David Perlmutter - Power Up Your Brain: The Neuroscience of Enlightenment

Praise for Power Up Your Brain

Dr. Perlmutter and Dr. Villoldo bring together the long-separated disciplines of science and spirituality to help us gain access to the parts of the brain that define us as human beings. This book applies leading-edge science to our quest for enlightenment and gives us practical tools, including specific dietary and lifestyle recommendations, to improve our well-being.

Andrew Weil, M.D., author of
8 Weeks to Optimum Health and Healthy Aging

The shaman and physician for millennia were the same person until the 19th century when they were split apart in the name of science. Now through the lens of 21st-century science, Villoldo and Perlmutter bring them back together, illuminating the web that links together our physical and metaphysical energy. For anyone feeling a loss of energy of body or soul, Power Up Your Brain is your guide to restoration and rejuvenation of your deepest energies.

Mark Hyman, M.D., New York Times best-selling author of
The UltraMind Solution

This is the book weve been waiting for! With leading-edge information thats easy to understand, Alberto Villoldo and David Perlmutter have masterfully woven 21st-century science with the indigenous wisdom of the past to reveal the missing link in the modern story of lifethe role of our brains health in the quality of our spiritual experience. In doing so they offer us a practical wisdom that we can use to empower our lives immediately! This book is a must for anyone seriously interested in moving beyond the conventional ideas of what enlightenment is and how to achieve it.

Gregg Braden, New York Times best-selling author of
The Divine Matrix and Fractal Time

This book is a treasure. It is a guidebook to enlightenment filled with the wisdom and experience of the authors. It relates the practical aspects of science to the spiritual and mystical realities of the nature of life. It clarifies what our potential is as human beings and directs us in the steps we need to take to achieve our potential and utilize the healing energy available to us all.

Bernie S. Siegel, M.D., author of
Love, Medicine & Miracles and 365 Prescriptions for the Soul

I seldom use the word brilliant, but this book is. It expands our awareness of the untapped potential of our brain, offers cutting-edge neuroscience, and is written by two experts with decades of hands-on clinical practice. See for yourself why Dr. Perlmutter is my personal neurologist and mentor.

Naomi Judd, singer, songwriter, and author of
Naomis Guide to Aging Gratefully

This is one of the most important books Ive ever read. Combining modern scientific knowledge and shamanic practices, it lucidly explains how to restore the health of the brain at the cellular level.

David R. Hamilton, Ph.D., author of
How Your Mind Can Heal Your Body

POWER

UP YOUR BRAIN

Also by David Perlmutter

RAISE A SMARTER CHILD BY KINDERGARTEN:
Build a Better Brain and Increase IQ by up to 30 Points
(with Carol Colman)

THE BETTER BRAIN BOOK:
The Best Tools for Improving Memory, Sharpness, and Preventing
Aging of the Brain (with Carol Colman)

BRAINRECOVERY.COM:
Powerful Therapy for Challenging Brain Disorders

LIFEGUIDE: Your Guide to a Longer and Healthier Life

Also by Alberto Villoldo

ILLUMINATION: The Shamans Way of Healing

COURAGEOUS DREAMING:
How Shamans Dream the World into Being

YOGA, POWER, AND SPIRIT: Patanjali the Shaman

THE FOUR INSIGHTS:
Wisdom, Power, and Grace of the Earthkeepers

MENDING THE PAST AND HEALING THE FUTURE WITH
SOUL RETRIEVAL

SHAMAN, HEALER, SAGE: How to Heal Yourself
and Others with the Energy Medicine of the Americas

DANCE OF THE FOUR WINDS:
Secrets of the Inca Medicine Wheel (with Erik Jendresen)

ISLAND OF THE SUN: Mastering the Inca Medicine Wheel
(with Erik Jendresen)

*Available from Hay House

Please visit:
Hay House USA: www.hayhouse.com
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Copyright 2011 by David Perlmutter and Alberto Villoldo

Published and distributed in the United States by: Hay House, Inc.: www.hayhouse.com Published and distributed in Australia by: Hay House Australia Pty. Ltd.: www.hayhouse.com.au Published and distributed in the United Kingdom by: Hay House UK, Ltd.: www.hayhouse.co.uk Published and distributed in the Republic of South Africa by: Hay House SA (Pty), Ltd.: www.hayhouse.co.za Distributed in Canada by: Raincoast: www.raincoast.com Published in India by: Hay House Publishers India: www.hayhouse.co.in

Design: Riann Bender

reprinted from The Lancet, Vol. 358, Annachiara Cagnin, et al, In-vivo measurement of activated microglia in dementia, 2001 , with permission from Elsevier.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced by any mechanical, photographic, or electronic process, or in the form of a phonographic recording; nor may it be stored in a retrieval system, transmitted, or otherwise be copied for public or private useother than for fair use as brief quotations embodied in articles and reviewswithout prior written permission of the publisher.

The information contained in this book is not intended to diagnose, treat, prevent, or cure any disease, or to provide specific medical advice. Questions about the relationship between nutrition, supplements, meditative practices and your health should be directed to a qualified health practitioner. The reader and associated health professionals are responsible for evaluating the risks of any therapy reviewed in this book. Those responsible made every effort possible to thoroughly research the accuracy of the information and assume no responsibility for errors, inaccuracies, or omissions.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Perlmutter, David, M.D.
Power up your brain : the neuroscience of enlightenment / David
Perlmutter and Alberto Villoldo. -- 1st ed.
p. ; cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 978-1-4019-2817-9 (hardcover : alk. paper) 1. Mental healing. 2. Neurosciences. 3. Shamanism. 4. Enlightenment.
I. Villoldo, Alberto. II. Title.
[DNLM: 1. Spiritual Therapies. 2. Neurosciences. 3. Shamanism. WB 885]
RZ400.P46 2011
615.851--dc22

2010029233

Hardcover ISBN: 978-1-4019-2817-9
Digital ISBN: 978-1-4019-3084-4

14 13 12 11 4 3 2 1
1st edition, February 2011

Printed in the United States of America

POWER

UP YOUR BRAIN

The Neuroscience
of Enlightenment

DAVID PERLMUTTER,
M.D., F.A.C.N.

ALBERTO VILLOLDO, P H .D.

HAY HOUSE, INC.

Carlsbad, California New York City
London Sydney Johannesburg
Vancouver Hong Kong New Delhi

To our wives, Marcela Lobos and Leize Perlmutter
ever supportive, loving, and understanding partners.

CONTENTS

PUBLISHERS
FOREWORD

Shamanism and neuroscience: what do they have in common? They are both keys to personal health and wellness, mental excellence, spiritual awareness, growth and prosperity, improved personal relationships, a higher quality of life, and a greater ability to perform and contribute to societyto name a few benefits.

Yet, seldom have we seen these words shamanism and neuroscience used in the same sentence. Why is that? Because we have been living in a time of reductionism during which the realm of spirit and the domain of science have been separated, split, divided, and divorced from one another.

This was not always so. For millennia, shamans were also astronomers, wizards were scientists, spiritual seekers were explorers, and researchers were risk takers. Their opinions were valued by emperors, chieftains, tsars, kings, and potentates. That is, until the time when established authoritiesthe popes and princes of the powerful status quolabeled visionaries as heretics and decreed that religion and science should follow their disparate paths.