Sabbath Ramblings: Bones Of Steel.

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My wife is a skinny, Montana rancher girl who is tough and hard, but also has what I would consider to be thin “bird bones” along with a slight, lean build that—if not kept strong via loading along the long axis of the bone, high mineral intake, omega-3 fatty acids, fat-soluble vitamins, DHEA and progesterone optimization and plenty of the other tactics I tackle in this very thorough osteoporosis podcast episode—could very well increase her risk for developing a high amount of frailty and fragility as she ages, resulting in the possibility of her doing something like fracturing a hip if she steps off a curb the wrong way when she's 60 years old.

I, of course, care for and love my wife, so I'm careful to (in a “non-nagging” sort of way) ensure that she cares for her bones so that any genetic risk for osteoporosis or osteopenia is nipped in the bud and does not manifest.

But no matter how many kettlebell squats she does, how much calcium and vitamin K she consumes, and how much caffeine and alcohol she avoids in her quest for bones of steel, she's also—based on the studying up we've done on folks like Bruce Lipton (author of Biology Of Belief) and David Hawkins (author of Healing & Recovery) and above all, the Bible—careful to focus on releasing any feelings of anger, hate, selfishness or bitterness in her life, all of which are associated with, you guessed it, bone “issues.”

For example, in Chinese traditional medicine, the emotion of anger is not only associated with bone cancer, but the disturbance of several other emotions (especially melancholy, anxiety, and anger) is also considered to significantly contribute to the pathogenesis of chronic disease. You're going to learn plenty more about that shortly.


It All Began In Northern Galilee

But let's begin here…

…I first realized the power of emotions and stress to affect disease risk when I traveled to Israel for a tour of the country’s unique collection of health spas, fitness centers, healing retreats, and wellness facilities. In Northern Galilee, I visited the home of a former professional basketball player – Doron Sheffer (who I interviewed in this heart moving podcast called “Why You Get Cancer & What To Do About It“).

Doron had been an amazing athlete.

He was an achiever.

A hard-charger.

A “professional person.”

As a guard for the dominant college basketball team UConn, he fed the ball to star teammates like Ray Allen and played for legendary coach Jim Calhoun. Sheffer averaged five assists and thirteen points per game, he hit 40% of his three-point attempts, and led the Uconn Huskies to a brilliant 89-13 record, along with NCAA tournament appearances in each of his three seasons. He then became the first Israeli ever drafted by the NBA when the Los Angeles Clippers selected him in the second round in 1996, but he instead signed a lucrative contract with the Israeli professional basketball team, Maccabi Tel Aviv which he then led to four consecutive national championships.

But then Doron got testicular cancer. When I sat down with him in his backyard garden looking over the beautiful hills of Amirim, eating a meal of organic figs, goji berries, and sweet local almonds, he described to me how the tremendous pressure, tension, difficulties, frustrations, pent-up emotions, and stress from the life of a hard-charging professional athlete eventually built up inside him and culminated in disease.

Indeed, scientists have actually discovered that emotional stress similar to what Doron experienced can be a trigger for the growth of tumors. As a matter of fact, any sort of trauma, emotional or physical stress, can act as a literal pathway between cancerous mutations, bringing them together in a potentially fatal combination. For example, at Yale University, scientists have now discovered that everyday emotional stress is a trigger for the growth of tumors. The findings show that the conditions for developing cancer can be significantly affected by your emotional environment, including everyday work and family stress. In other words, your risk of developing cancer can be positively or negatively affected by your emotional environment, including everyday work, physical, emotional, and relationship stress.

The traditional Chinese medical view of cancer etiology has long-held that emotions are a major contributing factor for cancer. For example, author Sun Binyan writes in his book Cancer Treatment and Prevention:

“According to our understanding of the tumor patient, most have suppression of the emotions. They tend to hold in their anger. Although some patients have good results after treatment, emotional stimulation may cause them to decline again, and then the previous treatment would have been in vain. Some people have a severe phobia about cancer. Before they know the real disease, they have a lot of suspicion. Once they know they have cancer, their whole spirit breaks down. This kind of spiritual state is very bad for the treatment.”

In the book, Prevention and Treatment of Carcinoma in Traditional Chinese Medicine, Jia Kun gives ten recommendations for cancer prevention. In addition to a good environment and personal hygiene, proper amounts of physical activity and rest, good eating habits and healthy food, and avoiding smoking, he states that:

“Emotional changes, such as worry, fear, hesitation, anger, irritation, and nervousness should be prevented. Mental exhaustion is harmful and life should be enriched with entertainment.”

Chinese medicine authors Shi Lanling and Shi Peiquan also mention the etiology of various cancers in their book Experience in Treating Carcinomas with Traditional Chinese Medicine:

“The etiologic factors of the disease involve chiefly the disturbance of the seven emotions, especially melancholy, anxiety, and anger, which are liable to impair the spleen and the liver. Impaired by melancholy and anxiety, qi will be stagnated and the spleen will lose the function of transformation and transportation, leading to disturbance of water metabolism and the subsequent accumulation of phlegm-dampness, while, impaired by anger, the liver qi will be stagnated. The stagnated liver qi, as qi is the commander of blood, may give rise to blood stasis if not relieved in time. Thus, emotional disturbance, in-coordination between the ascending-descending movement of qi of the zang-fu organs, sluggish flow of qi and blood, and the ensuing obstruction of dampness, phlegm, and blood stasis are the fundamental pathogenesis of the disease.”

