T able of Contents
T itle Page
Acknowledgments
How to Use This Book
Intr oduction
Chapter 1
The Quantum Possibilities
In the Language of Spirit
The W indow to Renewal
The Science of Aging
Research into Aging
Restoring Y our Life Ener gy
Chapter 2
Change Y our Perception of Aging
SETTING YOUR BIOST A T
Change Y our Perception of T ime
ACCESSING THE NONCHANGING F ACT OR
Change Y our Perception of Y our Body
The Body of Ener gy , T ransformation, and Intelligence
EXERCISE—YOUR BODY OF LIGHT
PERCEIVING YOUR LIGHT BODYChapter 3
The Restful A wareness Response
Restful Sleep
PREP ARING FOR RESTFUL SLEEP
Harmonize Y our Biological Rhythms with the Rhythms of Nature
Chapter 4
Making Sense of T aste
SWEET
SOUR
SAL TY
PUNGENT
BITTER
ASTRINGENT
Delicious and Nutritious
Optimizing Digestion
EA TING A W ARENESS TECHNIQUES
Eating as Celebration
Chapter 5
V itamins—The V ital Nutrients
W ater -Soluble V itamins
Fat-Soluble V itamins
Nutrients as Medicines
NOURISHING YOUR HEAR TKEEPING A W A Y CANCER
NUTRIENTS AND MEMOR Y
HEAL THY JOINT NUTRITION
THE NUTRIENTS OF IMMUNITY
Nutrients on the Horizon
S-ADENOSYL-METHIONINE (SAME)
GROWTH HORMONE
DEHYDROEPIANDROSTERONE (DHEA)
PHENOLIC COMPOUNDS
Our Daily V itamin Recommendations
Nutrient Ritual
Chapter 6
Breathing Integration
ENERGIZING BREA TH
SOOTHING BREA TH
RELAXING BREA TH
Mind/Body Movement
REVERSAL-OF-AGING YOGA
REVERSAL-OF-AGING T AI CHI AND QIGONG
CONSCIOUSNESS IN MOTION
MIND/BODY COMMUNICA TION
Chapter 7
T otal Fitness
FlexibilityBuilding Strength
The Basic Seven
Circulating the Life Force
CALCULA TING YOUR T ARGET EXERCISE LEVEL
Exercise on the Road
Staying Active
Chapter 8
Relinquishing T oxic Substances
THE INTENTION T O DET OXIFY
PRACTICE MINDFULNESS
SYSTEMICALL Y DET OXIFY
REJUVENA TION
W A TER—NA TURE’S PURIFIER
ELIMINA TE T OXIC FOODS
RELEASE T OXIC EMOTIONS
T ransform or Release T oxic Relationships
MEETING YOUR NEEDS
THE DIALOGUE OF NEEDS
Release T oxic W ork
Reversing the Appearance of Aging
PURIFY
REVIT ALIZE
REPLENISH
SUN PROTECTIONChapter 9
Flexibility
PRESENT -MOMENT A W ARENESS
FORGIVENESS
BREAKING HABITUAL P A TTERNS
Creativity
T AKING A CREA TIVE LEAP
OPPOR TUNITIES FOR CREA TIVITY
Chapter 10
What Is Love? Personal Love as Concentrated Universal Love
Communicating Love
Love, Sex, and Spirit
SEXUAL VIT ALITY
FOR PLA Y
RITUAL
COMMUNICA TION
FINESSE
Ojas—the Essence of Love
Nutrition for Ojas
HERBS AND OJAS
The Soul of Love
Chapter 11A Y outhful Mind
ENTHUSIASM
SPONT ANEITY
FLUIDITY AND ADAPT ABILITY
YOUR QUANTUM MIND
NOURISHING YOUR BODY/MIND THROUGH THE FIVE SENSES
EXP AND YOUR IMAGINA TION
MUL TISENSOR Y IMAGINA TION
Learning and Growing
Playfulness, Lightheartedness, and Laughter
Epilogue
Gr ow Y ounger , Live Longer Recipes
Appendix
Refer ences
About the Author
Copyright Page 
 
The information presented in this book is intended to help improve your
overall well-being. It is not a substitute for appropriate medical care. If
you are facing a specific medical condition, be sure to discuss any
lifestyle changes with your health-care provider .A c k n o w l e d g m e n t s
There are many souls contributing to the collective dream that is
transforming ou r vision of healt h, aging, and life itself. T o each of you who
remind us on a  regular basis o f our essential purpose and m eaning, we
thank you from the depths of our being. In particular we wish to ackno wledge: Carolyn Rangel, Nan Johnson,
Jennifer Pugh, Nicolette Martin, Jenny Hatheway , Roger Gabriel, Dennis
Sugioka, Jude Hedlund, Sara Kelly , V eronique Franceus, Brent Becvar ,
Chantal Kovatch , Debbie Myers, and the team of immeasurably nurturing
and talented people at the Chopra Center for W ell Being and MyPotential. Leanne Backer , for developing o ur age-reversing menu and for h er power
to transform love into food. Peter Gu zzardi, our beloved editor , who continuously encoura ges us to
push the envelope. W e w ould also l ike to acknowledge the love and support of our  families,
which e nable us to do our work: Rita Chopra, Mallika Chopra, Sumant
Mandal, Gautam Chopra, Pamela Simon, Max Simon, and Sara Simon.I n t r o d u c t i o n
In 1993 , the first edition of Ageless Body , T imeless Mind: The  Quantum
Alternative to Gr owing Old  was released. The essential message of the book
was that the human body is not a piece of biological machinery that
deteriorates steadily and inexor ably over time. Rather , human beings are
magnificently o r ganized networ ks of ener gy , information, and intelligence
in dynamic exchange with their environment, fully capable of
transformation and renewal. Since the publication of Ageless Body , T imeless
Mind, thousands of patients at the C hopra Center for W ell Being have
experienced pro found changes in the quality of their lives by applying the
principles presented in that book, which at this writing is in its eleventh
printing. According to many readers and literary critics, Ageless Body ,
T imeless Mind  r emains a cla ssic, consciousn ess-based approach to the
reversal of aging. Gr ow Y ounger , Live Longer: 10 Steps to Reverse Aging extends this
consciousness-based approach and includes ten practical steps that can
become habit-forming, enabling you to reset your Biostat (your  biological,
or fu nctional, age) up to fifteen years younger than your chrono logical age. W e h ave intentionally made this  new book simple and practical , so you can
begin implementing these approaches right away . By integrating these
insights and practices into your lifestyle, you will notice immediate
improvements in your physical and emotional well-being. As you begin to
reverse your biological age, you will reclaim the ability to tap into your
inner reservoir of unlimited ener gy , creativity , and vitality . Y ou will feel
younger and you will function like a much younger person, too. Our gen eration has been celebrated for its willingness to challenge the
prevailing assumptions of socie ty . Rather than viewing the second half of
life a s a time of progressive dete rioration in body and mind, we see aging as
an oppo rtunity for greater wisdom, love, creativity , meanin g, joy , and
increased mental and physical capacity . More people than ever before areliving in to their eighties, ninetie s, and beyond with sound bodies and clear
minds. This bo ok is designed as a manual for renewal. Three very practical
recommendations are suggested for each of the ten steps. Eac h week we
encourage you to implement the action steps so that by the end of ten weeks
you are taking full advantage of all the resources available to yo u. Although
awareness is the essential first step in any transformation, un fortunately ,
r eading this book is not enough for you to begin reversing the aging process
—you have to actually execute the recommend ations on a dai ly basis in
order to reap the benefits of this program. Readers familiar  with our previo us works may ask if it really ma tters that
we r everse our aging. If, as we often state, we are immortal souls on an
eternal cosmic highway without  beginning or end, if our essential nature is
transcendental r eality not subject to the laws of the material w orld, does it
really m atter if we grow younger and live longer? Why should we care
about maintainin g a youthful appearance for an extended time? Is it mere
vanity? Does it take our attention away from our true self? T o those of you who ask these questions, we answer that in th e deeper
reality , all is play . Life is a cosmic game of hide and seek in which we lose
ourselves to find ourselves. At our core we are all members of the same
being and it does not matter if we are young or old, villain or hero, sinner or
saint. The real purpose of the book is to remind you, the read er , that this
deeper r eality , t he domain of p ure potentiality , of spirit, is the  essence of
who you really are. Reversing aging and growing younger is part of the
possibility . Whether you choose  to activate this choice and implement this
possibility is up to you. W e believe our primary purpose here is to seek the pure  spiritual
potential that is available to all of us. As human beings, the veh icles we use
to ex plore our spiritual potential are the human body , the human nervous
system, and the human mind. W e therefore believe it is worth focusing
attention on maintaining optima l functioning of our body/mind so we can
seek our true nature as spiritual beings.The experience of life through a human nervous system is a m iraculous
gift of creation. W e are blessed  among species in that we can change our
perceptions, interpretations, and expectations of life and thereby transform
our reali ty . As a result of chang ing our perceptions and taking new action
steps, we can li terally create a dif ferent physical body . As an  expression
from the ancient A yurvedic sys tem of healing tells us, T o know a person’ s
experiences fr om the  past, examine their body now . T o know a person’ s
body in the  futur e, examine their experiences now . The basis of these principles an d of this book is that every impulse of
experience is transformed into the chemistry and electricity of your body . W ith ev ery thought, sensation, and feeling you have, your nervous system
under goes subtle shifts in physiology , generating chemical messengers that
regulate your body . These biochemical communicators continuously mold
the molecules that comprise your cells, tissues, and or gans. The fiel d of mind/body medicine declares that you can influence your
health a nd well- being through the choices you make. Y our mind and body
are i ntimately interwoven so that changes in one instantaneously influence
the othe r . Our personal and pro fessional experience at the Chopra Center
makes us confident that applying the principles and practices of fered in this
program will enhance the way y ou think and the way you feel. Y ou have the
capacity to reverse your aging. This book provides the tools. W e welcome
you on this journey to renewal and look forward to hearing about your
success.H o w  t o  U s e  T h i s  B o o k
Human aging is reversible. Read this book at least twice and ma ke sure you
understand all the principles. If  something is not clear to you, send an e-
mail to younger@chopra.com. Once you feel confident that you have
grasped the essence of this book , set a date for fully committing to the ten-
step pro gram. M ake the ten steps a routine for ten weeks. Y ou will be
amazed at the results. T en wee ks is about the time it takes to create a habit. Congra tulations. Y ou are on you r way to lookin g, feeling, and being young as a lifelong
habit.1
Escaping the Prison of Conditioning
The “normal” experience of the body and its aging
is a conditioned r esponse—
a habit of thinking and behavior . By changing your habits of thinking and behavior ,
you can change the experience of your body
and its aging. Y ou have been living inside a prison that has no visible walls— the confines
of y our self deri ve entirely from the habits and conditioning of your mind. If youar e committed to growing younger , you must escape th is prison ofconditioning. Y ou are not to  blame for living within unnecessary
limitations. If a rope is tied arou nd the leg of a baby elephant and attached
to a stak e in the ground, it learns that it can move only within very narrow
limits. Y ears later , as a powerful adult, it still remains within narrow
confines when its leg is staked, even though it has the strength to uproot an
entire tree. It ha s been conditioned to accept the limitations imposed upon
it. In a similar way , most people think and act within the narrow limitations
of w hat they ha ve been taught during childhood, without questioning the
basic assumptions that structure their worldview . T o live a healthier , richer ,
more creative life you need to r ecognize that most of what you hold to be
true der ives from habits of thought. W e are born into a prevailing
conversation ab out the world. A s soon as we are capable of sp eaking, we
engage i n this conversation, reinforcing with our own thoughts and actions
the p atterns of thinking and beh avior that surround us. This is unmistakably
true in regards to how we view the body and its aging. Until re cently , few have questioned the assumption that aging is
irreversible, and therefore, for generation after generation, people have
reinforced the habitual thinkin g that growing older meant a progressive
decline in mental and physical c apacity . It is now time to change our habits
of thinki ng and behaving and alt er our experience of the body and the aging
process. The Quantum Possibilities
Drawing upon the wisdom tr aditions of the East, the dra matic new
discoveries of modern quantu m physics, and our own personal and
professional experience, we invite you to change the way you think about
and expe rience t he world and yo ur body . Despite how radical so me of these
ideas may at first appear , we encourage you to try out the practical
approaches we of fer and experience for yourself how this program can
revitalize your body and mind.From the perspective of quantum physics, reality is a mysterious, magical
place. While on the physical plane of everyday life, time and space
predominate and  entropy , decay , and aging are the normal cours e of events,
these are not f eatures of quantum reality . The quantum re alm is the
fountainhead of  pure potentiality , giving rise to the raw material of your
body , your mind, and the physical universe. The quantum realm is the
womb of creation, the invisible world where the visible is designed and
assembled. W e can summarize the key principles of quantum physics in five
main points:
In the quantum realm there are no fixed objects, only possibilities. In the quantum realm, everything is interwoven and inseparably one. Quantum leaps are a feature of the quantum realm. A quantum leap is
the ability to move from one location in space or time to another
without having to go through any place or time in between. One of the laws of the quantum realm is the Uncertainty Principle,
which states that an event is a particle (matter) and a wave (ener gy)
simultaneously . Y our intention determines whether you see a particle
or a wave. In the quantum realm, an observer is needed to create an event. Before
a subatomic particle is observed, it exists only as a virtual particle; all
events are virtual events until the moment they are observed. Y our own body/mind system is also an expression of the same quantum
field that underlies everything in the universe. Therefore, you  can apply
these quantum principles to th e way you look at your body and aging. Rephrased in terms of your biology , they would be:
Y ou are not merely the physical body that you identify with out of
habit. Y our essential state is a field of infinite possibilities. Y our body is inseparably one with the whole universe. When you are
perfectly healthy or whole, you feel expanded. Y ou become constrictedonly when you have discomfort or dis-ease. This comes from a feeling
of separation. Y ou are capable of taking quantum leaps in perception and
interpretation. W ith these quantum leaps you can alter not only the
experience of the physical body but its very structure. Y our physical
body is capable of taking a quantum leap from one biological age to
another without having to go through all the intervening ages in
between. Y our body is simultaneously material (particlelike) and non-material
(wavelike). Y ou can choose to experience your body as physical or as a
network of ener gy , transformation, and intelligence. Before you decide which biological age you choose to experience, you
are all possible biological ages. It’ s up to you to decide what age you
want to be. If you choose to see yourself as a physical entity , separate from
everything else, you discard the  chance to reverse the aging process. If you
are a ble to look at yourself as a field of possibilities, intimately interrelated
to ev erything else, wonderful new opportunities emer ge. W e encourage you
to use these thoughts to trigger a paradigm shift in your awar eness. W ith
this shi ft you can gain a completely dif ferent understand ing of the
body/mind syste m you inhabit, the world you perceive, and the  essence of
your being. V iewing your body fr om the perspective of quantum
