Gut Microbiome, Fermented Foods & the Power of Your Second Brain | Dr. Emeran Mayer & Sadhguru

[Music] trillions of these of these organisms that live inside of us and how they communicate with with the world around us most people don't realize the body that we carry is just the same soil that we walk upon I find it fascinating that the same concept applies to the soil to the plant and to humans and the microbes are a very good translator of that story lack of micronutrients and psychological imbalances and lack of mental faculties developing are very very directly connected even the microbes hear you brain because they have receptors like for for dopamine for ninein for the stress mediator they change their gene expression their behavior based on what goes on in your brain when we eat something we must eat that kind of food which in terms of species is furthest away from us [Music] just uh placating all my organisms because uh my life has been like this last 40 years on an average I'm doing 800 to, or 1100 events per year so that's almost entire living day almost every day so if my if these guys don't cooperate I don't think I could be sitting for hours in one place 40 years thanks to all of them so you must tell about my pets I've always struggled in terms of my main focus in life on a a spiritual traditional healing um viewpoint and the hard science and I think we really see this convergence now between The Cutting Edge of many areas of science with um with the spiritual tradition and this thousands of years of experience I've asked you before where did it come from so where did this I mean how did people in India 3,000 years ago come up with Concepts that today after you know millions of of dollars of investment in research and and we're still not quite there we're still struggling um how how did sages in India come up with that or scientists one uh important thing is uh we did not differentiate between sages and scientists our scientists were sages our sages were scientists because we don't have a religious tradition we only have spiritual cultures and spiritual culture does not mean that it is one kind of behavior or one kind of scripture or one kind of moral code or something like this each person can develop their own spiritual culture if they want it is out of this that millions of Pathways open up essentially a spiritual culture means a certain way of exploration a certain way of seeking every human being can seek in their own way if they don't know they can seek guidance in a particular way we're not against both both are fine if you don't know you use the GPS if you know the way home drive by yourself some people get lost in America going home you know yesterday we were following the GPS and it made us turn into the one way street everybody honking we going the wrong way but the GPS is telling us go go so one who does not who's not figured out their own way we'll stick to some established pathway others can figure out so the most important thing is which uh I feel the scientists and the educated class and the univers C should create ease in the Indian culture or this culture that we call as the Hindustan or bhat there is no such thing as a heretic that is if there is an established way in one place if somebody is doing something different everybody is excited about it nobody is thinking how to have him crucified or burnt or something like this because the basic ethos in the culture is everyone must seek so so out of this even when so-called Divine entities appeared when we say Divine entities over the period of time people get haloed all right but when they were there they lived life they they bore children they fought Wars they did everything they were normal people but they Rose above everybody else out of their competence out of their Vision out of their insights they Rose above everybody but looking at how they Rose beyond the times in which they lived after a long time we all say this is a Divine entity so we must understand the because in English language these are the words so I'm using those words when we say a Divine entity we are not saying he came down from somewhere see for example in recent times probably you know nothing about Cricket you're from California though though both starts with C in India c means cricket okay it's a game so in recent times there has been a particular player who Rose beyond anything that anybody would have thought is possible he broke all records that were there for over 100 years so in India we said he's a cricketing god it's very appropriate to our culture if somebody excels Beyond a certain limit that we think is human limit then we say he is divine he's exalted essentially the Indian word probably a more appropriate word is an exalted being he risen above normal stra of those times so in this sense even when those people came nobody could give us a commandment because Indians are questioning people endless questions they have and endless opinions they have if there are five Indians there will be 10 opinions they will sit and argue with each other against each other and against themselves because this is a culture which is encouraged questioning never encouraged obedience but at the same time very respectful just because I don't agree with you I never think that uh you know something must be done to you because I think always it has been inculcated there are a million ways to look at the same thing this is why every creature is respected because you know it's not scientific par I'm saying my grandmother would say if little grasshopper is hoing children want to smash it or do something so no no no you don't know where he's going what he's doing you don't do that you don't like him leave him outside you don't crush him all right you you just leave him because you don't know who he is maybe he's a sage maybe he's a SE maybe it's God hopping around you don't touch him all right so this sense of acceptance to everything we don't know what the gra grasshopper knows you don't know in many ways he knows lot about life than you most human beings know he knows his life perfectly well it's only human beings who don't know what to eat how to nothing they know all other creatures have figured out these things very well so this kind of openness allowed this so we never separated our sages and scientists scientists and sages sages and mathematicians sages and musicians sages and astronomers all same people because there were no telescopes there were no microscopes there were no other outside instrument the only instrument is this one evolving this to a place where this can see everything that it can see It'll be probably in uh in this kind of a university you should know but unfortunately you do not know over 3600 years ago in a in a document called Su sidhanta which now is becoming popular because of English translations and stuff they have calculated the speed of light just almost to a micro second of of what the modern calculations are I'm saying nearly there are drawings which are probably paintings on the walls which must be over uh at least 1,000 BC where clearly the Earth is going around the sun on the back of a turtle there's a turtle walking on top of it is a round Globe I don't think rest of the world even imagine the planet is round at that time around Earth on the top of a Turtles back and going around the Sun why a turtle is it's a most appropriate animal to carry the Earth because a turtle cannot accelerate suddenly it goes at the same speed so they are depicting the mement of the earth like the Walk of a turtle it's just going around and around the Sun this is over, BC so about the biome in the Jane texts which are about right now identified as uh about 6th Century BCE they're talking about something called as a niga they saying niga means essentially almost non-existent beings they are saying tiny lives are all over us inside us outside us everywhere tiny lives are all over so the biggest presence on the planet is these tiny lives I thought they're talking about your science so yeah know this is uh this is fascinating I mean it's still even though you explain it I mean there's there's some sort of an Insight that is is beyond what we practice in the West in terms of one way to I'm sorry sir I me one way to understand this is whatever instruments we have created right now a microphone only because we can speak this microphone is meaningful yes if we had no speech what do we do wearing these microphones only because we can see a microscope or a telescope is Meaningful so all the machines and instruments that we have created on this planet are only extensions of our already existing faculties we've not done anything new absolutely everything is just an extension where we can see till there that's not good enough for us we must want to see beyond so we came up with a telescope we see this but we are not able to see many things which exist here so we need a microscope so it's only enhancement of our existing faculties so there is another way when we don't have these instruments there is another way to enhance your faculties that's where the sages come in Yeah you mentioned the microbes and this is one of the topics of our conversation here this this this new microbiome science it's well be new 15 years that people have reported about potential influences of of of microbes or their um chemicals that they produce with with the brain within a relatively short time this has kind of CH made a paradigm change and our understanding of many many brain disorders um for example um multicenter Consortium focused on Alzheimer's disease and the progress that's being made amongst these 35 universities is is really mindboggling that we you know we don't have all the answers every time we look try to look it's opening up a new universe and and a new vast space that that we don't but one thing is becoming clear not having all the answers is a very important thing sir then we will touch it tenderly if we think we know everything about this Rose we'll rip it apart we don't know a lot of it we a little no that's that's a good but I think today people really talking about particularly in the lay press they pick up some of the science that's going on in Alzheimer's or in Parkinson's and immediately okay the the consequence of that research is this new medication or now we have a way which was still far away from it you know because we don't understand the complexity the the lay public does does not grasp the the complexity because it's presented by the lay media in such a simplistic way that there's one microbe one chemical that is responsible for like you know Parkinson's disease and but but the reality is there is a lot of evidence accumulating that Parkinson starts in the gut um and that the microbes have a big role in first interacting with the enteric nervous system the little brain we have in the gut and then that these changes are transported through the vus nerve up into the brain but that it takes about 14 years before uh after the the you know the microbes did this initial damage at in the gut brain that the neurological manifestations are are coming about and I think it's still the beginning you know in Alzheimer's disease it's it's equally complex that um but there's now pretty strong evidence that these these interactions between between our gut and the microbes that live in it um and then you know you can extend this further and and the kind of food we eat and environment where we grow this food in that there