If someone I knew was to ask me what advice I could give them about life or what to do, I probably would tell them that the most effective and most transformative experience they can have to give them a completely different viewpoint in life is to go to the jungles of South America and go through a hallucigenic experience of using Ayahuasca and Chacruna.

I have seen so many people have their lives completely changed over for the better from using the Ayahuasca drink. This is why I wanted to add this Mind Hack to the list, because I believe in the power of hallucinegens in giving people a better, more fulfilling life.

From Resource site, I copy and pasted the complete article below for easy reading.

BOTANY

1. B. caapi, member of the Malpighiaceae family

2. P. harmala seeds

3. D. cabrerana leaves

4. A flowering Brugmansia suaveolens

5. A flowering Brunfelsia grandiflora

In ayahuasca botany 3 groups of plants can be distinguished: MAO inhibitors, DMT carriers and additives. Without the MAOI, the visionary properties of DMT are not present, as it would be broken down in the body before reaching the DMT sensitive parts in the brain. In other words, a DMT-only brew would be inactive. An additive can be any kind of plant, some of the more wellknown ones being tobacco, san pedro and coca.

Ayahuasca can be made from any combination of an MAOI plant and a DMT plant, although strictly speaking there has to be the Banisteriopsis caapi vine (pic. 1) in it, an MAOI plant which is also called ayahuasca.

Although many plants produce DMT, traditional ayahuasca is made from the leaves of either Psychotria viridis (chacruna) or Diplopterys cabrerana (chagropanga or chaliponga) (pic. 3). The first is used in the Amazon basin and the second in the foothills of the regions where ayahuasca is used. Once you’re not using using the B. caapi vine as the MAOI or you’re employing plants other than chacruna or chagropanga for the DMT, we speak of an ayahuasca analogue, or anahuasca.

BANISTERIOPSIS CAAPI A.K.A. AYAHUASCA

‘Ayahuasca’ is Quechua, the language of the Inca empire, for ‘vine of the soul’, ‘vine with a soul’ or ‘vine of the dead’. Ayahuasca, a member of the Malpighiaceae family, is considered to be the most important ‘plant teacher’. According to most of the native ayahuasqueros (frequent drinkers of ayahuasca) the effects of B. caapi are their main source of botanical knowledge.

Indigenous shamans distinguish over 40 varieties of ayahuasca vines, for example tucunacá and caupurí. The plant is cultivated, typically using cuttings, throughout the Amazon basin of Peru, Ecuador, Colombia and Brazil. A young shoot or the end of a branch is put in water. After forming roots it is put in soil and watered thoroughly.

The woody stems of the giant B. caapi are very long and branch repeatedly. The leaves can be between 8 to 18 cm long, 3.5 to 8 cm wide. They are green, round-ovate and pointed at the end. Flowering only rarely and exclusively in moist, tropical climates, the infloresences grow from axillary panicles and four umbels. The flowers are between 12 and 14 mm in size and have five white or pale pink sepals.

PSYCHOTRIA VIRIDIS A.K.A. CHACRUNA

Chacruna, like coffee, family of the Rubiaceae, is also known in different varieties, such as cabocla and chacroninha. It is a tropical bush that grows in the Amazon lowlands and through cultivation in Colombia, Bolivia and eastern Brazil. This evergreen can grow into a little tree, though most cultivated plants are between 2 and 3 meters in height. The long, narrow, ovate leaves are light green to dark green in color and the side facing the sky is glossy.

The flowers are attached to long stalks and have greenish white petals. Cultivation by means of seeds has shown to be a lot less fruitful than using cuttings. With P. viridis one only needs to put a small part of the plant directly in the soil and give it a lot of water. Even a branch with only two leaves can be used for this.

