of information the physical Hardware of the brain also changes adapting to the information it receives from the environment in time as the network converging and diverging propagations of electrical activity like a crazy lightning storm in thick clouds are repeatedly turned on the brain will keep using the same hardware systems the physical neural networks but will also create a software program an automatic neural network that's how the programs are installed in the brain the hardware creates the software and the software system is embedded into the hardware and every time the software is used it reinforces the hardware so when you're thinking the same thoughts and having the same feelings all the time because you're not learning or doing anything new your brain is firing its neurons and activating the neural networks in exactly the same sequences patterns and combinations they become the automatic programs that you unconsciously use every day you have an automatic neural network to speak a language to shave your face or put on makeup to type on the computer to judge your coworker and so on because you've performed those actions so many times that they've become practically unconscious you no longer have to consciously think about it it's effortless you've reinforced those circuits so often that they've become hardwired the connections between neurons become more glued together additional circuits are formed and the branches actually expand and become physically thicker just as we might strengthen and reinforce a bridge build a few New Roads or widen a freeway to accommodate more traffic one of the most basic principles in Neuroscience States nerve cells that fire together wire together as your brain fires repeatedly in the same manner you're reproducing the same level of Mind according to Neuroscience mind is the brain in action or at work thus we can say that if you're reminding yourself of who you think you are on a daily basis by reproducing the same mind you're making your brain fire in the same ways and you'll activate the same neural networks for years on end by the time you reach your mid-30s your brain has organized itself into a very finite signature of automatic programs and that fixed pattern is called your identity think of it as a box inside your brain there's no literal box inside your head of course but it's safe to say that Thinking Inside the Box means you've physically hardwired your brain into a limited pattern as Illustrated in figure 3.6 by reproducing the same level of mind over and over again the most commonly fired neurologically wired set of circuits has predetermined who you are as a result of your own valtion so our goal then needs to be thinking outside the box to make the brain fire in new ways as figure 3.7 illustrates that's what having an open mind means because whenever you make your brain work differently you're literally changing your mind research shows that as we use our brains they grow and change thanks to neuroplasticity the brains ability to adapt and change when we learn new information for example the longer mathematicians study math the more neural branches sprout in the area of the brain used for Math and after years of performing in Symphonies and orchestras professional musicians expand the part of their brains associated with language and musical abilities the official scientific terms for how neuroplasticity works are pruning and sprouting which means exactly what they sound like getting rid of some neural connections patterns and circuits and creating new ones in a well- functioning brain this process can happen in a matter of seconds researchers at the University of California at Berkeley demonstrated this in a study on laboratory rats they found that rats living in an enriched environment sharing a cage with siblings and Offspring and having access to many different toys had larger brains with more neurons and more connections between those neurons than did the rats in less enriched environments again when we learn new things and have new experiences we literally changing our brains to break free from the chains of hardwired programming and the conditioning that keeps you the same takes considerable effort it also requires knowledge because when you learn Vital Information about yourself or your life you Stitch a whole new pattern into the three-dimensional embroidery of your own gray matter now you have more raw materials to make the brain work in new and different ways you begin to think about and perceive reality differently because you begin to see your life through the lens of a new mind at this point you can see that in order to change you have to become conscious of your unconscious self which you now know is just a set of hard wide programs the hardest part about change is not making the same choices we made the day before the reason it's so difficult is that the moment we no longer are thinking the same thoughts that lead to the same choices which caus us to automatically act in habitual ways so that we can experience the same events in order to reaffirm the same emotions of our identity we immediately feel uncomfortable this new state of being is unfamiliar it's unknown it doesn't feel normal we don't feel like ourselves anymore because we're not ourselves and because everything feels uncertain we no longer can predict the feeling of the familiar self and how it's mirrored back to us in our lives as uncomfortable as that may be at first that's the moment we know we've stepped into the river of change we've entered the unknown the instant that no longer are being our old selves we have to cross a gap between the old self and the new self which figure 3.8 clearly shows in other words we don't all just Walts into a new personality in a matter of moments it takes time usually when people step into the river of change that void between the old self and the new self is so uncomfortable that they immediately slip back into being their old selves again they unconsciously think this doesn't feel right I'm comfortable or I don't feel so good the moment they accept that thought or Autos suggestion and become suggestible to their own thoughts they will unconsciously make the same old choices again that will lead to the progression of the same habitual behaviors to create the same experiences that automatically endorse the same emotions and feelings and then they say to themselves this feels right but what they really mean is that it feels familiar once we understand that cross ing the river of change and feeling that discomfort is actually the biological neurological chemical and even genetic death of the old self we have power over change and we can set our sights on the other side of the river if we embrace the fact that change is the denaturing of the hardwired circuitry from years of unconsciously thinking the same way we can cope if we understand that the discomfort we feel is the dismantling of old attitudes beliefs and perceptions that have been repeatedly etched into our cerebral architecture we can endure if we can reason that the Cravings we battle in the midst of change are real withdrawals from the chemical emotional addictions of the body we can write it out if we can comprehend that real biological variations are occurring from subconscious habits and behaviors in which our bodies are changing on a cellular level we can forge on and if we can remember that we are modifying our very genes from this life and from Untold previous generations we can stay focused and inspired to an end some people call this experience The Dark Knight of the Soul it's the Phoenix igniting itself and burning to ashes the old self has to die for a new one to be reborn of course that feels uncomfortable but that's okay because that unknown is the perfect place to create from it's the place where possibilities exist what could be better than that most of us have been conditioned to run from the unknown so now we have to learn to become comfortable in the void or the unknown instead of fearing it if you told me that you didn't like being in that void because it's so disorientating and that you can't see what lies ahead because you can't predict your future I'd say that's actually great because the best way to predict the future is to create it not from the known but from the unknown as the new self is born we must be biologically different too new neuronal connections must be sprouted and sealed by the conscious choice to think and act in new ways every day those connections must be reinforced by our repeatedly creating the same experiences until they become a habit new chemical states must become familiar to us from the emotions of enough new experiences and new genes must be signaled to make new proteins to alter our state of being in new ways and if as we've seen the expression of proteins is the expression of life and the expression of life is equal to the health of the body then a new level of structural and Functional Health and life will follow a renewed mind and A Renewed body must emerge now when a new day Dawns for us after the long night of darkness and the Phoenix Rises regenerated from its ashes we have invented a new self and the physical biological expression of the new self is literally becoming someone else that's true metamorphosis another way to look at the brain is to say that it's organized to reflect everything you know and have experienced in your life now you can understand that each time you've interacted with your external world both events have shaped and molded who you are today the complex networks of neurons that have fired and wired together throughout your days on earth form trillions and trillions of connections because you learned and form memories and since every place where one neuron connects with another neuron is called a memory then your brain is a living record of the past the vast experiences with every person and thing at different times and places in your external environment have been stamped into the recesses of your gray matter so by Nature most of us are thinking in the past because we're using the same hardware and software programs from our past memories and if we're living the same life every day by doing the same things at the same time seeing the same people at the same place and creating the same experiences from yesterday then we're enslaved to having our outer worlds influence our inner worlds it's our environment that is controlling how we think act and feel we're victims of our personal realities because our personal realities are creating our personalities and it's become an unconscious process then that of course reaffirms the same thinking and feeling and now there's a Tango or a match between our outer worlds and our inner worlds and they merge and become the same and so do we if our environment is regulating how we're thinking and feeling every day then in order to change something about ourselves or our lives would have to be greater than the present circumstances in our environment just as thoughts are the language of the brain feelings are the language of the body and how you think and how you feel create a state of being a state of being is when your mind and body are working together so your present state of being is your genuine Mind Body Connection every time you have a thought in addition to making neurotransmitters your brain also makes another chemical a small protein called a neuropeptide that sends a message to your body your body then reacts by having a feeling the brain notices that the body is having a feeling so the brain generates another thought matched exactly to the feeling that will produce more of the same chemical messages that allow you to think the way you are just feeling so thinking creates feeling and then feeling creates thinking that's equal to those feelings it's a loop one that for most people can go on for years and because the brain acts on the body's Feelings by generating the same thoughts that will produce the same emotions it becomes clear that redundant thoughts hardwire your brain into a fixed pattern of neuros circuitry but what happens in the body because feelings are the modus operandi of the body the emotions you continually feel based on your automatic thinking will condition the body to memorize those emotions that are equal to the unconscious hardwired mind and brain that means that the conscious mind isn't really in charge the body has subconsciously being programmed and conditioned in a very real way to become its own mind eventually when this Loop of thinking and feeling and then feeling and thinking has been operating long enough our bodies memorize the emotions that our brains have signaled our bodies to feel the cycle becomes so established and ingrained that it creates a familiar state of being one based on Old information that keeps recycling those emotions which are nothing more than chemical records of past experiences are driving our thoughts and are being played out over and over again as long as this continues we're living in the past no wonder it's so hard for us to change our future if the neurons are firing the same way they're triggering the release of the same chemical neurotransmitters and neuropeptides in the brain and body and then these same chemicals begin to train the body to further remember those emotions by altering it physically once again the cells and tissues receive these very specific chemical signals at specific recepto sites recepto sites are akin to docking stations for chemical Messengers The Messengers fit perfectly in place like a child's puzzle in which certain shapes like a circle a triangle or a square fit into specific openings think of those chemical Messengers which are really molec tools of emotion as carrying barcodes that enable the cell receptors to read the messenger electromagnetic energy when the exact match is made the recepto side prepares itself the messenger docks the cell receives the chemical messages and then the cell creates or Alters a protein the new protein activates the cell's DNA within the nucleus the DNA opens up and unwinds the gene is read for that corresponding message from outside the cell and the cell makes a new protein from its DNA for example a particular hormone and releases it into the body now the body is being trained by the mind if this process continues for years and years because the same signals outside of the cell are coming from the same level of Mind in the brain because the person is thinking acting and feeling the same every day then it makes sense that the same genes will be activated in the same ways because the body is receiving the same data from the environment there are no new thoughts ignited no new choices made no new behaviors demonstrated no new experiences embraced and no new feelings created when the same genes are repeatedly activated by the same information from the brain then the genes keep getting selected over and over again and just like gears in a car they start to wear out the body makes proteins with weaker structures and lesser functions we get sick and we age in time one of two scenarios can occur the intelligence of the cell membrane which is consistently receiving the same information can adapt to the body's needs and demands by modifying its recepto sdes so that it can accommodate more of those chemicals basically it creates more docking stations to satisfy the demand just as supermarkets open up additional checkout Lanes when the lines get too long if business stays good if those same chemicals keep coming then you'll have to hire more employees and keep more lanes open now the body is equal to and has become the mind in the other scenario the cell becomes too overwhelmed with the continual bombardment of feelings and emotions on a moment to basis to allow all the chemical Messengers to dock because the same chemicals are more or less hanging around outside the cell's docking station doors day in and day out the cell gets used to those chemicals being there so only when the brain produces a lot more heightened emotions does the cell become willing to open its doors once you increase the intensity of the emotion the cell is stimulated enough so that the docking station doors open and the cell turns on you'll hear more about the importance of emotion later this is a key part of the placebo equation in the first scenario when the cell makes new recepto sites the body will crave those specific chemicals when the brain doesn't make enough and consequently our feelings will determine our thinking our bodies will control our minds that's what I mean when I say the body memorizes the emotion it has become biologically conditioned and altered to be a reflection of the Mind in the second scenario once the cell is overwhelmed by the bombardment and The receptors become desensitized then just as a drug addict does the body will require a greater chemical thrill to turn on the cell in other words in order for the body to become stimulated and get its fix you need to get angrier more worried guiltier or more confused than last time so you might feel the deed to start a bit of drama by yelling at your dog for no reason just to give the body its drug of choice or maybe you can't help talking about how much you despise your mother-in-law just so the body has even more chemicals available with enough strength to arouse the cell or you start obsessing about some horrible imagined outcome just so the body can get a rush of adrenal hormones when the body isn't getting its emotional chemical needs met it will signal the brain to make more of those chemicals the body is controlling the mind that sounds very much like an addiction so now when I use the term emotional addiction you'll understand what I mean when feelings have become the means of thinking in this manner or we can't think greater than how we feel then we're in the program our thinking is how we feel and our feelings are how we think what we experience is like a merger of thoughts and feelings we're thinking or feeling since we're caught in this Loop then our bodies as the unconscious mind actually believe they living in the same past experience 24 hours a day 7 days a week 365 days a year our minds and bodies are one aligned to a destiny predetermined by our unconscious programs so to change change requires being greater than the body and all its emotional memories addictions and unconscious habituations that is to no longer be defined by the body as the mind the repetition of the cycle of thinking and feeling and then feeling and thinking is the conditioning process of the body that the conscious mind delivers once the body becomes the mind that's called a habit a habit is when your body is the Mind 95% of Who You Are by the time you're 35 years old is a set of memorized behaviors skills emotional reactions beliefs perceptions and attitudes that functions like a subconscious automatic computer program so 95% of who you are is a subconscious or even an unconscious state of being and that means your conscious mind's 5% is working against the 95% of what you've memorized subconsciously you can think positively all you want but that 5% of your mind that's conscious will feel as if it's swimming Upstream against the current of the other 95% of your mind your unconscious body chemistry that has been remembering and memorizing whatever negativity you've been harboring for the past 35 years that's mind and body working in opposition no wonder you don't get very far when you try to fight that current that's why I called my last book breaking the habit of being yourself because that's the greatest habit we have to break thinking feeling and behaving in the same way that reinforces the unconscious Pro programs that reflect our personalities and our personal realities we can't create a new future while we're living in our past it's simply impossible here's an example that will pull all of this together I'm intentionally choosing a negative event because these types of events tend to keep us limited whereas more successful empowering and uplifting events usually help us create a better future that process will become clear soon so let's say that you had a horrific past experience with public speaking that scared you emotionally feel free to substitute any emotionally scarring experience of your choice here because of that experience you now fear standing up to talk in front of a group of people it makes you feel insecure anxious and anything but confident just thinking about looking out over the meeting room of even 20 people causes your throat to close up your hands to go cold and clammy your heart to race your face and neck to flush your stomach to twist and your brain to freeze all of these reactions come under the jurisdiction of your autonomic ner nervous system the nervous system that functions subconsciously below your conscious control think of autonomic as automatic it's the part of the nervous system that regulates digestion hormones circulation body temperature and so on without you're having any conscious control over them you can't decide to change your heart rate alter blood flow to your extremities to cool them off heat up your face and neck change the metabolic secretions of your digestive enzymes or shut off millions of nerve cells from firing on command try as you might to consciously change any one of these functions you'll probably find that you won't be able to do it so when your body makes these autonomic physiological changes is because you have Associated the future thought of standing in front of an audience delivering a presentation with the past emotional memory of your flawed public speaking experience and when that future thought idea or possibility is consistently associated with the past feelings of anxiety failure or embarrassment in time the mind will condition the body to respond automatically to that feeling this is how we continuously move into familiar states of being our thoughts and feelings become one with the past because we can't think greater than how we feel now let's take a closer look at how that works inside your brain the particular event that was embossed and patterned neurologically as a past memory remember experience enriches brain circuitry becomes physically wired in your brain just like a footprint as a consequence you can retrace your steps and recall the negative public speaking experience as a thought in order for you to remember it on command The Experience must have had a significant enough emotional charge as well so you can also emotionally bring to mind all of the feelings related to your foiled attempt to be a successful orator because it seems as though you were chemically altered from the experience I want to point out that feelings and emotions are the end products of past experiences when you're caught up in an experience your senses capture the event and then relay all of that Vital Information back to your brain through five different sensory Pathways once all of that new data reaches the brain mobs of nerve cells organize into fresh networks to reflect the novel external event the moment those circuits gel the brain makes a chemical to Signal the body and alter its physiology that chemical is called a feeling or an emotion thus we can remember past events because we can remind ourselves of how they felt so when your lecture went a miss all of the information that your five senses were picking up in your external environment changed changed how you were feeling in your inner environment the information that your senses were processing the sight of the faces in the audience the expansiveness of the room and the bright lights above your head the echoing sound of the microphone and the deafening silence after your first attempted joke the immediate rise in the room's temperature the moment you started talking the smell of your old cologne evaporating from your own perspiration changed your inner state of being and the moment you correlated this unique event in your outer world of the senses the cause with the changes going on in your inner world of thoughts and feelings the effect you created a memory you Associated a cause with an effect and your own conditioning process began so after the self-inflicted torture of that day which fortunately ended with no rotten fruit or vegetables being thrown in your direction you drove home on the ride you kept recalling the event over and over again and to varying degrees every time you reminded yourself which is exactly that reproducing the same level of mind mind of your experience you produce the same chemical changes in your brain and body in a sense you repeatedly reaffirm the past and continued the conditioning process further because your body acts as your unconscious mind it didn't know the difference between the actual event in your life that created the emotional state and the emotions you created by thought alone when you remembered the event your body believed that it was living in the same experience over and over again even though you're actually alone in the comfort of your car and the body responded physiologically as though you were indeed reliving that experience in the present time as you fired and wired the circuits in your brain that were derived from the thoughts related to that experience you were physically maintaining the synaptic connections and you were now creating even more lasting connections within those networks you were creating a long-term memory once you arrived home you told your partner your friends and maybe even your mother about the events of that day as you described the trauma in Grievous detail you were working yourself into an emotional froth as you also relived the emotions of the incident you chemically conditioned your body to the day's past event you physiologically trained your body to become your personal history subconsciously unconsciously and automatically in the days that followed you were moody people couldn't help noticing this and every time someone asked you what's wrong you just couldn't resist you opportunistically took them up on the invitation to become more addicted to the rush of chemistry from your past the mood created from that experience was just one long emotional reaction lasting for days when weeks of feeling the same way every time you remembered the event turned into months even years it became a prolonged emotional reaction it's now not only a part of your temperament character and nature but also your personality it's who you are if someone else asks you to talk in front of a group again you automatically cringe shrink and become anxious your external environment is controlling your internal environment and you're unable to be great than it as you expect the thought that your future a public speaking opening will be more like the feeling of your past unlivable torment just like magic your body as the Mind automatically and subconsciously responds try as you might it seems as if your conscious mind can gain no control over it in a matter of seconds a host of conditioned responses from your brain and body's own Pharmacy manifest profuse sweating dry mouth weak knees nausea dizziness shortness of breath and uncontrollable fatigue all from a single thought that changes your physiology sounds like the placebo to me if you could you'd turn down the opportunity to do the talk saying something like I'm not a public speaker I'm insecure in front of people I'm a bad presenter or I'm too afraid to talk in front of large audiences whenever you say I am insert your own words here what you are declaring is that your mind and body are aligned to a future or that your thoughts and feelings are one one with your destiny you're reinforcing a memorized state of being if by chance you would then asked why you chose to be defined by your past as well as your own limitation I'm certain that you tell a story equal to your past memories and emotions reaffirming yourself to be that way you probably even embellish it a little from a biological level what you'd really be proclaiming is that you were altered physically chemically and emotionally from that event several years ago and haven't changed much since then you've chosen to be defined by your own limitation in this example one could say that you're enslaved by your body because it has now become the mind you're trapped by the conditions in your environment because the experience of people and things at a certain place and time are influencing how you think act and feel and you're lost in time because by living in the past and anticipating the same future your mind and body are never in the present moment so in order to change your current state of being you you would have to be greater than these three elements your body your environment and time so then thinking back to the beginning of this chapter where you read that the placebo is Created from three elements conditioning expectation and meaning you can now see that you are your own Placebo why because all three elements come into play in the previous example first like a talented animal trainer you've conditioned your body into a subconscious state of being where mind and body are one your thoughts and feelings have merged and your body has now been programmed to automatically biologically and physiologically be the Mind by thought alone and anytime a stimulus from your external environment is presented to you like an opportunity to teach you have conditioned your body just as Pavlov conditioned his dogs to subconsciously and automatically respond to the mind of the past experience since most of the placebo study show that a single thought could activate the body's autonomic nervous system and produce significant physiological changes then you're regulating your internal World by simply associating a thought with an emotion all of your subconscious autonomic systems are being reinforced neurochemically by The Familiar feelings and bodily Sensations related to your fear and your biology perfectly reflects it second if your expectation is that your future will be like your past then you are not only thinking in the past but also selecting a known future based only on your past and emotionally embracing that event until your body as the unconscious mind believes that it's living in that future in the present moment all of your attention is on a known predictable reality which causes you to limit any new choices behaviors experiences and emotions you're unconsciously forecasting your future by physiologically clinging to the Past third if you assign meaning or conscious intention to an action the result is Amplified what you're telling yourself on a daily basis in this case that you're not a good speaker and the public speaking elicits a panic reaction is what has meaning to you you've become susceptible to your own Auto suggestions and if your present knowledge is based on your own conclusions from past experiences then without any new knowledge you'll always keep creating the outcome that's equal to your mind change your meaning and change your intention and just as the hotel maids in the study from the last chapter did you change the results so whether you've been trying to affect positive change to create a new state of being or you've been running on autopilot and staying stuck in the same old state of being the truth is that you've always been your own Placebo chapter 4 the placebo effect in the body on a crisp September Day in 1981 a group of eight men in their 70s and ' 80s climbed into a few Vans headed 2 hours North of Boston to a monastery in Peterborough New Hampshire the the men were about to take part in a 5-day Retreat where they were asked to pretend that they were young again or at least 22 years younger than they were at the time the retreat was organized by a team of researchers headed by Harvard psychologist Ellen Langer PhD who would take another group of eight elderly men to the same place the following week the men in the second group the control group were asked to actively reminisce about being 22 years younger but not to pretend that they weren't their current age when the first group of men arrived at the they found themselves surrounded by all sorts of environmental cues to help them recreate an earlier age they flipped through old issues of life and the Saturday evening post they watched movies and television shows popular in 1959 and they listened to recordings of Perry Como and Nat King Cole on the radio they also talked about current events such as Fidel Castro's rise to power in Cuba Russian premere Nikita kush's visit to the United States and even the Feats of baseball star Mickey Mantle and boxing great Floyd Patterson all of these elements were cleverly designed to help the men imagine that they were really 22 years younger after each 5-day Retreat the researchers took several measurements and compared them to those that taken before the start of the study the bodies of the men from both groups were physiologically younger structurally as well as functionally although those in the first study group who pretended they were younger improved significantly more than the control group who' merely reminisced the researchers discovered improvements in height weight and gate the men grew taller as their posture straightened and their joints became more flexible and their fingers lengthened as their arthritis diminished their eyesight and hearing got better their grip strength improved their memory sharpened and they scored better on tests of mental cognition with the first group improving their score by 63% compared to 44% for the control group the men literally became younger in those five days right in front of the researchers eyes Langer reported at the end of the study I was playing football touch but still football with these men some of whom gave up their canes how did that happen clearly the men were able to turn on the circuits in their brains that reminded them of who they had been 22 years ago and then their body chemistry somehow magically responded they didn't just feel younger they physically became younger as evidence by measurement after measurement the change wasn't just in their minds it was in their bodies but what happened in their bodies to produce such striking physical Transformations what could be responsible for all of these measurable changes in physical structure and function the answer is they genes which aren't as immutable as you might think so let's take some time to look at what exactly genes are and how they operate imagine a ladder or a zipper Twisted into a spiral and you'll have a pretty good picture of what deoxy ribonucleic acid better known as DNA looks like stored in the nucleus of every living cell in our bodies DNA contains the raw information or instructions that make us who and what we are although as we'll soon see those instructions are not an unchangeable blueprint that ourselves must follow for our entire lives each half of that DNA zipper contains corresponding nucleic acids that together are called base pairs numbering about three billion per cell groups of long sequences of these nucleic acids are called genes genes are unique little structures if you were to take the DNA out of the nucleus of just one cell in your body and stretch it out from end to end it would be 6 ft long if you took all the DNA out of your entire body and stretched it out from end to end it would go to the Sun and back 150 times but if you took all the DNA out of almost the seven billion people on the planet and scrunched it together it would fit in a space as small as a grain of rice our DNA uses the instructions imprinted within its individual sequences to produce proteins the word protein is derived from the Greek protes meaning of primary importance proteins are the raw materials our body Ed to construct not only coherent three-dimensional structures our physical Anatomy but also the intricate functions and complex interactions that make up our physiology our bodies are in fact protein producing machines muscle cells make actin and myosin skin cells make collagen and elastin immune cells make antibod IES thyroid cells make thyroxin certain eye cells make keratin bone marrow cells make hemoglobin and pancreatic cells make enzymes like proteas lipase and amalay all of the elements that these cells manufacture are proteins proteins control our immune system digest our food heal our wounds catalyze chemical reactions support the structural Integrity of our bodies provide elegant molecules to communicate between cells and much more in short proteins are the expression of life and the health of our bodies take a look at figure 4.1 and review a simplistic understanding of genes for the 60 years since James Watson PhD and Francis Crick PhD discover the double helix of DNA what Watson proclaimed in a 1970 issue of nature as the central dogma that one's genes determine all has held fast as contradictory evidence popped up here and there researchers tend to dismiss it as a mere anomaly within a complex system some 40 odd years later the genetic determinism concept still Reigns in the general Public's mind most people believe the common misconception that our genetic Destiny is predetermined and that if we have inherited the genes for certain cancers heart disease diabetes or any number of other conditions we have no more control over that than we do our eye color or the shapes of our noses not withstanding contact lenses and plastic surgery the news media reinforce this by repeatedly suggesting that specific genes cause this condition or that disease they've programmed us into believing that we're victims of our biology and that our genes have the ultimate power over our health our well-being and our personalities and even that our genes dictate our human Affairs determine our interpersonal relationships and forecast our future but are we who we are and do we do what we do because we're born that way this concept implies that genetic determinism is deeply entrenched in our culture and that there are genes for schizophrenia genes for homosexuality genes for leadership and so on these are all dated beliefs built on yesterday's news first of all there's no Gene for dyslexia or add or alcoholism for example so not every health condition or physical variation is associated with a gene and fewer than 5% of people on the planet are born with some genetic condition like type 1 diabetes Down syndrome or sickle cell anemia the other 95% of us who develop such a condition acquire it through lifestyle and behaviors the flip side is also true not everyone born with the genes associated with a condition say Alzheimer's or breast cancer ends up getting that it's not as though our jeans are eggs that will ultimately hatch someday that's just not the way it works the real questions are whether or not any Gene we might be carrying has been expressed yet and what we're doing that might signal Gene to turn either on or off a huge shift in the way we look at genes came when scientists finally mapped the human genome in 1990 at the beginning of the project the researchers expected that eventually discover that we have 140,000 different genes they came up with that number because genes manufacture and supervise the production of proteins the human body manufactures 100,000 different proteins plus 40,000 regulatory proteins needed to make other proteins so so the scientists mapping the human genome were anticipating that they'd find one gene per protein but by the end of the project in 2003 they were shocked to discover that in fact humans have only 23,6 188 genes from the perspective of Watson's central dogma that's not only not enough genes to create our complex bodies and keep them running but also not even enough genes to keep the brain functioning so if it's not contained in the genes where does all the information come from that's required to create so many proteins and sustain life the answer to that question led to a new idea genes must work together in systemic cooperation with one another so that many are expressed turned on or suppressed turned off at the same time within the cell it's the combination of the genes that are turned on at any one time that produces all the different proteins we depend on for life picture a string of blink in in Christmas tree lights with some flashing on together while others flash off 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 TR 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 off 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 messenges to instruct stem cells to morph into whatever types of cells are needed at the time for healing more about stem cells and their role in healing will be coming 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 in states 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 momentto 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 co-workers and spiritual practices as well as your sexual habits your exercise levels and the type of detergents you use the latest research shows that approximately 90% 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 Rossy PhD writes in the psychobiology of gene expression our subjective states of Mind consciously motivated behavior and our perception of of Free Will can modulate gene expression to optimize Health 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 may be passed on to 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 storehouse 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 stor 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% of our DNA while the other 98.5% lies dormant in the body scientists call 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 regulatory proteins in reality genes contribute to our characteristics but do not determine them writes dwson 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 now let's take a closer look at how genes are switched on several different factors can be responsible actually but for the sake of our discussion here about the Mind Body Connection we'll keep it simple what's a chemical messenger for example a neuropeptide from outside of the cell from the environment locks into the cell's docking station and passes through the cell membrane it travels to the nucleus where it encounters the DNA the chemical messenger modifies or creates a new protein and then the signal it was carrying is translated to information now inside the cell then it enters the nucleus of the cell through a small window and depending on the content of the protein message it looks for a specific chromosome a single piece of coiled DNA that contains many genes within the nucleus just as you might look for a specific book on the Shelf in the library each of these strands is covered in a protein sleeve that acts as a filter between the information contained in the DNA strand and the rest of the intracellular environment of the nucleus in order for the DNA code to be selected the sleeve must be removed or unwrapped so that the DNA can be exposed just as a book chosen from a library shelf then has to be open before anyone can read it the genetic code of DNA contains information waiting to be read and activated to create a particular protein until that information is exposed in the gene by unwrapping that protein sleeve the the DNA is latent it's a potential Storehouse of encoded information just waiting to be unlocked or opened you could think of the DNA as a parts list of potentials that are awaiting instructions to construct proteins which regulate and maintain every aspect of life once the protein selects the chromosome it opens it up by removing the outer covering around the DNA another protein then regulates and readies an entire Gene sequence within the chromosome think of it as a chapter with in a book to be read all the way from the start of the sequence to its end once the gene is exposed and the protein sleeve is removed and readed another nucleic acid called ribonucleic acid RNA is produced from the regulatory protein reading the gene now the gene is expressed or activated the RNA exits the nucleus of the cell to be assembled into a new protein from the code the RNA carries it has gone from being a blueprint of latent potential to being an active expression the protein the gene creates can now construct assemble interact with restore maintain and influence many different aspects of Life both within the cell and outside of it figure 4.2 a b c and d gives an overview of the process just as an architect gets all the information that's necessary to build a structure from a blueprint the body gets all the instructions it needs to create complex molecules that Keep Us Alive and operating from the chromosomes of our DNA but before the architect reads the blueprint it has to be pulled out of its cardboard tube and unrolled until then it's just latent information waiting to be read the cell is the same way the gene is inert until its protein sheathing is removed and the cell chooses to read the gene sequence scientists used to believe all the body needed was the information itself the blueprint to start construction so that's what most of them focused on they paid little attention to the fact that the whole Cascade of events starts with the signal out side of the cell which is in fact responsible for what genes within its Library the cell chooses to read that signal as we now know includes thoughts choices behaviors experiences and feelings so it makes sense that if you can change these elements you can also determine your genetic expression if our genes don't seal Our Fate and if they actually contain an enormous library of possibilities just waiting to be taken off the shelf and read then what gives us access to those potentials potentials that could have a huge effect on our health and well-being the men in the monastery study surely gained such access but how did they do it the answer lies in a relatively new field of study called epigenetics the word epigenetics literally means above the gene it refers to the control of genes not from within the DNA itself but from messages coming from outside the cell in other words from the environment these signals cause a methyl group one carbon atom attached to three hydrogen atoms to attach to a a specific spot on a gene and this process called DNA methylation is one of the main processes that turns the gene off or on two other processes calent histone modification and non-coding RNA also turn genes on and off but the details of those processes are more than we need for this discussion epigenetics teaches that we indeed are not doomed by our genes and that a change in human consciousness can produce physical changes both in structure and function in the human body we can modify our genetic Destiny by turning on the genes we want and turning off the ones we don't want through working with the various factors in the environment that program our genes some of those signals come from within the body such as feelings and thoughts While others come from the body's response to the external environment such as pollution or sunlight epigenetics studies all of these external signals that tell the cell what to do and when to do it looking at both the sources that activate or turn on gene expression upregulating and those that suppress or turn off gene expression downregulating as well as the Dynamics of energy that adjust the process of cellular function on a momentto moment basis epigenetics suggest that even though our DNA code never changes thousands of combinations sequences and pattern variations in a single Gene are possible just as thousands of combination sequences and Pats of neuron networks are possible in the brain looking at the entire Human Genome so many millions of possible epigenetic variations exist that scientists find their heads spinning just thinking about it the human epigenome project began in 2003 as the Human Genome Project grew to a close is underway in Europe and some researchers have said that when it's completed it will make the Human Genome Project look like homework that 15th century kids did with an abacus going back to the blueprint model we can change the color of what we build the type of materials we use the scale of the construction and even the positioning of the structure making an almost infinite number of variations all without ever changing the actual blueprint a great example of epigenetics at work involves identical twins who share exactly the same DNA if we embrace the idea of genetic predeterminism the idea that all diseases are genetic then identical twins should have exactly the same gene expression however they don't always manifest the same illnesses in the same way and sometimes one will manifest a genetic disease that the other doesn't manifest at all twins can have the same genes but different outcomes a Spanish study illustrates this perfectly researchers at the Cancer epigenetics laboratory at the Spanish National Cancer Center in Madrid studied 40 pairs of identical twins ranging in age from 3 to 74 they found that younger twins who had similar Lifestyles and spent more years together had similar epigenetic patterns while older twins in particular those with dissimilar Lifestyles who spent fewer years together had very different epigenetic patterns for example researchers found four times as many differentially expressed genes between one pair of 50-year-old twins as they did between a pair of three-year-old twins the Twins were born with exactly the same DNA but those with different Lifestyles and different lives ended up expressing their genes very differently especially as time went