Theatre of the Mind Podcast Episodes

OK, I hope you all had a great holiday. Personally, I'm going to boycott Christmas next year: I'm tired of it. But we're back and things are getting very exciting around here. My show today is called "Mind Over Matter" and our guest is renowned cell biologist Dr. Bruce Lipton.


Dr. Lipton is the author of "The Biology of Belief." His groundbreaking discoveries at Stanford University School of Medicine have challenged the scientific view that life is controlled by our genes. He is regarded as one of the leading voices of the new biology.


And I wanted to tell you that we recorded the show live. And ‑ because I love you guys ‑ I've taken out all the commercials. But I don't want you to be angry at me for interrupting Dr. Lipton, because I had a guy in the studio instant messaging me, saying, "One minute until the break, 30 seconds until the break." Anyway, so you might hear me interrupting Bruce, and I couldn't help it, I had to. But I have taken the commercials out. So, here we go with the show. Dr. Lipton, welcome to Theatre of the Mind.

Bruce Lipton: Thanks, Kelly. Thank you very much.

Kelly: It's an honor to have you on the show today. We're really blessed.

Bruce: I'm so excited by this opportunity to talk with people about wonderful things that are happening.

Kelly: I know, I am too, and a lot of people are excited. So, let's just begin with the basics. What is the new biology? And how is it different from the science we've all come to learn?

Bruce: This is profoundly exciting. And let's give the common belief system that we've been programmed with and educated with: starting in grade school, people are taught the idea that genes are molecules that control the character and expression of our lives. So, that we look at our traits ‑ behavioural or physical traits ‑ as representing the readout of genes.


This kind of belief leads us to a concept call "genetic determinism, " which simply means that, at the moment of conception when the sperm and egg came together and the chromosomes from the mother mixed with the chromosomes from the father, that a set of genes are selected for your life. And that since these genes control the character of your life, presumably, then the character of your life is pre‑programmed in your genes.


And then people talk about, "Well, things run in my family, " like cancer or behavioural issues or whatever it is. And it's all due to the fact that genes are controlling us. So, we see ourselves ‑ more or less ‑ as victims of our heredity, in that genes control the character of the life, yet we didn't really select the genes ‑ as far as we know ‑ and we really can't change the jeans. Therefore, we feel almost powerless.


So, medicine is built on this same approach and looks at people as biological machines that are controlled by genes. It looks at the body like a vehicle, and if there's anything wrong with the vehicle, then they're like the service people who decide which parts need to be adjusted and fixed to get the vehicle back running again.


This is actually the belief that is conventional and primarily taught all the way up through graduate education. However, there is a new biology. And the new biology has a completely different look at the relationship of genes in our lives. The forefront of the new biology is a field that is called "epi‑genetics."


Going backwards, what we were teaching ‑ or what we are teaching right now in school ‑ is genetic control, which simply means control by genes. What's really interesting is that epi‑genetic control is different in this regard: epi ‑ the prefix ‑ means above. Like, epidermis is the layer above the dermis. Epi is above. So, when I say epi‑genetic control, it means control above the genes.


And this is what's new. Where we though that genes control life, it turn out that genes do not control life. Genes are potential. Epi‑genetic mechanisms control life. And what that means is that there are mechanisms by which an organism reacts to the environment, and in response to the environment, changes the readout of the genes. So that the genetic expression is not controlled by the genes, but is basically controlled by how we interact or how we perceive ‑ how we see ‑ the environment. And that vision controls our genes.


The basic difference in all this is that conventional thinking of genetic control: "I'm a victim, genes control my life." New understanding, epi‑genetic control says: "My perception or my life experience's control my genes." And the relevance of that is, you can change your perception or change your understanding about your experiences, and when you change that, you change your genes.


So, all of the sudden in the new biology, rather than being a victim, is a biology of creators. We create the lives that we express, and the genes are only potential.

Kelly: Now, could you give us an example of what you're talking about?

Bruce: Let me give you the breakthrough example that changed my life, about 30‑some years ago. I was cloning stem cells. I started cloning stem cells back in 1967. While people think stem cells are some kind of recent thing in science, actually, my first stem‑cell cultures were 40 years ago.


I'm cloning stem cells. And what this means is that I make a cell culture. I start with a single cell. And when the cell divides, then the daughter cells divide, and soon you get a large colony of cells, but they're all genetically identical, because they came from the same parent. So, I'm working with identical cells.