In their section on treatment of breast cancer, the authors refer to a discussion in a Ming Dynasty text by the surgeon Chen Shigong (1555-1636 A.D.) that indicates that breast cancer “results from anxiety, emotional depression, and overthinking which impairs the liver, spleen, and heart and causes the obstruction of the channels.” This text is also mentioned in The Treatment of Cancer by Integrated Chinese-Western Medicine, and is translated as follows:

“Breast cancer is due to worry and melancholy. Lots of ideas hanging around make one feel dissatisfied. Perverse flow of liver qi to the spleen leads to the obstruction of the channels and collaterals and congelations due to excessive accumulation.”

In addition, the book Cancer Treatment with Fu Zheng Pei Ben Principle presents a section on the etiology of cancer, and describes the following with regards to emotional disturbances:

“TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine) embodies changes of spirit and sentiment as the seven emotions: pleasure, anger, grief, fear, yearning, sorrow, surprise, all of which are emotional, physiological reactions of an organism towards external changes in its environment. Emotional disturbance refers to reactions, either excessive (excitation) or insufficient (inhibition) which will ultimately lead to disturbances in the flowing of qi and blood and the visceral functions, with subsequent illness. TCM claims rage harms the liver, excessive stimulation harms the heart, grief harms the spleen, great sorrow harms the lungs, and fear harms the kidneys. Though not necessarily precise, this belief definitely points out that emotional injury will affect the physiological functions of the qi, blood, viscera, and channels, and lower the body resistance, resulting in disease. The human body is susceptible to cancer when under emotional stress or disturbance.”

One major study published in China involving a significant population of approximately 750,000 individuals in Beijing attempted to determine if psychosocial factors contributed to the incidence of primary lung cancer. They reported three factors positively associated with lung cancer: 1) a burst of emotion that could not be controlled; 2) poor working circumstances, including poor relationships with co-workers; and 3) a depressive feeling for a long time.

Western research, in a field termed “Affective Immunology,”  has gone on to support the idea that depression can impair immune system functions. For example, it has been shown that tumor-relevant lymphocyte subpopulations, also known as natural killer cells (NK cells, which can attack cancer cells), have receptors for various neuropeptide proteins, including those released during stress. This means that NK cell activity can be influenced by emotions. The level of NK cell activity has been shown in research to be a good predictor of breast cancer outcome, and a loss of NK activity in cancer patients has been shown to be correlated with psychosocial measures such as the level of patient adjustment (avoiding showing distress at the cancer diagnosis or treatment – such as internalizing the stress), lack of social support, and symptoms of fatigue or depression (incidentally,  laughing and joy has been shown to increase NK activity).

If you read a book such as The Healing Code or look into the vast amount of research on the link between emotional stress and chronic disease, you'll see hundreds of examples of how the sympathetic nervous system (SNS), the fight-or-flight portion of the nervous system, can actually encourage metastasis when chronically elevated. During acute stress, the SNS becomes active. But soon as a stressful event has passed, the body returns back to homeostasis within about an hour. But under chronic stress, the SNS is turned on virtually all the time, and in this chronically stressed state, adrenaline and noradrenaline can alter genetic expression via the same protein-folding mechanisms you’ve already discovered in this article. This genetic alteration can lead to a number of pro-cancer processes, including activation of inflammatory responses, inhibition of immune responses and programmed cancer cell death, reduction in the cytotoxic function of NK cells, inhibition of DNA repair, stimulation of cancer cell angiogenesis, and activation of epithelial-mesenchymal transition, which is one of the ways new cancer stem cells are created.

One researcher, Dr. Harold Burr, used mice to determine if the energy field of the human body can play a role in cancer. He measured the energy fields of the mice fields and noted which mice later developed cancer. After taking more than 10,000 measurements, he found that the electromagnetic signature of cancer appeared in the mouse’s energy field before any detectable cellular malignancy was even evident! Burr also looked at a group of healthy women who did not have a diagnosis of uterine cancer. Interestingly, the women who had an electromagnetic signature for uterine cancer – even though they were apparently healthy – were the ones who went on to develop cancer later. In other words, cancer was showing up in the field of energy before it showed up in the physical cells!

Burr’s body of work demonstrates the wisdom of an ancient saying in traditional Chinese medicine: “The mind controls the qi, and the blood follows the qi.” The ancient sages were referring to life energy, and by blood they meant the matter of the body. Energy influences matter! Perhaps this is why research has shown tumors shrinking to less than half their original size within just a few hours of an emotional therapy session that elicited positive healing emotions, why studies have shown the DNA in cancer cells in Petri dishes in labs disintegrate when positive emotions were directed to those cells by Chinese traditional medical practitioners, and why mindfulness meditation for just three months has been shown to induce an anti-aging effect by directly growing your telomeres.

Now here’s the deal: I’m personally a hard-charging guy focused on personal and professional excellence in everything I do. But I truly believe that unless you are able to relax, breathe, de-stress, and simply stop and smell the roses, you’re going to be the kind of person who eventually develops a chronic-stress related disease that forces your fast-forward life into slow-motion. So you have to put the brakes on before your body puts the brakes on and forces you to stop, perhaps with the flu, perhaps with back pain, or perhaps with cancer. Make sense?

The ultimate question is: How can you do this?

How can you slow down before your body forces you to slow down?

How can you somehow dig yourself out of a hole of a constant barrage of emails, text messages, phone calls, over-exercising, eating to train and training to eat, going to bed late, 24-7 self-quantified biohacking, trying to have everything, FOMO, getting up early, and still somehow managing to squeeze in some semblance of quality in your friend and family relationships?