is this connection to some of the most serious diseases that we're going to be face facing in the next 50 years because people are getting older and the the rate the prevalence rate for these chronic neurod degenerative diseases is increasing so I I think this is an example were on the one side a great sense of optimism but on the on the other hand the simplistic way that in in our Western understanding we try to people try to interpret the scientific findings that are at the very beginning is is sort of falling back into the old Paradigm you know this very simplistic quaal relationship with one agent and another you know agent that responds to it uh so how how would you see this in your framework of um so we talked a lot about the brain uh yesterday so it's not just the brain in isolation the brain does not explain everything for sure um if you link it to this other very complex system the what we call the gut connecto all the immune cells and neurons and hormonal cells in in in the gut it's it's be it's becoming more appropriate but it's probably even bigger than that so how do you what's what's your view on this so what I said about Alzheimer's disease of Parkinson's that we now know in the last 10 years really it's it starts in theot and it slowly affects the brain but it's not it's not only a brain disease it's it's it's a disease of the whole system unfortunately this is happening that what happened a minute ago people cannot remember and we are beginning to assume it's normal this is not good this is not normal because everything in this this body is designed to last a lifetime sometimes due to injury or infection or something else an external aggression of some kind May destroy something but we destroying something from internally that is the dumbest way to do things but we doing that large scale if we want to really fix it for the entire population if you don't overhaul the food industry the pharmaceutical industry and uh the Water Systems those who Supply water to you I'm thinking what kind of Genius would add poison to water and drink it every city dweller is doing this if you don't understand what I'm saying put 10% chlorine and you're drinking water one cup of water and drink it and see what happens to you only thing is you think by taking it in mild doses you will die slowly of course you will in my understanding sir if I'm wrong please tell me how I see and how I know life is the tiniest organism that's here whatever you want to call it I don't go about Christening them with different names these foundational life which is there whether it's in a plant animal human beings this life in its fundamental design and structure is not different from ourselves we are different only in complexity and sophistication but fundamental design of Life on this planet is essentially same plant animal worm insect human being everybody has the same fundamental design just complexities and sophistication of things as they go on is different of course so what kills a man bacteria also will kill me if I take the same thing in a higher dose am I okay sir absolutely am I sounding scientific to you absolutely so we coming to this conclusion if we mildly poison ourselves we will be okay where does this come from so there are many families whose children you know in both in India and also some in York City coming to me and saying sguru our children are sick they physical Constitution is so weak they're becoming a static and they're struggling daily at least uh you know three to four weeks in a year they are in hospital I say say you made enough money you may not be a billionaire it doesn't matter you have enough money to buy 10 acres of land somewhere in ioba if you want to or Tennessee or somewhere if you if you really love your children just move there homeschool them ask them to work on the land half the day you will see they will grow up as robust youth after that let them do whatever they want so this whole Urban dwelling where people no wonder all of you are always uh uh experimenting on rats we've all moved in like a pack of rats into one place piled up into tall buildings now infections are a serious thing at that level of proximity all kinds of things will transmit see if the same pandemic the Corona virus had happened here let's say two centuries ago somewhere in one part of the world a few people would have died today from one some it seems they were telling me I don't know what these numbers are they say in those two months some 2,700 flights took off from onean to the rest of the world oh this is transporting a is all right if if there was no air traffic they would have spread among themselves maybe people would have been resilient enough to handle it it would have been over probably a thousand times these events have happened without any impact on human life now because of the proximity of human beings anything that comes goes like that so can we all spread out more away from the cities and live in farms that's not a reality not everybody can do it the nature of our professions work very various things won't allow that Lifestyles all this but if you find you are too susceptible to live in large groups of people you must do that that's one thing about the food that you eat one most important thing I don't know how it is seen by the biome science people in yoga any food that we cook if it is more than 1 and a half hours after it came off the St we won't eat it I don't have to know the timing when it was cooked if it appears in front of me if I just look at it or place my hands on it I know whether to eat it or not eat it because body is sensitive to these things this is the most sophisticated mechanism on the planet that's what I think so what do you think sir no I agree this is the super computer this is a super super computer this is the motherboard for all the super computers isn't it it is so such an in sensitive instrument you have but you can't feel anything this is because we don't know how to manage our cerebral activity is going crazy I because we talking about gut we can use this word this is a mental diarrhea which is going on when there is diarrhea you can't enjoy food similarly when there is mental diarrhea your abilities of the mind will come down significantly will it happen in terms of loss of memory will it happen in terms of loss of other faculties will it happen in terms of loss of discrimination this is happening to people and people think it's normal let me tell you my life's example my great grandmother lived to be 113 113 years of age she is you a very rich wealthy man and you know those days in India these are called landlords they have large amount of land and they're into a very large business activity and all this after her husband died when she 68 years of age she moved out of the house and built a small Temple for herself not for a God for herself you must understand these are Indian Wom this is a Indian woman she builds a temple for herself no D she goes and sits there uh built with her own hand a small little Temple and people gather to meet her because people think she has Solutions and she had so I'm just a little boy at that time and we all go to our native place during summer vacations only 35 to 40 days is what I get to spend in that town otherwise we are all living in cities so when I go there and we are about 36 of us children between the age groups of 3 to 20 all cousins cousin brothers and sisters a whole bunch living in various parts of the country all coming down for the summer so at that time because children are there she would come by then she was 100 plus like this ramro [Laughter] straight and from the farm from her Temple she walks home which is about 2 and half kilm walk and she walks spends the day with us and everything and she lives a certain life there another dimension to her life let's not go there in terms of food I'm saying if you give her breakfast first thing is she will take it and feed the ants she'll feed the squirrels she'll feed The Sparrows more than half will be gone to this and some days she will eat the remaining some days she simply sits there watching them eating and tears will be she'll have tears flowing out of her eyes so some self-appointed advisers are always there even I have them around me they go and say you old woman you will die like this without eating she will just laugh and sit there all these advisers died she went on living and when she was 14 years of age she got married in India the culture is such an unmarried woman cannot smoke once she gets married it's her choice if she wants to smoke she can smoke so she exercis choice on day one so I've seen her smoking the bees you know it's pure tobacco leaf just like that nothing just the leaf itself the outer thing itself is tobacco leaf she will smoke it with inside the fire inside like that not outside every day she smoked and every day she Chew Tobacco at the age of 111 she got throat cancer she simply s she made her own liquid she till the last day she was cooking for herself with her own hand she makes a little bit of liquid diet and slowly chips it in and simply sits there no hospital no painkiller no doctor simply sat there about maybe 15 to 18 months something like that she suffered enormous pain but she didn't say a word and she died at 113 I'm saying till the last day she's as sharp as anybody okay this is very much possible for every human being it's just how you keep yourself now we are thinking if you are 50 blood pressure is normal if you're 60 loss of memory is normal what is this this is not the way human body is made this is made in such a way as long as you live all these things can work no spectacles she would read yeah at what I have seen her at not5 106 at that age she sits and reads without spectacles no I mean there's very good evidence for what he said scientific evidence that um I mean the brain does not naturally age I mean there's some functions that slow down but the these these Concepts that high blood pressure and high lipids and um brain degeneration or all normal phenomena that come with you know at age 60 or 70 and that um we have to expect this this Avalanche of people with Alzheimer's disease is just because we're aging so this is the logic right now in my understanding only motor skills can come down with age that is understandable it's not necessary for anything else to come down your Physical Agility may not be the same that's okay yeah so this I mean this is concept about the health span you know that that really this should really be the goal to reestablish the normal Health span of individuals not the longevity but longevity in the health state but that's not what our economic model is based on the pharmaceutical industry obviously loves these diseases that kick in at age 60 or 50 um and then go on to the rest of the life one thing I'm always fascinated by whenever am a visiting Professor um I compare the the size of the medical center that I've been invited to over several years or decades and they're all growing they keep they keep growing so you you would think that's not a necessary um I that's really not I mean what's the reason for that is because we don't deal with the root cause of the problem yes see uh the thing is we start commercial activity initially to serve Humanity but slowly this economic engine has become so large that human beings are the fuel we have to burn ourselves to somehow keep the economic engine going this is a complex thing this is not just any one aspect