physics opens up new modes of understanding and
experiencing the body and its aging. The practical essence of this new understanding
is that human beings can r everse their aging. In the Language of SpiritKnowledge trad itions seek to understand and explain the workings of the
cosmos. The perspective of quantum physics of fers a fascinating way to
view life , the body , and aging. T he perennial wisdom traditions  of the East
of fer equally amazing insights into the nature of reality . As explorers of
both mo dern science and the an cient knowledge traditions, we are enthused
and insp ired by the closer and  closer alignment between these dif ferent
perspectives on life. According to A yurveda, the ancient healing tradition of
India, aging is an illusion becau se your true self is neither your body nor
your mind. Y our essential nature , who you r eally ar e, is the domain of ever -
present witness ing awareness that is beyond your physical and mental
layers. T his fiel d of consciousness gives rise to both the thoughts in your
mind and the molecules in your body . T apping into this realm of awareness
where time and space have no meaning is the basis of emotional and
physical renewal. Accessing this field of pure potentiality has spiritual as well as physical
consequences. K nowing your essential self as a nonlocal being, inextricably
interrelated to everything else in the cosmos, awakens greate r creativity ,
meaning, and purpose in life. Although the most profound way  to improve
health and reverse aging is ul timately a spiritual one, not everyone is
immediately ready to accept this approach. One person may want to lose
weight, another may need help to stop smoking, while a third may be
seeking a more fulfilling love re lationship. Each of these needs is important
in its own righ t, but taking a spiritual approach opens the door to the
evolution of consciousness, which can make all these things possible, and
many more. A spiritual appr oach means that we expand our 
awar eness, 
even while focusing our attention and intention locally . The reas on we perform any action is in the hope that it will bring us
satisfaction, ful fillment, and happiness. Embracing the spiritu al domain,
which is  the source and goal of all desires in life, creates the possibility forsatisfaction, ha ppiness, and fulfillment independent of the inevitably
changing situations, circumstances, and people that surround us. Those
fortunate ones who dwell in this domain have achieved what is often called
enlightenment. V iewing your choices from a sp iritual perspective means asking the big
questions: Who are you? Why are you here? What do you really want? How
can you  best serve? Although at first glance these questions may seem
irrelevant to slowing the agin g process, they are actually essential to
renewal. Shiftin g your internal reference point from an egocentric being,
whose sense of worth depends upon the positions and possessi ons one has
accumulated, to a network of conscious ener gy , woven from the threads of
universal intelligence, has a profound ef fect on your mind and body . When
you bec ome cle ar that the reason you want to live to a hundred or more
years is so you can express yo ur full creative potential, you change your
chemistry and physiology . When you identify your uniq ue talents and
commit to using them in the service of others, you str engthen your immune
system. When you decide that exercising regularly or preparing a balanced
meal is an enjo yable experienc e, you impr ove your cir culatoryhealth and
lower your blood pr essur e. Y our p erceptions, interpretations, and
expectations inf luence every aspect of your mental and phys ical health. Shifting your perspective and making new choices provide  you with
powerful tools to change your life. The W indow to Renewal
One of the ways science makes major advances is by studying situations,
circumstances, a nd events that are the exception to the usual way things
work. These are sometimes ca lled anomalies, or exceptions to the rule. Most sc ientists ignore anomalie s, but in fact, these are the ver y things we
should be studying. If something breaks the rule, no matter what it is, no
matter h ow infre quent it is, no matter how remote the probabili ty , it means
that a new possibility has arisen. And if a new possibility ha s presented
itself, there must be a mechanism. Even if only one person out of tenmillion c ures him self of cancer or of AIDS, we have to pay attention. Most
scientists tend to disregard eve nts that are so rare they do n ot regularly
infringe upon the prevailing view of the world. They may dismiss an
anomaly by saying that it is so rare—one in ten million—what’ s the point of
investigating it? The point is tha t it doesn’ t matter if something happens only once in ten
million, because if it has ha ppened even once, there must be some
mechanism to account for its occurrence. And if there is a mech anism, then
as scien tists we  want to know what that mechanism is, becau se once we
understand the mechanism, we may be able to reproduce the phenomenon. Galileo, Copernicus, Newton, and Einstein are examples of scientists
who questioned the prevailing a ssumptions of their time and exp anded their
view to include phenomena tha t had previously been ignored. These and
other great scientists paid attent ion to anomalies and sought to  understand
the mechanism that explains them. When something doesn’ t fit the
paradigm, doesn’ t fit the pattern, doesn’ t fit the theory , it forces us to
examine the model we are using. It compels us to expand or change the
theory to incorporate the exceptional situation. A good example of this is a friend of ours who was diagnosed w ith AIDS
over fifteen years ago. He was close to death when he made the choice to
change his life. He started meditating, began eating a healthy diet, and made
the com mitment to eliminate toxins from his life. Fifteen year s later he is
feeling c ompletely well and has undetectable levels of the HIV  virus in his
blood. When we first met him, he was an anomaly , but now we know many
more pe ople like  him. Our theor y of consciousness predicts that if we reach
a c ritica l mass of people who ha ve the same experience, then it will become
true for everyone. W e believe that these same principles apply to human aging. If we look at
recent historical  times we see that the average life expectancy  has shifted
remarkably . The average life span of a human being during the Roman
Empire was twenty-eight years. The average life span of a h uman being
born in the W estern world at the beginning of the twentieth century wasforty-nine years. Although in the past, high rates of infant mortality
influenced human life expectancy , the fastest-growing segment of the
American population today is over the age of ninety years. A baby girl born in America today is expected to live just less than eighty
years; an infant boy has a life expectancy of almost seventy-four . Historically , the re are many pe ople who have lived to ripe old ages and
have made major contribution s to civilization. Leonardo da V inci was
drawing sketche s in his sixties , Leo T olstoy was writing nov els into his
seventies, and Michelangelo was sculpting in his eighties. W inston
Churchill, with his fondness for cigars and Scotch, was active and
productive until  his death at age ninety . As our collective consciousness
embraces the belief that we can have the biology of youth with the wisdom
of experience, it will become the pervasive experience. The Science of Aging
Recognizing tha t human beings do not age at the same rate, scientists have
described three dif ferent ways to characterize a person’ s age. The first is
chr onological age, which is what your birth c ertificate says. Y our
chronological age measures the number of rotations Earth has performed on
its axis and around the sun since you left your mother ’ s womb. Y our
chronological ag e cannot be altered through mind/body approaches, but it
has the least relevance to how you feel or function. Biological age is a measurement of how well your physiological systems
are f unctioning. It is the most important component of the ag ing process. Y our biological age is calculate d in reference to an average population of
people who have the same chronological age that you have. V alues for
almost every biochemical and physiological process can be determined for
dif ferent age groups. Known as the biological markers, or biomarkers, of
aging, these include blood press ure, amount of body fat, auditor y and visual
thresholds, horm onal levels, immune function, temperature regu lation, bone
density , skin thickness, cholesterol levels, blood sugar tolerance, aerobiccapacity , and metabolic rate (s ee the table on page 18). Once you know
your results, you can compare them with the group average and see if your
biomarkers are older or youn ger than your chronological peers. Y our
biological age can be very dif ferent from your chronological a ge. A fifty-
year -old who takes good care of herself can have the biology of a thirty-
five-year -old. Alternatively , a f ifty-year -old who has not been attentive to
his h ealth may h ave the biology of men many years older . Wh atever your
biological age is today , we believe we can alter it by implem enting the
changes recommended in this book. Biological age is the key component of the aging pr ocess. Psychological age is your subjective experience of  how old you feel. W e
meet ma ny people in their sixtie s who report that they feel better than they
did in their thirt ies. In prior tim es they may have been smoking two packs
of c igarettes a day , were unhappy in their jobs, and were not eating well. Since instituting  the ten steps to reverse aging, their mental and physical
well-being has dramatically improved. They have learned to relax and enjoy
life, so although they are chro nologically older , they unequivocally feel
younger than they did years ago. Psychological age is closely linked to
biological age. When the body is functioning in a more ef ficient, ener getic
manner , we experience this vitality as feeling more alive. Although we cannot reverse our chronological age, we can reverse the
more im portant measures of our biological and psychological age—and by
so doing can regain the physical and emotional vitality we had in the past. The Biomarkers of Aging
AEROBIC CAP ACITY
ANTIOXIDANT LEVELS
AUDIT OR Y THRESHOLD
BLOOD PRESSUREBLOOD SUGAR REGULA TION
BODY F A T
BONE DENSITY
CHOLESTEROL AND LIPID LEVELS
HORMONAL LEVELS
IMMUNE FUNCTION
MET ABOLIC ACTIVITY
MUSCLE MASS
MUSCLE STRENGTH
SKIN THICKNESS
TEMPERA TURE REGULA TION
VISUAL THRESHOLD
Resear ch into Aging
In the 1970s, Alexander Leaf, a Harvard doctor , journeyed around the world
seeking the secret to a long, h ealthy life. He visited communities in the
southern republics of the former Soviet Union, northern Pakistan, and the
Andes Mountains of Ecuador , where it was rumored that many people were
living dy namic, vital lives well into their eighties, nineties, and beyond. In
many cases, these stories were t rue. Leaf discovered that the one consistent
feature o f these people living in widely separated regions of the world was
their atti tude about aging. Simply stated, in these societies, growing older
meant growing better; vibrant centenarians were revered for theirknowledge, phy sical vitality , and personal presence. They had the wisdom
of experience with the biology of youth. Another interesting study was performed by Harvard psychologist Ellen
Langer . She took groups of men in their seventies and eighties and
encouraged them  to think and behave as if they were twenty ye ars younger . After doing this for only five da ys, these men showed a number of physical
changes associa ted with age re versal. Their hearing and vision improved,
they per formed better on tests o f manual dexterity , and had improved joint
mobility . Both of these studies tell us the same thing. Expectations determine
outcomes. If you expect your mental and physical capacity to diminish with
age, it probably will. If you have the expectations that you can grow
younger and live longer , this will be your experience. As more and more
people shift their expectation s and experience reversal of aging for
themselves, it will become the expectation of everyone. Restoring Y our Life Energy
When a doctor w ants to check the status of a specific biochem ical in your
body , he  draws blood for analysis. The results obtained from scrutinizing a
minute samplin g are accepted as being true for the entire body . For
example, if we want to check your blood sugar level, we need  to examine
only a minuscu le amount that can be collected from a tiny p inprick. W e
assume that what is true for one drop of blood is true for every drop in your
body . This assumption is a result of the recognition that the body is
holographic. This means that  the whole is contained in every part;
whenever one aspect changes, everything changes. Applying this principle to the reversal of aging, you can see that making
a he althy shift in any one com ponent of your life will have a positive
influence on your entire state of well-being. The more you are able to
replace life-damaging choices with life-af firming ones, the more profoundthe benefits you will experience physically , emotionally , and spiritually . When you reverse one biological marker of aging, you will reverse almost
all the others. For example, improving your muscle strength leads to an
increase in bone density . Improving your aerobic capacity enhances your
immune function. Our ten-steps-to-reverse-aging program is therefore a
practical holistic approach to creating a profoundly better quality of life. These approache s are simple ye t powerful and we are enthusias tic to share
them with you. The body is holographic; ther efor e,
when you change one biomarker
you influence them all. The conditioning of our society leads us to believe that as we grow older ,
we dete riorate physically and  mentally . When you break out of this
conditioning, you will learn from your own experience that every day in
every way you can increase your physical and mental capacity . That is the
promise of this book. If you practice the ten steps you will reverse your
biological age, and biological age is the only age that really matters.2
Y ou Can Reverse Y our
Biological Age by Changing
Y our Perceptions
 
ACTION STEP #1
I am  r ev ersing m y biological age by changing my per ceptions  of my body ,
its aging, and of time. I put this into practice by:
Changing my per ception of aging by r esetting my Biostat  and
practicing on a daily basis the rituals that r emind me of  my biological
set point. Changing my per ception of time by the practice of self-
r eferraltechniques, bringing my attention to the nonchanging factor in
the midst of change. Changing my per ception of my body by learning to experienceit as a
field of ener gy , transformation, and intelligence,  practicing the Ener gy ,
T ransformation, and Intelligence  technique. Per ceptions cr eate r eality . By changing your per ceptions 
you change your r eality . By changing the per ception 
of your body , its aging, and of time,
you can r everse your biological age. A basic principl e of A yurveda is stated as: What you see you become. What
you see is a selective act of attention and interpretation. Although you are
inundated by billions of bits of sensory impulses every moment, you
selectively filter out the vast majority , allowing only a very small fraction
into your awareness. What you allow into your awareness is de termined by
your habitual patterns of seeing and interpreting the world. T o make this point clear , consider a situation in which you and your
friend are sitting on a park bench. Across the street a woman is walking her
beagle. Y our friend, the manage r of a woman’ s apparel store, hones in on
what the  woman  is wearing, scr utinizing her outfit. Deciding that she does
not like what the woman is wea ring, your friend feels mildly a nnoyed. As
an a nimal lover , you barely notice the woman but instead focus on her dog,
which re minds you of a puppy you had as a child, and as a result, you feel alittle wistful. What is the reality? It is clearly dif ferent for both  of you as a
