With every thought that enters your head, with every emotion, and with every event that you experience, whether they are joyful or stressful, you act as an epigenetic engineer of your own cells. You control your own destiny. And then another question arises. If you are able to send a signal to new genes, is it possible to signal a gene before the real environment does? As a rule, feelings and emotions are the result of an experience, but is it possible, by combining a clear intention with an emotional attitude, to anticipate a future experience before it occurs? If you are deeply focused on striving for some future result and you manage to make a mental image more real than the external environment, then the brain will not distinguish one from the other. In this case, your body will start experiencing a new imaginary future right now. You will be sending new signals to your genes, preparing them for this imaginary future event. If you continue to mentally practice enough times this new set of actions, decisions, and experiences that you are striving for, replaying the same new level of consciousness over and over again, then your brain will begin to physically change, activating a new neural network. Everything will look as if the imaginary has already happened. You will produce epigenetic variations that lead to real structural and functional changes in the body through your thoughts. Your brain and body will no longer live in the same past – they will live in the new future that you have created in your mind. This can be done through mental rehearsal. The technique consists of repeatedly imagining how you perform an action with your eyes closed, and mentally gazing into the future you desire, reminding yourself all the time what you want to become. This process involves thinking about future actions, mental planning, and focusing on new experiences. Let’s look at this sequence of actions in more detail in order to understand more thoroughly what exactly happens during a mental rehearsal and how it works. When you picture a new destiny or dream in your mind, you imagine it over and over again until it becomes familiar to you. The more knowledge and experiences you have embedded in your brain about the new reality you dream of, the more resources you have to create the best model of it in your imagination, and the stronger your desire and expectation (as in the experiment with hotel maids). You “remind” yourself how your life will look and feel when you get what you want. Thus, your attention becomes intentional. Then you consciously combine your thoughts and aspirations with such states of elation as joy or gratitude. (I’ll talk about the high spirits in more detail below.) As soon as you can accept this new inspiration, you become more inspired and bathe your body in the neurochemistry that is being produced, as if this future event is happening in reality. You can say that you are giving your body a taste of the future experience. At the neurochemical level of the brain and body, there is no difference between an imaginary experience and reality, so your body is already experiencing a welcome new experience – right now. By focusing your attention on the desired future event and not allowing extraneous thoughts to distract you, in a matter of seconds you reduce the volume of neural networks involved in the representation of the former self, which leads to the shutdown of harmful old genes. You excite and weave new neural circuits, stimulating the activation of new genes. Thanks to neuroplasticity, the connections in your brain begin to rearrange to reflect what you mentally imagine. And because your new mental images are combined with strong positive inspiration, your mind and body are one, and you find yourself in a new state of being. At this stage, your brain and body cease to be an archive of the past. From now on, they are the road map to your future, to the very future that you created in your mind. Your thoughts turned into reality, and you simply became a placebo. A few success stories of mental rehearsal  You probably heard the recent story about the major who was imprisoned in a concentration camp in Vietnam, where, in order not to go crazy, he mentally played golf every day on his favorite course, trying to hit the perfect score, until he was finally released and he could not return home and play in his own way.the real one. Or perhaps you’ve read about the misadventures of Soviet human rights activist Anatoly Sharansky (later known as Natan Sharansky), who spent more than nine years in Soviet custody in the 1970s after being trumped up on charges of spying for the United States. This ardent fighter against totalitarianism spent 400 days of his prison term in a tiny, lightless ice cage in a penal isolation cell, where he played imaginary chess with himself every day, keeping in his head the coordinates of the board and the location of each piece. This allowed Sharansky to keep many neural circuits of his brain functioning (the safety of which usually requires external stimulation). After his release, he immigrated to Israel, where he eventually became a member of the Cabinet of Ministers. When the world chess champion Garry Kasparov came to Israel in 1996 to give a simultaneous chess game session against 25 Israelis, Sharansky beat him. So Aaron Rodgers, the quarterback of the Green Bay Packers team, often works out game combinations in his