DIPLOPTERYS CABRERANA A.K.A. CHAGROPANGA

Also known as chaliponga, this plant was called Banisteria rusbyana when it was discovered. It has also been calledBanisteriopsis rusbyana and Banisteriopsis cabrerana, and, like Banisteriopsis caapi, is a member of the Malpighiaceaefamily. This tropical vine is found only in the Amazon basin (Ecuador, Peru, Brazil, Colombia). It grows wild in the forests but is most often found in cultivation.

The plant is cultivated in house gardens using cuttings. A young shoot or the tip of a branch is allowed to sit in water until it develops roots. It can also be placed directly into the moist jungle soil. This very long vine has opposite leaves that are oblong-oval and retuse-attenuate in shape. The inflorescences, each of which bears four tiny flowers, grow from the petiolar axils. However, the plant only rarely develops flowers, and almost never under cultivation.

OTHER MAOI PLANTS

The most common MAOI after B. caapi is Peganum harmala (pic. 2), a member of the Nitrariaceae, and is also known as Syrian rue or Harmal. This is an Eastern plant, the seeds of which are highly potent in MAOI substances. P. harmala has been fully adopted into the western anahuasca scene, primarily because it is a lot cheaper and also easier to prepare than the MAOI component of the original brew, which is of course the ayahuasca vine. There are many other plants that are known to be MAOIs as well, like passionflower and cocoa. None of them seem potent enough, however, to make them very suitable for usage in an ayahuasca analogue.

OTHER DMT PLANTS

The list of DMT plants is evergrowing. As mentioned before, traditionally the brew is made using chacruna or chagropanga. Many people use the rootbark of jurema, or Mimosa hostilis, to replace the traditional leaves. Another more recent addition gaining familiarity is Desmanthus illinoensis like jurema a descendant of the Fabaceae family, of which the rootbark is used.

The leaves of some species of Acacia (also family of the Fabaceae)are useful when preparing ayahuasca analogues, like Acacia maidenii. Certain Virola trees, which are family of the Myristicaceae, produce DMT in the bark, but this is typically snorted after processing rather than taken orally in conjunction with an MAOI. In the west people are also experimenting with reed canary grass, or Phalaris arundinacea of the Poaceae family, which is potent enough to make an ayahuasca analogue.

ADDITIVES

An additive is basically any plant the ayahuasca brewer decides to mix in. The leaves of coca (Erythroxylum coca of the Erythroxylaceae family), tobacco (Nicotiana tabacumand N. rustica of the Solanaceae family), and mescaline bearing cacti such as peyote (Lophophora williamsii) and san pedro (Trichocereus pachanoi syn. Echinopsis pachanoiand Trichocereus peruvianus, syn. Echinopsis peruviana), and various nightshades, of the Solanaceae family, (e.g. Brugmansia spp.) can be added for various psychopharmacological and spiritual reasons.

The Urarina, for example, are an indigenous people from the northeastern Peruvian Amazon who practice a form of ayahuasca shamanism that is largely based on the ritualized use of Brugmansia suaveolens (pic. 4), which contains hyoscyamine, atropine and scopolamine. The Kofan from northeast Ecuador and southern Colombia make regular use of scopoletin rich Brunfelsia grandiflora (pic. 5), another member of the Solanaceae. Other known common additives are Ilex guayusa of the Aquifoliaceae andPaullinia yoco, like guarana a member of the Sapindaceae family, probably for their high caffeine content, and Brugmansia ignensis.

From Resource 1 website,

CHEMISTRY AND PSYCHOPHARMACOLOGY

2D image of a harmine molecule

2D image of a dimethyltryptamine molecule

Ayahuasca is as complex as both chemistry and psychopharmacology can get. There’s a uniquely vast array of botanical sources, and an infinite amount of preparation methods, usually involving psychoactive compounds that we’re only beginning to comprehend scientifically, such as DMT and 5-MeO-DMT. The plant sources, the chemical processes and psychopharmacological actions described below are the ones that are generally considered to be the most remarkable ones.

