Q: Is it really possible to grow a new body?

A: Yes. You have already grown a body once before. To grow a new body all you have to do is break-in to password protected regions of your DNA to switch-on these same codes. Surgeons have long known that you can remove 80 percent of a person’s liver, and it will grow back within two months. And the liver isn’t the only organ in the body that can regenerate itself. Your heart is 15 to 20 years old, your bones are about 2 years old, your lungs and skin are around 2 to 4 weeks old, and your intestines have changed all their cells within the last 3 days. Ageing is what happens when your body loses its ability to regenerate itself, when healthy cells no longer replace sick and dying ones. So, imagine what might happen if you direct your body to grow only healthy, vibrant new cells. This book will inform you exactly how to do that.

Q: Why is Neuroplasticity important to grow a new body?

A: Neuroplasticity is a relatively new discovery for science, and it matches what sages have known for millennia about how the world molds and shapes the brain. Not so long ago we believed that the brain could not repair itself or grow new brain cells. Today we know that in response to an injury, or as a result of an epiphany or personal realization, individual neurons can change and even large-scale transformation of the brain—known as cortical remapping—can occur.

Today we know how you can trigger the production of neural stem cells that repair and upgrade the brain. I learned that it’s not just the brain that manufactures stem cells. Every organ in the body produces them, but we must learn how to turn on the genetic switches that will trigger repair and regeneration. Pluripotent stem cells will allow you to grow a new body that’s healthier and more resilient. I call this One Spirit Medicine because it requires the power of Spirit for renewing the body. Diet, vitamins, supplements, and superfoods alone will not do it.

Q: What does “Oneness” mean?

A: Oneness is a state of awareness where life and death flow seamlessly into each other, and where we reside in infinity. It is the awareness of a reality where our separateness from creation and each other is an illusion—a trick of the mind. We truly are One. You cannot experience Oneness just by chanting Om or repeating a prayer. You need the brain-chemistry that supports it. You can do this with the help of neuro-nutrients that help the pineal gland produce DMT, or dimethyltryptamine, a compound that has been referred to as “the spirit molecule.”

Q: Why is One Spirit medicine important to the average person?

A: Nature selects for the longevity of the species and not the individual, investing all of its resources in reproduction. After our reproductive years we are useless to the species – human growth hormone production and free radical scavenging systems shut down, among others.

Our bodies’ self-repair systems have been compromised by the toxic western diet. One Spirit Medicine details ancient methods for detoxifying the brain and body, while clearing and repairing our Luminous Energy Field. We learn the keys to prevention and longevity practiced by the shamans of old: Super foods that switch these systems back on again, repair mitochondria and unlock password-protected regions in DNA that activate the Sirt1 – the longevity genes.

We are not slaves to our genetics. One Spirit Medicine teaches us how we can get our health span to equal our life span.

Q: What else does One Spirit medicine teach us?

A: We can begin to grow a new body in one week with super nutrients and energy medicine—a body that heals, ages and dies differently. But that’s not all:

• Ninety percent of our DNA belongs to the microbes that live within us. If the colony is broken, disease happens—we can repair the colony with super-probiotics. Microbes are our best friends.
• Nine out of ten Americans have broken brains. It is possible to upgrade our brain to create psychosomatic health.
• Spirituality is the byproduct of a healed and upgraded brain, not meditation.
• Shamans were the first neuroscientists.
• You can’t dream your world into being until you wake up from the nightmare. Self-help doesn’t help.

Q: Isn’t spirituality completely different from scientific fact?

A: Science is relatively new while spirituality is very ancient. I discovered that what the spiritual traditions did was put an archaic language to what we describe today as neuroscience. However, what they refer to as “enlightenment” is optimal brain function – the ability to create psychosomatic health. Many people however associate the term “enlightenment” with organized religion when in reality it’s available to all people of any belief.

Q: What is a Luminous Body or Luminous Energy Field? Does everybody have one?

A: Yes, everyone has a Luminous Energy Field (LEF). The Luminous Energy Body/Field is an invisible matrix that informs the anatomy of the body. It contains a template of how we live, how we age, and how we might die.

When there is no imprint for disease in the LEF, recovery from illness happens quickly. By the same token, imprints for diseases can depress the immune system, and prolong recovery time during an illness. The good news is: When we erase the negative imprint that caused the onset of illness, the immune system can rapidly eradicate disease.

The Luminous Energy Field is a reservoir of vital force – a sea of living energy as indispensable to our health as the oxygen and nutrients carried by the bloodstream. When the vital reserves in the LEF are depleted through illness, environmental pollutants or stress, we suffer disease. We can safeguard our health and vitality and extend our active, healthy years by replenishing this essential fuel.

Q: What about chakras? How do they fit in?

