Bruce Lipton and his Ideas on Epigenetics
EpigeneticsSeveral years ago, I had the chance to meet Bruce Lipton, who is an unusual cellular biologist with different ideas. I came across on an article about him today in the LA Times and was happy to see that he is still lecturing on his novel ideas on Epigenetics.
Epigenetics is the link between the mind and genetics. According to Bruce Lipton, when you change your behavior, you are also re-programming your genetics. He claims that,"that changes in behavior are enough to reprogram your genes via chemicals that affect gene activity in the short term."
When I met him while traveling, it was a little difficult to grasp all of the concepts he was talking about because of his excitement while talking and the rapid speed of his speech. The fact that he would occasionally go off topic with anecdotes such as the time he personally discovered Yanni did not help either, nor did his reference to his body as a personal computer with an on and off switch.
From what I understand, the primary focus of Bruce Lipton's ideas is that we can use both our consciousness and our behavior to re-shape our genes. His idea is that we are not victims to heredity or our genes, but that we have individual power to change.
In this video, he explains how different stem cells that had separated formed differently from each other. For example, one isolated cell would form with fat while the others would not. This led to his research in whether or not the genes in a cell could shift.
As a result of his findings, Bruce Lipton continued research which led him to believe in Epigenetics and the idea that your beliefs (as well as the beliefs of those around you) can actually control the genes within the cells. As an example, Bruce mentions the placebo effect, which has been proven to work just on the basis of your belief alone.
Bruce also believes that your beliefs can both affect illnesses and diseases caused by your genes in both negative and positive ways. An interesting point that he makes is how those around you create energy fields which affect us as well. Here's another video which describes some of these ideas very clearly.
The writer in the LA Times article quoted another scientist who believed that this particular science just may be ahead of its time. While I don't know whether or not Bruce Lipton's ideas about Epigenetics will stand the test of time or not, I do think find the idea of not only being at the mercy of your genes empowering.