I take a group of cells ‑ a colony ‑ and I split it, say, into three Petri plates. I take a colony and split it up. And in Petri plate A, I put certain environmental conditions and the cells become bone. And in Petri plate B, I change the environmental conditions a little bit, and the cells become muscle. And in the third Petri dish with different environmental conditions, the cells become fat cells.


Well, stop for a second and say, "Wait. They were all genetically identical, and yet they became different things. And the question is, "Why did one become muscle, and one become fat, and one become bone? What was the difference?" And the answer is, "Environment." And all of the sudden ‑ when I started to realize this ‑ I said, "Oh my God, the behaviour of the cell is not controlled by the genes. They're genetically identical, but the behaviour of the cell is a result of the cell responding to the environment."


So, that meant every cell was basically very flexible and changeable and that the environment that the cell was in controlled the expression of the cell. So, all of the sudden ‑ basically 30‑some years ago in the paper I published ‑ it said that "Genes do not control the cells. The environment controls the cells." Whatever environment they're in will change the genetic expression and cause the cell to do one thing or another thing.


But then, I'm working with cells, and humans are made out of cells. And the cells in our body are exactly the same as the cells in the Petri dish. The genes give them all the potential. All the cells in our body should be genetically very similar, if not identical, but why do some become bone, and some become muscle and some become nerve? And they're all genetically the same. It's because of the environment.


But, then, here's one more extension. When I took my healthy cells and put them in a less than healthy environment, the cells get sick. And if I take the cells out from that culture dish and put them in another culture dish with a better environment, they immediately recover and become healthy.


The health or illness of the cells was not programmed in the cells, it was a reflection of the environment and it was changeable. The beautiful part is, I said that we're made out of cells. And that's a very interesting point, because we see ourselves as a singular entity. I look in the mirror and I see Bruce, as one person looking back; it's a single thing.


It's like, "No, no. That's a misperception." We are made out of up to like 50 trillion living cells. It's the cells that are the living units. We are a community. And so, that consciousness we express is like the collective consciousness of 50 trillion cells. So we are, in our consciousness, expressing a thought for a community of cells.


Well, here's the point. We are skin‑covered Petri dishes. If I take my skin‑covered Petri dish and put it in a bad environment, I get sick. If I take that skin‑covered Petri dish and move it into a better environment, my cells get well. Sickness and health are not in the genetic program, sickness and health are a reflection of the environment.


I'm involved with a very interesting movie. I'm one of the scientists that's being interviewed in this movie, and it's a movie that's sort of going to be like "Super‑Size Me." But it's a very exciting movie. They took 10 insulin‑dependent diabetic patients that agreed to volunteer. They all went to live at this place for 30 days, where they would get a raw food diet for thirty days.


After about seven or eight days, they were filming them and these people were climbing the walls. Oh, they were so angry. They wanted out! The third week, there was a lot more life and they were healthier. In the fourth week ‑ and this was followed by doctors with blood tests every day ‑ at the end of the fourth week, none of them were diabetic. It was completely gone.

Kelly: That's amazing.

Bruce: And the issue was, it wasn't a disease, it was a response to the environment. And it's an interesting point, because out of the ten that were freed of diabetes, nine of them went back to their own lifestyle again, and they got the diabetes again. Only one of them stayed on this lifestyle ‑ the raw food lifestyle ‑ and is still free of the diabetes.


And what was the point, it was just like they moved their Petri dish into this new environment ‑ their body, their cells ‑ and this was a good, healthy environment and their cells healed and they were healthy and not diabetic. Then, they move their Petri dish back to the other environment they came from, and they got sick again.


And this applies to 90%...

Kelly: Bruce, let's hold this thought. It's time for a short break, and when we return, we'll continue.

Bruce: I appreciate that, thanks, Kelly.


[music]

Kelly: Welcome back. My name is Kelly Howell, and we're speaking with cell biologist, Dr. Bruce Lipton about how the power of out beliefs can transform our biology. Dr. Lipton?

Bruce: Yes.

Kelly: Yes. OK, we were just speaking about how we are almost like in Petri dishes, and how our environment affects our cells and our biology. Now, in your book, you write about placebo and "no‑cebo" affects. Could you clarify these mysteries? Because that's taking it to another level of environment, it's more about beliefs, right?