A: The chakras are the organs of the Luminous Energy Field. They are wheels of energy created by the endocrine glands where they meet the nervous system. The chakras inform our neurophysiology, affecting our moods and influencing our emotional and physical well-being. The chakras connect to endocrine glands that regulate all of human behavior.

In parts of South America the chakras are known as ojos de luz, or eyes of light. We receive impressions of the world through our chakras, perceiving love in our heart; sexuality, fear, and danger in our belly (second chakra); and insight in our brow chakra (sixth). In a disagreeable situation, our second chakra can go into spasm and we may feel a knot in our stomach. From the unmistakable experience of sensing feelings through the heart center, we come to associate love with the heart, or refer to sadness as heartache.

Every living being has chakras – even crickets, deer, snakes and trees.

Q: How would someone know if they need “energy healing”?

A: When you have a condition that does not respond to modern medical methods, or you cannot find the cause of the disease, you can consider energy medicine. Signs of an energetic imbalance can range from physical to emotional distress or discomfort.

Q: What types of complaints or problems can a shaman help heal through this kind of work?

A: We treat clients with both physical and emotional issues. Some, for instance, may be constantly attracted to the same type of partner who is not good for them. Once the imprint which attracts unfavorable partners is cleared through the Illumination process, the individual will cease to attract those partners.

On the physical realm, I had a patient in whom I sensed a dark spot in his energy field just above his chest. I asked him about his history with heart disease and family history, and to both he said no. Nevertheless I worked on his heart chakra. A few days later my patient called to inform me that his brother had just undergone an emergency quadruple bypass surgery. The Luminous Energy Field can reveal a condition years before it manifests in the physical body.

Q: A more advanced healing practice is Soul Retrieval. Can a person actually lose his or her soul? How does that happen?

A: During a Soul Retrieval the shaman helps a person recover a soul part which fled at a time of trauma in their life. It is a traumatic event which causes the soul to fragment, resulting in a loss of innocence or your ability to trust others. Given enough time, this condition will also result in physical disease. The shaman will help rewrite disempowering contracts and summon the lost soul part to return, bringing with it a renewed sense of trust in life and in people.

Q: How can people who don’t practice shamanic work benefit from One Spirit medicine?

A: Detoxifying the body, removing heavy metals and negative beliefs are essential steps, as well as clearing the energy field. Many of these toxins are held in our fat cells – and the human brain is 75% fat. In the west we live with excessive levels of stress, which cause the body to produce high levels of cortisol and adrenaline both of which negatively impact us and keep the body in a permanent state of fight or flight. With the dietary recommendations provided in One Spirit Medicine, any one of us can prepare to make a shamanic journey.

Q: What is heavy metal chelation?

A: Chelation therapy is a medical procedure that uses chelating agents to remove heavy metals from the body. Heavy metal exposure is fairly recent. In the not-too-distant past, any mercury we encountered was bound into rocks, and not free in the atmosphere (in the form of methyl mercury) from burning coal for fuel, or in large ocean fish like tuna. Aluminum use is widespread, from aluminum foils to the coffee pods for use in espresso machines, to deodorant. Lead exposure comes from once widely-used lead plumbing. Arsenic is found in pesticides and in all rice, even the organic brands, because rice is grown in flooded fields, and arsenic binds to the young rice shoots. Europeans (Germans in particular) are far ahead of their American counterparts in heavy metal chelation. If you do IV chelation, be sure you work with a knowledgeable physician.

Q: What is wrong with the western diet?

A: With the discovery of agriculture 10,000 years ago the human life span was reduced in half. We stopped eating plant products and began to eat processed grains and animals, giving rise to a new social class of masters and slaves, religions (“give us this day our daily bread”) and warfare. There is no archeological evidence of warfare prior to the invention of agriculture.

Grains are carbs that turn into sugars. Sugars feed our lower brain, which is predatory, violent, greedy, and needs 10 commandments so we do not kill or steal.

Wheat contains Gluten, a protein that is not recognized by the bodies of 90% of the human population. Gluten cleaves the tight junctions of the GI tract, allowing food particles and micro flora to get into the bloodstream and create massive inflammation and autoimmune diseases. The incidence of allergies in non-agricultural peoples is 1 in 1,500. In agricultural societies it is 1 in 3.

The evolution of agriculture was quickly followed by widespread animal breeding, butchering and consumption. Recent research shows that the human body does not need, nor tolerate, excessive eating of animal protein. In humans, we now know, too much animal protein in the diet stimulates the mTOR pathway—part of a complex protein sensing system—which can cause out-of-control growth of cancer cells.

Beyond detrimental dietary changes, the loss of ancient Paleolithic belief systems—oneness of spirit, oneness of life—we become disconnected, disenfranchised (in the earth, not of the earth). We ignore the voice of spirit and nature and we look at the bounty of nature merely as resources for human consumption. We become commercially driven and forget about stewardship and sustainability—the price of which will always be too high. The damage we have wreaked on the ecosystem is irreversible, and has doomed the human race to early extinction.