on to use another analogy the older twin pairs were like exact copies of the same model of a computer the computers came loaded with some similar stter software But as time went on each downloaded very different additional software programs the computer the DNA state is the same but depending on what software a person has downloaded the epigenetic variations what the computer does and the way it operates can be quite different so when we think our thoughts and feel our feelings our bodies respond in a complex formula of biological shifts and alterations and each experience pushes the buttons of real genetic changes within our cells the speed of these changes can be truly remarkable in just 3 months a group of 31 men with lowrisk prostate cancer were able to upregulate 48 gen genes mostly dealing with tumor suppression and downregulate 453 genes mostly dealing with tumor promotion by following an intensive nutrition and lifestyle regimen the men enrolled in a study by Dean ornish MD at the University of California at San Francisco lost weight and reduced their abdominal obesity blood pressure and lipid profile over the course of the study ornish noted it is not really so much about risk factor reduction or preventing something bad from happening these changes can Ur so quickly you don't have to wait years to see the benefits even more impressive are the number of epigenetic changes made over a six-month period in a Swedish study of 23 slightly overweight healthy men who went from being relatively sedentary to attending spinning in aerobics classes an average of just under twice per week researchers at lond University discovered that the men had epigenetically altered 7,000 genes almost 30% of all the genes in the entire human genome these epigenetic variations may even be inherited by our children and then passed on to our grandchildren the first researcher to show this was Michael Skinner PhD who was director of the Center for Reproductive biology at Washington State University in 2005 Skinner L A study that exposed pregnant rats to pesticides the male pups of the exposed mother rats had higher rates of infertility and decreased sperm production with epigenetic changes in two genes these changes were also present in about % of the males in each of the four generations that followed even though none of these other rats were exposed to any pesticides our experiences from our external environment are only part of the story however as we have been learning how we assign meaning to those experiences includes a barrage of physical mental emotional and chemical responses that also activate genes how we perceive and interpret the data we receive from our senses as factual information whether that information is actually true or not and the meaning we give it produce significant biological changes on a genetic level thus our genes interact with our conscious awareness in complex relationships we could say that meaning is continually affecting the neural structures that influence who we are on the microscopic level which then influences who we are on the macroscopic level the study of epigenetics also raises the question what if nothing is changing in your external environment what if you do the same things with the same people at exactly the same time every day things leading to the same experiences that produce the same emotions that signal the same genes in the same way we could say that as long as you perceive your life through the lens of the past and react to the conditions with the same neural architecture and from the same level of mind you're headed toward a very specific predetermined genetic Destiny in addition what you believe about yourself your life and the choices you make as a result of those beliefs also keeps sending the same messages to the same genes only when the cell is ignited in a new way by new information can it create thousands of variations of the same gene to rewrite a new expression of proteins which changes your body you may not be able to control all the elements in your outer world but you can manage many aspects of your inner World your beliefs your perceptions and how you interact with your external environment have an influence on your internal environment which is still the external environment of the cell this means that you not your pre-programmed biology hold the keys to your genetic Destiny it's just a matter of finding the right key that fits into the right lock to Unleash Your Potential so why not see your genes for what they really are providers of possibility resources of unlimited potential a code system of personal commands in truth they're nothing short of tools for transformation which literally means changing form stress is one of the biggest causes of epigenetic change because it knocks your body out of balance it comes in three forms physical stress trauma chemical stress toxins and emotional stress fear worry being overwhelmed and so on each type can set off more than 1,400 chemical reactions and produce more than 30 hormones and neurotransmitters when the chemical Cascade of stress hormones is triggered your mind influences your body through the autonomic nervous system and you experience the ultimate Mind Body Connection ironically feeling stressed with designed to be adaptive all organisms in nature including humans are programmed to deal with short-term stress so that they'll have the resources they need for emergency situations when you sense a threat in your external environment the fight or flight response in your sympathetic nervous system a subsystem of your autonomic nervous system is activated and your heart rate and blood pressure increase your muscles tense and hormones like adrenaline and cortisol shoot through your body to prepare you to either flee or face your foe in in battle if you're being chased by a pack of wild hungry wolves or a party of violent Warriors and you outrun them your body will return to homeostasis its normal Balan State soon after you reach safety that's the way our bodies were designed to operate when we're living in survival mode the body is out of balance but only for a short period of time until the danger passes at least that's how it was meant to be the same thing happens in our modern world although the setting is usually a little different if someone cuts you off when you're driving on the highway you might be momentarily frightened but once you realize that you're okay and you let go of the fear of having an accident your body returns to normal unless that was only one of countless stressful situations you stumbled into that day if you're like most people a string of nerve-wracking incidents keeps you in fight or flight response and out of homeostasis a large part of the time maybe the car cutting you off is the only actual life-threatening situation you encounter all day but the traffic on the way to work the pressure of preparing for a big presentation the argument you had with your spouse the credit card bill that came in the mail the crashing of your computer hard drive and the new gray hair you noticed in the mirror keep the stress hormones circulating in your body on a near constant basis between remembering stressful experiences from the past and anticipating stressful situations coming up in your future all these repetitive short-term stresses blur together into long-term stress welcome to the 21st century version of living in survival mode in fight or flight mode life sustaining energy is mobilized so that the body can either run or fight but when there isn't a return to homeostasis because you keep perceiving a threat vital energy is lost in the system you have less energy in your internal environment for cell growth and repair long-term building projects on a cellular level and healing when that energy is being channeled elsewhere the cells shut down they no longer communicate with one another other and they become selfish it's not time for routine maintenance let alone for making improvements it's time for defense it's every cell for itself so the collective community of cells working together becomes fractured the immune and endocrine systems among others become weakened as genes in those related cells are compromised when informational signals from outside the cells are turned off it's like living in a country where 98% of the resources go toward defense and nothing is left for schools libraries Road building and repair communication systems growing of food and so on roads develop potholes that aren't fixed schools suffer budget cuts so students wind up learning less social welfare programs that took care of the poor and the elderly have to close down and there's not enough food to feed the masses not surprisingly then long-term stress has been linked to anxiety depression digestive problems memory loss insomnia hypertension heart disease Strokes cancer ulc ERS rheumatoid arthritis colds flu aging acceleration allergies body pain chronic fatigue infertility impotence asthma hormonal issues skin rashes hair loss muscle spasms and diabetes to name just a few conditions all of which by the way are the result of epigenetic changes no organism in nature is designed to withstand the effects of long-term stress several studies give strong evidence to show how epigenetic instructions for healing shut down during emergencies for example researchers at the Ohio State University Medical Center found that more than 170 genes were affected by stress with a 100 of them shutting off completely including many that directly make proteins to facilitate the proper type of wound healing the researchers reported that wounds of stress patients took 40% longer to heal and that stress tilted the genomic balance towards genes that were encoding proteins responsible for cell cycle arrest death and inflammation another study examined the genes of 100 citizens of Detroit zeroed in on 23 subjects who were suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder these people had six to seven times more epigenetic variations most of which involved compromising the immune system researchers at the UCLA AIDS Institute found that not only did HIV spread faster in patients who were the most stressed but also the higher a patient stress level the less he or she responded to the anti retroviral drugs the drugs worked four times better for those patients who were relatively calm compared to those whose blood pressure skin moisture and resting heart rate indicated that they were feeling the most stress based on these findings researchers concluded that the nervous system has a direct effect on viral replication although the fight or flight response was originally highly adaptive because it kept early humans alive it's now clear that the longer that survival system is constantly activated the longer your body shunts its resources for creating Optimal Health so the system becomes maladaptive as we keep making stress hormones we create a host of Highly addictive negative emotions including anger hostility aggression competition hatred frustration fear anxiety jealousy insecurity guilt shame sadness depression hopelessness and powerlessness just to name a few when we focus on thoughts about bitter past memories or imagine Dreadful Futures to the exclusion of everything else we prevent the body from regaining homeostasis in truth we're capable of turning on the stress response by thought alone if we turn it on and then can't turn it off we're surely headed for some type of illness or disease be it a cold or cancer as more and more genes get downregulated in a domino effect until we eventually arrive at our genetic Destiny for example if we can anticipate a possible known future scenario and then focus on that thought to the exclusion of everything else even for just one moment the body will physiologically begin to change in order to prepare itself for that future event the body is now living in that known future in the present moment as a consequence of this phenomenon the conditioning process begins to activate the autonomic nervous system and it creates the corresponding stress chemicals automatically this is how the Mind Body Connection can work against us when this happens we are demonstrating the three elements of the Rebo effect in perfect symmetry first we start to condition the body to the rush of adrenal chemistry in order to feel a boost of energy if we can associate a person thing or experience at a particular time and place in our outer reality with that Rush of chemistry within us we'll begin to condition the body to turn on the response just by thinking about that stimulus in time we'll be able to Simply condition the body to be put in mind of that emotionally aroused state by thought alone the thought of a potential experience with someone and something at some time and some place if we can expect the future outcome based on the past experience then the expectation of the event when we emotionally embrace it will change the body's physiology and if we assign meaning to the behaviors and experiences we're putting our conscious intention behind the outcome so that our bodies will change or not change equal to what we think we know about our reality and ourselves but whether or not you believe that the stress in your life is Justified or valid the effect of that stress on the body is never advantageous or health enhancing your body believes that it is being chased by a lion is standing purged on a perilous Cliff or is fighting off a pack of angry cannibals here are a few examples from scientific studies demonstrating the effects of stress on the body researchers at the Ohio State University College of Medicine confirmed that stressful emotions trigger hormonal and genetic responses by measuring how stress affects the speed of healing minor skin wounds a significant mark of Gene activation a group of 42 married couples were given small suction blisters and then their level of three proteins commonly expressed in wound healing was monitored for a total of 3 weeks the couples were asked to have a neutral discussion for half an hour as a Baseline and then later to talk about a previous marital argument the researchers found that after the couples discussed a previous disagreement their level of healing linked proteins was mildly suppressed showing that the genes were downregulated the suppression Rose to an even greater degree about 40% in couples whose discussion ballooned into a significant conflict peppered with sarcastic comments criticism and put Downs research also supports the reverse effect that reducing stress with positive emotions triggers epigenetic changes that improve health two key Studies by researchers at the Benson Henry Institute for mind body Medicine Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston looked at the effects of meditation which is known for eliciting peaceful and even Bliss ful States on gene expression in the first study conducted in 2008 20 volunteers received 8 weeks of training in various Mind Body practices including several types of meditation yoga and repetitive prayer known to induce the relaxation response a physiological state of deep rest discussed in Chapter 2 the researchers also followed 19 long-term daily practitioners of the same techniques at the end of the study period the novices showed a change in one , 561 genes 874 upregulated for health and 687 downregulated for stress as well as reduced blood pressure and reduced heart and respiration rates while the experienced practitioners expressed 2,29 new genes most of the genetic changes involved improving the body's response to Chronic psychological stress the second study conducted in 2013 found that eliciting the relaxation response produces changes in gene expression after just one session of meditation among both novices and experienced practitioners alike with the long-term practitioners not surprisingly deriving more benefit genes that were upregulated included those involved in the immune function energy metabolism and Insulin secretion while genes that were downregulated included those linked to inflammation and stress studies like these underscore just how quickly it's possible to change your own genes that's why the placebo response can produce physical changes in a matter of moments in my workshops around the world my colleagues and I have witnessed significant and immediate changes in our participants Health after only one session of meditation they transformed themselves and activated new genes in new ways by thought alone you'll be introduced to some of them soon when we're living in survival mode with our stress response turned on all the time we can really focus on only three things our physical bodies am I okay the environment where is it safe and time how long will this threat be hanging over me constantly focusing on these three things makes us less spiritual less aware and less mindful because it trains us to become more self-absorbed and more focused on our bodies as well as on other material things such as what we own where we live how much money we have and so on in addition to all of the problems we experience in our external world this Focus also trains us to obsess about time to con ly brace ourselves for the worst casee future scenarios based on our traumatic past experiences because there's never enough time and everything always takes too much time so we could say that just as stress hormones cause the cells of the body to become selfish to ensure that we survive they endorse our ego to become more selfish too and we become materialists defining reality with our senses we end up feeling separate from any new possibilities because when we never leave that state of chronic emergency that me first mentality that pervades all our thinking strengthens and endures leading us to become self-indulgent self- serving and self-important ultimately the self becomes defined as a body living in the environment and in time as you have just read and now more fully understand the reality is that you do indeed have some degree of control over your own genetic engineering by way of your thoughts choices behaviors experiences and emotions like Dorothy and The Wizard of Oz who had the power she sought all along but didn't know it you also possess a power that you may not have previously realized was yours the keys that can set you free of being chained to the limitations of your own genetic expression chapter 5 how thoughts change the brain and the body now you can understand that whether it's joyful or stressful with every thought you think every emotion you feel and every event you experience you're acting as an epigene IC engineer of your own selves you control your destiny so this raises another question if your environment changes and you then program new genes in new ways is it possible based on your perceptions and beliefs to program the gene ahead of the actual environment feelings and emotions are normally the end products of experiences but you can combine a clear intention with an emotion that begins to give the body a sampling of the future experience before it's been made manifest when you're truly focused on an intention for some future outcome if you can make inner thought more real than the outer environment during the process the brain won't know the difference between the two then your body as the unconscious mind will begin to experience the new future event in the present moment you'll signal new genes in new ways to prepare for this imagined future event if you continue to mentally practice enough times this new series of choices behaviors and experiences that you desire reproducing the same new level of mind over and over again then your brain will begin to physically change installing new neurological circuitry to begin to think from that new level of mind to look as if the experience has already happened you'll be producing epigenetic variations that lead to real structural and functional changes in the body by thought alone just as do those who respond to a placebo then your brain and body will no longer be living in the same past they'll be living in the new future that you created in your mind this is Poss possible through mental rehearsal this technique is basically closing your eyes and repeatedly imagining performing an action and mentally reviewing the future you want all the while reminding yourself of who you no longer want to be the old self and who you do want to be this process involves thinking about your future actions mentally planning your choices and focusing your mind on a new experience let's go over this sequence in Greater detail so we can more thoroughly understand exactly what's happening in mental rehearsal and how it works as you mentally rehearse a Destiny or dream about a new outcome you imagine it over and over again until it becomes familiar to you the more knowledge and experience you have wired in your brain about the new reality you desire the more resources you have to create a better model of it in your mental picturing and so the greater your intention and expectation are as with the hotel maides you are reminding yourself of what your life will look like and feel like once you get what you want now you are putting an intention behind your attention then you consciously marry your thoughts and intentions with a heightened state of emotion such as Joy or gratitude more un heightened states of emotion is coming up once you can Embrace that new emotion and you get more excited you're bathing your body in the neurochemistry that would be present if that future event were actually happening it could be suggested that you're giving your body a taste of the future experience your brain and body don't know the difference between having an actual experience in your life and just thinking about about the experience neurochemically it's the same so your brain and body begin to believe they're actually living in the new experience in the Present Moment by keeping your focus on this future event and not letting any other thoughts distract you in a matter of moments you turn down the volume on the neural circuits connected to the old self which begins to turn off the old genes and you fire and wire new neural circuits which initiates the right signals to activate new genes in new ways thanks to the neuroplasticity discussed previously the circuits in your brain begin to reorganize themselves to reflect what you're mentally rehearsing and as you keep coupling your new thoughts and mental images with that strong positive emotion then your mind and body are working together and you're now in a new state of being at this point your brain and body are no longer a record of the past they are a map to the Future a future that you have created in your mind your thoughts have become your experience and you just became the placebo maybe you heard that story a while back about a major who was imprisoned in a concentration camp in Vietnam who mentally practiced playing golf on a particular course every day to keep himself sane only to shoot a perfect score when he was finally released and returned home or perhaps you've heard the account of Soviet human rights activist anatol sharansky later known as nardon sharansky who spent more than 9 years imprisoned in the Soviet Union after being falsely accused of spying for the United States in the 1970s sh who spent 400 Days of his present term in a small darkened freezing cold punishment cell played a game of mental chess against himself every day keeping track of the board coordinates and the positions of each piece in his mind this enabled sharansky to maintain many of his neural Maps which normally require external stimulation to stay intact after his release he immigrated to Israel and eventually became an Israeli cabinet minister when well chess champion Gary Kasparov came to Israel in 1996 to play a simultaneous ious chess match against 25 Israelis sharansky beat him Aaron Rogers quarterback for the Green Bay Packers also imagines moves in his head that he often later executes with Precision on the field leading up to the Packers 2011 Super Bowl win in a playoff game that the six seated Packers won 48-21 against the top seated Atlanta Falcons Rogers completed 31 of the 36 passes 86.1% the fifth best postseason completion percentage of all all time in the sixth grade a coach taught us about the importance of visualization Rogers told a sports reporter for USA Today when I'm in a meeting watching film or lying in bed before I go to sleep I always visualize making those plays a lot of those plays I made in the game I had thought about as I lay on the couch I visualize making them Rogers was also able to successfully spin out of three potential sacks in that game later noting about those plays I visualized the majority before I made them countless other professional athletes have also used mental rehearsal to stunning effect including golfer Tiger Woods basketball Stars Michael Jordan Larry Bird and Jerry West and baseball pitcher Roy Halliday Champion golfer Jack Nicholas wrote in his book golf my way I never hit a shot even in practice without having a very sharp InFocus picture of it in my head it's like a color movie first I see the ball where I wanted to finish nice and white and sitting up high on the bright green grass then the scene quickly changes and I see the ball going there its path trajectory and shape even Its Behavior on Landing then there's sort of a fade out and the next scene shows me making the kind of swing that will turn the previous images into reality only at the end of this short private Hollywood spectacular do I select a club and step up to the ball as we can see from these examples alone and there are many many more just like them plenty of evidence shows that mental rehe heal is extremely effective for learning a physical skill with minimal physical practice I can't resist adding one more example this time from Jim KY who tells an amazing story about what he did when he first came to Los Angeles in the late 1980s as a struggling actor looking for work he' written a paragraph long affirmation on a piece of paper about meeting the right type of people getting the right type of acting jobs working on the right movie with the right casting and being successful and contributing something worthwhile and making a difference in the world he would go up to Mal Halland Drive in the Hollywood Hills every night he'd lean back in his convertible and look up at the sky he'd say that paragraph to himself committing it to memory as he imagined that what he was describing was actually happening and he wouldn't drive back down from that Hollywood Overlook until he felt as though he was the person he'd been imagining until it felt real for him he even wrote a check to himself for 10 million Penning for acting services rendered on it and dating it Thanksgiving 1995 he carried carried the check in his wallet for years finally in 1994 three movies were released that made carrye a star first Ace Ventura Pet Detective came out in February followed by the mask in July and for his role in the third movie Dumb and D released in December Carrie received a check for exactly 10 million he created exactly what he had envisioned for himself what all these individuals have in common is that they eliminated the external environment got beyond their bodies and transcended time so that they could make significant neurological changes within when they presented themselves to the world they were able to get their minds and bodies to work together and they created in the material world what they' first conceived in the mental realm scientific studies back this up to start with many experiments on mental rehearsal prove that when you concentrate on a particular region of the body your thoughts stimulate the region in the brain that governs that part and if you keep doing it physical changes in the brain sensory area will then follow it makes sense because if you keep placing your awareness in the same place you are firing and wiring the same networks of neurons and as a result you'll build stronger brain maps in that area in a Harvard study research subjects who'd never before played the piano mentally practiced a simple five-finger piano exercise for 2 hours a day for 5 days and made the same brain changes as the subjects who physically practice the same activities but without Ever Lifting a finger the region of their brains that controls finger movements increased dramatically allowing their brains to look as though the experience that imagined had actually happened they installed the neurological Hardware circuits and software programs thereby creating new brain maps by thought alone in another study of 30 people over a 12we period some regularly exercise their little fingers While others just imagined doing the same thing while the group that actually did the physical exercises increased the strength of their little fingers by 53% the group that only imagined doing the same thing also increased the strength of their little fingers by 35% their bodies had changed to look as if they were having the physical experience in external reality over and over again but they only experienced it in their minds their minds changed their bodies in a similar experiment 10 volunteers each imagined flexing one of their biceps as hard as they could five times a week researchers recorded the subject's electrical brain activity during the sessions and measured their muscle strength every 2 weeks those who only imagined flexing increase their bicep muscle strength by 13.5% in just a few weeks and they maintained the gain for 3 months after the training stopped their bodies responded to a new mind a final example is a French study that compared subjects who either lifted or imagined lifting dumbbells of different weights those who imagined lifting heavier weights activated their muscles more than did those who imagined lifting lighter weights in all three of these studies on mental rehearsal the subjects were able to measurably increase their body strength using only their thoughts you may well wonder if studies exist showing what happens when we follow the entire sequence when we not only imagine what we want to create but also connect with strong positive emotion as a matter of fact they do and you'll be reading about them soon enough to understand more fully why a mental rehearsal works we need to look at just a few points of brain anatomy for a moment and then briefly add some neurochemistry let's start by explaining that your frontal lobe located right behind your forehead is your creative Center this is the part of the brain that learns new things dreams of new possibilities makes conscious decisions sets your intentions and so on it's the CEO so to speak and even more to the point the frontal lobe also allows you to observe who you are and evaluate what you're doing and how you're feeling it's the home of your conscience this is important because once you become more aware of your thoughts ultimately you can better direct them as you practice mental rehearsal and truly concentrate and focus on the outcome you want the frontal lobe is your ally because it also lowers the volume on the outside world so that you're not as distracted by information coming in from your five senses brain scans show that in a highly focused State such as mental rehearsal the perception of time and space diminishes this happens because your frontal lobe dials down the input from your sensory centers which allow you to feel your body in space your motor centers responsible for your physical movement and your Association centers where your thoughts about your identity and who you are live as well as your parietal lobe circuits where you process time because you can get beyond your environment beyond your body and even Beyond time you're better able to make the thought your thinking more real than anything else the moment you imagine a new future for yourself think about a new possibility and start to ask specific questions as what what would it be like to live without this pain and limitation your frontal lobe snaps to attention in a matter of seconds it creates both an intention to be healthy so you get clear on what you want to create and what you no longer wish to experience and a mental picture of being healthy so that you can imagine what it will be like as the CEO the frontal lobe has connections to all the other parts of the brain so it starts selecting networks of neurons to create a new State of Mind as an answer to that question you might say it becomes a Symphony conductor silencing your old hard wirring the pruning function of neuroplasticity and selecting different networks of neurons from different parts of the brain and wiring them together to create a new level of mind to reflect what you were imagining it's your frontal lobe that changes your mind that is it makes the brain work in different sequences patterns and combinations once the frontal LOE can select different networks of neurons and seamlessly turn them on in tandem to create a new level of Mind a picture or internal representation appears in your mind's eye or frontal lobe now let's bring in some more neurochemistry if your frontal lobe is orchestrating enough of these neural Nets to fire in unison as you focus on a clear intention there will come a moment when the thought will become the experience in your mind that's when your inner reality is more real than your outer reality once the thought becomes the experience you begin to feel the emotion of how the event would feel in reality remember emotions are the chemical signatures of experiences your brain makes a different type of chemical messenger a neuropeptide and it sends it out to the cells in your body the neuropeptide looks for the appropriate recepto sites or docking stations on various cells so that it can deliver its message to the body's hormonal centers and ultimately the cell's DNA and the cells get a new message that the event has occurred when the DNA in a Cell gets this new information from the neuropeptide it responds by turning on or up regulating some genes and turning off or downregulating others all to support your new state of being think of the upregulating and downregulating as lights either heating up or getting brighter or cooling off and getting dimmer when a gene lights up it's activated to make a protein when a gene turns off it becomes deactivated and gets dimmer or weaker and it doesn't produce as many proteins and we see the effects with measurable changes in our physical bodies take a look at figure 5.1a and figure 5.1 B they will help you follow the entire sequence of how to change your body by thought alone stem cells are the next layer we need to understand in the puzzle they're at least partially responsible for how the seemingly impossible becomes possible officially these are undifferentiated biological cells that become specialized they raw potential when these blank slates are activated they morph into whatever kind of cell the body needs including muscle cells bone cells skin cells immune cells and even nerve cells in the brain in order to replace injured or damaged cells in the body's tissues organs and systems think of stem cells as scoops of shaved snow cone ice before the flavored syrup is pumped on top lumps of clay waiting on the potter's wheel for their turn to be fashioned into plates bowls vases or mugs or maybe even a roll of silver duct tape that can fix a leaking pipe one day and be cleverly fashioned into a prom dress the next here's an example of how stem cells work when you cut your finger the body needs to repair The Brak in the skin the local physical trauma sends a signal to your genes from outside the cell the gene turns on and makes the appropriate proteins which then instruct stem cells to turn into healthy functioning skin cells the traumatic signal is the information the stem cell needs to differentiate into a skin cell millions of processes like this occur all over our bodies all the time healing attributable to this type of gene expression has been documented in the liver muscles skin intestines bone marrow and even the brain and the Heart in wound healing studies where the subject is in a highly emotional negative State like anger the stem cells don't get the message clearly when there's interference in the signal as with static on the radio the potential cell doesn't get the right stimulation in a coherent fashion to turn itself into a useful cell as you know from reading this section about the stress response and living in survival mode the healing will take longer because most of the body's energy is busy dealing with the angry emotion and its chemical effects it's just not the time for creation growth and nurturing it's the time for an emergency so when the placebo effect is at work and you create the right level of mind with clear intention and combine it with a nurturing elevated emotion the right type of signal can reach the cell's DNA the message will not only influence the production of healthy proteins for better structure and function of the body but also make brand new healthy cells from latent stem cells that are just waiting to be activated by the right message you could even think of these stem cells as get out of jail free cards as in the game Monopoly because once they're picked up or activated they replace cells in damaged areas of the body allowing for a fresh clean start in fact stem cells help explain how healing occurs in at least half the placea cases involving sham surgery whether it's for an arthritic knee or a coronary bypass as described in chapter 1 we've already mentioned emotions and how they play a vital role in healing the body but now let's take a deeper look at the subject if we have a heightened emotional response to the new thoughts we're concentrating on in mental rehearsal it's like turbocharging our efforts because the emotions help us make epigenetic changes much faster we don't need the emotional component after all the subjects who strengthen their muscles by imagining they were lifting weights didn't need to get Bliss out to change their genes however they inspired themselves by using their imagination ations with each mental lift saying harder harder harder the consistent emotion was the energetic Catalyst that truly enhance the process maintaining such an elevated emotion allows us to get far more dramatic results much more quickly the same kind of amazing results as we see in the placebo response remember the laughter study from chapter 2 Japanese researchers found that watching an hourong comedy show upregulated 39 genes 14 of which were related to natural killer cell activity in the system several other Studies have shown increases in various antibodies after subjects watched a humorous videotape research at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill further showed that increased positive emotions produced increases in vagel tone a measure of the health of the Vagas nerve which plays a major part in regulating the autonomic nervous system and homeostasis in a Japanese study when baby rats were tickled for 5 minutes a day for 5 days in a row to stimulate positive emotion the rats brains generate ated new neurons in each of these cases strong positive emotions help the subjects trigger real physical changes that improve their health positive emotions cause the body and brain to flourish now look at the pattern of many of the placebo studies the moment someone starts getting a clear intention of a new future wanting to live without pain or disease and then combines it with a heightened emotion excitement hope and anticipation of actually living without pain or disease is the moment the body is no longer in the past the body is living in that new future because as we've seen the body doesn't know the difference between an emotion created by an actual experience and one created by thought alone so that heightened state of emotion in response to the new thought is a vital component of that process because it's new information coming from outside the cell and to the body The Experience from the outer environment or inner environment is the same remember Mr Wright from chapter 1 he got very excited when he thought about taking the powerful new drug he'd heard about and imagined how it might cure him he was so excited that he badgered his doctor to allow him to take it when he actually did he had no idea that it was inert but because his brain didn't know the difference between his highly emotionally charged mental images of being well and actually being well his body emotionally responded as if what he had imagined had already happened his mind and his body were then working together to Signal new genes in new ways and that rather than the powerful new drug he took was what shrank his tumors and restored his health that's what created his new state of being then when Mr Wright learned that the drug trial showed that the drug didn't work he reverted back to his old thoughts and old emotions to his old programming and not surprisingly his tumors returned his state of being changed once again but when his doctors told him that he could get an improved version of the drug that had worked before he got excited all over again he he really believed that this new version of the drug could work because he'd seen it do so before or at least that's what he thought he'd seen naturally when he re-embraced the intention of health and started thinking new thoughts about possibility again his brain went back to firing and wiring new neural connections and he created a new mind all his excitement and hope returned and that emotion created the very chemicals in his body that supported his new thoughts and so once more his body didn't know the difference between his thoughts and feelings about being well and actually being well and once more his brain and body responded as if what he'd imagined had already happened and his tumors disappeared again once he read in the news that his miracle drug truly was a bust he reverted to his old thinking and old emotions one final time and his old personality self along with his tumors returned there was no miracle drug he was the miracle and there was no Placebo he was the placebo so it makes sense that we should concentrate not Meely on avoiding negative emotions like fear and anger but also on consciously cultivating heartfelt positive emotions such as gratitude Joy excitement enthusiasm Fascination or inspiration Wonder trust appreciation kindness compassion and empowerment to give us every advantage in maximizing our health studies show that getting in touch with positive expansive emotions like kindness and compassion emotions that are our Birthright by the way tends to release a different neuro peptide called oxytocin which naturally shuts off The receptors in the amydala the part of the brain that generates fear and anxiety with fear out of the way we can feel infinitely more trust forgiveness and love we move from being selfish to selfless and as we embody this new state of being our neuros circuitry opens the door to Endless Possibilities that we never could have even imagined before because now we're not expending all of our energy trying to figure out how to survive science are finding areas in the body like the intestines the immune system the liver and the heart as well as many other organs that contain recepto sites for oxytocin these organs are highly responsive to oxytocin's Major healing effect which has been linked to Growing more blood vessels in the heart stimulating immune function increasing gastric motility and normalizing blood sugar levels let's return to mental rehearsal for a moment remember how the frontal lobe is our Ally in mental rehearsal that's true because as we established earlier the frontal lobe helps us unplug from the body the environment and time the three main focuses of someone who's living in survival mode it helps us get past ourselves to a state of pure Consciousness where we have no ego in this new state as we envision what we desire our hearts are more open and positive emotion can flood through us so that now the loop of feeling what we're thinking and thinking what we're feeling is finally working in our favor the selfish mindset we were in when we're in survival mode no longer exists because the energy we Channel towards survival needs has now been freed up for us to create it's as though someone paid our rent or mortgage payment for the month so that we have extra cash to play with now we can understand exactly why it is if we hold a clear intention of a new future marry it to a state of expansive elevated theemotion and repeat that over and over until we've created a new state of mind and a new state of being these thoughts will seem more real to us than our previous limited view of reality we're finally free and once we truly Embrace that emotion we can more easily fall in love with the possibility that we've been envisioning the Symphony conductor frontal lobe feels like a kid in a candy store excitedly and joyfully seeing all sorts of creative possibilities for new neural connections that can combine to form new neuron Nets and as the conductor unplugs us from the old state of being and switches on the circuits in this new state of being our neurochemicals begin delivering new messages to our cells which are now prepared to make epigenetic changes the signal new genes in new empowering ways and because we've used heightened emotions to make it seem as though it's already happened we're signaling the gene ahead of the environment now we're no longer waiting for the change and hoping for the change we are the change let's revisit the study from the beginning of the last chapter where the elderly men pretended to be younger and actually got physically younger the question of how they did it has now been answered and we've solved the mystery when these men arrived at the monastery they retreated from their familiar lives they were no longer reminded of who they thought they were based on their external environments then they began their retreat by holding a very clear intention to pretend they were young again using physical and mental rehearsal because both changed the brain and the body and to make it as real as possible as they watched the movies read the magazines and listened to the radio and television programs from when they were 22 years younger without modern-day interruptions they were able to let go of the reality of being in their 70s and ' 80s they actually started Living as though they were young again as they experienced new thoughts and feelings about being younger their brains started firing neurons and new sequences new patterns and new combinations some of which hadn't been fired for 22 years because everything around the men as well as their own excited imaginations joyfully supported them in making the experience feel real their brains couldn't tell the difference between actually being 22 years younger and just pretending that they were so the men in a matter of days were able to start signaling the exact gen changes to reflect who they were being in doing that their bodies produced neuropeptides to match their new emotions and when the neuropeptides were Unleashed they delivered new messages to the cells in their bodies as the appropriate cells allowed those chemical messages in they ushered them straight to the DNA deep inside each cell once they arrived there new proteins were created and these proteins looked for new genes according to the information they were carrying when they found what they were looking for the proteins unwrapped the DNA switching on the gene that was lying in weight and triggering epigenetic changes these epigenetic changes resulted in the production of new proteins that resembled the proteins of men 22 years younger if the men's bodies didn't happen to have the necessary parts to create whatever the epigenetic changes required the epigenome simply called upon stem cells to make what was needed a Cascade of physical improvements ensued as the men made more epigenetic changes and switched on more genes until finally The Men Who Walts back out the monastery Gates were no longer the same men who had shuffled through those Gates just one week earlier and if the process worked for these guys I assure you that it can work for you too what reality do you choose to live in and who are you pretending to be or not be could it be that simple chapter 6 suggestibility 36-year-old Ivan Santiago stood patiently on a New York City street along with a handful of Paparazzi gathered behind a Velvet Rope outside a service entrance to a four-star Lower East Side Hotel they were awaiting a foreign dignitary who was about to exit the building and jump into one of two black SUV limos waiting at the curb but Santiago wasn't clutching a camera one hand held a brand new red backpack while the other reached inside the partially unzipped bag and took hold of the grip of a pistol outfitted with a silencer Santiago an imposing Pennsylvania corrections officer with a bald head that would make Vin Diesel proud knew a thing or two about deadly weapons he' never had to fire one while on duty but he was ready to fire one today moments before Santiago had been on his way home without a single thought of guns backpacks foreign dignitaries or assassination but now here he was finger on the trigger brow knit into an intimidating scowl and mere seconds from turning into a killer the hotel door opened and outs Saed his Mark in a crisp white dress shirt sporting Shades and carrying a