This is exactly what Doron figured out, and this man’s new approach to life, his answers, and his new aura of peace and calm spoke heavily to me when I interviewed him. He defied conventional medicine and naturally healed his body of cancer, and his approach to life is now refreshing, relaxed, and incredibly peaceful. When I visited Doron at his peaceful home and private health resort Hyuli in Amirim, in the mountains of Northern Israel, I was surrounded by a laid-back, de-stressed community of aromatherapists, massage therapists, herb gardens, spas, a health food shop, an organic olive oil shop, art galleries, restaurants, and wellness bed and breakfasts. These mountains are where Doron slipped away from chronic stress, reinvigorated his body, and underwent his own spiritual cleanse to win his battle against testicular cancer.

In short, Doron healed himself by radically changing his environment and emotions.


The Biology Of Your Beliefs

Now I could stop here, but I know that many of my readers dig the “hardcore science” so to speak, or at least may like to delve into some of the chemical, genetic, and physical factors underlying this link between emotions and physical health. So put on your thinking caps, because we're about to delve into a few of the concepts that stem cell biologist and author Bruce Lipton, Ph.D. shares in his highly relevant book The Biology of Belief: Unleashing the Power of Consciousness, Matter & Miracles.

In the book, and often during his speeches, Bruce shares a quote from Albert Einstein:

“The field is the sole governing agency of the particle.”

Dr. Lipton claims that if we can prove that our thoughts can create that “field” and if the field is what actually controls and governs the particle (physical matter, our bodies, and the world around us), then what Einstein was actually saying was that our thoughts and intentions can directly create the world that we live in.

So in 1982 (when I was one year old!), Dr. Lipton began examining the principles of quantum physics and how they might be integrated into an understanding of the cell’s information processing systems. He proceeded to produce breakthrough studies on the cell membrane, which revealed that this outer layer of the cell was an organic homolog of a computer chip: the cell’s equivalent of a brain. His research at Stanford University’s School of Medicine went on to reveal that the environment, operating through the electrochemical gradient across the cellular membrane, can control the behavior and physiology of the cell, and even turn genes on and off.

In a nutshell, Lipton teaches that if you have a belief, then the function of the mind is to manifest that belief so it becomes a reality.

For example, if you have a belief that you’re going to get a cold because you were around a friend with the sniffles, then the function of the mind is to convert that belief—along with all the anxiety and worry about getting sick and missing a workday or trip to the beach—into physical manifestation, and voila, the next day you wake up with a cold. If you have a strong emotion, positive or negative, around a certain belief, it can cause that particular belief to become your physical reality. According to Lipton, the science of epigenetics is not the science of being defined by your genes or environment but is instead the science of understanding how your interpretation of your life events and environment affects the cells of your physical body.

Seem like a stretch? Maybe not so much a stretch as you would think. See, there is a new scientific awareness of Dr. Lipton’s work an awareness very much related to the genome project, genetic engineering, and the infatuation with DNA that seems to be currently capturing all the media’s and health world’s attention.

To understand this awareness, we must begin with an understanding of how our entire biological lives are driven and managed by proteins, the molecular building blocks of our bodies.

There are over 150,000 different proteins that make up your body. Each protein is a long, linear molecule of amino acids linked end-to-end, and each molecule is like a tiny spine in which the amino acid molecules are miniature vertebrae. There are 20 different amino acids, and each has a unique shape. The final shape of each protein’s spine is determined by the specific sequence of each of these uniquely-shaped amino acid links. Ultimately, this means that every cell in your body is built from an assembly of thousands of different-shaped protein molecules.

The novelty of these proteins is that they can change their shape. As a matter of fact, the movement of the protein’s tiny spine is analogous to the movement of a human spine. In your own spine, each of the jointed segments can rotate and flex at the point at which they are coupled. On the human spine, it is skeletal muscles that cause this movement. But on the protein spine, movement and shape configuration changes are the result of a repulsive or attractive force generated by electromagnetic fields.

As a protein’s electric charge or field is altered, that protein adjusts the shape of its spine to accommodate these forces. When it changes shape from one configuration to another, the protein molecule moves, along with the movement of all the other protein molecules surrounding it, cooperating in functional assemblies called pathways. Respiratory pathways, digestive pathways, and muscle contraction pathways are all examples of assemblies of proteins whose coordinated movements produce specific biological functions.

Studies have now shown that this change in the shape of proteins can actually change the expression of our genetics, and vice versa. Since proteins are altered by electromagnetic fields, including fields generated by thoughts, feelings, and emotions, then this means that genes can be turned on and off by those same fields. That’s right: you can control gene activity by focusing on your beliefs. These beliefs, true or false, positive or negative, creative or destructive, exist not only in your mind, but instead influence the very cells of your body. This also means that DNA does not by itself control your biology, and that information can be transmitted throughout your body, to other people’s bodies, and even to your descendants in ways other than through the base sequence of DNA.

This means that thoughts, emotions, and energy can activate or inhibit a cell’s function-producing proteins, that harnessing the power of your mind can be just as effective or more effective than pharmaceuticals, supplements, and biohacks, and that your perception of your environment is significantly responsible for your health and biological function. What we think, feel, and say, who we are around, and everything in our environment has a significant influence on who we are and how we function, even down to the details of how our genes are expressed.

