Following many years of enthusiastic advocacy for the power of Mind-Body Practice, Integrative medicine and Holism, I have the great honor of having been selected to give the co-keynote address for Mind-Body Week in Washington DC with Herbert Benson, MD — widely revered as the Father of Mind-Body Medicine.
The links:
http://mindbody.idwellness.org/category/speakers/
http://mindbody.idwellness.org/2011/09/06/dr-roger-jahnke/
Dr Benson discovered the relaxation response (RR) in the 1960s after his exposure to the Maharishi and Transcendental Meditation. Dr Benson and the Beatles practiced TM and in 1963 I also was trained in TM — were you? I still use my mantra sometimes.
More recently Benson and his team have demonstrated that the purposeful initiation of the RR through Meditation, Qigong, Tai Chi, Yoga, etc can rehabilitate the genes in the human body. This is basically the the official breakthrough that launches longevity and anti-aging into the mainstream. Incidentally, besides Dr Benson’s research on the effect of the RR on the health and integrity of telemeres, there are several research studies on the effect of Qigong on telemere integrity. See http://www.instituteofintegralqigongandtaichi.org/pdfs/Qigong_Gene_Expression.pdf
It is the intent of the sponsors that DC Mind-Body Week will influence health Care policy. Numerous speakers from the NIH will be involved. I am thrilled and honored to be involved in this historic event!