result of your selective acts of attention and interpr etation. Reality is flexible and subject to r evision. Reality is the r esult of per ception,
which is a selective act of attention and interpr etation. There are many visual examples of this principle. Each of the four
pictures that follow demonstrates how your attention and interpretation
determine your reality . The sensory data does not change whe n you make
the leap from o ne interpretatio n to another . What you see changes as a
result of a change in your consciousness. Can you see the chalice? Can you see the faces?Can you see the old woman? Can you see the young woman? Do you see the face? Do you see the word?Do you see the bird? Do you see the rabbit? Y our attention and interpretatio ns create what you see and ultimately
determine what you believe. A belief is simply an interpretation that you
hold to be true. For example, due to habits of perception, most people half a
millennium ago believed that the sun revolved around Earth. When
Copernicus sugg ested that our planet was not the center of th e universe,
people were upset because challenging prevailing beliefs inevitably
generates resistance. However , new ideas that expand awareness, enhance
life, and take us closer to truth are contagious. Before long, a c ritical mass
of p eople embrace the new idea, and their beliefs about themselves and the
world are forever changed. As w e enter the new millenni um, the insights of our most advanced
scientists are just beginning to influence our collective views. Our ideas
about the human body , its aging, and even time itself are un der going a
dramatic shift, opening the possibility for unprecedented health, vitality ,
and longevity . Let’ s look at how we may begin to embrace these more
expanded and empowering beliefs. Y our habits of attention and interpr etation cr eate deeply
ingrained beliefs,which ar e the interpr etations you hold to be true. Beliefs cr eate biology . Change Y our Per ception of Aging
The only true way to measure the aging process is through the biomarkers
of a ging. By n ow you know that the biological markers of aging are
reversible (see page 18 to review the biomarkers of aging). Now it is time to
use the or ganiz ing power of y our intention to set a clear expectation to
reverse your aging. Y our intentions establish your expectation s, and your
expectations influence outcome. W e know from many scientifi c studies that whatever you anticipate
happening with  your health is much more likely to occ ur . Doctors
sometimes ridicule this as the placebo ef fect, but the placebo ef fect is a
testimony to the power of intent ion. When a doctor and a patient believe in
a tre atment, the positive results can be as high as 100 percent,  even if the
treatment is later found to have  no pharmacological ef fect. If p atients with
asthma are given salt water and  told it will help their breathing, they will
breathe more easily due to the placebo ef fect. Given the same salt water
with the  suggestion that their b reathing will worsen, they experience the
expected deterio ration. This is called the nocebo ef fect. In ever y condition
imaginable—from high blood pressure to cancer , from stomach ulcers to
anginal heart pain—your expectations can make the dif ference between
health a nd illnes s, life and deat h. W e can summarize this prin ciple in one
line: What you believe you become. W e can use this principle to great ef fect. Set the intention to grow
younger and live longer . Y our intention is a powerful activator of your inner
pharmacy . Y our expectation of g rowing younger will lead to the  reversal of
your aging.SETTING YOUR BIOST A T
Close your eyes. Become aware of your breath, releasing any tension you
may be holding in your body . Now , choose an age within the  last fifteen
years that you would like to be in biological terms. This means  you would
like to have the physical and me ntal capacity of a healthy person  at that age,
that you would like your biomarkers to reflect that particular age, that you
would li ke to feel and look that particular age. As an example, let’ s assume
you are sixty years old. Choose an age between forty-five and sixty . Let’ s
say you choose the age of fort y-nine years. This becomes your Biostat—
your set point in consciousness. Just as a thermostat adjusts the temperature
in a room to a particular set point, so, too, your Biostat will orchestrate your
psychology and biology around the biological age you have chosen. This will happen through the following mechanisms: (1) Y our intention
to stay at a part icular Biostat will directly influence your body of ener gy ,
transformation, and intelligence. This is because intention influences your
biochemistry through its infinite  or ganizing power . This is the principle of
teleology , which states that intended outcomes orchestrate the biological
mechanisms to fulfill themselves. (2) Keeping your Biostat in your
awareness will influence your thinking, your moods, and your behavior and
reinforce your intention to main tain your biology at that set point. Once you
have identified your set point,  begin af firming it five times  a day . W e
suggest practicing the following ritual upon awakening, before breakfast,
before lunch, before dinner , and at bedtime. On each of these occasions
close your eyes and mentally repeat to yourself each of th e following
phrases at least three times:
Every day in every way , I am incr easing
my mental and physical capacity . My Biostat is set at a healthy 
 years of age. I look and feel a healthy 
 years old. W ithin a  few days of performing this ritual you will actually begin to
think an d act from the level of your Biostat. All your hab its will be
influenced, but even more important, your perception of your biological age
and your experience of it will begin to shift. Y ou will start to believe in your
Biostat a nd its or ganizing powe r and your new belief will shape your new
biology . Change Y our Per ception of T ime
T o reverse the aging process you need to change your perception of time
because how you perceive time regulates your biological clock. T o do this,
you need to ask a crucial question: What is time? In the physic al world we
use time  to measure the flow of  events in our lives. And yet w e know that
our experience of time is fluid. Dreamtime, for example, is very dif ferent
from wa king tim e. When you a re dreaming, many things can happen in a
very short time, because in that state you have an entirely dif ferent
perception of time. In the quantum realm, time obeys a dif ferent set of rules. Cause and ef fect are nonlinear , a nd events that we would norma lly consider
“the future” are capable of influencing events in “the past.” When we
glimpse the realm of spirit through meditation or an awe-inspiring
experience, we enter a domain that is beyond time and space. The
experience of this is called t imeless mind. Since mind and body are
inseparable, a timeless mind is also an ageless body . When our mind comes
to a standstill, time comes to a standstill and our biological clock stops. One of the way s to define agin g is to see it as the metabolism of time. Imagine for a moment that you could metabolize eternity or infi nity instead
of time. Y ou would literally have an immortal body . The ancient seers of the
V edic tradition claimed that even  occasional excursions into this timeless or
eternal domain of consciousnes s could influence the biological clock and
extend life by many years.The hum an body and its biological functions respond to the experience of
time. Y our biological clock beats to your personal experience of time. T o
paraphrase Einst ein, when asked to explain the theory of relativity in a way
that was  meaningful to everyday experience, he said, “If I burn myself on a
hot stove, that fraction of a second seems like eternity . But if I’m with a
beautiful woma n, even eternity seems like one second. It’ s gone in a
moment. It’ s never enough.”
The experience of time is subje ctive. If you are always in a hu rry , your
biological clock  speeds up. If you feel you have all the time in the world,
your biological clock slows dow n. During meditation, when you enter into
the gap between thoughts, time stops. That also happens when you’re
playing a game you enjoy , when you are listening to great music, when you
experience the beauty in nature, and when you fall in love . T ime is a
subjective experience in cons ciousness and that subjective experience
translates into a biological response in your body . ACCESSING THE NONCHANGING F ACT OR
Although experiences change, th e one who is having the experience resides
in the domain of nonchange. Ev en in the midst of any experience you can
access th e exper iencer by a sim ple shift of your attention. T ry  this simple
exercise: As you read these wo rds, ask yourself, “Who is reading?” Now ,
look aro und the room in which  you are sitting and while you are looking,
silently ask yourself, “Who is o bserving?” If there is a radio playing or a
conversation taking place in the next room, as you are listening to the
sounds in your environment a sk yourself, “Who is listening?” As you
consciously make these subtle shifts in your awareness, you will recognize
that the answer to each of the se questions is the same. The one who is
reading, the one who is observing, and the one who is listening is not
restricted to any particular expe rience. It is not restricted to time or place. There is a silent  witness within you that is the same presence that was you
as a child, a teenager , an adult, and now . It is the essence of who you are . According to A yurveda, this silent witness is your Spirit. When yourinternal reference point shifts from your experiences to the one who is
experiencing, you break the barrier of time. Practice shifting your attention to the nonchanging factor in the  midst of
change. Y ou do this by asking “Who is having the experience?” and
referring back to your witnessing self. This practice is called self-referral
because you are shifting your a ttention to the “Self” of experience. When
your attention is on the objects of experience, the expe rience itself, that
quality o f awareness is known as object-referral. A shift in attention from
object-referral to  self-referral is a shift from time-bound aware ness (time-
bound mind) to timeless awareness (timeless mind) because the Self is the
timeless factor in the midst of time-bound experience. There ar e other ways of experi encing timeless mind. Basically , they all
involve the same principle. Y ou go beyond your internal dialogue and
experience a silent mind, which  is the same thing as a timeless  mind. Next
time you feel em otional turbulence, immediately bring your atte ntion to the
sensations in your body and ma ke a conscious choice to stop interpreting
the emotional experience. When you have focused your attention on the
bodily sensations that accompany an emotion, you have stopped all
interpretation, and your mind becomes silent. Y ou become the silent witness
of the sensations in your body . In doing so, you not only stop your internal
dialogue, but you also begin to dissipate the ener gy of the  emotional
turbulence. Still ano ther way of experiencing timeless mind is to become aware of
the spaces between breaths, be tween the objects of perception, between
movements of your body , and between your thoughts. If your attention is on
any of these spa ces and you ar e not in an interpreting mode, then you go
beyond y our internal dialogue and enter the timeless mind. Som e people are
able to immediately stop their in ternal dialogue simply by silently saying to
themselves “Sto p!” Use whatever works for you. The key is to have the
ability to become a silent witness and experience the Self, e ven during
activity . It is ext remely importan t to have the ability to shift awa reness from
that which changes to th at w hich does not  change . Start practicing this by
shifting your awareness to the Self or observer as described above, byfeeling the body without interpretation, and by becoming aware of the
spaces between objects. When you can maintain this inner silence, inner centeredness, inner
presence, even in the midst of outer activity , you will have a new
relationship with time and everything you experience. Cultivating ever -
present witnessi ng awareness in the midst of time-bound awa reness will
forever transform your perception of time. Change Y our Per ception of Y our Body
The prev ailing w orldview looks  at the body as a material vehicl e, similar to
an automobile, in which parts inevitably break down until the body is no
longer serviceab le. Modern science and the wisdom traditions tell us this is
a flawed  interpretation. Y our body is not merely a physical device that
generates thoug hts and feelings; rather , it is a network of ener gy ,
transformation, and intelligence in dynamic exchange with the world
around you. W ith every breath you take, every mouthful of food or swallow
of water you ing est, every sound you hear , sight you see, sensation you feel,
and arom a you smell your body changes. Just since you began reading this
paragraph you exchanged four hundr edbillion trillion atoms with your
environment! Y our body looks static because t he changes are taking place at a level too
subtle for you to  directly perceive. Scientists can calculate the turnover of
matter in your body by label ing atoms with radioactive material and
tracking their metabolism. Through this process we’ve learned that the
lining of  your stomach is repla ced about every five days. It takes about a
month for your skin to be retread. In about six weeks your live r has turned
over , an d within  just a few months, most of the calcium and phosphorus
crystals that make up your skeleton have come and gone. Every year over
98 p ercent of all the atoms in the  human body have been exchan ged. After a
course of three y ears, you would be hard pressed to find an atom that was a
part of you then, which could still be considered yours now .T o help you appreciate this idea, consider that your body is lik e a local
branch o f the public library . Although on one level the library seems to be
stable, on another level it is co nstantly changing. Books are coming and
going every day , with completely new ones added and old ones returned to
the downtown facility . Particula r books do not define a library; rather , it
represents the site and process of this ever -changing exchange of
information. Y our body is lik e a flame that is constantly metabolizing new  material. The flam mable m atter and the o xygen necessary for its combustion must be
continually renewed. The smoke and gases released are changing at every
moment. And yet the flame app ears to be nearly the same over time. The
processes of creation, maintenance, and dissolution are simultaneously at
work in a flame and in your body . The Greek poet Heraclitus said you cannot point to the same river twice
because new water is always flowing. Like a river , like a library , like a
flame, your body may appear to be the same on the surface, but in actuality ,
it is constantly changing. Rather than viewing your body as a static
biological machine, begin to think of it as a field of ener gy and intelligence,
constantly rene wing itself. T o grow younger you must change your
perception of the body , relinqui shing the idea that it is a bag of flesh and
bones. Begin to experience your body as the flow of vital ener gy ,
transformation, and intelligence, and you will experience the reversal of
aging. Even though the body appears to be material, it is not. In the deeper r eality , your body is a field of ener gy ,
transformation, and intelligence. The Body of Energy , T ransformation, and IntelligenceEverything we have said to this point can be summarized in on e sentence:
By cultivating the habit of thinking of your body as a field of ener gy ,
transformation, and intelligence, you will begin to experien ce it as a
flexible, dynamic bundle of consciousness, rather than as a fixed, material
thing. Y ou will realize its wavelike nature instead of its particlelike nature. One way of doin g this is throug h the use of daily rituals that reinforce this