leather briefcase the man took only two or three strides towards the waiting limo before Santiago whipped his gun out of the backpack and fired three times the man fell to the sidewalk motionless his shirt stained red seconds later a man named Tom silver appeared out of nowhere calmly put one hand on Santiago's shoulder and his other on Santiago's forehead and said on the count of five I'll say fully refreshed open your eyes and wake up 1 2 3 4 5 fully refreshed Santiago had been hypnotized to shoot a stranger actually a stuntman using what turned out to be a harmless Airsoft prop gun in an experiment run by a handful of researchers who set out to test the unthinkable using hypnosis was it possible to program a law-abiding allaround good person to become a coldblooded assassin hidden inside the SUV eyes rivited to the scene where the researchers working with silver Cynthia meersburg PhD then a post-doctoral fellow at Harvard specializing in experimental Psychopathology Mark Stokes PhD a neuroscientist at Oxford who studied the neural Pathways of decision making and Jeffrey kichi PhD a forensic psychologist with human resource Associates in Grand Rapids Michigan who' done work in super maximum security prisons and hospitals for the criminally insane the day before the researchers had started out with a group of 185 volunteers silver a certified clinical hypnotherapist and forensic hypnosis investigation expert who once helped the Taiwan Department of Defense bust open a 2.4 billion International arms trading Scandal screened all 185 participants to determine how suggestible they were to hypnosis only only about 5 to 10% of the population are considered very susceptible to hypnosis in the test group 16 passed muster and were given a psychological evaluation to weed out those who might suffer permanent psychological harm from the experiment 11 progressed to the next test which determined whether under hypnosis they would reject deeply rooted social norms this would show which were the most suggestible divided into smaller groups the subjects were taken to a fairly busy restaurant for lunch but unbeknownst to the them they'd been given a post hypnotic suggestion that once they sat down their chairs would feel very hot to the point where they'd quickly become so warm they stripped to their underwear right there in the restaurant while all of the subjects complied with the instructions to varying degrees the researchers eliminated seven who they felt either were playing along or just weren't suggestible enough to fully Follow The Prompt the others stripped to their underwear within seconds they really thought their chairs were extremely hot the four who progressed to the next level were invited to take a test no one would be able to fake the subjects were to step into a deep mental bathtub filled with 35° f ice water just 3° above freezing one at a time the subjects were wired to devices that monitored their heart rate breathing rate and pulse while a special Thermo Imaging camera monitored both their body temperature and the temperature of the water hypnotizing them Sila told the subjects they would feel no discomfort from the cold water and in fact would feel as though they were stepping into a nice warm bath anesthesiologist Shaker upad High Ula administered the test as emergency medical technician stood by this test would make or break the experiment normally when someone is exposed to water this cold an involuntary gasping reflex happens as the water reaches nipple level the heart rate and respiratory rate climb and the person starts to shiver and the teeth begin to chatter it's the autonomic nervous system taking over in an automatic attempt to maintain internal balance something that's not under conscious control even if a person were in a deep state of hypnosis the amount of sensation being sent to the brain under these extreme circumstances would normally be too overwhelming to maintain a hypnotic state if any of the subjects passed this test they were indisputably suggestible to a very high degree three of the subjects were indeed in deep states of hypnosis but not deep enough to withstand and this kind of intense cold without their bodies losing homeostasis the longest any of them could stay in the bath was 18 seconds but the fourth subject San Diego stayed in for just over two full minutes before drupad hayo YULA called a halt to the test although Santiago's heart rate was high before the experiment once he stepped into the water his heart rate calmed down immediately there wasn't so much as a flutter on his EKG or a single blip in his respiratory rate Santiago sat among ice cubes as though he was soaking in a warm bathtub indeed that's exactly what he believed he was doing the man never flinched nor did his body fall into hypothermia and the researchers knew they had found the subject they were looking for because Santiago was so suggestible under hypnosis that his body could overcome such extreme environment for this amount of time and his mind could control his autonomic functions he was ready for the final test Santiago's background check had shown he was a great guy the researchers noted he was a trusted employee a devoted son and a loving Uncle he was certainly not the type of man who would agree to kill somebody in Cold Blood would silver succeed in getting such a man to turn into an assassin for this next phase of the experiment to be valid Santiago couldn't know what was being staged he couldn't make any connection between the experiments he was taking part in and the scene in front of the hotel tell next to where the study was taking place as part of the plan the television producers in charge of the filming the experiments told him he hadn't been selected to continue in the program although they wanted him to return the next day for a short exit interview before Santiago left he was told he wouldn't be put under hypnosis again Santiago returned the following day while he was chatting with the producer the team went to work staging the scene outside the stuntman strapped on blood packs the airsoft prop gun which had the blast and recoil action of a real firearm was placed inside a red backpack and laid on the seat of a parked motorcycle right outside the entrance to the building a Velvet Rope line was set up outside the hotel service entrance right next door and staged Paparazzi were in place with their film and video cameras two SUVs were parked on the street Looking ready to drive off with the foreign dignitary and his Entourage back upstairs Santiago happily answered questions in his exit interview until the producer excused herself for moment saying she'd be right back soon after she left the room Sila entered saying he wanted to say goodbye to Santiago as Sila shook Santiago's hand he gave a little tug on his arm that prompted Santiago by now well conditioned to this queue to drop immediately into a hypnotic trance he went limp on the couch Silva told him a bad guy was downstairs adding he's got to be erased we've got to get rid of him and you're the one to do it he told Santiago that once he exited the building he'd see a red backpack on a motorcycle and inside would be a gun he told Santiago that he was to grab the red backpack and walk over to the Velvet Rope where he'd wait for the dignitary who'd be carrying a briefcase to emerge from the hotel he told Santiago as soon as he comes out the doors you're going to point the gun at his chest and fire that gun bang bang bang bang bang but as soon as you do it you'll simply completely totally forget that it ever happened finally Sila implanted both an audible and a physical stimulation trigger that would send Santiago back into a hypnotic State under which he'd follow the post- hypnotic suggestion Silva had given him he told Santiago that he'd recognize a segment producer outside the building and the man would shake his hand and say Ivan you did a spectacular job Silva told Santiago to nod yes if he'd do what Silva had instructed and Santiago complied then Sila brought him out of the trance and acted as if he were truly just goodbye the producer returned to the room after Sila left and thanked Santiago telling him the exit interview was over and he could leave soon after Santiago left the building thinking he was going home once he was outside the segment producer walked up to him shook his hand and said Ivan you did a spectacular job that was the trigger immediately Santiago looked around saw the motorcycle walked over to it and calmly picked up the red backpack sitting on the seat seeing the Velvet Rope line and the paparazzi he walked over next to them and slowly unzipped the bag in moments A man carrying a briefcase strowed out the door without flinching Santiago pulled the gun out of the backpack and shot the man in the chest several times the blood bags under the dignitary shirt erupted and he dramatically collapsed to the ground silver almost immediately appeared on the scene and had Santiago close his eyes the stuntman made a hasty exit as silver then brought Santiago out of his TR the psychologist Jeffrey kichi appeared and suggested Santiago follow him inside with the others for a debriefing once inside the researchers told a surprised Santiago what had happened and asked him if he had any memory of what he'd done or what had just unfolded outside Santiago didn't remember a thing that is until Silva suggested to him that he would in the first few chapters you read about many different individuals who accepted a possible imagin scenario and like magic their bodies responded to that picture in their minds individuals who had been trapped for years by involuntary Tremors of Parkinson's disease but increase their dopamine levels by thought alone only to see their paralysis mysteriously vanish a chronically depressed woman who over time physically changed her brain and transmuted her debilitating emotional state into joy and well-being asmatics who experienced a full-blown bronchial episode brought on by nothing more than water vapor but then revers their or constriction in seconds by inhaling exactly the same water vapor and of course the men with severe knee pain and compromised range of motion who miraculously improved after having sham knee surgery and remained healed years later in all of these cases and more it could be said that each subject first accepted and then believed in the suggestion of Better Health and then surrendered to the outcome without further analysis when these people accepted the potential of recovery they aligned themselves with a future possible reality and changed their minds and brains in the process as they believed in the outcome they emotionally embraced the idea of Better Health and as a result their bodies as the unconscious mind were living in that future reality during the present moment they conditioned their bodies to a new mind and so began to Signal new genes in new ways and express new proteins for Better Health and they moved into a new state of being once they surrendered to a new possible scenario they no longer analyzed how it was going to happen or when it would man EST they simply trusted in a better state of being and maintain that new state of mind and body for an extended period of time it was that sustained state of being that switched on the right genes and programmed them to stay on whether they took a regimen of daily sugar pills lasting weeks or even months received a single saline injection or submitted to fake surgery these individuals reaffirmed their acceptance belief and surrender for the duration of the study they participated in if they were taking a pill daily to relieve pain or depression the pill was a constant reminder for them to condition expect and assign meaning to their intentional activity thus reinforcing the internal process over and over again if it was a weekly visit to the hospital to see a doctor and be interviewed about their Improvement the choice to interact in a particular environment with doctors nurses equipment and waiting rooms triggered a host of sensory responses and through associative memory they were reminded of a possible new future they were conditioned from past experiences that the place called a hospital was where people went to get well they began to anticipate their future changes and therefore assigned intention to the whole healing process because all these factors had meaning they helped make the placebo patients more suggestible to the outcomes they experienced so now let's address the elephant in the room no real physical chemical or therapeutic mechanisms made these changes happen none of these people had actual surgery took active medication or received any real treatment to create these significant alterations in health the power of their minds so influenced their body's physiology that they became healed it's safe to say that their real transformation happened independent of their conscious Minds their conscious Minds may have initiated the course of action but the real work happened subconsciously with the subjects remaining totally unaware of how it happened the same is true of Ivan Santiago the power of his mind under hypnosis so influen his physiology that even when he was sitting in a freezing ice cube bath he didn't so much as Flinch it was the power of His subconscious mind altered by a mere suggestion however not his conscious mind that was responsible for this feat if he hadn't accepted the suggestion the outcome would have been very different in addition he did what he did without thinking about how he was able to do it in fact in his mind he wasn't sitting in a nice bath he was sitting in a perfectly Pleasant tub of warm water so just as with hypnosis the bbo effect is created by a person's Consciousness somehow interacting with the autonomic nervous system quite simply the conscious mind merges with the subconscious mind once the placebo patients accept a thought as a reality and then believe and trust in the end result emotionally the next thing that happens is that they get well a Cascade of physiological events automatically carries out the whole biological change without their conscious Minds being involved they're able to enter the operating system where these functions already happen routinely and when they do it's as if they've planted a seed in Fertile ground the system automatically takes over for them in fact it's not anyone's job to do anything it just happens none of the subjects could consciously Spike dopamine levels by 200% and control involuntary Tremors with the Mind manufacture new neurotransmitters to combat depression signal stem cells to morph into white blood cells to mount an immune response or restore knee cartilage in order to reduce pain just as Santiago couldn't have consciously avoided flinching when he lowered his body into that tub anyone trying to accomplish any of these Feats would certainly be unsuccessful these people would have to get help from a mind that already knows how to initiate all these processes to succeed they'd have to activate the autonomic nervous system the subconscious mind and then assign it to the task of making new cells and healthy new proteins I've mentioned the word suggestibility through throughout this book as if being suggestible were something that all of us could simply do voluntarily on command as you read in the story at the beginning of the chapter it turns out that it's not that easy let's face it some of us certainly Ivan Santiago are more suggestible than others and even those who are more suggestible respond to certain suggestions better than other suggestions for example some of the hypnotism test subjects had no problem stripping to their underwear in public when given that post hypnotic suggestion yet they were were unable to subconsciously accept the idea that a tub of frigid ice water was really a warm jacuzzi this was true even though post hypnotic suggestions including the suggestions that Santiago shoot the stranger are generally more difficult to make stick compared to suggestions that alter someone's State temporarily during the hypnotic trance itself and like hypnosis the placebo response also doesn't just work for everyone the placebo patients you've read about who were able to make positive changes last for years like the men who had the Sham knee surgery respond much like hypnotherapy subjects who've been given post hypnotic suggestions for some like these men such suggestions work beautifully for others not much happens for instance when they're sick or suffering from a disease many people simply can't accept the idea that even a drug procedure treatment or injection can help them let alone that a placebo might work why not it takes thinking greater than how they feel in turn allowing those new thoughts to drive new feelings which then re enforce those new thoughts until it becomes a new state of being but if familiar feelings have become the means of familiar thinking and the person can't transcend that habituation he or she is in the same past State of Mind and Body and everything stays the same However if those same people who can't accept that a drug or procedure could make them well could reach a new level of acceptance and belief and then surrender to that end without constantly fretting worrying and analyzing then they reap greater rewards from the process that's what suggestibility is making a thought into a virtual experience and having our bodies consequently respond in a new manner suggestibility combines three elements acceptance belief and surrender the more we accept believe and surrender to whatever we're doing to change our internal State the better the results we can create similarly when Santiago was under hypnosis and his subconscious mind was in control he could totally accept what Silva told him about the bad guy who needed to be eliminated he could believe that Silva was telling the truth and he could surrender to carrying out the detailed instructions Sila gave him without ever analyzing or thinking critically about what he was about to do there was no hand ringing and asking for proof there was no second guessing he just did it so when we are presented with the idea of Better Health and we can associate that hope or thought that something outside of us is going to change something inside of us with emotional anticipation of the experience we're becoming suggestible to that end result we condition expect and assign meaning to the whole delivery system but the emotional component is key in this experience suggestibility isn't just an intellectual process many folks can intellectualize being better but if they can't emotionally embrace the result then they can't enter into the autonomic nervous system as Santiago did using hypnotism which is vital because that's the seat of the subconscious programming that's been calling all the shots as discussed in chapter 3 in fact it's generally accepted in Psychology that a person who experiences intense emotions tends to be more receptive to ideas and is therefore more suggestible the autonomic nervous system is under the control of the lyic brain which is also called the emotional brain and the chemical brain the lyic brain depicted in figure 6.1 is responsible for subconscious functions like chemical order and homeostasis for maintaining the body's natural physiological balance it's your emotional Center so as you experience different emotions you activate this part of the brain and it creates the corresponding chemical molecules of emotion and since this emotional brain exists below the conscious mind's control the moment you feel emotion you activate your autonomic nervous system refer figure 6.1 so if the placebo effect requires you to embrace an elevated emotion ahead of the the actual experience of healing then when you amplify your emotional response and come out of your normal resting state you're activating your subconscious system allowing yourself to feel emotions is a way to enter the operating system and program a change because you're now automatically instructing the autonomic nervous system to begin creating the corresponding chemistry as if you were getting better and the body receives a blend of those natural alchemical Elixir from the brain and mind as a result the body is now becoming the Mind emotionally as we've seen these can't just be any emotions the survival emotions that we already explored in the last chapter knock the brain and body out of balance and so downregulate or shut off the genes needed for Optimal Health fear futility anger hostility impatience pessimism competition and worry won't signal the proper genes for Better Health they actually do the opposite they turn on the fight ORF flight nervous system and prepare your body for emergency you're now losing vital energy for healing it's a similar situation with trying to make something happen by the way the moment you're trying you're pushing against something because you're endeavoring to change it you're struggling attempting to force an outcome even if you don't realize that's what you're actually doing that knocks you out of balance just as the survival emotions do and the more frustrated and impatient you become the more out of balance you get remember in The Empire Strikes Back when Yoda said to Luke Skywalker that there is no trust only do or do not the same is true with the placebo response there is no try there's only allow all those negative and stressful emotions are so familiar to us and connect to so many past known events that when we focus on them those familiar emotions keep the body connected to the same past conditions which in this case is poor health no new information can then program your genes in any new ways your past reinforces your future on the other hand emotions like gratitude and appreciation open your heart and lift the energy in your body to a new place out of the lower hormonal centers gratitude is one of the most powerful emotions for increasing your level of suggestibility it teaches your body emotionally that the event you're grateful for has already happened because we usually give thanks after a desired event has occurred if you bring up the emotion of gratitude before the actual event your body as the unconscious mind will begin to believe that the future event has indeed already happened or is happening to you in the present moment gratitude therefore is the ultimate state of receivership look at figure 6.2 to review the difference between the expression of survival emotions and the expression of elevated emotions if you can bring up the emotion of appreciation or thankfulness and combine it with a clear intention you're now beginning to embody the event emotionally you're changing your brain and body specifically you're chemically instructing your body to know what your mind has philosophically known we could say you're in a new future in the present moment you're no longer using familiar primitive emotions to keep you anchored in the past You're Now using elevated emotions to drive you into a new future let's go back to the idea introduced earlier that we each have different levels of our own acceptance to a suggestion resulting in a spectrum of suggestibility everyone has his or her own level of susceptibility to thoughts suggestions and commands from both outer and inner realities based on many different variables think of your level of suggestibility as being inversely related to your analytical thinking as Illustrated in figure 6.3 the greater your analytical mind the more you analyze the less suggestible you are and the Lesser your analytical mind the more suggestible you are the analytical mind or critical mind is that part of your mind you consciously use and are aware of it's a function of the thinking Neo the part of your brain that's the seat of your conscious awareness that thinks observes and remembers things and that resolves problems it analyzes Compares judges rethinks examines questions polarizes scrutinizes reasons rationalizes and reflects it takes what it has learned from past experience and applies it to a future outcome or to something it hasn't yet experienced in the hypnosis experiment described at the start of this chapter for example seven of the 11 subjects given the post hypnotic suggestion to peel their clothes off in a public restaurant didn't fully comply it was the analytical mind that brought them back to their senses the moment they began to analyze is this right should I do this what will I look like who's watching what will my boyfriend think the suggestion was no longer as powerful and they returned to their old familiar state of being the folks who immediately stripped to their underwear on the other hand did it without questioning what they were doing they were less analytical and so more suggestible then their counterparts since the neocortex is divided into two halves called hemispheres it makes sense that we analyze and spend a lot of time thinking in Duality you know good versus bad right versus wrong positive versus negative male versus female straight versus gay Democrat versus Republican past versus future logic versus emotion old versus new head versus heart you get the idea and if we're living in stress the chemicals we're pumping into our systems tend to drive the whole analytical process faster we analyze even more in order to predict future outcomes so that we can protect ourselves from potential worst case scenarios based on past experience there's nothing wrong with the analytical mind of course it has served us well for our entire waking conscious lives it's what makes us human its job is to create meaning and coherence between our outer Worlds the combined experiences of people and things at different times and places and our inner worlds our thoughts and feelings the analytical mind works best when we're calm relaxed and focused this is when it's working for us it simultaneously reviews many aspects of our lives and provides us with meaningful answers it helps us choose from Myriad options in order to make decisions learn new things scrutinize whether to believe in something judge social situations based on our ethics get clear on our purpose and life discern morality with conviction and evaluate important sensory data as an extension of our egos the analytical mind also protects us so that we can cope and survive best in our external environments in fact one of the ego's main jobs is protection it's always evaluating situations in the external environment and assessing the landscape for the most advantageous outcomes it takes care of the self and it also tries to preserve the body your ego will let you know when there's potenti potential danger and it will urge you to respond to the condition for example if you were walking down the street and saw the oncoming cars driving too close to the side of the road where you were walking you might cross the street to protect yourself that's your ego giving you that guidance but when our egos are out of balance due to a barrage of stress hormones our analytical Minds go into high gear and become overstimulated that's when the analytical mind is no longer working for us but against us we get over analytical and the ego becomes highly selfish by making sure that we come first because that's its job it thinks and feels as though it needs to be in control to protect the identity it tries to have power over outcomes it predicts what it needs to do to create a certainly safe situation it clings to the familiar and won't let go so it holds grudges feels pain and suffers or can't get Beyond its victimhood it will always avoid the unknown condition and view it as potentially dangerous because to the ego the unknown is not to be be trusted and the ego will do anything to empower itself for The Rush of addictive emotions It Wants What It Wants and it will do whatever it takes to get there first by pushing its way to the front of the line it can be cunning manipulative competitive and deceptive in its protection so the more stressful your situation the more your analytical mind is driven to analyze your life within the emotion you're experiencing at that particular time when this happens you're actually moving your Consciousness further away from the operating system of the subconscious mind where true change can occur you're then analyzing your life from your emotional past although the answers to your problems aren't within those emotions which are causing you to think harder within a limited familiar chemical State your thinking in the box then because of the thinking and feeling Loop discussed earlier in the book those thoughts recreate the same emotions and so drive your brain and body further out of order you'll be able to see the answers more easily when you get beyond that stressful emotion and see your life from a different state of mind stay tuned as your analytical mind is heightened your suggestibility to new outcomes decreases why because an impending emergency isn't the time to be open-minded entertaining new possibilities and accepting new potentials it's not the time to believe in new ideas and openly let go and surrender to them it's not the time to trust instead it's the time to protect the self by measuring what you know against what you don't know in order to determine the greatest chances of survival it's the time to flee from the unknown so it makes sense that as the analytical mind is endorsed by the stress hormones you'll narrow your thinking be unlikely to trust and believe in anything new be less suggestible to believing in thought alone or in making any unknown thought known thus you can use the analytical mind or ego to work for you or against you think of the analytical mind as a separate part of the conscious mind that divides it from from the subconscious mind since the placebo Works only when the analytical mind is silenced so that your awareness can instead interact with the subconscious mind the domain where true change occurs thebo response is Possible only when you can get Beyond yourself and so Eclipse your conscious mind with your autonomic nervous system look at figure 6.4 for a simple illustration of this let the circle in the figure represent the total mind the conscious mind is only a out 5% of the total mind it's made up of logic and reasoning as well as our creative abilities these aspects give rise to our free will the other 95% of the total mind is the subconscious mind this is the operating system where all of the automatic skills habits emotional reactions hardwired behaviors conditioned responses associative memories and routine thoughts and feelings create our attitudes beliefs and perceptions the conscious mind mind is where we store our explicit or declarative memories therefore declarative memories are memories that we can declare they the knowledge we've learned termed semantic memories and experiences we've had in this lifetime episodic memories you might be a woman who grew up in Tennessee who rode horses in childhood until you fell off and broke your arm who had a pet tarantula at age 10 that escaped from its cage requiring you and your family to sleep at a hotel for 2 days who won the state spelling be at age 14 and now never misspells a word who studied Accounting in college in Nebraska who presently lives in Atlanta so that you can be near your sister who took a job for a large corporation and who is now getting a master's degree in finance online declarative memories are the autobiographical self the other type of memories we have are implicit or non-declarative memories sometimes also called procedural memories this kind of memory kicks in when you've done something so many times that you aren't even consciously aware of how you do it you have repeated it so often that now your body knows as well as your brain think of riding a bike operating a clutch tying your shoes tapping a phone number or a pin on a keypad or even reading or speaking these are the automatic programs that have been discussed throughout this book you can say that you no longer have to analyze or consciously think about the skill or habit you've mastered because it's now subconscious this is the programmed operating system which is depicted in figure 6.5 when you've mastered how to do something until it has become hardwired in your mind and emotionally conditioned to your body then your body knows how to do it as well as your conscious mind you've memorized an internal neurochemical order that has become innate the reason is simple repeated experience enriches the brain's neural networks and then finally seals the deal when it emotionally trains the body once the event is neurochemically embodied enough times through experience you you can turn on the body and the corresponding automatic program just by accessing a familiar subconscious thought or feeling and then you momentarily move into a particular state of being which executes the automatic Behavior since implicit memories are developed from the emotions of experience two possible scenarios explain how this unfolds one a highly charged one-time emotional event can be immediately branded and stored in the subconscious for example a childhood memory of being in a big department store and getting separated from your mother or two the redundancy of emotions derived from consistent experience will also be repeatedly logged there since implicit memories are part of the subconscious system of memory and are routed there either by repeated experience or by highly charged emotional events when you Brak up any emotion or feeling you're opening a door to your subconscious mind since thoughts are the language of the brain and feelings are the language of the body the moment you feel a feeling you're turning on your body mind because your body has become your subconscious mind you've just entered the operating system think about it like this when you feel a certain familiar way you're subconsciously accessing a series of thoughts derived from that particular feeling you're Autos suggesting thoughts on a daily basis equal to how you feel these are the thoughts you accept believe and surrender to as if they were true therefore you're more suggestible only to the thoughts that are matched to exactly the same feeling as a result those thoughts that you unconsciously think about are the ones you accept believe and surrender to over and over conversely it could also be said that you're much less suggestible to any thoughts that are not equal to your memorized feelings any new thought that reflects an unknown possibility just wouldn't feel right your selft talk the thoughts that you listen to every day slips by your conscious Awareness on a moment moment to moment basis and stimulates the autonomic nervous system and the flow of biological processes reinforcing the programmed feeling of who you think you are remember the study in Chapter 2 where researchers found that optimists responded more favorably to suggestions that were positive while pessimists responded more unfavorably to suggestions that were negative by the same means if you were to change how you feel could you become more suggestible to a new stream of thoughts absolutely by feeling an elevated emotion and allowing a whole new set of thoughts to be driven by that new feeling You' increase your level of suggestibility to what you were feeling and then thinking you'd be in a new state of being and your new thoughts would then be the Autos suggestions equal to that feeling and when you feel emotions you're naturally activating your implicit memory system and the autonomic nervous system you can simply allow the autonomic nervous system to do what it does best restore balance health and Order isn't that what makes many people did in the placebo studies mentioned earlier weren't they able to bring up an elevated emotion like hope or inspiration or the joy of being well and once they saw a new possibility without ever analyzing it wasn't their level of suggestibility influenced by those feelings as they felt those corresponding emotions didn't they enter the operating system and reprogram their autonomic nervous system with new orders by thought alone Autos suggesting equal to those emotions if there are different degrees of suggestibility then that can be demonstrated visually by showing different thicknesses of the analytical mind the thicker the barrier between the conscious mind and the subconscious mind the more difficulty you'll have getting into the operating system take a look at figures 6.6 and 6.7 on the following two pages which represent two people with different types of Minds the person in figure 6.6 has a very thin veil between the conscious and sub conscious minds and therefore is very open to suggestion like Ivan Santiago from the beginning of the chapter this person will naturally accept believe and surrender to an outcome because he or she doesn't analyze or intellectualize too much folks like this might be more innately prone to accept that a thought is a potential experience and embrace it emotionally so that the package becomes imprinted on the autonomic nervous system ready to be executed as a reality these people don't spend a lot of time trying to figure things out in their lives and they don't overthink many things if you've ever seen a hypnosis stage show the subjects who make it to the front of the room usually fall into this category now contrast this with figure 6.7 if you look at the thicker analytical mind that separates the conscious and subconscious Minds you can easily see that this person is less prone to taking suggestions at face value without a significant degree of help from his or her intellectual mind in evaluating processing planning and reviewing people like this are highly critical and will make sure they've analyzed everything before simply surrendering and trusting bear in mind that some of us have a more builtup analytical mind even without constantly living by our stress hormones we might have studied different subjects in college or lived with parents who reinforced the mechanisms of rational thought when we were young or maybe it was just part of our nature nevertheless you can have a significantly broad analytical mind and still learn how to get Beyond I certainly did so there's hope as I said before neither of these types is more advantageous than the other I think a healthy balance between the two works very well someone who's over analytical is less likely to trust and flow in his life or her life someone who's overly suggestible might be too gullible and less functional the point I want to make is that if you're continually analyzing your life judging yourself and obsessing about everything in your reality then you'll never enter the operating system where those old old programs exist and reprogram them only when a person accepts believes and surrenders to a suggestion does the door between the conscious and subconscious Minds open that information then signals the autonomic nervous system and Presto it takes over now take a look at figure 6.8 the arrow represents the movement of Consciousness from the conscious mind into the subconscious mind where the suggestion is biologically embossed into the programming system a few additional elements can also silence the analytical mind and open the door to the subconscious mind in order to increase a person's level of suggestibility for example physical or mental fatigue increases your suggestibility certain Studies have shown that the limited exposure to social physical and environmental cues in sensory deprivation can cause increased susceptibility extreme hunger emotional shock and Trauma also weaken our analytical faculties therefore making us more suggestible to information like hypnosis meditation is another way to bypass the critical mind and move into the subconscious system of programs the whole purpose of meditation is to move your awareness beyond your analytical mind to take your attention off your outer World your body and time and to pay attention to your inner world of thoughts and feelings many stigmas surround the word meditation most people conjure up images of a bearded Guru on a Mountaintop immune to the elements and sit in perfect Stillness a monk in a simple robe his face adorned with a huge mysterious smile or even a young and beautiful woman with flawless skin on the cover of a magazine dressed in stylish yoga clothes and looking serenely free from the enslavement of all of the demands of daily life when we see these images many of us might perceive the discipline required is too impractical too Out Of Reach and beyond our abilities we might see meditation as a spiritual practice that doesn't fit into our religious beliefs and some of us are simply overwhelmed with the seemingly endless variations of meditation available and are unable to decide where to begin but it doesn't have to be that difficult out there or confusing for this discussion let's just say that the whole purpose of meditation is to move our Consciousness beyond the analytical mind and into deeper levels of consciousness in meditation we move not just from the conscious mind to the subconscious mind but also from the selfish to selfless from from being somebody and someone to being nobody and no one from being a materialist to being an immaterialist from being some place to being no place from being in time to being in no time from believing that the outer world is reality and defining reality with our senses to believing that the inner world is reality and that once there we enter nonsense the world of thought beyond the senses meditation takes us from survival to Creation from separation to to connection from imbalance to balance from emergency mode to growth and repair mode and from the limiting emotions of fear anger and sadness to the expansive emotions of Joy freedom and love basically we go from clinging to the known to embracing the unknown let's reason this for a moment if your neocortex is the home of your conscious awareness and it's where you construct thoughts use analytical reasoning exercise intellect and demonstrate rational processes then you'll have to move your conscious Beyond or out of your neocortex in order to meditate your Consciousness would have to essentially move from your thinking brain into your lyic brain and the subconscious regions in other words in order for you to dial down your neocortex and all the neural activity that it performs on a daily basis you'd have to stop thinking analytically and vacate the faculties of Reason logic intellectualizing forecasting predicting and rationalizing at least temporarily this is what's meant by quieting your mind revisit figure 6.1 if you need to according to the neuroscientific model that I outlined in the previous chapters to quiet your mind would mean that you'd have to declare a ceasefire on all of the automatic neural networks in your thinking brain that you habitually fire on a regular basis that is you'd have to stop reminding yourself of who you think you are repeatedly reproducing the same level of mind I know that sounds like a huge task that may well be overwhelming but it turns out that practical scientifically proven ways exist for us to accomplish this feat and make it a skill in the workshops that I teach around the world many ordinary people who'd never meditated before got pretty good at doing this once they' learned how you'll learn these methods in the chapters that follow but first let's increase your level of intention so that when you get to the how too you'll reap greater Rewards just as did the aerobic exercises in Quebec from chapter 2 who were told that their well-being would be enhanced by their efforts and thus could assign meaning to what they were doing and then got better results the analytical neocortex uses all of the five senses to determine reality it's very preoccupied with putting all of its Awareness on the body the environment and time and if you're the least bit stressed then your attention will be directed to and will amplify all three of these elements when you're under the gun of the fight ORF flight emergency system and you switch on your adrenaline just like any animal threatened in the wild all of your attention will be placed on taking care of your body finding Escape Routes in your environment and figuring out how much time you have to make it to safety you over focus on problems obsess about your looks dwell on your pain think about how little time you have to do what you need to do and rush to get things done sound familiar because you're so hyperfocused on this external world and your problems in it when you're living in survival it's easy to think that what you see and experience is all there is and without the external world you're no one nobody no thing and in no place how frightful that is for an ego that's trying to control all its Reality by constantly reaffirming an identity it might make it easier if you remind yourself that when you're living in survival what you sense is truly just the tip of the iceberg only a limited array of ingredients making up your external world you identify with the many variations and combinations in your external world that reflect back to you who you think you are but that doesn't mean there isn't more in fact every time you learn something new you change how you see the world the world hasn't really changed only your perception of it has changed we'll learn more about perception in the next chapter for now it's enough to keep in mind that if your goal is to affect change and you haven't been able to make it happen with all your external World Resources then clearly you'll need to look outside the limits of what you see sense and experience for your answers you'll need to pull from other sources you haven't yet identified from the unknown so in that sense the unknown is your friend not your foe it's the place where the answer lies another reason it becomes difficult for us to pull our attention away from all the conditions of our outer world and place our attention on our inner world is that most people are addicted to stress hormones to feeling the rush of chemicals that are the result of our conscious or unconscious reactions this addiction reinforces our belief that our outer world is more real than our inner world and our physiology is conditioned to support this because real threats problems and concerns do exist that need our attention so we become addicted to our present external environment and through associative memory we use the problems and conditions in our lives to reaffirm that emotional addiction in order to remember who we think we are here's another way to say it the stress hormones we experience while living in survival mode give the body a high dose of energy and cause the five senses which plug us into external reality to become heightened so naturally if we're continuously stressed we'll Define reality with our senses we become materialists when we try to go within and connect with the world of nonsense and the immaterial it takes some effort to break our condition habit and our addiction to the chemical rush we get from our external reality how then could we possibly believe that thought is more powerful than physical three-dimensional reality if that's how we see things it becomes challenging to change anything by thought alone because we've become enslaved to our bodies and our environments maybe one antidote to that is rereading the stories in chapter 1 and reading the stories from my workshops later in chapters 9 and 10 reinforcing new information that shows us that what we think should be impossible is indeed possible helps us remind ourselves that there's more to reality than what our senses perceive whether we want to admit it or not we are the bbo if meditation is about entering the autonomic nervous system so that we can become more suggestible and overcome the challenges just mentioned then we need to know how to get there the short answer is that we get there on a brain wave the brain State we happen to be in at any given time has a huge effect on how suggestible we are at that moment once you learn what these different states are and how to recognize them when you're in them you can train yourself to move from one state to another up and down the scale of brain wave patterns it takes some practice of course but it's possible so let's explore these different states to learn more about them when neurons fire together they exchange charged elements that then produce electromagnetic field and these fields are what are measured during a brain scan like an electroencephalograph or EEG humans have several measurable brain wave frequencies and the slower the brain wave state we're in the deeper we go into the inner world of the subconscious mind in order of slowest to fastest the brain wave states are Delta deep restorative sleep totally unconscious Theta a Twilight State between deep sleep and wakefulness Alpha the creative imaginative State beta conscious thought and Gamma elevated States Of Consciousness beta is our everyday waking State when we're in beta the thinking brain or neocortex is processing all of the incoming sensory data and creating meaning between our outer and inner worlds beta isn't the best state for meditation because when we're in beta the outer World appears more real than the inner world three levels of brain wave patterns make up the beta wave spectrum low range beta relaxed interested attention like reading a book mid-range beta focused attention on an ongoing stimulus outside the body like learning and then remembering and high range beta highly focused crisis