So is it true that a sunny outlook means fewer colds and less heart disease, hope can somehow protect against hypertension, diabetes, and respiratory tract infections, and happier people live longer? It turns out that research on the biology of emotionand what it may teach us about helping people to live longer has been studied at institutions such as Harvard. Laura Kubzansky of the Harvard School of Public Health is at the forefront of such research. In a 2007 study that followed more than 6,000 men and women aged 25 to 74 for 20 years, she found that emotional vitality (a sense of enthusiasm, hopefulness, engagement in life, and ability to face life’s stresses with emotional balance) significantly reduces the risk of coronary heart disease, even when accounting for healthy behaviors such as not smoking and regular exercise.

A vast amount of additional scientific literature details how negative emotions harm the body, and how sustained stress or fear can alter biology in a way that, over time, adds up to wear and tear and, eventually, illnesses including heart disease, stroke, and diabetes. For example, chronic anger and anxiety have been proven to disrupt cardiac function by changing the heart’s electrical stability, hastening atherosclerosis, and increasing systemic inflammation.

Even the sustained activation of the body’s stress response system resulting from early life experiences such as neglect, violence, or living alone with a parent suffering severe mental illness has harmful effects on the brain and other organ systems. But additional research has shown that certain personality traits help people avoid or healthfully manage diseases such as heart attacks, strokes, diabetes, and depression, including emotional vitality (a sense of enthusiasm, hopefulness, and engagement), optimism (a perspective that good things will happen, and that one’s actions account for the good things that occur in life), supportive networks of family and friends, and bouncing back from stressful challenges and knowing that things will eventually look up again.

Among dozens of published papers outlining these types of stress responses, Kubzansky has shown that children who are able to stay focused on a task and have a more positive outlook at age 7 report better general health and fewer illnesses as much as 30 years later. She has also found that optimism cuts the risk of heart disease in half! Perhaps this is a reason why teaching breathwork at an early age (especially combined with the type of meditation I describe here, which was influenced by Bruce's work) is so crucial for our youth.


Where Quantum Biology Fits In 

It turns out that some of these phenomena can be explained by the field of quantum biology. I first became familiarized with the ins and outs of quantum biology when I read the fascinating book The Quantum Doctor by Dr. Amit Goswami, who also stars in the equally excellent film on quantum healing entitled “What The Bleep Do We Know?”

In the book, Dr. Goswami explains how the vibration of the atoms that make up our bodies can have profound effects on our mental and physical well-being. Newtonian mechanics merely recognize the role of chemical signals, such as hormones, growth factors, neurotransmitters, peptides or drugs, and deny the role of the immaterial or unseen energy fields. But energy and vibrational waves, operating through widely accepted quantum mechanics principles and influenced by beliefs and emotions, are just as effective in signaling protein movement as physical chemicals.

The quickest way to begin wrapping your head around this is with a thought experiment.

Pause to take a look at yourself in a mirror, or perhaps the selfie camera on your smartphone. Or just stare at your hand.

What do you see?

You see a human being, a single physical individual. But take this further. Under this skin, there's a collection of tissue, muscle, bones, organs, and blood. The truth is, when you see a single individual looking back at you, it's a misperception. Go deeper. What makes up those bones, those muscles, the blood? Cells. And what are cells composed of? Molecules? And then what? Atom particles. When you go inside the atom, at this level you find protons, neutrons, electrons. And taken to the final extent, what are these particles made of?

At this fundamental quantum level, the answer discovered is that there’s nothing physical at all. It's energy vibration. Looked at from this final perspective, what you see looking back at you in the mirror is the physical expression of energy, and those energy vibrations are influenced by thought patterns, emotions, beliefs, and everything else you're reading about in this article. 

Quantum theory states that when the mind observes a set of circumstances or phenomena, it has an impact on the outcome. This is called the observer effect, which, in basic terms, means that if you try to observe a particle, it will act as a particle, and in the absence of observation, it tends to act more like a wave. In the same way, the impact the mind will have upon any physical or mental outcome will be determined by the state of mind of the observer.

In the field of quantum biology, the mind is the primary instrument used to heal the body. The mind of the healer (yourself or another) must be in a healthy state if it is to have a healing effect on the body.

So when the mind is in a state of stress, it will have a negative impact upon the body, which can create illness or disease, but when the mind is in a state of appreciation and well-being, it will have a positive effect upon the body and can result in healing.

In a nutshell, the fields of quantum biology and quantum healing are based around this concept of quantum physics—that our state of mind can actually affect the vibration of molecules in our body, and this can then affect our physical and mental well-being.


The Map Of Consciousness

Two years after meeting with Doron, I discovered the work of Dr. David Hawkins, author of Healing & Recovery. In his book, Dr. Hawkins describes how to identify protein-shifting and cellular membrane influencing emotions that are either helpful or deleterious, including practical ways to permanently change negative emotions such as anger, shame, and fear, along with how to shift into positive emotions such as peace, love, and joy.

Like Dr. Bruce Lipton, Dr. Hawkins teaches that the body expresses and is subject to what is held in mind, and therefore, the greater the amount of negativity held in the mind, the greater the deleterious effect of this negative energy field on the biological well-being. In contrast, the greater the positive energy, the more positive the health outcomes. It turns out that each emotion, positive or negative, is associated with a specific vibratory frequency that can be measured. For example, at a frequency of about 540Hz, the body can begin to heal from the inside out due to a release of endorphins within the brain.

Let’s take a closer look at how emotion can create a specific vibratory frequency. If you’ve ever opened a physics book, you’ve probably seen a wave. One cycle of a wave is referred to as a frequency, and frequencies are measured in Hertz (Hz), or the number of waves per second, which means one wave cycle in one second would be one Hz. A high frequency would involve lots of waves per second, while a low frequency would involve just a few cycles per second.

