Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/1100899
April/May 2019 17 spirit An Interview with Alberto Villoldo, Ph.D. ENJOY VIBRANT HEALTH FOR ALL YOUR DAYS! Medical anthropologist, psychologist, and founder of the Four Winds Society where he teaches shamanic energy medicine, Alberto Villoldo, Ph.D., is the author of numerous best-selling books. His latest is Grow a New Body: How Spirit and Power Plant Nutrients Can Transform Your Health. Dr. Villoldo has studied the healing practices of Amazon and Andean shamans for decades. In this new book, his research has found that it is possible to start to grow a new body in as little as seven days. By switching on the codes stored in your DNA that helped you grow from a single cell to a full adult, you can grow a body free from disease and one which defies the aging process. This is a secret the shamans have known and practiced for millennia, leading them to optimal health. Q: How is it really possible to grow a new body? A: It's possible. You have already grown a body once before. To grow a new body all you have to do is break into 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. 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. Imagine what might happen if you direct your body to grow only healthy, vibrant new cells. 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. 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: 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 negatively impact us and keep the body in a permanent state of fight-or-flight. 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. We fast to turn on the body's repair mechanisms and clear brain fog. 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: Why did you leave a more traditional medical background to a more spiritual path? A: 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. For more information about Alberto Villoldo, his books, and his trainings, visit thefourwinds.com. Photo: Courtesy of The Four Winds