Meditation Increases Lifespan
(Source: Wikipedia)
Elizabeth Blackburn shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine in 2009 for discovering that telomeres, the caps at the end of chromosomes (lighted white in the image above) protect our chromosomes (gray in the image above) [1]. In 2012, Blackburn and Epel warned that chronic stress shortens telomeres and leads to disease [2]. Blackburn suggested that meditation might lengthen telomeres and slow aging [3]. Researchers have since shown that meditation does indeed lengthen telomeres and increase the level of telomerase enzyme levels [4]. Both are supportive of a longer lifespan. Researchers are now suggesting that meditation increases lifespan ([5] — [8]).
This article explains that meditation also increases our more-easily measurable pranic energy and reduces respiration rate and taken together with the observation that meditation lengthens telomeres and slows aging means there is additional evidence for the claim meditation increases lifespan.
Measurement of the length of telomeres is made by analyzing the saliva sample of a subject. The measurement is noninvasive and painless, but it can take a couple of weeks to get the results back. A simpler method that is also noninvasive and painless and can provide immediate results would be useful. This is because our present state depends on our hereditary traits, how we have lived our lives to the present age, and environmental factors, and that these three factors vary from one individual to the next. Consequently, the benefits of meditation may not reveal themselves after a single session for all subjects. Having a simpler measurement whose results are immediately available should be a source of comfort to the practitioner that the adopted meditation practices are working and serve as an impetus to keep up with the practice diligently and regularly.
Pranic energy is one such simpler measurement.
What is Prana?
Prana, also called pranic energy or life-force, is an ancient concept. In many Indian languages, when someone dies, they say, prana has left her/him.
Creation comprises of five principal elements: (1) Prithvi — all that is found on the planet Earth, (2) Jal — water, (3) Agni — fire, heat, (4) Vayu — air, and (5) Akash — space (Consciousness and Pranic Energy). There are temples in South India dedicated to each of the five principal elements.
Creation and prana are intricately linked.
To explain how, the universe came into existence with what is referred to as the big bang event billions of years ago when it was an incredibly small (about the size of Plank’s length, 10–33 cm), unbelievably hot, and immensely dense energy phase. This energy phase is repulsive in contrast to gravity which is attractive. No wonder then that the universe has been expanding since the big bang event. See this video clip, From the Big Bang to Now.
Since ancient times, this cosmic energy has been referred to as Adyashakti (primordial energy). In its life-supporting form, this energy is referred to as prana.
On one side of the universe is this ever-expanding universe, but on the other side, there is absolutely nothing, a void. Jim Kowall has shown that the nature of the void cannot be anything else but consciousness [9].
Says His Holiness the Dalai Lama, “The universe may end one day but consciousness will remain for it is eternal.” His Holiness is a 1989 recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize.
Thus, creation requires both consciousness and energy.
The late Sir J. C. Bose showed that even plants feel pain and metals experience stress. There is some prana in all of creation. For his work, Bose was knighted and elected a Fellow of the Royal Society, UK. Many consider him the father of radio science.
A remarkable example of the power of prana comes from a Tibetan Buddhist meditative practice called Thukdam in which an accomplished meditator is absorbed in the process of inner dissolution of the five principal elements and consciousness back into the Primordial Light after clinical death (Wikipedia).
His Holiness remarked, “the body of a monk in Thukdam can remain warm and free from decomposition for many days indicating that some of the principal elements had remained even after clinical death.”
Russian scientists [10] who studied the phenomenon of Thukdam under the guidance of His Holiness observed a monk in Thukdam for 37 days. IANS reported that a Tibetan Buddhist scholar in Taiwan was in the state of Thukdam after being declared clinically dead. See also this video clip of a Thai monk leaving his body consciously in about six minutes!
Consciousness and pranic energy come into us when we are born in this world and take our first breath and leave us when we exhale for the last time and die. The duration between the first inhalation and the last exhalation is lifespan.
Measurement of Prana
We all have trillions of cells in our bodies. If we break down the cells into even smaller parts, we will find that they are made of atoms. Depending on what the substance is, atoms have a certain number of protons and neutrons in their nuclei and a related number of electrons that orbit them. Thus, at the fundamental level, we are vibrating all the time. Our vibrational characteristics are our fundamental nature, and they inform us everything about ourselves. In a sense, our vibrational characteristics may be even more fundamental than telomeres. It is just that our senses aren’t sensitive enough to perceive them, and so, they must be stimulated and amplified for measurement purposes.
Vibration is light, not necessarily visible light, but light along the entire electromagnetic spectrum, from infrared to ultraviolet. Over twenty years ago, Russian scientist Konstantin Korotkov developed a device which goes by the name, Bio-Well (www.bio-well.com) that uses a harmless electrical signal for stimulation purposes. Bio-Well operation is based on the principle of gas discharge visualization (GDV) which in turn works on the Kirlian effect [14].
Our vibrational characteristics equate to our light characteristics or our pranic energy.
Here, a harmless electrical signal is applied to the subject’s fingers of both hands placed on the glass electrode of a device called Bio-Well connected to a USB port of a digital computer, one at a time. The finger’s response to this stimulation is a burst of photons that are captured and analyzed. The intensity of the discharge and its area informs us of our vibrational characteristics, our pranic energy. The method is noninvasive, painless and takes only a few minutes to complete. For more information on the principle and measurement of pranic energy, see this literature and video on how the measurement is made ([11] — [13], [15], [16]).
Figure 1 depicts the glow of a finger of a longtime meditator and a highly stressed individual.