new interpretation. Y our bo dy is a field of ener gy , at one with the ener gy of the  cosmos,
inexhaustible and constantly i n motion. The A yurvedic term for this
ener getic aspect of life is Prana (prä′-nä), which is sometimes translated as
the b reath of life . Likewise, your body is ever in transformation, always and
eternally in dynamic relations hip with the elements and fo rces of the
universe. This is known in A yurveda as T ejas (tĕ’′-jäs), the internal fire of
transformation. F inally , your body is the physical manifestation of universal
intelligence, wh ich is supreme, divine, and immortal. The A yu rvedic word
for this is Ojas  (ō’′-jäs), the infinitely flexible, fluid expression of the
physical body . T o reverse the aging process, begin using the words ener gy ,
transformation, and intelligence as reinforcements to experience your body
as it really is— a field of inexh austible ener gy , in constant transformation,
and as a physica l expression of pure intelligence. If you prefer , you can use
the A yurvedic terms Prana, T ejas, and Ojas  as mantras to anchor your new
interpretation. A s you begin to experience your body in its true form, your
beliefs a bout it will also change , and your new beliefs will create your new
biology . EXERCISE—YOUR BODY OF LIGHT
Look at the picture below .Pictur e A
Picture A is the conventional view of the human body as a modern
physician might  envision it. This picture reflects how , on a subconscious
level, yo u perceive your body at this moment. Although this perception is
accurate at the gross level, it i s an incomplete representation  of the true
nature of your b ody . Therefore,  it is not the way you should envision your
body .Pictur e B
Now loo k at picture B, a good r epresentation of how your body really is
at a quantum lev el: a field of ener gy , transformation, and intelligence. This
is how the ancient V edic seers saw it. They referred to it as the “subtle”
body . Th is subtle or quantum m echanical body is inextricably woven into,
and is one with, the ener gy and intelligence fields of the cosmos. Look once again at picture B. N ow close your eyes and see if you can
clearly v isualize it. Can you? Op en your eyes. Look once again. Repeat this
procedure as many times as you want, until you can see your subtle
(quantum) body  as clearly with  your eyes closed as with your eyes open. When y ou are absolutely sure t hat you can do this, close your eyes againand mentally repeat to yourself: “Ener gy (Prana), transformation (T ejas),
intelligence (Ojas).”
Whenever you consciously take a deep breath (and make it a point to do
this several times each day), close your eyes and mentally repeat the word
Ener gy while at the sam e time visualizing your ener gy or light body  as
represented in picture B. Similarly , when you consciously  eat food,
mentally repeat the word T ransformation, visualizing the light body in
transformation. Finally , every time you take a sip of water , silently repeat
the word Intelligence and envision once again the lig ht body as fluid and
flexible. As you repeat this ritual with breathing, eating, and drinking, you
will be starting  the process o f restructuring your perception and the
experience of your body from material to subtle. PERCEIVING YOUR LIGHT BODY
Enlivening Ener gy (Prana)
Y our vital ener gy animates both  mind and body . Throughout the  day , use
the word Ener gy and experience the life force rejuvenating every cell,
tissue, and or gan in your body . Think “Ener gy” whenever you:
W alk through a garden. Go from indoors to outdoors. Practice breathing exercises (see Chapter 7)
Enlivening T ransformation (T ejas)
The essential transformational  force is the primordial fire of life. Throughout the  day , use th e word T ransformation to enliven thetransformational process that continuously converts ener gy from one form
into another . Think “T ransformation” whenever you:
T ake a mouthful of food. Feel the sun on your body
Gaze into the stars at night. Enlivening Intelligence (Ojas)
When intelligen ce is abundant and freely circulating in your body , all
your physiological systems—cardiovascular , digestive, neurological,
hormonal, and immune—function at their optimal level. Throughout the
day , use the word Intelligence to enliven nourishment in every  cell of your
body . Think “Intelligence” whenever you:
T ake a sip of water . W alk along a natural body of water . Drink fresh fruit juices or other healthy beverages. In addition to silently repea ting these words to enliven ener gy ,
transformation, and intelligence while you breathe, eat, and drink, use them
when yo u are exercising. Whenever you are performing a rhythmic activity
—walking, jogg ing, swimming,  riding your bicycle, or using a treadmill—
silently repeat “Ener gy , T ransformation, Intelligence . . . Ener gy ,
T ransformation, Intelligence . . .” or “Prana, T ejas, Ojas . . . Prana, T ejas,
Ojas . . . ” with your full attention on your body . After a while, y our habitual
way of experiencing your body  will change because your perc eptions will
have shifted.The Body as a River of Renewal
Y our body is not a mechanical structure fixed in time and space. It is a
field of ener gy , information, and intelligence in dynamic exchange with
your environment, capable of perpetual healing, renewal, and
transformation. Sitting comfortably , close your eyes and take a full deep inhalation. Now , as you slowly exhale the air from your lungs, visualize your breath
as a flow of molecules being released from every cell in your body . W ith
each outgoing breath you are releasing atoms from every or gan in your
body , and with each ingoing breath you are bringing atoms to every cell
and or gan in your body . Y ou are renewing your body and replacing parts
with every breath that you take. Continue to breathe in and out and imagine your body as a continual
stream of ener gy and transformation, constantly renewing and refreshing
itself. Bring your attention to your stomach and know that the entire stomach
lining will be renewed in less than a week. Now bring your attention to
your skin and know that within one month the cells will be entirely
replaced and you will have new skin. See your skeleton in your mind’ s eye. The atoms that currently
comprise it will be replaced by new ones in three months. Bring your
attention to your liver . Y ou will have a new one in six weeks. Now feel your whole body . In one year almost all of it will have been
replaced. Now say to yourself: “I am renewing my body with every
breath I take.” See your body as it really is— infinitely flexible, fluid,
and forever in renewal. Every day in every way , I am incr easing
my mental and physical capacity . My Biostat is set at a healthy 
 years of age. I look and feel a healthy 
 years old. I am r eversing my biological age:
• By changing my per ception of my body , its aging,  and time. 3
Y ou Can Reverse Y our
Biological Age Through T wo
Kinds of Deep Rest—
Restful A wareness and
Restful Sleep
 
ACTION STEP #2
I am  r eversing my biological a ge thr ough two kinds of deep  r est—r estful
awar eness and r estful sleep. I put this into practice by:
Experiencing r estful awar eness thr ough sitting meditation  with my
eyes closed for a minimum of twenty minutes twice  daily . Experiencing r enewal and r ejuvenation every night thr ough  r estful
sleep. Synchr onizing my biological r hythms with the r hythms of  natur e.
Agitation in body and mind
cr eates dis-ease and accelerates aging. Deep r est in body and mind
r everses biological age. Experiencing de ep rest in bod y and mind is the next step to growing
younger and living longer . An agitated body/mind system generates
entropy , decay , and aging. A rested body/mind system fosters creativity ,
renewal, and reversal of aging. Since the body and mind are on e, when the
mind is deeply rested the body is also deeply rested. Of course, we know
from common experience that o ur mind is rarely in this rested state. In fact,
most of the time  it is in the fight-or -flight mode. The fight-or -flight or stress
response occurs when we feel threatened in any way , including when we
feel threatened by aging. The stress response creates physiological changes
that damage the body and accelerate aging. Y ou are surely familiar with
how it feels to be in stress mode, but you may not be familiar with what is
happening in your body . The physiological changes that accompany the
fight-or -flight response are:
Y our heart beats faster . Y our blood pressure rises.Y ou consume more oxygen. Y ou expel more carbon dioxide. Y ou breathe faster . Y our breathing becomes shallow . Y our heart pumps more blood. Y ou sweat. One part of your adrenal glands pumps out adrenaline and
noradrenaline, which constrict blood vessels. Another part of your adrenal glands pumps out cortisol. Y our pancreas releases more of the hormone glucagon. Y our pancreas releases less insulin. As a result of the increased glucagon and decreased insulin, your blood
sugar level rises. Y ou reduce the blood supply to your digestive or gans and increase the
blood supply to your muscles. Y our pituitary gland releases less growth hormone. Y ou produce lower levels of sex hormone. Y our immune system is suppressed. The fight-or -flight response was first described by early-twentieth-
century American scientist W al ter Cannon. He wanted to understand why
some people became ill and oth ers even died under stress. He  discovered
that whe n you encounter a threatening situation, a part of your involuntary
nervous system becomes instantly and automatically activated. The nervoussystem triggers rises in blood pressure and heart rate and stimulates the
adrenal glands to release adrenaline. If the threat and the n eurological
response are severe and unrelenting, damaging bodily changes can occur . Cannon researched tribal societies, where people who trespass against
important rules are banished fro m the community . A bone is pointed at the
of fender by the tribal witch doctor , resulting in a “curse.” From that point
on, the of fender is no longer considered to be part of the living community . He is cut of f from all social interactions, including those with his own
family . These outcasts go into such an intense stress respons e that their
circulatory syste ms collapse. They literally die from fear , often within just a
few days. Exploring the stress response further , another scientist, Hans Selye, found
that in addition to the changes t hat take place in the nervous system, many
important hormones jump into the fray . These hormones af fect every aspect
of the body , inc luding the heart, stomach, liver , sex or gans, and immune
system. If the st ress is long and  drawn out, the entire physiolo gy becomes
exhausted, the body is unable to maintain balance, and something
eventually breaks down. Prolonged stress  can make you sick and can accelerate aging. Over time,
the stres s response can cause h igh blood pressure, heart disease, stomach
ulcers, autoimmune diseases, cancer , anxiety , insomnia, and depression. This ma y lead you to ask, if the fight-or -flight response is so damaging,
why did nature create it? Th e original purpose of the fig ht-or -flight
response was to help mankin d survive in threatening situations. If a
ferocious anima l was about to eat you, the only way to survive was to either
fight bac k or run away . Considering that human beings do not have thick
hides, lar ge canines, or big tus ks, our ability to quickly react to a threat
helped us survive in a dangerous environment. T oday , t his resp onse is still occ asionally useful, as when a fireman goes
into a burning building to rescue a child, or when you leap out of the way of
a rec kless driver speeding on a r esidential street. Most of the tim e, however ,
the fight -or -flight response no longer serves us very well. Y ou may activatethe stress response when you are stuck in rush-hour traf fic or facing a
critical work deadline, but neither fighting nor running away is a viable
option. The pressure to do something without a way to release it causes
harm. T he long-term consequen ces of an activated stress response speed up
the aging process and makes us susceptible to illness. The opposite of the fight-or -flight response is the r estful r esponse. There
are two  kinds of restful respo nses: restful awareness and restful sleep. Restful awareness is the state when your body/mind system is in deep rest
but your mind is  awake. Restful sleep is the state in which your  body/mind
system i s in deep rest and your m ind is sleeping. Both of these states renew
the body , although some studies indicate that restful awareness may provide
even dee per rest  than sleep. How ever , for our purpose of age reversal, both
experiences are equally important. Restful awareness occurs during
meditation. Restful sleep includes both dream sleep and dreamless deep
sleep. Y our subjective experienc e of the restful response is relaxation. The
physiological changes that occur are:
Y our heart rate slows. Y our blood pressure normalizes. Y ou consume less oxygen. Y ou use oxygen more ef ficiently . Y ou expel less carbon dioxide. Y our breathing slows. Y our heart pumps less blood. Y ou perspire less. Y our adrenal glands produce less adrenaline and noradrenaline. Y our adrenal glands produce less cortisol.Y ou make more sex hormones, particularly dehydroepiandrosterone
(DHEA). Y our pituitary gland releases more growth hormone (an antiaging
hormone). Y our immune function improves. The Restful A war eness Response
Restful awarene ss is a natural mind/body response, as natural as the stress
responses. The most direct way to experience restful awareness is through
meditation. Med itation has been a part of Eastern cultures for thousands of
years, b ut it is comparatively new in the W est. Despite its re cent arrival
here, ma ny stud ies have shown that anyone can easily learn to m editate and
enjoy the physiological changes of experienced meditators. The bodily changes of restful awareness in meditation are almost the
exact opposite of the fight-or -flight response. During meditation, breathing
slows, blood pressure decreas es, and stress hormone levels fall. The
consumption of oxygen during meditation falls almost twice as much as
during sleep. What is fascinatin g about these physiological changes is that
even as the body is resting deeply in meditation, the mind is aw ake, though
quiet. Brain wave studies show improved coherence between dif ferent parts
of the brain during meditation. These changes in body and mind are not
seen dur ing wak efulness or sleeping. The unique combination of physical
relaxation and an alert yet quie t mind explains the term r estful awar eness
and distinguishes this state from restful sleep. People who regularly experi ence restful awareness deve lop less
hypertension, he art disease, anxiety , and depression. They find  it easier to
give up life-damaging habits s uch as cigarettes, excessive alcohol, and
drugs. They also show improvem ents in their immune function and reduced
susceptibility to infections. Research on people who meditate demonstrateswide-ranging h ealth improvem ents and a reversal in ma ny of the
biomarkers of aging. Studies have shown that the longer people have been p racticing
meditation, the younger they sc ore on tests of biological age. For example,
long-term meditators show biological ages almost twelve years younger
than their chronological age. Other studies have shown that certain
hormonal changes usually assoc iated with aging can be slowed or reversed
through regular meditation. One of the most interesting ones fo und that the
hormone DHEA  is higher in people who meditate than those who do not. W e know  that levels of DHEA steadily fall as we age. This h as led some
people to suggest that suppleme nting the diet with this hormone  can reverse
aging. W e believ e it is better to raise your DHEA levels through meditation
than supplementation. There is good evidence that you can reverse your
biological age by taking time to quiet your mind and experience the restful
response. It sh ould be obv ious that the restful awareness response (medita tion) is a
very imp ortant way to reverse the aging process.