mode attention when stress chemicals are produced the higher the beta brain waves the further away we get from being able to access the operating system most as we move back and forth between beta and Alpha States Alpha is our relaxation state where we pay less attention to the outer world and start to pay more attention to our inner world when we're in Alpha we're in a light state of meditation you could also call that imagination or daydreaming in this state our inner world is more real than our outer world because that's what we're paying attention to when we go from high frequency beta to slower Alpha where we can pay attention concentrate and focus in a more relaxed manner we automatically activate the frontal LOE as the previous material has presented the frontal lobe lowers the volume on the brain circuits that process time and space hence we're no longer in survival mode we're in a more creative state that makes us more suggestible than we were in beta more challenging is learning how to drop down even further into Theta which is a kind of Twilight state where we're half awake and half asleep often described as mind awake body asleep this is the state we're shooting for in meditation because it's the brain wave pattern where we're the most suggestable in Theta we can access the subconscious because the analytical mind isn't operating we're mostly in our inner World think of theta as the key to your own subconscious Kingdom take another look at figure 6.8 it shows brainwave States and how they correlate with the conscious and subconscious mind then take a look at figure 6.9 which illustrates the different brain wave frequencies you'll find this brief tour through brainwave patterns even more useful when you get to the practice of meditation later in the book don't expect that you'll necessarily be a to drop right into theer on command of course but having some knowledge of what the various brain states are and what effect they have on what you're trying to achieve will help now let's return to the story of Ivan Santiago and the other hypnosis subjects from the start of this chapter obviously these folks have an easier time getting past their analytical Minds than most of us they seem to have both a neuroplasticity and an emotional plasticity that allow them to make their inner worlds more real than their outer worlds in their normal waking States they probably spend more time in Alpha than in beta so they have fewer stress hormones circulating that can pull them out of homeostasis they're highly suggestible States better enable their conscious Minds to control the autonomic functions of their subconscious Minds yet they're not all the same several different degrees of suggestibility were demonstrated in this study the 16 people who passed the initial evaluation were certainly suggestable although they weren't all as suggestable as those who passed the next test by taking their clothes off in public after being given a post- hypnotic suggestion to do so going against deeply rooted social norms the four who passed that test were certainly highly suggestable able to be greater than their social environment but when it came to immersing themselves in the ice water three of those four couldn't go that far they weren't able to be greater than their physical environment only Santiago who remained greater than his physical environment in extreme conditions for an extended period of time while having dominion over his body demonstrated the highest level of suggestibility he was able not only to withstand the refrigerate ice bath but also to be greater than his moral environment by following the post hypnotic suggestion to shoot the foreign dignitary despite the fact that his conscious personality was hardly one of a coldblooded killer in terms terms of the placebo effect it takes a similar High degree of suggestibility to be greater than the body and greater than the environment for an extended period of time that is to accept believe and surrender to the idea of your inner World being more real than your outer world but in just a few chapters you'll learn how you can not only change your beliefs and become more suggestible but also use that state to program your subconscious mind not to shoot a stuntman with a prop gun fortunately but to triumph over what whatever health issues emotional traumas or other personal matters you may be dealing with this audiobook has been broken into multiple parts to make the download faster you have reached the end of a part but not the end of the complete audio book so please check your library for the next part of this audio book audible hopes you have enjoyed this program this is Audible The New York Times bestselling book you are the placebo making your mind matter by Dr Joe dispenser read by Adam Boyce copyright 2014 by Dr Joe dispenser for my mother Franchesca chapter 7 attitudes beliefs and perceptions a 12-year-old Indonesian boy with a vacant stare opens his mouth to willingly accept shards of broken glass from people in a crowd gathered in Jakarta Park to watch traditional Javanese trans dancing called cuda lumping the boy chews on the glass and swallows it as if it were nothing more than a handful of popcorn or pretzels and he shows no ill effects as a third generation Cuda lumper this youth has been ingesting glass in similar mystical performances since he was nine the boy and the other 19 members of his traditional dance troop recited Javanese spell before every performance summoning the spirits of the Dead to reside in one of them for the duration of that day's dance protecting that dancer from Pain the boy and his fellow dancers are no different in certain respects from the Appalachian snake handling preachers described in chapter 1 who become Anointed with the spirit and enthusiastically dance around the pulpit with venomous snakes coiled around their arms and shoulders bringing them dangerously close to their faces they are seemingly immune to the Venom if bitten the dancers are also similar to the Fijian firew walkers from the suu tribe on the island of bqu who clinching walk across white hot stones that have been covered in flaming logs and glowing red coals for hours an ability said to have been given to one of the trib's ancestors by a God and then passed down within the tribe the glass eating boy the snake handling preacher and the Fijian firew Walker never pause even for a moment to think I wonder if it will work this time there isn't an ounce of wishy-washiness in any of them the decision to chew glass or handle copperheads or tread on searing Stones transcends their bodies the environment and time altering their biology to allow them to do the seemingly impossible their Rock's solid belief in the protection of their gods leaves no room for second guessing the placebo effect is similar in that very strong beliefs are part of the equation yet this component hasn't been examined much because up to this point in Mind Body Research most scientific Studies have measured only the effects of the placebo instead of looking for the cause whether the shift in one's internal state has been the product of Faith healing conditioning the release of suppressed emotions a belief in symbols or a specific spiritual practice the question Still Remains what has happened to create such profound alterations in the body and if we discover what that is can we cultivate it our beliefs aren't always as conscious as we think they are we may very well accept an idea on the surface but if deep down we don't really believe it's possible then our acceptance is just an intellectual process because calling upon the placebo effect requires us to truly change our beliefs about ourselves and what's possible for our bodies and our health we need to understand what beliefs are and where they come from let's suppose a person goes to the doctor with certain symptoms and is diagnosed with a condition based on the physician's objective findings the doctor gives the patient a diagnosis prognosis and treatment options based on the average outcome the moment that the person hears the doctor say diabetes can hypothyroidism or chronic fatigue syndrome a series of thoughts images and emotions is conjured up based on his or her past experience that experience could be that the patient parents had the condition that he or she saw a show on TV in which one of the characters died of that disease or even that something the person read on the internet scared him or her about the diagnosis once the patient sees the doctor and hears a professional opinion the patient automatically accepts the condition then believes what the confident doctor has said and finally surrenders to the treatment and possible outcomes and this is done without any real analysis the patient is suggestible and susceptible to what the doctor says if the person then Embraces the emotions of fear worry and anxiety along with sadness then the only possible thoughts or Autos suggestions are those that are equal to how he or she feels the patient can try to have positive thoughts about beating the disease but his or her body still feels bad because the wrong Placebo has been given resulting in the wrong state of being the signaling of the same genes and the inability to see or perceive any new possibilities the patient is pretty much at the mercy of his or her beliefs and the beliefs of the doctor about the diagnosis so when people like the folks you read about in the next few chapters healed themselves by using the placebo effect what did they do differently first they didn't accept the finality of their diagnosis prognosis or treatment nor did they believe in the most probable outcome or future destiny that their doctors had authoritatively outlined finally they didn't surrender to the diagnosis prognosis or suggested treatment because they had a different attitude from those who did accept believe and surrender they were in a different state of being they weren't suggestible to the doctor's advice and opinions because they didn't feel fearful victimized or sad instead they were optimistic and enthusiastic and those emotions drove a new set of thoughts which enabled them to see new possibilities because they had different ideas and beliefs about what was possible they didn't condition their bodies to the worst case scenario they didn't expect the same predictable outcome as others who'd received the same diagnosis and they didn't assign the same meaning to the diagnosis as everyone else with the same condition they assigned a different meaning to their future so they had a different intention they understood epigenetics and neuroplasticity so instead of passively seeing themselves as victims of the disease they used that knowledge to become proactive fueled by what they'd learned in my workshops and events as a result these folks also got different and better results than other people who'd received the same diagnosis just as the hotel mates got better results after the researchers gave them more information now think about the average person who receives a diagnosis and properly announces I'm going to beat this someone may not accept the condition and the outcome the doctor outlines but the difference is that most people haven't truly changed their beliefs about not being sick changing a belief requires changing a subconscious program since a belief as you'll soon learn is a subconscious state of being folks who only use their conscious Minds to change never come out of the resting state to reprogram their genes because they don't know how to do that this is where their healing stops they're unable to surrender to possibility because they're not truly able to become suggestible to anything different from what the doctor tells them is it possible that whenever people don't respond to treatment or when their health stays the same they're living by the same emotional state every day accepting believing and surrendering to the medical model without too much analysis based on the social consciousness of millions of other people who've done exactly the same thing does a doctor's diagnosis become the modern day equivalent of a voodoo curse so now let's dissect belief a little further backing up just slightly to begin with the following idea when you string a succession of thoughts and feelings together so that they ultimately become habituated or automatic they form an attitude and since how you think and feel creates a state of being attitudes are really just shorten states of being they can fluctuate from moment to moment as you alter how you think and feel any particular attitude can last for minutes hours days or even a week or two for example if you have a series of good thoughts that are aligned with a series of Good Feelings you might say I have a good attitude today and if you have a sequence of negative thoughts that's connected to a sequence of negative feelings then you might say I have a bad attitude today if you revisit the same attitude enough times then it becomes automatic if you repeat or maintain certain attitudes long enough and you string those attitudes together that's how you create a belief a belief is just an extended state of being essentially beliefs are thoughts and feelings attitudes that you keep thinking and feeling over and over again until you hardwire them in your brain and emotionally condition them into your body you can say that you become addicted to them which is why it's so hard to change them and why it doesn't feel good on a gut level when they're challenged because experiences are neurologically edged into your brain causing you to think and chemically embodied as emotions causing you to feel most of your beliefs are based on past memories so when you revisit the same thoughts over and over by thinking about and analyzing what you remember from your past these thoughts will fire and wire into an automatic unconscious program and if you cultivate the same feelings based on past experiences and you feel the same as you did when the event originally occurred your conditioning your body to subconsciously be the mind of that emotion and your body will unconsciously be living in the past and if the redundancy of how you think and feel over time conditions your body to become the mind and it becomes programmed subconsciously then beliefs are subconscious and also unconscious states of being derived from the past beliefs are also more permanent than attitudes they can last for months or even years and because they last longer they become become more programmed within you case in point is a story from my childhood that stamped in my memory I grew up in an Italian family and when I was going into fourth grade we moved to another city that had a mixture of both Italian and Jewish residents on my first day of school that year the teacher assigned me to a seat in a group of six desks along with three Jewish girls that was the day the girls broke the news to me that Jesus wasn't Italian it was one of the most memorable days of my life when when I came home that afternoon my little Italian mother kept asking me how my first day of school went and I wouldn't talk to her after I ignored her enough time she finally grabbed me by the arm and insisted I tell her what was wrong I thought Jesus was Italian I blurted out angrily what are you talking about she responded he's Jewish Jewish I shot back what do you mean he looks Italian in all those pictures doesn't he Grandma talks in Italian to him all day long and what's the deal with the Roman Empire isn't Roman Italy so the belief that I had that Jesus was Italian was based on my past experiences and how I thought and felt about Jesus had become my automatic state of being this belief took some getting over because changing deep-seated beliefs isn't easy needless to say I succeeded now let's move the concept forward a little further if you string a group of related beliefs together they form your perception so your perception of reality is a sustained state of being that's based on your long-standing beliefs attitudes thoughts and feelings and since your beliefs become subconscious and also unconscious states of being that is you don't even know why you believe certain things or you aren't really conscious of your beliefs until they're tested your perceptions how you subjectively see things for the most part become your subconscious and unconscious view of your reality from the past in fact scientific experiments have shown that you don't see reality as it truly is instead you unconsciously fill in your reality based on your memories of the past which is what's neurochemically maintained in your brain when perceptions become implicit or non- declarative as was discussed in the last chapter they become automatic or subconscious so that you automatically edit reality subjectively for example you know your car is your car because you've driven it so many times you have the same experience of your car daily because nothing much changes about it you think and feel the same way about it most every day your attitude about your car has created a belief about it which has formed a particular perception about your vehicle that it's a good car say because it really breaks down and although you automatically accept that perception it's actually a subjective perception because someone else may have the same Mak model of car as you do and that person's car may break down all the time causing him or her to have a different belief and different perceptions about the same vehicle based on personal experience in fact if you're like most people you probably don't pay attention to several aspects of your car unless something goes wrong you expect it to run as it did the day before you naturally expect your future experience of driving your car to be like your past experience yesterday and the day before that's your perception but when it malfunctions you have to pay more attention to it like listening to the sound of the motor more closely and become conscious of your unconscious perception of your car once your percep of your car is altered because something has changed about the way it drives you'll now perceive your car differently the same is true of relationships with your spouse and your co-workers your culture and your race and even your body and your pain actually this is the way most perceptions about reality function now if you want to change an implicit or subconscious perception you must become more conscious and less unconscious in truth you'd have to increase your level of attention to all of the aspects of yourself and your life that you've previously stopped paying much attention to better yet you'd have to wake up change your level of awareness and become conscious of what you were once unconscious about but it's rarely that easy because if you experience the same reality over and over again then the way you think and feel about your current world will continue to develop into the same attitudes which will inspire the same beliefs which will expand into the same perceptions as shown in figure 7.1 when your perception becomes so second nature and so automatic that you really don't pay attention to the way reality truly is because you automatically expect everything to be the same you're now unconsciously accepting and agreeing to that reality the way most people unconsciously accept and agree to what the medical model tells them about a diagnosis so the only way to change your beliefs and Perceptions in order to create a placebo response is to change your state of being you have to finally see your old limited beliefs for what they are records of the past and be willing to let go of them so that you can Embrace new beliefs about yourself that will help you create a new future so then ask yourself what beliefs and perceptions about you in your life have you been unconsciously agreeing to that you'd have to change in order to create this new state of being this is a question that requires some thought because as I said with many of these beliefs we aren't even aware that we believe them often we accept certain cues from our environment that then Prime us to accept certain beliefs which may or may not be true either way the moment we accept the belief it has an effect not only on our performance but also on the choices we make remember the study from chapter 2 about the women taking the math test who first read fake research reports about men being better than women in math those who'd read that the advantage was due to genetics scored lower than those who read that the advantage was due to stereotyping although both reports were false men are no better at math than women the women in the group who' read that they had a genetic disadvantage believed what they' read and then scored lower it was the same with the white men who were told that Asians score slightly better than whites on a test they were about to take in both cases when the students were primed to unconsciously believe they wouldn't score as well they in fact didn't even though what they were told was totally false with this in mind take a look at this list of some common limiting beliefs and see which ones you may be harboring without being fully aware that you're doing so I'm not good at math I'm shy I'm short-tempered I'm not smart or creative I'm a lot like my parents men shouldn't cry or be vulnerable I can't find a partner women are lesser than men my race or culture is superior life is serious life is difficult and no one cares I'm never going to be a success I have to work hard to make it in life nothing good ever happens to me I'm not a lucky person things never go my way I never have enough time it's someone else's responsibility to make me happy when I own this particular thing then I'll be happy it's hard to change reality reality is a linear process germs make me sick I gain weight easily I need 8 hours of sleep my pain is normal and it'll never go away my biological clock is ticking Beauty looks like this having fun is frivolous God is outside of me I'm a bad person so God doesn't love me I could go on forever but you get the idea since beliefs and perceptions are based on past experiences then any of these beliefs that you happen to hold about yourself came from your past so are they true or did you just make them up even if they were true at some point in time that doesn't necessarily mean that they're true now we don't look at it that way of course because we're addicted to our beliefs we're addicted to the emotions of our past we see our beliefs as truths not ideas that we can change if we have very strong beliefs about something evidence to the contrary could be sitting right in front of us but we may not see it because what we perceive is entirely different we've in fact conditioned ourselves to believe all sorts of things that aren't necessarily true and many of these things are having a negative impact on our health and happiness certain cultural beliefs are a good example remember the story about the voodoo curse from chapter 1 the patient was convinced he was going to die because the voodoo priest had put a hex on him the hex only worked because he and others in his culture believed Voodoo to be true it wasn't the voodoo that had hexed him it was the belief in the voodo other cultural beliefs can cause premature deaths for instance Chinese American Americans who have a disease combined with a birth year that Chinese astrology and Chinese medicine consider to be ill- fated die up to 5 years early according to researchers at the University of California at San Diego who studied the death records of almost 30,000 Chinese Americans the effect was stronger in those who are more attached to Chinese traditions and beliefs and the results also held consistent for nearly all major causes of death studied for example Chinese Americans born in years associated with susceptibility to diseases involving lumps and tumors died of lymphatic Cancer 4 years younger than Chinese Americans born in other years or than non-chinese Americans with similar cancers as these examples demonstrate we're suggestible only to what we consciously or unconsciously believe to be true an ESO who doesn't believe in Chinese astrology is no more suggestible to the idea that he's vulnerable to a certain disease because he was born in the year of the tiger or the Year of the Dragon then an Episcopalian would be suggestible to the idea that a hex from a voodoo priest could kill him or her but once any of us accepts believes and surrenders to an outcome without consciously thinking about it or analyzing it then we'll become suggestible to that particular reality in most people such a belief is planted well beyond the conscious mind into the subconscious system which is what creates the disease so now let me ask you another question how many personal beliefs based on cultural experiences do you have that may not be true changing beliefs may be difficult but it's not impossible just think what would happen if you were able to successfully challenge your unconscious beliefs instead of thinking and feeling I never have enough time to get everything done what if you instead thought and felt I live in no time and I accomplish everything what if instead of believing the universe is conspiring against me you believed the universe is friendly and works in my favor what a great belief how would you think how would you live and how would you walk down the street if you believe the universe works in your favor how do you think that would change your life when you change a belief you have to start by first accepting that it's possible then change your level of energy with the heightened emotion you read about earlier and finally allow your biology to reorganize itself it's not necessary to think about how that biological reorganization will happen or when it's going to happen that's the analytical mind at work which pulls you back into a beta brain wave state and makes you less suggestible instead you just have to make a decision that has finality and once the amplitude or energy of that decision becomes greater than the hardwired programs in your brain and the emotional Addiction in your body then you are greater than your past your body will respond to a new mind and you could affect real change you already know how to do this think about a time in your past when you made up your mind to change something about yourself or your life if you recall a moment came when you probably said to yourself I don't care how I feel body it doesn't matter what's going on in my life environment and I'm not concerned how long it will take time I'm going to do this instantly you got goosebumps that's because you moved into an altered state of being the moment you felt that energy you were sending your body new information you felt inspired and you came out of your familiar resting state that's because by thought alone your body moved from living in the same past to living in a new future in reality your body was no longer the mind you were the mind you were changing a belief like beliefs our perceptions of past experiences whether positive or negative directly affect our subconscious state of being and our health in 1984 Gretchen van bul MD then associate director of clinical electrophysiology at dheny ey Institute in Los Angeles uncovered a striking example of this when she noticed a disturbing Trend among Cambodian women referred to dheny the women all between the ages of 40 and 60 and living in nearby Long Beach California known as little non pen because of its roughly 50,000 Cambodian residents were having severe vision problems including blindness in disproportionately high numbers physically the women's eyes were perfectly healthy Dr Van Bell did brain scans on the women to evaluate how well their visual systems were functioning and compared them to how well their eyes were seeing she found that each of the women had perfectly normal visual Acuity often 2020 or 2040 although when they tried to read an eye chart their Vision tested it legally blind some of the women had absolutely no light perception and couldn't even detect any Shadows even though there wasn't anything physically wrong with their eyes when Dr Van Bill teamed up with Patricia Rosie PhD at California State University Long Beach to do research on the women they found that those who had the worst Vision had spent the most time living under the kimar Rouge or in refugee camps when communist dictator Paul pot was in power the genocide perpetrated by the kar rou was responsible for the deaths of at least 1.5 million cambodians between 1975 and 1979 of the women studied 90% had lost family m MERS some as many as 10 during that time and 70% were forced to watch their loved ones sometimes even their entire families being brutally murdered these women saw things that their minds just could not accept Rosie told the Los Angeles Times their minds simply closed down and they refused to see anymore refus to see any more death any more torture any more rape any more starvation one woman was forced to watch her husband and four children be killed right in front of her and she lost her sight immediately afterwards another woman had to watch a kimar Rouge Soldier beat her brother and his three children to death which included seeing her three-month-old nephew being thrown against a tree until he died she started losing her eyesight right after that the women also suffered beatings starvation Untold humiliations sexual abuse torture and 20-hour days of enforced labor although they were now safe many of these women told the researchers that they preferred to stay in their homes where they had to relive their memories of the atrocities over and over through recurring nightmares and intrusive thoughts documenting a total of 150 cases of psychosomatic blindness in Cambodian women in Long Beach the largest known group of such victims anywhere in the world van bul and Rosie presented their research at the 1986 American Psychological Association annual meeting in Washington DC the audience was riveted the women in the study became blind or nearly blind not because of some eye disease or physical malfunction but because the events they lived through had such an emotional impact that they literally cried until they could not see the heightened emotional amplitude from being forced to Bear witness to the unbearable left them not wanting to see anymore the event created physical changes in their biology not in their eyes but most likely in their brains which altered their perception of reality for the rest of their lives and because they kept replaying the traumatizing scenes over and over in their minds their Vision never improved while this is certainly an extreme example our past traumatic experiences probably have similar effects on us if you're having Vision challenges what things might you have chosen not to see because of painful or frightening past experiences similarly if you're having hearing challenges what in your life might you be unwilling to hear figure 7.2 charts how all of this happens the line in the chart reflects a relative measurement of a person's state of being which starts out at a more or less normal or Baseline level before the event occurs when the line spikes it indicates a strong emotional reaction to an event such as when the women experience the atrocities of the kimar Rouge soldiers that horrific experience neurologically branded their brains and chemically changed their bodies as well as altered their state of being their thoughts their feelings their attitudes their beliefs and ultimately their perceptions specifically the women no longer wish to look at the world anymore so through neurological rewiring and chemical resaling their biology complied although the line in the graph eventually Falls and levels off the place where it ends up is a different place from where it began indicating that the person remains chemically and neurologically altered by the experience at that point for the Cambodian women they were effectively living in the past because they remained affected by the neurological and chemical branding that had come from the experience they were no longer the same women the event changed their state of being just changing your beliefs and perceptions once isn't enough you have to reinforce that change over and over to see why let's return for a moment to the Parkinson's patients mentioned earlier who improved their motor skills after receiving a saline injection that they thought was a powerful drug as you'll recall the moment they moved into a state of Better Health their autonomic nervous system started to endorse this new state by producing dopamine in their brains that didn't happen because they were praying or hoping or wishing their bodies would make dopamine it happened because they became people who made dopamine unfortunately however the effect doesn't stick for everyone in fact for some the bbo effect only lasts for a certain amount of time because they go back to who they were before their old states of being in this case when the Parkinson's patients went back home and and saw their caregivers saw their spouses slept in the same beds ate the same food sat in the same rooms and maybe played chess with the same friends who complained about their pains their same old environments reminded them of their same old personalities and their same old states of being all of the conditions in their familiar lives reminded them of who they were before so they just slipped right back into those identities and their various Motor problems recurred they reidentified with their environments the environment is that Str the same thing happens with drug addicts who've been clean for many years if you put them back in their same environments where they used to do drugs even without their ingesting any drug being there turns on the same recepto sites in their cells that the drugs did when they were using and that in turn creates physiological changes in their bodies as if they'd taken the drugs increasing their Cravings their conscious Minds have no control over that it's automatic let's examine this concept a bit further you've learned that the condition in process creates strong associative memories you've also learned that associative memories stimulate subconscious automatic physiological functions by activating the autonomic nervous system think of Pavlov's dogs again once Pavlov conditioned the dogs to associate the bell with getting fed the dogs bodies were immediately physiologically changed without much control from the conscious mind it was the cue from the environment that VI associative memory automatically autonomically subconsciously and physiologically changed the dog's internal States they began to salivate and their digestive juices turned on because they were anticipating a reward the dog's conscious Minds couldn't do that it was the stimulus from the environment that created the associative memory from the conditioned response now let's revisit the Parkinson's patients and the former drug users we could say that the instant any one of these individuals return to their familiar environment the body would automatically and physiologically return back to the old state of being without the conscious mind having much control over it in fact that past state of being which has been thinking and feeling the same way for years on end has conditioned the body to become the mind that is the body is the mind that responds to the environment that's why it's so hard for anyone in this situation to change and the greater the addiction to the emotion the greater the conditioned response to the stimulus in the environment for example let's say you were addicted to coffee and wanted to break your addiction to it if you were visiting my house and I started making Java and you heard the blast of the espresso machine smelled the coffee brewing and saw me drinking it here's what would happen the moment your sensors picked up those cues from the environment your body as the mind would subconsciously automatically respond without much help from your conscious mind because you conditioned it to be that way your body mind would then be craving its physiological reward waging a war against your conscious mind trying to convince you to take a sip or two but if you truly broke the addiction to coffee and then I made a cup in front of you you could have some or not because you wouldn't have the physiological response you had previously you'd no longer be conditioned your body would no longer be the mind and the associative memory of your environment would no longer have the same effect on you the same holds true for emotional addictions for instance if you have memorized guilt from your past experiences and unconsciously live that way every day in the present then like most people you use someone or or something at some place in your external environment to reaffirm your addiction to guilt try as you might to be consciously greater than it the moment you see your mother whom you used to feel guilty at the house where you grew up your body will autonomically chemically and physiologically return to the same past state of guilt in the present moment without your conscious mind being involved your body which has been subconsciously programmed to be the mind of guilt is already living in the past in that present moment so it's more natural to feel guilty when you're with your mother than to feel any other way and just as in the drug addict a conditioned response has altered your internal State based on your association with your present past external reality break the addiction to guilt by changing the subconscious programming and you can be in the presence of the same conditions and remain free from your present past reality researchers from the Victoria University of Wellington in New Zealand examined the effect of environment using a group of 148 college students who are invited to take part in a study set in a bar-like atmosphere the researchers told half the students that they would get vodka and tonic and told the rest that received just tonic water in reality the bartenders in the study didn't pour a single drop of vodka all the students got just plain tonic the barike atmosphere the researchers fashioned looked very realistic right down to the resaling of the vodka bottles that had been cleverly filled with flat tonic water the bartenders rimmed glasses with limes dunked in vodka for a more realistic effect before proceeding to mix and pour drinks as though they were serving the real thing the subjects became Tipsy and acted drunk with some even showing physical signs of intoxication they didn't get drunk because they drank alcohol they got drunk because the environment by associative memory cued their brains and bodies to respond in the same old familiar way when the researchers eventually told the students the truth many were amazed and insisted that they really did feel drunk at the time they beli they were drinking alcohol and those beliefs translated into neurochemicals which altered their states of being in other words their beliefs alone were sufficient to fire up a biochemical change in their bodies that was equal to being drunk that's because the students conditioned themselves enough times to associate alcohol with a change in their internal chemical States as the subjects expected or anticipated the future change in their inner states based on their past associative memories of drinking they were cued by the environment to to physiologically change just as did Pavlov's dogs there's a flip side too of course the environment can also signal healing hospital patients in Pennsylvania who recovered from surgery in a room with a view of a stand of trees in a natural Suburban setting needed less potent pain medications and were released 7 to 9 days earlier than patients in rooms facing a brown brick wall our states of Mind created from the environment can most definitely contribute to Healing our brains and our bodies so then do you need a sugar pill or a saline injection or a sham procedure or a picture window some or someone or some place in your external environment to move into a new state of being or can you do it just by changing how you think and feel can you simply believe in a new possibility of Health without relying on any external stimulus and make the thought in your brain a new emotional experience to the degree that it Chang changes your body and you become greater than the conditioning in your external environment if so what you've just read suggests that would be a good idea to change your internal state every day before you get up and face your same old environment so that it won't pull you as it did the Parkinson's patients back to your old state of being remember Janice shanfeld from chapter 1 who made physical changes in her brain by thinking she was taking an anti-depressant part of the reason the placebo worked so well for her was that taking that inert pill was a daily reminder to change her state of being because she Associated taking the pill with her optimistic thoughts and feelings about getting better as do more than 80% of people who take an anti-depressant Placebo if you could access a new state of being through meditation by combining a clear intention with getting in touch with that heightened state of emotion that was mentioned earlier and you got up jazzed and on fire about what you were creating every day you would finally start coming out of your resting St State you would then be in a new state of being with a different attitude belief and perception no longer reacting to the same things in the same way because now your environment would no longer control how you think and feel you then be making new choices and demonstrating new behaviors which would lead to new experiences and new emotions and so you'd then turn into a new and different personality a personality that doesn't have the arthritic pain or the Parkinson's motor issues or the infertility or whatever other condition you want to change I want to take a moment to point out here that not all sickness and disease starts in our minds of course certainly babies are born with genetic defects and conditions that clearly couldn't have been triggered by their thoughts feelings attitudes and beliefs and Trauma and accidents do indeed happen furthermore exposure to environmental toxins can definitely wreak havoc in the human body my point is not that when these things come up we've somehow ask for them although it's true that our physical bodies can be weakened by stress hormones and made more susceptible to disease when our immune systems shut down my point is that no matter what the source of our ills there's a possibility that we can change our condition so now we can see that if we want to change our beliefs and create a placebo effect to improve our health and our lives we have to do the exact opposite of what the Cambodian women did by default by holding a clear and firm intention and heightening our emotional energy we have to create a new internal experience in our minds and bodies that's greater than the past external experience in other words when we decide to create a new belief the amplitude or energy of that choice must be high enough that it's greater than the hard wide programs and emotional conditioning in the body to see what happens when we do just this take a look at figure 7.3 on the following page here the energy of the choice in this new experience is greater than the energy of the trauma in the past experience as we saw in figure 7.2 which is why the peak in this graph is higher than the peak in the first graph and as a result the effects of this new experience override the residue of the neural programming and emotional conditioning from the past experience this process if we do it right actually repattern our brains and changes our biology the new experience will reorganize the old programming and in so doing it will remove the neurological evidence of that past experience think of how a bigger wave breaking farther up on the beach erases any signs of whatever shell seaweed seaf foam or sand pattern was there before strong emotional experiences create long-term memories so this new internal experience creates new long-term memories that override our past long-term memories thus the choice becomes an experience that we never forget there should be no evidence of our pasts in our brains and our bodies any longer and the new signal then rewrites the neurological program and genetically changes the body now look at figure 7.3 again and notice how the slope of the line in the graph goes all the way back down whereas in figure 7.2 it descended but still remained higher than it was at the point where it started that shows there's no Trace left of the past experience it no longer exists in this new state of being in addition to reorganizing your neuros circuitry this new signal also begins to rewrite the body's conditioning by breaking the emotional attachment to the Past when that happens in that second the body is living fully in the present it is no longer a prisoner of the past that heightened energy is felt within the body and translated as a new emotion which is just another way of saying energy in motion or emotion whether that emotion is feeling Invincible courageous empowered compassionate inspired or whatever and it's energy that's changing our biology our neuros circuitry and our genetic expr expression not chemistry a similar process happens with the firew Walkers the glass chewers and the snake handlers they get clear that they're going to move into a different state of mind and body and when they hold that firm intention to make that shift the energy of that decision creates internal changes in their brains and bodies that make them immune to the external conditions in the environment for an extended period of time their energy now is protecting them in a way that in that moment transcends their biology as it happens our neurochemistry isn't the only thing that responds to heightened states of energy the recepto sites on the outside of the body's cells happen to be a 100 times more sensitive to energy and frequency than they are to the physical chemical signals like neuropeptides that we know gain access to our cell's DNA research consistently reveals that invisible forces of the electromagnetic spectrum influence every single aspect of cellular biology and genetic regulation cell receptors are frequent specific to incoming energy signals the energies of the electromagnetic spectrum include microwaves radio waves x-rays extremely low frequency waves sound harmonic frequencies ultraviolet rays and even infrared waves specific frequencies of electromagnetic energy can influence the behavior of DNA RNA and protein synthesis alter protein shape and function control Gene regulation and expression stimulate nerve cell growth and influence cell division and cell differentiation as well as instruct specific cells to organize into tissues and organs all of these cellular activities influenced by energy are part of the expression of life and if that's true then it has to be true for some reason remember the 98.5% of our DNA that scientists call junk DNA because it doesn't seem to serve much of a useful purpose surely Mother Nature wouldn't place all of this encoded information in ourselves waiting to be read without giving us the ability to create some type of signal to unlock it after all nature doesn't waste anything could it be that your own energy in Consciousness is what creates the right kind of signal outside of the cells to enable you to tap into that vast parts list of potentials and if that was true if you changed your energy the way you read about earlier in this chapter could that help you access your true ability to authentically heal your body when you change your energy you change your state of being and the rewiring in the brain and the new chemical emotions in the body trigger epigenetic changes and the result is that you become quite literally a new person the person you were before is history a part of that person simply vanished along with the neurocircuitry chemical emotional addictions and genetic expression that supported your old state of being chapter eight the Quantum Mind reality can be a bit of a moving Target literally we're used to thinking of reality as something fixed and certain but as you'll soon see in this chapter the way we've always been taught to see it isn't the way it really is and if you're going to learn how to be your own Placebo by using your mind to affect matter it's vital that you understand the true nature of reality how mind and matter are related and how reality can shift because if you don't know how and why those shifts occur you won't be able to direct any outcomes according to your intentions before we dive into the quantum Universe let's take a look at where our ideas about reality came from and where they've brought us so far thanks to Renee Dart and Sir Isaac Newton for centuries the study of the universe was divided into two categories matter and mind the study of matter the material world was declared the realm of science because for the most part the laws of the universe that govern the objects outer world could be calculated and therefore predicted but the inner Realm of the Mind was considered too unpredictable and complicated so it was therefore left to the orices of religion over time matter and mind became separate entities and dualism was born Newtonian physics also known as classical physics deals with the mechanics of how objects