Qigong, Meditation, and DNA

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Qigong, Meditation, and DNA

Postby Dvivid » Sun Dec 21, 2008 9:11 am

I recently have been very interested in Herb Benson's findings that meditation affects the body's gene expression. Maybe we have some Western medical peeps who can help 'splice' (pun) this data with the ancient Chinese qigong concept of 'original essence - jing'.

I have only a basic understanding of DNA. Here is Herb Benson's study:
http://esciencenews.com/articles/2008/0 ... ated.genes

http://www.mbmi.org/research/default.asp

It states that meditation (and qigong and tai chi) to the point of instigating the 'relaxation effect' alters which genes are expressed, both in the short term and long term. In other words, if you practice being relaxed, focused, and energized, you're more likely to be that way more frequently. Surprise!

We have known for years that when you are slightly stressed, your hormones change and the body goes into fight or flight syndrome, the parasympathetic nervous system, which essentially shuts off your healing and cell replacement, and dampens your immune response. Many of us are in that state constantly, and it is the cause of unnecessary aging and illness. This is how stress-related nervous system illnesses operate. We also know that meditation, qigong, tai chi, etc has the opposite effect, and after a session people show elevated immune response, higher NK (natural killer) cell counts, and healthier blood chemistry. All stemming from your mind.

Remember, you CHOOSE how you respond to stress, and whether you internalize it or not. Example being: road rage. You can blow your top while tailgating someone, or you can sit back and practice humming Christmas carols. Choice. We all face some kind of stress every day, but different people respond differently. Your mental attitude (shen) determines whether you are sick or well, based on your response.

This new research is different. Specifically, Herb Benson demonstrated that meditation effects our gene expression. A gene is a sequence of DNA that contains genetic information which influences your characteristics/traits: outward appearance, development, biochemical or physical properties, and behavior. Gene expression is the process where the DNA sequence is made into functional gene products: proteins or RNA. The genes you express are the genes that you are made of. And they are the genes you pass on to offspring, aka "original essence". Mr. Benson's important work demands respect from the internal arts community. Studies like this give us one more way to validate our qigong practice to the mainstream from a Western medical perspective, and I can tell you that it inspires students to take their own practice more seriously in classes!

(don't get me started on mind, morphology, and morphic resonance! Right Tony?)
Enjoy your practice!
"Avoid Prejudice, Be Objective in Your Judgement, Be Scientific, Be Logical and Make Sense, Do Not Ignore Prior Experience." - Dr. Yang

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Postby joeblast » Wed Dec 24, 2008 2:20 pm

Ah, yes :) I agree with this theory as well. Put it in a perspective of your other 'emitting qi' thread, and it can be postulated that a good qi field has good healing effects, now....check out this youtube vid on the DNA replication process:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=teV62zrm2P0
Steady as she goes, keep oooon practicin' :)
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Postby Dvivid » Sun Dec 28, 2008 4:36 pm

Cool.

The field of epigenetics is the study of gene expression, and recent studies suggest that our behavior and diet not only affect our own gene expression, but also that of our kids and grandkids.

Our DNA itself is not 'changed', but our gene expression is changed on both short and long term basis, and it seems those traits are passed on as well. That is where this new research and the old concept of 'original jing' begin to connect, and that's what I am driving at with this.

Our DNA is constantly repairing itself, often replicating and splicing sections in order to do so. Our DNA is like a blueprint with various potential end results, which are determined by our environment and life choices.

The point is that the mind has now been shown to have a very real effect on the body at the genetic level, and I for one find it infinitely exciting. In fact, these studies seem to indicate that our understanding may need to be reversed: our mental choices and interaction with our environment are what controls our DNA, and not the other way around.

"Life is changing all the time, and the epigenetic code that controls your DNA is turning out to be the mechanism through which we change along with it. Epigenetics tells us that little things in life can have an effect of great magnitude."

http://discovermagazine.com/2006/nov/cover

"It changes the way we think about information transfer across generations,"..."The mind-set at the moment is that the information we inherit from our parents is in the form of DNA. Our experiment demonstrates that it's more than just DNA you inherit. In a sense that's obvious, because what we inherit from our parents are chromosomes, and chromosomes are only 50 percent DNA. The other 50 percent is made up of protein molecules, and these proteins carry the epigenetic marks and information."

Mind over matter.
"Avoid Prejudice, Be Objective in Your Judgement, Be Scientific, Be Logical and Make Sense, Do Not Ignore Prior Experience." - Dr. Yang

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Postby yeniseri » Sun Dec 28, 2008 11:23 pm

mRNA can be changed by diet and exercise to change DNA to affect some type of cure pertaining to cancer(s), though not always successful!
Similar to people who have been HIV positive for 20 years where they are not only surviving but thriving and carrying on a good life!
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Postby AlexQc » Tue Jan 13, 2009 10:05 pm

Hello,

Just a small correction, “fight or flight response” is mediated by the sympathetic nervous system (and not the parasympathetic nervous system).

“The point is that the mind has now been shown to have a very real effect on the body at the genetic level, and I for one find it infinitely exciting. In fact, these studies seem to indicate that our understanding may need to be reversed: our mental choices and interaction with our environment are what controls our DNA, and not the other way around.”

Our current understanding is much more complex: there is an interaction between genes and our environment. It’s not one way or the other, but both ways at the same time.

The articles you cite are interesting for sure, but they are not ground breaking. Your basic body and cell metabolism depends on genetic expression. Almost everything you do, including emotional responses, will influence which proteins are produced. If you train endurance running compared to sprinting, your muscle cells will not expressed the same genes. Of course, it becomes more interesting with epigenetic where the changes seem to last.

* * *

“To validate those results, both phases were repeated in 6 different relaxation response practitioners and 5 non-practitioners, resulting in significantly similar changes in gene expression.” Although I do not doubt their results which I find very logical, it points to a flaw common to many TCM researches: the relatively small sample.

But since I want to finish on a positive note :wink:, here is some more research about epigenetic and stress (although it’s not about meditation):
http://www.mcgill.ca/reporter/38/16/genes/
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Postby Dvivid » Thu Jan 15, 2009 8:06 am

Yes, yes...something about the para - like parachute, always makes me reverse the two:

The SYMPATHETIC nervous system overrides the parasympathetic when stressed. The point is, we must remain aware of how we internalize stress, or react to it, because ultimately we are only hurting ourselves on a physical level.

Thank you. Im continuing to research this topic and piece together an article so I appreciate other eyes on it! Great article.

Another interesting factoid I came across is:
When our DNA repairs itself, the helix actually unwinds and 'unzips', and the damaged section is replaced, and then it 'winds' back up. BUT, when we are stressed, our DNA stays wound up, or even winds tighter! So, the phrase "I need to unwind" suddenly becomes much more meaningful!
"Avoid Prejudice, Be Objective in Your Judgement, Be Scientific, Be Logical and Make Sense, Do Not Ignore Prior Experience." - Dr. Yang

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