of this overall approach we have forgotten that commercial activity is for human wellbe having said that let's not simply waste time on talking about things that we can't change where can we change I feel if we can if it is possible somehow which we are attemp through these conferences and various things if we can bring the attention of qualified medical professionals there are many systems of medicine in the world but in today's world because of their inability to organize themselves they are all just Fringe if all the alternate systems of medicine are put together I don't know if it is even accounts to 2% I don't know the stat I'm just guessing it may be 2% or less so essentially it is the allopathic system of medicine one important aspect which I feel small shifts are happening but not enough to make a difference for the common people one simple thing is allopathic system is right now symptomatic in its treatment you have temperature we know how to cool you down you have pain we know how to take away the pain we don't have the thing of looking where is the source for this this is costing a certain amount of uh illness one important thing is somebody that you don't like is driving in front of you and uh they put on their indicator they're turning right you take out I'm you know I'm from Tennessee so you take out your revolver and shoot the indicator out and now I think he's going straight no he's turning right his indicator is out so now I think he's going straight but he's turning right so there's going to be some issue so this is the approach we are treating the symptoms I think from symptomatic treatment to a more cause oriented treatment if we can shift which may be difficult because medical industry and pharmaceutical industry have uh you can't separate them because when you say medicine it means that all right we are not saying Health we are not saying Health only these days people are trying to say healthare because that is all the stuff that comes with it but this is essentially medicine this form or this way of looking at Health Systems in the world happened because when this system started evolving the biggest threat was infectious ailments diseases there was plague there was malaria there was small poox and this and that so mainly allopathic system came up to combat them because they would wipe out the whole populations at one time so in that context they did the right thing even today whatever people may say I will 100% vouch if you have anything infectious you just treat yourself with modern medicine because that's a chemical warfare not all good for you but if you want to be well tomorrow that's a way to deal with it but seeking Health through medicine is a very not a go for me not a go for anybody actually because you will pay a price for that because all chemicals are trying to remove something but there is no chemical if I have pain here there is no pain killer will go just here it will go to kill everything pain is a very important part of of our survival process most people don't have enough sense in the world that if they didn't have pain they would cut themselves into pieces hello have you not seen all the new fashions have you they're piercing themselves here here there there everything there's so much pain if there was no pain they would have pulled out their intestines and walked on the street using the stomach bag as a handbag it's the pain which is limiting the fashion and it is pain if a bicycle comes people step back not out of humility the consequence of pain if the consequence of pain is removed even if a truck comes people will go like this so they wouldn't even survive so pain is a good thing so don't kill the pain what is the source of the pain must be seen why the indicator of pain is coming up this must be looked at but like this I'm not trying to uh you know like simplify the whole medical system which is a complex process so where one thing ends it's not this versus that where one thing ends and the other thing begins our health should begin at home our food how we breathe how we sit how we stand when something goes wrong a doctor should come in you must not have a doctor attending you right from your childhood to your grave this is not the way it is you don't need that but it is the way that we it is the way it is because once you create an industry you need [Laughter] clients yeah I mean so to look at this in somewhat was said in different words I we've been focusing so much on on pathology and dealing with the symptoms of pathology and not with this uh salad what's called Sal Genesis so the the factors that that drive health or that are essential for health which are the factors that maintain a healthy ecosystem that that our you know brain got body represent so we're not really dealing with that right now with this philosophy we're focusing on one thing goes wrong and we want to treat this in in the most uh targeted way um not minding if there's a lot of collateral damage to this kind of treatment I mean that's um I I think what you're saying is we should accept many of the things that go on in US naturally U look for the causes why some things are not working properly and not just dealing with those symptoms but and with ever more expensive uh treatments and prolonging life in this way so this disease care model where we keep people alive as long as possible with as many interventions as possible rather than saying saying okay what is it that's that's underlying and and and I think with what I keep coming back to with our understanding now this interconnectedness of um the world we live in which in science is now called the exposome with our perfect systems that that's really the the reason why why we have all the healthcare problems and I think what's happening right now in myome science that still a lot of people are f are interested in getting patterns on molecules that these microbes make uh getting patterns even on the microbes themselves rather than understanding how a ecosystem of multiple of these trillions of these of these organisms that live inside of us and how they communicate with with the world around us you know understanding this and making an intervention there I I think that to me is there some people that came from ecology have moved into microbi biome science that have that Viewpoint it's not a single organism like a pathogen um but I think the majority driven by the economic model again you want you want to make money on your insights in the laboratory on on this one molecule that you think is is the target for for new Alzheimer medications or for new Parkinson's medication rather than understanding or doing something I me give you a good example so that the Central Valley of California is the main source of all vegetables and you know plant-based Foods in the in the country but I've seen patients that came to me with with really weird symptoms both their children and and and the parents and taking history it became obvious that these dust croppers so these these plants that spray um insecticides and um herbicides they fly right over the Farms so that the the children have learned they have to run into the house and and Clos the windows this is in in in 201 happening I think they stopped those things right this was in 2019 uh that that I got this history um and I couldn't believe it they developed all kinds of neurological symptoms the farther developed that's why they came to me um chronic constipation turned out he had early Alzheimer's disease starting in the gut um but that in a in a in a place that supposedly produces the healthiest food for for plant-based diet is is actually the cause of many of these you know chronic severe chronic problems because the chemicals that are thrown into this production and I'm sure there's many other examples I I don't know about India how much how widespread oh it's not it's not that bad but uh it's pretty bad dep depends on different parts of the country in some parts it's bad the problem is this that uh if uh a certain state gains a certain affluence they think they must poison themselves but uh that is a much larger problem sir insecticide fertilizer is a larger problem about California's food and quality many studies are there to show various aspects which are not very encouraging one simple thing to say is suppose you ate a California Orange in 1920s what micronutrients you got from that today if you eat the same thing you will have to eat eight oranges to get the same thing that is the level of reduction that's happened because there are no micronutrients in the soil we are artificially blowing them up like that something is coming out but what is needed is not there I think all of you have uh done this many other scientists are working on this that lack of micronutrients and psychological imbalances and lack of mental faculties developing are very very directly connected there's no other way because I don't look at it this way all I see this body is soil if soil is not rich this body is not going to be rich if soil is not rich food will not be rich rich food does not mean dripping with fat or something this is wrong terms we're using in of calling it lousy food we're calling it rich food right if it's full of fat it's lousy food but we call it rich food Rich means it's rich in all the things that are needed to sustain this life if there is no rich soil there is no rich food if there's no rich food there is no healthy and Rich body I would use the word Rich body not just healthy cuz being just healthy not going to the doctor or no need to go to the doctor is not good enough this must function at its fullest possibility the little time that we have as human life if we don't fire full on then what so if this needs to happen so many things have to change with we cannot change but at least if the doctor Community gets educated in a certain way and they little mo away from treating everything chemically it would make a lot of difference I'll just tell you a simple example because you were saying California I was in California in somewhere little south of uh San Francisco is a well to home and uh this lady goes into the bathroom and she comes out she doubles down and rolls on the floor and starts crying loudly please call please call said what happened she went to relieve herself and suddenly she found extreme pain in her lower belly and she couldn't get the urine out and she's crying and Elling I said where is the pain she told me it's just below the nav she can't bear it I said just just just on the floor like this on the carpet I said just lie here normally in summers when I travel we carry a tiny little bottle of castor oil with us because when we traveling too much dust and if the if you feel heat in the nostrils we'll take a drop and put cter oil it just cools the whole system I said you just lie down here and I put a few drops in our navl and just just lie 6 seven minutes if it still doesn't work we'll call the year oh she's crying and she goes away what did you do to me it's just gone this is a simple thing just everybody in Asia Knows Why knowledge travel so slowly to United States it doesn't make money that's the one I should have said this is a special oil I got from heaven and charged a million dollars then I think it would have worked yeah let me come back to this uh what you said about the U you know the micronutrients and how important that is our dietitians everything focuses on the macronutrients you know how important how much