Epigenetic Healing
Around 10 years ago, I had a boyfriend who (for some weird reason) kept on pointing out that I’ve a really slow wound healing. I had honestly never paid much attention to the fact if my wound healing was particularly fast or slow.
But as he kept on mentioning it every time I hurt myself in some way, I started to really believe it. And guess what, at some point my wounds, even the tiniest wounds, cuts, bruises took forever to heal properly.
Yes, that’s how powerful our minds, our thoughts and our believes are.
To give you another example.
This particular boyfriend was also really into movies and made it his mission to remember the title of every movie he had ever watched, including the main cast, producers and directors.. and then he started to make it his mission that also I had to remember all of those things.
So every time we would watch a new movie or one that he had already watched, he would pause at the beginning and ask me all of those things.
I mean.. Why? Couldn’t we just watch the damn movie?
This whole question “play” had a huge effect on me because every time I couldn’t remember the names, he would say: oh wow, you’ve a really bad memory!
Besides triggering one of my core wounds of not being good enough and not being smart enough, he also started to plant the seed in my head that I’ve a really bad short term memory.
I slowly started to believe it myself and could really see my ability to remember things decrease. I especially noticed it with numbers. I’ve always been really good in remembering numbers, birthdays, year numbers but all of the sudden I wasn’t able to remember the simplest number combinations anymore.
It took me almost two years after we had broken up to change that belief again.
Now, besides being a little angry at this man for implementing such believes in me in the past, it also already back then, fascinated me.
Incredible what or who can influence our thoughts, our belief system and even more incredible to see what a big effect it can have on us and our bodies.
Even if it has an even broader meaning to it, I had to think about
a quote by Lao Tzu here:
Watch your thoughts, they become your words
Watch your words, they become your actions
Watch your actions, they become your character
Watch your character, they become your destiny
In the field of Epigenetic Healing, science is discovering that:
“The precise pathways by which changes in human consciousness produce changes in human bodies. As we think our thoughts and feel our feelings, our bodies respond with a complex array of shifts. Each thought or feeling unleashes a particular cascade of biomechanics in our organs. Each experience triggers genetic changes in our cells.”
(Source: The Genie in your genes, Dawson Church)
For a long time, it was believed that the set of genes that we were gifted with was determining our life in some ways. “That we are who we are, and we do what we do, because we were simply “born that way””.
Or also that our genes determine how long we would live or if our chances of getting certain illnesses are higher.
But studies now show that “genes account for about 35% of longevity, while lifestyle, diet, and other environmental factors, including support systems, are the major reasons people live longer” (Source: Who gets sick, Blair Justice).
Several studies also show that what we think about our health is the most accurate predictor of longevity and that having faith can add many more years to our lives, despite our genetic mix.
Anahata Yoga Teacher Training - The Sanctuary Thailand - December 2023
One of the many reasons why I love the work I do so much.
Because especially in my 1:1 sessions but also in my group work, I've experienced incredible moments when clients and students started to shift their mindsets about their bodies, their health, their ability to move, and how beneficial it is to keep on showing up to yourself on a regular basis and what benefits these practises can bring to their life.
As I’m sure you know, we’re not only made of a physical body but we’re also energetic beings. According to Dawson Church, author of "The Genie in your genes", biology has been largely content with the chemical explanations of how and why cells work, there are however many early research findings that show that there’s electromagnetic shifts happening with every biological process.
“The energy flowing in, around, and out of neurons and genes interacts constantly with the outside environment. Genes are how organisms store information, while energy is about how they communicate information. Researching genes without looking at the energy component of DNA is like studying a computer hard drive without plugging in the power cable.”
(Source: The Genie in your genes, Dawson Church)
It’s also known now that our genes can be activated and deactivated by the environment inside of the body and outside of it.
This means that we might have lots of information stored but we’re only using parts of it at a time.
One factor that has an affect on wether genes are activated or not, are our experiences.
But not only the experiences on their own but also just as important is the meaning (mentally, emotionally, spiritually) we assign to the experiences we make.
So, you could say that our “beliefs become biology - in our hormonal, neural, genetic and electromagnetic systems, plus all the complex interactions between them.”
(Source: The Genie in your genes, Dawson Church)
Photo taken earlier this year at the Sanctuary Thailand where I was sharing Anahata Yoga & 1:1 Coaching Sessions
Such a beautiful healing environment, nestled in a jungle bay on Koh Phangan. I was surrounded by many loving women, who gave me great support at the time, which felt very healing for my soul.
What these learnings show us again, how important it is to take care of the environment we create inside of ourselves but also the environment we surround ourselves with. To give you some more concrete examples:
The inner environment include:
Our emotions
Our mental health
Our energy
Our spiritual beliefs
The food we eat
The outer environment include:
our group of friends, our partner, our family and support system
Where and how we live
Do we feel safe?
Do we live in a busy, crowded, noisy place?
Do we have access to quieter places and nature?
Social but also personal rituals we take part in or practice for ourselves
All of these affect the expression (activation or deactivation) of our genes.
Looking at the research of Epigenetic Healing underlines what I’m sure many of you have felt and experienced on some level already before.
That practices like Asanas, Pranayama, Meditation, Yoga Nidra, Chanting Mantras, coming together in community, having regular sessions with your coach, mentor or therapist, taking a walk, going to the gym, eating healthy food, drinking clean water, being surrounded by loving people who care about you and so on… can support our own healing tremendously.
It all comes back to our overall well-being.
Working on, taking care of, being kind, compassionate and loving to all parts that it means to be you.
I would be really honoured to support you on this journey.