Q: Why is fasting important?

A: Eating three meals a day is killing us—we used to feast and fast. At the heart of One Spirit Medicine is an age-old practice called the Vision Quest. Through fasting and meditation, a Vision Quest awakens the body’s self-repair and regeneration systems and reconnects you to Spirit and your own deepest purpose.

We fast to turn on the body’s repair mechanisms and clear brain fog. Even during a very short fast, amazing things happen to the body and brain. In just 24 hours, the production of human growth hormone increases by 1,500 percent, repairing cells that make up our tissues. Not eating sugars for as little as 18 hours wakes up the body’s system for self-repair, detoxifies cells, and switches on the longevity genes.

Q: How much protein does the body need to stay healthy?

A: New research shows that we need much less protein than we used to think we did. We now know that excessive protein shuts down the longevity programs in our DNA, and also contributes to the growth of cancer.

I consume about 300 grams of protein a week, which is perfect for my weight (75 kg) and level of activity (moderate exercise.) I consume my protein in two big sittings with several days in between. The body does not need protein every day. Eat your protein, especially animal protein, on a cycling schedule, largely abstaining from protein on the days in-between. On my protein days, I will eat a couple of hard boiled eggs at lunch and a portion of fish in the evening, or I might have a double scoop of plant-based protein powder and a helping of black-beans and rice, which is a complete protein.

The key to animal protein is high quality, not high quantity. When we eat meat, we need to be concerned about what the animal ate, too. Most of the meat consumed in the developed world comes from factory farms were animals are treated with extraordinary cruelty, fed hormones and antibiotics, and raised in unsanitary and inhumane conditions. But healthy, organic, grass-fed meat in small portions and wild-caught fish can foster freedom from heart disease, diabetes, cancers, and dementia.

Q: Can fats actually be good for you?

A: Yes—these three fats in particular:

Saturated Fats: The best are the MCTs, or the medium chain triglycerides, which are used quickly by the body and do not go into storage in fat cells. The best MCTs are found in coconut and olive oil, as well butter and avocados. MCTs are jet fuel for the brain, and supplementing with them during the Grow a New Body program will help to keep your mind clear as your body starts to burn its own fat reserves. It will provide a great transition until you begin to produce your ketones from your own fat stores.

Monounsaturated Fats: (MUFAs). MUFAs are your good friends. They are found in olive oil, avocados, nuts and nut oils, olives, butter.

Polyunsaturated Fats: (PUFAs). PUFAs can be good and bad. important ones are Omega 3 and Omega 6. Omega 3 reduces inflammation, switches on the production of stem cells in the brain, helping to repair the memory and learning centers, and protects you from heart disease. Omega 6 is pro-inflammatory, so you have to be careful with this fat. Processed foods provide us with nearly 20 times more Omega 6 than Omega 3. In the Lyon Diet Heart Study found that decreasing the amount of Omega 6, and increasing the Omega 3 fat intake, resulted in 70 percent fewer heart attacks, reduced the overall mortality rate, and protected against cancer. Omega 3 fatty acids are abundant in avocados, grass-fed meat, flaxseed and flaxseed oil, and fatty fish like salmon. And you should supplement Omega 3 daily.

Q: IS THE INCIDENCE OF OSTEOPOROSIS INCREASING?

A: In the United States, 55 percent of persons over the age of 50 will have reduced bone density or osteoporosis. It is likely that these staggering statistics are due to the acidic Western diet, forcing our blood to use calcium to neutralize acid instead of building bone. And most medications designed to combat osteoporosis do not work, or have such terrible side effects as to make them downright dangerous. The latest science is showing that the supplements in my program, and others like it, can help prevent osteoporosis and recover lost bone density.

Researchers at the Mayo Clinic have found that “the food-derived compound SFN (sulforaphane) epigenetically stimulates osteoblast activity and diminishes osteoclast bone resorption, shifting the balance of bone homeostasis and favoring bone acquisition and/or mitigation of bone resorption in vivo. Thus, SFN is a member of a new class of epigenetic compounds that could be considered for novel strategies to counteract osteoporosis.”

Q: ARE ALZHEIMER’S AND PARKINSON’S DISEASE PREVENTABLE?

A: In some circles Alzheimer’s is being called type 3 diabetes because of its connection to high blood sugar and a sugar-rich diet. Today we know that the foods that increase inflammation, including processed grains and refined carbs, are a risk factor for developing Alzheimer’s. The statistics for this disease are terrifying. They show that if you live to be 85 years old, you will have a 50% risk of having diagnosable Alzheimer’s.