protein endless discussions on in social media how much protein and you know should it be a keto diet or should it be a car carbohydrate Rich diet I mean the thing that people don't talk about are these five nutrients these substances that are that plants produce so my favorite example are these so-called polyphenols or antioxidants um every plant produces those um and they're enriched in in the most valuable assets that the plant has the fruits and the seeds and certain aggre in the leaves and it's the plant's medicine so during a drought the production of these polyphenols increases if the plant is infected by some parasite or some insect um production goes up and and and the microbes play in the soil play a big role in the regulating this production so when the plant suffers parts of the plant it sends down these um distress signals into the root system The Roots produce these sugar-like molecules that attract the soil microbes and the soil microbes stimulate the roots of the plant produce more of these polyphenols so it's this beautiful system if you can explain what's a polyphenol so phenols are molecular structures and polyphenols are multiple of these Rings put together so it becomes a very large molecule and it's too large to be absorbed by our gut was a big enthusiasm about these molecules and whole industry started and then they realized when they when they gave this to humans in human studies there was almost no blood level detectable of these compounds it's because yeah they can't be absorbed um whatever was tested before was done in in isolated cell cultures um but the microbes play a major role in this so the microbes stimulate the production in the plants but they also play a major role when we eat those plants with these compounds to unpackage them it's it's almost like um you know without the microbes there will not be a release of the health benefit of of these compounds but they also become a major medicine for our brain health and our cardiovascular health and so this science is is really just starting but this is a good example how nature you mentioned this earlier has designed has used principles that work in different systems so they work in the plants it's the self-produced medicine of the plants that keep them healthy if we destroy the microbes the plants no longer produce those and then become susceptible to the pest so we need insecticides we need you know we need all these chemicals to keep the plants alive because they no longer produce their own and in some ways we're doing the same thing you know with our system so we you know we consume unhealthy things toxins but also unhealthy food and it moves the body's own ability to keep us healthy and then we throw in the chemicals and terms of the Pharmaceuticals for these chronic you know for these chronic diseases so I I find it fasc fting that the same concept applies you know to the soil to the plant and to humans and the microbes are very good translator of that story I I think the most remarkable thing that I've learned from microbiome science are those examples were we see what are Health promoting mechanisms in different kinds of Life soil life plant life and you know gut health brain health um I mean that to me is is really remarkable so why not sort of Follow that story uh from the beginning from you know what we do to our plants and how we grow the plants what you said about California yeah those oranges now don't have the polyphenols anymore because they they're grown in a in a soil devoid of the microbes that stimulate the production but they're grown with a lot of chemicals sprayed on them to keep them from from going bad and being Infested by you know by insects and I mean uh this has been uh this been a traditional knowledge but today modern scientists are also confirming this in a certain way among the plants for example in a forest I always wondered because I've spent so much time in the southern Indian jungles I always wondered why the elephants are eating in such a rush they eat in such a rush they rip down the tree they can eat slowly there's no competition for them you know other animals eat graze the ground these guys can eat anywhere but still they rip it and eat it then it was one of the tribals who told me but he couldn't articulate it as such he said uh something like you know the plants won't like him so he has to go somewhere something like that but you know he he was saying that some spirits in the plants will come out in the trees and affect the elephants so he has to eat in a russan and go but now there is a science that if a certain species of trees are here let's say next 10 miles there are certain types of trees if the elephant starts eating this particular group of Elephants or herd of elephants come and start eating in this region within about 7 to 12 minutes all those species their leaves will turn bitter so they'll eat in such a rush and then they won't eat the next tree they'll just just walk away they'll go a kilometer away or a mile away and then again eat so the plants are doing this so as per this in the you know like I know this in my grandfather's place they would always say that you must have small animals moving around in the fruit Gardens and everything like rabbits pet rabbits sheep are always left there they say when the small animals move the plants will yield more sweetness to you because the plant realizes these animals don't cannot attack them but they will manure them so they will produce more sweetness so always in a garden you leave small animals which doesn't threaten the plant you will get the best out of that plant this is a wisdom yeah this is so the natural way of you know what's now become fashionable with this term regenerative organic agriculture that that you actually actually you know put back into the soil so not just taking out and and and uh um depleting the soil but you actually putting things back like the manure of animals walking around or other plants that uh that's a soil biome managing the soil biome because as I was saying yesterday if we grow one ton of anything out of this land we are actually pulling out one ton of organic matter we must put back at least one t every season otherwise within a few years the soil will become sand this called desertification the one of the largest problems on the planet desertification deserts are growing at a pace that you can't believe in every 22 years in the African continent the desert is growing by 10% in India for example or or or in Africa do you see any Prospect or any any hope that this will change in India there is Prospect one thing we are campaigning with the government to change many policies which we have today we are in the process of turning about 5.2 million Farmers spread across 83,000 kilometers into tree based agriculture which will definitely change looking at the success of this the government of India has now made a detailed project report for 13 river basins these 13 river basins put together will account for 67% of indiaan land last year they invested some $2.4 billion on that project but that's not enough if they continue to invest substantially in the next 12 to 15 years time 67% of India's land will turn around once the turns around and shows Prosperity definitely rest of it will be done by private agencies and stuff so India is looking in that way but India's problem is as I mentioned yesterday it is 4% of the world's land and 17.2% of the world's population that's a serious challenge to manage in Africa the problem is very different in Africa there is no realtime agricultural culture in India there is a very profound agricultural culture it's is something that a whole world has to learn from India in many ways it's gone bad in recent times because of so-called modern agriculture for example in 1950s India was still suffering from famines which was uh kind of a gift for us from the Her Majesty Service uh so uh severe famines in 1942 43 where are 3.2 million people died in a matter of four months in a most horrible way so after that India was striving to cross this famine Bridge so that person who was the DNE of that so-called Green Green Revolution passed away just before I left India about 4 weeks ago Swami Natan Dr swam you did a fantastic job but this Green Revolution was a bridge to cross the famines we crossed it successfully since 1961 there's not been a single famine it's a huge achievement for a nation and that population but at the same time we started destroying the soil with excessive use of fertilizer and pesticide and all the stuff not at the scale at which you are using we using we think it's destruction but America is inhalation it's using at a different scale now people are becoming a little more conscious but spraying things from an appline is a it's a war scale all right so uh we have destroyed our soils we've brought down the organic content significantly it's just about 0.62 right now which is bad for the country the microbial content in southern Indian soil below the dean Plateau is such that it is the highest in the world in terms of species nowhere else on the planet do you find that many species in a handful of soil we don't know why it is so nobody knows why it is so but it has been observed it has the highest number of species so its ability to bounce back is good and the weather is good the monsoons are good for the soil to bounce back if if you give it see for example here you have prairies these are fertile soils only if you manage the vegetation in a certain way otherwise top soil gets blown away and now it is believed at least 50% of the prairie soil is gone another 50% we don't know how long it'll last as the wind speeds increase because of RA rise in temperature we do not know how it'll take it recently even near Illinois there was a sandstorm where you know multiple cars crashed because a heap of of sand came and landed roads were covered with sand so this can happen as the wind speeds rise because this is that kind of soil if there is no natural vegetation it'll just fly away we don't have that kind of a issue because both sides we are protected by very rich biod diversely very very rich mountains on both sides of the peninsula we have that Advantage our problem is pressure of population the human footprint is so very high so human footprint is that high we should also understand it becomes that high because somewhere it was conducive for life it is not a place where people want to want to migrate from today they may be migrating for better opportunities elsewhere but in the past nobody wants to leave India and go because it was very good for Life weather is good everything is good food is good especially for Indians the tongue is pointing East tongue is always pointing East this turnaround is happening but Africa is a different situation unfortunately unless Africa gets a big helping hand from outside I we've tried to work in uh certain countries like Sierra Leon and other places there is no fundamental knowledge of Agriculture to teach them everything and get them to become agriculturally competent some little maze something they're raising in India it's not like that farmers raising four to six crops on the same land in one year four crops plus two intercrops so they know agriculture like that it's just that because the land Holdings have become so small over a period of time average land holding is one hectare per person which is so small it's not economically relevant for this we are finding solutions