The Science Is In: Meditation Affects Aging and Telomere Length

Science is all about precision, controlled studies, and measurable, repeatable results. So for years researchers resisted working on alternative practices such as meditation, dismissing the few studies done as “fuzzy science,” “subjective,” or “impossible to duplicate.” But as research methods have advanced, so has the accuracy of the latest research. There is ample evidence now that stress leads to increased risk of health problems and that meditation reduces stress. What’s new are the studies showing how stress is related to aging and telomere length.

Thanks to groundbreaking work from researchers such as molecular biologist Dr. Elizabeth Blackburn and psychiatrist Elissa Epel, (video) we can now definitively link meditation with slowing, and perhaps even reversing the aging process. Blackburn, who won the 2009 Nobel Prize for the discovery of telomeres, the protective caps on our chromosomes that wear down from aging, decided to study the effects of meditation on telomere length. Blackburn, named one of Time magazine’s 100 “Most Influential People in the World” in 2007, effectively launched the field of telomere research. Blackburn and Epel have now released a book with their research, The Telomere Effect – Living Younger, Healthier, Longer, and have appeared on Dr. Oz and other tv shows.

On his Natural Health website, www.lifespa.com, John Douillard writes, “Dr. Blackburn followed the logical paper trail: shorter telomeres cause accelerated aging, highly stressed people had shorter telomeres, and short telomeres are linked to health concerns….. meditation has been found to increase the activity of an enzyme called telomerase, which protects the chromosomal caps, called telomeres, from shortening. These chromosomal caps protect our cells from aging, degeneration and disease. Chanting, yoga, and other Ayurvedic lifestyle practices were shown to also increase the activity of telomerase in the body.” In addition to his website for natural health and Ayurveda, Mr. Douillard (video) has developed the Transformational Awareness Technique (TAT), a practice that combines meditation with action.

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Merlian News Podcast with Teresa Hale on Meditation


Three Minutes a Day by Richard Dixey

| by Cheryl Shainmark

Three Minutes a Day is one of the best meditation books to come along in years. Author Richard Dixey has written a real how-to manual for anyone who wants to start meditating. Not only that, he outlines in clear, simple terms how the reader can gain all the wisdom and benefits of a meditative practice with just a few minutes daily investment of time. Repeat that three minutes every day for several weeks, and before you know it you are a meditator, capable of achieving clarity, growth, and insight.

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Mastering Life: Rosicrucian & Magical Techniques for Achieving Your Life Goals – Part Two

| by Peter Gruenewald

Spiritual symbols are images of hidden spiritual processes, conditions and forces that relate to spiritual beings such as elementary beings, hierarchies of angels or even the being of Christ. When we connect with these symbols through meditation, we effectively open ourselves and merge with those spiritual forces associated with these spiritual beings.

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Mastering Life: Rosicrucian & Magical Techniques for Achieving Your Life Goals – Part One

Using magical symbols for the achievement of goals and success is not only empowering but also fraught with risks. It should therefore be practiced with caution. A magical mastery of life needs to go hand in hand with mastery over oneself as well, including personal moral development. Exerting power without enlightened moral development can easily lead to an abyss of abuse and destruction. However, these risks should not hold us back from seeking to master ourselves and life, in close connection with those spirits that serve the ascendance of humanity.

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Tell Me A Story: Stirring Up Cellular Memories with Meditation

| by Cheryl Shainmark

I have been meditating for over twenty years now and find it an essential part of my life. Many have written about the substantial physical and emotional benefits, and while I’ve certainly found that to be the case, too, I’ve also noticed that there is a component of releasing “cellular memories” that is rarely addressed. People shy away from phenomena that are not so easily explained, but whether you call it “cellular memories,” “past lives,” or releasing “old patterns,” I have found that there is something extraordinary happening that also brings welcome relief to the body and the spirit.

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Remembering We Are One World by Stephen Thomson

At the end of a period of meditation, I slowly opened my eyes and saw my friend Everett, who had passed away three years earlier, standing in front of me.  Everett seemed so present – so alive – in that moment, and his vital presence remained as I came into full consciousness. Realizing what I was seeing, I was overcome by a whole range of emotions, the most intense of these being feelings of love and joy at being once again in the presence of my beloved friend.

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What is Mindfulness, by Linda Lehrhaupt, PhD

Mindfulness meditation has been described in many ways in recent years, but I still find that one of the definitions by Jon Kabat-Zinn, the founder of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction, is very helpful. He says that mindfulness is “paying attention on purpose in the present moment, non-judgmentally. He added in an interview on YouTube…“as if your life depended on it.”

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Meditation, Spirituality & Brain Changes with Dr. Andrew Newberg

You’ve probably heard of Dr. Andrew Newberg’s work on meditation, even if you didn’t realize it — he’s the scientist who did the ground breaking studies of Tibetan monks meditating that showed how dramatically it changed the brain . He went on to study nuns praying and Sikhs chanting and found similar brain states as those of meditation. His ground breaking work led to the development of a new field of science called “neurotheology,” which studies the relationship between the brain and religious experience.

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GAIN Resilience and Reduce Stress with this 3 Minute Daily Mindfulness Practice

| by Greg Hammer, MD

Two potent inducers of stress are (1) uncertainty about the future and (2) a world that does not comport with our wants and needs. The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic brings both conditions and rampant, world-wide stress. Stress causes increases in adrenaline and cortisol in our bodies, increasing our heart rate, blood pressure, and blood sugar. Acute stress may be adaptive, enabling us, for example, to escape a predator by focusing our attention and directing blood flow to our muscles so we can run faster. When stress lasts for days, weeks, and even months, however, it is maladaptive.

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Delay or Reverse Aging with Qi Gong, Meditation, Yoga and More

| by Merlian News

There’s increased evidence showing that practices such as qi gong, meditation and yoga can not only prevent disease, but actually reverse it and delay aging as well. As scientists learn more about such topics as gene expression, what turns a gene on or off, and how to prevent telomeres, (the strands of protein in our cells that control aging) from unraveling, it becomes impossible to ignore just how much our good lifestyle choices can pay off.

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