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MHE Collected Works, Volume 15, Part V in press for 2015.

The Psychosocial Genomics of Mind-Body Healing

Cozzolino M1,2, Tagliaferri R3, Castiglione S4, Fusco F5, Fortino V3, Cicatelli A4, De Luca P6,

Guarino F4, Napolitano F 3, Celia G2,7, Iannotti S8, Raiconi G. 3 Rossi K 2,8,9 and Rossi E 2,8,9

Abstract

The Mind-Body Healing Experience (MHE) is an evidence-based approach for facilitating the

psychosocial genomics of therapeutic hypnosis and psychotherapy. The theory, research and

practice of the psychosocial genomics of mind-body healing are illustrated with a pilot study that

demonstrates how the SNCA gene was down-regulated in human white blood cells by the MHE

protocol. Dysfunctions of the SNCA gene are implicated in autism, schizophrenia, Parkinson’s,

Altzheimer’s, alcoholism and a variety of age related stress disorders. On the positive side the

closely related SNCB gene is associated with optimal brain plasticity, memory, learning and

consciousness. Replication of this pilot study with large clinical populations and more adequate

controls is now required to confirm how the MHE protocol could supplement the traditional

cognitive-behavioral dynamics of meditation, psychotherapy, and rehabilitation for ameliorating

ageing and the stress-related problems. The implications of this research for updating the

classical Cartesian philosophical issues of integrating mind and matter as well as the modern

Chalmers hard problem of understanding the role of consciousness in mind-body communication

and healing are discussed in the context of an emerging psychosocial genomic theory of the

evolutionary transitions from RNA World to DNA life as we experience them today.

1 University of Salerno, Italy, Psychology 2 CIPPS- International Center of Strategic Psychology and Psychotherapy, Salerno, Italy 3 University of Salerno, Informatics 4 University of Salerno, Chemistry and Biology 5 IGB-ABT-CNR International Institute of Genetics and Biophysics, Naples, Italy 6 Biogem Institute-Ariano Irpino and Zoological Station “A. DOHRN”, Ariano Irpino, Italy 7 University of Salerno, Human Philosophy and Education 8 Mind Body Institute, Solopaca, Italy 9 The Milton H. Erickson Institute of the California Central Coast.

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Key Words: Ageing, bioinformatics, consciousness, creative, ENCODE, epigenetic, mind-body

theory, molecular evolution, psychotherapy, rehabilitation, RNA World, SNCA, SNCB, time-

series gene expression.

Introduction

Epigenetics is a scientific approach for exploring the interaction of nature and nurture: how

genes interact with the environment to modulate behavior, cognition and consciousness (Bell &

Robertson, 2011; Robinson, Fernald & Clayton, 2008; Feinberg, 2007). Recent research in

social psychology documents how complex epigenetic mechanisms modulate gene expression

without altering the DNA code (Cole et al., 2005, 2007, 2009, 2010, and 2011). The Mind-Body

Healing Experience (MHE) focuses on a special class of epigenetic genes that are often

described as “activity or experience-dependent genes,” which can be turned on (activated) or off

(suppressed) by signals from the physical and psychosocial environment (Rossi, 1986, 1993,

2002, 2004, 2007, 2012; Rossi & Rossi, 2013; Lloyd and Rossi, 1992, 2008).

Human Consciousness, DNA Microarrays and Mind-Body Healing

In the past decade DNA microarray technology has made it possible to measure the expression

levels of many thousands of genes simultaneously. This evidence-based research in molecular

biology has become a new standard in personalized medicine (Eisen et al. 1998). Current

research documents the use of DNA microarrays for assessing therapeutic responses via a variety

of top-down psychobiological processes that were originally developed by many diverse cultural,

historical and spiritual traditions of mind-body healing. These include the relaxation response

(Dusek et al., 2008), therapeutic hypnosis (Lichtenberg et al., 2000, 2004; Rossi, 2012; Rossi &

Rossi, 2013), meditation (Creswell et al., 2012), the therapeutic placebo (Sliwinski and Elkins,

2013) and yoga (Lavretsky et al., 2013) to facilitate optimal states of human consciousness as

well as the healing of stress related dysfunctions (Unternaehrer et al., 2012). This pilot study

extends this use of DNA microarrays to explore the hypothesis that such top-down therapeutic

protocols epitomized by the Mind-Body Healing Experience (MHE) could become the

foundation of a more general theory of mind-body communication and healing (Rossi et al.,

2008, Atkinson et al. 2010). A full description of the administration and scoring of the top-down

MHE protocol (originally named the “Creative Psychosocial Genomic Healing Experience,

CPGHE) is freely available (Rossi, 2012). Confirmation of the results of this pilot study could

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update the cognitive-behavioral efficacy of evidence-based translational medicine recommended

as a standard of clinical excellence by Insel (2009, 2010, 2012), director of National Institute of

Mental Health.