function in space and time including their interactions with each other in the material physical world because of Newton's Laws we can measure and predict what path planets take around the Sun how quickly an apple accelerates when it falls from a tree and how long it takes to go from Seattle to New York by plane Newtonian physics is about the predictable it looks at the universe as if it functioned like an enormous machine or a huge time piece but classical physics has its limitations when it comes to the study of energy the actions of the immaterial world beyond space and time and the behavior of atoms the building blocks of everything in the physical universe that realm belongs to quantum physics and it turns out that this very tiny subatomic world of electrons and photons doesn't behave anything like the much larger world of planets apples and airplanes that were more familiar with when Quantum physicists began to look at the smaller and smaller aspects of an atom like what makes up the nucleus the closer they looked the less distinct and clear the atom became until eventually it just completely disappeared atoms they tell us appear to be 9999999999999 9% empty space but that space isn't really empty it's actually filled with energy more specifically it's made up of a vast array of energy frequencies that form a kind of invisible interconnected field of information so if every atom is 9999999999999 n% energy or information that means that our known universe and everything in it no matter how solid that matter may appear to us is a essentially Just Energy and information that's a scientific fact atoms do contain a smattering of matter but when the quantum physicists tried to study it they discovered something really strange subatomic matter in the quantum world doesn't behave anything at all like the matter we're used to dealing with instead of adhering to the laws of Newtonian physics it appears somewhat chaotic and unpredictable completely disregarding the boundaries of time and space in fact on the subatomic Quantum level matter is a momentary phenomenon it's here one moment and then it disappears it exists only as a tendency a probability or a possibility in the quantum there are no absolute physical things that wasn't the only strange discovery that scientists made about the quantum Universe they also found that when they observe particles of subatomic matter they could affect or change their behavior the reason they're here and gone and then here and gone again all the time is that all of these particles actually exist simultaneously in an infinite array of possibilities or probabilities within the invisible and infinite Quantum field of energy it's only when an observer focuses attention on any one location of any one electron that the electron actually appears in that place look away and the subatomic matter disappears back into energy so according to this observer effect physical matter can't exist or manifest until we observe it until we notice it and give it our attention and when we're no longer paying attention to it it vanishes going back from whence it came so matter is constantly transforming oscillating between manifesting into matter and disappearing into energy about 7.8 times per second as a matter of fact and so because the human mind as the Observer is then intimately connected to the behavior and appearance of matter you can say that mind over matter is a Quantum reality another way to look at it is this in the tiny world of the quantum the subjective mind has an effect on objective reality your mind can become matter that is you can make your mind matter since subatomic matter makes up everything we can see and touch and experience in our macro world then in a sense we along with everything in our world are also doing this disappearing and reappearing act all the time and so if subatomic particles exist in an infinite number of possible places simultaneously then in some way so do we and just as these particles go from existing everywhere simultaneously wave or energy to existing precisely where the observer looks for them at that moment The Observer is paying attention particle or matter we're also potentially capable of collapsing an infinite number of potential realities into physical existence in other words if you can imagine a particular future event that you want to experience in your life that reality already exists as a possibility somewhere in the quantum field Beyond this space and time just waiting for you to observe it if your mind through your thoughts and feelings can affect when and where an electron appears out of nowhere then theoretically you should be able to influence the appearance of any number of possibilities that you can imagine from a Quantum perspective if you observed yourself in a particular new future that was different from your past expected that reality to occur and then emotionally embrace the outcome you'd be for a moment living in that future reality and you'd be conditioning your body to believe it was in that future in the present moment so the quantum model which states that all possibilities exist in this moment gives us permission to choose a new future and observe it into reality and because the entire universe is made of atoms with more than 99% of an atom being energy or possibility that means that there's a lot of potential out there that you and I might be missing however this also means that you create by default as well if you as the quantum Observer look at your life from the same level of mind every day then according to the quantum model of reality you're causing infinite possibilities to collapse into the same patterns of information day in and day out those patterns which you call your life never change so they never allow you to affect change so the mental rehearsal and talked about earlier is certainly not Idol daydreaming or wishful thinking it is in a very real sense the way you can intentionally manifest your desired reality including a life without pain or Disease by focusing more on what you do want and less on what you don't want you can call into existence whatever you desire and simultaneously fade away what you don't want by no longer giving it your attention where you place your attention is where you place your energy once you fix your attention on your awareness or your mind on possibility you place your energy there as well as a result you're affecting matter with your attention or observation the placebo effect is not fantasy then it's Quantum reality all atoms in the elemental World emit various electromagnetic energies for example an atom can give off invisible fields of energy at different frequencies that include x-rays gamma rays ultraviolet rays and infrared rays as well as visible light rays and just as invisible radio waves carry a frequency with specific information encoded into it whether it's 98.6 or 107.5 Hertz each different frequency likewise carries specific diverse information as shown in figure 8.1 for example x-rays carry very different information than infrared rays do because they are different frequencies all of these fields are different energy patterns that are always giving off information at the atomic level think of atoms as vibrating fields of energy or small vortices that are constantly spinning to better understand how that works let's use the analogy of a fan just like a circular fan creates wind a Vortex of air when it's turned on each atom as it spins radiates a field of energy in a similar fashion and just like a fan can spin at different speeds and so creates stronger or weaker wind atoms also vibrate at different frequencies that creat stronger or weaker Fields the faster the atom vibrates the greater the energy and frequency it emits the slower the speed of the atom's vibration or Vortex the less energy it creates the slower a fan blades spin the less wind or energy is created and the easier it is to see the blades as material objects in physical reality on the other hand the faster the blades spin the more energy is created and the less you see of the physical blades the blades appear to be immaterial where the fan blades can potentially appear like the subatomic particles the quantum scientists were trying to observe that kept popping in and out of view depends on your observation where and how you look for them and so it is with atoms let's look at this in a little more depth in quantum physics matter is defined as a solid particle and the immaterial energetic field of information can be defined as the wave when we study the physical properties of atoms like Mass atoms look like IAL matter the slower the frequency that an atom is vibrating the more time it spends in physical reality and the more it appears as a particle that we can see as solid matter the reason physical matter appears solid to us even though it's mostly energy is that all of the atoms are vibrating at the same speed we are but atoms also display many properties of energy or waves including light wavelengths and frequency the faster an atom vibrates and the more energy it generates the the less time it spends in physical reality it's appearing and disappearing too fast for us to see it because it's vibrating at a much faster speed than we are but even though we can't see the energy itself we can sometimes see physical evidence of certain frequencies of energy because the force field of atoms can create physical properties such as the way infrared waves heat things up if you compare figure 8.2 a to figure 8.2b you can see how slower frequencies spend more time in the materal atal world and thus appear as matter so the physical universe may look as if it's made up of only material matter but in truth it shares a field of information the quantum field that unifies matter and energy so intimately that it's impossible to consider them as separate entities that's because all particles are connected in an immaterial invisible field of information beyond space and time and that field is made of Consciousness thought and energy frequency the speed at which things VI vibrate because each atom has its own specific field of energy or energy signature when atoms assemble collectively to form molecules they share their fields of information and then radiate their own unique combined energy patterns if everything material in the universe radiates a specific unique energy signature because everything is made of atoms then you and I radiate our own specific energy signatures as well you and I are always broadcasting information as electromagnetic energy based on states of being so when you change your energy to alter a belief or perception about yourself or your life you're actually increasing the frequency of the atoms and molecules of your physical body so that you're amplifying your energy field as shown in figure 8.3 you're turning up the speed of the atomic fans that make up your body as you Embrace a heightened emotional creative state like inspiration empowerment gratitude or invincibility you're causing your atoms to spin faster just like the fan blades and to broadcast a stronger energy field around your body which affects your physical matter so the physical particles that make up your body are now responding to an elevated energy you're becoming more energy and less matter you're now more wave and less particle using your Consciousness you're creating more energy so that matter can be lifted to a new frequency and your body responds to a new mind so how does matter become lifted to a new mind think of the preacher who moves into a state of religious ecstasy and drinks strick nine with no biological effects how did he overcome that chemistry that would normally poison the average person it was his level of energy that transcended the effects of matter he made a decision with such firm intention that his choice carried an amplitude of energy that transcended the laws of the environment the effects on the body and linear time in that moment he was more energy and less matter and as a result it was a new energy that rewrote the circuitry in his brain the chemistry in his body and his genetic expression in that present moment he wasn't his identity that was connected to his familiar environment nor was he his physical body nor was he living in linear time his elevated Consciousness and energy were the epiphenomenon of matter in other words it's both information and frequency that give rise to the blueprints of matter and when we're demonstrating an elevated level of awareness and energy it's these elements that influence matter because matter is Created from a lowering of frequency and information it's entirely possible that the preachers cell recepto sites weren't selectively open for the strick nine the cells doors were closed to poison and so were suspended from its effects by being moved by the spirit that is moved by energy he instantly upregulated the cells in his body for immunity and downregulated the cells in his body for Poison the same thing is at work with the firew Walkers once they change their state of being their cell receptors are no longer open to the effects of heat this is also what allowed the teenage girls to lift the 3,000lb tractor to free their father as you read about in chapter 1 when they saw their father trapped and almost certain to die their heightened state of energy turned off the cell receptors that normally would tell their bodies that the tractor was too heavy to lift and turned on the muscle cell receptors to Bear a greater load so that when they tried their muscles responded and they were able to free their dad it wasn't matter body that was moving matter tractor it was energy that was influencing matter you'd have to agree with me that your body is made up of a vast array of atoms and molecules and that these atoms and molecules form chemicals those chemicals organize into cells which form tissues that further organize into organs which create various systems within your body for example a muscle cell is made of different chemicals proteins ions cyto kindes growth factors which are made up of the different interactions of molecules which are made up of various Atomic bonds those atoms share an invisible field of information to form molecules the chemicals that make up a cell also share a field of information it's that invisible field of information that orchestrates the hundreds of thousands of functions of the cell at any given second scientists are beginning to realize that a field of information exists that's responsible for Myriad cellular functions existing beyond the boundaries of matter is this invisible field of consciousness that orchestrates all of the functions of the cells tissues organs and systems of the body how does certain chemicals and molecules of your cells know what to do and interact with such Precision there's an energetic field surrounding the cell that's the summation of energy from atoms molecules and chemicals working together in balance that gives birth to matter and it's that vital field of information that matter draws from for instance the muscle cells in the previous example can further organize and specialize into tissues called muscle muscle tissue let's say that the particular type of muscle tissue in this example is called cardiac muscle cardiac muscle tissue forms an organ called the heart the tissues which are made of cells share a field of information that allows the heart to function in a coherent manner the heart is part of the cardiovascular system of the entire body as it shares this field of information it organizes matter to function in a harmonic holistic way so the field that's created that gives birth to matter is what controls matter the greater the field the faster the atoms vibrate or the faster your subatomic fan blades spin the Newtonian model of biology is based on linear events in which chemical reactions occur in a sequence of steps but that's not actually how biology works you can no longer explain something even as simple as how a cut heals without the understanding of the interconnected coherent information Pathways you just read about cells share an intercommunication of information in a non nonlinear way the universe and all the biological systems within it share an integration of independent entangled energy fields that in turn share information beyond space and time on a momentto moment basis research confirms that most interactions between cells happen faster than the speed of light and since the limit of this physical reality is the speed of light that means that cells must communicate by the quantum field the interactions between atoms and mo ules form an intercommunication that unifies the physical material world and the energy fields that make up the whole in the quantum the linear predictable characteristics of the Newtonian world do not exist things interact in a holistic Cooperative manner so according to the quantum model of reality we could say that all disease is a lowering of frequency think about stress hormones when your nervous system is under the control of fight or flight mode the the chemicals of survival cause you to be more matter and less energy you become a materialist because you're defining reality with your senses you overuse the vital energy surrounding the cell by mobilizing it for an emergency and all of your attention goes towards the outer world of the environment the body and time if you keep the stress response turned on for extended periods of time the long-term effects keep slowing down the frequency of the body such that it becomes more and more particle and less and less wave that means there's less Consciousness energy and information available for atoms molecules and chemicals to share as a result you become matter trying futilely to change matter you are body trying without success to change a body all of the individual subatomic fans making up your body start spinning not only slower but also out of rhythm with one another this creates incoherence among the body's atoms and molecules which causes a weakened signal of communication such that the body begins to break down the more your body is matter and the less it is energy the more you're at the mercy of the second law of Thermodynamics the law of entropy where material things in the universe tend to move toward disorder and breakdown think what would happen if you had hundreds of fans in one enormous room all working together and spinning in harmony humming away in unison that coherent humming would be like music to your ears because it would be rhythmic and consistent that's what it's like in our bodies when the signals between our atoms molecues and cells are strong and coherent now imagine how different it would be if there weren't enough electricity energy getting to each of the fans resulting in their spinning at different speeds or frequencies the room would then be filled with a cacophony of incoherent clanking wobbling stopping and starting that's what it's like when the signals between our body's atoms molecules and cells are weaker and incoherent when you change your energy because you made a decision with firm intention you increase the frequency of your atomic structure and create a more intentional coherent electromagnetic signature as depicted in figure 8.4 you're now affecting the physical matter of your body by increasing your energy you increase the electricity flowing to your Atomic fans the elevated frequency begins to entrain or to organize the cells of your body to become less particle matter and more wave energy or to put it another way all of your matter has more energy or more information think of coherence as Rhythm or orderliness and incoherence as the lack of Rhythm lack of orderliness and lack of synchrony imagine a group of a 100 drummers with no rhythm banging on drums all at the same time that's incoherence now imagine that a group of five professional drummers shows up among the mob of wannabe drummers spreads out to different locations in the crowd and starts to create a very rhythmic beat in time the five would entrain the entire 100 other drummers into perfect Rhythm orderliness and synchrony that's exactly what happens when your body responds to a new mind when the hair on the back of your neck stands up because you feel more like energy and less like matter in that moment you're lifting matter to a new mind you're entraining the disease that exists as a lowering of frequency to an elevated frequency at the same time you're also causing the incoherent information that existed among the atoms and molecules chemicals and cells tissues and organs and systems of the body to instead function from a field of more organized information it's like hearing static on your radio and then tuning into a clear signal where all of a sudden the static disappears and you can hear the music your brain and nervous system do the same by tuning in to higher more coherent frequencies once that occurs you're no longer subject to the law of entropy you experience reverse entropy and the coherent signature of the energy field around your body causes you to be immune to to the typical laws of physical reality now all of the atomic fans are spinning at a faster coherent frequency and the physical molecules chemicals and cells that make up your body are receiving new information so that your energy is having a positive effect on your body figures 8.5a 8.5 B and 8.5 C on the following page illustrate how a higher more coherent frequency of energy entrains a slower more incoherent frequency of matter lifting matter to a new the more organized and coherent your energy the more you entrain matter at an organized frequency and the faster that frequency the better and the more profound the electromagnetic signal the cell receives remember as you learned in the previous chapter cells are 100 times more sensitive to electromagnetic signals energy than to chemical signals and it's these signals that change DNA expression the more incoherent and unsynchronized your energy is on the other hand the less able your cells are to communic Comm unicate with one another you'll learn the science of how to create coherence very shortly since the quantum field is an invisible field of information its frequency beyond space and time that all things material come from and is made of Consciousness and energy then everything physical in the universe is Unified within and connected to this field and since all things material are made of atoms which are connected beyond space and time then you and I along with all things in the universe are connected by this field of intelligence personal and Universal both within us and all around us that gives life information energy and Consciousness to All Things call it what you will but this is the universal intelligence that's giving you life right now it organizes and orchestrates the hundreds of thousands of notes in the harmonious Symphony that is your physiology those things that are a part of your autonomic nervous system this intelligence keeps your heartbeating more than 101,000 times a day to pump more than 2 gallons of blood per minute traveling more than 60,000 m in each 24-hour period as you finish reading this sentence your body will have made 25 trillion cells and each of the 70 trillion cells that make up your body execute somewhere between 100,000 to 6 trillion functions per second you'll inhale 2 million lers of oxygen today and each time you inhale that oxygen will be distributed to every cell in your body within seconds do you consciously keep track of all that or does something that has a mind so much greater than your mind and a will so much greater than your will do it for you that's love in fact that intelligence loves you so much that it loves you into life it's the same universal mind that animates every aspect of the material Universe this invisible field of intelligence exists beyond space and time and is where all things material come from it causes supernovas to be born in distant galaxies and Roses to bloom in versa it keeps the planets revolving around our sun and the tides rising and falling at Malibu because it exists in all places and at all times and is both within you and all around you this intelligence must be both personal and Universal so there's a subjective Free Will Consciousness the individual awareness called you and there's an objective Consciousness the universal awareness that's responsible for all life if you were to close your eyes and take your attention off your body and all of the people things and events arising at different times and places in your external environment letting go of time for a moment you as the quantum Observer would be removing your energy from your familiar life and investing your awareness into the unknown field of possibilities since where you place your attention is where you place your energy then if you keep placing your awareness on your known life your energy is invested in that familiar life but if you were to invest your energy in the unknown field of possibilities Beyond space and time and you instead became a Consciousness a thought in Quantum potential you'd be drawing a new experience to yourself as you enter a meditative State your subjective Free Will Consciousness would merge with the objective Universal Consciousness and you'd be planting a seed in possibility the self-organizing autonomic nervous system is your connection to that innate intelligence I mentioned that performs all of those automatic functions for you it's certainly not your thinking neocortex that's responsible for the functions mentioned previously instead it's the lower brain centers below the neocortex that subconsciously run the show this loving intelligence is what you merge with in meditation when you lay down the ego and go from selfish to selfless when you become pure Consciousness no longer a body in the environment or in linear time but instead no body no one no thing in no place and no time that's when you become simply an awareness in an infinite field of possibility you're in the unknown and from the unknown all things are created you're in the quantum field and you and I already have all the biological Machinery we need to accomplish this feat of becoming pure Consciousness chapter nine three stories of personal transformation in this chapter you'll meet a few folks who put the energ of their Consciousness into the immaterial world beyond the senses and repeatedly embraced the possibility until it materialized into their lives Lor's story at age 19 Lori was diagnosed with a rare degenerative bone disease called polyostotic fibrous dysplasia in this debilitating condition the body replaces normal bone with a cheaper fibrous tissue and the skeleton supportive protein scaffolding becomes uncharacteristically thin and irregular the atypical growth process associated with the Syndrome causes bones to swell weaken and then fracture fibrous dysplasia can occur in any part of the skeleton and in Lor's body it manifested in her right femur right hip socket right tibia and some of the bones of her right foot her doctors told her the disease had no cure fibrous dysplasia is a genetic condition that usually doesn't manifest until Adolescence in Lor's case she spent a whole year limping painfully around her college campus with what turned out to be a femoral fracture before any sign of the disease surfaced she was shocked to hear she'd broken a bone because she hadn't suffered any trauma other than one foot being anatomically larger than the other Lori hadn't seen any evidence that anything was wrong with her until that point she had lived a relatively active youth filled with activities like running dancing and playing tennis at the time she began limping she'd even begun training as a competitive bodybuilder after the diagnosis Lor's life changed overnight her orthopedic surgeon warned her that she was fragile and extremely vulnerable he insisted that she walk only with crutches until he could schedule her for surgery first a bone graft followed by the insertion of a Russell Taylor femoral nail down the bone shaft after hearing that news both Lori and her mother spent an hour crying in the hospital cafeteria it was like some sort of nightmare Lorie's life as she knew it seemed to be suddenly over Lor's perception of her limitations both real and imagin began to dominate her life to avoid additional fractures she followed the surgeon's orders and dutifully used the crutches she had to equi the marketing internship she recently begun with a major Manhattan product manufacturer and instead began filling her days with medical appointments her father insisted she see as many Orthopedic Specialists as possible so her weeping mother drove Lori from doctor's office to doctor's office over the next several weeks each time she saw a new doctor Lori would patiently wait for a different medical opinion only to receive the same bad news again in just a few months 10 surgeons had weighed in on a condition the last physician she saw did have a different opinion he told Lori that the surgery the other doctors had recommended absolutely wouldn't help her because inserting the nail would strengthen the diseased bone only in the weakest location and would actually cause more fractures in the next most vulnerable area above or below the nail he advised Lori to forget about surgery and continue using crutches or a wheelchair or simply become sedentary for the rest of her life from then on Lori remained still most of the time for fear she might break a bone she felt powerless small and fragile and she was filled with anxiety and self-pity she did return to college a month later but stayed largely cooped up in an apartment that she shared with five other women she cultivated an impressive ability to cloak a severe and mounting clinical depression Lor's father had been a violent man for as long as she could remember even once his children were grown each member of the family had to be prepared for the wrath of this man's quick moving fists at the most unexpected of moments everyone was constantly in a state of vigilance wondering when his temper would flare next although Lori certainly didn't know it at the time her father's Behavior was intrinsically connected to her condition newborns spend the vast majority of their days in the Delta brainwave State during the first 12 years children gradually progressed to a Theta State and then to an alpha state before they get to the beta State they'll spend most of their adulthood in as you read earlier Theta and Alpha are highly suggestible brain w States young children don't yet have an analytical mind to edit or make sense of what happens to them so all of the information they absorb from their experiences is encoded directly into their subconscious Minds because of their increased suggestibility the moment they feel emotionally altered from some experience they pay attention to whoever or whatever caused it and so a conditioned to form associative memories connecting that cause to the emotion of the experience itself if it's a parent then over time children will attach to that caregiver and think that the emotions they feel from The Experience are normal because they don't yet have the ability to analyze the situation this is how early childhood experiences become subconscious states of being although Lori didn't know this when her condition was diagnosed the emotionally charged event she experienced growing up with her father had been branded into her implicit memory system Beyond her conscious mind programming her biology her reaction to her father's anger feeling weak powerless vulnerable stressed and fearful every single day then became part of her autonomic nervous system so that her body chemically memorized these emotions and the environment signaled the genes associated with her disorder to turn on because that response was autonomic she wouldn't be able to change it as long as she stayed trapped in her emotional body she could only analyze her state of being equal to the the emotions of her past even though the answers she needed existed Beyond those emotions once Lori received the fibrous dysplasia diagnosis her mother immediately proclaimed to the entire family that Lori had been officially pronounced Fragile by modern medicine so she was safe from her father's physical violence although he continued to emotionally and verbally abuse Lori right up until his death 15 years later her disease ironically protected her from further physical abuse this perverse sense of safety that Lori created became a vehicle of survival for her as a result she began to benefit from special treatment which she almost always needed whether getting a seat on the bus or Subway when there were standing room only getting her friends to wait in line for events while she sat on a nearby bench or getting a seat quickly in a crowded restaurant Lori found that her disease began to work for her she started relying heavily on her ailment to get what she wanted she was now able to manage better in a world that she'd never for viewed as safe the emotional benefit of manipulating her reality to get what she wanted in this way became very convenient and Lori received far more than she really needed to take stress off her body to prevent injury before long her disease became her identity Lor next developed a late adolescent Rebellion against the life that she thought had been thrust upon her by her doctors her parents and Fate by the next semester after Her diagnosis she went into a solid state of denial about her disease she decided to become the first gimpy bodybuilder returning to the sport with complete devotion blindly obsessive while white knuckling it and forcing a positive attitude solely with a conscious mind Lori found creative ways to bear weight that wouldn't twist her limbs she thought that by trying to push through the pain she'd become healthier although in truth her efforts backfired because she felt awful most of the time and her pain worsened as sometimes happens with polyostotic fibrous dysplasia patients Lori also developed scoliosis and suffered from severe back pain daily by the time she was in her 20s she began to develop arthritis in her spine and elsewhere after she graduated from college despite shuttling herself between a new house and a new job Lori became very sedentary and felt even more removed from Life her fear anxiety and depression remained she envied most of her peers and lost friendships and romantic interests because she lived more like her elderly parents than like a young adult by her late 20s Lori used aain all the time to get around even when she wasn't nursing one of the 12 serious fractures she'd eventually endure as if those issues weren't enough she also experienced dangerous micro fractures her bones were so weak that bigger stress fractures would appear beneath the microscopic fishes and connect to other areas of weakened bone to form even bigger fractures that could be seen on an X-ray by age 30 Lori had more back problems than her 72-year-old father and she essentially became old before her time time she rested in bed for days and missed so many weeks of work that she was forced to quit jobs she put graduate school on hold because the school that accepted her didn't have a working elevator she had to foro parties Museum outings shopping traveling concerts and other activities that would have involved a lot of standing or walking she was caught in the thinking and feeling loop I talked about earlier thinking that she was limited in Fragile on the inside while her body manifested limitedness and fragility on the outside the more she felt vulnerable and weak the more vulnerable and weak she became while continuing to experience fractures that reinforced her belief that she was frail and further reaffirming her identity and validating her state of being she adjusted her diet and took various vitamins and supplements in addition to Bone strengthening drugs but nothing seemed to stop the fractures she could fracture a bone just from walking up a flight of stairs or even stepping off a curb it was like waiting for the next nightmare in a series ironically when Lori wasn't using using crutches or limping she looked perfectly healthy most people assumed that her cane was some sort of eccentric accessory and many didn't believe Lori really had a debilitating condition which made it difficult and frustrating at times to receive the special treatment she often needed trying to convince people that she really had a disease further solidified her identity as a sick person set her intention to prove she was handicapped and anchored her belief about her disabled status while the rest of the world seemed to work very hard to hide their weaknesses and vulnerability Lori found that she was constantly announcing hers she spent a lot of energy trying to control as much as possible in her environment she paid careful attention to everything she ate and drank measuring everything she consumed every walk around her neighborhood was calculated she even weighed how much she could carry home from the supermarket £10 which was also the limit of the weight she could gain before her bones would worsen it was exhausting but it was all Lori knew to do her range of options got narrower and narrower as she kept limiting the scope of things that she could do physically in an attempt to keep from fracturing as her lifestyle became narrower her mind became narrower along with it Lor's fears increased her depression worsened and eventually she tried to work again but couldn't even hold down a job the same woman who' once been a runner dancer and competitive bodybuilder was now limited to doing only yoga for fitness and by her late 30s even hather yoga had come to be too much for her for years her exercise was limited to sitting in a chair and doing vigorous breathing although in her early 40s her doctor finally allowed her to take up lap swimming she did make some attempts at healing through therapists holistic doctors energy healers sound healers and homeopaths always seeking Solutions outside of herself a few times she'd feel better after an energy healing and go straight to the orthopedist and demand new x-rays only to be deflated when the results came back unchanged she thought maybe this is as good as it's ever going to get she awoke overwhelmed each morning overcome with a feeling of dread convinced she couldn't handle whatever the world had in store for her Lori and I met in 2009 after she had seen what the bleep do we know and become transfixed by the concept that a person could possibly create a totally new life I happened to meet her while eating dinner before a workshop I was teaching at a retreat center near New York we talked about the courses I gave on personal change and she immediately registered for my next class that August when Lori came to her first event she heard that it was absolutely possible to change your brain your thoughts your body your emotional state and your genetic expression during the workshop I talked about physical change but Lor's beliefs about her disease and her body were tenacious and her emotions were stuck quite firmly in her past she had absolutely no intention of healing a body mostly because she didn't really believe it was even possible she came because she just wanted to feel better on the inside Lori immediately applied the principles I taught as best she could even though she couldn't seem to feel different by choice the very first thing she did almost immediately after that first weekend course was to stop sharing Her diagnosis with others even though she couldn't control her emotions she figured that she still had control over what she said out loud so unless she needed to ask for a chair at a party or explain to a date why she couldn't take a walk with him she stopped acknowledging her condition altogether Lori chose to focus on where she was headed in her future toward a happy inner self a deep connection to some unknown Divine Source a wonderful job that she excelled at a life partner and close and healthy relationships with friends and relatives Lori next concentrated on changing a few simple behaviors she watched her thoughts and words and reminded herself repeatedly to stop her old repetitive destructive patterns she kept doing the meditations and taking my courses in order to to aign meaning to what she was doing she reread her class notes religiously and kept in touch with as many fellow students as she could in time some small but perceptible percentage of the day Lori felt better taller abler and stronger she'd say change to herself 20 times a day whenever she noticed her mind drifting to her past although negative thoughts sneak through a 100 times a day little by little Lori created a few new thoughts wrote them down and attempted to believe them deeply Lori worked hard at it but it took almost 2 years before she could really feel those new thoughts instead of getting frustrated during that waiting period Lori reminded herself that it had taken quite a long time to create the disease from her emotional state so it might take some time to uncreate it she also reminded herself that she'd have to go through a biological neurological chemical and genetic death of the old self before the new self emerged the circumstances in her external environment got worse before they got better a flood trashed Lor's home and other situations in her apartment building created some new health problems Lori told me that every time she'd sit down to do her meditation and rehearse her ideal life she felt as if she would telling herself a lie and afterward opening her eyes to the current circumstances felt like a slap in the face I encouraged her to stop defining reality with her senses and to keep crossing the river of change Lori kept limping into the workshops grumpy at times and grateful at others and she kept at the work she also assembled as many local fellow students as she could to meditate together hardly any situations in Lor's life were pleasing so she thought what the hell I may as well have 1 hour a day behind my own eyelids where reality looks different where I have a pain-free body a safe and quiet home and a full and loving relationship with the outside world and with my friends and family in early 2012 during one of my Progressive workshops Lori had a significant deepening in her meditation experience she was literally and figuratively rocked to her core physically it was like a disturbance and then a release her body shook her face contorted and her arms flew up as she tried her best to stay rooted to her chair emotionally it was inexplicable Joy she cried she laughed and sounds came out of her mouth that she couldn't explain all of the fear and control that she'd previously used to hold herself together was finally loosening for the first time she felt a divine presence and knew she was no longer alone Lori told me I sense something someone some divine presence and this Consciousness wasn't ignorant to my existence and unconcerned with my welfare as I apparently previously believed this Consciousness has actually been paying attention realizing that was an overwhelming change for me all the energy she'd been putting into controlling her physical movement M ments and her life in general finally began to relax and unwind and the energy she'd been using to maintain that control started to free up at the next event I noticed that Lori was walking without a cane or any limp she was happy smiling and laughing to herself instead of irritated frowning and wincing in pain she was transmuting fear into courage frustration into patience pain into joy and weakness into strength she was beginning to change on the inside and the out side free from the addiction of those limiting emotions her body was now living Less in the past as she moved toward a new future in early spring 2012 Lor's orthopedist told her during a regular checkup that about 2/3 of the length of a fracture she'd had in her femur since she was 19 a fracture that had shown up on every one of the hundred or so x-rays she' had so far had vanished he had no explanation to offer but instead suggested she began riding a stationary bicycle at the gym for 10 minutes minutes twice a week the message was music to Lor's ears and off she went all of Lor's work in crossing the river of change was now starting to pay off she was finally getting feedback that let her know she was making some type of physical progress each day as Lori got Beyond her body her environment and time she was also getting beyond the personality that was connected to her present and past external reality Beyond her emotionally addicted and habituated Body and Beyond the predictable future that always expected Based On A Memory of the past all of her effort to supersede her analytical mind change her brain waves to those of a more suggestible State find the present moment and Venture into the programming system where she was emotionally altered earlier in her life was finally changing her Lori started to really believe that her mind was healing her body by thought alone and the old fracture that was connected to the old self was healing because she was literally becoming someone else she was no longer firing and wiring the circuits in her brain that were connected to the old personality because she was no longer thinking and acting in the same ways she stopped conditioning her body to the same mind by reliving her past with the same emotions she was unemori was signaling new in new ways during her daily meditation by simply changing her state of being those genes were making new proteins that were healing the proteins responsible for the fractures related to her disease from what she learned in the workshops she reasoned that her bone cells needed to get the right signal from her mind in order to turn off the gene of fibrous dysplasia and turn on the gene for the production of a normal bone matrix Lori explained I knew that over the years all of of those fractures had manifested structurally from the unhealthy protein expression in my bone cells because I had been living by the survival emotions of fear victimization and pain and I felt weak I was powerful enough to manifest weakness perfectly in my body I had programmed the genes to stay on because I'd memorize those emotions subconsciously in my body and my body as my mind was always living in the past so I figured if bones are made of collagen which is a protein and I wanted my bone cells to make some healthy collagen I'd have to enterer my autonomic nervous system get beyond my analytical mind enter into the subconscious mind repeatedly reprogram my body with new information and allow it to receive new orders every day when I received the good news I felt like I was halfway across the river of change Lori kept her meditations going and continued to take my workshops she continued to have times of physical pain but the frequency intensity and duration decreased considerably she changed as many things as she possibly could she changed gyms just for a different environment she put her deodorant on the right side first instead of the left she folded her arms left over right instead of the more natural right over left whenever she could remember to do so she sat in a different chair in her apartment she slept on the other side of the bed even though it meant walking all the way around to the far side of the room to get in and out of bed she reported ridiculous as that may sound I was just intent on giving my body as many new and different signals as possible possible and since moving to a big house in the Hamptons wasn't realistic these tiny things would have to do Lori even put notes everywhere in her environment to remind herself to stay conscious and to elicit thoughts and feelings about her future she wrote I am grateful Elevate and love on painters tape and stuck the notes on the back of several doors she stuck a sticky note on her dashboard that read your thoughts are incredibly powerful choose yours wisely encouraging notes and affirmations weren't new to her but she never never had the capacity to believe them before because she hadn't known how to change her beliefs in late January 2013 when she saw her orthopedist again he told her for the first time in 28 years that she had no evidence of fractures none her bones were whole and undamaged she wrote to me I cannot convey in words the joy this brought me I now felt empowered and lifted I know I am more than halfway across the river of change her bone cells were now programmed to make new healthy proteins her autonomic nervous system was restoring balance within her body physically chemically and emotionally it was doing the healing for her through a greater intelligence and she knew she could trust and surrender more to it now her body was continuing to respond to a new mind the month after her appointment with the orthopedist Lori flew to Arizona for one of my Advanced workshops an hour after she arrived she received a phone call from the doctor's assistant who who told her that the results from her blood and urine tests were back and they indicated that her disease was actually still quite active her doctor recommended that she resume inter Venus biop phosphinate therapy for the first time in many years Lori was heartbroken the x-rays had left her with the impression that she was whole again but the lab tests indicated otherwise within seconds she had lost perspective and was certain she'd failed when she told me the news I reassured her that her body was still living in the past