by making uh what is called as Pharma producer organizations Isa Foundation runs 25 Pharma producer organiz ations just uh 12 13 days ago we got a national award as the best performing uh Pharma producer organization so these things are happening these are all solutions but my problem is the pace will we move fast enough to mitigate the problem or will we move at that pace one day when a big disaster hits and then we will turn around this is that's the more likel area unfortunately unfortunately but fortunately the federal government in India is agile we have changeed the river policies in the last few years we have changed the you know tree Plantation policies in the Farmland in the last few years we have brought in subsidy for tree Plantation on Farmland these things are very very Progressive still needs to be propagated properly and reach the people is the Indian government behind this I mean this obvious is exactly what's what's needed in all parts of the world but is the Indian government supporting those kind of efforts I mean this the efforts on the ground is unfortunately all ours it's just that all of us who are there full-time in Isa foundation and also parttime volunteers because we are working 7 Days of the Week nearly 18 hours a day nonstop 365 days we are able to keep it funded otherwise we don't have any big funding we don't we have not approached any big organizations or anything it's only small people giving small donations but in large numbers we are managing this but a time has come this has to become like a governmental project like I said looking at the success of our project unccd declared that this is the project for tropical lands in the world this is the solution based on that government of India has now made 13 detailed project reports they've invested a little bit of money but rivers and land and soil are a concurrent subject that is between the federal government and the state governments in India you know like we have probably 32 parties and in each state one one party is ruling and getting them all on board we I managed this during the rally for Rivers I passed through 16 States in all the 16 States all the 16 Chief ministers participated in my rallies and central government made this a mandatory law because they saw the support but getting all these people on board and getting it going in every state is a is a circus it's not difficult you must do circus you must do all kinds of Joker stuff to convince everybody and do this just to get this law see there was a law that if you plant a tree on your own land and you grow it when you need it if the farmer cuts it he will be arrested activists are there environmental activists who have nothing else to do except activism they have no activity in their life they will protest police will come and arrest the farmer I said who wants to grow a tree now nobody wants to grow a tree whatever I grow on my land let it be for my use then I will grow a tree now we change that law except they still did not release a few species we are still working on that right now there is a movement in Tamil Nadu we've started about 3 months ago that Sandalwood as protest we planting Sandalwood we are about I think 1,300 Farmers have right now this season they have planted Sandalwood across their thing we have promised them before it grows we'll change the law because now Sandalwood is from India essentially the species itself now we are importing Sandalwood from Australia because we don't allow anybody to to grow so the only way is to go into the forest and cut it if you don't want people to go and exploit the forest you must be allowed to grow the same things on the land isn't it and a whole lot of farmers are no more living on the farm they all move to the cities their children are software Engineers they may be here in Boston not in Bangalore anymore and they can't live in the village they mov to the cities so they would like to do some light farming you know 2 3 days in a month they come down and do some farming and go if they have to do that tree based agriculture is the best thing to do yeah that's very interesting I mean I also kind of interested to to to realize you know we started out talking about health and microbiome and Cutting Edge science but we really you know ended up in in the so all microbiome sir whether it's here or there it's all microbiome because it's not there it can't be here this is just a small out crop we just a small popup on this soil one day we'll pop out most people don't realize the body that we carry is just the same soil that we walk upon as I said yesterday it's have a choice if we realize this now we can live sensibly or one day we'll realize it through the magots not bad existentially that is also okay in terms of human life it's better to realize now what do you think realize now so is this important for mental health inste of looking at mental health we can look at it as is it very important that human mind functions in an allinclusive and phenomenal way or in some mediocre way it's very important the more powerful we become in this world now human beings individual human beings I'm not talking about governments or presidents and prime ministers individual human beings compared to how a man or a woman was a thousand years ago probably we are thousand times more powerful in terms of what we can do when such empowerment is there how mentally capable we are is important just remaining mentally healthy that you did not go into the Asylum is not important how capable we are how are we going to use our intelligence is very important in this first thing is to recognize that we are not an individual life we are a life of consequence of all these lives not only microbiome every other life this is why in yoga each Asana is named after one animal and these animals what they are how they're invested in Us and how we go back into the evolutionary scale and come back there is a system of yoga people who are practicing yoga they should know there are makarasana there's bangasa there is rasana like this different ASAS which represent different animals because all of them in some way exist within us this is our development we are the flower of evolution but we must be fragrant shouldn't [Laughter] stink and this direction is exactly the way I feel is most important about this microbiome science you please sir if you can tell us how we can at least push the science and the scientific Community a few inches in this direction if you can tell us well I mean certainly I've been trying at this stage of my career to reach as wide an audience as possible on social media and with newsletters and podcast and took the risk of really offending a lot of my former colleagues what what is but why do scientists get offended sir I I can understand a religious cleric will get offended you say something they feel as a scientist I should be focusing on the science and not on promoting something to the public you know but I mean i s of really feel this this urge now uh and the urgency that we've been talking about um that I think more and more scientists should be doing this because they they have the insights they they know the details they should not leave it up to people that make tons of money out of individual supplements that are not you know evidence supported I mean this is one thing I think making people Ordinary People aware because the more you spread this word um I think the more likely it is that that that people change their own lives and and their Lifestyles and demand change from the politicians um but it's just one I mean you do it on a much larger scale you know which is wonderful to have the platform that you have to influence so many millions of people in in in a direction that is is necessary and your voice is louder than a lot of the chatter that I'm sorry if I'm so loud no mean you your voice is a lot louder than the chatter that's out there you know on social media um most of which in terms of the the health implications and the decisions and the lifestyle changes we have to make are not really um you know I mean not really effective they serve the individuals they want to become an influencer and you know make money being an influencer but not really the goal is not really to to to to change perspectives and Concepts and attitudes on a on a large scale which I think are are are are necessary I mean as soon as in my case it's it's it's been partially successful takes a lot of effort it distracts you from writing grants continuously or being rejected by the NH but it's it's I I personally feel it's worthwhile I mean I I think personally I feel I've published enough papers to the scientific literature that it's time to really transmit that knowledge and this these insights to to the to the public and in in in the best way possible so you mentioned something about the urgency so many of these um I mean there's some things that are kind of urgent in terms of health and um but some are super urgent like you know like the next pandemic for example which is a certainty what matters that we know what the main risk factors are I mean the risk factors are our agriculture to put more animals in ever greater densities um and to limit the the the boundaries that we have with with with with wild animals in many countries India and Brazil and moving closer and closer to these habitats and China obviously in India cattle raring is not a it's not a big deal it's there's no such organized cattle raring they're just there we used to have over a billion or a billion plus uh cattle about 20 years ago today it is numbered around 780 million something like that but they're generally there uh either in the farmlands or in the forest Wild Ones and things like that I once happened to go into a you know I was driving on a highway and I heard some hideous sounds like stomach churning kind of my stomach is very strong I can travel in the ocean without having B seasickness I'm wherever I am I'm not a motion sickness person or anything I can see anything I'm made like that but this sounds are like gut ing kind of sounds so we were just traveling and we wanted to see what it is we just drove in I don't know somewhere between LA to San Francisco a little deeper into the Plains and this must be probably one maybe 34 or 50 acres kind of fenced land I don't know how many animals I couldn't even guess it must be definitely somewhere between half a million to 1 million animals pack and the smell is like the stench is unbearable and they're making gut-wrenching sounds I don't know if it's a slaughter house or something I couldn't make out there were some sheds oh it is the worst kind of miseria the first thing that came to me is the movies we have seen the Holocaust things this is just like that and the sounds that are coming out of that place I think uh I think the diet will change if you make a visit but these are the things that we know are um breeding grounds for these for these pandemics you know and microorganisms that that thrive in that space that ultimately get into you know in into into our food chain into our air um are certainly I mean it's happening in in in in China for example where they built high risers for for pigs that are raised oh multi big farms yeah like 10 10 10 story buildings I've seen it recently I mean the density of these animals is something you know that that will create so the microb will rebel against this it's it's a it's a natural response of of of nature to to this kind of Haring