For decades, we have been taught that our bodies are a sort of “bio-chemical machine” pre-programmed by our genes, (a concept known as genetic determinism), and that our quality of health is primarily controlled by genetic predisposition, thereby, creating a perception and reality that dis-empowers and pre-determines the status of our health by our ancestry or our “family history.”
While this belief is still held as truth by many, it continues to be the subject of great controversy among scientists, health professionals and some in the general public.
The problem with this belief is that the primary focus is based on the physical body alone. It does not take into account the mental, spiritual and emotional aspects of the self. Nor does it consider the environment in which we live or the perception of our environment, a process known as epigenetic control.
Research scientists, Dr. Elmer and Alyce Green of the Menninger Foundation; molecular biologist, Dr. Candace Pert; Stanford medical professor and cellular biologist, Dr. Bruce Lipton, and others have demonstrated many times over the significance of the body, mind, spirit, emotion connection, and how each affect the other.
They have also illustrated that we do not have to passively accept our “genetic predispositions” and our “cultural and environmental impacts and conditions.” Transformation on many levels can be achieved through conscious choice and training of the mind. This new perspective of human biology does not view the body as just a mechanical device, but rather incorporates the role of a mind and spirit.
The work of Pert and her colleagues showed that a variety of proteins known as peptides (including endorphins) were among the body's key “information substances” -and each could affect our mind, emotions, immune system, digestion and other bodily functions simultaneously. Pert, postulates that with each thought, feeling and emotion we introduce, we create chemical changes that shape our physiology.
In other words, by changing our thoughts, feelings and emotions, we can create changes in our autonomic systems and alter our health and well-being. She believes that the soul, mind and emotions play an important role in health and concludes that, “The body is the unconscious mind!”
Through Lipton's research of examining the processes by which cells receive information, he postulates that genes and DNA do not control our biology; that instead DNA is controlled by signals from outside the cell, including the energetic messages emanating from our positive and negative thoughts. When we change our perceptions, we send new messages to our cells; this communication reprograms their expression and shifts our DNA. According to Lipton, this “new-biology” is fundamental in all healing and reveals why people can have spontaneous remissions from disease or recover from injuries.
Through the discoveries of these scientists, there is a common denominator that we cannot ignore: they each acknowledge the power contained in the body, mind, spirit, emotion connection and a “holistic” approach to health. For healing, harmony and balance to occur within, we must be willing to widen our perspectives to understand how the four dimensions of the self affect our total being.
The more we open ourselves to contributions and possibilities that redefine what we think we know about our biology and how it works, and explore the interconnecting facets of our being, the closer we will come to finding solutions to the many conditions that impair our health, vitality and longevity.
Additionally, we will come to a greater appreciation of a holistic approach to living.
- Sources: Elmer and Alyce Green, “Biofeedback and Volition” Subtle Energies and Energy Medicine 10 (1999); Candace Pert, “Molecules of Emotion.” and Bruce Lipton, “Biology of Belief”
Mary Ann Giacona is a holistic health practitioner and owner of The Center in Auburn. The Center's Web site is www.TheCenter4Wellness.com
The problem with this belief is that the primary focus is based on the physical body alone. It does not take into account the mental, spiritual and emotional aspects of the self. Nor does it consider the environment in which we live or the perception of our environment, a process known as epigenetic control.
Research scientists, Dr. Elmer and Alyce Green of the Menninger Foundation; molecular biologist, Dr. Candace Pert; Stanford medical professor and cellular biologist, Dr. Bruce Lipton, and others have demonstrated many times over the significance of the body, mind, spirit, emotion connection, and how each affect the other.
They have also illustrated that we do not have to passively accept our “genetic predispositions” and our “cultural and environmental impacts and conditions.” Transformation on many levels can be achieved through conscious choice and training of the mind. This new perspective of human biology does not view the body as just a mechanical device, but rather incorporates the role of a mind and spirit.
The work of Pert and her colleagues showed that a variety of proteins known as peptides (including endorphins) were among the body's key “information substances” -and each could affect our mind, emotions, immune system, digestion and other bodily functions simultaneously. Pert, postulates that with each thought, feeling and emotion we introduce, we create chemical changes that shape our physiology.
In other words, by changing our thoughts, feelings and emotions, we can create changes in our autonomic systems and alter our health and well-being. She believes that the soul, mind and emotions play an important role in health and concludes that, “The body is the unconscious mind!”
Through Lipton's research of examining the processes by which cells receive information, he postulates that genes and DNA do not control our biology; that instead DNA is controlled by signals from outside the cell, including the energetic messages emanating from our positive and negative thoughts. When we change our perceptions, we send new messages to our cells; this communication reprograms their expression and shifts our DNA. According to Lipton, this “new-biology” is fundamental in all healing and reveals why people can have spontaneous remissions from disease or recover from injuries.
Through the discoveries of these scientists, there is a common denominator that we cannot ignore: they each acknowledge the power contained in the body, mind, spirit, emotion connection and a “holistic” approach to health. For healing, harmony and balance to occur within, we must be willing to widen our perspectives to understand how the four dimensions of the self affect our total being.
The more we open ourselves to contributions and possibilities that redefine what we think we know about our biology and how it works, and explore the interconnecting facets of our being, the closer we will come to finding solutions to the many conditions that impair our health, vitality and longevity.
Additionally, we will come to a greater appreciation of a holistic approach to living.
- Sources: Elmer and Alyce Green, “Biofeedback and Volition” Subtle Energies and Energy Medicine 10 (1999); Candace Pert, “Molecules of Emotion.” and Bruce Lipton, “Biology of Belief”
Mary Ann Giacona is a holistic health practitioner and owner of The Center in Auburn. The Center's Web site is www.TheCenter4Wellness.com