and just needed more time to catch up with her mind I suggested she continue to do the work for a few more months and retake the urine test then inspired by some of the folks in our workshops who changed their health Lori went home and did her practice in Earnest feeling more vividly and intensely in her meditations the life that she could have she stopped imagining herself with healed bones per se and just imagined herself as whole in general vital glowing resilient youthful and in energetic good health she mentally rehearsed and emotionally embraced having everything she wanted which included a functional walking body she told herself that the old lady she'd been from ages 19 to 47 was just a story from the past over the next few months Lori simply began to feel happier more joyful Freer and healthier she began to think with more clarity about her future she really felt pain in her body and walked without any assistance when May 2013 arrived she was feeling some trepidation about her appointment to retake the lab test she postponed the appointment until June then Lori discussed her hesitation and anxiety with an experienced Workshop student who asked her to think about some good things she could imagine related to walking into the hospital and taking the test at this point Lori realized she had lots of positive life-giving emotional resources to draw on she began reciting a long list including how clean the hospital was how helpful all the staff always were what an easy place it was to go just to be taken care of it was exactly the shift in Focus she needed on the day of the appointment as she drove to the hospital Lori gave thanks for the sunshine for how well the traffic was moving for her car for her leg that was helping to operate the car for her perfect eyesight for The Parking Spot she easily found and so on as she later described to me I went inside gave them my name shut my eyes and meditated in the waiting room until it was my turn I peed in a car handed the nurse the bag and walked out giving thanks for the simple Act of walking and I let go of the result entirely I was okay deep down inside with either outcome it enabled me to forget about it entirely because I wasn't expecting anything I felt happy in fact obsessively grateful I stopped analyzing and just trusted she remembered my saying that the moment she began to analyze how or when her healing would happen it would mean she was just returning back to the old self because the new self would never think in that unsure way Lori continued and so for no reason I was simply grateful in the present moment ahead of the actual experience I wasn't waiting for the results to make me happy or thankful I was in a state of authentic gratitude and in love with life as if it had already happened I no longer needed something outside of me to make me happy I was already whole and happy because something inside of me was more whole and complete she had almost nothing on any external Grand scale by which to measure success satisfaction and security not income a house a partner a business a child not even any recent volunteer work she was particularly proud of but Lori had the love of her friends and those family members whom she could connect with and she had a newfound love for herself she' realized that she'd never had self- Lov before only self- she told me later that it was a distinction that she never could have understood in her previous narrow state of mind she felt quite content with herself in her life she said and for the first time since I began this journey I just didn't care about the test I was happy with myself two joyful Weeks Later the test results came back the doctor's assistant told Lori your results are perfectly normal you scored a 40 your values are down from an abnormal elevated level of 68 just 5 months ago Lori had crossed the river and was on the shores of a new life there was no evidence of her past living in her body any longer she was free born a new Lori told me later it occurred to me in an instant that my identity as patient and sick person with a disease had become stronger than any other role i' played in my life I had pretended to be that person but all along I knew I wasn't all of my attention and energy were consumed with being a patient instead of being a woman a girlfriend a daughter an employee or even just a happy and whole person I now know that I had no available energy to be anyone else until I took my attention off the old personality and old self and reinvested my attention and energy into a new self I'm so grateful that now I am me instead of that Lori now has no regrets and no significant resentments and she feels no loss over the past as she puts it I wouldn't want to judge or hold a grudge or feel forsaken from my past because that choice would take away this feeling of wholeness it's as if my past condition was actually a blessing because I overcame my own limitations and now I'm in love with who I am I at peace I'm truly changed on the biological and cellular level I am proof of the message that your mind can heal your body and believe me no one is more surprised than I am Candace's story Candace's relationship barely a year old just wasn't working after their first few months together she and her boyfriend became deeply embroiled in incessant fighting volatile accusations constant mistrust and ceaseless acts of blame they both felt jealous and insecure so their Communications were frustrating at best the each were haunted by unfulfilled expectations that the other had no hope of satisfying in a rage she'd never known Candace found herself in violent screaming matches throwing uncontrollable Tantrums these fits left her feeling more unworthy more victimized and more insecure all of this Behavior was new to her she hadn't been an angry frustrated or upset person before and she'd never thrown a tantrum in all of the 28 years of her life although she knew on a gut level that staying in those circumstances wasn't benefiting her Candace couldn't escape the emotional attachment to this unhealthy relationship yet as she became addicted to her stressful emotions this became her new identity her her personal reality was creating her new personality Candace's external environment was controlling how she was thinking acting and feeling she'd become a victim trapped in her own life flooded with the strong energy of survival emotions Candace began to operate like an addict needing that emotional Rush of feelings and believing that it was something out there that was causing her to feel and think and react in certain ways she couldn't think or act greater than how she felt imprisoned in this emotional state she was recreating the same thoughts the same choices the same behaviors and the same experiences over and over again Candace was actually using her boyfriend and all of the conditions in her outer world to reaffirm who she thought she was her need to feel anger frustration insecurity unworthiness fear and victimization was associated with that relationship even though it wasn't serving her greatest ideal she was too afraid of change to remedy the situation in fact she became so bonded to those emotions because they reaffirmed her identity that she would rather feel those familiar toxic feelings constantly than leave and embrace the unfamiliar to step from the known into the unknown Candice began to believe that she was her emotions and as a result she memorized a personality based on the past that she created about 3 months after things began to really go downhill Candace's body couldn't sustain the stress of that heightened emotional state and her hair started falling out in very large chunks within weeks almost a third of it was gone she began experiencing severe migraines chronic fatigue gastrointestinal issues poor concentration insomnia weight gain consistent pain and a myriad of other debilitating symptoms all of them quietly destroying her an intuitive young woman Candace innately felt that this disease was a self-inflicted product of her own emotional issues just thinking about her relationship would physiologically knock her out of balance in preparation for another conflict Candace was turning on stress hormones and her autonomic nervous system by thought alone and when she thought about her partner or talked or complained about their relationship to her family and friends she was conditioning her body to the mind of those emotions it was the ultimate Mind Body Connection and because she couldn't turn off the stress response eventually she began downregulating genes her thoughts were literally making her sick 6 months into the relationship Candace was still living in utter dysfunction at the highest levels of stress even though she was sure by now that the symptoms in her body were a warning sign she subconsciously continued to choose the same reality which was now her normal state of being barraging her body with negative survival emotions Candice was signaling the wrong genes in the wrong ways she felt that she was slowly dying from the inside out and she knew she needed to take control of her life but had no idea how to go about doing it she couldn't find the courage to leave the relationship so she remained in it for over a year living a habitual M of resentment and anger the entire time Justified or not in feeling those emotions Candace watched her body pay the price in November 2010 Candace finally saw a medical doctor who diagnosed her with Hashimoto's disease also referred to as Hashimoto thyroiditis or chronic lymphocytic thyroiditis and autoimmune disease in which the immune system attacks the thyroid gland the condition is marked by hypothyroidism an underactive thyroid with occasional bouts of hyperthyroidism an overactive thyroid symptoms of Hashimoto include weight gain depression Mania sensitivity to heat and cold numbness chronic fatigue panic attacks abnormal heart rate high cholesterol low blood sugar constipation migraines muscle weakness joint stiffness cramps memory loss vision problems infertility and hair loss many of which Candace was experiencing during the consultation the endocrinologist told Candace that her condition was genetic and she could do nothing about it she would have hashimotos for the rest of her life and would need to take thyroid medication indefinitely because her antibody count would never change although Candace discovered later that she actually had no family history of this illness the die seemed cast having an actual diet nois gave Candace the unexpected gift of awareness she clearly needed a wakeup call and this was it the physical breakdown of her body had caused her to reflect on her past and really see the truth of who she was being it dawned on her that she was single-handedly responsible for creating an autoimmune illness that was slowly destroying her physically emotionally and mentally she was living a life in constant emergency fashion all of her body's energy was going toward keeping her safe in an external environment and no energy was left for her internal environment her immune system couldn't manage itself any longer despite the gut-wrenching fear of change and of the unfamiliar Candace finally chose to leave the relationship 5 months later she fully understood that the relationship had been unhealthy and not served her she asked herself what's the trade-off stay in the dysfunction and Propel myself deeper into darkness or choose freedom and possibility this is my chance for a new and different life Candace's adversity became the Genesis for her personal Evolution self-reflection and expansion she found herself standing on the edge of the cliff wanting to LEAP into the unknown her decision to jump and to change became a passionate experience so jump she did into what she saw as endless possibilities and potentials compelled by a desire to finally stop doing what was no longer loving to her so that she could rewrite her biological code this was a turning point in Candace's life she read my two previous books and been to one of my beginning workshops so she knew that is she embraced her diagnosis and the emotions of fear worry anxiety and sadness it inspired she would be autosuggestive but her body was feeling bad so that would have real consequences making that choice would be the wrong Placebo the wrong state of being so Candice chose instead not to accept her illness she respectfully declined the physician's diagnosis reminding herself that the mind that creates illness is the same mind that creates Wellness she knew she had to change her beliefs about the condition given to her by the medical community Candace chose not to be suggestible to a doctor's advice and opinions because she wasn't fearful victimized or sad in fact she was optimistic and enthusiastic and those emotions drove a new set of thoughts the louder to see a new possibility she didn't accept Her diagnosis prognosis or treatment believe hastily in the most probable outcome or future Destiny or permanently surrender to the diagnosis or treatment plan she didn't condition her body to that future worst case scenario expect the same predictable outcome that everyone else did or assign the same meaning that everyone else with the condition did she had a different attitude so she was now in a different state of being even though ctis didn't accept her condition she had a lot of work ahead of her she knew that to change her belief about her disease she'd have to make a choice with an amplitude energy that was greater than the hard wide programs in her brain and the emotional addictions in her body so that her body could respond to a new mind only then could she experience the necessary change in energy that she needed to rewrite her subconscious programs and erase her past neurologically and genetically which is exactly what began to happen although she had heard me say all of this before and knew the material intellectually Candace had never embraced the information from personal experience in the first Workshop she attended after getting the diagnosis she looked exhausted and kept falling asleep in her chair I knew she was struggling when she came to her next Workshop she'd been taking thyroid medication to regulate her imbalanced chemical state for a little over a month and she was more alert and interested Candace was incredibly inspired by the stories I told during the weekend when she heard that others weren't going to be victims of their circumstances in their external worlds and that uncommon healings Could Happen she decided that she was going to be her own science project so Candace embarked on the journey having an understanding of epigenetics and neuroplasticity from my workshops she knew she was no longer a victim of the disease and instead used her knowledge to become proactive she assigned a different meaning to her future and so had a different intention she awoke every day at 4:30 a.m. to do her meditation and began to emotionally condition her body to a new mind she worked on finding the present moment which she realized had been lost to her before Candace wanted to be happy and healthy so she fought hard to regain her life even so she struggled in the beginning and got very frustrated when she couldn't sit for any extended period of time her body had been trained to be the mind of frustration anger impatience and victimization and it understandably rebelled as though she were training an undisciplined animal Candace had to keep settling a body down to the present moment every time she went through that process she was reconditioning her body to a new mind and freeing herself of more from the chains of her emotional addiction every day in her meditations Candace worked on overcoming her body her environment and time she refused to get up as the same person who sat down to do the meditation because the old Candace was the one who became angry and frustrated and was so chemically addicted to her external circumstances she didn't want to be that person anymore she listened to her meditations emulated a new state of being and wouldn't stop until she was in love with life in a true state of gratitude ude for no particular reason Kanda supplied all the knowledge that she'd learned from my workshops and from listening to every audio CD reading every book more than once and studying her notes from the courses she was wiring new information into her brain to prepare herself for a new experience of healing more and more often she found that she could refrain from firing and wiring the old neural connections of anger frustration resentment arrogance and mistrust and that she could begin to Fire and wire the new neural connections of love Joy compassion and kindness in doing so Candace knew she was pruning away the old connections and sprouting new ones and the more time she made the effort with a level of mental fortitude the more she would transform in time she became incredibly grateful to be alive realizing that where Harmony existed incoherence couldn't abide she told herself I am not the old Candace and I am not reaffirming that existence any longer for months on end she persevered Ed and if she found herself being driven to that lowest common denominator being angry or frustrated at the conditions in her external world or feeling sick or unhappy she would very quickly make a conscious shift by swiftly changing her state of being she could shorten the periods in which those emotions had a hold on her so that she was overall less Moody less temperamental and less like her old personality some days Candace felt so bad that she didn't want to get out of bed but she got up anyway and medit ated she told herself that whenever she transmuted those lower emotions into elevated emotions she was removing herself biologically from her past and priming her brain and body to a new future she began to realize how worthwhile doing her inner work was and it soon became less like effort and more like a gift thanks to her daily persistence Candace noted a huge shift very quickly and she started feeling better she started communicating with others differently once she stopped looking at the world through a mind of fear fear and frustration and instead looked through a lens of compassion love and gratitude her energy increased and she was able to think more clearly Candace realized that she didn't react the same way to the familiar conditions in her life because the old fear-based emotions were no longer within her body she was overcoming her knee-jerk reactions because she now saw that the people and conditions that used to upset her existed only in relation to how she was feeling she was becoming free part of a process of change included becoming conscious of the unconscious thoughts that typically slip by her awareness during the day in her meditations she became determined that those thoughts would never go unnoticed again under no circumstances would she allow herself to return to the behaviors and habits connected to her old self she erased the chalkboard biologically neurologically and genetically making room to create a new self and her body began to liberate energy in other words she was going from particle to wave by releasing the stored emotions as energy in her body her body was no longer living the past with this newly available energy that she' freed up candus began to see the landscape of a new future she asked herself how do I want to behave how do I want to feel how do I want to think by getting up every day for months on end in a state of gratitude she was emotionally instructing her body that her new future had already arrived which signaled new genes and new ways moving her body back into homeostasis right on the other side of Candace's anger she found compassion right on the other side of her frustration she discovered patience and gratitude and right on the other side of her victimization was a Creator waiting to create joy and wellness it was the same intense energy on either side but she was now able to liberate it as she moved from particle to wave from survival to Creation when Candace returned to her doctor 7 months after Her diagnosis he was amazed by the change in his patient her blood tests had come back perfect in her initial round of tests in February 2011 her thyroid stimulating hormone TSH had been 3.61 which is high and her antibody count had been 638 showing a major imbalance but by September 2011 Candace's TSH had dropped to a normal 1.15 and her antibody count was a healthy 450 even though she was no longer taking any medication she' healed herself in less than one year the doctor wanted to know just what she'd been doing to get these great results it seemed almost too good to be true Candace explained that she knew she'd created this condition so she decided to conduct an experiment on herself to uncreated she told the doctor that by meditating daily and maintaining an elevated state of emotion she had been epigenetically signaling new genes instead of letting unhealthy emotions continue to Signal the old genes she explained that she'd worked regularly on who she wanted to become and that she stopped responding to everything in her external environment like an animal in survival mode fighting fleeing kicking or Screaming everything around her was basically the same she was just responding in a way that was more loving to herself the doctor told her looking absolutely amazed I wish that all my patients were like you Candace it's just incredible to hear your story Candace doesn't really know how her healing happened she doesn't need to she just knows that she has become someone else I had dinner with Candace a while after this happened at a point when she had been off her medication for months and had no symptoms at all her health was fantastic all her hair had grown back and she felt great about herself she mentioned over and over again that she was so in love with her present life I told her laughing you're in love with life and it's loving you back you should be in love with your life you created it every day for months that way Candice explained that she just trusted in an infinite field of potentials that something else was going on Beyond her that had helped her heal all she really had to do was get Beyond herself and enter into the autonomic nervous system and then keep planting the seeds for a new life and without knowing how it happened it just happened and when it did she felt better than she'd ever felt before Candace's life is now completely different from her life when she was diagnosed with Hashimoto she's a business partner in a personal development program that teaches self-development work and she also maintains a corporate job she has a loving relationship new friendships and new business opportunities a new personality ultimately creates a new personal reality a state of being is a magnetic force that draws events equal to that state of being so when Candace fell in love with herself she drew a loving relationship to herself because she felt worthy and felt respect for herself and all of life conditions began to show up for her in which she had opportunities to contribute to be respected and to make a difference in the world and of course when she moved into a new personality the old personality became like another lifetime that new physiology began to drive her to Greater levels of joy and inspiration and the disease then belonged to the old personality she was someone else it's not that she became Addicted To Joy she was just no longer addicted to being unhappy when she started experiencing greater levels of happiness she found that there's always more Bliss more joy and more love to experience because every experience creates a different blend of emotions she started really wanting the challenges in her life so that she could find out to what extent she could take this information into transformation the ultimate lesson that Candace Learned was that her disease and her challenges were never about someone else they were always about her in her old state of being she' had the firm belief that she was a victim of her relationship and of her external circumstances and that life was always happening to her becoming aware of this work and taking full responsibility for herself and her life and realizing that what had happened never had anything to do with what was outside of her was not only a huge empowerment but also one of the greatest gifts Candice could have ever asked for Joanne's story Joanne lived most of her life in the fast lane the 59-year-old mother of five was also a committed wife a successful businesswoman and entrepreneur who constantly juggled her home life family Dynamics growing career and thriving business although her goal was to stay sane healthy and balanced she couldn't imagine her life in any other way than intense fast-paced and busy she was living on the edge and proving to everyone that her mind was active and sharp Joanne constantly pushed herself to take on as much as possible all the while maintaining exceptionally high standards she was a leader admired by many and regularly sought out for advice her peers called her Superwoman and she was or so she thought all of that ended abruptly in January 2008 when Joanne stepped off the elevator in her apartment building and then just collapsed about 50 ft from her front door she hadn't felt well that day so she'd gone to a walk-in clinic for help and being on her way back home in a matter of moments everything in her world had changed and she found herself clinging to life after 8 months of testing the doctors diagnosed her with secondary Progressive multiple sclerosis spms an advanced stage of multiple sclerosis Ms a chronic disease in which the immune system attacks the central nervous system symptoms vary widely depending on the individual but can start with conditions such as numbness in a leg or an arm progressing as far as paralysis and even blindness these symptoms can include not only physical but also cognitive and psychiatric problems Joann's symptoms had been so vague and sporadic over the previous 14 years that she had easily brushed them off as byproducts of a hectic lifestyle but now her condition had a label and a shot like a life sentence with no chance of parole she found herself thrown into the depths of the Western Medical World challenged by a strong belief that Ms is a permanent disease a few years before the diagnosis Joan had put the family business in Calgary on hold and made a life-changing move to Vancouver on the west coast of Canada something her family had wanted to do for years after the move Joanne struggled with one challenge after another as the family's eroding finances and resources put them in a very precarious situation Joann's self-esteem confidence and health all took a nose dive once she found herself unable to become greater than her environment her mental and physical state began to decline money became Tighter and Tighter as other stresses began to increase soon the family could even meet their basic needs of food and shelter in early 2007 the woman everyone else had always seen as Superwoman hit bottom and before the the end of the year the family returned to Calgary Ms is an inflammatory disease in which the insulating coverings of nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord are damaged along with the nerve fibers themselves the condition disrupts one's nervous system from communicating and sending signals to various parts of the body the type of Ms Joan developed is a progressive type that builds up over time often causing permanent neurological problems especially as the disease advances her doctors told her it was incurable initially an was determined that her Ms wouldn't Define her yet she quickly spiraled downward into physical disability and cognitive decline Joanne had to depend on others for basic care as her limitations increased because of her sensory and Motor problems she began to rely on crutches Walkers and a wheelchair eventually she had to rely on a Mobility Scooter to get around it wasn't much of a surprise that she crashed when her life did Joan's body finally did her the favor she wouldn't do for herself that is to stop and say no more she' pushed herself too hard even though she'd achieved success in her early years deep down inside she felt like a failure most of the time because she constantly judged herself and thought that she could always do a better job she was never satisfied whatever she did or achieved was never good enough most important Joanne didn't want to stop doing because then she would have to attend to that impending feeling of failure so instead she stayed busy by putting all of her attention on her outer world various experiences with people and things at different times and places so that she wouldn't have to put any attention on her inner world of thoughts and feelings the majority of Joanne's life had been filled with supporting others by celebrating their successes and encouraging them yet she' never allowed anyone to see what wasn't working in her own life she hid her pain from everyone Joanne constantly gave but never received because she never allowed herself to receive so she spent a lifetime denying in herself her own personal evolution by never expressing herself it makes sense that when Joanne tried to change her inner World by using the conditions in her outer world she would inevitably manifest only failure when she finally collapsed Joanne was so weak and defeated that she barely had the strength to fight for her life all that time spent living in emergency mode constantly reacting to the conditions in her external world had robbed Joanne of her life force draining all the energy from her internal world the place for repair and healing she was simply Tapped Out the one thing that Joanne knew without a doubt was that the damage that the MRI showed was riddling her brain and spinal column hadn't appeared overnight her body had slowly been eaten away at her core the central nervous system after all those years of ignoring symptoms she had become unnerved because she was afraid to look inside herself those daily toxic chemicals were repeatedly knocking on the door of her cells and finally the gene for the the disease answered the door and switched on bedridden Joanne made her first goal to slow down the progression of the MS in her body she knew from reading my first book that the brain doesn't know the difference between what she could make real internally by thought alone and the real external experience and she knew that mental practice could change her brain and her body she started mentally rehearsing doing yoga and after just a few weeks of daily practice she was able to do some actual physical poses even some standing ones these results highly motivated her every day Joanne primed her brain and body by thought alone just like the piano players in chapter 5 who mentally rehearsed playing the piano and grew the same neurological circuits as the subjects who physically practice the exercises Joan was installing the circuits in her brain to look as if she were already physically walking and moving remember the subjects in the various weightlifting studies who increased their strength just by mentally practicing lifting weights or flexing their biceps just like like them Joanne knew she could make her body look as if the experience of healing had already started to happen by literally changing her mind soon she was able to stand briefly and then she could walk with support Joanne was quite wobbly and otherwise still dependent on a mobility scooter but at least she was no longer confined to bed and feeling sorry for herself she had turned a corner when Joanne began to meditate regularly to Simply quiet her mind shatter she became aware of how sad and angry she really was The Floodgate opened Joanne realized she felt weak isolated rejected and unworthy most of the time out of balance ungrounded and disconnected she felt as though she had lost a vital part of herself she observed how she denied herself by pleasing others and how she couldn't acknowledge herself without feeling guilty she recognized that she was always trying to control what seemed to be a spiraling chaos around her yet it never worked on the deeper level she had known this all along but had chosen to ignore it pushing herself relentlessly and pretending that everything was okay painful as it was Joanne was now looking at how she created her disease she decided to become conscious of all those subconscious thoughts actions and emotions that were defining her as the same personality who'd created this particular personal reality she knew that once she could look at who she was being it meant that she'd be able to change those aspects of herself the more she became conscious of her unconscious self and aware of her state of being the more she gained dominion over what she'd hidden from View by early 2010 Joanne felt that the progression of the MS had indeed slowed her goal then became to stop it allog together in May when she mentioned this idea to a neurologist who asked her what her goals were with the disease the doctor abruptly terminated her appointment instead of becoming discouraged Joanne was more intent after this incident when Joanne attended a workshop in Vancouver she couldn't walk on her own during the weekend I asked the participants to set a firm intention in their minds and combine it with an elevated emotion in their bodies the goal was to recondition the body to a new mind instead of continuing to condition it with survival emotions I wanted participants to open their hearts and teach their bodies emotionally what their future would feel like this was the missing ingredient to Joann's daily mental practice embracing thoughts of walking across a 20 to 25t floor with only her cane for support excited her beyond belief she was now adding the second element of the placebo effect to the equation expectation with emotion it was this combination convincing her body emotionally that the future event of healing was happening to her in the present moment that would take Joanne to the next level her body as the unconscious mind had to believe it for it to be so if she were to embrace the joy of being well and give thanks before the healing occurred then her body would be getting a sampling of her future in the present moment I suggested to Joanne that she really pay attention to her thoughts because it was her thoughts that had truly made her sick I pressed her to get beyond the personality that was connected to her condition which was necessary before she could create a new personality and a new personal reality now she could apply meaning and attention to what she was doing two months after that Workshop Joanne attended a second more advanced Workshop in Seattle her scooter had broken down the day before she left for that event so she used her motorized wheelchair to get around despite initially feeling more vulnerable because of that at the workshop Joanne soon felt better able to move her associative memory related to the positive experience of the last event and the expectation of getting better in the current event was what initiated that process if 29% of chemo patients can experience anticipatory noria before their chemo treatments as you read in chapter 1 then maybe it's possible for some of the workshop participants to experience anticipatory Wellness when they're back in the workshop setting whatever the trigger Joanne saw a new possibility and with enthusiasm began once again to emotionally Embrace that future in the present moment during the last meditation of that Workshop the magic happened for her Joanne experienced a huge internal shift and she felt something that moved her profoundly she felt her body changing automatically once she entered her autonomic nervous system and it received the new instructions and took over she felt lifted overjoyed and free after the meditation Joanne got up from her chair a different person than she had been when she sat down she was in a new state of being she then walked to the front of the room without any support not even a cane she strued across the room wide-eyed laughing like a child she could feel and move her legs which had been dormant for years she'd gotten out of the way and it felt incredible to my amazement Joanne had signaled new jeans in new ways right during that one meditation she' actually changed her condition in just 1 hour when she got Beyond her Ms identity she became a different person and that's when she stopped trying to slow stop or reverse her Ms she no longer tried to prove anything to herself her family her doctors or anyone else she understood and experienced for the first time that her true Journey was always about wholeness which is what verifiable healing is always about she forgot that she had an official disease and she disassociated from that identity for a moment the freedom that doing so engendered and the amplitude of that elevated emotion was strong enough to switch on a new Gene Joanne knew that Ms was simply a label like mother wife or boss she had changed that label by simply giving up her past when Joanne arrived back home 3 Days Later unbeknownst to her the miraculous continued to unfold while doing yoga a practice she' begun physically not just mentally after attending the second Workshop shop she noticed that she could lift one foot off the ground she tried to lift the other success she then noticed that she could Flex her feet for the first time in years and she could wiggle her toes which he hadn't done in a long time she was stunned and in absolute awe as tears of joy flowed from her eyes she knew in that instant that anything was possible not because of some external medication or procedure but because of the internal changes she'd made Joanne knew she could be her own sibo within a very short time Joanne taught herself how to walk again 2 years later she is still walking unassisted and is more playful and full of life her body strength has improved and she's now able to do many things that she thought she'd never again be able to do most important she feels alive and filled with boundless Joy Joanne feels whole and because she can now receive she continues to receive healing Joanne recently told me my life is magical full of incredible synergies abundance and unexpected Gifts of every sort it bubbles Sparkles and tingles with a new and lighter reflection of myself it's the new me actually the real me that I tried to keep under control and hidden for most of my life Joanne now lives most of her day in gratitude she still takes the time to be aware of her thoughts and feelings that is she cultivates her state of being every day paying attention to what she tells herself and what she thinks about others too in her meditation she observes herself and becomes familiar with how she acts very rarely does a thought get past her conscious mind that she doesn't want to experience Joanne's current neurologist supports her choices and has been astounded by what she has seen her physician has had to acknowledge the power of the mind which Joanne demonstrated right before her eyes with medical reports and blood tests that showed no signs of MS Lori Candice and Joanne accomplished their Dr atic remissions using no resources outside of themselves they changed their health from the inside out without the use of medication surgery therapy or anything other than their own minds they became their own placebos now let's take a scientific look into the brains of some other people from my workshops who were able to make similar dramatic changes so that we can see exactly what was going on in the process of these remarkable transformations chapter 10 information to transformation proof that you are the placebo this book is about making your mind matter you now understand that the placebo works because a person accepts and believes in a known remedy a fake pill injection or procedure substituted for a real counterpart and then surrenders to the outcome without overanalyzing how it's going to happen we could say that a person Associates her future experience of a particular known person say a doctor or thing a medication or procedure at a specific time and place in her external environment with a change in her internal environment and in doing so she Alters her state of being after a few consistent experiences the person will expect her future to be exactly like her past once that link is in place the process becomes highly effective it's about a known stimulus automatically producing a known response the bottom line is this in the classic placebo effect our belief lies in something outside of us we give our power away to the material world where our senses Define reality but can the placebo work by creating from the immaterial world of thought and making that unknown possibility a new reality that would be a more prudent use of the quantum model the three Workshop participants you read about in the last chapter accomplish this feat they all chose to believe in themselves more than they believed in anything else they changed from the inside and moved into the same state of being as someone who'd taken a placebo without any material thing causing the phenomenon that's what many students continue to do to get better once they know how the placebo really works the pill injection or procedure can be taken away and the same outcome unfolds because of the research in these workshops as well as the constant testimonials I've received from people around the world I now know that you are the placebo my students demonstrate that instead of investing their belief in the known they can place their belief in the unknown and make the Unknown Known think about this for a moment the idea of verifiable healing exists as an unknown potential reality in the quantum field until it is observed and realized and has materialized it lives as a possibility in an infinite field of information defined as nothing physically but all material possibilities combined so the potential future of experiencing a spontaneous remission from a disease exists as an unknown located beyond space and time until it's personally experienced and made known in this space and time once the unknown beyond the senses becomes a known experience with your senses you're on the path PA of evolution so if you can experience a healing over and over again in the inner world of thoughts and feelings then in time that healing should finally manifest as an outer experience and if you make a thought as real as the experience in the external environment shouldn't there be evidence in your body and brain sooner or later in other words if you mentally rehearse that unknown future with a clear intention and an elevated emotion and do it repeat repeatedly then based on what you've learned you should have real neuroplastic changes in your brain and epigenetic changes in your body and if you keep moving into a new state of being each day by reminding your brain and conditioning your body to that same mind then you should see the same structural and functional changes within you as if you took the placebo figure 10.1 gives a simple graphic showing how this process unfolds so instead of aligning your faith which I Define as believing in a thought more than anything else and your belief in something known can you place your attention on an unknown possibility and then by the principles discussed in this book make that unknown reality known by emotionally embracing the experience in your mind enough times can you move from the immaterial to the material from thought to Reality by now you should understand the that you don't need any fake pills holy shrines ancient symbols Witch Doctors whether of modern day or traditional variety sham surgery or sacred ground in order to heal you this chapter introduces the scientific evidence showing how our students did just that they changed their biology by thought alone it wasn't just in their minds it was in their brains all of the supporting evidence in this chapter is provided to inspire you to see firsthand the power of meditation it's my desire that once you see proof of what's possible you will apply the same principles to your own personal transformation and reap the benefits in all areas of your life after you read these stories by the time you get to part two of the book you'll have more intention behind your inward Journey because you'll assign more meaning to what you're doing and therefore you'll get better results I've learned something very important in teaching this work I've come to the realization that everyone secretly believes in his or her greatness when you get right down to it on some level everyone whether you're a corporate CEO a janitor at an elementary school a single mother of three or a prison inmate innately believes in him or herself we all believe impossibility we all imagine a better future for ourselves than the reality where we currently resign so I thought that if I could offer sincere individuals vital scientific information and then provide them with the necessary instruction on how to apply that information they could experience varying degrees of personal transformation science is after all the Contemporary language of mysticism it transcends religion culture and tradition it demystifies the mystical and unifies as a community I've seen it occur time and time again in my seminars around the world in my Advanced workshops where my colleagues and I measure biological as well as energetic changes in participants individually and in the group as a whole I use several principles outlined in this book and many additional ones as well to teach people the scientific model of transformation the model continues to progress as students evolve their skill sets I constantly tie in more quantum physics to help people understand possibility I then combine it with the latest information in neuroscience neuroendocrinology epigenetics cellular biology brain wave science energy psychology and psycho neuroimmunology we see new possibilities manifest as a result of learning new information once our students learn and embrace this information they can assign more meaning to their meditations and contemplative practices but it's not enough for the students to merely understand the information intellectually or conceptually they must be able to repeat what they've learned on command once they can explain the advancing knowledge the progressing model will become more wired in their brains and they can then install the neurological Hardware by then repeating what they've learned enough times they create a hardwired software program if they apply this new knowledge correctly it can then serve as the Forerunner to a new experience that is once they align their minds and bodies they'll gain wisdom from a novel experience by embracing the associated new emotion now they'll start to embody the information because they are chemically instructing their bodies to emotionally understand what their minds intellectually understand at this point they'll begin to believe and know that it's the truth but my desire is that instead of just doing it once my students repeat the experience over and over again at will until it becomes a new skill habit or state of being once we achieve consistency we're on the precipice of a new scientific Paradigm because anything that's repeatable is science when you and I arrive at the level of competence where we can change our internal states by thought alone and this is repeatedly observed measured and documented we're on the verge of a new scientific law now we can contribute new knowledge about the nature of reality to the overall scientific model that the world presently Embraces so that we can Empower more people this has been my ambition for years I've gone to Great Lengths to teach our Workshop participants the specifics of how inward practices biologically change the brain and body so they understand explicitly what they are doing when nothing is left to conjecture Dogma or supposition we're more suggestible to a Quantum possibility and great strides result from great efforts nevertheless the measurements are only as good as the students abilities so in my Workshops the students Retreat from their lives for 3 to 5 days to help them no longer Define themselves by their present past personal reality they practice moving into new states of being by no longer reaffirming aspects of their old personality self that don't belong to their future and by pretending to be someone else or by Reinventing a new personality self they become the new self they envision so they should produce epigenetic changes just as did the older men in chapter 4 who pretended they were 22 years younger it's my desire that Workshop participants get Beyond themselves and their identities in their meditations to become nobody no one no thing and to be in no place and in no time so that they become pure Consciousness once this occurs I've seen them change their brains and bodies ahead of their environments their familiar lives so that when they return to their Liv lives after the workshop is over they're no longer the victims of unconscious conditioning from the external world this is the domain where the uncommon and the miraculous happen because I want to give students the right kind of instruction and provide them with opportunities to personalize all of the novel information they're learning so that they can ultimately produce some type of personal transformation I created a new kind of event in 2013 if you remember I discussed the evolution of this idea