The food you eat is not only the cause but also the cure. I speak about it throughout the book. Avoid sugars, restrict carbs, limit protein intake to primarily plant-based protein sources, and eat healthy fats. Supplement your diet with Vitamin D3—research published in the Archives of Neurology shows that the risk for Parkinson’s Disease among patients with the highest levels of vitamin D3 were nearly 75% lower than for patients lacking this essential vitamin. Vitamin D3 appears to be neuroprotective and can prevent the onset of PD.

Another study also published in the Archives of Neurology shows that persons who have the highest level of plasma DHA, our favorite Omega-3 fatty acid, have an 85% reduced risk of developing Alzheimer’s.

A study by Dr. Kirk Eriksen at UCLA and his colleagues at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine showed that regular aerobic exercise, regardless of the persons age, reduced their risk for Alzheimer’s by 50 percent.

Q: WHAT IS THE PROBLEM WITH MODERN HEALTH CARE?

A: We do not have a health care system in America, we have a disease care system. Americans are being killed by the food we eat, the thoughts we think, and the medicine we take. Between the food industry and the medical profession, they get us from cradle to grave.

The “health” statistics are alarming:

• Close to 70 percent of Americans are overweight, and one in three children born in America today will develop type 2 diabetes by the age of 15.
• Fifty percent of otherwise healthy 85-year-olds are at risk for Alzheimer’s disease. Alzheimer’s is being called type 3 diabetes, linked to a gluten-rich, wheat-based diet and a stressed-out brain.
• One in 60 children is diagnosed autistic.
• Millions suffer from insomnia, stress, depression, autoimmune disorders, soul loss, disempowerment, destructive patterns and behaviors.

In the few hunter-gatherer societies that still exist, autism, dementia, diabetes, and cancer are very rare or nonexistent. My research with Amazonian pre-agricultural societies shows that these people have none of the diseases of western civilization – no cancer, no dementia, no heart disease, because of their diet and communion with the spirit of nature. What accounts for their health and well-being? A primarily plant-based diet and One Spirit Medicine.

Q: WHY ARE SO MANY PEOPLE UNABLE TO FIND HAPPINESS?

A: Our brains cannot produce the bliss molecule (tryptamine) if they are busy producing stress molecules (adrenalin and cortisol.) These “fight or flight” molecules are a constant part of modern culture, but when we can’t fight and we can’t flee we are paralyzed. Stress hormones are also deadly to the region of the brain that is responsible for new learning, so we cannot recreate ourselves.

The religious experiences reported throughout history are the product of endogenous psychedelics manufactured by the brain for its own pleasure and joy. Meditation, babies, puppies, sex and joy increase the methylation of tryptamines, which in turn become dimethyltryptamines generated by the pineal gland. This is the direct equivalent of the brain producing its own Ayahuasca.

Q: HOW DOES ONE OVERCOME THE FEAR OF DEATH?

A: Limiting beliefs, overstimulation, an overactive fight-or-flight response—all the mental and emotional stressors we experience lead to our most primal fear of all: fear of death. In aboriginal societies there are rites of passage and initiations carefully designed to cause a person to directly confront the terror of death in order to awaken deep wisdom about non-ordinary reality, the continuity of life in the unseen world. After that you are no longer plagued by a chronic sense of anxiety about everyday matters and can hold a larger vision of your purpose in life.

We all have a taste of this when a loved one passes. We recognize what is truly, important in life, and make vows to ourselves to do more of it and less of our busy work. And then a few days or weeks later we forget, and are back at the everyday grind.

As your brain is upgraded, you will discover that you can let go of your fixation on what you think is absolutely vital to your safety and happiness and essential for your survival. As you release your old, fear-fueled approach to life, you will find you have more faith in your ability to handle uncertainty. You will gain a sense of living in a world that is safe and welcoming, and a universe that supports your intentions and what you value as truly important.

Q: WHAT IS AN ILLUMINATION? WHAT ARE THE POTENTIAL BENEFITS, AND IS IT APPROPRIATE FOR EVERYONE?

A: The Illumination process, the core foundational healing practice of the Light Body School, is the technique used to clear imprints from a person’s Luminous Energy Field. As the LEF informs the physical body, a shift in the LEF will manifest in the physical reality.

Q: WHY DID YOU LEAVE A MORE TRADITIONAL MEDICAL BACKGROUND FOR A MORE SPIRITUAL PATH?

A: As a medical anthropologist, I was curious about other healing systems around the world. Modern medicine, which is wonderful for healing trauma (such as injuries from an automobile accident) is terrible for healing chronic conditions. At a laboratory at San Francisco State University that I directed we were studying how we create psychosomatic disease and whether we could create psychosomatic health. I realized that to find the answer I had to go study with the experts who were in true primitive societies without technology – all they had was the mind’s ability to heal the body.