head at first, and later repeats them accurately on the field. This led the Packers to victory in the final Super Bowl game in 2011, when the sixth-seeded Packers won 48-21 against the first-seeded Atlanta Falcons. In this match, Rogers completed 31 of 36 passes (86.1%), reaching the fifth highest performance in the history of American football at the end of the season. “In the sixth grade, coach taught us the importance of visualization,” Rogers told a USA Today sports reporter. “When I sit in a meeting, watch a movie, or toss in bed before falling asleep, I always visualize passes or offensive maneuvers. A lot of these techniques that I used in the game were mentally worked out in advance. When I’m lying on the couch, I imagine how to make them.” In that game, Rogers also managed to deftly dodge three dangerous grapples, as he later noticed.: “I first visualized most of these techniques before applying them on the field.” There are countless professional athletes who also use mental rehearsal with resounding success. These are golfer Tiger Woods, basketball stars Michael Jordan, Larry Bird and Jerry West, baseball pitcher Roy Halliday and many others. Golf champion Jack Nicklaus wrote in his book Golf My Way: I never hit a ball, even in training, until I have a very clear, focused picture of it in my head. It’s like a color movie. At first, I “see” a snow-white ball sticking high in the bright green grass just where I want to land the finishing blow on it. Then the scene quickly changes, and I “see” how the ball arrives there: its path, trajectory and appearance, as well as landing and even rebounding. Then something like a blackout happens, and the very next scene illustrates how I make the right swing, which will turn the previous pictures into reality. It’s only at the end of this short private Hollywood performance that I pick out a stick and step up to the ball. As can be seen from these examples alone (and how many more are beyond counting!), there is plenty of evidence that mental rehearsal is very effective for acquiring a physical skill with minimal physical practice. I can’t resist giving you another example, this time from Jim Carrey, who tells an amazing story about the time when he first came to Los Angeles in the late 1980s in search of work as an actor and was barely making ends meet. He scribbled a paragraph-long message to himself on a piece of paper, where he described how to meet the right people, how to get the desired acting job, how to star in the right movie with the right cast, how to succeed and accomplish something worthwhile and how to change the world. Every evening, Jim drove up Mulholland Drive in Hollywood Hills, leaned back in his convertible and looked up at the sky. He repeated this paragraph of his, memorizing it, and imagined that what was written there was happening in reality. He didn’t leave this Hollywood mountain with its world-famous view until he got used to the image of the person he imagined himself to be and really became one. He even wrote himself a check for $10 million marked “For acting services rendered” and the date “Thanksgiving Day, 1995.” This check has not left his wallet for several years. After all, there were three films released in 1994 that made Kerry a star. The first of them, “Ace Ventura: The Search for Pets” was released in February, followed by “Mask” in July. But for his role in the third film, Dumb and Dumber, released in December, Kerry received a check for exactly $ 10 million. He brought to life exactly what he had once imagined and visualized. All these people have one thing in common – they did not take into account the external environment, went beyond their body and beyond time, providing significant neurophysiological changes inside their body. When they presented themselves to the world, they forced their mind and body to work together and created in the material world what they had first imagined. This is confirmed by scientific research. First of all, a lot of experiments on mental rehearsal have proven that when a person concentrates on some part of his body, the part of the brain that controls this part is stimulated, and if you continue to do this, this practice will lead to physical changes in the corresponding sensory area of the brain. This is understandable, because if you keep awareness in the same place, you excite and weave the same networks of neurons, and as a result you will build stronger brain maps in this area. In one Harvard study, subjects who had never played the piano before mentally practiced a simple five-finger exercise for 2 hours a day for 5 days and received the same brain changes as participants in the control group who performed the same exercises on a real instrument. The area of the brain that controls finger movements increased significantly in the imaginers and looked as if the experience they had just imagined was happening in reality. They installed neural hardware (networks) and software, thus creating new brain maps with just an effort of thought. Another study, which lasted 12 weeks, involved 30 people. Some of them regularly exercised their little fingers, while the rest only imagined this exercise. The control group that performed physical exercises in reality increased the strength of their little fingers by 53%, and those who only imagined doing it also increased the strength of their little fingers – but by 35%. Their mind has changed