here in the preface in the new workshop offering held first in February of that year in Carefree Arizona and again in July in Englewood Colorado I wanted to measure the transformation as it was happening in real time my intention was that once these measurements were obtained the data would then become more information that I could use to teach participants about the transformation they had just experienced and with that information that they could have another transformation which could be measured and on it would go as people began to close the gap between the two worlds of knowledge and experience I call these workshops information to transformation it's where my passion Lies when I began the journey I discovered a brilliant and talented neuroscientist named Jeffrey Fannon PhD who selflessly helped me measure what students brains were doing Dr Fannon the founder and executive director of the Center for Cognitive enhancement in Glendale Arizona has worked in the field of Neuroscience for more than 15 years and has extensive experience in training the brain for Optimal Performance he specializes in head trauma stroke chronic pain attention deficit disorder add and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder ADHD anxiety disorders depression and Trauma recovery as well as high performance training that includes brain mapping for sports enhancing leadership skills through brain waving train improving brain function enhancing mental and emotional dexterity and personal transformation over the years he has been involved in cuttingedge research using electroen graphy EEG technology which measures the electrical activity of neurons to accurately assess how balanced a person's brain wave energy is a measurement he calls the person's whole brain state his research focuses on subconscious belief patterns and merging personal success with balanced brain performance Dr Fannon has also worked as part of a research team at Arizona State University studying neuroscience and Leadership using data gathered at the United States Military Academy at West Point This research allowed him to co-develop and co- te a unique course at Arizona State University called the Neuroscience of leadership he also served for several years on the faculty at Walden University near Phoenix teaching cognitive neuroscience at the Master's and doctoral levels I invited Dr Fannon and his whole team to both of these new workshop events where we measure specific brain qualities and elements like coherence versus incoherence the orderliness or disorderliness of brain waves which you'll read more about in the next chapter amplitude the energy of the brain waves phase organization the degree to which the different parts of the brain are working together in harmony the relative time it takes for a person to enter deep meditation how long it takes to change brain waves and move into a more suggestible State the Theta Alpha ratio the degree to which the brain functions in a holistic State and how different brain compartments communicate with each other across entire regions the front with the back and the left side with the right side the Delta Theta ratio the ability to regulate and control mind chatter and intrusive thoughts and sustainability the brain's ability to consistently maintain a state of meditation over time we also created four brain scan stations equipped with EEG machines to measure participants both before and after the workshop so that we could observe how students brain wave patterns changed we scanned more than 100 participants in each of the two events I also randomly selected four participants to measure during each of the three meditation sessions per day scanning their brains in real time altogether in both 2013 workshops we recorded a total of 402 eegs this is a safe non-invasive procedure that takes measurements from 20 locations on the outside of the head those brain wave measurements provide a host of information regarding the brain's current ability to perform the eegs were then converted into quantitative e eegs Q eegs which is a mathematical and statistical analysis of EEG activity that's depicted as a brain map graphic this graphic features color gradations indicating how the activity recorded from the EEG compares to normal Baseline activity the various colors and patterns depicted at different frequencies offer greater information about how the brain wave patterns affect a person's thoughts feelings emotions and behaviors for starters our overall data demonstrated that 91% of the individuals whose eegs we recorded presented a significantly improved state of brain function the majority of our students move from a less coherent or less orderly state to a more coherent state by the end of the transformational meditation sessions furthermore more than 82% of the qeg brain Maps we recorded in both events demonstrated that participants were functioning within the healthy normal range of brain activity I learned that when your brain works right you work right when your brain is more coherent you're more coherent when your brain is more whole and balanced you're more whole and balanced when you can regulate your negative and intrusive thoughts every day you're less negative and intrusive and that's exactly what we witnessed with the students at these events the national average for someone to move into and sustain a meditative state is a little over 1 and a half minutes that is it takes that long for most people to change their brain waves and move into a meditative State the average time for our students to enter and sustain a meditative state in the 402 cases that we measured was only 59 seconds that's under a minute some of our students were able to alter their brain waves and their state of being in as few as four 5 and 9 seconds each to be clear I'm not interested Ed in making this a competition which would defeat our purpose however this data does illustrate two important points first moving beyond the analytical mind of beta brain waves and entering into a more suggestible state is a skill that you can improve if you keep practicing it second students are able to use the methods my colleagues and I are teaching to get beyond their thinking brains and enter into the operating system of the subconscious mind relatively easily interestingly our research also shows a noticeable consistent patterning in the way our students brains work holistically we see significant alternating Alpha Theta patterns how different brain compartments communicate with each other in the frontal lobes when a person meditates that means the two halves of the brain are talking in a more balanced and unified fashion the Dual frontal lobe ratio patterns we repeatedly observe seem to produce the experience of high level thankfulness and gratitude which appear over over and over again in a rhythmic wav like manner so when students are in this heightened state of gratitude during mental rehearsal this data suggests that their inner experience is so real that they believe that the events are happening to them in real time or that the events have already happened they're thankful because that's the emotion we feel when what we want happens experienced meditators also showed an increase in Theta and low-range Alpha Brain Wave ratios which means that they can spend quite a bit of time in Altered States of particular significance was the increase in slow wave regulation these students while in the Theta brain wave state have higher than normal coherence or brain wave orderliness between the activity in the front of the brain and the regions in the back of the brain we saw the left frontal region which is associated with positive emotion get activated repeatedly which is consistent with inducing a state of meditative Bliss in other words when these students enter a meditation they produce slower more coherent brain waves that suggest they're in deep states of relaxation and heightened awareness in addition the unification between the front and the back of the brain as well as between the left and right sides of the brain indicates that they're feeling happier and more whole finally while I was observing a student who was being brain mapped in real time during a meditation at the first of the two events I understood something quite remarkable as I was watching her brain on the scan I saw how hard she was working and how her brain was moving further and further away from balance and from the deeper meditative states of Alpha and Theta I saw how she was analyzing and judging herself in her life within the emotion she was experiencing at that time as evidenced by the higher more incoherent brain waves associated with a high-range beta State indicating high stress high anxiety High arousal High emergency and general imbalance I witnessed how she was futilely trying to use her brain to change her brain and it wasn't working I knew that she was also using her ego to try to change her ego which also wasn't working in using one program to try to change another program she was only endorsing her program not rewriting it she was still in her conscious mind trying to change her subconscious mind so she was keeping herself separate from the operating system where true change resides I approached her afterward and when we spoke for a few minutes she admitted to me that she was having a difficult time the lights went on for me in that moment and I knew exactly what I had to teach next she had to become detached and move Beyond her body in order to change her body move beyond the ego in order to change the ego move beyond the program in order to change the program and move beyond the conscious mind in order to change the subconscious mind she had to to become the unknown in order to create the unknown she had to become an immaterial new thought in nothing materially in order to create a new experience materially she had to move beyond space and time in order to change space and time the student had to become pure Consciousness she had to get Beyond her associations with an identity that was associated with her known environment her home her job her spouse her kids her problems Beyond her body her face her gender her age her weight and her looks and Beyond Time the predictable habit of living in the past or the future always missing the present moment she had to get Beyond her current self to create a new self she had to get out of her own way so that something greater could take over when we are matter trying to change matter it never works when we are the particle trying to change the particle nothing will happen because we're vibrating at the same speed as matter and so can't have any significant effect on it it's our Consciousness our intentional thoughts and our energy our elevated emotion that influences matter only when we are conscious can we alter our brains our bodies and our lives and create a new future in time and because it's Consciousness that gives form to all things and that uses the brain and body to produce different levels of mind once you arrive in the place where you are pure Consciousness you're free so I began to let students linger for extended periods of time in their meditations and become no one no body no thing and be in no place and in no time until they were comfortable in the infinite field of possibilities I wanted students subjective Consciousness to merge with the objective consciousness of the field for long periods of time they had to find the The Sweet Spot of the present moment and invest their energy and awareness in a void that is not really empty space but is actually filled with an infinite number of possibilities until they were comfortable in the unknown only once they were truly present in this potent place beyond space and time the place from where all things materially come could they start to create this was when the real changes during the workshops began to happen I want to introduce you to two types of brain scan readings so that you can see and understand the changes I'm about to show you let's make it simple the first type of scan we use measures degrees of activity between brain areas see figure 10.2 located along with the rest of the figures for this chapter in the full color insert Pages the scans map two relative types of this activity hyperactivity or overregulation is depicted by Red Lines connecting different locations in the brain imagine telephone lines connecting one place to another in order to establish communication between those areas having too many red lines at any one time indicates too much action taking place within the brain hypoactivity lack of Regulation is depicted by Blue lines indicating that minimal information is being communicated between the different brain areas the thickness of the lines represent the standard deviation or how much disregulation or abnormal regulation exists between the locations the line connects for example The Thin Red Lines indicate that the level of activity between those locations is 1.96 standard deviations SD above normal The Thin Blue lines indicate that the level of activity between those locations is 1.96 SD below normal the medium lines indicate 2.58 SD either above red or below blue normal and the thick lines indicate 3.09 SD above or below normal so when you see a lot of thick red lines in a scan it means the brain is working too hard when you see a lot of thick blue lines it suggests there's little communication between different areas of the brain and therefore the brain is underactive think of it like this the thicker the red line the higher the volume of data the brain is processing and the thicker the Blue Line the lower the volume of data the brain is processing the second type of scan we used comes from the Q EEG analysis and is called a zcore report zcore is a statistical measure that tells us not only whether a point is above or below average but also how far from normal the measurement is the scale on this report ranges from minus 3 to + 3 SD the darker blue represents three or more SD below normal while the lighter Blues range from about 2.5 to 1 SD below normal blue green is approximately 0 to 1 SD below normal while green is Baseline normal light green registers at the outer area of normal but is considered from 0 to 1 SD above normal while yellow and light orange are approximately 1 to 2 SD above normal darker orange is about 2 to 2.5 SD above normal and red is three or more SD above normal see figure 10.3 the zcore report that will be used is called relative power and it shows information about the amount of energy in the brain at different frequencies because green as explained previously indicates the normal range the more green there is in a scan the more the person is conforming to normal brain wave activity each colored Circle resembling a person's head when viewed from the top represents what one person's brain is doing at each brain wave frequency the circle in the upper left region of each scan shows the lowest brain wave frequency in Delta brain waves and each circle after that depicts a higher and higher brain wave state moving progressively up to the highest beta brain waves at the bottom right region a cycle per second in brain wave frequency is known as Hertz or HZ from left to right and from top to bottom it progresses from 1 to four cycles per second Delta to 4 to 8 cycles per second Theta to 8 to 13 cycles per second Alpha to 13 to 30 plus cycles per second low mid-range and high-range beta the beta activity can be broken down into different frequency bands such as 12 to 15 Herz 15 to 18 Hertz 18 to 25 Herz and 25 to 30 Herz therefore the relative colors in each area show what's happening in each different brain wave state for example a lot of blue in a majority of the brain in one cycle per second of Delta suggests that there's little activity of the brain in that Delta range and if there's a lot of red in 14 Herz Alpha in the frontal lobe it means that there's heightened Alpha activity in that area of the brain it should also be understood that these measurements could be interpreted differently depending on what the subject is doing when the scan is taken for example if 1 Herz Delta were depicted in blue that would suggest that the energy in the brain at that frequency is 3 SD below nor in a clinical sense that might be interpreted as being abnormally low but because it was recorded when the subject was meditating such a scan would actually suggest that the 1 Hertz Delta had opened the door to a stronger connection to the collective conscious energy field in other words as the energy in the neocortex is turned way down the autonomic nervous system is more readily accessed in just a bit you'll see several examples that will make all of this clear in the meantime glance at figure 10.3 again it will give you an overview to illustrate what I've just explained now look at figure 10.4 the image to the left labeled before meditation represents a brain that has a lot of chatter it's functioning in a high level of arousal high range beta and is quite incoherent the thickness of the red lines show that this brain is 3 SD above normal because the thicker the red line the more revved up and imbalanced the brain is by looking at the red lines you can see excessive incoherent activity happening throughout the entire brain the blue in the front of the brain represents hyperactivity 2 to 3 SD below normal in the frontal loes showing that the frontal loes are shut down or turned off and so aren't restraining the hyperactivity in the rest of the brain this is a brain with attention problems it's so overloaded that it has no leader to control the chatter it's like a TV satellite system with 50 channels where the volume is turned up really loud and the channels are changing every second too many quick shifts in the tension span occur from one thought process to the next so the brain is overly Vigilant highly aroused overworked and over-regulated we call this an incoherent brain pattern because the different parts of the brain are not working together at all now take a look at the second image labeled to meditation you don't have to be a neuroscientist to see the difference between the first image and this one here you see hardly any red or blue lines demonstrating normal brain activity with very little hyperactivity or hypoactivity the chatter has stopped and the brain is working more holistically this person's brain is now in Balance so we can say that this brain demonstrates a more coherent pattern the remaining activity in blue and red as indicated by the arrow represents sensory motor activity which probably means the person is twitching or blinking and in a state of rapid eye movement or remm which typically happens in very light sleep this change took place in one of the students after only one meditation now let's explore some more case studies of students from the workshops for each I'll first give you a bit of background so that you can see what state of being students were in when they began the workshop then I'll explain what their scans showed and finally I'll describe the new state of being each student created Michelle's old self Michelle is in her 60s and was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in 2011 after she noticed Progressive involuntary shaking of her left arm left hand and left foot in November 2012 she became a patient at the Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix her attending physician told her that she'd probably had Parkinson's for 10 to 15 years already and that she'd have to live with the symptoms the plan was to cope with the progression of the bodily limitation as she aged she began taking aelc ragene mesilate a medication used for Parkinson's disease that stops the uptake of dopamine at the recepto side level slowing its breakdown in the body the drug produced very few noticeable changes Michelle became a student in November 2012 the month of December was outstanding her daily meditation routine brought a feeling of peace and joy which began to reduce her symptoms to a noticeable degree Michelle was certain that this course of action would assist her in overcoming Parkinson's she continued experiencing great meditation sessions through early February 2013 in mid-February however Michelle's mother was admitted to intensive care in Sarasota Florida so Michelle flew to Florida to be with her the day Michelle flew back to Arizona for our February 2013 Workshop her mother was placed in hospice care Michelle's plane landed in Phoenix about an hour and a half before her first brain scan needless to say she was both physically and emotionally exhausted at the time of the brain scan which indeed showed the extreme stress she was experiencing by the end of that Workshop she was certainly in a calmer more positive state of being with barely noticeable Parkinson symptoms following the workshop Michelle returned to Florida to be with her mother again although she and her mother always had a difficult relationship as a result of her efforts in the workshop Michelle felt sufficiently strengthened to be supportive loving and totally free of any old issues that could have interfered with the love she felt for her mother nevertheless because of her mother's illness and eventual passing as well as her sister in Texas having a major stroke Michelle was forced to fly back and forth to Florida and Texas to deal with her family challenges her routine was greatly affected and by June she stopped doing her meditations life had gotten in the way and she had too many responsibilities stopping her meditations was like stopping taking the placebo when she noticed her symptoms returning she started meditating again and made significant strides Michelle's scans because Michelle lives close to Dr fanon's clinic in Arizona we were able to track her progress for more than five months by taking a series of six periodic brain scans I want to explain her Evolution during that time take a look at the before meditation part of figure 10.5 this is her scan at the February 2013 event after she came home from Florida stressed and exhausted from her mother's illness the thick red lines indicate her brain in all areas is 3 SD from normal she's displaying too much brain activity hyper incoherence and overregulation in Parkinson's disease this is quite common the lack of proper neurotransmitters specifically dopamine causes the neurons to display an erratic Communication System between each region of the brain with neural networks firing out of control the result is a type of or hyperactive neuronal firing which affects the brain and the body as a result involuntary motor functions interfere with normal movement now review the after meditation part of the same figure this is Michelle's brain after 4 days of changing her state of being during meditation this is very close to a normal brain with very little hyperactivity incoherence or overregulation at the end of our event she was experiencing no involuntary Tremors Twitches or Motor problems and her brain scan confirms this change now let's look at the Q EEG readings in figure 10.6 a labeled before meditation if you look from the middle of the second row all the way to the last row the image is in blue you'll see that Michelle's brain is showing no alpha or beta brain wave functioning remember that blue means called off brain activity with Parkinson's this is typically represented by lessened cognitive activity compromised learning and a loss of Engagement here you can see that Michelle Can't consolidate new information she has no ability to sustain an internal picture because she's not producing Alpha brain waves her very low range beta patterns also show that she's having difficulty with sustaining levels of awareness all of the energy in her brain is going toward dealing with a hyper coherence so it's like a light bulb going from 50 watts to 10 watts the volume of energy in the brain is turned down if you look at the after meditation part of the graphic you'll see what looks like a much improved and balanced brain all of those green areas in most of the images indicated with arrows represent normal and balanced brain activity her brain can Now function in Alpha and she can move into internal States more easily cope with stress better and enter into the subconscious operating system to influence autonomic functions even her beta activity returned back to normal green indicating that she is more conscious alert and attentive the balanced activity resulted in very few Motor problems the red areas circled at the bottom in higher range beta signify anxiety this is the attitude the Michelle struggles with and is working on changing from an internal perspective coincidentally anxiety is exactly what has Amplified her Parkinson symptoms in the past as she lowers her anxiety she lowers the symptoms of Parkinson's to Michelle her Tremors now represent when she's out of balance in her life when she regulates her internal states she produces changes in her external reality 3 months later Michelle again had her brain scanned at Dr fanon's office the May 9 2013 scan in fig at 10.6 B still shows her brain improving which is exactly what Michelle reported she's still getting better in the midst of all the different stresses in her life because she does her meditations every day think of it as taking her Placebo daily Michelle is continually changing her brain and body to be greater than the conditions in her environment the scan shows that she's dropped almost another standard deviation from a previous scan at the bottom of the graph you can clearly see that our anxi is still getting better and as a result so is her condition less anxiety means fewer Tremors she's sustaining and thus memorizing that state of being for a longer period of time and her brain is showing the changes if you look at Michelle's brain scan from June 3rd 2013 in figure 10.6 C you'll see a slight regression of her progress although she's still better than when she started here she had stopped doing her meditation and therefore stopped taking the placebo so her brain slightly regressed to what it knew before the brain with the arrow at the blue area of 13 Hertz means she's hypoactive in the sensory motor area and thus has less ability to control her involuntary Tremors in this brain wave pattern Michelle has less energy to control her body you can also see the red areas circled again in the bottom of the scan returning in higher range beta which correlate with her anxiety by her June 27 2013 scan shown in figure 10.6 D Michelle had gone back to her meditations at the beginning of that month and her brain scan showed a significantly better brain she had less overall anxiety as demonstrated in red at the bottom row at 17 to 20 Herz now compare that scan to her next one on July 13 2013 after our Workshop as depicted in figure 10.6 e there's even less red and the blue that showed up in her first scan in February during Alpha indicating hypoactivity is completely gone Michelle continues to improve and her changes are becoming more consistent Michelle's new self today Michelle hardly ever has any of the involuntary motor symptoms associated with Parkinson's disease very minor Twitches do present themselves when she gets stressed or overtired at times but for the most part she's high functioning and normal when Michelle is balanced and joyful doing her meditations daily her brain is working well and so is she from both our continued scans and her own reports Michelle isn't merely maintaining her condition she continues to get better and better she keeps meditating because she understands that she has to be the placebo every day Jon's old self in November 2006 John broke his neck at the seventh cervical and first thoracic vertebrae while he was a passenger in a car that spun out of control and rolled at high speed due to the the impact he suffered a severe head injury as well the doctors were quick and sure about his prognosis he would be a quadriplegic for the rest of his life he would never walk again and he would have very limited use of his arms and hands his vertebrae were 100% dislocated resulting in spinal cord damage it wasn't until John had surgery that his doctors saw the exact extent of his injuries two days later the neurologist told Jon's wife that his spinal cord was somewhat intact but that his type of injury could have the same outcome as a complete cord severing it would be as with all spinal cord injuries a waiting game when you're caught up in the day-to-day reality of living in the Intensive Care Unit and later a rehab center it can be extremely difficult not to get Swept Away by conventional thinking when John and his family asked about his possible recovery the doctor said that given the injury and the lack of return to any kind of normal functioning up to that point they should begin accepting the inevitable JN would be physically handicapped for the rest of his life his doctors hammered this message home over and over as a necessary part of moving on but somehow both John and his wife couldn't accept it I met John while he was in his wheelchair in 2009 along with his wife and family and an amazing physical therapist who understands neuroplasticity they are some of the most energetic and optimistic people I've ever met and we eagerly began our journey together John scans take a look at John's before meditation brain scan in figure 10.7 his first picture demonstrates quite a bit of hyperactivity it's more than 3 SD below normal JK's coherence measurement with such significant thick blue lines is the opposite of our study of Michelle's Parkinson's condition which showed thick red lines this scan reveals a diminished capacity for different parts of the brain working well together his brain here is on idle and has no energy and he has limited ability to respond to anything for any length of time he couldn't sustain attention and his awareness was limited because of his traumatic brain injury his brain was in a state of super low arousal and it showed a high degree of incoherence now look at his brain scan after 4 days of meditation in the first image on the upper left margin at 1 Herz Delta he has some more activity demonstrated in red in this case it's a good sign because more coherence is happening in delta in both hemispheres here Jon is starting to show more balanced dual brain processing because his traumatic brain injury is most visible in Delta and Theta the hyperactivity in Delta suggests that his brain is waking up the rest of his brain in Alpha and beta is showing more balanced activity and better cognitive function this shows he has more access to control his mind and body now view figure 10.8 the blue color starting from about the middle of the second row and to the end of the bottom row once again indicates that Jon has no alpha or beta brain waves this blue color distributed throughout the alpha and beta Realms in the left and right hemispheres suggests that he's vegetating and working on limited resources the blue shows less cognitive ability and less capacity to control his body Jon's mind is just not there after 4 days of meditation 90% of Jon's brain has returned back to normal as shown by all the green that's pretty good he still has some hyperactivity in his left hemisphere where the arrows are pointing indicating some problems with verbal skills and expressing himself but it's still so much better than his first scan JN continues to do his meditations and his brain continues to show more energy more balance and more coherence Jon has regained access to the lat neuro Pathways that were there before his brain woke up remembered how to work again and now has the energy to work better J's new self John stood up at the end of our February 2013 event he has regained full control of his bowels and his bladder to date he is now standing in a more normal and integrated posture his movements are more coordinated the frequency intensity and duration of his Tremors have diminished considerably he's even doing a total gym workout on a regular basis thanks to the help of his amazing therapist B Jill ran director of synapse Center for neuro reactivation in Driggs Idaho who also studies my work and has the skills and unlimited mind to challenge JN by setting up the right conditions his unassisted vertical squat exercises have progressed from a 10° angle to a 45° angle John is now in complete control of lowering his body to a seated position he can also perform as a specific physical therapy exercise that involves loading his leg and torso muscles and pushing a sled away from his body with resistance Jon is now going from lying face down to supporting himself on all fours completely under his own power and he's now starting to crawl just months after the workshop John astounded his medical team with all of his improvements in cognitive functioning his advances exceeded anything any of the Specialists had ever seen in a spinal cord injury patient it was as if JN finally woke up and his scans showed that he now has more access to his brain and body John is still demonstrating more control over dormant areas of his brain and body because he now has more capacity to regulate his body Jon's overall integration and coordinated movement patterns progress considerably enabling him to sit up at a table unassisted with his feet planted on the floor Jon's fine motor skills improved to the point where he can now hold a pen and sign his name use a smartphone to send a text message grip the steering wheel to drive and hold a regular toothbrush his cognitive changes demonstrate more self-confidence and greater inner Joy he has a much greater sense of humor and is more aware than ever during the summer of 2013 John was able to go on a white water rafting trip where he held himself unassisted in a raft for 6 hours a day and slept in a tent on the ground he managed to live in the Idaho Wilderness away from contact with the outside world for seven days and six nights he couldn't have done this a year ago every time John and I talk he always says the same thing Dr Joe I have no idea what's happening I always give him the same response the moment you know what's happening John it's all over the unknown is beyond our comprehension welcome it I'd like to make one final point about Jon's case everyone knows that a spinal cord injury doesn't heal with typical conventional approaches I'm sure that it's not matter that's changing matter for John that is it's not chemistry or molecules that are altering his damaged spinal cord from a Quantum perspective he'd have to be in a coherent frequency of heightened energy that would have to consistently lift or entrain matter to a new mind he'd have to display an elevated energy or wave that vibrates at a frequency faster than matter combined with a clear intention in order to alter the particles of matter so it's energy which is the epiphenomenon of matter that is rewriting the genetic program and healing his spinal cord Cathy's old self Kathy is the CEO of a large company an attorney and a committed wife and mother she has been trained to be highly analytical and rational she uses her brain every day to anticipate outcomes and to be prepared for every possible forecasted scenario based on her experience before she was introduced to my work she' never actually meditated in the beginning Kathy became very aware of how much she was analyzing everything in her life she had a huge daily to-do list and described her brain as never shutting off in hindsight she confesses that she was never in the present moment Kathy scans take a look at Kathy's before meditation brain scan in figure 10.9 these Delta to Theta ratio measurements represent her ability to maintain focus and concentration in order to process and deal with intrusive and extraneous thoughts the first arrow in the back of her brain on the right side where the larger red spot is located shows that she is seeing pictures in her mind the second Arrow near the smaller red area on the left side indicates that Kathy is internally talking to herself about those pictures the imagery and constant mind chatter are causing her brain to be stuck in a loop in the after meditation scan taken at the end of a workshop you can clearly see that Kathy's brain is more balanced more whole and more normal she no longer has any brain chatter because her brain is integrating and processing information more efficiently she's in a state of coherence and the change in her brain state is accompanied by Much Greater Joy Clarity and love now let's look at her coherence measurements in figure 10.10 at the beginning of the workshop Kathy's brain was in high range beta a state of high arousal High analysis and high emergency mode the thick red lines in Alpha and beta show that she's 3 SD above normal her brain is hyperactive out of balance and highly incoherent and she's having trouble controlling her anxiety now take a look at the after meditation scan taken on the last day of the February event you should by now be able to recognize a more normal and balanced brain which has much fewer high-range beta brain waves and far more coherence Kathy still has some work to do so we set up an experiment after the workshop because she lives in the Phoenix area and could visit Dr fanon's Clinic Dr Fannon showed her a picture of a healthy balanced and normal brain on a q EEG scan in green and told her that this was where she needed to focus her attention he suggested that when she moved into a new state of being every day in her meditation she should select that potential outcome for the next 29 days since she then could assign more meaning to the placebo she held a greater degree of intention about the benefits of the outcome it worked if you look at figure 10.11 which shows the scans dated April 8th 2013 about 6 weeks later you'll see an even more normal brain with no evidence of anxiety seen in red in addition check out figure 10.12 can you see the progression from February 20 2013 where Kathy's brain scan is red in the higher brain wave frequencies 21 to 30 Herz to the end of the February event where her brain scan has changed to Green in the second image and so is much more normal the red areas represented show very high levels of anxiety high range beta an over analysis because her brain waves in the higher frequencies 21 to 30 HZ are hyperactive her brain was working too hard by the beginning of April shown in figure 10.13 Kathy's brain is balanced coherent and much more synchronized Kathy has a much different brain today and reports truly feeling like a different person Cathy's new self Kathy reports that she has seen numerous positive changes in her career her daily life and her relationships she meditates daily and when she thinks she doesn't have time to meditate that's when she makes sure to find the time to do it she understands that the attitude that created her outof balance mind and brain is related to time and the conditions in her external environment Kathy says that the answers to her questions come more easily and with far less of a struggle she listens to her heart more often and she catches herself before she moves into cycles of vigilance she rarely gets caught up in those loops and she finds herself acting in a Kinder and more patient manner Cathy is happier From the Inside Out Bonnie's old self in 2010 Bonnie developed significant pain and excessive bleeding during her menstrual cycle she was diagnosed with excessive estrogen production and was encouraged to begin bioidentical hormones at age 40 she found the solution to Her diagnosis to be extreme Bonnie remembered that her mother had had the same symptoms at her age her mother had taken hormone pills and eventually died of bladder cancer while there may be no specific connection between the hormone therapy and bladder cancer what caught Bonnie's attention was that she was having the same physical symptoms as her mother she didn't want to develop the same outcome her vaginal bleeding began to last even longer sometimes up 2 weeks and Bonnie became anemic and lethargic and gained about 20b she would lose an average of 2 lers of blood each month during her menstrual cycle a pelvic sonogram confirmed fibroid tumors Bonnie went through Myriad blood tests and was told she was per menopausal and most likely had an ovarian cyst her specialist who recommended the hormone therapy told Bonnie that fibroids don't go away and that the severe bleeding would continue for the rest of her life I randomly selected Bonnie for one of the extra brain Maps during our Anglewood Colorado event in July 2013 she was mortified when I pointed at her to indicate she was selected for the scan Bonnie's menstrual cycle had started the evening before the workshop and she typically had to wear a large diaper to capture the amount of blood she lost during her period when after several meditations I instructed the students to lie down Bonnie was concerned that she would bleed all over herself in the floor because of the extreme pain that accompanied Bonnie's periods even sitting was uncomfortable even so she was determined to continue practicing the meditation techniques every day for her own Peace of Mind during the first meditation in which she was being brain mapped Bonnie had an experience that she can only describe as mystical she felt her heart open and expand her head pushed back and breathing changed Bonnie saw light flood into her body and she experienced a tremendous sense of Peace she also heard the words I am loved blessed and not forgotten Bonnie burst into tears during the meditation and her brain scans showed that she was in a state of bliss Bonnie's scans take a look at Bonnie's EEG scan in figure 10.14 we were lucky enough to catch the whole experience in real time the first graphic shows normal brain wave activity everything is in balance and quiet if you review Bonnie's three scans in figure 10.15 which capture what was happening to her at different times during her meditation you can see elevated energy and amplitude in her frontal loes which represents her processing quite a bit of information and emotion she's in an expanded State of Consciousness and is experiencing Peak moments at different intervals most of the activity is happening in the Theta brain waves and it signifies that she is in her subconscious mind the inner experience is very real to her in that moment she's so completely focused on the thought that it becomes the experience the emotional quotient is represented by the amount of energy amplitude her brain is processing take a look at the vertical length of the lines where the arrows are pointing that's very coherent energy Bonnie is in a heightened state of awareness now glance at figure 10.16 Bonnie's q e G scan in real time has an arrow pointing to 1 Hertz in Delta brain waves illustrating her connection to the quantum field shown in blue Bonnie also has heightened energy in a frontal lobe in Theta brain waves demonstrated in red to match exactly what was happening in her EEG scan look at the red circle that is highlighting her frontal loes as well as the arrow pointing to the top view of the brain's frontal lob immediately below the image you are seeing is a snapshot of a motion picture a Bonnie's brain activity during her entire meditation because one of the functions of the frontal lobe is to make thoughts real what she is experiencing in Theta with her eyes closed is very real to her we could say that Bonnie's inner experience was like a very Vivid lucid dream the red arrow at 12 HZ Alpha isolating the red spot in the center of her brain shows Bonnie's attempt to make sense of her inner experience and then process what she was seeing in her Mind's Eye the rest of her brain is healthy and bad balanced shown in green Bonnie's new self Bonnie's experience that day changed her for good the amplitude of energy related to the inward experience was greater than any past experience from her external environment and th her past was biologically removed the energy of the momentous peak of a meditation superseded the hardwired programs in her brain and the emotional conditioning in the body and her body instantly responded to a new mind to a new consciousness Bonnie had changed her state of being in less than 24 hours her bleeding stopped completely she had no symptoms of pain and instinctively knew that she was healed in the months since the event Bonnie has experienced only normal menstrual cycles she hasn't had any excessive bleeding or pain since the workshop Genevieve's old self geneveve a 45-year-old artist and musician currently resides in Holland and travels quite a bit because of her vocation during the February event I was watching her brain scan with Dr Fannon during her meditation we started to notice some significant changes in her energy during the middle of her inward Journey when we both saw a particular reading on her scan at the same time we looked at each other knowing something was about to happen within moments when we turned to look at her we saw tears of joy running down her face geneveve was in ecstasy she was in utter pleasure and her body was responding quite readily we'd never seen anything like this before Genevie scans if you look at figure 10.17 you'll see a relatively normal brain scan before Genevie meditation the areas of green spread throughout the brain signify a healthy well-adjusted woman with a balanced brain the blue areas have lessened sensory motor activity before she begins in Alpha 13 to 14 Hertz where you see the arrows probably indicate jetl bag because she just arrived from Europe that day if You observe jev's brain during the meditation you see an overall increase in Balance what happens next is off the chart amazing when we saw her reach this peak moment at the end of her meditation we knew from watching her scans that she had quite a bit of energy in her brain now take a peek at figure 10.18 this type of red activity showing high amounts of energy in all brain wave range frequencies suggests that is in a highly altered state someone who didn't know that she was meditating and who just saw the brain scan would say that she was experiencing an extreme level of anxiety or psychosis but because her personal testimonial describe her being in sheer ecstasy we know that all of the red represents a lot of energy in her brain her brain is at 3 SD above normal its energy in the form of emotion stored in her body as the mind that is being released and is traveling ing back to her brain figure 10.19 which shows her EEG reading validates this position if you review the purple lines where the arrow is you'll see that this part of the brain is processing 10 times the normal amounts of energy the area that circled in red tells us that the experience is so emotionally profound that it's being stored in jev's long-term memory at the same time she is also trying to verbally understand and make sense of what's happening to her in the moment she might be saying something to herself likeoh my God this is amazing I feel so great what is this feeling her inner experience is as real as any outward event and she's not trying to make it happen it's just happening to her she's not visualizing she's experiencing a profound moment interestingly we scann geniv again in July at the event in Colorado and she still displayed the same energy changes when we handed her the microphone during both events all she could say was that she was so in love with life that her heart was fully open and that she felt connected to something greater than herself she was in a state of grace and she felt so great that she wanted to stay in the present moment if you look at figure 10.20 you'll see that her brain had the same patterns and effects at the July event as it had at the February event the experience was still happening to her months later she was truly altered from her personal transformation Genevieve's new self I spoke with geneveve several weeks after the July event she told me that she's not the same person she was at the beginning of the year her mind has deepened and she's more present and much more creative she feels profound love for all things and most important she feels so lifted that she no longer feels as if she needs or wants anything she feels whole Maria's old self Maria is a highly functional woman with normal brain activity during the first meditation of the day a 45-minute exercise she experienced a significant change in her brain waves within moments Maria's scans look at figure 10.21 and notice the difference between Maria's normal brain waves and her state of ecstasy I watched her as she went into a heightened state of increased energy and it appeared as though she were having an orgasm in her brain her scan shows a fully active brain having a fullon Kundalini experience Kundalini is a latent energy stored in the body which when aroused brings on higher States Of Consciousness and energy in the brain if you look at Maria's scans you can see that all areas of her brain were experiencing a very heightened energy when the Kundalini energy is awakened it can rise from the lower spine to reach the top of the brain at which point it can produce an extremely profound mystical experience many students in the workshops have these brain orgasms in Maria's scan all areas of the brain are fully engaged with energy and her brain waves show three to four times the normal amplitude her brain is coherent and very synchronized if you look at the scans you'll see that the Ecstasy comes in waves just like an orgasm she was not trying to do any of this it was actually just happening to her her entire brain