Bruce: Well, it's perception, OK? Basically, when I set it up, if I put the cells in environment A, they perceive or see environment A, and as they see that, they adjust their genes to meet the demands of environment A. If I put them in a different environment ‑ B ‑ they perceive a different environment. Well, cells really read the environment very directly, but humans are a little different. Because the cells of my body ‑ like my liver cells ‑ they can't read the environment directly, they're inside. They don't know what's going on.


So, we have a nervous system. The brain's function is to read the environment, interpret what's going on and then send the signals to the 50 trillion cells inside, so that they can coordinate their functions to that environmental information. So, now, between our cells and the environment is a brain. And the brain does interpretations. The interpretation part comes like this: when we perceive or we experience an environment, we may experience it accurately, or we may have a distortion of that experience.


If we perceive it with a distortion, then we will distort the function of the cells. For example: and anorexic ‑ if we were standing around and talking with an anorexic ‑ all of us would observe that this anorexic is skinny, skin‑and‑bones, near death. Because, our perception sees them exactly as this skinny person.


But, the interesting thing is, in the perception of this anorexic person, when they look in the mirror, it's like a distorted mirror, like a funhouse mirror to them. They see this big, bloated person. Well, the fact it, that's a perception, it's not real, it's a distortion. But the cells don't know that. So, they respond to the distorted perception and make adjustments to make the body thinner, which ultimately can result in death.


So, it basically says this. The brain's function is to perceive the environment, interpret it and then send the signal. In the relationship of placebos, let's say I was a medical doctor and I gave a patient a pill and I said to the patient, "This pill, this special new pill is very effective and it's going to heal you." Well, the issue about that is when this person takes the pill ‑ which is probably just a sugar pill and has no effect at all ‑ but, when they take the pill, they're taking it with the perception they got from the doctor, that this pill is going to heal them.


That belief sends healing signals to the body, because the body now expects to get healed because that's the expectation from the pills. So, we get an affect where we heal ourselves, but the pill didn't have any value to it, because it wasn't the contents of the pill that was important, it was the perception that was important.


So, a fake pill can make healing. But belief works both ways. That's a belief that suggests, "I can heal you with this pill." But I could also give you this belief: "I'm sorry, you have terminal cancer." If you buy that belief, and you really perceive it to be true, then your brain will respond and create what is called a "terminal cancer."


And all of the sudden you have found out that this is a negative belief. And it manifests as a negative physiology, and that is called a "no‑cebo" effect. A placebo effect is that I give you a positive belief, and you respond in a positive manner. The point is simply this: it's the belief that controls biology, whether it's positive or whether it's negative. That belief will then determine the outcome, because the cell's function is going to be dependent upon the perception that the brain sends the information to the cell with. That perception controls it. If it's a good perception, it will heal me. A negative perception may actually kill me.

Kelly: Traditional medicine may accept placebos and no‑cebo, right?

Bruce: Oh, they do. It's part of a program of teaching. And let me just also say this, that the placebo and no‑cebo are equal effects. They have equal power. So, a negative thought is equally as powerful as a positive thought is in changing the body.

Kelly: So, you'd think they would be pouring a lot more money into research on this, huh?

Bruce: Well, now we're getting down to a reality. And here's the reality, having been in the business, OK? The research money is provided to support the belief systems and the interests of those that provide the money. It's as simple as that.

Kelly: The pills. The drug companies.

Bruce: If I provided research that supported pills, I'm going to get much more favorable opportunities to get the money, than if I provided research that said, "You don't need to take the pills." We fund for the business. This is not a free science, this is a science with a directed end. And it's a very interesting fact.


Here's an interesting fact about the perception: when the money comes from a drug company to fund research, and the same research is also being carried out by another group ‑ but their money comes from independent sources ‑ the research, when funded by the drug company, turns out to be four to five times more favorable outcomes for them when they pay for the research.


And the interesting thing is, does that mean they cheated to make the drug company's outcome more successful? The answer is no. It's just that when the money's coming from the company, the people believe that this is what's going to happen, and their belief system influences the experiments.


And so, the source of the money generally determines the direction of the research.

Kelly: So, that's why they have double‑blind studies.

Bruce: And that doesn't work either. Because when we get into the world of quantum physics, we start to change our belief systems and start to recognize that everything is really part of the invisible field, and that the material field is a reflection of the immaterial, the invisible field.


