Yeah, it sounds like New Age crap, but there is a actual scientific publication by researchers in Wisconsin, Spain, and France that reports the first evidence of specific molecular changes in the body following a period of mindfulness meditation.
So what does it mean? Well, it’s been a long known fact that experienced yogis (people who practiced Yoga) can control several parameters of their bodies including temperature, heart rate, and blood pressure. The leap from that to being able to alter genes in a positive way is not as far as one may think.
After eight hours of mindfulness practice, the meditators showed a range of genetic and molecular differences, including altered levels of gene-regulating machinery and reduced levels of pro-inflammatory genes, which in turn correlated with faster physical recovery from a stressful situation.
Mind over body takes a whole new meaning when you think about this. But committing to the amount of meditation required for a meaningful effect may be more than most people would deem reasonable – the research group did approximately 6 hours of meditation per day for a period of 3 months. That’s A LOT. Never mind the time constraints of most working people, getting the resolve and self discipline to repeat this day in and day out (without visible gain for a while) is more than most people will agree to do.
Will technology be able to help us achieve the same effects but in a shorter time span? Only time will tell.
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