The height of a wave can also be measured and is referred to as voltage (not to be confused with amplitude, which is simply the measurement of the maximum value of the voltage). A wave can be high voltage or low voltage. In addition, the power of a wave is called amperage: waves can have plenty of power behind them (high amp waves with high amplitude), or little power behind them (low amp waves with low amplitude). In addition, a wave's vibration can be smooth or angular, and a wave can have a regular pattern or an irregular pattern. Ultimately the combination of the speed, height, power, smoothness, and regularity of a wave are used to define the vibration of the wave. In other words, vibration is the resulting pattern of all the variables of a wave. As you can imagine, there are billions of combinations of these functions.

Now, here’s what’s important to understand: Every object on the face of the planet, from the simplest molecule to a tiny mouse to an enormous elephant to your own body has its own unique vibrational fingerprint, a fingerprint created from the infinite combinations of vibrations.

Some physical objects have lower and slower vibrations and some higher and faster vibrations. For example, the book Molecules of Emotion by Dr. Candace Pert highlights how molds, viruses, bacteria, and parasites vibrate at around 77 kHz (kilohertz), goldfish at 1,000 kHz, and a human body at 1,520 kHz.

In her book, Dr. Pert highlights how emotions have unique vibrations just like colors and physical objects do. These emotional vibrations also range from higher and faster to lower and slower. For example, when you are laughing and full of joy, your vibrations become higher and faster. When you are tired or sick, your vibrations slower and lower. Recall to the last time you fell in love. Did you feel energized and high, as though you were walking on a cloud? That’s because your entire body was literally vibrating at a higher frequency. This is also why when you’re negative, depressed or stressed, you can feel sluggish, slow, and heavy – your vibrations are lower and slower. This is all scientifically measurable, with much of the latest research performed and measured on power spectrum graphs by the HeartMath Institute, as well as by Kirlian photography. It is possible to take these pictures and measure the human body’s frequencies because, as you’ve already learned, human beings are comprised of electromagnetic energy.

Using similar techniques, Dr. David Hawkins has actually measured the vibrational frequency of specific emotions, and, over 20 years of research, kinesiology, and muscle testing, translated these frequencies into a logarithmic scale, along with 17 different levels of consciousness associated with each emotion in what he calls a Map Of Consciousness.

In his book, he describes how stress proneness and vulnerability are directly related to our current state of emotional vibration. The highest attainable level of consciousness is enlightenment (at 1000). Moving from the 0 to the 1000 mark represents a shift in emotions from the lowest emotion of fear all the way up to the highest emotion of love. Here is how Hawkins describes the different levels of consciousness.

  1. Shame – 1-20: Associated with humiliation, low self-esteem, and paranoia. Someone at this level often feels worthless, and sometimes becomes a rigid or neurotic perfectionist or moral extremist. The life view of this state is misery.
  2. Guilt – 30: Guilt is accompanied by feelings of blame and remorse, often accompanied by manipulative tendencies and a tendency to be condemning of self and others.
  3. Apathy – 50: This is a state of helplessness and despair, along with neediness and dependency on others. Because this level of energy feels heavy and burdensome, many people avoid those vibrating at these levels, and some societies even tuck away or hide the poor and homeless who often live at this level. This level is also associated with hopelessness and abdication (giving up one’s power to others).
  4. Grief – 75: Although they’re not as low in boundless energy as someone who is apathetic, someone at the level of grief feels generally depressed about life, and often has a tragic view of the world, accompanied by feelings of regret and sadness.
  5. Fear – 100: Someone operating at this level has anxiety, paranoia, fear of rejection, fear of failure, fear of uncertainty, fear of challenges, fear of aging, fear of death, fear of loss, fear of strangers, and an overall sense that the world is a scary and frightening place.
  6. Desire – 125: At this “grass is always greener on the other side” level, one has constant cravings for more money, a better life, better sex, and hedonistic consumption of goods and pursuit of pleasures. This can lead to a never-ending loop of consumption and dissatisfaction. On a positive note, this and future stages are at least those in which someone is taking actions and attempting to move forward and make progress in life.
  7. Anger – 150: This level is associated with hate, resentment, frustration, toxicity and revenge (think of an Internet troll), often manifesting in irritable behavior, arguments and aggression.
  8. Pride – 175: Narcissism, ego inflation and scorn or judgment of others dominate at this level, along with a demanding personality and overall arrogance.
  9. Courage – 200: At this level, one becomes constructive rather than destructive, with a view of the world as exciting and full of possibility, and positive growth if a one recognizes that they can choose to be happy no matter what the circumstances.
  10. Neutrality – 250: At this level, one becomes non-judgmental, objective, and able to begin to see things as they truly are, without excessive attachment to possessions and results, and an ability to be able to adapt to curveballs that life may throw. Occasionally, excessive detachment and carelessness can be issues at this level.
  11. Willingness – 310: A high amount of optimism occurs here and, because life is full of hope and meaning, you become full of positive action and open to do anything and everything it takes to succeed.
  12. Acceptance – 350: Forgiveness becomes a dominant emotion, and one begins to become more harmonious with themselves and the rest of the world, aware of limiting beliefs and thought patterns.
  13. Reason – 400: Understanding, rationality, logic and patient decision-making dominate here, although they are often accompanied by over-intellectualization and an excessive obsession over data.
  14. Love – 500: Characterized by pure happiness and goodwill towards others – with a willingness to sacrifice and love fellow humans with no judgment.
  15. Joy – 540: The dominant emotions at this level are compassion, happiness, patience, serenity, and a positive attitude. One has not only fully realized that they can choose to be happy no matter the circumstances, but they actually are happy.
  16. Peace – 600: Peace, which I also describe as the absolute and ruthless elimination of haste, hurry, and negative stress in one’s life, is a state in which the dominant emotion is bliss and pure satisfaction.
  17. Enlightenment – 700-1000: This ultimate pinnacle of emotion is often associated with fully enlightened, consciousness, and conscientious figures in history such as Krishna, Buddha, and Jesus.

