epigenetics

The power of the mind

For years it was thought that the brain was fixed, a term known as casual closure. The view was rigidly held that the brain created no new neurons, and that the operations of the neuronal structures were immutable. This approach, drawn from Newtonian physics that only the physical could act on the physical, was applied also to the brain. The very notion that the brain could be altered, moulded, reshaped by such phenomenon as thought or ‘intention’ was rejected outright. So dogmatic were scientists on this point that it wasn’t even the subject of research until very recent times. But this study, known as neuroplasticity (that the brain is malleable, and is affected by thought, and conditions other than the physical) has now disproved the notion of casual closure, and turned the whole research on its head.

And it’s probably the most exciting thing that has come along in a long time.

For years people thought that the brain stopped growing at around the age of 18. So whatever you had learned by then was basically your lot. Consequently, education ended around this time, or earlier for many people. Throughout the history of the world many false premises have evolved, based on a misunderstanding of science, and an all too human tendency to look no further than the immediate presentable phenomenon, which have set in train a whole set of presumptions. For example, that the earth was flat, that some races were superior to others, that time is linear and that you die. These false assumptions then grew into ‘accepted facts’, even prejudices, and were, and still for many people are, difficult to change. Many of these assumptions impeded the growth of human development, and condemned thousands to lives of quiet desperation.

For years it was believed that cellular change could not come about from any factor other than genetic. Now all that has changed. The study of epigenetics is having a similar impact on revolutionizing our attitude towards change and how things really work. The word epigenetics derives from the Greeks epi (επί) meaning over, above, and genus. Epigenetics is of course a scientific form and encompasses, among other things, the study of phenotype (appearance) and gene expression. Recent research by Renato Paro, professor for Biosystems at the Department of Biosystems Science and Engineering, on the drosophila fruit fly, showed that temperature fluctuations caused changes in eye color in newly hatched flies and this change was passed on to future generations, while not affecting the underlying DNA sequence. [source ETH Zurich (2009) in ScienceDaily]

Thus it proves that environment affects inheritance. And it is very exciting news.

That means that such things as diet, education, our relationships, social intercourse, as well as psychological factors can actually impact at a genetic level in human development and change, and these changes are then passed on to future generations. Now think of the positive changes you make in your life, whether it’s taking up meditation or Reiki or developing an attitude of gratitude mindset, these positive changes won’t just make you feel good, they will actually alter the physical landscape of your brain! And, further, these very positive and beneficial changes will be passed on to your children and impact on generations to come.

Epigenetics, neuroplasticity and cell memory

We know now, due to the pioneering work of Bruce Lipton, Candace Pert and others, that we are not predetermined by genetic make-up, but, like the pioneering work in neuroplasticity, other factors play a role. For example, when liver cells divide, acetylated or methylated histones deactivate all genes except liver cell types, hence they recreate themselves, and not something else. It is by these proteins that cells ‘know’ how to regenerate, which receptor cells to switch on and switch off when appropriate. This is what we mean by cellular memory.

To put it in very blunt terms your leg is your leg and not your ear because the cells that make it up have a ‘tendency’ towards leg and not ear! This is, of course, how tumors grow when receptor cells get switched on that aren’t supposed to. Why? Good question, again we know now it can be down to environmental factors and not just genes, you don’t get a coronary just because your father got one. Epigenetics have proved that many other factors can be at play.

But the really exciting news is that this can be reversed, those receptor cells that got switched on unintentionally can be switched off, and positive, life-affirming ones switched on instead. And the way to do this is through intention.

I also believe the power of thought, concentrated thought, can affect and change the genes. I want to propose that because of an expectation of how we are supposed to look, behave or act, that the expectation itself is enough to switch on that process and so bring it about. How often have you heard people proudly pronounce, ‘junior there is the spitting image of his dad’? Okay, of course there is genetic imput, but how big a role does the desire to recreate our offspring in our own image play in this? We have expectations of our children that go way beyond how we’d like them to look; expectations around performance, ambition, even wanting them to fulfil the unrealized dreams we had for ourselves. This is important too in regard to certain diseases, (such as Huntington’s), that may or may not be genetically transmitted. Without getting embroiled in the argument whether or not it’s right to tell children about family medical anomalies, a person’s fear that being a carrier of some disease, which they could potentially go on to develop, may be a factor in triggering it.

Epigenetics impacts on social attitudes too. There is often a presumption held that people because of the social economic grouping they were born into will have lower expectations, and consequently follow a different path through life. Sadly, too often these expectations are realised. If a child comes from an underprivileged background it is common knowledge that they are expected to perform less well, and as a result society seems less willing to put the opportunities and instruments of State in place that could help that child. I know there are other factors in play too, but our expectations of people do play a role, I would argue, in how they mature, in how they view themselves, in their internal shaping of their own self worth. And those expectations become neurologically wired and passed on to succeeding generations.

Also childhood experiences, especially traumatic ones, can cause change at the cellular level. It is now proven that such experiences have been known to reduce the glucocorticoid receptors which leads to over activity in the pituitary gland region, which can have long term affects on the person’s ability to cope with stressful situations, in some cases leading to prolonged depression and even suicide. [source: the Epigenome Network of Excellence.]

Epigenetics and the new world

We are experiencing huge changes in the world at present. New scientific thinking is now discovering that the old paradigms are no longer adequate to explain new changes. A whole new paradigm of science and consciousness is now being forged. Therefore, it is only natural that the old thought systems are starting to break apart. The science of epigenetics is leading the way in this. It is showing us that these revolutionary new changes are taking place very close to home indeed, in our own bodies.

Too easily do we fall for what appears to be ‘self evident’. That’s the flat earth theory again. It’s like saying ‘I’ll believe it when I see it’, when the truth is that ‘I'll see it when I believe it’. The world around us is the outpouring of our minds. Our senses only reflect this and tell us what we already know.

So, we have seen that many factors, apart from genetic, can alter our physical make-up, and create change even at the cellular level, change that can transform our lives, and those of our children. These factors include social, environmental, behaviour.

And, I would add love. Love and kindness and mindfulness can certainly alter our attitudes, and there is lots of proof that they can alter physical phenomenon as well, for example reverse disease. And the really exciting thing about all this is that with epigenetics the effects are passed on to your offspring. So change your mind, change your heart, and you can produce a new generation of highly conscious and awake beings.

Things are looking up.

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