Modeling Mind-Body Healing with Time-Series Gene Expression Data

Mind-body communication and healing is a normal, daily and hourly cyclic process that needs to

be assessed at multiple time periods for a full picture and understanding of how it operates.

Researchers are currently using time-series gene expression data to get an overview of how

mind-body communication and healing functions (Bar-Joseph et al., 2012; Qian et al., 2013;

Lloyd and Rossi, 1992, 2008). This pilot study will explore and illustrate a variety of interesting

and insightful approaches for modeling mind-body communication and healing on all levels from

mind to gene.

Experimental Design: Time-Series Gene Expression Data Using Each Subject as its Own

Control

Data that sample multiple measures on each subject are very common in medical and

psychological clinical trials to assess the effectiveness of a drug or therapy. Time-series data

with many clinical measures on each subject are commonly called, "repeated measures"

experimental designs. Multiple observations on the same subject allow each subject to be used

as a comparison or control. Simple clinical trials typically measure three time-points: (1) a pre-

test, (2) the administration of the therapy and (3) an outcome measure to assess the effectiveness

of the therapy. Time-series gene expression data for clinical studies with humans typically uses

a repeated measures experimental design to assess each subject at multiple time points as its own

control to constrain random biological variation (Maxwell & Delaney, 2004).

Our initial pilot study of the Mind-Body Healing Experience (MHE) assessed with DNA

Microarrays had three subjects for a trial of our repeated measures experimental paradigm using

each subject as its own control (Rossi, Iannotti, Cozzolino, et al. 2008). Our current pilot study

contained 21 human subjects between 30 and 50 years old (10 male, 11 female), which were

randomly selected from the University of Salerno environment in Italy through an interview and

a general psychological evaluation made by one of the co-authors (Giovanna Celia). The DNA

microarray analysis reviewed here was developed by our co-authors at the IGB-ABT-CNR

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International Institute of Genetics and Biophysics and the Psychology Department at University

of Salerno in Italy (Cozzolino et al. 2013).

Results: The MHE Protocol Modulated Genes Expression in Human White Blood Cells

A summary of how the MHE protocol modulated activity-dependent genes expression in human

white blood cells is presented in figure three.

Figure 3. The MHE Protocol Regulates the SNCA Gene Expression (with permission by Cozzolino, et al.,

2013).

The most significant result in figure three was that the SNCA gene was highly and stably de-

regulated in the white blood cells (peripheral blood monocytes, PBMCs) of human subjects

within 1 and 24 hours after administration of the Mind-Body Healing Experience (MHE). Figure

three documents that only the SNCA gene transcript was down-regulated with highest significant

logFold change value of -2.5. The down-regulation observed in the other genes of the same

SNCA biological pathway had a logFold change values between -0.5 and -1.0, which suggests

that these were manifistations of normal cellular homeostasis.

Mind-Body Dysfunctions Associated with the SNCA Gene

Dysfunctions of the SNCA gene are known to be associated with autism, schizophrenia,

Parkinson disease, Alzheimer's disease, alcoholism, aging and a variety of stress related

dysfunctions. On the other hand the closely related form of the SNCA gene, the SNCB gene, is

implicated in healthy brain plasticity, memory, learning and behavior. The SNCA gene encodes

a small protein called alpha-synuclein. Alpha-synuclein is abundant in the brain, and smaller

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amounts are found in the heart, muscles, and other tissues, such as in peripheral blood including

mononuclear cells (Shin et al., 2000) and is secreted into blood plasma (El-Agnaf et al., 2003).

In the brain, alpha-synuclein is found mainly at the tips of neurons in specialized presynaptic

terminals. Although the function of alpha-synuclein is not entirely understood, studies suggest

that it plays an important role in maintaining a supply of synaptic vesicles in presynaptic

terminals which regulate the molecular dynamics of behavior, cognition,emotions, memory,

learning, and the qualia consciousness.