their body. In a similar experiment, ten volunteers imagined with all their might that they were pumping one of their biceps 5 times a week. Every two weeks, the researchers recorded the electrical activity of the subjects’ brains during the sessions, as well as measured the strength of their muscles. For those who only imagined flexion, biceps muscle strength increased by 13.5% in a few weeks, and they maintained this shape for another three months after the “training” ended. Their bodies responded to the mental image. The latest example is a French study. Here, the performance of subjects who either lifted or only imagined lifting dumbbells of various weights was compared. As a result, those who imagined lifting heavier dumbbells gained more muscle compared to those who imagined lifting a smaller weight. In all three mentioned mental rehearsal studies, subjects were able to significantly increase their body strength using only thoughts. The question may arise whether there are studies where subjects not only imagine what they want to create, but also combine it with powerful positive emotions. So, such studies are really being conducted. And we will get to know them very soon. A signal to new genes  To understand more clearly why mental rehearsal works, it is necessary to delve into some details of the anatomy of the brain and its neurochemistry. To begin with, the frontal lobes are our creative center. It is this part of the brain that is associated with learning new things, dreaming about future opportunities, making conscious decisions, setting goals, and so on. In the brain, the frontal cortex acts as the CEO. But more importantly, the frontal lobes also allow you to observe who you are and evaluate what you are doing and how you feel. This is the home of your consciousness. When a person is fully aware of his thoughts, he eventually learns to control them. When you practice mental rehearsal and focus entirely on the desired result, the frontal lobes act as your ally. After all, they are, among other things, able to lower the noise of the outside world so that you are not so much distracted by the signals coming from the senses. Brain scans show that in a deeply concentrated state (including during mental rehearsal), the perception of time and space disappears. This is because the frontal lobes mute signals from sensory centers (which allow us to feel our body in space), from motor centers (responsible for physical movement) and associative centers (associated with ideas about who you are), as well as from the parietal lobes (which are believed to be involved in sense of time). As a result, you go beyond your surroundings, beyond your body, and even beyond time, and this helps make the imaginary more real than anything else. At the moment when you are imagining your new future, you should think about a new opportunity and start asking specific questions, for example: “What would it be like to live without this pain and limitation?” – how do your frontal lobes direct all their attention to this, supporting the desire to be healthy and the mental image of what it feels like to be healthy. As CEO, the frontal cortex has connections to all parts of the brain. She begins to select networks of neurons to create a new state of mind in response to a request. It can be said that she becomes a symphonic conductor, suppressing your old rigid connection (the contractile function of neuroplasticity), as well as selecting other networks of neurons from various parts of the brain and linking them together to create a new level of consciousness reflecting what you imagine. Mental changes cause the brain to work in other sequences, configurations, and combinations. Now let’s add some neurochemistry here. If your frontal cortex causes enough of these neural networks to fire in unison when you focus on a clear aspiration, then the moment will come when the thought becomes a mental experience, that is, your inner reality will become more real than the outer one. As soon as a thought becomes like a real experience, you begin to experience the same feelings that would accompany this event in reality. Your brain produces a chemical messenger, a neuropeptide, and sends it through the cells of your body. The neuropeptide searches for appropriate cellular receptors (docking stations) on a variety of cells in order to deliver its message to the hormonal centers of the body and, ultimately, to cellular DNA. As a result, the cells receive a new message stating that an imaginary event has occurred. When the DNA in a cell receives this new information from a neuropeptide, it reacts by turning on some genes and turning off others, designed to support a new state of your being. This switching on and off is similar to lamps that either warm up and become brighter, or cool down and dim accordingly. When the gene is activated, it “lights up” and produces the corresponding protein. When a gene is deactivated, it “goes out”, fades, becomes weaker and weaker, and no longer produces enough proteins. And we see the consequences of this in the form of physical changes in our body. Stem cells: a powerful pool of our potential  Stem cells represent the next level that needs to be understood in our puzzle. They are also involved in making the seemingly impossible possible. Formally, these are general-purpose reserve cells that are able to acquire the necessary specialization. They represent