BANISTERIOPSIS CAAPI

The primary active compounds in B. caapi are the alkaloids harmine, harmaline and tetrahydroharmine. They all belong to the β-carbolines group, which implies they are MAO-inhibitors. Harmine was first called ‘telepathine’. Later scientists discovered they had already come across the same compound in P. harmala seeds, so ‘telepathine’ has become obsolete.

In the recipes of the Amazonian Indians, the liana itself is typically the main ingredient. Tests of different samples have found 20 to 40 mg, 144 to 158 mg, and even 401mg of β-carbolines per dose. Other alkaloids found in B. caapi are harmine-N-oxide, harmic acid methylester, harmalinic acid, harmic amide, acethylnorharmine and ketotetrahydronorharmine.

Harmine and other MAO-inhibitors prevent the breakdown of monoamine neurotransmitters by inhibiting the action of monoamine oxidase enzymes. Apart from creating a path for otherwise orally inactive tryptamines, this renders certain substances harmful, most notably tyramine and tryptophan. These compounds are present in many kinds of food, like cheese and ripe fruit.

PSYCHOTRIA VIRIDIS AND DIPLOPTERYS CABRERANA

The primary active compound in P. viridis and D. cabrerana leaves is the indole ethylamine alkaloid n,n-dimethyltryptamine. Tests of different samples of Amazonian brews have found 25 to 36 mg of N,N-DMT per dose. It has a similar structure to serotonine and thus has affinity for several serotonergic 5-HT₂ receptors. DMT is, like LSD, a partial-agonist on the receptor subtype 5-HT_2A. When humans take DMT by itself orally, it is converted into inactive aldehydes by the endogenous enzyme monoamine oxidase.

The β-carbolines in the vine temporarily inhibit the production of this enzyme, allowing the DMT to reach the sensitive parts while still active. Inside the nervous system these are located near most of the serotoninergic terminal rich areas, including the neocortex (mainly the prefrontal, parietal, and somatosensory cortex) and the olfactory tubercle. Outside the nervous system 5-HT_2A receptors are present in platelets (cell fragments, circulating in the blood, that are involved with clotting) and some muscles.

When inhaled through a vaporizer or bong, DMT gives pronounced effects without the intervention of an MAOI. The same goes for parenteral administration (injecting). Inhalation causes effects that last up to 30 minutes. Nasal insufflation, which is an important tradition of the Yanomamo tribe (see Wikipedia’s Yopo page) of DMT causes an experience that lasts up to 60 minutes. Oral administration of DMT after a corresponding amount of MAOIs causes an experience of at least 3 hours. Intra-muscular and intravenous administration is effective without an MAOI.

Unlike P. viridis, D. cabrerana doesn’t only contain DMT (between 0.17 and 1.75% of the leaves), but also N-methyltryptamine, 5-MeO-DMT, bufotenine and N-methyltetrahydro-β-carboline. The stems contain roughly the same set, excluding bufotenine. 5-MeO-DMT (5-methoxy-dimethyltryptamine) is, like DMT, a psychedelic agent.

DMT

The status quo of DMT in prevailing science, despite the compound’s visionary properties, is that DMT is a by-product of metabolism. In the light of an ayahuasca experience, this conclusion obviously calls for more scientific research. Since DMT is every bit as illegal as LSD and heroin, however, it is a tough process for interested parties to actually get to research DMT.

Dr. Rick Strassman, a professor at the University of New Mexico medical school, has managed to survive the bureaucratic jungle of the FDA, DEA and other authorities. In 1991 he commenced the first official psychedelic research program in the U.S. since 1970. In 2001, Strassman published his findings in ‘DMT: The Spirit Molecule’.

DMT is being produced in the body all the time, and it is probably involved in the process of dreaming. DMT is also one of the few substances which can cross the blood-brain barrier. Hardly anything is known about how the extreme psychedelic activity of DMT really works.