so we know it's going to happen we know also for example recent studies just last week studies has shown that um this long covid phenomenon so you know people have persistent symptoms which is which is really a major compromise of quality I don't know if it is getting more complex the same thing uh because the mutations that came up in India were weaker than the first one so we thought we have beaten it and we're fine that kind of uh conclusions we came to one thing I want to ask you sir how in what way is the biome connected to this see how we see food is we see that when we eat something we must eat that kind of food which in terms of species is furthest away from us so plant life is definitely far away from us if at all if you must eat nonvegetarian or something which is not of you know from plant life you can eat fish fish that's why we call it as in South India we call it as jalap pushpam this means it's the flower in the water because it behaves like plant life in your body because it's so further away from your own genetic code if you eat something which is closer to your genetic code for example like mammals if you eat a mammal which is so close to you the complexity of that genetic code and its biome and everything doesn't work for us this is a fundamental thing that it'll dull your system it'll it'll complicate your own genetic codes it'll get mixed up and now everybody is talking about epigenetics I mean that's not my area I'm I don't know scientific knowledge but we know what causes dullness in us what causes alertness in us what lowers our perception what heightens our perception this is something we are always conscious about before we put something we always looking in terms of not protein vitamin like this we are only thinking in terms of if I consume this will I become less receptive or more receptive this the only concern we have because in this life whether you live for 100 years or 50 years how receptive you are is how profound your life's experience es M so we are not looking at the length of our experience but the profoundness of our experience so in this concern we are seeing that what we consume must be far away from us in genetic code does this have something to do with biome yeah I mean obviously you know um I would say the best thing that you can do for your health in terms of eating is to eat what your microbes thrive on and that that's essentially it's largely plant-based food mainly because of the fiber molecules that only the microbes can break down and these polyphenol molecules and some of the micronutrients so what you're saying is is essentially just another nonscientific uh version of that same story that it's it's we we have this ancient life form these microbes have been around for 3.5 billion years on the planet and they Thrive based on the kind of food items that are far away from our own you know Maman evolutionary step I've actually never thought about this and like what you just said but it it fits exactly that um that's [Applause] great if you have any questions please there's definitely uh deteriation of the soil and microbiomes now currently sguru is working on it and I'm sure that you will also be pressing your government to work on it but what can we do now to to eleviate us because we all live in the city we have got our own difficulties we cannot grow our own food uh so what can we do now to alleviate this this uh this problem see it's very clear that all of you are not going to become regenerative Farmers tomorrow that's an impractical expectation to have though lot of idealistic people are talking in those terms they move to their farms for 3 4 months and they can't handle it because the Wi-Fi doesn't work and they come back to this city we we know a lot of people who had short-term agricultural experiences and they are back so you don't do that today we are living in a Democratic Society that means it is your government when I say your government it is your oat which has made that government so it is very important now in another 1 and a half years or something an election is coming little over a year next November pit it up in America that if you don't take care of America soil we're not going to vote for you whoever you are whatever your party you belong to I don't care will you make sure there will be rich soil for our children or not who will come up with the best policy only then we start a campaign save soil website is there there's enormous amount of knowledge there in a simp Le form but if you want something more complex you can go into FAO unccd everywhere there's a phenomenal amount of information all right you don't have to act like a scientist you pick what is common sense for you and put it out there at least four times a week I'm saying something about soil on the Twitter now it's X okay I'm saying something make sure a million people retweet it in know democratic form of government the most important thing is numbers if you show you have numbers for a certain thing governments will take it seriously in this country it's not a big deal to turn it around because you don't have a population pressure like other nations here still natural resources are in a fantastic place though you're trying to ruin it very strongly still in terms of natural resource North American continent is still largely untouched I would say it's Water Resources it's Land Resources you're in a good place if the United States government commits itself it doesn't need the kind of money that you're spending in war and stuff like that uh 5% 10% of that if you invest in 5 years time you can turn everything around in this country if you want to turn India around it'll take 15 years if you want to turn Africa around it'll take probably 25 30 years so this is the level of challenge that is there but in United States in 5 to 6 years you can turn this around if they invest a certain amount of money and force behind it I mean the challenge is obviously the political polarization in this in this country that makes any of these no sir there will be no polarization if the people if you can make the people of America stand up and say let's say 60% of the American population says we're concerned about the soil who is going to come up with the best then there will be a competition with the polarized parties to come out with a better and better policy that's how progress will happen we shouldn't get involved unless you're standing for presidency are you unless you are don't get messed up with those parties that is their business our business is the country should do well people should do well I mean a small step I mean I you know totally agree with this you know a small step for for people that don't want to live on a farm or start a farm is you know there are farmers markets and you can go to these people and so we've done this in in in La you get to know them you go to their Farm you see how they grow it do they use regenerative techniques most of them don't actually um and um that's definitely one one way to you know support that that industry rather than going to Whole Foods and you know other big markets to to buy your fruits and vegetables um but obviously that does not have that same impact you know on on a on a large scale is no that is definitely a good way to support that tiny industry which is a good thing to do no question about that but at the same time let's say the whole population of Boston tomorrow goes to Farmers Market that farmers market cannot even cater to 1% of the population so they don't have the scale to grow to supply for the entire city so what is needed is the scientific Community is there well the Surgeon General you know is a very forward looking kind of person VI morti is there suppose sir all of you together who are in your discipline if you write a strong letter with the necessary backup see this this needs to happen if this needs to happen United States soil must become rich minimum 3% for this everything data is there it's not that I have to say something it's enough data is there this needs to happen this is what needs to happen why don't we don't even do what I'm asking you to do you figure out what to do all right because you have a certain problem if somebody suggest something you can't do it it's all right you figure it out you do it some other incredible way that I have not thought of what does it matter as long as the organic life on this planet is Rich if it's in the land it will naturally come here I know this if it's here this will fire up so I'm saying one thing is to push the politician another thing is to push the other institutions which have power over the policy this needs to happen in a country like this if you cannot do what is it I mean there are some good examples for example you know the the founder um of of pagonia Ivan jard I don't know if you've run into him I he a very remarkable man um who has dedicated his entire business and actually became a billionaire a reluctant billionaire he always considers himself really an eco- communist um but that's a nice communist who is that no he's he's somebody you would you would love to meet and talk to um so he has had a certain impact he's created a following it's almost like a I'm not really a cult but a positive cult I would say that that he has created and um and is demonstrated that you can make money on it you know it's it's not you don't have to say the business model does not allow these kind of approaches like regenerative agriculture that that he has been pushing a lot so and anything about soil will not change without incentivizing the former right now there is lot of incentivization but without any goals there is see you incentivize a farmer you can easily attach it you raise the organic content we will incentivize you further instead of that we are just incentivizing just to beat somebody else's Market yeah corn and soybeans I mean that's the main U you know the main areas of U it's a Conny way of doing [Laughter] agriculture namaskar I have a question for both of you one is I'm a neurologist so we have patients with Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease like you said they often start in the gut so one is what kind of dietary advice do we advise patients who already acquired the disease Parkinson's and for you sguru I want to ask is can we develop specific uh uh Protocols of Yoga practices depending on the type of disease that uh patients have to better give them symptomatic treatment specifically for Parkinson's Disease and Alzheimer's disease the diet protocols you missed up yeah so it sort of depends um at what stage you see a patient with Parkinson's disease ideally um I think there are ways today um possibly from colonic biopsies where you see these these Louis bodies in the anic nervous system um where you can make a diagnosis so somebody develops out of the blue constipation in the middle age or in the you know in their 40s um you have 14 years of time to influence the development of the the the neurological disease and we've not taken advantage of this at all so um I I I bet that less than 1% or. 1% of of gastrologists that see a patient for constipation think about this connection you know and U particular if there's a a positive family history for for Parkinson's so if you have these 14 years I think a um we definitely should have clinical trials on on interventions with a um either largely largely like this several of these plant-based diets it's not just the Mediterranean it's the the Mind diet