a raw material potential – a kind of tabula rasa (Latin: blank slate). When they are activated, they turn into the type of cell that needs to be replenished at the moment, whether it’s muscle cells, bone cells, skin cells, immune cells, or even brain neurons. This is usually required in order to replace damaged or dead cells in the body’s tissues, organs, and systems. Stem cells can be compared to pieces of clay waiting on a potter’s wheel to be molded into plates, cups, vases, or mugs. Here is an example of how stem cells work. When you cut your finger, your body needs to repair the damaged skin. The local receptors send a signal to your genes. The gene turns on and produces the appropriate proteins that cause stem cells to turn into specific skin cells. The traumatic signal is the information needed by the stem cell to transform into a skin cell in this case. There are millions of similar processes going on in our body all the time. Healing related to this type of gene expression has been noted not only in the liver, muscles, skin, intestines, and bone marrow, but even in the brain and heart. Wound healing studies show that if a person experiences pronounced negative emotions like anger, his stem cells do not receive a clear message. The signal is received with interference, and the potential cell does not receive the correct intelligible stimulation. She doesn’t really “know” what kind of useful cell to turn into. And (we already talked about this in the section on stress response and survival mode) as a result, recovery will take longer, since most of the body’s energy is spent on curbing anger and its chemical effects. There is no time to create, grow, repair tissue damage and saturate them. But when your consciousness is at the proper level and is supported by a clear intention coupled with positive inspiration, the necessary signal reaches the cellular DNA. And it will affect the production of proteins for body health. This will result in completely new healthy cells from latent stem cells that are just waiting to be activated properly. In fact, the stem cell phenomenon helps explain how recovery occurs in at least half of placebo applications, including pseudosurgery (whether it’s arthritic knee surgery or coronary bypass surgery, described in chapter 1). Aspiration and emotional uplift change our biology  We have already mentioned that the emotional state plays a crucial role in the healing of the body, but now let’s look at this issue in more detail and in more depth. If a person experiences an emotional uplift, thanks to the new thoughts on which he is focused, this will play the role of a turbo boost for his efforts. Although those participants in the experiment who pumped up their muscles, imagining that they were lifting weights, did not need to have fun in order to change their genes. However, they inspired themselves when they spurred their imagination with each imaginary dumbbell lift, saying: “Come on! Let’s! Come on!” A steady emotional charge served as an energetic catalyst that really enhanced the process. Maintaining such a high emotional mood allows us to achieve much more significant results, and much faster. This explains many of the surprising results of the placebo effect. Do you remember that laughter experiment from chapter 2? Japanese researchers found that watching an hour-long comedy show turned on 39 genes, 14 of which were related to the activity of protective cells of the immune system. Some other studies have noted an increase in a variety of antibodies after subjects watched a humorous video. A study by researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, in addition, showed that positive emotions contribute to an increase in the tone of the vagus nerve, which plays a major role in the regulation of the autonomic nervous system and homeostasis. In one Japanese study, baby rats were tickled for five minutes a day for five consecutive days in order to evoke positive emotions in them. As a result, their brains generated new neurons. Strong positive emotions help to trigger real physical changes that strengthen health. A positive attitude makes the body and brain blossom. Let’s take another look at the picture of numerous placebo studies. When a patient clearly and definitely aspires to a new future (a conscious desire to live without pain and disease) and this is combined with emotional inspiration (hope and anticipation of a real life without disease), his body no longer lives in the past. The body finds itself in this new future, because, as we have seen, the body does not know the difference between the emotional state generated by real experience or generated by the idea of the future. Let’s recall Mr. Wright from chapter 1. He was so inspired by the idea that he would take a new powerful medicine, which everyone was talking about so much, that he began to imagine how it would cure him. Mr. Wright was so excited that he simply harassed his attending physician with requests to prescribe this drug to him. When he finally began to take this panacea, it did not occur to him that it was a dummy. But since the brain doesn’t know the difference between emotionally charged mental images of health and actual health, his body reacted emotionally as if what he imagined had already happened. It was this, rather than the placebo he was taking, that led to a reduction in his tumors and restored his health. This is what created