At least 18 mutations in the SNCA gene have been found associated with Parkinson’s, a

neurodegenerative disease characterized by akinesia, rigidity, tremor, and postural instability a

condition characterized by progressive problems with movement and balance (Nuytemans et al.,

2010; Coppedè, 2012). It is unclear how alterations in SNCA gene expression are related to

Parkinson disease, but it is known that misfolded or excess alpha-synuclein proteins may cluster

together and impair the regulation of dopamine in specific regions of the brain. The excess alpha-

synuclein protein is related to increased expression of SNCA mRNA levels in dopaminergic

neurons (Maraganore et al., 2006; Grűndemann et al., 2008). In Parkinson’s disease the loss of

dopamine regulation weakens communication between the brain and muscles that is critical for

controlling the start and stop of voluntary and involuntary movements (Spillantini et al., 1997;

Braak et al., 2003).

Psychosocial Stress Modulates SNCA Gene Expression

Psychosocial Stress results in aberrant DNA methylation of the SNCA gene that is associated

with psychiatric conditions (Feinberg, 2007; Suzuki and Bird, 2008). DNA microarray analysis

of peripheral blood from patients with malignancies, infectious diseases, autoimmunity and

cardiovascular diseases are used to identify biomarkers of normal pathological and

pharmacological processes (Chaussabel et al., 2010; Staratschek-Jox et al., 2009). Studies of

patients with alcoholism (Bönsch et al., 2005; Foroud et al., 2007) and anorexia patients

(Frieling et al., 2007) documented hypermethylation of the SNCA promoter, suggesting how this

gene’s expression can be modulated epigenetically.

Publicly available data bases such as Gene Cards (http://www.GeneCards) document how

dysfunctions of SNCA gene expression is implicated in autism (Buxbaum et al., 2004),

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schizophrenia (Paunio et al., 2004), Parkinson’s, Altzheimer’s, alcoholism (Reich et al., 1998)

and a variety of other stress related problems associated with post-traumatic stress disorder

(Neylan et al., 2011; Unternaehrer et al., 2012). Such stress promotes reactive oxygen species

(ROS) at the molecular-genomic level which leads to the formation of neurofibrillary tangles

associated with dysfunctions of consciousness, cognition and cell death (apoptosis) in

Alzheimer’s disease shown in figure four. The left side figure four illustrates the normal

pathway of increased neuronal survival, brain plasticity and appropriate axon pruning, which

underpin positive adaptive behavior and consciousness. This healthy condition contrasts

strikingly with destructive reactive oxygen species (ROS) and amyloid plaque formation

associated with psychosocial stress and maladaptive consciousness in Alzheimer’s disease

illustrated on the right side of figure four.

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Figure 4. The Neural Connection in Mind-Body Communication and Healing The left side illustrates healthy

communication with increased neuronal survival, growth and brain plasticity. The right side illustrates

Amyloid Plaque and Neurofibrillary Tangle Formation in Alzheimer’s Disease (with permission by

www.Cell Signaling Technology).

It is interesting to note that the U.S. Patent office granted a patent on a molecular-genomic

agent (a drug) for inhibiting alpha-synuclein (SNCA) gene expression in the treatment of

neurodegenerative disorders (Bumcrot, 2009). This would be consistent with the

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therapeutic down regulation of dysfunctional mutations of the SNCA gene by the MHE

protocol. Further research by independent research groups is now required to confirm how the

molecular-genomic dynamics associated with administration of the MHE protocol could

facilitate translational medicine as well as the traditional cognitive-behavioral dynamics of

psychotherapy for ameliorating the ageing and stress related dysfunctions.

Further details of how the SNCA and SNCB genes are associated with the alternative pathways

of the health versus illness are illustrated in figure five. The computer algorithm that generated

figure five is based on an integration of millions of data points from publically available Gene

Wide Association Studies (GWAS) on the molecular-genomic scale (Jensen et al., 2009;

Szklarczyk et al., 2011).

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Figure 5. The SNCA and SNCB Genes in a Central Adaptive Complex Network (with permission by String 9.0,

http://String-db.org).

Remarkably clear, detailed, scientific images and information about any well known gene as

illustrated in five are freely available to the general public at String 9.0, http://String-db.org).

The implications of the MHE protocol for facilitating mind-body communication and healing

based on such images are documented in ENCODE – The Encyclopedia of DNA Elements – to

which we will now turn our attention.

