The Dean of genes

By Mukul Sharma

Ever since the discovery of the genetic code and the process of gene expression - by which a gene either switches on or off - it's been assumed that
we are what our genes are and that nothing can alter it.

Meaning, if the gene that's responsible for the colour of our hair - say, brown - switches on, then brown hair is what we're effectively stuck with till baldness or death overtakes our lives. The same thing goes for all our other physical characteristics.

However, cut to the 1990s and Dr Dean Ornish, professor of medicine and dietitian extraordinary. Earlier, the man had already shaken the world of cardiology by experimentally proving for the first time that comprehensive lifestyle changes could not only slow down or stop the progression of heart disease, but actually reverse it. The landmark discovery was especially notable because it had seemed physiologically implausible.

Now, he has published research demonstrating that comprehensive lifestyle changes could also affect gene expression in three months, 'turning on' disease-preventing genes and 'turning off' genes that promote cancer and heart disease.

In fact, by showing how adopting healthy lifestyle habits that included yoga and meditation can affect a person at a genetic level, Dr Ornish showed that our genes are definitely not our fate.

Dr Ornish acknowledges his debt to Swami Satchidananda for helping him develop his perspective on preventive health but, more interestingly, he feels that in future our genes could even be controlled purely by spiritual intervention.