Susan Lee Smalley And Gene Changes Through Meditation

Dr. Susan Lee Smalley has argued that it is possible to achieve gene change through meditation. In fact, she is not the only one who has claimed this in this regard. However, Smalley is one of the most important spokespersons due to her extensive knowledge in the field.

Susan Lee Smalley is an anthropologist with a doctorate in medical genetics. She is the director of the Mindful Awareness Research Center (MARC) and one of the first to talk about gene change through meditation. She claims that research shows changes in at least 15 genes in people who meditate.

Smalley has argued that neuroplasticity, the brain’s ability to change as it experiences new experiences, would also have effects on the genetic level. She stated that what is most interesting about the change in genes through meditation, is the fact that there would be a way to self-induced profound changes in the volunteer experience.

Genetic changes through meditation: A preliminary study

Some time ago, researchers believed that the genetic information each person was born with was immutable. They thought it was some kind of definitive programming, which was determined from birth. Over time, they have re-evaluated this. These days, we know that genetic information is actually very flexible, and that this applies to all ages of life.

One of the research projects that proved this flexibility, and which later gave rise to the study of gene change through meditation, was carried out by Michael Meaney, at McGill University in Montreal. He and his team observed epigenetic changes in the brains of rodents that had not received adequate maternal care during the first weeks of life.

This led to chronic stress in the animals from an early age. Women who had undergone this epigenetic modification also behaved carelessly with their own offspring.

However, if they were replaced by loving foster mothers, the young ones grew normally. This showed that genetics was flexible and also that mental experiences could bring about general changes.

A revealing study of gene changes through meditation

The University of Wisconsin-Madison conducted a study on meditation and achieved striking results. This is one of the groundbreaking works on gene change through meditation and is of great value.

What the researchers did was analyze the bodily changes that occurred in two groups of people. One group mediated, while the other performed silent activities that were not associated with meditation.

Eventually, they discovered that those who meditated had experienced modifications in the RIPK2 and COX2 genes. These are related to inflammatory processes.

The molecules that made these changes apparent were analyzed at the Institute of Biomedical Research Barcelona (IIBB-CSIC-IDIBAPS). Perla Kaliman, the lead author of the article, pointed out that they had discovered an epigenetic change in the genome due to meditation. However, she clarified that it is still too early to draw final conclusions.

Stress and meditation

Chronic stress is one of the factors that experts have associated with a large number of chronic diseases, in addition to the effect it has on a number of mood disorders and mental disorders. It is also associated with aging, both cerebral and general aging of the body. Reducing stress is one of the most documented effects of meditation.

Based on studies, it is now possible to postulate the idea that stress causes epigenetic changes and that meditation can reverse them.

In the same way, Susan Lee Smalley claims that people who reach the so-called “full attention” experience more activity in the frontal lobe, which affects calm. If they keep this going for a while, genetic patterns of stress change.

It is important to note that epigenetic changes are modifications that can “set” some genetic factors. Experts conclude that this is why DNA does not determine our “fate”.

For example, a person may be born with a gene that predisposes them to cancer, but an epigenetic change can “quiet” that gene. Hence the importance of all these studies and their possible conclusions.