Bio-Well provides several parameters that are relevant in the present context. They are (1) Stress (0–10), (2) Energy (0–100 Joules x 10–2), (3) Chakras and how well they are vertically aligned on the central vertical line, and (4) Energy diagram depicting the energy of various organs and systems. Bio-Well is not certified as a medical diagnostic device in America although is it registered with the FDA.
The stress parameter of a stress-free person is around 3. The higher the stress parameter, the more stressed the individual. The normal range of energy for healthy subjects is 50–70. The chakra alignment should be greater than 90%.
Prana and Lifespan
Every one of us is given a certain number of respiration cycles between the first inhalation and the last exhalation that constitutes our lifespan. Evidence from the animal kingdom tells us that the lower the respiration rate, the higher the lifespan.
Furthermore, our pranic energy remains within a bound (50–70) for much of our lives and reduces to a low value at death. Thus, increasing pranic energy and reducing respiration rate, autonomously, are both supportive of lifespan. Meditation reduces respiration rate and increases pranic energy.
Pranic Energy of the First Author Pursuant to Meditation
Figures 2(a) and 2(b) depict the before-and-after meditation stress levels and energy levels of the author over a two-year period from April 2022-March 2024. Note that the data are not from consecutive days.
Figure 2(a) shows the stress level to be around 3.0 or lower while Figure 2(b) shows that the energy level has increased after every meditation session over the two-year period.
Now, meditation has been shown to increase our telomerase enzyme levels and the length of our telomeres, and consequently, our lifespan, but we are also showing that meditation lowers our respiration rate and increases our pranic energy which implies that meditation increases lifespan.
The advantage of the pranic energy measurement approach is that it is not only painless and noninvasive as the telomeres approach, but the results are available in a few minutes.
The disadvantage of the pranic energy measurement approach is that the results are based on statistical correlations and are subject to errors and outliers.
Acknowledgments
This article is written with the blessings of my guru, H. H. Guru Mahan. He has been going into three weeks of meditation with no food for the past thirty-three years for world peace. (www.universalpeacefoundation.org). I thank M. Subramanian and Raja Atmamayam for their assistance in securing the feedback of Guru Mahan on this article.
I have also learned much from Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev, Swami Ramdev, Baba Shivanand Ji, and other enlightened souls.
The author thanks Sanjeev A. Aroskar and Dr. S. N. Bhavasar both in Pune for decades-long interactions. The editorial assistance of Tony Belak, Mediation Consultant and former Ombudsman, University of Louisville, is gratefully acknowledged.
Further Reading
1. E. Varela and M. A. Blasco, 2009 Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine: Telomeres and Telomerase, Nature — Oncogene, March 18, 2010.
2. Elizabeth H. Blackburn and Elissa A. Epel, Too Toxic to Ignore, Nature, October 10, 2012.
3. Jo Marchant, Can Meditation Really Slow Aging, What the Latest Science Shows, The Healthy-A Readers’ Digest Brand, January 31, 2017.
4. Khoa D Le Nguyen, et al., Loving-kindness meditation slows biological aging in novices: Evidence from a 12-week randomized controlled trial, Psychoneuroendocrinology, November 2019.
5. David Adam, Meditation Leads to Longer Life, The Guardian, May 2, 2005.
6. Maia Szalavitz, Explaining Why Meditators May Live Longer, Time Magazine, Dec. 23, 2010.
7. Jeff Tarrant, Ph.D., BCN, Can Meditation Help You Live Longer?, Psychology Today, November 4, 2019.
8. Maite Mendioroz, et al., Telomere length correlates with subtelomeric DNA methylation in long-term mindfulness practitioners, Scientific Reports, March 12, 2020.
9. James Kowall, The Physicist’s Dilemma: Ultimate Reality — The Non-Physical Nature of Consciousness, Journal of Consciousness Exploration & Research, 5, 4, May 2014.
10. His Holiness the Dalai Lama, How to Study Meditation by Scientific Methods, May 21, 2021 (https://www.dalailama.com/videos/how-to-study-meditation-by-scientific-methods).
11. Korotkov, K. G., Human Energy Field: Study with GDV Bioelectrography, amazon 2002.
12. Chez, Ronald, A., Ed., Proceedings: Measuring the Human Energy Field — State of the Science, The gerontology research Center, National Institute on Aging, National Institute of Health, Baltimore, MD April 17–18, 2002.
13. Konstantin Korotkov, The Energy of Health, Amazon 2017.
14. Pehek J. O., Kyler, H. J., and Foust, D. L., Image Modulation in Corona Discharge Photography, Science, Vol. 194, 263–270, October 1976.
15. Pradeep Deshpande, How Bio-Well measurement is Made, https://youtu.be/sVPUfnpdEFs.
16. Pradeep B. Deshpande and James P Kowall, The Life Force Of ‘Prana’ In Our First Breath To Our Last, India Currents, April 21, 2024 (https://indiacurrents.com/the-life-force-of-prana-in-our-first-breath-to-our-last/).
About the Author
Pradeep B. Deshpande is Professor Emeritus in and former Chairman of the Chemical Engineering Department at the University of Louisville. He is also president of Six Sigma and Advanced Controls based in Louisville, Kentucky. He is an author of eight books and over one hundred fifty articles in reputed journals that include Proc. Royal Society–UK, Chemical Eng. Progress, Ind. Eng. Chem. Proc. Des Dev, Chem. Eng. Science, among several others, and is a recipient of several international awards. He is a Fellow of ISA. pradeep@sixsigmaquality.com.