Grow_Younger_Live_Longer_by_Deepak_Chopra.txt
Summarize the following text section accurately and concisely. Maintain specific details and numerical information, and use anti-repetition mechanisms:

        T able of Contents
T itle Page
Acknowledgments
How to Use This Book
Intr oduction
Chapter 1
The Quantum Possibilities
In the Language of Spirit
The W indow to Renewal
The Science of Aging
Research into Aging
Restoring Y our Life Ener gy
Chapter 2
Change Y our Perception of Aging
SETTING YOUR BIOST A T
Change Y our Perception of T ime
ACCESSING THE NONCHANGING F ACT OR
Change Y our Perception of Y our Body
The Body of Ener gy, T ransformation, and Intelligence
EXERCISE—YOUR BODY OF LIGHT
PERCEIVING YOUR LIGHT BODYChapter 3
The Restful A wareness Response
Restful Sleep
PREP ARING FOR RESTFUL SLEEP
Harmonize Y our Biological Rhythms with the Rhythms of Nature
Chapter 4
Making Sense of T aste
SWEET
SOUR
SAL TY
PUNGENT
BITTER
ASTRINGENT
Delicious and Nutritious
Optimizing Digestion
EA TING A W ARENESS TECHNIQUES
Eating as Celebration
Chapter 5
V itamins—The V ital Nutrients
W ater -Soluble V itamins
Fat-Soluble V itamins
Nutrients as Medicines
NOURISHING YOUR HEAR TKEEPING A W A Y CANCER
NUTRIENTS AND MEMOR Y
HEAL THY JOINT NUTRITION
THE NUTRIENTS OF IMMUNITY
Nutrients on the Horizon
S-ADENOSYL-METHIONINE (SAME)
GROWTH HORMONE
DEHYDROEPIANDROSTERONE (DHEA)
PHENOLIC COMPOUNDS
Our Daily V itamin Recommendations
Nutrient Ritual
Chapter 6
Breathing Integration
ENERGIZING BREA TH
SOOTHING BREA TH
RELAXING BREA TH
Mind/Body Movement
REVERSAL-OF-AGING YOGA
REVERSAL-OF-AGING T AI CHI AND QIGONG
CONSCIOUSNESS IN MOTION
MIND/BODY COMMUNICA TION
Chapter 7
T otal Fitness
FlexibilityBuilding Strength
The Basic Seven
Circulating the Life Force
CALCULA TING YOUR T ARGET EXERCISE LEVEL
Exercise on the Road
Staying Active
Chapter 8
Relinquishing T oxic Substances
THE INTENTION T O DET OXIFY
PRACTICE MINDFULNESS
SYSTEMICALL Y DET OXIFY
REJUVENA TION
W A TER—NA TURE’S PURIFIER
ELIMINA TE T OXIC FOODS
RELEASE T OXIC EMOTIONS
T ransform or Release T oxic Relationships
MEETING YOUR NEEDS
THE DIALOGUE OF NEEDS
Release T oxic W ork
Reversing the Appearance of Aging
PURIFY
REVIT ALIZE
REPLENISH
SUN PROTECTIONChapter 9
Flexibility
PRESENT -MOMENT A W ARENESS
FORGIVENESS
BREAKING HABITUAL P A TTERNS
Creativity
T AKING A CREA TIVE LEAP
OPPOR TUNITIES FOR CREA TIVITY
Chapter 10
What Is Love. Personal Love as Concentrated Universal Love
Communicating Love
Love, Sex, and Spirit
SEXUAL VIT ALITY
FOR PLA Y
RITUAL
COMMUNICA TION
FINESSE
Ojas—the Essence of Love
Nutrition for Ojas
HERBS AND OJAS
The Soul of Love
Chapter 11A Y outhful Mind
ENTHUSIASM
SPONT ANEITY
FLUIDITY AND ADAPT ABILITY
YOUR QUANTUM MIND
NOURISHING YOUR BODY/MIND THROUGH THE FIVE SENSES
EXP AND YOUR IMAGINA TION
MUL TISENSOR Y IMAGINA TION
Learning and Growing
Playfulness, Lightheartedness, and Laughter
Epilogue
Gr ow Y ounger, Live Longer Recipes
Appendix
Refer ences
About the Author
Copyright Page 
 
The information presented in this book is intended to help improve your
overall well-being. It is not a substitute for appropriate medical care. If
you are facing a specific medical condition, be sure to discuss any
lifestyle changes with your health-care provider. A c k n o w l e d g m e n t s
There are many souls contributing to the collective dream that is
transforming ou r vision of healt h, aging, and life itself. T o each of you who
remind us on a  regular basis o f our essential purpose and m eaning, we
thank you from the depths of our being. In particular we wish to ackno wledge: Carolyn Rangel, Nan Johnson,
Jennifer Pugh, Nicolette Martin, Jenny Hatheway, Roger Gabriel, Dennis
Sugioka, Jude Hedlund, Sara Kelly, V eronique Franceus, Brent Becvar,
Chantal Kovatch, Debbie Myers, and the team of immeasurably nurturing
and talented people at the Chopra Center for W ell Being and MyPotential. Leanne Backer, for developing o ur age-reversing menu and for h er power
to transform love into food. Peter Gu zzardi, our beloved editor, who continuously encoura ges us to
push the envelope. W e w ould also l ike to acknowledge the love and support of our  families,
which e nable us to do our work: Rita Chopra, Mallika Chopra, Sumant
Mandal, Gautam Chopra, Pamela Simon, Max Simon, and Sara Simon. I n t r o d u c t i o n
In 1993, the first edition of Ageless Body, T imeless Mind: The  Quantum
Alternative to Gr owing Old  was released. The essential message of the book
was that the human body is not a piece of biological machinery that
deteriorates steadily and inexor ably over time. Rather, human beings are
magnificently o r ganized networ ks of ener gy, information, and intelligence
in dynamic exchange with their environment, fully capable of
transformation and renewal. Since the publication of Ageless Body, T imeless
Mind, thousands of patients at the C hopra Center for W ell Being have
experienced pro found changes in the quality of their lives by applying the
principles presented in that book, which at this writing is in its eleventh
printing. According to many readers and literary critics, Ageless Body,
T imeless Mind  r emains a cla ssic, consciousn ess-based approach to the
reversal of aging. Gr ow Y ounger, Live Longer: 10 Steps to Reverse Aging extends this
consciousness-based approach and includes ten practical steps that can
become habit-forming, enabling you to reset your Biostat (your  biological,
or fu nctional, age) up to fifteen years younger than your chrono logical age. W e h ave intentionally made this  new book simple and practical, so you can
begin implementing these approaches right away. By integrating these
insights and practices into your lifestyle, you will notice immediate
improvements in your physical and emotional well-being. As you begin to
reverse your biological age, you will reclaim the ability to tap into your
inner reservoir of unlimited ener gy, creativity, and vitality. Y ou will feel
younger and you will function like a much younger person, too. Our gen eration has been celebrated for its willingness to challenge the
prevailing assumptions of socie ty. Rather than viewing the second half of
life a s a time of progressive dete rioration in body and mind, we see aging as
an oppo rtunity for greater wisdom, love, creativity, meanin g, joy, and
increased mental and physical capacity. More people than ever before areliving in to their eighties, ninetie s, and beyond with sound bodies and clear
minds. This bo ok is designed as a manual for renewal. Three very practical
recommendations are suggested for each of the ten steps. Eac h week we
encourage you to implement the action steps so that by the end of ten weeks
you are taking full advantage of all the resources available to yo u. Although
awareness is the essential first step in any transformation, un fortunately,
r eading this book is not enough for you to begin reversing the aging process
—you have to actually execute the recommend ations on a dai ly basis in
order to reap the benefits of this program. Readers familiar  with our previo us works may ask if it really ma tters that
we r everse our aging. If, as we often state, we are immortal souls on an
eternal cosmic highway without  beginning or end, if our essential nature is
transcendental r eality not subject to the laws of the material w orld, does it
really m atter if we grow younger and live longer. Why should we care
about maintainin g a youthful appearance for an extended time. Is it mere
vanity. Does it take our attention away from our true self. T o those of you who ask these questions, we answer that in th e deeper
reality, all is play. Life is a cosmic game of hide and seek in which we lose
ourselves to find ourselves. At our core we are all members of the same
being and it does not matter if we are young or old, villain or hero, sinner or
saint. The real purpose of the book is to remind you, the read er, that this
deeper r eality, t he domain of p ure potentiality, of spirit, is the  essence of
who you really are. Reversing aging and growing younger is part of the
possibility. Whether you choose  to activate this choice and implement this
possibility is up to you. W e believe our primary purpose here is to seek the pure  spiritual
potential that is available to all of us. As human beings, the veh icles we use
to ex plore our spiritual potential are the human body, the human nervous
system, and the human mind. W e therefore believe it is worth focusing
attention on maintaining optima l functioning of our body/mind so we can
seek our true nature as spiritual beings. The experience of life through a human nervous system is a m iraculous
gift of creation. W e are blessed  among species in that we can change our
perceptions, interpretations, and expectations of life and thereby transform
our reali ty. As a result of chang ing our perceptions and taking new action
steps, we can li terally create a dif ferent physical body. As an  expression
from the ancient A yurvedic sys tem of healing tells us, T o know a person’ s
experiences fr om the  past, examine their body now. T o know a person’ s
body in the  futur e, examine their experiences now. The basis of these principles an d of this book is that every impulse of
experience is transformed into the chemistry and electricity of your body. W ith ev ery thought, sensation, and feeling you have, your nervous system
under goes subtle shifts in physiology, generating chemical messengers that
regulate your body. These biochemical communicators continuously mold
the molecules that comprise your cells, tissues, and or gans. The fiel d of mind/body medicine declares that you can influence your
health a nd well- being through the choices you make. Y our mind and body
are i ntimately interwoven so that changes in one instantaneously influence
the othe r. Our personal and pro fessional experience at the Chopra Center
makes us confident that applying the principles and practices of fered in this
program will enhance the way y ou think and the way you feel. Y ou have the
capacity to reverse your aging. This book provides the tools. W e welcome
you on this journey to renewal and look forward to hearing about your
success. H o w  t o  U s e  T h i s  B o o k
Human aging is reversible. Read this book at least twice and ma ke sure you
understand all the principles. If  something is not clear to you, send an e-
mail to younger@chopra. com. Once you feel confident that you have
grasped the essence of this book, set a date for fully committing to the ten-
step pro gram. M ake the ten steps a routine for ten weeks. Y ou will be
amazed at the results. T en wee ks is about the time it takes to create a habit. Congra tulations. Y ou are on you r way to lookin g, feeling, and being young as a lifelong
habit. 1
Escaping the Prison of Conditioning
The “normal” experience of the body and its aging
is a conditioned r esponse—
a habit of thinking and behavior. By changing your habits of thinking and behavior,
you can change the experience of your body
and its aging. Y ou have been living inside a prison that has no visible walls— the confines
of y our self deri ve entirely from the habits and conditioning of your mind. If youar e committed to growing younger, you must escape th is prison ofconditioning. Y ou are not to  blame for living within unnecessary
limitations. If a rope is tied arou nd the leg of a baby elephant and attached
to a stak e in the ground, it learns that it can move only within very narrow
limits. Y ears later, as a powerful adult, it still remains within narrow
confines when its leg is staked, even though it has the strength to uproot an
entire tree. It ha s been conditioned to accept the limitations imposed upon
it. In a similar way, most people think and act within the narrow limitations
of w hat they ha ve been taught during childhood, without questioning the
basic assumptions that structure their worldview. T o live a healthier, richer,
more creative life you need to r ecognize that most of what you hold to be
true der ives from habits of thought. W e are born into a prevailing
conversation ab out the world. A s soon as we are capable of sp eaking, we
engage i n this conversation, reinforcing with our own thoughts and actions
the p atterns of thinking and beh avior that surround us. This is unmistakably
true in regards to how we view the body and its aging. Until re cently, few have questioned the assumption that aging is
irreversible, and therefore, for generation after generation, people have
reinforced the habitual thinkin g that growing older meant a progressive
decline in mental and physical c apacity. It is now time to change our habits
of thinki ng and behaving and alt er our experience of the body and the aging
process. The Quantum Possibilities
Drawing upon the wisdom tr aditions of the East, the dra matic new
discoveries of modern quantu m physics, and our own personal and
professional experience, we invite you to change the way you think about
and expe rience t he world and yo ur body. Despite how radical so me of these
ideas may at first appear, we encourage you to try out the practical
approaches we of fer and experience for yourself how this program can
revitalize your body and mind. From the perspective of quantum physics, reality is a mysterious, magical
place. While on the physical plane of everyday life, time and space
predominate and  entropy, decay, and aging are the normal cours e of events,
these are not f eatures of quantum reality. The quantum re alm is the
fountainhead of  pure potentiality, giving rise to the raw material of your
body, your mind, and the physical universe. The quantum realm is the
womb of creation, the invisible world where the visible is designed and
assembled. W e can summarize the key principles of quantum physics in five
main points:
In the quantum realm there are no fixed objects, only possibilities. In the quantum realm, everything is interwoven and inseparably one. Quantum leaps are a feature of the quantum realm. A quantum leap is
the ability to move from one location in space or time to another
without having to go through any place or time in between. One of the laws of the quantum realm is the Uncertainty Principle,