So, our experiments are really thought experiments that start out in consciousness and all that. That's what shapes the results of the experiments. In physics ‑ that was fundamental in quantum physics in the very earliest days ‑ when they wanted to find out, are the sub‑units of atoms, thinking atoms are physical particles, they started to get an idea that maybe the subunits of atoms are energy and not physical particles.


So then they tried to find out, are electrons and things that are in the atom, are they energy? Are they wave energy? Or are the physical particles matter? And here was the conundrum of quantum physics, and the answer was, if you looked at it as if it was a wave, it appeared to be a wave, and if you looked at it as if it a particle, it appears to be a particle.


And the point was, and here was the conclusion. The observer creates the reality. Well, this applies to the physics experiments on the subatomic particles or the chemistry experiences on drugs. Both of them are based on the observer creates the reality.


We're entangled with our own experiments, and that's why even a double‑blind, really, in the quantum physical world is not a double‑blind because we're so entangled. The energy can see the answer. It's not like a physical shroud that we can't see through. The energy already know the answers, so double‑blinds turns out to not be any more effective than regular experiments.

Kelly: Interesting. So when you talk about the biology of belief, are you talking about the power of positive thinking? I mean, what are you talking about here?

Bruce: First of all, what does biology of belief mean? It basically what my biology showed. At the very bottom level like putting the cells in environment A, they perceive, they see or experience environment A. They adjust their genes to meet that and turn into muscle cells. Or if they're in environment B, they perceive or experience B. They turn the cells into bone cells, OK?


Well, the point about it is, that this is perception. It's perceiving the environment, reading what's going on. But when we get to the level of human, then we have this very complex brain that's between me and the environment and myself, and it's a perception device. The brain is a perception device.


It reads the environment, makes perceptions, but sometimes our perceptions are right, and sometimes our perceptions are incorrect. And the result is, whatever our perception, right or wrong, it's our perception that will control the biology. So that's why instead of calling it a biology of perception, it's really ‑ really the biology of belief.


If you believe this, then this is the outcome of that belief, and if you believe that, then that's a different outcome. And so it turns out two people looking at the same world have totally different responses because each perceives the environment differently based on their beliefs, what they expect to see. So that's why it's called biology of belief.


It's called biology of perception, but since our perceptions might be true, or our perceptions might be wrong, then collectively it's easier to call it biology of belief. Sometime it's right, sometimes it's wrong, but positive thinking, that's. I came into all this as a conventional guy working with genes and stuff.


I didn't believe in any of this spiritual stuff and ‑ and all of this new biology, it was like thrust upon me through my research. And it ultimately led to an understanding, through me and an understanding of what is it that controls these perceptions, you know. The perceptions control biology, yeah, but what controls the perceptions? Where are our perceptions? And the answer is our mind.


And my first awakening to the fact that I was operating with two individual minds, my conscious and my subconscious minds, was the first time I did muscle testing. And it hit me like a hammer right over the head, and I realized that ‑ I never experienced muscle testing.


The guy says, "Hold out your arm, and say your name is Bruce, " which it is, and then I tested. It's really strong, and then he says, "I want you to hold your arm, and say your name is Mary, " which is obviously not right. And I'm holding my arm; I'm going to intend to keep it strong, and my arm drops. And at first I said, "I wasn't ready, do it again, " and it happened again and again.


And then I realized at some point ‑ I had to stop and hear what I owned ‑ my conscious mind had an intention to control my arm and keep it strong, and I wasn't able to do it, that there was some other operating factor in there that overrode my conscious mind. And it was my subconscious mind, which I came to find out.


But the moment I realized that was there, oh my god, there are two minds.

Kelly: Bruce, it's time for a short break. I promise when we get back, we are going to talk more about how the subconscious controls our behaviour and physiology.

Bruce: Yeah, thanks Kelly.

Kelly: So stay with us. We'll be right back.


[radio break]

Kelly: We're speaking with cell biologist Dr. Bruce Lipton about reprogramming our biology and, before the break, we were just getting into some fascinating material about the subconscious. And Dr. Lipton, you emphasized that the subconscious controls most of our behaviour in physiology.

Bruce: Almost all of it. And this is the big shock, because most of us believe that our conscious mind is what controls our lives, our desires for health or relationships, or success, is our conscious desire. And then when our life doesn't seem to work, we appear to ourself as victims.


