The new field of epigenetics shows that people enter the world with a particular genetic code, but genes are activated or not due to environmental influences. Epigenetic changes can be transmitted from one generation to another, which is rather faster than the evolutionary changes resulting from natural selection. Epigenetics turns on its head the conventional wisdom of genetic determinism, the belief that genes predetermine biological and behavioral traits.

An example is that the brain plasticity of fruit flies is related to the size of the social group in which the fly lives: nothing does more for brain plasticity than the presence of others of the same species. Nature found that communications between genes and brains were so useful that epigenetics applies to species from flies to humans. Epigenetics has profound implications for the understanding of psychosocial genomics of human behavior: relationships within families and other groups.

Diet is one of the most easily studied environmental factors which produces epigenetic change. Nutrients in food enter metabolic pathways and are into transformed into molecules which can be employed by the body. One such pathway creates methyl groups, which are important epigenetic “markers” that silence genes. B vitamins, folic acid, and SAM-e (S-Adenosyl methionine, a popular supplement available over the counter) are key elements of methyl creation. Diets rich in these nutrients can quickly change gene expression.

Dr. Bruce Lipton is the leading figure in epigenetics, which he described in his book, The Biology of Beliefs. He demonstrated that perceptions transmit signals to the brain which determine the biology of our bodies. While genes control our biology, they are controlled by external signals. Changing beliefs or perceptions sends completely different messages to our cells.

Dr. Lipton’s work dictates that if healing is to be successful, it must have a spiritual content. It is estimated that 70 percent of people’s thoughts are negative or redundant and 95 percent of life activity stems from the subconscious. Changing thought patterns will improve gene responses.

Less than two percent of the human genome accounts for heredity. Until quite recently, the remaining 98 percent was believed to be “junk” DNA, but it is now known to consist of DNA sequences called introns, which control traits, including disease processes. They are, in effect, switches which activate or silence particular genes. Plotsky et al found changes to receptors in mice which were separated from their mother for four hours a day.

Hypnotherapy has shown how the subconscious exercises influence over molecules. Hypnosis could be the primary force which acts upon behavioral epigenetics. Positive epigenetic results can be achieved by asking the subconscious mind what oppresses it and changing perceptions of our environments. Hypnotherapy is obviously useful here, because it gives access to the subconscious. Removing stress is key to successful epigenetics, and hypnotherapy is a proven tool in this respect, along with neuro-linguistic programming. If stress is not deleted, epigenetics says it can be passed to subsequent generations. This was proven by psychologist Rachel Yehuda of New York’s Mount Sinai School of Medicine, who studied women who were pregnant and present inside or near the World Trade Center at the time of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.