which states that an event is a particle (matter) and a wave (ener gy)
simultaneously. Y our intention determines whether you see a particle
or a wave. In the quantum realm, an observer is needed to create an event. Before
a subatomic particle is observed, it exists only as a virtual particle; all
events are virtual events until the moment they are observed. Y our own body/mind system is also an expression of the same quantum
field that underlies everything in the universe. Therefore, you  can apply
these quantum principles to th e way you look at your body and aging. Rephrased in terms of your biology, they would be:
Y ou are not merely the physical body that you identify with out of
habit. Y our essential state is a field of infinite possibilities. Y our body is inseparably one with the whole universe. When you are
perfectly healthy or whole, you feel expanded. Y ou become constrictedonly when you have discomfort or dis-ease. This comes from a feeling
of separation. Y ou are capable of taking quantum leaps in perception and
interpretation. W ith these quantum leaps you can alter not only the
experience of the physical body but its very structure. Y our physical
body is capable of taking a quantum leap from one biological age to
another without having to go through all the intervening ages in
between. Y our body is simultaneously material (particlelike) and non-material
(wavelike). Y ou can choose to experience your body as physical or as a
network of ener gy, transformation, and intelligence. Before you decide which biological age you choose to experience, you
are all possible biological ages. It’ s up to you to decide what age you
want to be. If you choose to see yourself as a physical entity, separate from
everything else, you discard the  chance to reverse the aging process. If you
are a ble to look at yourself as a field of possibilities, intimately interrelated
to ev erything else, wonderful new opportunities emer ge. W e encourage you
to use these thoughts to trigger a paradigm shift in your awar eness. W ith
this shi ft you can gain a completely dif ferent understand ing of the
body/mind syste m you inhabit, the world you perceive, and the  essence of
your being. V iewing your body fr om the perspective of quantum
physics opens up new modes of understanding and
experiencing the body and its aging. The practical essence of this new understanding
is that human beings can r everse their aging. In the Language of SpiritKnowledge trad itions seek to understand and explain the workings of the
cosmos. The perspective of quantum physics of fers a fascinating way to
view life, the body, and aging. T he perennial wisdom traditions  of the East
of fer equally amazing insights into the nature of reality. As explorers of
both mo dern science and the an cient knowledge traditions, we are enthused
and insp ired by the closer and  closer alignment between these dif ferent
perspectives on life. According to A yurveda, the ancient healing tradition of
India, aging is an illusion becau se your true self is neither your body nor
your mind. Y our essential nature, who you r eally ar e, is the domain of ever -
present witness ing awareness that is beyond your physical and mental
layers. T his fiel d of consciousness gives rise to both the thoughts in your
mind and the molecules in your body. T apping into this realm of awareness
where time and space have no meaning is the basis of emotional and
physical renewal. Accessing this field of pure potentiality has spiritual as well as physical
consequences. K nowing your essential self as a nonlocal being, inextricably
interrelated to everything else in the cosmos, awakens greate r creativity,
meaning, and purpose in life. Although the most profound way  to improve
health and reverse aging is ul timately a spiritual one, not everyone is
immediately ready to accept this approach. One person may want to lose
weight, another may need help to stop smoking, while a third may be
seeking a more fulfilling love re lationship. Each of these needs is important
in its own righ t, but taking a spiritual approach opens the door to the
evolution of consciousness, which can make all these things possible, and
many more. A spiritual appr oach means that we expand our 
awar eness, 
even while focusing our attention and intention locally. The reas on we perform any action is in the hope that it will bring us
satisfaction, ful fillment, and happiness. Embracing the spiritu al domain,
which is  the source and goal of all desires in life, creates the possibility forsatisfaction, ha ppiness, and fulfillment independent of the inevitably
changing situations, circumstances, and people that surround us. Those
fortunate ones who dwell in this domain have achieved what is often called
enlightenment. V iewing your choices from a sp iritual perspective means asking the big
questions: Who are you. Why are you here. What do you really want. How
can you  best serve. Although at first glance these questions may seem
irrelevant to slowing the agin g process, they are actually essential to
renewal. Shiftin g your internal reference point from an egocentric being,
whose sense of worth depends upon the positions and possessi ons one has
accumulated, to a network of conscious ener gy, woven from the threads of
universal intelligence, has a profound ef fect on your mind and body. When
you bec ome cle ar that the reason you want to live to a hundred or more
years is so you can express yo ur full creative potential, you change your
chemistry and physiology. When you identify your uniq ue talents and
commit to using them in the service of others, you str engthen your immune
system. When you decide that exercising regularly or preparing a balanced
meal is an enjo yable experienc e, you impr ove your cir culatoryhealth and
lower your blood pr essur e. Y our p erceptions, interpretations, and
expectations inf luence every aspect of your mental and phys ical health. Shifting your perspective and making new choices provide  you with
powerful tools to change your life. The W indow to Renewal
One of the ways science makes major advances is by studying situations,
circumstances, a nd events that are the exception to the usual way things
work. These are sometimes ca lled anomalies, or exceptions to the rule. Most sc ientists ignore anomalie s, but in fact, these are the ver y things we
should be studying. If something breaks the rule, no matter what it is, no
matter h ow infre quent it is, no matter how remote the probabili ty, it means
that a new possibility has arisen. And if a new possibility ha s presented
itself, there must be a mechanism. Even if only one person out of tenmillion c ures him self of cancer or of AIDS, we have to pay attention. Most
scientists tend to disregard eve nts that are so rare they do n ot regularly
infringe upon the prevailing view of the world. They may dismiss an
anomaly by saying that it is so rare—one in ten million—what’ s the point of
investigating it. The point is tha t it doesn’ t matter if something happens only once in ten
million, because if it has ha ppened even once, there must be some
mechanism to account for its occurrence. And if there is a mech anism, then
as scien tists we  want to know what that mechanism is, becau se once we
understand the mechanism, we may be able to reproduce the phenomenon. Galileo, Copernicus, Newton, and Einstein are examples of scientists
who questioned the prevailing a ssumptions of their time and exp anded their
view to include phenomena tha t had previously been ignored. These and
other great scientists paid attent ion to anomalies and sought to  understand
the mechanism that explains them. When something doesn’ t fit the
paradigm, doesn’ t fit the pattern, doesn’ t fit the theory, it forces us to
examine the model we are using. It compels us to expand or change the
theory to incorporate the exceptional situation. A good example of this is a friend of ours who was diagnosed w ith AIDS
over fifteen years ago. He was close to death when he made the choice to
change his life. He started meditating, began eating a healthy diet, and made
the com mitment to eliminate toxins from his life. Fifteen year s later he is
feeling c ompletely well and has undetectable levels of the HIV  virus in his
blood. When we first met him, he was an anomaly, but now we know many
more pe ople like  him. Our theor y of consciousness predicts that if we reach
a c ritica l mass of people who ha ve the same experience, then it will become
true for everyone. W e believe that these same principles apply to human aging. If we look at
recent historical  times we see that the average life expectancy  has shifted
remarkably. The average life span of a human being during the Roman
Empire was twenty-eight years. The average life span of a h uman being
born in the W estern world at the beginning of the twentieth century wasforty-nine years. Although in the past, high rates of infant mortality
influenced human life expectancy, the fastest-growing segment of the
American population today is over the age of ninety years. A baby girl born in America today is expected to live just less than eighty
years; an infant boy has a life expectancy of almost seventy-four. Historically, the re are many pe ople who have lived to ripe old ages and
have made major contribution s to civilization. Leonardo da V inci was
drawing sketche s in his sixties, Leo T olstoy was writing nov els into his
seventies, and Michelangelo was sculpting in his eighties. W inston
Churchill, with his fondness for cigars and Scotch, was active and
productive until  his death at age ninety. As our collective consciousness
embraces the belief that we can have the biology of youth with the wisdom
of experience, it will become the pervasive experience. The Science of Aging
Recognizing tha t human beings do not age at the same rate, scientists have
described three dif ferent ways to characterize a person’ s age. The first is
chr onological age, which is what your birth c ertificate says. Y our
chronological age measures the number of rotations Earth has performed on
its axis and around the sun since you left your mother ’ s womb. Y our
chronological ag e cannot be altered through mind/body approaches, but it
has the least relevance to how you feel or function. Biological age is a measurement of how well your physiological systems
are f unctioning. It is the most important component of the ag ing process. Y our biological age is calculate d in reference to an average population of
people who have the same chronological age that you have. V alues for
almost every biochemical and physiological process can be determined for
dif ferent age groups. Known as the biological markers, or biomarkers, of
aging, these include blood press ure, amount of body fat, auditor y and visual
thresholds, horm onal levels, immune function, temperature regu lation, bone
density, skin thickness, cholesterol levels, blood sugar tolerance, aerobiccapacity, and metabolic rate (s ee the table on page 18). Once you know
your results, you can compare them with the group average and see if your
biomarkers are older or youn ger than your chronological peers. Y our
biological age can be very dif ferent from your chronological a ge. A fifty-
year -old who takes good care of herself can have the biology of a thirty-
five-year -old. Alternatively, a f ifty-year -old who has not been attentive to
his h ealth may h ave the biology of men many years older. Wh atever your
biological age is today, we believe we can alter it by implem enting the
changes recommended in this book. Biological age is the key component of the aging pr ocess. Psychological age is your subjective experience of  how old you feel. W e
meet ma ny people in their sixtie s who report that they feel better than they
did in their thirt ies. In prior tim es they may have been smoking two packs
of c igarettes a day, were unhappy in their jobs, and were not eating well. Since instituting  the ten steps to reverse aging, their mental and physical
well-being has dramatically improved. They have learned to relax and enjoy
life, so although they are chro nologically older, they unequivocally feel
younger than they did years ago. Psychological age is closely linked to
biological age. When the body is functioning in a more ef ficient, ener getic
manner, we experience this vitality as feeling more alive. Although we cannot reverse our chronological age, we can reverse the
more im portant measures of our biological and psychological age—and by
so doing can regain the physical and emotional vitality we had in the past. The Biomarkers of Aging
AEROBIC CAP ACITY
ANTIOXIDANT LEVELS
AUDIT OR Y THRESHOLD
BLOOD PRESSUREBLOOD SUGAR REGULA TION
BODY F A T
BONE DENSITY
CHOLESTEROL AND LIPID LEVELS
HORMONAL LEVELS
IMMUNE FUNCTION
MET ABOLIC ACTIVITY
MUSCLE MASS
MUSCLE STRENGTH
SKIN THICKNESS
TEMPERA TURE REGULA TION
VISUAL THRESHOLD
Resear ch into Aging
In the 1970s, Alexander Leaf, a Harvard doctor, journeyed around the world
seeking the secret to a long, h ealthy life. He visited communities in the
southern republics of the former Soviet Union, northern Pakistan, and the
Andes Mountains of Ecuador, where it was rumored that many people were
living dy namic, vital lives well into their eighties, nineties, and beyond. In
many cases, these stories were t rue. Leaf discovered that the one consistent
feature o f these people living in widely separated regions of the world was
their atti tude about aging. Simply stated, in these societies, growing older
meant growing better; vibrant centenarians were revered for theirknowledge, phy sical vitality, and personal presence. They had the wisdom
of experience with the biology of youth. Another interesting study was performed by Harvard psychologist Ellen
Langer. She took groups of men in their seventies and eighties and
encouraged them  to think and behave as if they were twenty ye ars younger. After doing this for only five da ys, these men showed a number of physical
changes associa ted with age re versal. Their hearing and vision improved,
they per formed better on tests o f manual dexterity, and had improved joint