DMT is used more and more these days by psychonauts, also in its smokable form. They use hard to obtain botanical extracts made from Acacia spp. or Mimosa hostilis, which are pure enough for one draw to contain enough DMT to be active through inhalation. If one smokes the unpurified leaf or other DMT carrying plant material, typically many lungfulls are required to achieve even the lightest kinds of effects. This leaves one exhausted before the effects start.

An example DMT extraction is shown below. Please note that DMT extraction, besides being a potentially dangerous chemistry procedure, is illegal in most countries.

SIMPLE MIMOSA HOSTILIS DMT EXTRACTION

1. Before you start, make sure you have all the materials needed:
   – 100 gram of Mimosa Hostilis rootbark powder (MHRB)
   – 250 ml naphtha
   – 150 gram of lye (NaOH, caustic soda)
   – 2 litre mason jar (a glass pickle jar will work also) or wide mouth HDPE jug
   – 2 small glass (mason) jars (~0.5L)
   – Guard
   – Metal spoon
   – Sheet of A4 paper
   – Eye dropper/pipette
   – Freezer
2. Dissolve 150 grams of lye in 1.5 litre of (tap) water in a large glass jar. It is advised to wear safety goggles and gloves, as lye is a very aggressive substance that can cause burns and blindness. Add the lye in two or three steps, and allow the liquid to cool down in between.
3. When the water with added lye has cooled down and is clear again, it is time to add the powdered mimosa bark. Add the powder slowly while stirring all the time. After adding the 100 grams of mimosa, leave the brew to stand for about an hour.
4. Add 100 ml of naphta and put the lid on the jar.
5. Gently turn the jar end over end for about 5 minutes. It is important not to shake or splash. After 5 minutes, put the jar down for some minutes and repeat the agitating process two more times.
6. After a short period two separate layers will be distinguishable. Separate the upper layer (naphta) using a pipette or eyedropper. It is important that none of the dark solution is collected.
7. Again, add 100 to 150 ml naphta to the large jar, and repeat the previous two steps two more times. Separate the upper layer in a new jar
8. Put the collection jars in the freezer.
9. After 24 hour the jars can be taken from the freezer. Carefully drain the naphta, making sure any floating crystals remain in the jar. Scoop out the white crystals from the side of the jar using a spoon, and leave them to dry on a folded piece of A4 paper.
10. After drying, crush any lumps up. The three pulls combined will result in 500-1000 mg pure DMT crystals.

PHALARIS ARUNDINACEA

This plant is also called reed canary grass and is one of the few DMT sources that you can find growing outside in the Netherlands. Little research has been done as to how exactly this plant can be used as the botanical DMT source for an ayahuasca analogue. Jim DeKorne, author of “Psychedelic Shamanism”, is currently one of the few people who has published information on how

P. arundinacea

 can be processed into an administrable substance. His idea of canary grass extraction is this:

1. Pulverize the grass clippings
2. Add water, “enough to make a pourable soup”
3. Acidify to pH 5 or so
4. (Optional) Simmer the acidified soup in a slow cooker overnight, not allowing the liquid to evaporate. (“It may take two or three such operations to get all of the alkaloids into solution”)
5. Strain the plant matter through cheesecloth, then through a paper coffee filter
6. Add 10 to 15% of the mass of the solution in a “defatting solvent” such as methylene chloride, ether, chloroform, or naphtha.
7. Shake vigorously
8. The crap will go into the solvent, leaving the good stuff in the water.
9. Separate the water from the solvent.
10. Add a base to the aqueous solution in small increments until the pH gets to about 9 or 10. This converts the alkaloids into their free base.
11. Extract with 10% of the mass of the solution of an organic solvent four times, at one 24-hour and then three weekly intervals. The solvent layer will take on a darker tint, usually yellowish or reddish-brown. It will take almost a month to extract all of the alkaloids, and the solution should be shaken at least twice a day between extractions.
12. Evaporate the solvent off from the combined extract fractions. You now have the alkaloids.