Like Lipton, Hawkins teaches that illness tends to result from suppressed and repressed negative emotions (especially those emotions associated with the lower levels of consciousness you’ve just read about), followed by a thought that gives that emotion a specific form. A thought has energy and form, and the mind with its thoughts and feelings controls the body. Therefore, to heal the body from the inside-out, thoughts and feelings need to be changed, because what is held in mind tends to express itself through the body, which is like a puppet controlled by the mind. Thoughts are caused by suppressed and repressed feelings, but when a feeling is let go, thousands or even millions of thoughts that were activated by that feeling disappear. You surrender a feeling by allowing it to be there without condemning, judging, or resisting it. Instead, you simply look at it, observe it, and allow it to be felt without trying to modify it.

Hawkins emphasizes that it is important to understand that feelings are not the real self. Whereas feelings are programs that come and go, the real inner self always stays the same—therefore, it is necessary to stop identifying transient feelings as yourself. No matter what is going on in life, keep the steadfast intention to surrender negative feelings as they arise. Make a decision that freedom is more desirable than having a negative feeling, and choose to surrender negative feelings rather than express them, while also surrendering resistance to and skepticism about positive feelings.

In addition, especially when focused on fixing an illness or injury, or keeping one from happening in the first place, associate with people who are using the same or similar motivation and who have the intention to express these positive feelings and to heal. Be aware that your inner state is known and transmitted. The people around you will intuit – based on your electromagnetic signals from your heart and your brain, along with your overall vibrational frequency – what you are feeling and thinking, even if you don’t vocally verbalize it.


How Your Environment & Emotions Impact Your Genes & Your Health

The field of research into microRNA reveals that our guts and genes can also have an impact on our personality, emotions, and character. These microRNA, which are small RNA molecules found in plants, animals, and some viruses, are tiny trafficking proteins that modify the behavior of our genes. A single human gene can make over 200 different proteins depending on its microRNA and environment. Your capacity to regenerate organs and to “build a new body every day” is highly dependent on these microRNA.

If you do the math, with your approximately 20,000 genes, you can create somewhere around 4 million different bodies today. If you've built a positive emotional and physical environment and ecosystem around yourself that's allowing you to build that body, this means you have almost incalculable capacity to change who and how you feel today by changing the environment around you. But if you have a chronic ailment—whether it's something as minor as postnasal drainage and chronic congestion or diarrhea, constipation, chronic bloating, obesity, or even depressive thought patterns or negative people around you—then your microRNA become capable of creating a body that comprised of broken components.

These microRNA, derived from the non-coding or non-gene regions of your DNA, can leave the cell and even leave your body. For example, right now, if a physician was to swab your mouth, they could extract microRNA clusters that are in your saliva, and if they go and analyze these microRNA, they can tell exactly what genes you're starting to turn on and off. These microRNA can also be analyzed in urine, breath, and sweat. This means you have tiny packets of data going out into the environment around you. If you sit in a lecture hall, over the course of an hour, the professor could slightly change everybody's genome in the room by exhaling their microRNA into the room, and the trees, the soil, and the fungi in the environment you live in are performing the same actions with their own microRNA. In addition, the bacteria in your gut are making at least 35% of the microRNA that winds up in your bloodstream, and is then sweated out, breathed out, urinated out (or salivated out into the body of another person when you kiss them!). This means that not only are your genes heavily influenced by other people and the environment you’re living in, but 35% of what you’re giving out to the world is technically nonhuman and made by the bacteria inside you. Many studies have also suggested that how we think and feel are controlled by these microRNA.

Another example of the interplay between biology and consciousness can be seen in the realm of cannabinoids, which are derivatives that are either compounds occurring naturally in the plant Cannabis Sativa. For example, the first and most widely investigated of all the cannabinoids is Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (Δ9-THC), which is the main psychotropic constituent of cannabis and the one that undergoes significant binding to cannabinoid receptors in your body—most notably CB1 and CB2 receptors. Two very similar endogenous cannabinoids are anandamide and 2-arachidonoylglycerol (2-AG). Over the years, a significant number of articles have been published in the field of endogenous cannabinoids and have shown that the endocannabinoid system controls multiple functions involving consciousness, including feeding, pain, learning, memory, pain perception, emotions, sleep-wake cycles, and dreaming.

So sometimes working on your spiritual health, especially in matters of emotion or consciousness, involves simultaneously working on your biological health—and also considering the biological and emotional health of those you surround yourself with! In summary, there’s a big positive emotional and physical payoff to surrounding yourself with positive people, being positive yourself, and being cognizant of your own internal microbiome and the amount of time you spend in nature surrounded by a natural, flourishing microbiome.