ENCODE and A New Evidenced-Based General Theory of

Mind-Body Communication and Healing

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The MHE protocol could be used to formulate a more general theory of mind-body

communication and healing with the help of ENCODE. ENCODE – The Encyclopedia of DNA

Elements – has been published recently in 30 leading papers in major scientific journals such as

Nature, Science Genome Research and Genome Biology. We propose that ENCODE is the

major international research effort that is potentially capable of integrating the deep psychosocial

genomic basis of all scientific methods of facilitating mind-body communication and healing.

The ENCODE consortium introduced the biological significance of its research in this way

(ENCODE project consortium, 2012).

The human genome encodes the blueprint of life, but the function of the vast majority of its

nearly three billion bases is unknown. The Encyclopedia of DNA Elements (ENCODE) project

has systematically mapped regions of transcription, transcription factor association, chromatin

structure and histone modification. These data enabled us to assign biochemical functions for

80% of the genome, in particular outside of the well-studied protein-coding regions. Many

discovered candidate regulatory elements are physically associated with one another and with

expressed genes, providing new insights into the mechanisms of gene regulation. The newly

identified elements also show a statistical correspondence to sequence variants linked to human

disease, and can thereby guide interpretation of this variation. Overall, the project provides new

insights into the organization and regulation of our genes and genome, and is an expansive

resource of functional annotations for biomedical research.

The human genome sequence provides the underlying code for human biology. Despite intensive

study, especially in identifying protein-coding genes, our understanding of the genome is far

from complete, particularly with regard to non-coding RNAs, alternatively spliced transcripts

and regulatory sequences. Systematic analyses of transcripts and regulatory information are

essential for the identification of genes and regulatory regions, and are an important resource for

the study of human biology and disease. Such analyses can also provide comprehensive views of

the organization and variability of genes and regulatory information across cellular contexts,

species and individuals.

The ENCODE project aims to delineate all functional elements encoded in the human genome.

Operationally, we define a functional element as a discrete genome segment that encodes a

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defined product (for example, protein or non-coding RNA) or displays a reproducible

biochemical signature … The advent of more powerful DNA sequencing technologies now

enables whole-genome and more precise analyses with a broad repertoire of functional assays.

(p. 57-74, Ital added here)

Notice, however, how this very significant historical statement by ENCODE is only about the

biological bottoms-up approach (molecules to mind) to understanding human nature. The

ENCODE consortium does not discuss our top-down MHE protocol of psychosocial genomics

(mind to molecules) – how mind, behavior and consciousness can mirror and modulate the

molecular-genomic bioinformatics of observable behavior as illustrated in figure six.

The philosophical question now becomes, “Does our general theory of mind-body

communication and healing reframe the necessary and sufficient conditions for resolving the

classical conundrums of the Cartesian dualism of mind and matter as well as the modern of

Chalmers hard problem of consciousness?” We propose that our emerging theory of the

evolution from RNA world (Atkins et al., 2011; Darnell, 2011; Yarus, 2010) to our modern

epigenomic world of bioinformatic transitions from cognition and consciousness to eRNA, DNA

and mRNA is consistent with a general theory of mind-body communication and healing. From

our current perspective the key to resolving the Cartesian mind-body dualism and the Chalmers

hard problem of consciousness is to conceptualize both mind and body as information

transduction (Holland, 2012; Tegmark, 2013). This is focused on the bioinformatic eRNA-DNA-

mRNA loop between mind and gene in a new epigenomic theory of mind-body communication

and healing that has important implications for integrating our inner and outer nature briefly

summarized as The RNA-DNA Mind-Body Theory of Psychotherapeutic communication and

Healing in Box 1.

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Figure 6. An Evidenced-Based Theory of Mind-Body Communication and Healing

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ENCODE research implies the need for a new bioinformatic conception genes and their

relationships to the environment as complex adaptive systems (Holland, 2012). Figure six is our

proposal for a very broad functional definition of the gene as a complex adaptive system that

embraces the entire daily and hourly Basic Rest-Activity Cycle (BRAC) of life processes on all

levels from the mind to gene (Lloyd & Rossi, 1992, 2008). We propose that research on these

four major levels of The Psychosocial Genome: Mind, Mirror Neurons, Genes and the

Brain/Body illustrated in figure six can be generalized into a new evidence-based theory of mind-

body communication and healing summarized here.