Because, "My goodness, this is my desire to be healthy. How come I'm not?" Or, "I was wanting to be in this great relationship, and it doesn't work." It's everybody else's outside issues, so we become ‑ we look at ourselves as victims. Well, that's what I thought as well, until I understood the relationship.


And it goes like this, is that we have a conscious and a subconscious, and as we demonstrated in the muscle testing, the subconscious is more powerful than the conscious mind. So right away we have to recognize the conscious doesn't control over the subconscious. So if I wanted to hold my arm up strong and say my name was Mary, my subconscious wouldn't allow me to do it.


And all of a sudden, that's when I realized the conscious was more powerful, but here's now what we know about it. Number one, the conscious mind and the subconscious minds are different in regards to just the machinery of ‑

Kelly: Can we just back up a little bit here? What is your definition of the subconscious?

Bruce: The subconscious mind is the equivalent of a stimulus‑response tape player. It can do things automatically. Once it learns a program, it can be trained. And once it learns a program ever after that, it will automatically play that program when the stimulus is right, sort of like Pavlov and his dog, to ring the bell before feeding them.


And, at some point, they get the connection that the bell means food. Then later, you just ring the bell and don't give them the food, but they salivate because they're already programmed to respond to that food was coming. So that subconscious mind is what is being programmed in like a Pavlovian training.


You experience it, you learn it, and then after that, it's a automatic response ‑ push the button. As a matter of fact, many people say that about subconscious mind, "That guy pushed my buttons, and all of sudden this behaviour showed up." [laughter]

Kelly: So the subconscious controls your physiology?

Bruce: Oh, it does much more than that. Let's say ‑ have you ever, after driving for years ‑ have you gotten into a seat, in the driver's seat, and then had a conversation with a passenger? And then at some point, you look out the window, and it dawns on you ‑ you've just gone 10 minutes without looking at the road?

Kelly: [laughter]

Bruce: Yes, you have, right? And the issue is, who drove the car? And the first question is, well, the consciousness wasn't paying attention to the road; the consciousness was in the conversation, so it was the subconscious. So an example of the subconscious, it can drive your car, you know. Matter of fact, it's more effective at driving your car than your conscious mind is.


And in fact, if you were going to get into a car accident, the physiology would shut off your conscious mind, and then operate it strictly from the subconscious mind, because the subconscious mind is much more powerful, faster, than the conscious mind. And so in an emergency, you actually shut off the conscious mind and go on subconscious behaviour.

Kelly: OK.

Bruce: So that the subconscious mind technically ‑ we have two minds, the conscious one, which is the one that we associate with our identity, our thinking, our spiritual character ‑ the conscious one. The subconscious mind is virtually a machine. It's like a tape player; it learns and then plays over the program, over and over again when you push the button.


But now the significance is this physiologically, the subconscious mind is a million times more powerful than the conscious mind. That's number one. Number two, the subconscious mind has now been recognized to operate from 95‑99% of the day.


So while you might be thinking you're driving or controlling your life with your conscious mind, your conscious mind controls, on the average for most people, about 1% of their day. Meaning 99% of their day is programmed to operating from the subconscious mind, that has been learned and repeated and done over and over again.


And here's the catch ‑ very big catch ‑ the two minds work together. So if the conscious mind focuses on something the subconscious mind takes care of all the other details. In the car your conscious mind is focused on the conversation, your subconscious mind took over all the details. Taking care of the beating of your heart, your breathing, and the driving of the car. All of that!


OK, but here's the catch. When you're conscious mind is busy focused on other things, it doesn't observe the other behaviours that are controlled by the subconscious mind. So, if we go back to that story in the car ‑ you just finished your conversation, you just drove 10 minutes without paying attention to the road. If I ask you to describe your driving behaviour during that 10 minutes you would say "I didn't pay attention, I was in the conversation." The point is this " "aha!" ‑ and it's the biggest "aha!" that I can say right now, and the reason is this: Most of our behaviour, 95‑99% comes from the subconscious and almost all of it we never observe.


So, when the subconscious mind is operating we rarely pay attention to it. Sometimes we catch ourselves and are almost in shock. It's like, "Oh, why am I still doing this?" whatever it is. The point about it is this. When the conscious mind is carrying out most of the operations we are not observant of it and so therefore we can't see if it's good or bad.


I'll give you a nice story about most people. If you know somebody and you know their parents, and you happen to volunteer: "you know Mary, you're just like your Mom!" You should back away from Mary, because the first thing she is going to do is be aghast: "how can you compare me to my Mom?"