was engaged in the inner event and as a result she was filled with profound energy Maria's new self today Maria continues to have similar mystical experiences each time they occur she reports feeling more relaxed more conscious more aware and more whole she welcomes the next unknown moment these few examples out of many that were documented prove prove that it is indeed possible to teach the bbo effect now that you've received all of the information stories and proof of what's possible it's time for you to learn the how to so that you can experience your own transformation the next two chapters will outline the steps you can take to begin your personal meditation process it's my desire for you to put into practice all of the knowledge you've learned so far so that you experience the truth of your efforts once you receive the tools that you need to cross the river of change I hope to see you on the other side part two transformation chapter 11 meditation preparation now that you've read and absorbed all the information in part one you're ready to move to transformation in this chapter I'll go over what you need to know to get ready to meditate so that when you get to the next chapter you'll be ready for me to walk you through the actual meditation all of the participants in this book who change something about themselves had to First go Inward and change their state of being so think of your meditation practice as a way for you to take a placebo every day but instead of taking a pill you'll be going inward in time your meditation will become like your belief in taking medication when to meditate there are two times a day that are the most conducive to meditation right before you go to bed at night and right after you get up in the morning that's because when you fall asleep you naturally shift through the entire spectrum of brain wave States going from your waking beta state to the slower Alpha State when you close your eyes to the slower still Theta State when you're half asleep and half awake all the way down to the Deep Sleep Delta brain wave state and when you wake up in the morning you do the same thing in reverse rising from Delta to Theta to Alpha to Beta where you're fully awake and conscious so if you meditate when you're getting ready for sleep or just coming out of sleep it's easier to slip into alpha or Theta brain waves you're more primed for being in an altered state because it's the direction you either have just come from or are slipping into you could say that the door to the subconscious mind is open during these two times I personally prefer to meditate in the morning but either time is fine pick what will work best for you and then stick with it if you can meditate every day it will become a good habit and will be something you look forward to doing daily where to meditate the most important consideration in selecting a place to meditate is to choose a place where you won't be distracted because you'll be unplugging from the external physical world pick a quiet place where you can be alone and uninterrupted either by other people or by pets a place that you can return to every day and use as your regular sacred meditation spot I don't recommend that you meditate in bed because you associate bed with sleep for the same reason I don't recommend that you lie down or use a recliner when you meditate pick a chair to sit in or arrange a spot on the floor where you'll be able to sit for up to an hour a spot away from any drafts and in a room where the temperature is comfortable if you prefer to meditate to music choose soft relaxing trans inducing instrumentals or chants without lyrics in fact a little music works well to cover background noise if you aren't in an environment that's completely quiet definitely don't play music that brings up associative memories of some past event or that would be distracting in any way also be sure to turn off your computer and your phone if they're in the room and try to avoid the the aroma of coffee brewing or food cooking you may even want to use an eye shade or ear plugs to enhance the effect of sensory deprivation since the goal in your preparation is to eliminate as much external stimuli as possible making your body comfortable dress in comfortable loose clothing and remove your watch or any jewelry that might be distracting if you wear glasses take them off too drink a little water before you sit down and have a glass Within Reach in case you need it use the bathroom before you begin and try to take care of any similar issues so that you won't be distracted during your meditation whether you're sitting in a chair or on the floor cross-legged sit up straight and keep your spine erect your body should be relaxed but your mind needs to stay focused so don't be so relaxed that you fall asleep if your head begins to nod during meditation it's a sign that you're moving into a slower brain wave state so don't worry too much about that with some practice your body will become conditioned and won't want to do off as you begin the meditation close your eyes and take a few slow deep breaths soon you should drop from a beta brain wave state into an alpha State this more restful but still Focus State activates your frontal lobe which as you read lowers the volume on the circuits in your brain that process time and space although at first you might not be able to slip easily into the next slower brain wave state Theta with practice you'll be able to slow your brain waves down even further Theta is the brain wave state where the body is asleep but the mind is awake and it's where you can more readily change your body's automatic programs how long to meditate while your meditation will generally last between 45 minutes and an hour allow yourself plenty of time if possible to settle your mind before you begin if you need to finish by a certain time set an alarm to go off 10 minutes before you have to end the meditation to give you an opportunity to finish the session without having to come to an abrupt stop don't let time be a distraction though remember just as you're getting away from sensory input you're also getting away from being conscious of time so if you're constantly worried about what time it is you'll be completely defeating your purpose if you need a few more minutes in your day to be able to me meditate without this distraction consider waking up earlier or going to bed later I want to warn you about a very common stumbling block for people who are starting a meditation practice anytime you start to change something in your life your body as the mind will signal your brain to be in control again the next thing you know you might start to hear negative voices in your head like why don't you start tomorrow you're too much like your mother what's wrong with you you'll never change change this doesn't feel right that's the body trying to unseat you so that it can be the mind again you may have unconsciously conditioned it to be impatient frustrated unhappy victimized or pessimistic to name a few examples so that's how it wants to subconsciously behave the moment you respond to that voice as if what it's saying is true your Consciousness immerses itself back into the automatic program so you return to thinking the same thought performing the same actions and living by the same emotions but still expecting something to change in your life if you use feelings and emotions as a barometer for change you'll always torque yourself out of possibility when you instead free the body of the chains of these emotions you are then able to relax into the present moment more on that later in this chapter and you'll be liberating energy from the body going from particle to wave so that it becomes a available to create new Destiny to get to that place to teach your body a new way of being you have to sit your body down and let it know who the master is we have a ranch with 18 horses and mastering the will to stay focused in meditation reminds me of what it's like to ride a favorite Stallion after I haven't been on him in a while when I first climb up into the saddle that stallion couldn't care less about me he smells the MIRS on the other side of the property and that's where his attention goes it's as though he's saying to me where have you been for the last 8 months I got into some bad habits while you were away the girls are over there and I'm not concerned about what you want to do so I'm going to throw you off I'm in charge here he gets mad temperamental and controlling and he tries to run me into the side of the Arena but I pay attention to him and when his head starts to turn toward those mares I take control of him so the moment I see him start to move away from my lead I slowly but firmly grab the rains and pull them in and I just wait and before long he stops and lets out this big snort and I stroke him on the side and tell him that's right and we take two steps and then I see his head starting to turn just slightly again and I stop him and wait and he lets out another big snort and once he knows I'm in charge we start to move forward again I just keep following the same procedure until he ultimately surrenders to me that kind of gentle but firm refocusing is exactly the same approach to use with your body when you sit down to meditate think of your body as the animal that you as Consciousness are training every time you become conscious that your attention has wandered and you bring it back like that you're reconditioning your body to a new mind you are mastering yourself and your past so let's say you wake up in the morning and have a list of people to call a list of errands to run 35 texts to respond to and all these emails to answer if the first thing you do every morning is start thinking about all of those things that you have to do your body is already in the future when you sit down to meditate your mind May naturally want to go in that direction and if you allowed it then your brain and body would be in that same predictable future because you'd be anticipating an outcome based on your same past experience from yesterday so the moment you start to notice your mind wanting to go in that direction you just pull the rains in settle your body down and bring it back to the present moment just as I do when I ride my Stallion and then in the next moment if you start thinking yeah but you have to do this you forgot about that and you need to do the thing you didn't get to yesterday just bring your mind back to the present moment again and if it keeps happening and that brings up the emotions of frustration impatience worry and so on just remember that whatever emotion you're experiencing is merely part of the past so you just notice it you become aware ah My Body Mind wants to go to the past all right let's settle down and relax back into the present just as your mind will try to distract you your body may do the same it may want to get nauseated create pain or make that spot in the middle of your back itch but if that happens remember that it's just the body trying to be the mind so as you master it you are becoming greater than your body if you can Master it during your meditation each time then when you walk back into your life you're going to be more present more aware and more conscious and less unconscious sooner or later just as my stallion surrenders to me and follows my commands without letting the Mayes or anything else distract him your body will also acques to your mind during your meditation without getting hijacked by any stray thoughts and when the Horse and Rider are one when the mind and and body are working together there's simply no greater feeling you're in a new state of being it's incredibly empowering the meditation I'm going to walk you through in the next chapter begins with a technique the Buddhist call open Focus it's very helpful for getting into the altered state we're trying to achieve because in our normal day-to-day existence living in survival mode and marinating in stress hormones when naturally very narrow focused we put all our attention on things and people and problems focusing on the particle or matter not on the wave or energy and we Define Reality by our senses we can call that type of attention object focused with all our attention on the outer World which in this state appears more real to us than the inner World our brains pretty much stay in a higher range beta brain wave state the most reactive unstable and volatile of all the different brain waves patterns because we're on high alert we aren't in a position to create Daydream solve problems learn new things or heal it's certainly not a state that's conducive to meditating the electrical activity in our brains increases and thanks to the fital flight response our heart rate and respiration naturally increase our bodies can't spend much if any of their resources for growth and Optimal Health because they're always on the defensive trying to protect us just trying to help us make it through the day under these less than favorable conditions our brains tend to compartmentalize meaning that some regions of the brain begin to work separately from the others instead of working together and some even work in opposition to each other like stepping on the breake and the gas at the same time it's a house divided against itself in addition to the parts of the brain not communicating well with each other the brain no longer communicates with the rest of the body in an efficient orderly manner because the brain and the central nervous system control and coordinate all the other systems of our bodies keeping our hearts beating and our lungs breathing digesting food and eliminating waste controlling our metabolism regulating the immune system balancing our hormones and keeping countless other functions working we become unbalanced our brains send very disorderly messages and disintegrated signals down the spinal cord to the rest of the body as a result none of the body's systems get a clear message instead the message is very incoherent picture the immune system responding I don't know how to make a white blood cell out of that instruction and then picture the digestive system saying I can't tell if I should secrete acid in my stomach first or if I should secrete it in my small intestine these orders are pretty mixed up at the same time the cardiovascular system laments I can't tell if my heart should be in Rhythm or out of rhythm because the signal I'm getting is pretty out of rhythm itself is there really a line around the corner again this state of imbalance keeps us out of homeostasis or equilibrium and it's easy to see then how it sets us up for disease producing arhythmia or high blood pressure unbalanced cardiovascular system indigestion and acid reflux unbalanced digestive system and a preponderance of colds allergies cancer rheumatoid arthritis and other conditions unbalanced immune function to name just a few examples that state with our brain wave becoming scrambled and filled with static is what I referred to in the last chapter as a state of incoherence there's no rhythm or order to our brain waves or to the messages the brain sends the body it's total cacophony in the open Focus technique on the other hand we close our eyes take our attention off the outer world and its trappings and instead open our Focus to pay attention to the space around us on the wave instead of the particle the reason it works is that that when we're sensing this space we're not giving our attention to anything material and we're not thinking our brain wave pattern shift to the more restful and creative Alpha and eventually Theta as well in this state our inner world now becomes more real to us than the outer World which means we're in a much better position to make the changes we want to make research shows that when we use the open Focus technique properly the brain starts to become more organized and more synchronized with the different compartments working together in a more orderly fashion and what syns together links together in this level of coherence the brain can now send more coherent signals throughout the entire nervous system to the rest of the body and everything starts to move in Rhythm working together instead of cacophony now our brains and our bodies are playing a beautiful Symphony the end result is that we feel more whole integrated and balanced my colleagues and I saw saw this type of consistent brain changes in the majority of the students we scanned in our workshops so we know this technique Works after walking you through open Focus the meditation you'll do will move you into the practice of finding the present moment being present gives us access to possibilities on the quantum level that we didn't have access to before remember how I said that in the quantum field the subatomic particles exist simultaneously in an infinite array of possib abilities in order for that to be true the quantum Universe can't have only one line of time it must have an infinite number of timelines simultaneously containing all of these possibilities stacked on top of one another in fact every experience past present and future of every single thing from the smallest microorganism to the most advanced culture in the universe exists within the field of unlimited information called the quantum field I said the quantum world has no time but the truth is that it has all time simultaneously it just doesn't have linear time which is the way we usually think of time as the quantum model of reality says all possibilities exist in the present moment but if you're waking up every morning and doing the same sequence of events making the same choices that lead to the same behaviors that create the same experiences that produce the same emotional payoff then you aren't open to any of those other possibilities and you aren't going anywhere new take a look at figure 11.1 the circle represents you in the present moment on a particular line of time the line to the left of that represents your past and the line to the right represents your future let's say that every day you wake up go to the bathroom brush your teeth take the dog out drink your coffee or tea have the same breakfast get dressed in the same roue rou way drive to work along a familiar route and so on each of these events is represented by a point on the timeline of your immediate future so let's say you've gone through pretty much that same sequence every day for 10 years your body is then already programmed by Habit to be in the future based on your past because as you emotionally begin to anticipate each of those events on your timeline your body as the unconscious mind believes it's in that same predictable reality and the same emotion signals the same genes in the same way and now you're in that predictable future line of time in fact you could take that time line from your past and just lift it up and set it into your future because in this scenario your past is your future you're like the piano players who installed the circuitry in their brains just by thinking about playing the same sequence of keys over and over again and like the finger exercisers who change their bodies by thought alone you're priming your brain and conditioning your body into to the same future as you mentally rehearse the same predictable daily scenario in your mind from yesterday we can never find the present moment because our brains and bodies are already living in a known future reality based on the past now take a look at all those points on your timeline that represent the choices habits actions and experiences that create the same emotions in order to remind you of the feeling of you there's no room for something new or unknown something uncommon or miraculous to show up in your life because those points are so closely knit together it would be too inconvenient and frankly it would disrupt your routine how upsetting it would be for something new to show up in the life of a personality that's unconsciously anticipating the future based on the past I should warn you here that when you begin a meditation practice if you just insert your meditation as another event on your timeline there's a danger that you'll merely be adding another item to your to-do list and if that's how you approach it you still won't be able to find the present moment to accomplish what you're after here healing and making lasting changes you have to be fully in the present moment not thinking about what the next predictable event is on your timeline that's true because wherever you place your attention is where you're placing your energy so if you're paying even the smallest bit of attention to things people places or events in your external environment then you're reaffirming that reality and if you're in the habit of obsessing about time thinking about either the past the known or the future which is based on your past and so is also the known then you're missing the present moment where all possibility exist when you focus on the known you as the quantum Observer can only get more of exactly that you'll be collapsing all those possibilities in the quantum field into the same patterns of information called your life in order to access the unlimited potential that's waiting for you in the quantum field you have to forget about the known your body your face your gender your race your profession and even your concept of what you have to do today so that you can remain for a while in the unknown where you are nobody no one no thing and in no place and in no time you have to become pure Consciousness nothing but a thought or an awareness that you're aware in a void of potentials so that your brain can recalibrate and when the body wants to distract you but you keep mastering it and settling it back into the present moment over and over again until it acquiesces the way you read about earlier then that line that goes into the future no longer exists because the body is no longer living in that predictable Destiny you've disconnected from it or unplugged your energy circuits from it similarly if your body is conditioned and addicted to emotions youve memorized that keep you connected to the past but you manage to bring your body back and settle it down every time you feel angry or frustrated until your body finally surrenders into the present moment then that line that goes into the past no longer exists either youve unplugged from that line too and when both your past and your future lines disappear your predictable genetic Destiny vanishes as well in this moment there's no longer any past to drive the future and there's no longer any predictable future based on the past you're solely in the present where you have access to all those potentials and possibilities and the longer you're invested in the unknown by unplugging from those timelines and lingering in those possibilities the more energy you liberate from your body and make available for creating something new figure 11.2 demonstrates how the past and the future no longer exist when the brain and the body are totally in the present moment the predictable reality of known does not exist therefore you're in the unknown realm of possibilities the meditation outlined in the next chapter includes a period where you get to linger in this potent unknown in the Blackness of possibility and invest your energy into the void of potentials that exist in the present moment remember that even though it may look as if there's nothing there it really isn't just empty Blackness it's the quantum field and it's just bursting with energy and possibility when my colleagues and I examined our advanced Workshop students who were able to become pure Consciousness a thought separate from this known reality we saw the greatest strides in their ability to change their brains their bodies and their lives if the placebo is about changing the body by thought alone then a very important step is to become a thought alone here's one of my favorite examples of what can happen when you focus on the unknown in meditation not long ago I was doing a workshop in Sydney Australia in which I was leading a meditation where i' asked the participants to be nobody no one no thing and to be in no place and in no time to become pure Consciousness lingering in the unknown just as you're about to do in the next chapter as I was watching the group meditate I happened to notice a woman named Sophia sitting in the third row meditating with her eyes closed just like everyone else and all of a sudden I saw her energy change something just told me to wave to her so I did and still with her eyes closed Sophia waved back I motioned for two of my trainers who were at the other end of the room to come over when they got to me I pointed directly at sopia and she waved back at me again without ever opening her eyes what's going on my trainers whispered she's seeing without eyes I told them as I said when you focus on the unknown you get the unknown after after we finished the event in Sydney we had a more advanced Workshop in Melbourne one week later and Sophia came to that Workshop as well hey I saw you and I saw the trainers she told me proceeding to describe everything that had happened in the room during the meditation when she had her eyes closed she was extremely accurate after the workshop Sophia decided to apply to become one of my corporate trainers and I selected her because of her ability so she came to a training just a few months later at the end of every day of my trainings I always have the new trainers close their eyes while I run through the entire day's lessons in 30 minutes just to reactivate the new circuits in their long-term memories so as I was doing that Sophia was sitting there with her eyes closed and all of a sudden she opened her eyes shook her head closed her eyes again turned around to look behind her and then turned back around and looked straight at me with an amazed expression on her face after she repeated this a few times I motioned for her to just stay with the meditation and we spoke afterward not only could Sophia see in front of her with her eyes closed in meditation she told me but now she could see a full 360° view she could see what was in front of her what was behind her and what was all around her at the same time because Sophia had been in the habit of seeing with her eyes open for her whole life she kept opening her eyes and closing them again in a reflexive ATT to see what she was already seeing I happened to have Dr Fannon at that training and we were scanning some of the trainers brains just so we could plan what patterns of brain waves we'd be measuring in our students for our first Advanced Workshop in Arizona when it was Sophia's turn I didn't say anything to Dr Fannon about her so he hooked her up to the EG machine and then with her back to us we sat down about 7 ft away to watch a scan on the monitor all of a sudden the back of Sophia's brain which is the visual cortex lit up on the computer screen oh look Dr Fannon whispered to me shek visualizing no I said softly shaking my head shek not visualizing what do you mean he mouthed she's seen I quietly responded what do you mean he repeated confused so I waved at her and still sitting with her back to me she reached above her head turned her hand backward and waved back it was amazing the proof was right on the scan Sophia was seeing without eyes her visual cortex was processing information just as though she was seeing but it was her brain that was doing the seeing not her eyes as I said if you focus on the unknown you get the unknown ready to see for yourself chapter 12 changing beliefs and perceptions meditation in this chapter chapter I'm going to walk you through a guided meditation designed to help you change some beliefs or perceptions about yourself or your life I recommend meditating while playing a recording either of this meditation which helps you change two beliefs or perceptions and last about an hour or of a slightly shorter version which helps you change one belief or perception and lasts 45 minutes both meditations are available for purchase on audio CD or MP3 files from my website www. Dr Joe dispenser. the 1our version is called you are the placebo book meditation 1 changing two beliefs and perceptions and the 45-minute version is called you are the placebo book meditation 2 changing one belief and perception or you can make a recording of yourself reading the text of either version of The Meditation both of which you will find in the appendix remember that beliefs and perceptions are subconscious states of being they they start with thoughts and feelings that you think and feel over and over until they ultimately become habituated or automatic at which point they form an attitude attitudes strung together become beliefs and related beliefs strung together become perceptions over time this redundancy creates a view of the world and of yourself that's largely subconscious it affects your relationships your behaviors and really everything in your life so if you want to change a belief or POS perception you have to first change your state of being and changing your state of being means changing your energy because in order for you to affect matter you have to become more energy and less matter more wave and less particle that requires you to combine a clear intention and an elevated emotion those are the two ingredients as you've read this process involves making a decision with a high enough level of energy that your thought about the new belief becomes an experience that carries a strong emotional signature which Alters you on some level in that moment that's how you change your biology become your own Placebo and make your mind matter we all have had experiences that have affected our biology to some degree or another remember the Cambodian women from chapter 7 who developed vision problems because of the horrors they were forced to witness when the kimar Rouge was in power that's an extreme example of course but you can use the same principle to make a positive change in order for this to work the new experience has to be greater than the past experience in other words the internal experience you have when you meditate has to have a greater amplitude greater energy than the external past experience that created the belief and perception that you want to change the body must respond to a new mind so you have to put your heart into that elevated emotion you really have to get goosebumps you have to feel lifted inspired invincible and empowered I'll be giving you the opportunity to change two beliefs and perceptions about yourself in this meditation so before you begin decide which two you want to change you can select one of the common limiting beliefs listed in chapter 7 or you can come up with something else on your own such as I'll always have this pain or condition life is too hard people are unfriendly success takes a lot of work or I'll never change once you decide get a piece of paper and draw a vertical line down the middle on the left side write down the two beliefs and perceptions you want to change one on top of the other then think for a minute if you don't want to believe and perceive these things anymore then what do you want to believe and perceive about yourself and your life and if you did believe and perceive those new things how would that make you feel write down the new beliefs and perceptions that you want to have on the right side of the paper as you'll soon see this meditation is in three parts the first part is the induction in which you will use the open Focus technique you read about in the last chapter to get you into more coherent alpha or Theta brain wave states where you're more suggestible this is vital because the only way you can truly influence your health and become the placebo is when your own suggestibility is enhanced in the second part you'll find the present moment and linger in the quantum void where all possibilities exist and in the third part you'll change your beliefs and perceptions here to walk you through what you'll be doing when you actually sit down to meditate I'll give you some direction at the beginning of each part and then the text of the meditation will follow in italics if you're an experienced meditator feel free to do the entire meditation the whole way through during your first time if you're new to meditation you may want to practice the first part every day for a week then add the second part the second week and progress to all three parts the third week either way keep doing this same meditation on a daily basis until you see some changes happening in your life if you are already practicing the meditation that I outlined in Breaking the Habit of being yourself I want to point out that the meditation in this book is entirely different even though you'll find some similarities in the way in which both meditations begin the induction phase if you can only do one meditation per day I recommend trying this new meditation for a few months so that you can fully reap the benefits then you can decide which meditation you want to continue with or you can switch back and forth between the two As You Wish induction creating brain coherence and slower brain waves with open focus when you move into the open Focus meditation you'll be going from particle to wave from the the narrow Focus you usually have on people places and things in the outer world to a more open Focus where you'll be concentrating not on any physical thing but on space after all if an atom is approximately 99.9% energy and we're always focusing on the particle maybe it's time we pay some attention to the wave because our awareness and our energy are intrinsically combined putting attention on our energy is what amplifies our energy when you use this technique your brain naturally recalibrates because to do it correctly you have to let go of your analytical mind which is very busy thinking in high beta as an identity that identity who you know yourself to be is connected to the external Environ to your emotional addictions and habits and to time the moment you get Beyond those elements you're nothing but pure Consciousness and as you read earlier the different compartments of your brain begin to communicate better and your brain waves become very orderly they start sending a coherent signal to the rest of the body just as you saw in the workshop participants stay present during this meditation don't try to figure anything out and don't try to visualize just sense and feel if you can sense where your left ankle is if you can feel where your nose is and if you can sense where the space between your sternum and your chest is then you're resting your awareness your Consciousness and your attention in those places you might get a picture or an image in your head say of your chest or of your heart but you don't have to strive for that you just have to become aware of the space within and around your body in Space the first part of the meditation should last for approximately 10 to 15 minutes refer figure 12.1 for the verbiage of meditation part one becoming possibility finding the present moment and lingering in the void in this next part of the meditation you'll find The Sweet Spot of the present moment where all things are possible to do that you must lay down your identity and disconnect from your body the environment and time because the longer you linger in the unknown the more you draw the unknown to you and if nerve cells that no longer fire together no longer wire together you'll be silencing the circuits in your brain that are connected to the old self as you've read those circuits maintain a hardwired program so if you successfully disconnect from them you'll also be disconnecting from the program you'll no longer be emotionally signaling the same genes in the same way and then as your body moves into a more balanced and harmonious State you'll find yourself in The Sweet Spot of the present moment and that's where all possibility exists if you find your mind drifting to thoughts about people you know various problems you have events that happened in the past or that are coming up in your future your body your weight your pain your hunger or even how long this meditation will go on simply become aware of those thoughts and then bring your Consciousness back to the Blackness or the quantum void of possibility and then once more surrender into nothing this second part of the meditation should last for approximately 10 to 15 minutes then allow 10 to 15 minutes after here for to linger refer figure 12.2 for verbiage of meditation part two changing beliefs and perceptions about yourself and your life in the final section of the meditation it's time to bring up that first belief or perception about your life that you want to change I'll ask you if you want to continue believing and perceiving in that way if your answer is no then you'll be invited to make a decision with such firm intention that the amplitude of energy related to that decision is greater than the hardwired programs in your brain and the emotional addictions in your body your body will then respond to a new mind to a new Consciousness next I'll ask you what do you want to believe and perceive about yourself and your life and how would that feel then your task will be to move into a new state of being you'll have to change your energy by marrying a clear intention with an elevated emotion and lift matter to a new mind you should get up feeling different from when you sat down if so then you changed biologically at that point the past will no longer exist because that higher amplitude experience will have just overridden the program of the old experience that's why making that choice becomes an experience that you never forget because now it's a long-term memory you'll be making an unknown possibility known which takes you out of the past now and put you into the future now where the event has already happened remember it's not your job to figure out when or where or how it's going to happen your job is merely to move into a new state of being and then see the future you're creating then you'll be guided to change the second belief or perception so you'll repeat the same process all over again this final part of the meditation will last for approximately 20 to 30 minutes refer figure 12.3 for the verbiage of meditation part three afterward becoming Supernatural some critics May categorize this body of work as Faith healing I'm actually fine with that accusation at this point in my life because what is Faith but when we believe in thought more than anything else isn't that when we accept a thought independent of the conditions in our environment and then surrender to the outcome to such a degree that we live as if our prayers were already answered sounds like a formula for the placebo we've always been the placebo maybe it's not so important that we pray rigorously every day to have our prayers answered but that we instead get up from our meditations as if our prayers have already been answered if we accomplish this daily we are at a level of mine where we're truly living in the unknown and expecting the unexpected and this is is when the mysterious knocks on our door the placebo response is about being healed by thought alone thought by itself however is unmanifested emotion once we Embrace that thought emotionally it begins to become real that is it becomes reality a thought without an emotional signature is void of experience and thus it is latent waiting to be made known from the unknown as we initiate a thought into an experience and then into wisdom we are evolving as human beings when you look into the mirror you see your reflection and know that whom you are seeing is the physical you but how do the true self the ego and the Soul see themselves your life is a mirror image of your mind your Consciousness and who you really are there are no schools of ancient spiritual wisdom sitting high on mountaintops in the Himalayas waiting to initiate us into becoming Mystics and Saints our lives are our initiation into greatness maybe you and I should see life as an opportunity to reach greater and greater levels of self so that we can overcome our own limitations with more expanded levels of consciousness that's how a pragmatist instead of a victim Cesar to abandon the familiar ways in which we've grown accustomed to thinking about life in order to embrace new paradigms will feel unnatural in the beginning frankly it takes effort and it's uncomfortable why because when we change we no longer feel like ourselves my definition of genius then is to become uncomfortable and to be okay with being uncomfortable how many times in history have admirable individuals who struggled against outdated beliefs living outside of their comfort zones being considered Heretics and fools only to later emerge as Geniuses Saints or Masters in time they became Supernatural but how do you and I become Supernatural we have to begin to do what's unnatural that is to give in the midst of crisis when everyone is feeling lack and poverty to love when everyone is angry and judging others to demonstrate courage and peace when everyone else is in fear to show kindness when others are displaying hostility and aggression to surrender to possibility when the rest of the world is aggressively pushing to be first trying to control outcomes and fiercely competing in an endless drive to get to the top to knowingly smile in the face of adversity and to cultivate the feeling of wholeness when we're diagnosed as sick it seems so unnatural to make these types of choices in the midst of such conditions but if we repeatedly succeed in time we'll transcend the norm and we too become Supernatural and most important by you're being Supernatural you give others permission to do the same mirror neurons fire when we observe someone else performing an action our neurons mirror the neurons of that other person as though we were performing the same action for example when you see a professional dancer dancing the salsa you will dance the salsa better than you did before if you watch Serena Williams hit a tennis ball you will hit the ball better than you did before If You observe someone leading a community with love and compassion you'll lead in your life in the same way and if you witness someone's self-healing from a disease by changing his or her thought processes you'll be more prone to do the same it's my hope that after reading this book you'll realize that the ultimate belief is the belief in yourself and in the field of infinite possibilities and when you merge the belief in yourself as a subjective Consciousness with your belief in an objective consciousness then you're balancing intention and surrender It's Tricky though if you over intend that's called trying you get in your own way and always fall short of your vision if you overs surrender you'll become too lazy apathetic and uninspired but if you combine a clear intention with an uncompromising trust in possibility then you'll step into the unknown and that's when the supernatural starts to unfold I think that you and I are at our best when we're in this state of being when these two states merge I believe that we drink from a deeper well and when wholeness self-satisfaction and self-love Truly Come From Within because You' ventured beyond what you believed was possible and you overcame your own self-imposed limitations that's when The Uncommon occurs to be happy with yourself in the present moment while maintaining a dream of your future is a grand recipe for manifestation when you feel so whole that you no longer care whether it will happen that's when amazing things materialize before your eyes I've learned that being whole is the perfect state of creation I've seen this time and time again in witnessing true healings in people all over the world they feel so complete that they no longer want no longer feel lack and no longer try to do it themselves they let go and to their amazement something greater than they are responds and they laugh at the the Simplicity of the process this book and my research are hopefully a beginning and not the end I'll certainly be the first to raise my hand to confess that I don't know it all my greatest joy though is when I've contributed to someone's personal growth in some way I've seen transformation on many faces and I can say that independent of culture race or gender we all look the same when we're freed from the bonds of our own self-limiting beliefs there's a principle that I adore in biology called emergence have you ever seen a school of fish all breaking in the same direction at the same time or a flock of hundreds of birds in Flight all moving together as one Consciousness as one mind when you look at this phenomenon you might think that all of the individuals in the group are following one leader who's showing the way it appears that the synchronistic movements of hundreds or even thousands of individual organisms all doing the same thing at the same time is a top- down phenomenon but that's not what's really happening it turns out that this level of unity takes place as a bottom-up phenomenon the group actually has no leader everyone is leading they're all part of the same Collective Consciousness doing the same thing at the same time it's as if the whole is connected in a field of information beyond space and time one Community is presenting as one mind one organism is Created from each individual becoming one there's power in numbers we've been programmed and conditioned into a subconscious belief that if we lead with too much passion and change the world we surely be assassinated most great leaders who've altered the course of history with a profound message get it in the end whether we're talking about Martin Luther King Jr Mahatma Gandhi John lenon Joon ofar William Wallace Jesus of Nazareth or Abraham Lincoln an unconscious stigma exists that suggests that all Visionary leaders must give their lives for the truth but maybe we've finally arrived at a time in history when it's more important to live for the truth than to die for it if hundreds thousands or even millions of human beings Embrace a new Consciousness based on possibility align their actions with their intentions and live by greater universal laws of Love kindness and compassion a new Consciousness will emerge and we'll experience true Oneness then we might just have too many leaders to remove so if on a daily basis you're committed to demonstrating your personal best and you're overcoming selfish states of Mind driven by stress hormones and I'm doing the same then together we're changing the World by changing ourselves and if enough of us are tempering ourselves into more whole human beings then as the individual communities we live in emerge around the world they'll eventually consume the present mindset of of reality based on fear competition lack hostility greed and deception in time the old will be completely consumed by the new a particular concern of mine is that we now live in a world where scientific researches co-mingled with self-interest and often influenced by profits so I question whether we're being told the truth about the way things really are it's up to us then to discover the truth for ourselves imagine a world inhabited by billions of people just like a school of fish living as one where everyone is embracing similar uplifting thoughts connected to unlimited possibility and these thoughts allow people to make more inspired choices demonstrate more altruistic behaviors and create more enlightening experiences people would then no longer be living by the survival based emotions we're so familiar with now feeling more like matter than energy separate from possibility instead they'd be living by more expanded selfless heartfelt emotions feeling more like energy than matter connected to something greater if we could do this then an entirely different world would emerge and we would be living by a new Credo based on the open heart that's what I see when I close my eyes to meditate Dr Joe dispenser appendix script of the changing beliefs and ceptions meditation if you want to make your own guided meditation recording instead of purchasing one of the pre-recorded audio CDs or MP3 versions from my website feel free to record yourself reading one of the following two scripts the first script is for the hourong meditation which involves changing two beliefs or perceptions and the second is a 45-minute meditation that involves changing just one belief or perception if you are recording your own meditation pause for a second or two at each set of ellipses and pause for at least five full seconds between sentences as you'll see I've added a note after the second part of each meditation reminding you to include a period of Silence on your recording so that you can linger in the unknown before you begin the last part of the meditation where you'll change either one or two beliefs or perceptions hourong version of meditation refer figure A-1 for the script of you are the placebo meditation 1 changing two beliefs and perceptions 45 minute version of meditation refer figure a-2 for the script of you are the placebo meditation 2 changing one belief and perception for more information on CDs plus DVDs books and workshops that Dr Joe despenser now offers in the US and around the world please visit his website at www. Dr Joe dispenser you can also stay up to dat with Dr Joe dispenser via Facebook Twitter and YouTube we hope you have enjoyed this [Music] recording audible hopes you have enjoyed this program