1. Mind Research in the top circle embraces the classical experimental research of historical

psychology (Boring, 1950) updated with the more recent bioinformatic and consciousness

studies of art, beauty, creativity, music, truth, dreams, meditation, and yoga (Rossi,

1972/1985/2000, 2002, 2004, 2007, 2012, Rossi, Mortimer & Rossi, 2014xcvxcv). Key research

at this top level of consciousness, dreaming, and imagination explores the Novelty-Numinosum-

Neurogenesis-Effect as an adaptive complex motivational system, which integrates gene

expression with brain plasticity and mind-body healing illustrated in this chapter and related

papers (Cole et al., 2007-2011; Creswell et al., 2012; Dusek et al., 2008; Lichtenberg et al.,

2000, 2004; Rossi, Iannotti, Cozzolino et al., 2008).

2. Mirror Neuron Research initiated by Rizzolatti, Gallese (Rizzolatti & Sinigaglia, 2008)

and others at the University of Parma in Italy has been greatly expanded from its original neural

level focus in the specific F5 area of the brain to include all epigenomic processes engaging

behavior and consciousness. Bird song research, for example, documents how micro eRNAs

respond to thought by modulating the genomic transcription/translation process via qualia-

dependent gene expression. Clayton, a specialist in songbird neurogenomics, made the salient

comment, “this is the first time a microRNA has been shown to respond to a particular thought

process” (Saey, 2010; Warren, Clayton et al., 2010; Clayton, 2013; Drnevich et al., 2012;

Gunaratne et al., 2011). This is the fundamental insight that relates mind, consciousness,

focused attention and positive intentions to the molecular-genomics of mind-body

communication and healing facilitated by the MHE protocol. Key research now explores the

molecular level of cellular signaling by conceptualizing human cognition and consciousness as a

complex adaptive system integrating bioinformatic information (Tononi, 2008, 2012; Iacoboni,

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2007, 2008) from mind to gene. Figure five updates the Watson/Crick central dogma of

molecular biology, DNA codes for RNA, which codes for protein, to include consciousness.

Conscious thoughts dialogue with our genes via the bioinformatic epigenomic loop mediating

between nature and nurture we illustrated previously in Figure three. Cognitions are converted

into eRNAs (enhancer RNAs) to enhance DNA (gene expression), which codes for mRNAs

(messenger RNAs), which are messengers that generate the proteins (hormones,

neurotransmitters, cytokines, etc.) throughout the complex adaptive mirror neuron system to

facilitate mind-body communication and healing (Rossi, 2002, 20004, 2007, 2012).

3. Genomics Research via the ENCODE project that includes activity and experience-

dependent gene expression is currently manifesting a profound breakout on the epigenetic level.

Key research is now exploring complex adaptive systems of information transduction in the

transcription process arising from ~2 million eRNAs carrying signals from the physical

environment and psychosocial milieus to genes bearing ~3 million docking sites recently

summarized by the ENCODE Consortium (2012). This is well documented in human

psychobiology, for example, by dynamic changes in DNA methylation of stress-associated genes

such as oxytocin receptor (OXTR) and brain-derived neurotropic factor (BNDF) in sickness

versus healthy adaptation and healing (Unternaehrer et al., 2012). Free public data bases are

being updated daily by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, which offers

information on The New Genetics (http://publications.nigms.nih.gov/thenewgenetics/)

4. Brain and Body Research has a new psychobiological foundation in the translational

process of coding for mRNAs, proteins at the molecular-genomic level. Key research explores

how these proteins, often called “mother molecules,” are cleaved into the neurotransmitters,

hormones, and cytokines of the complex adaptive system of psychoneuroimmunology (Irwin &

Vedhara, 2005), which integrate cells of the mind, brain and body that ultimately facilitate the

dynamics of memory, learning, behavior, and the qualia of consciousness itself via

synaptogenesis and neuroplasticity, etc. (Rossi & Rossi, 2013). Gene Cards is another Free

Public data base that integrates new research information daily (http://www.GeneCards.com).

The epigenomic cycle of figure six is associated with the 4-stage 90-120 minute basic-rest

activity creative cycle that takes place naturally on all levels from mind to gene as documented

previously (Bar-Joseph et al., 2012; Lloyd & Rossi, 1992, 2008; Rossi, 2002, 2004, 2007, 2012;

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Rossi & Rossi, 2011, 2013). Notice how we give precise bioinformatic meaning to the

commonly used but vague psychological terms of the 4-stage creative cycle such as

“Crisis/Opportunity” (stage 1), “Intuition” (stage 2), “Adaption/Healing” (stage 3) and

“Insight/Applications” (stage 4). The implications of this new epigenomic evidence-based

general theory of mind-body communication and healing range from the practical, such as the

development of more effective psychiatric drugs and psychotherapy, to the profoundly

philosophical issues of integrating mind and matter.