The question is more interesting this way ‑ how come everybody else can see that Mary is like her mom, but Mary doesn't? Well that just goes back to what I said. She got her programming from her Mom, and her subconscious runs the show 95% of the day. She has the exact same behaviour as her mother. Is she aware of it? No! Because when the subconscious program is playing she didn't see it either!


So, let's go back to our own lives and put that in.

Kelly: So, are you saying that our parents are more genetically engineering "...".

Bruce: Yes, they are definitely genetically engineering.

Kelly: "..." than our genes, than our DNA?

Bruce: Absolutely! This is the new biology. It brings in the role of the subconscious parenting. The simple reason is that when you go back and look at the brain activity of a developing child ‑ for the first six years of a child's life it is predominantly in Theta and Delta EEG, which is a hypnogogic trance.


A child is in a hypnogogic trance for the first six years of its life. Consciousness, which is a low consciousness, that Alpha EEG really only becomes the predominant wavelength after six years of age.

Kelly: Right, and we learn more in those first few years of our life than we do in our entire lives.

Bruce: That's right. The download is like a super learning six years. Everything you see is instantly downloaded, so that a child, let's say at three years old, in this learning state can download three languages at the same time and see them as distinct individual languages and vocabulary.


But here's a point ‑ take a child and wait until it's seven, eight, or nine years old then try to teach it just one new language and you have a difficult problem. The first six years are super learning and then they're not consciousness, it's just downloading. The relevance is that a child has to know like a million facts to be part of a community. A child, if you put consciousness in too early, that would interfere with the downloading of the facts.


Nature doesn't really bring consciousness in until about six. So the child's first six years or more are in a lessened state of awareness but it's a super period of downloading because it's a hypnotic trance. And, this downloading begins in utero. This is where we are now beginning to find that a child is already being programmed before it's born via the emotional calico from the hormones that are running through the mother.


They cross the placenta and the fetus feels what the mother is feeling. It might sound kind of silly but it's like nature's Head Start program because the fetus is going to live in the environment that the mother is going to live in but can't see it. And remember that the genes are adjusted by the organism reading the environment. So, in this particular tape the mother is like nature's Head Start program because what she sees in the environment and how she feels about it is translated so that the fetus can experience it.

Kelly: Yeah, and this might depress people though. I mean, if you know you had a mother that was very stressed out and you had a very negative childhood, where's the hope?

Bruce: Yeah! And here's the hope ‑ we can reprogram the subconscious mind. And yet here's the issue: positive thinking doesn't necessarily work. It's actually depressing to most people because they try it and nothing seems to change and then they feel even worse now. Cognitive therapy, the old form of psychology, is not very effective either for this simple reason (and there's some people out there that are going to understand what I'm talking about) and it's this simple. The subconscious mind is like a tape player. It learns, and then push the button and it plays the tape.


So, take this as an example. I give you a cassette tape. You go home and put it in a cassette player. You push "Play" and the program is playing. And then you don't like the program and you want to change it so talk to the tape player. You go over to the tape player and talk to it and then you realize the tape player doesn't care, it's still playing the tape! Then you yell at the tape player and it's still playing the tape and then you ask God to change the tape player and it's still playing the tape! And the point is this ‑ there's nobody in the tape player to respond to your request.


The same exists in the subconscious mind ‑ there's nobody in there. So, all the years we've spent talking to ourselves, it's like "well, who are you talking to?" You're talking to the subconscious mind, you want to change that old behaviour.


Well, it's like that's the effectiveness of going up and talking to a cassette tape player and asking it to change the program. It's not going to work really usefully. This is why positive thinking doesn't work ‑ because your conscious mind has positive thinking intentions. But that only works less than 5% of the day.


On this little tiny processor (compared to the subconscious mind) you're having positive thoughts, but the subconscious mind doesn't listen to those. There's nobody in the subconscious mind ‑ it's a machine!

Kelly: If you put a new tape in?

Bruce: You don't have to put a new tape in but, just like the cassette player, if you push the "Record" button, then you have access to change the program. The issue was that we didn't understand about the "Record" button before. Because we just thought you could just talk to yourself and, like in cognitive therapy: "oh, your mom did this, and your dad did this, and now you know why you're all screwed up. Now you'll change it!