In a later publication, “The Entheogen Review”, DeKorne has more information on Phalaris extraction:

“The latest scoop is that you don’t even have to use chemical extractions anymore – run several handfuls of grass through a wheatgrass juicer (sold in most health food stores) and you’ll wind up with a glass or so of incredibly potent liquid. One teaspoon (with MAO inhibition, of course), is a standard dose with strong grass. Only two teaspoons proved very challenging to one of my correspondents – an OD! The juice can be dried and smoked in a bong – two tokes will usually do it.”

From Resource 2

BE PREPARED

Two Peruvian Mestizos making ayahuasca

Ayahuasca plants mise en place

The ayahuasca experience has proven to be an extraordinary one. It has positively changed the lives of many people. It has cured various forms of depression and addiction. Ayahuasca has shown people the immense beauty of the cosmos and ourselves through overwhelmingly enchanting and emotional visions and visualizations. An experience capable of phenomena with such magnitude needs to be valued and respected for what it is.

This means that part of drinking ayahuasca is the preparation. Everyone should find out what his or her preparation is, but in general it is recommended to read some of the common literature on ayahuasca and the psychedelic experience in general. Another thing it should involve for most people is discussing the topic with various experienced drinkers. You can also find a lot of information by taking

Erowid

, the best psychoactive substances website, as a starting point. Their

ayahuasca page

  can be found

here

 . Googling for ‘ayahuasca’ also gives good results for general orientation on the topic.

Furthermore we are not in the position to do any more recommendations. Nevertheless we disrecommend to take ayahuasca without any preparation. It is also strongly disrecommended to take ayahuasca without the presence of an experienced ayahuasca drinker who has experience with guiding too. You can get an idea of the risks involved by reading the

experience reports

 on this site.

From Resource 3 website,

RECIPES

Making an ayahuasca brew is a task by itself that usually involves a lot of time, patience and care. For those who are nevertheless considering the option, here are some of the preparation methods to give an idea of what it involves to make ayahuasca. The required ingredients can easily be purchased online at places such as

Botanical Spirit

NATEMA RECIPE OF THE SHUAR

The Shuar shamans (uwishin) split a 1- to 2-meter-long piece of

Banisteriopsis caapi stem into small strips. They place the strips in a pot along with several liters of water. They then add leaves of Diplopterys cabrerana, a Herrania species, Ilex guayusa, Heliconia stricta, and an unidentified Malpighiaceae known as mukuyasku. The resulting mixture is boiled until most of the water has evaporated and a syrupy fluid remains. The Kamsá, Inga, and Secoya make similar preparations.

B. CAAPI & M. HOSTILIS RECIPE – BY AN ANONYMOUS MEMBER OF THE EROWID FORUM

The use of

Banisteriopsis caapi in this recipe is based on the premise that a) a brew of B. caapi and (usually) P. viridis  is the traditional South American brew, b) the caapi is particularly important as traditionally the caapi itself is considered to be “ayahuasca” while the DMT-containing plants are simply helpers, and c) the caapi and the experience it provides are smoother, safer, and “wiser” than that produced by Peganum harmala (syrian rue). B. caapi is less unpredictable and more controlled, a more reliable and learned teacher.

After examining your intentions, researching, and following the requisite dietary regimen, gather together:

• 50 grams of Banisteriopsis caapi (whole vine, not shredded/powdered)
• 12 grams of Mimosa hostilis root bark (not shredded or powdered.) [See Note 1]
• white vinegar
• distilled water
• 4 stainless steel pots [See Note 2]