mobility. Both of these studies tell us the same thing. Expectations determine
outcomes. If you expect your mental and physical capacity to diminish with
age, it probably will. If you have the expectations that you can grow
younger and live longer, this will be your experience. As more and more
people shift their expectation s and experience reversal of aging for
themselves, it will become the expectation of everyone. Restoring Y our Life Energy
When a doctor w ants to check the status of a specific biochem ical in your
body, he  draws blood for analysis. The results obtained from scrutinizing a
minute samplin g are accepted as being true for the entire body. For
example, if we want to check your blood sugar level, we need  to examine
only a minuscu le amount that can be collected from a tiny p inprick. W e
assume that what is true for one drop of blood is true for every drop in your
body. This assumption is a result of the recognition that the body is
holographic. This means that  the whole is contained in every part;
whenever one aspect changes, everything changes. Applying this principle to the reversal of aging, you can see that making
a he althy shift in any one com ponent of your life will have a positive
influence on your entire state of well-being. The more you are able to
replace life-damaging choices with life-af firming ones, the more profoundthe benefits you will experience physically, emotionally, and spiritually. When you reverse one biological marker of aging, you will reverse almost
all the others. For example, improving your muscle strength leads to an
increase in bone density. Improving your aerobic capacity enhances your
immune function. Our ten-steps-to-reverse-aging program is therefore a
practical holistic approach to creating a profoundly better quality of life. These approache s are simple ye t powerful and we are enthusias tic to share
them with you. The body is holographic; ther efor e,
when you change one biomarker
you influence them all. The conditioning of our society leads us to believe that as we grow older,
we dete riorate physically and  mentally. When you break out of this
conditioning, you will learn from your own experience that every day in
every way you can increase your physical and mental capacity. That is the
promise of this book. If you practice the ten steps you will reverse your
biological age, and biological age is the only age that really matters. 2
Y ou Can Reverse Y our
Biological Age by Changing
Y our Perceptions
 
ACTION STEP #1
I am  r ev ersing m y biological age by changing my per ceptions  of my body,
its aging, and of time. I put this into practice by:
Changing my per ception of aging by r esetting my Biostat  and
practicing on a daily basis the rituals that r emind me of  my biological
set point. Changing my per ception of time by the practice of self-
r eferraltechniques, bringing my attention to the nonchanging factor in
the midst of change. Changing my per ception of my body by learning to experienceit as a
field of ener gy, transformation, and intelligence,  practicing the Ener gy,
T ransformation, and Intelligence  technique. Per ceptions cr eate r eality. By changing your per ceptions 
you change your r eality. By changing the per ception 
of your body, its aging, and of time,
you can r everse your biological age. A basic principl e of A yurveda is stated as: What you see you become. What
you see is a selective act of attention and interpretation. Although you are
inundated by billions of bits of sensory impulses every moment, you
selectively filter out the vast majority, allowing only a very small fraction
into your awareness. What you allow into your awareness is de termined by
your habitual patterns of seeing and interpreting the world. T o make this point clear, consider a situation in which you and your
friend are sitting on a park bench. Across the street a woman is walking her
beagle. Y our friend, the manage r of a woman’ s apparel store, hones in on
what the  woman  is wearing, scr utinizing her outfit. Deciding that she does
not like what the woman is wea ring, your friend feels mildly a nnoyed. As
an a nimal lover, you barely notice the woman but instead focus on her dog,
which re minds you of a puppy you had as a child, and as a result, you feel alittle wistful. What is the reality. It is clearly dif ferent for both  of you as a
result of your selective acts of attention and interpr etation. Reality is flexible and subject to r evision. Reality is the r esult of per ception,
which is a selective act of attention and interpr etation. There are many visual examples of this principle. Each of the four
pictures that follow demonstrates how your attention and interpretation
determine your reality. The sensory data does not change whe n you make
the leap from o ne interpretatio n to another. What you see changes as a
result of a change in your consciousness. Can you see the chalice. Can you see the faces. Can you see the old woman. Can you see the young woman. Do you see the face. Do you see the word. Do you see the bird. Do you see the rabbit. Y our attention and interpretatio ns create what you see and ultimately
determine what you believe. A belief is simply an interpretation that you
hold to be true. For example, due to habits of perception, most people half a
millennium ago believed that the sun revolved around Earth. When
Copernicus sugg ested that our planet was not the center of th e universe,
people were upset because challenging prevailing beliefs inevitably
generates resistance. However, new ideas that expand awareness, enhance
life, and take us closer to truth are contagious. Before long, a c ritical mass
of p eople embrace the new idea, and their beliefs about themselves and the
world are forever changed. As w e enter the new millenni um, the insights of our most advanced
scientists are just beginning to influence our collective views. Our ideas
about the human body, its aging, and even time itself are un der going a
dramatic shift, opening the possibility for unprecedented health, vitality,
and longevity. Let’ s look at how we may begin to embrace these more
expanded and empowering beliefs. Y our habits of attention and interpr etation cr eate deeply
ingrained beliefs,which ar e the interpr etations you hold to be true. Beliefs cr eate biology. Change Y our Per ception of Aging
The only true way to measure the aging process is through the biomarkers
of a ging. By n ow you know that the biological markers of aging are
reversible (see page 18 to review the biomarkers of aging). Now it is time to
use the or ganiz ing power of y our intention to set a clear expectation to
reverse your aging. Y our intentions establish your expectation s, and your
expectations influence outcome. W e know from many scientifi c studies that whatever you anticipate
happening with  your health is much more likely to occ ur. Doctors
sometimes ridicule this as the placebo ef fect, but the placebo ef fect is a
testimony to the power of intent ion. When a doctor and a patient believe in
a tre atment, the positive results can be as high as 100 percent,  even if the
treatment is later found to have  no pharmacological ef fect. If p atients with
asthma are given salt water and  told it will help their breathing, they will
breathe more easily due to the placebo ef fect. Given the same salt water
with the  suggestion that their b reathing will worsen, they experience the
expected deterio ration. This is called the nocebo ef fect. In ever y condition
imaginable—from high blood pressure to cancer, from stomach ulcers to
anginal heart pain—your expectations can make the dif ference between
health a nd illnes s, life and deat h. W e can summarize this prin ciple in one
line: What you believe you become. W e can use this principle to great ef fect. Set the intention to grow
younger and live longer. Y our intention is a powerful activator of your inner
pharmacy. Y our expectation of g rowing younger will lead to the  reversal of
your aging. SETTING YOUR BIOST A T
Close your eyes. Become aware of your breath, releasing any tension you
may be holding in your body. Now, choose an age within the  last fifteen
years that you would like to be in biological terms. This means  you would
like to have the physical and me ntal capacity of a healthy person  at that age,
that you would like your biomarkers to reflect that particular age, that you
would li ke to feel and look that particular age. As an example, let’ s assume
you are sixty years old. Choose an age between forty-five and sixty. Let’ s
say you choose the age of fort y-nine years. This becomes your Biostat—
your set point in consciousness. Just as a thermostat adjusts the temperature
in a room to a particular set point, so, too, your Biostat will orchestrate your
psychology and biology around the biological age you have chosen. This will happen through the following mechanisms: (1) Y our intention
to stay at a part icular Biostat will directly influence your body of ener gy,
transformation, and intelligence. This is because intention influences your
biochemistry through its infinite  or ganizing power. This is the principle of
teleology, which states that intended outcomes orchestrate the biological
mechanisms to fulfill themselves. (2) Keeping your Biostat in your
awareness will influence your thinking, your moods, and your behavior and
reinforce your intention to main tain your biology at that set point. Once you
have identified your set point,  begin af firming it five times  a day. W e
suggest practicing the following ritual upon awakening, before breakfast,
before lunch, before dinner, and at bedtime. On each of these occasions
close your eyes and mentally repeat to yourself each of th e following
phrases at least three times:
Every day in every way, I am incr easing
my mental and physical capacity. My Biostat is set at a healthy 
 years of age. I look and feel a healthy 
 years old. W ithin a  few days of performing this ritual you will actually begin to
think an d act from the level of your Biostat. All your hab its will be
influenced, but even more important, your perception of your biological age
and your experience of it will begin to shift. Y ou will start to believe in your
Biostat a nd its or ganizing powe r and your new belief will shape your new
biology. Change Y our Per ception of T ime
T o reverse the aging process you need to change your perception of time
because how you perceive time regulates your biological clock. T o do this,
you need to ask a crucial question: What is time. In the physic al world we
use time  to measure the flow of  events in our lives. And yet w e know that
our experience of time is fluid. Dreamtime, for example, is very dif ferent
from wa king tim e. When you a re dreaming, many things can happen in a
very short time, because in that state you have an entirely dif ferent
perception of time. In the quantum realm, time obeys a dif ferent set of rules. Cause and ef fect are nonlinear, a nd events that we would norma lly consider
“the future” are capable of influencing events in “the past. ” When we
glimpse the realm of spirit through meditation or an awe-inspiring
experience, we enter a domain that is beyond time and space. The
experience of this is called t imeless mind. Since mind and body are
inseparable, a timeless mind is also an ageless body. When our mind comes
to a standstill, time comes to a standstill and our biological clock stops. One of the way s to define agin g is to see it as the metabolism of time. Imagine for a moment that you could metabolize eternity or infi nity instead
of time. Y ou would literally have an immortal body. The ancient seers of the
V edic tradition claimed that even  occasional excursions into this timeless or
eternal domain of consciousnes s could influence the biological clock and
extend life by many years. The hum an body and its biological functions respond to the experience of
time. Y our biological clock beats to your personal experience of time. T o
paraphrase Einst ein, when asked to explain the theory of relativity in a way
that was  meaningful to everyday experience, he said, “If I burn myself on a
hot stove, that fraction of a second seems like eternity. But if I’m with a
beautiful woma n, even eternity seems like one second. It’ s gone in a
moment. It’ s never enough. ”
The experience of time is subje ctive. If you are always in a hu rry, your
biological clock  speeds up. If you feel you have all the time in the world,
your biological clock slows dow n. During meditation, when you enter into
the gap between thoughts, time stops. That also happens when you’re
playing a game you enjoy, when you are listening to great music, when you
experience the beauty in nature, and when you fall in love. T ime is a
subjective experience in cons ciousness and that subjective experience
translates into a biological response in your body. ACCESSING THE NONCHANGING F ACT OR
Although experiences change, th e one who is having the experience resides
in the domain of nonchange. Ev en in the midst of any experience you can
access th e exper iencer by a sim ple shift of your attention. T ry  this simple
exercise: As you read these wo rds, ask yourself, “Who is reading. ” Now,
look aro und the room in which  you are sitting and while you are looking,
silently ask yourself, “Who is o bserving. ” If there is a radio playing or a
conversation taking place in the next room, as you are listening to the
sounds in your environment a sk yourself, “Who is listening. ” As you
consciously make these subtle shifts in your awareness, you will recognize
that the answer to each of the se questions is the same. The one who is
reading, the one who is observing, and the one who is listening is not
restricted to any particular expe rience. It is not restricted to time or place. There is a silent  witness within you that is the same presence that was you
as a child, a teenager, an adult, and now. It is the essence of who you are. According to A yurveda, this silent witness is your Spirit. When yourinternal reference point shifts from your experiences to the one who is