a new state of his being. Later, when Mr. Wright found out that a test of the drug showed that it did not work, he slipped back into his old thoughts and gloomy feelings, and unsurprisingly, his tumors returned. But the doctor made Wright happy – supposedly he would be able to get an improved modification of the same drug, and Wright was inspired again. He really believed that this new modification would work. Emotional uplift and hope returned to him, and the necessary chemicals were developed in his body. And again, his brain and body reacted as if what he had just imagined had already happened, and the tumors disappeared again. He became his own placebo. It is not enough to avoid such negative feelings as fear and anger, it is necessary to consciously cultivate a sincere positive attitude.: feelings of gratitude, joy, inspiration, admiration, as well as awe, amazement, trust, appreciation, kindness, and empathy. This will miraculously help to strengthen your health. Research shows that such all–encompassing feelings as kindness and empathy (inherent in us from birth) contribute to the production of an important neuropeptide in the body – oxytocin, which naturally turns off receptors in the amygdala, that is, in the area of the brain that is associated with the experience of fear and anxiety. And after getting rid of fear, a person feels incomparably more faith, forgiveness and love. His selfishness is replaced by dedication. And thanks to this new state of being, access to endless possibilities appears, because now a person does not waste all his energy on fears and worries, as if it were about surviving in a dangerous environment. Many organs of our body contain cellular receptors that are susceptible to oxytocin: the intestines, the immune system, the liver and the heart, and others. The main healing effect of oxytocin is associated with the growth of new blood vessels in the heart, stimulation of immune function, increased motor function of the stomach and normalization of blood sugar levels. Let’s go back to the mental rehearsal for a moment. We have found that the frontal cortex helps us to go beyond ourselves – into a state of pure consciousness in which our ego disappears. And when you imagine what you want in this new state, your heart is open, so that the vicious circle in which you feel what you think and think what you feel is now finally working for your benefit. The egoistic mindset in which you were living in a mode of survival and consumption is no longer there, because the energy that you directed to the needs of survival is now released and allows you to create new things. You’re finally free. Your symphonic conductor (frontal lobes) feels like a child in the pastry department, excited to see all kinds of creations of new neural connections that can be woven into new neural networks. Now you are no longer waiting for changes or hoping for changes – now you are the change itself. Back to the monastery  Let’s turn again to the study from the beginning of the last chapter, according to which older men pretended to be young and actually became physically younger. The question of how they did it has now been answered, and we have solved the mystery. After arriving at the monastery, these old men left their usual lives. They were no longer reminded of who they thought they were based on their surroundings. Then they started their seminar with a very clear mindset – to pretend that they were young again and get used to this image as deeply as possible. Because they watched movies, read magazines, and listened to radio and watched television programs from when they were 22 years younger, living outside of modern distractions, they were able to put out of their minds that they were 70-80 years old. They really started living like they were young again. Because they thought and felt young, their brains began firing neurons in new sequences, configurations, and combinations, some of which had not been in use for 22 years. Everything around these younger men (as well as their own excited imaginations) happily supported them in making this experience real. As a result, in a matter of days, genetic changes appeared in the body, reflecting who they had become. Neuropeptides appeared that corresponded to their new emotions and, being released, delivered new signals to the cells of the body. The cells let these chemical messengers inside, directly to the DNA in their nucleus. And new proteins were created there. They, in turn, searched for new genes (according to the information they carried with them), and when they found the right genes, the proteins unfolded the DNA, turning on the gene and triggering epigenetic changes. If the body cannot find the necessary components to create the required epigenetic changes, then the epigenome simply turns to stem cells to make everything from them that it needs. As we recall, those subjects showed a cascade of physical improvements against the background of a large number of epigenetic changes involving many genes. And after the experiment was over, young men who had nothing in common with the old men who had hobbled there just a week ago fluttered out through the monastery gates. And since the process has worked for these guys, trust me, it can work for you too. What kind of reality do you choose to live in and who are you pretending to be? Is it really that simple? A source: Joe Dispenza “His own placebo.”