The MindBody Self: How Longevity Is Culturally Learned and the Causes of Health Are Inherited

Synopsis: In these turbulent times, just about every solution you can think of has been put forth by someone, somewhere, as a way to calm the waters and live with more happiness and ease. But the fact is you cannot think your way to a better life. Change isn’t something your mind can accomplish alone. It calls for mind and body to work together in a deeper unity than you may ever have imagined.

Neuropsychologist Mario Martinez is a pioneer in the science of the mindbody —his term for that essential oneness of cognition and biology —and a passionate advocate for its power to reshape our lives, if we work with it consciously. In The MindBody Self, he builds on the foundation he laid in the critically acclaimed MindBody Code to explore the cultural conditions that coauthor our reality and shape every aspect of our lives, from health and longevity to relationships and self-esteem. Then he offers practical tools we can use to shed outworn patterns and create sustainable change.

You’ll read about:

   • How our cultural beliefs affect the diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment of disease
   • The difference between growing older (which we all do) and “aging” by our culture’s standards (which we can learn not to do)
   • What happens when we move “beyond the pale” of our tribe’s expectations
   • How to navigate adversity using uncertainty as a guide
   • Biocognitive tools for a healthy life


The MindBody Self presents groundbreaking ideas derived from rigorous scholarship —but you don’t need a background in science to use what you find here. Each chapter concludes with exercises and experiential processes that make complex scientific discoveries not only accessible, but applicable. The result is a paradigm shift in which the myths of doom are shattered by the science of hope, survival takes a back seat to meaning, and fear gives way to love.