We may ask, for example: Why have many controversial psychiatric drugs been failing for more

than 30 years (Fibiger, 2012; Hyman, 2012; Insel, 2012; Sanders, 2013)? Our perspective

suggests that such drugs were originally developed and assessed to operate at the bottoms-up

body-mind transitions of molecular biology (between stages 3 and 4) rather than focusing on the

top down mind-body transitions of psychosocial genomics (between stages 1, 2 and 3). This

implies that current and future research to create more efficacious psychiatric drugs needs to

conceptualize the evolutionarily complex and subtle bioinformatic dialogues between the qualia

of consciousness and the microRNA-DNA transitions in stages 1, 2 and 3 of human experience

in figure five (Rossi, 2012; Rossi & Rossi, 2011; 2013; Smith-Vikos, 2013).

Summary and Conclusions

This theoretical review and pilot study explores a new protocol, The Mind-Body Healing

Experience (MHE) that integrates mind and matter in an evidence-based theory of psychosocial

genomics. We document how the SNCA gene could be down-regulated in the peripheral blood

monocytes of the immune system of human subjects within 1 and 24 hours after administration

of The Mind-Body Healing Experience (The MHE Protocol), a structured psychosocial genomic

approach to the top down therapeutic applications of consciousness in therapeutic hypnosis,

psychotherapy and translational medicine. Dysfunctions of the SNCA gene are known to be

associated with autism, schizophrenia, Parkinson disease, Alzheimer's disease, alcoholism, aging

and stress related dysfunctions of consciousness. On the other hand the closely related isoform of

the SNCA gene, the SNCB gene, is implicated in healthy brain plasticity, memory, learning,

behavior and consciousness itself. Further research with appropriate clinical groups and controls

is now required to confirm how psychosocial epigenomic processes associated with behavior and

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consciousness could modulate the complex adaptive systems of gene expression, brain plasticity,

memory, learning, behavior and the qualia of human consciousness.

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The RNA-DNA Mind-Body Theory of Psychotherapeutic Communication and Healing

1. Recent scientific developments support the RNA World hypothesis of origin of life and consciousness

(Atkins et al., 2011; Darnell, 2011; Yarus, 2010). We update this hypothesis with our new RNA-DNA

Mind-Body Theory of Communication & Healing.

2. We begin with the RNA World hypothesis: RNA was the original “information molecule of life”

whose catalytic (tinker-toy like) and signaling activities with nucleotides eventually evolved into

complex adaptive systems (Holland, 2012) that synthesized the more stable DNA “memory molecule

of life” more than 3.5 billion years ago.

3. RNA’s highly nascent, excitable, signaling and informational nature could now interact and co-evolve

with DNA’s more stable memory structure and function.

4. Some forms of RNA, for example, could signal DNA about changing conditions in the immediate

environment to initiate the epigenetic cycle.

5. RNA evolved an epigenetic signaling function in relation to DNA. Today we call it “enhancer RNA

(eRNA).”

6. Some semi-autonomous pieces of DNA responded differently to eRNA’s epigenetic signals from the

environment. Some of these semi-autonomous pieces, for example, became activated to higher energy

levels or depressed to lower energy levels.

7. Some these semi-autonomous pieces of DNA evolved into what we today call “genes.”

8. The ever excitable, plastic, signaling and adaptive RNA now mirrored these energy level changes in

genes and carried them as new signals back to the inner and outer environment.

9. Some of these adaptive RNAs became what we today call “messenger RNA (mRNA).”

10. We now speculate that the co-evolutionary origin of life and consciousness began with these

communication loops between epigenetic eRNAs signaling the DNA, which then makes adaptive

changes via the mRNAs, which are communicated back to the inner mind-body as well as the outer

world of nature.

11. We hypothesize that these sets of signals (RNAs) and boundaries (DNA, genes) are the building blocks

for the complex adaptive systems we call life and consciousness.

12. The bioinformatic signaling nature of RNA evolved into the nervous system and the brain, which we

experience as cognition and the qualia of consciousness, while the more stable memory structures of

genes constructed our 3-D body. This is the essence of our RNA-DNA Mind-Body Theory of

Psychotherapeutic Communication and Healing