In summary, to begin to heal your body with your mind, you must understand that you are only subject to what you hold in mind. You are only subject to a negative thought or belief if you consciously or unconsciously say that it applies to you. Just imagine the vast array of possibilities that exist once you being to implement these principles. If you think you are tired, you can become tired. If you think you are sick, you can become sick. If you think you are bold and courageous, you can become bold and courageous. If you think you are happy, you can become a more joyful person to be around. You get the idea.


What The Bible Says About Bone Health (& Overall Soundness of Body)

Despite me respecting and finding a great deal of insight and wisdom from the work of many I've cited in this article, including Bruce Lipton, David Hawkins, and Amit Goswami, my source of absolute truth is always the Bible; and with increasing frequency, I turn to the Scriptures over and over again to see whether the work of philosophers and physicians like those I've described above is actually backed up by the Word of God.

And I'm always pleasantly surprised by what I find. 

Consider the words of Isaiah 58:10-11, a passage I recently stumbled upon that draws a fascinating corollary between charity, empathy, and service for the needy and bone density (admittedly, in Hebrew literature, bone health is also indicative of overall soundness of flesh and body, and overall mortality – and in Chinese medicine, presence or absence of cancers):

“If you pour yourself out for the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then shall your light rise in the darkness and your gloom be as the noonday. And the Lord will guide you continually and satisfy your desire in scorched places and make your bones strong; and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail.”

The relationship between state of the mind, state of the emotions, and bones, in particular, is also emphasized in the following verses from the Bible:

Psalms 32:3-5: “When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy on me; my strength was sapped as in the heat of summer. Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my inequity. I said, ‘I will confess my transgressions to the Lord.' And you forgave the guilt of my sin.”

Proverbs 14:30: “A peaceful heart is life to the body, but envy rots the bones.”

Proverbs 15:30: “Light in a messenger's eyes brings joy to the heart, and good news gives health to the bones.”

Proverbs 12:4: “A wife of noble character is her husband's crown, but she who causes shame is like decay in his bones.”

Proverbs 17:22: “A merry heart does good like a medicine: but a broken spirit dries the bones.”

Proverbs 3:7-8: “Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and turn away from evil. This will bring healing to your body and refreshment to your bones.”

What repeated themes do you see here?

I personally see the following factors all being cited as detrimental to the overall soundness of flesh and bones:

  • Hidden sin, guilt, or bitterness stowed away in one's heart…
  • Excessive stress, and the absence of peace…
  • Relationships that are associated with emotions of shame or strife…
  • A lack of joy and happiness…
  • An absence of humility, paired with an oversized ego…

So one could, therefore, say that when it comes to what the Bible tells us about our health—particularly our bones—that love, humility, and transparency in relationships, a focus on freedom from suppressed anger or bitterness, low amounts of chronic stress accompanied by a trust in God, and seeking sources of joy and happiness (children, hobbies, art, music, funny movies and most importantly, supreme satisfaction in God and his creation) all seem to have a profound impact on health, backing up once again the importance of a sound spirit, a sound body, and a sound mind.


Summary

So when it comes to cancer, bone density, mortality, and overall soundness of body and mind, you can see that Doron became peaceful by shifting himself from the oh-so-typical Western competitive go-go-go lifestyle to an environment of peace and stillness.

Chinese Traditional Medicine has known for thousands of years that worry, fear, hesitation, anger, irritation, nervousness, and the like should all be prevented to maximize health.

Bruce Lipton, David Hawkins, Amit Goswami, and a host of additional authors, researchers, and physicians have demonstrated the intimate link between our state-of-mind, emotions, and biology.

And finally, the Bible backs all of this up, once again clearly demonstrating that you can't Crossfit, triathlon-ercize, or vegan, Carnivore and keto diet your way into ultimate health, nor can you simply take calcium pills for bone density or chemo, fasting and vitamin C IV's for cancer.

That's all I have for you today.

But if you want more, then read Chapters 15, 19, 20, and 21 of my book Boundless, in which I teach you how to use potent tactics such as purpose, gratitude, prayer, yoga, breathwork, visualization, mindfulness meditation, tapping, acupuncture, sound healing, and many other modalities to improve immunity, lifespan, and health. In the meantime, leave your questions, comments, and feedback below. I'm particularly interested in how you care for your own emotional and spiritual health and what you've experienced as a biological result from those practices. Thanks for reading.

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20 thoughts on “Sabbath Ramblings: Bones Of Steel.

  1. Jane says:

    Hi Ben
    I’m 51 yrs old and was diagnosed with osteopenia but reversed it by including bio identical estrogen with the progesterone I was already taking.
    I’m also looking into SAC calcium, active ionised calcium, have you heard about this form and what are your thoughts? If I may ask, what type of calcium does your wife take for her bone health?

    Thank you
    Jane

  2. Tim Hess says:

    I really love your podcast. It is much needed. I REALLY look forward to your Sabbath Ramblings. I am recently retired from teaching and now work for the Fellowship of Christian Athletes Wrestling. I’d like to send you some FCAW info and gear and hopefully talk to you about becoming a part of our TEAM.

    What’s your mailing address?
    https://www.smore.com/app/pages/show_print/5e88ed…

    1. not going to publish that publicly. ;) but email [email protected] and they can help u!

  3. Douglas says:

    Regarding this paragraph:

    “In her book, Dr. Pert highlights how emotions have unique vibrations just like colors and physical objects do. These emotional vibrations also range from higher and faster to lower and slower. For example, when you are laughing and full of joy, your vibrations become higher and faster. When you are tired or sick, your vibrations slower and lower.”

    – HRV – Would this also be a similar concept in terms of HRV? – i.e. a higher HRV correlates with higher and faster vibrations? (heightened parasympathetic tone, relaxed, positive).