Steps

1. Wrap the caapi in a towel and break it up with a hammer until it is shredded. Powder the mimosa with a coffee grinder or shred by hand.
2. In one pot, put in the mimosa, a teaspoon of vinegar, and a liter or so of water.
3. In another pot, put in the caapi, and a similar amount of water and vinegar.
4. Simmer for 2-3 hours or until water level gets low. Avoid boiling — it should be just cool enough not to bubble. Speak your intentions to the brew as it is brewing; listen to the sounds it makes. Do not leave it unattended; if you need to do something different, turn off the stove.
5. Keeping the mimosa and the caapi separate, filter each through a cloth (e.g. a t-shirt) until the brew becomes clear, probably 4 or 5 times. (An excellent method for easy filtering is to duct tape a t-shirt over an empty pot, allowing you both hands to pour the brew. The t-shirt will become quickly clogged, so for each filter you must use a fresh section of cloth.) Put the mimosa tea in a pot for mimosa, the caapi in a pot for caapi, and reduce both; remember not to bring to a full boil.
6. Repeat steps 2-5 three times, keeping the mimosa and caapi separate. The plant material is to be boiled a total of three times with fresh water and vinegar each time; the brewed/filtered tea is kept separate and reduced over low heat as you do the second and third washes. This method requires four pots, unless you spread it out over several nights.
7. At this point you will have a pot containing the three washes of mimosa, reduced, and the same for the caapi. Each dose should be no smaller than half a cup and no larger than a cup. (Less concentrated brews taste better, but leave you with more to drink.) Put them in the fridge overnight.
8. The next day, carefully remove the cooled mimosa from the fridge. Through a t-shirt filter, pour off the liquid; avoid disturbing the sludge/sediment on the bottom of the container. You don’t need it. DO NOT do this with the reduced caapi brew; if you’ve filtered properly, your tea should be pretty clean. It should become clear when heated, and have a purplish color, much like red wine.
9. Once you have done this, you have the option of combining the mimosa and the caapi or drinking the mimosa after the caapi. Shake up the caapi to make sure that any sediment is in the tea and not on the bottom of the container. Heat up the tea, drinking it warm.

It is suggested that two doses be brewed for each person. If you cannot keep the tea down and purge prematurely, you will then have another cup to drink.

Be thankful for the experience, no matter what happens. There are always lessons to be learned, whether it “works” or not, whether you have a “good” trip or a “bad” one. This is a bit more complex than some recipes that call for syrian rue, but using real vine instead of syrian rue is worth it. It is a bit more expensive, but worth the money; even with

B. caapi

, a dose will still cost less than many other hallucinogens.

• Note 1 – Fifty grams of P. viridis leaves can be used instead of mimosa. If going this route, the completed washes should be put in a container or pot in the fridge until the next day instead of being reduced immediately.
• Note 2 – Make sure your pots are steel — no aluminum and ABSOLUTELY no Teflon. After finishing a wash (step five), you can reduce the brewed tea while doing the remaining washes; however, if you do not have four pots, it is possible to do it all in one pot. The caapi and mimosa can be combined into one pot throughout the brewing and reduction process. If you are doing it like this, you must spread out the brewing over more than one night; the reduction must be done AFTER the sediment settles overnight in the fridge, as in step eight. You can reduce the mimosa and then pour off the sediment after letting it sit in the fridge without it affecting the quality of your tea; you cannot do this with caapi.
• Note 3 – Storing your ayahuasca brew. After preparing, ayahuasca can be stored for several weeks, if not months. Make sure the brew is stored in well sealed pots/containers and in a dark, cool place. Always boil the ayahuasca again before drinking it.

ANOTHER RECIPE

This recipe circulates on the web and was probably developed from recipes used in Ecuador and northern Peru.

• 500 grams fresh B. caapi vine per person.
• 85 grams fresh P. viridis leaves per person.
1. The ayahuasca vine is thoroughly crushed and placed between alternate layers of P. viridis leaves in a stainless-steel or earthenware pot, and covered with water.
2. The brew is gently boiled for 4 hours.
3. The liquid is poured off and collected.
4. Using the same plant matter, the pot is filled again with fresh water, and gently boiled for a further 4 hours.
5. The liquid is again poured off and collected.
6. The plant matter is now discarded.
7. Both quantities of liquid are combined and boiled gently for to concentrate the ayahuasca, until a managable amount is left for each dose.
8. While the evaporation and concentration is taking place, care should be taken to ensure the ayahuasca is not boiled too vigorously, as this will cause degradation of the active ingredients and will also cause caramelisation of the contained sugars, resulting in a very thick final brew.