No, no, your conscious mind just became aware. Your subconscious mind's got the same tape. It didn't change anything. But, when you push that "Record" button you can rewrite those tapes and, in minutes, your life can change sometimes. But, if you don't push the "Record" button you may spend a long time trying to convince it to change. With a lot of effort you can make them change, but that's not the change we need today when we need some fast changing.

Kelly: So, are you talking about returning to the scene of the crime? Returning back to the hypnogogic state?

Bruce: No, don't even go there! [laughs] Don't go there!

Kelly: OK, well we're now talking about state‑bound learning ‑ where you return to the Theta state...

Bruce: Actually what you really want to do is reengage the super learning.

Kelly: Right, so you get back into that Theta state.

Bruce: Into super learning. And the idea, what super learning is involved with is partly brain.. you know we have right and left brain with different traits which I'm sure you talk about on the show. The issue is this ‑ after we're six years of age we start to express what is called "brain dominance", "hemisphere dominance." Sometimes we're in the left‑brain dominance and then during the day it switches to right‑brain and then back to left brain.


What was different between this and the earlier super learning theory is that in the super learning theory we were in brain harmony. The two hemispheres were working simultaneously. That's when you have the option of changing the program more effectively.


If you're in the left‑brain dominance and try to change the program, well, you didn't interact with the right brain which shares part of that program, so you didn't really change it. So the issue is getting into brain balance in the hemisphere activity is a very important part of the super learning process.


Super learning is essentially pushing the "Record" button. That's why super learning works so fast. You notice you can read a book in minutes, or those people that are experienced with it.

Kelly: Bruce, it's time for a short break again.

Bruce: No! Oh, my goodness!

Kelly: But we'll get you to talk more about this.

Bruce: How many more hours?


[both laugh]

Kelly: I wish you were my biology teacher in school. OK, stay with us everybody, when we get back we'll be talking about reprogramming our subconscious.


[music]

Kelly: Welcome once again, your host Kelly Howell, and we're speaking with cell biologist Dr. Bruce Lipton about reprogramming our biology. Boy, those commercials Bruce, I get so caught up I don't want to stop!


[music]

Bruce: [laughs]. Well we're getting into stuff that you have dealt with in your own personal life and have worked with and that's the exciting part about how you do reprogramming.

Kelly: Mm‑hmm.

Bruce: So this is the best part of it and also the most important part to get to because of processes that we conventionally ascribe to like conventional cognitive psychotherapy and stuff like that are effective but are very low percentage. People can go for years and find out everything that went wrong with their lives and still have the same problems.

Kelly: I know people that have been in therapy for 17 years and they haven't changed.

Bruce: That's because their conscious mind has become aware every time, and every time they go back they relive these experiences which then recharges the subconscious mind which is based on those experiences.

Kelly: So it's like a reimprinting.

Bruce: Absolutely, you actually strengthen the negative character by doing that. You don't have to go back in space to see what went wrong. What's wrong is facing you in your life at the moment. Your current life is a printout of the programs in your subconscious mind. That's exactly what it is ‑ the subconscious running 95 to 99% of the day. That means the life you're experiencing is a printout. You don't have to go back and find out what's wrong in the past. What's wrong is right now! So, you are wasting your time going back.


To me here's what the waste of time is ‑ there's an old saying: "don't kill the messenger over the message." Basically cognitive therapy is just thrashing the hell out of messengers ‑ people who did things and got involved with your life. But, it doesn't focus on the message. So we go back and blame your mother or your father or this person or that person.


These are messengers, because they brought a message but your subconscious is what wrote the message, not the people that brought the message.


What the message is expressing in your life ‑ if you're having trouble with your health or relationships ‑ there's your issue right there! You don't have to go back ‑ you just want to program a different way into it.


There are three fundamental ways that are the easiest ways to reprogram.


The hardest of the three to do is the one I did first because I didn't have any knowledge of the other two and it turned out I didn't know I was doing it ‑ it was called Buddhist mindfulness.

Kelly: Mmm. I started with meditation too and it is the hardest way. [laughs]

Bruce: It's hard because life competes ‑ you don't have time to be focused like that. And, it's interesting because it basically says if you become very conscious then you don't rely on the subconscious tapes, which are the sabotage tapes, right?