    – This would make sense from an electromagnetic field POV, further strengthening the signals between the heart and brain.

    * Nervous system & Circadian Rhythm * – Do you see a connection between the EMF, bodily frequencies etc, with the fundamentals of the natural bodily rhythms? I.e. Could morning sunlight exposure/barefoot increase vibrational potential within the wave?

    Interesting connection you’ve allowed me to consider Ben, thank you.

  4. Dean B. says:

    Thanks again Ben, for truth.

    “My God turns darkness into light. With your help I can advance against a troop; with my God I can scale a wall.
    …He is a shield for all who take refuge in him.”

    Psm 18

  5. Vicky says:

    I read Bruce Lipton and Candece Pert years ago. I am an educator of TCM and Ayuverdic principles, Naturopath, Herbalist and PT of over 25 years, plus an avid seeker of truth on how to be a healthy ageing human. I am in Australia and bought your book via hardcopy and audio, I appreciate the knowledge on all aspects of health wisdom you are sharing, via all the sources…..thank you :)

    I have not read the Healing Code but will order now.

    1. chiranjeev says:

      Ben you are awesome. I love the way you are able to tap into all areas of health and wellness. You have role model and inspiration in my life and I’ve learned so much from you and I now head onto my own journey to discover, learn and teach about the same in the communities around me. Stay blessed.

  6. Lisa says:

    An absolutely solid Sabbath Ramble, thank you Ben! I have long held the belief that our thought create our reality, so it’s great to see so many scientists not only becoming strong proponents of this, but also actually proving it! And in these tough testing times it will become even more imperative that we can have faith in our collectives, whether they be inner or outer. Here’s to bones of steel 🙏💪🏻🔥💗

  7. Aaron Olden says:

    Great post! There was a great study on Optimism and Heart Disease in the Journal of the American Medical Association in 2019 that showed that optimism is associated with a lowering of cardiac risk. “ These results are consistent with a large and growing literature finding that positive psychological well-being in general and optimism in particular appear to have an independent association with cardiovascular and overall health outcomes.” Attitude is everything ! Reference for you: doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2019.12200

  8. Mylene says:

    WOW! I savoured every word, my favourite writing of yours by far in so many ways and for so many reasons. I am impressed by your ability to summarize the vast information and knowledge acquired from multiple sources including the Bible, and to relatively succinctly and very astutely present it in a profound and meaningful way. This article resonated with me and in some strange way was exactly what I needed to read today to put things in perspective in my life right now. Job well done as always, keep up the great work and keep inspiring others!

  9. Logan Walters says:

    As I always say, even a book of fiction has truth within.

    1. PennyB says:

      Hi Logan – assuming you’re referring to the Bible as a book of fiction – I used to think so too. I have a scientific, logical, analytical mind and over 20 years ago I set out to prove that the bible was just some made-up book of falsehoods. I was convinced otherwise. The Bible is one book, and yet it is made up of 66 books, was written by at least 40 different authors over a period of about 1600 years, in 13 different countries and on three different continents. It was written in at least three different languages by people in all professions. The Bible forms one beautiful temple of truth that does not contradict itself theologically, morally, ethically, doctrinally, scientifically, historically, or in any other way. When you read the prophecies of the Bible, you simply have to stand back in awe. There are over 300 precise prophecies that deal with the Lord Jesus Christ in the Old Testament that are fulfilled in the New Testament. To say that these are fulfilled by chance is an astronomical impossibility. No doubt, someone supernatural orchestrated and inspired this book and you can’t dispute the lives that are changed because of it. I am one. In love, a former atheist.

      1. Robyn K says:

        I love this!! I too stand in awe of the non-contradictory nature of all the information, prophecies, ideas and truth sewn throughout the old and new!
        Former atheist and agnostic turned Believer when all the other “religions” held no long lasting power! Yes much of the stories seem fantastical, but with God, all things are possible!!
        I ask people, what if you’re wrong? What would it hurt you to Believe other than pride? It is the most loving “story” of all time that a man gave Himself up for us so we could be connected to God in righteousness. All other religions do not have that type of love story! Works works works is what you get in Judaism, Islam for example! All we have to do is Believe on Jesus and we will be saved. Amen!

  10. Kathleen says:

    Sooo beautiful and enjoyable read. And, as I call it, “pokey”, which I love! Things that poke at you bringing something needful/necessary to examine perhaps that has been buried or ignored. Lovely writing today, simply lovely. Thank you!

    1. Adding "pokey" now to my vernacular…. :)

    2. Bob says:

      Ben, that rocked! Having recently read the Healing Codes after you mentioned it in one of your podcasts I have began practicing some of the suggested exercises. I have a print out the Dr Hawkins Map of Consciousness on my refrigerator. This information is life changing! Now if you can just get Dr Alex kn your podcast ????

  11. Renee Pantas says:

    Such an interesting read!

  12. Evelyn says:

    Ah, Ben what can I say except to let you know that you’ve made my life better again. I love all your podcasts and articles but your spiritual ramblings move me like no other work has done. I know I will absolutely love Boundless. It is just that I am living too long that I am being careful not to outlast my finances. But I will buy it somehow because my daughter is coming in September for my birthday and if she asks me what I badly need in my life, I will tell her it is Boundless. And if she has already bought me a gift, then I will throw caution to the wind and buy it myself, so there! I have made my decision and no one and nothing will stop me from doing that!

    1. Thank you. That means a lot!

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