and the the DASH diet so they're all variations on this theme common denominator is that they're largely plant-based and have um very little or or no red meat in in them um there's evidence from other diseases that um I I think follow that same dietary connection um that these interventions have a benefit so cognitive decline slowing of cognitive decline uh we we don't have clinical big scale clinical trials going on with with that goal in Parkinson's it's uh people still looking for the magic like always the magic metabolite that that you know could make a billion dollar drug that you could um use to prevent the the the development but I think Parkinson is the disease that has the the greatest likelihood of of having a breakthrough based on you know this microbiome G about brain connection um I think that's about all today that I would recommend to somebody and that's what I recommend to my patients if they're willing to become vegetarian I would support that as well um not everybody wants to do that um once you have the the neurological the the the CNS manifestations I'm not sure if if if there's if if the diet at that stage plays a big role I I don't think we have evidence and reversing uh you know degeneration at multiple levels of of the the gut brain axis and the brain stem and the cortex I I kind of doubt it you know so it's uh but it's still you know there's millions of patients that you could intervene in a in a very plausible way about uh specific yogic practices it can be but generally we take this stand that yoga is a discipline it's not a therapy it has many therapeutic values but you have to bring it into your life as a discipline if we go by therapy then we'll have to look at individual people which we also do in a small scale see uh we talking about let's say Parkinson's I don't know who wanted their name on this is what's your name huh even if you find out some new ailment don't put your name on it it's a bad way to be [Laughter] remembered so uh I do not know these things exactly I know fundamentally it is so it's got something to do with what is happening in your kitchen and and how it cooks and what happens up there that much I know so if it is beginning from your gut Parkinson we still do not know in an individual person which aspect of his neurological system is malfunctioning or weakened what could be genetically intrinsically weak in a given person you don't know that that we can observe and manifest only by look looking at the individual patient with a certain closeness and seeing how see somebody may have a particular ailment well for the convenience of treatment you may put them as okay this is this disease but if you pay enough attention each individual person will have variations of the same ailment have you seen that always so Parkinson's it may be because of a certain symptoms we are saying that but with where in the neurological system which is such a was system where is the damage you don't know so to structure uh a practice for that which is possible but then it needs a lot of individual time to do that which is once again not for few people it's possible it's not practical in terms of large scale uh transmission of the same thing so the best thing is how to see that you don't have clients this is my goal is that okay because I'm concerned about health not about disease so uh how to see that people don't have this like uh the professor is saying the important thing is you change your diet there are many other things about how you eat when you eat in what kind of mood you eat see right now if we want to just drink this water without some sense of reverence we don't drink this water because water has memory we see this as a living Force it's not because I see it so it is you don't understand don't drink water for next 8 days you will understand it's a living Force it's not just a material and it has memory you can create different kinds of memory in it uh which part of India do you come from pun M okay in the in those cultures it is there if you come from Urban culture maybe you don't know but if you go to rural India even today we always gather water the previous evening just filter it with a cloth so that in case any particles are there it should go then we put it in a a copper pot or a brass pot or if it's somehow we put it in an pot and then they put some flour on it put some Viti Orum in a way of being worshipful and leave it there minimum for 6 to 8 hours then only we consume because how you treat the water accordingly treats you that goes for food also that goes for everything that goes into this body if you don't see this as a product that you buy in the marketplace if you really look at it that this is life making material 72% of your body is this all right is it not very important hello tell me this glass of water is more important for your life and the making of your life or The God in heaven I'm not trying to scare you it's okay whatever you believe but if you don't have this you will bow down to this we bow down to this when we have it it's very important hello people don't talk to each other when they're alive when they die they go to a medium and they want to talk to them so this is very important that young medical professionals like you I know it's not as easy as I'm speaking but there are possibilities today because in the scientific Community uh just approaching medicine and science like it's a religion I believe this this is all it is those things are not being seen in a positive way anymore people are at least getting sensible enough to see that we know something but we still don't know many things about the way life is made we still have to look at it when this thought process is coming it is possible for you from using your neurosciences background you can create a health possibility rather than treatment possibilities that's important if you treat thousand people or if you made 500 people really healthy I think the later is better in my opinion one one I mean I totally agree with you what you said one one commentary to this is so in addition to um you know the ritual and and and and and the Consciousness about your your food and the water I mean there's also something about the brain God communication so we've talked a lot about the the bottom up signaling there's a lot of top down signaling so whatever whatever emotion or assessment or salian evaluation you do about what you eat will be transmitted through the autonomic nervous system to the gut and will will create a gut that's congruent with with your thoughts and and these thoughts may not be conscious so if you afraid your gut will be in a different shape terms of BL being scared sir so in sort of you know blood flow and secretion of secretion of acid and mucus and um and even the even the microbes hear you brain because they have receptors like for for dopamine for noine phrine for the stress bre mediator they change their gene expression their behavior based on what goes on in your brain so if you sit down and are afraid of what you're eating that will change the what you call the kitchen you know totally and and will prepare a different kind of a meal that's then that's that's then being being absorbed I think people forget this when you're angry when you're afraid when when you have food related fears which the majority of people have now they don't approach food with a sense of getting pleasure from it but they're they're so concerned about there's something in it that's that's that's bad for them uh all this does affect it's hard to measure this on a on a Case by case basis but we know from the from the wiring and from the power of this the autonomic nervous system affects every single cell in your in your gut and the microbes so I I think what you're saying is to have this this this beautiful attitude towards water for example I think I would not be surprised if that changes the reception of that water when you know when you% does sir 100% I don't know if you have a lab evidence or not I'm a living evidence it 100% changes I'm curious what is the effect of fermented food on the microbiome and SRU what is the effect of fermented foods on one's ability to perceive I I mean what the effect is on on what we perceive I think that's that's a challenging question you know but what the effect of fermented food is on health so there pretty good evidence I one is historically I mean humans started fermenting Foods probably more than 10,000 years ago there's been an adaptation of the the gut connectum um genetically to to having this as a major part of the diet so almost all cultures and peoples around the world I mean the US was an exception really until recently to this um um but most most cultures have had fermented foods as an essential part of their diet the Koreans to to probably the most the most extreme um and so that's one thing a recent study has shown that actually people that eat a large variety of fermented foods um compared to a group that of imized um fiber intake that that the group with the multiple fermented food components had a greater um uh had a better e gut ecosystem and less inflammatory markers from from that so this group in Stanford the sonenberg lab uh they they're following this up with a larger study with with a clinical trial actually um and there's some very interesting things about it people that that ate the fermented foods not only had more microbes from these fermented foods in their gut but this this diet ruin other microbes from other sources that they didn't really know from where from the environment from um for microorganisms that only existed in in in non-measurable quantities before that but it but it has an effect Beyond just having more lacab basilan you got Drew in like multiple others um so we've done a study you know early on that sort of convinced me about the importance of the the the got brain communication that eating um a cocktail of of of four probiotics um had an effect a measurable effect on on the healthy brain um we don't know if that because people were healthy subjects so I can't really tell you if this had any benefit for um anxiety or depression or any any sort of M Al disorders but so certainly I I think um it seems now when this has sort of shifted a little bit we focus totally on the fiber um I think this is shifted towards that fermented foods are maybe as important um to maintain and and reestablish a healthy ecosystem particularly in situations after antibiotic treatments um you know which greatly compromises your your regular mic biome I've seen this many times in uh when patient ask me so what should I do if you know this that's two two week course of antibiotic for my dental work and so I don't recommend an individual probiotic pill I I tell them why don't you incorporate this for the next couple of weeks and see what happens and generally could all be Placebo obviously in in this this area but I usually got a positive feedback on this so I I think uh it's definitely part of a healthy diet and I don't know what the main fermented foods are in in in the in the Indian Cuisine but um certainly if you go from Asia all the Asian countries have a large variety it doesn't seem to protect them I mean this is always you know you have to have an open mind to this it doesn't seem to protect the Koreans for example from a high prevalence of um balser's disease and uh colon cancer which is kind of doesn't go quite along with the story uh but there may be other factors you know Koreans have