Introducton to Project

This is the first installment of the Tibet House Science of Yoga Project Blog. My name is William Bushell, PhD, and I am the Director of this project. My fields of study include physiology, neuroscience, and psychology, and my PhD is in medical anthropology. I have been studying meditation, yoga, and related practices from a scientific and cross cultural approach for several decades, with a focus on the Indo-Tibetan tradition.

Ground breaking conference & publication

The first installment of this blog happily coincides with a landmark event for Tibet House and the Science of Yoga Project in particular: the recent launch of what some have called our “groundbreaking” volume entitled, Longevity, Regeneration and Optimal Health; Integrating Eastern and Western Perspectives. Based on a Conference of the same name held at Tibet House’s Menla Center in late 2006, this volume is published by the prestigious New York Academy of Sciences, one of the leading scientific publishers (in the top 2%) in the world. The Conference brought together two dozen of the world’s leading scientists and scholars with Tibetan doctors and lamas, along with the guest of honor, His Holiness the Dalai Lama.

Most of the Conference presenters provided chapters for the volume. The scientists include leaders in a spectrum of new, cutting edge fields including longevity biology, regenerative biology and medicine, molecular biology, immunology, neuroscience, and psychology. These scientists have recently been steadily and progressively rewriting many of the “laws” of the life sciences, and are beginning to overturn decades-old canons concerning these subjects.

Nobel Prize for Longevity Genes

Among these are the discovery of previously unknown: “longevity genes” at MIT and Harvard; regenerative genes and potentials at the University of Pennsylvania; lineages of adult human stem cells at Einstein/Beth Israel and Yale; enzymes that can immortalize cells, discovered by the 2009 Nobel Prize winner in Physiology/Medicine Elizabeth Blackburn of UCSF; nervous system potentials to control the immune system in order to enhance defense against infectious disease, physical trauma, and the degenerative forces of aging and chronic disease; brain capacities to achieve dramatically enhanced cognitive functioning.

New Model Emerging

One of the key achievements of both the Conference and volume has been to relate most all of these exciting and extraordinary discoveries to the practices of meditation and yoga, particularly to those in the Indo-Tibetan tradition. A new model has emerged from this work which provides the initial neural, hormonal, genetic, and molecular connections between these discoveries and the effects of these practices. Indo-Tibetan claims for the potential enhancement of longevity, regenerative potential, and of optimal health and functioning, all associated with the practice of meditation and yoga, now also have an impressive foundation in Western scientific developments, from which to proceed towards the kind of cross cultural research advocated by His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Professor Robert Thurman, and others.

The work ahead

Future blogs will take up each of these discoveries and their relevance for the practice of meditation and yoga, and will include contributions from some of the scientists themselves. There will also be contributions from scholars, Tibetan doctors and lamas, and hopefully the Dalai Lama himself.

For those interested in further delving into these subjects, you may want to come to my series of 3 classes at Tibet House:

Longevity, Regeneration & Optimal Health:
Integrating East & West w/ William Bushell, PhD

Wednesdays, March 17, 24, & 31, 7-9 PM 2010