experiencing, you break the barrier of time. Practice shifting your attention to the nonchanging factor in the  midst of
change. Y ou do this by asking “Who is having the experience. ” and
referring back to your witnessing self. This practice is called self-referral
because you are shifting your a ttention to the “Self” of experience. When
your attention is on the objects of experience, the expe rience itself, that
quality o f awareness is known as object-referral. A shift in attention from
object-referral to  self-referral is a shift from time-bound aware ness (time-
bound mind) to timeless awareness (timeless mind) because the Self is the
timeless factor in the midst of time-bound experience. There ar e other ways of experi encing timeless mind. Basically, they all
involve the same principle. Y ou go beyond your internal dialogue and
experience a silent mind, which  is the same thing as a timeless  mind. Next
time you feel em otional turbulence, immediately bring your atte ntion to the
sensations in your body and ma ke a conscious choice to stop interpreting
the emotional experience. When you have focused your attention on the
bodily sensations that accompany an emotion, you have stopped all
interpretation, and your mind becomes silent. Y ou become the silent witness
of the sensations in your body. In doing so, you not only stop your internal
dialogue, but you also begin to dissipate the ener gy of the  emotional
turbulence. Still ano ther way of experiencing timeless mind is to become aware of
the spaces between breaths, be tween the objects of perception, between
movements of your body, and between your thoughts. If your attention is on
any of these spa ces and you ar e not in an interpreting mode, then you go
beyond y our internal dialogue and enter the timeless mind. Som e people are
able to immediately stop their in ternal dialogue simply by silently saying to
themselves “Sto p. ” Use whatever works for you. The key is to have the
ability to become a silent witness and experience the Self, e ven during
activity. It is ext remely importan t to have the ability to shift awa reness from
that which changes to th at w hich does not  change. Start practicing this by
shifting your awareness to the Self or observer as described above, byfeeling the body without interpretation, and by becoming aware of the
spaces between objects. When you can maintain this inner silence, inner centeredness, inner
presence, even in the midst of outer activity, you will have a new
relationship with time and everything you experience. Cultivating ever -
present witnessi ng awareness in the midst of time-bound awa reness will
forever transform your perception of time. Change Y our Per ception of Y our Body
The prev ailing w orldview looks  at the body as a material vehicl e, similar to
an automobile, in which parts inevitably break down until the body is no
longer serviceab le. Modern science and the wisdom traditions tell us this is
a flawed  interpretation. Y our body is not merely a physical device that
generates thoug hts and feelings; rather, it is a network of ener gy,
transformation, and intelligence in dynamic exchange with the world
around you. W ith every breath you take, every mouthful of food or swallow
of water you ing est, every sound you hear, sight you see, sensation you feel,
and arom a you smell your body changes. Just since you began reading this
paragraph you exchanged four hundr edbillion trillion atoms with your
environment. Y our body looks static because t he changes are taking place at a level too
subtle for you to  directly perceive. Scientists can calculate the turnover of
matter in your body by label ing atoms with radioactive material and
tracking their metabolism. Through this process we’ve learned that the
lining of  your stomach is repla ced about every five days. It takes about a
month for your skin to be retread. In about six weeks your live r has turned
over, an d within  just a few months, most of the calcium and phosphorus
crystals that make up your skeleton have come and gone. Every year over
98 p ercent of all the atoms in the  human body have been exchan ged. After a
course of three y ears, you would be hard pressed to find an atom that was a
part of you then, which could still be considered yours now. T o help you appreciate this idea, consider that your body is lik e a local
branch o f the public library. Although on one level the library seems to be
stable, on another level it is co nstantly changing. Books are coming and
going every day, with completely new ones added and old ones returned to
the downtown facility. Particula r books do not define a library; rather, it
represents the site and process of this ever -changing exchange of
information. Y our body is lik e a flame that is constantly metabolizing new  material. The flam mable m atter and the o xygen necessary for its combustion must be
continually renewed. The smoke and gases released are changing at every
moment. And yet the flame app ears to be nearly the same over time. The
processes of creation, maintenance, and dissolution are simultaneously at
work in a flame and in your body. The Greek poet Heraclitus said you cannot point to the same river twice
because new water is always flowing. Like a river, like a library, like a
flame, your body may appear to be the same on the surface, but in actuality,
it is constantly changing. Rather than viewing your body as a static
biological machine, begin to think of it as a field of ener gy and intelligence,
constantly rene wing itself. T o grow younger you must change your
perception of the body, relinqui shing the idea that it is a bag of flesh and
bones. Begin to experience your body as the flow of vital ener gy,
transformation, and intelligence, and you will experience the reversal of
aging. Even though the body appears to be material, it is not. In the deeper r eality, your body is a field of ener gy,
transformation, and intelligence. The Body of Energy, T ransformation, and IntelligenceEverything we have said to this point can be summarized in on e sentence:
By cultivating the habit of thinking of your body as a field of ener gy,
transformation, and intelligence, you will begin to experien ce it as a
flexible, dynamic bundle of consciousness, rather than as a fixed, material
thing. Y ou will realize its wavelike nature instead of its particlelike nature. One way of doin g this is throug h the use of daily rituals that reinforce this
new interpretation. Y our bo dy is a field of ener gy, at one with the ener gy of the  cosmos,
inexhaustible and constantly i n motion. The A yurvedic term for this
ener getic aspect of life is Prana (prä′-nä), which is sometimes translated as
the b reath of life. Likewise, your body is ever in transformation, always and
eternally in dynamic relations hip with the elements and fo rces of the
universe. This is known in A yurveda as T ejas (tĕ’′-jäs), the internal fire of
transformation. F inally, your body is the physical manifestation of universal
intelligence, wh ich is supreme, divine, and immortal. The A yu rvedic word
for this is Ojas  (ō’′-jäs), the infinitely flexible, fluid expression of the
physical body. T o reverse the aging process, begin using the words ener gy,
transformation, and intelligence as reinforcements to experience your body
as it really is— a field of inexh austible ener gy, in constant transformation,
and as a physica l expression of pure intelligence. If you prefer, you can use
the A yurvedic terms Prana, T ejas, and Ojas  as mantras to anchor your new
interpretation. A s you begin to experience your body in its true form, your
beliefs a bout it will also change, and your new beliefs will create your new
biology. EXERCISE—YOUR BODY OF LIGHT
Look at the picture below. Pictur e A
Picture A is the conventional view of the human body as a modern
physician might  envision it. This picture reflects how, on a subconscious
level, yo u perceive your body at this moment. Although this perception is
accurate at the gross level, it i s an incomplete representation  of the true
nature of your b ody. Therefore,  it is not the way you should envision your
body. Pictur e B
Now loo k at picture B, a good r epresentation of how your body really is
at a quantum lev el: a field of ener gy, transformation, and intelligence. This
is how the ancient V edic seers saw it. They referred to it as the “subtle”
body. Th is subtle or quantum m echanical body is inextricably woven into,
and is one with, the ener gy and intelligence fields of the cosmos. Look once again at picture B. N ow close your eyes and see if you can
clearly v isualize it. Can you. Op en your eyes. Look once again. Repeat this
procedure as many times as you want, until you can see your subtle
(quantum) body  as clearly with  your eyes closed as with your eyes open. When y ou are absolutely sure t hat you can do this, close your eyes againand mentally repeat to yourself: “Ener gy (Prana), transformation (T ejas),
intelligence (Ojas). ”
Whenever you consciously take a deep breath (and make it a point to do
this several times each day), close your eyes and mentally repeat the word
Ener gy while at the sam e time visualizing your ener gy or light body  as
represented in picture B. Similarly, when you consciously  eat food,
mentally repeat the word T ransformation, visualizing the light body in
transformation. Finally, every time you take a sip of water, silently repeat
the word Intelligence and envision once again the lig ht body as fluid and
flexible. As you repeat this ritual with breathing, eating, and drinking, you
will be starting  the process o f restructuring your perception and the
experience of your body from material to subtle. PERCEIVING YOUR LIGHT BODY
Enlivening Ener gy (Prana)
Y our vital ener gy animates both  mind and body. Throughout the  day, use
the word Ener gy and experience the life force rejuvenating every cell,
tissue, and or gan in your body. Think “Ener gy” whenever you:
W alk through a garden. Go from indoors to outdoors. Practice breathing exercises (see Chapter 7)
Enlivening T ransformation (T ejas)
The essential transformational  force is the primordial fire of life. Throughout the  day, use th e word T ransformation to enliven thetransformational process that continuously converts ener gy from one form
into another. Think “T ransformation” whenever you:
T ake a mouthful of food. Feel the sun on your body
Gaze into the stars at night. Enlivening Intelligence (Ojas)
When intelligen ce is abundant and freely circulating in your body, all
your physiological systems—cardiovascular, digestive, neurological,
hormonal, and immune—function at their optimal level. Throughout the
day, use the word Intelligence to enliven nourishment in every  cell of your
body. Think “Intelligence” whenever you:
T ake a sip of water. W alk along a natural body of water. Drink fresh fruit juices or other healthy beverages. In addition to silently repea ting these words to enliven ener gy,
transformation, and intelligence while you breathe, eat, and drink, use them
when yo u are exercising. Whenever you are performing a rhythmic activity
—walking, jogg ing, swimming,  riding your bicycle, or using a treadmill—
silently repeat “Ener gy, T ransformation, Intelligence. Ener gy,
T ransformation, Intelligence. ” or “Prana, T ejas, Ojas. Prana, T ejas,
Ojas. ” with your full attention on your body. After a while, y our habitual
way of experiencing your body  will change because your perc eptions will
have shifted. The Body as a River of Renewal
Y our body is not a mechanical structure fixed in time and space. It is a
field of ener gy, information, and intelligence in dynamic exchange with
your environment, capable of perpetual healing, renewal, and
transformation. Sitting comfortably, close your eyes and take a full deep inhalation. Now, as you slowly exhale the air from your lungs, visualize your breath
as a flow of molecules being released from every cell in your body. W ith
each outgoing breath you are releasing atoms from every or gan in your
body, and with each ingoing breath you are bringing atoms to every cell
and or gan in your body. Y ou are renewing your body and replacing parts
with every breath that you take. Continue to breathe in and out and imagine your body as a continual
stream of ener gy and transformation, constantly renewing and refreshing
itself. Bring your attention to your stomach and know that the entire stomach
lining will be renewed in less than a week. Now bring your attention to
your skin and know that within one month the cells will be entirely
replaced and you will have new skin. See your skeleton in your mind’ s eye. The atoms that currently
comprise it will be replaced by new ones in three months. Bring your
attention to your liver. Y ou will have a new one in six weeks. Now feel your whole body. In one year almost all of it will have been
replaced. Now say to yourself: “I am renewing my body with every
breath I take. ” See your body as it really is— infinitely flexible, fluid,
and forever in renewal. Every day in every way, I am incr easing
my mental and physical capacity.
The book is intended to help readers improve their overall well-being and is not a substitute for medical care. It provides a consciousness-based approach to reversing aging.
What is the purpose of this book?
The authors believe that aging is not a natural process and that it is possible to reverse it by changing one's perception and habits.
What is the author's perspective on aging?
The author states that time is a subjective experience and that it is possible to change one's perception of time and thereby change one's biological age.
What is the author's opinion on the concept of time?
The "Biostat" is a concept that refers to the idea that one's perception of their biological age can be changed by shifting one's consciousness and intention. It is not a physical age, but rather a subjective experience.
What is the concept of "Biostat"?
The author states that chronic stress accelerates the aging process and that it is essential to manage stress through practices like meditation to reverse the aging process.
What is the author's view on the relationship between stress and aging?