It's interesting because almost everybody out there in the audience that's at least 14 years of age or more, has experienced a point in their lives when they did this without knowing they were doing it. That was called the "honeymoon period", when they just met someone who lit up their life and they just fell in love. At that moment their life changed for that honeymoon period for the simple reason that the day before they were running their lives almost constantly on all the subconscious programs. It took them 10 minutes to get dressed, six minutes to eat the McDonald burger and wipe their face with their sleeves. They were out of there. It was a program ‑ they weren't paying attention, they just did it.


But now you meet this person that you think is the mate of your life, and you're so excited! You're going to go on a date and it's going to take you more than ten minutes to get dressed. You're going to be so personally conscious of yourself, checking yourself out not to make an error, that all of a sudden you're not relying on tapes.


When you go out to dinner with this person you're going to remember every rule of etiquette you ever came across in your entire life and use it, because you're consciously watching yourself.


And then you go back and think about it ‑ in that period where you were conscious and watching yourself and living the life that your conscious mind wanted to express ‑ "this is who I am!" You were the happiest and healthiest and most loving in your life!


And then, the honeymoon ends. The reason is that at some point, as we said, life becomes so busy that your conscious mind begins to wander. Then when your conscious mind wanders then you're playing these tapes that are then running the show. And, the tapes are other people's programs that you downloaded from other people, so it's not you!

Kelly: So what are the other ways?

Bruce: The other two ways (and I partly got involved with this) is hypnotherapy, like clinical hypnotherapy, which gets you in a brain state ‑ Theta ‑ which is the most effective place of downloading the information of the subconscious. Remember, that was the brain state we were in for essentially the first six years of our lives.


As adults we normally hit Theta as we're going to sleep, as we're passing from consciousness into sleep. Or, as we're awakening from sleep into consciousness we go through Theta. That's why the tapes that you talk about making for yourself, especially if you play them just as you're going to sleep ‑ as you're automatically going through the Theta zone and playing the tapes, you're rewriting programs.

Kelly: We have about four minutes ‑ so what's the third way?

Bruce: Oh! And the third and the most exciting is a group of modalities that you would collectively call energy psychology, which involves a bunch of like EST, Body Talk, Avatar, Holographic Repatterning. The one I'm most preoccupied with is Psych‑K. I've been involved with the people, Rob Williams who developed it. The most exciting thing is that I've experienced it and now I do workshops and I see people change their lives in minutes. That's how fast it is ‑ it's startling!


That's what we need at this time ‑ it's these energy psychologies. They influence a super learning state and allow you to reprogram in a super learning state. Remember super learning is virtually instantaneous. So that in minutes you can rewrite a disabling or disempowering program. And, in an energy psychology modality for example like Psych‑K, rewrite a belief in 10 minutes or something. No matter if you have had that belief for a year or 50 years it still only takes about 10 minutes to rewrite it.

Kelly: Really? That's amazing!

Bruce: Yeah! Oh, I am delighted to be involved with this because after doing the biology stuff and I always ended my lectures saying: "Well, yeah, your beliefs control your life." And immediately everybody's question is: "Now what?"

Kelly: Now what? [at same time as Bruce]

Bruce: And I am a biology guy! Just explain how to work that in to this other stuff, but now I'm excited because I know recognize the Psych‑K among others are extremely effective and what are needed now. We don't have months and years to make changes. We need to make changes as fast as we possibly can because we are coming into very critical times. Almost all of ours are being misprogrammed and disempowering ourselves, not having enough self‑worth, and self‑value, and self‑love. And, without those things we cannot maintain our health.


Our health is the reflection of harmony. When we have disharmony in our system that is when disease starts. You know, people are always blaming disease on germs and viruses and things like that. It turns they have nothing to do with it. It's the mind that controls everything.

Kelly: We've got to go!

Bruce: Aww!

Kelly: Gosh, Bruce, thanks so much! It's been great having it on this show. I really, really enjoyed it.

Bruce: I appreciate it Kelly, thanks. And there is hope, that's all I need to say, there's hope.

Kelly: To find out more about Dr. Bruce Lipton and his groundbreaking work, visit www.brucelipton.com. That's brucelipton.com. Definitely check out his site.


Next week we'll be speaking with author and publisher Mark Allen about "The Millionaire Course ‑ a Visionary Plan for Creating Lasting Wealth and Fulfillment." Sounds good to me!


Thanks for listening, everybody. Until next time, be well.

Announcer: You have been listening to "Theatre of the Mind" podcast, accelerating the evolution of human consciousness. Visit "Theatre of the Mind" online at www.kellyhowell.com.


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