dramatically changed their diet to a western diet in the in the cities so there could be other factors for that but I would say I would recommend to everybody is as important as to e a largely plant-based diet is to incorporate several fermented foods uh you need to be an expert on it to select them U because you know you you you probably want to have the life organisms in it so you don't want to have it um you know treated all the bacteria or are are killed so typically you want it to come out of the fridge section of a of a of a market um you know but there's a there's a wide variety some people don't like Kimi some people don't like sauerkraut but I think there's a wide variety and some people make it themselves now you so in terms of uh ferment foods and perception see any animal based fermentation when I say animal based fermentation there are cultures where meat is fermented literally rotting is considered Gourmet there are parts of the world where it is eaten like that this is the worst way to eat it but in those cultures it's become Gourmet because these were cultures which were in extreme cold or removed from the rest of the world for large parts of the year if they had to eat food they had to learn to eat and enjoy rotting meat otherwise they would be dead probably in those days similarly I know this is a dangerous terrain to walk into in Western World cheese which is also comes from that kind of thing when Winters came people would have nothing to eat to keep their calories going the only way was cheese these are all the most terrible things to eat if you ask me if you want thinking of perception when we look at perception the way to look at it is whatever makes your body heavy and opaque in your experience makes you feel the body is lumbering to digest that that's not good for your perception because body is made like this if you if any one activity takes too much energy and effort the other activities will Reed it's as simple as that suppose you you using your phone playing too many videos when you want to make the call there's no power the batter is out it's just like that you're using it too much on one level another level goes down so to keep the digestive process being a survival process to keep it at where it should be nothing more nothing less is important some fermentation will multiply the gut biome in many ways so when it comes to fermented food it should it should be under your control for example in Southern India one fermented substance which is consumed daily in breakfast is idly do but if we go north of Pune or even up to Pune no if you go north of Bangalore we will not touch it at least I will not cuz one thing the feels like a golf ball in the South idly feels like a flower as you go north it becomes a golf ball you could play with it and they don't know how to ferment they have over fermented it all the time so in South every it's becoming difficult there also otherwise every woman at home would know she'll just always with little finger they touch it like that no this can't be used they would simply know or if you are not very sensitive if you smell it if it's gone beyond a certain point you will know it's fermented Beyond a point where you should not eat so this kind of fermented thing we always go and offer to our flowering plants because they flower better when they get this fermented D but once we see that it's fermented beyond that we don't eat the next thing is the CD or what you call as yogurt it is just overnight fermented it must be still sweet if it becoming sour little sourness is okay if it crosses that we won't eat because if you ferment it Beyond a certain point then it creates a biome of its own not support your biome little fermentation adds fuel to the existing stuff that is your stomach or your Elementary canol is fermentation but it is a certain fermentation is a certain culture all right is it the right word sir yeah it's a culture it is a certain culture so you want to culture this in a certain way that's beneficial for you not simply culture it whichever way if it if your stomach feels like a beer factory uh then what you are talking about perception if you're talking about perception your stomach should send signals to become more more and more alert and sharp if it makes you like this then where is the perception so one thing is any animal food which is fermented we normally don't eat at all if you must eat a little bit of CD but that is only overnight fermented 6 to 8 hours if it's summer Just 4 to 5 hours that's how we ferment very carefully if if people want to have a meal at 1:00 in summer in the afternoon they will ferment it at morning 8:00 9:00 because the temperatures are hot if it's cooler Seasons they'll ferment it just before going to bed in the night next day it'll be ready and this fermented thing how you treat it this days all this is gone I'm people around my table I'm always trying to bring some sense to that in our homes if there is a CD which is just caked you can't just put a serving spoon like this you have to gently take from one side always they would tell us it's alive you have to handle it gently just from one side you take it and use it because it's life it's living see United States of America has to do a lot I appreciate why it's become like that because it's a matter of 250 years when they came people came here to Wildland they sat and ate wherever they stood and at wherever even today they're doing that they need not do they have achieved a certain level of Education civilization affluence now you must do what's best for you I'll tell you my experience one day I'm driving in Washington DC in the business district not in the political part in the business where CEOs and lawyers and others are there I don't know what these people are maybe CEO CEOs are all young people less than 35 years of age all young people obviously from IV League kind of people and looking at their clothes and how they are they're very well to do they're all standing outside this is around 12:30 12:45 lunch hour I think for them and there is some C maybe it's a I don't know a hot dog or some dog part or cow part something it is sing all men and women dressed very well they're all standing there holding food in their hands and like this hacking hacking at their food I just saw this tears came to me what's happened to these people the well to do at least they can sit on the ground and eat properly no they're hacking at food like even a wild animal won't eat like that this is not good how you eat something is as important as what you eat I'll tell you my first yoga teacher when I was 11 years years of age and uh in that very simple asham kind of place daily there's only one thing it's a we called it it's called maze but not the maze that you have not the big maze is a tiny it's a millet let's say this Millet and ragy Millet which is a smaller Millet and there is a pulse which is called as Ur or in English they're calling it as horse gram because the English started feeding it to their horses because the race horses were running better with that pulse so it's called as horse gam today in the market and greens which grow all around so you would always say r four things you eat 100 years guaranteed he died at 106 and he he lived till the last day fully active I must tell you a little bit I owe it to him when he was 73 74 years of age he was also a doctor only on Mondays he's a doctor rest of the days he's traveling all around doing his yoga and stuff Monday mornings he's always back in his Center the government the state government used to have special buses for this Monday morning business that happens there this is on that day he sits as an ayurvedic doctor and he treats people those days 600 to 700 people would come from all over this starts at morning 4:00 and goes on nonstop till evening I used to volunteer there just to help him out with these things but every patient that comes he's got a joke to tell them and this whole thing is like a festival it's not like doctor patient stuff people come with ailments when they sitting and talking to him they forget they're unwell that kind of thing so I I I don't know exactly a lot of hundreds of people claim their ailments are gone and stuff he's treating them with medicine not like any other things so all this happen so one Sunday night he came to a railway station which is about uh 70 km or 69 km from where he is and he found the trains were all canceled because the railways Railway Union has gone and strike at that time this was the George Fernandez time Indians will understand who's George fernandz so there were two other companions with him he just left them on the railway platform and he just ran overnight he ran 70 km morning 4:30 he was there to treat them he was 73 or 74 years of age at that time and then uh you know we used to get into the wrestling ring with him I was around 15 16 I was all muscle and I'm very quick at least at that time even now I'm okay very quick means I'm much faster than other people in my moments so in the wizling ring it m it matters not just the strength how quick you are three of us some of the other boys are much stronger than me three of us get against this man who is like 76 77 at that time he just Pines down we never lasted more than a minute or two three boys strong boys so we would joke with him when are you going to die it looks like the way things are going it looks like we going first when will you go he would very confidently say I have another 40 years of work I'll finish that and go the way things were going it looked like he was going to fulfill it it once happened 3 months before he passed away at 106 he was speaking uh in in my city in my city he was is speaking on stage and he had a heart attack they took him to a private hospital and he was in an ICU and he was unconscious when he came to his Consciousness somewhere in the middle of the night he saw all these things plugged into him and he's never been to a hospital in his life he just ripped off everything and he looked around then he saw he was in the first floor that is in the in in America it's the second floor from there he got out of the window he he jumped down and he ran away 105y old man unfortunately 3 years later he died but at6 so I'm saying it's not about just how many great things you eat it's the way you consume it with what because you and food are not two separate things your body the food that you eat the soil that you walk upon the water that you drink and the air that you breathe these are not different from you it is the same stuff yeah it's just giving us an individual experience if you treat it with as much love as you treat your children if you can't see it as Divine at least if you treat it with as much love as you would treat your children it would do fantastic things to you thank [Applause] [Music] you

Channel: Sadhguru

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Keywords: Sadhguru, sadhguru interview, sadguru speech in english, sadhguru videos, sadhguru jaggi vasudev, sadguru, satguru, sadhguru english, #sadhguru, sadhguru 2023, gut health, microbiome, intermittent fasting, science, podcast, plant based diet, Health, the science of gut health and why it matters, the science of gut health, how to improve your gut health, stomach hurting, stomach issues, what are probiotcs, how to improve gut bacteria, bacteria gut, benefits of probiotics

Id: K2edVi4kDAo

Length: 113min 23sec (6803 seconds)

Published: Sun Jan 28 2024