
Performance Around The Clock Hemal Patel - philosophy, meditation and science. Performance Around The Clock episode 35.
Aug 19, 2025
Dr. Hemal Patel, a renowned Professor at UC San Diego, delves into the fascinating intersection of mitochondrial biology and meditation. He discusses an innovative blood-based assay to assess mitochondrial health, developed from insights gained in the NASA Twin Study. The conversation also explores the therapeutic potential of caveolin in treating diseases like Alzheimer's and the mind-body connection through meditation. Patel shares how his philosophical and spiritual journey influences his work, bridging ancient wisdom with modern science.
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Retreats As Ideal Research Petri Dishes
- Joe Dispenza-style events are structured, high-intensity retreats with repeated meditations, lectures and standardized schedules that make them strong experimental settings.
- That uniformity and high compliance create ideal conditions for large-scale physiological studies.
Music Patterns Anchor Attention
- Repetitive sounds and patterned music help focus attention during meditation and calm the brain.
- Sound patterns provide an accessible anchoring strategy for practitioners to reduce wandering thoughts.
Multi‑Omics Shows Broad Biological Shifts
- Multi-omics at scale reveals meditation-induced changes across transcriptome, metabolome and microbiome and across many diseases simultaneously.
- A single intensive week of guided practice can shift biology in ways relevant to 50+ conditions.