Years ago I was involved in a group of guys who wanted to learn how to get better with meeting and dating women. It was another underground group which was a movement, called the “pick-up community”. I have moved on from that phase but the stuff I learned from that phase in my life are some the best advice and information that you can ever find.

One of the most powerful techniques an method I have ever learned or use is called the “Soul Gazing” technique. The original practice was either created by Indian Yogis who practiced the Tantric branch of Yoga, trying to reach enlightenment, or it was from a Shamanic tradition. I am not sure about that part. However, I wanted to bring to you a technique on how to build an immense amount of rapport and intimacy with anyone you want if you go through with this technique.

I found the more advance, more complete and extended version from this link HERE.

Purpose of the Ritual

The Soul Gazing ritual in Tantra is a method of communicating with your lover that is completely nonverbal. As such, it may open new doors to intimacy in your relationship that were previously unexplored. Use this ritual to communicate on a deeper level with your partner, and to awaken new lines of exchange. Soul Gazing harmonizes the energy of both partners, creating an open heart space where deeper intimacy may be achieved.

Soul Gazing can be difficult for some, because we are usually shy about looking directly into another person’s eyes for any length of time. We usually exchange a glance for only a few moments, and then look away. When another person looks at us intently for any period of time, it may feel like an intrusion, and we may label it a “stare” rather than a friendly “gaze.” The eyes are often called “the windows of the soul.” Through the eyes you can see a person’s hidden secrets—hidden emotions like anger, sadness, fear, shyness or impatience. In this ritual, you may feel uncomfortable, confronted, exposed and even afraid. Resist the urge to look away when confronted with these thoughts and emotions. Observe these thoughts and emotions if they arise. Feel your feelings during the ritual. Allow them to pass, as they certainly will, until they give way to an inner peacefulness and calm.

Preparing the Ritual

Create a Sacred Space

Prepare a space for the ritual. This is one of the keys of Tantra. Before any Tantric ritual, always prepare a space that will enhance and expand the ritual.

Your space should be clean and tidy. Remove any objects that are not in there proper place, and put them away. Pick up any trash. Vacuum the carpet. Put the laundry into the laundry room. Clear your space.

Adorn your space with objects and art that hold a sacred meaning for you and your lover. These may anything from flowers to pictures of your children and family, or even personal mementos you purchased on a romantic getaway. Place these objects of personal significance around your sacred space.

Supply some form of natural lighting. Candles are a favorite of many couples, as is a fireplace. You might also consider oil lamps, or simply draping a decorative silk scarf over a lampshade.

Sound is an important element in creating a sacred space. Soft and romantic music can be uplifting. A small fountain may supply the gentle sound of bubbling water. Wind chimes hanging next to an open window can provide a delicate sound.

Scent can be equally moving. Incense and oils can create a subtle scent for your sacred space. Many aromatherapy stores have oils in spray mist bottles. A few sprays of fine mist can add a beautiful scent to your atmosphere. Favorite erotic scents include mint, eucalyptus, lemon, ylang-ylang, patchouli, sandalwood and vanilla.

Make your sacred space comfortable. If the floor is uncomfortable, put down a rug or carpet. Place pillows of various shapes and sizes around your sacred space. Make certain the room temperature is neither too hot nor too cold.

Relax Beforehand

Do not rush into the Soul Gazing ritual. Take time beforehand to unwind from your day. Relax with a warm drink or a good book. Take the time to let the emotions, thoughts and actions of the day melt away before diving in.

The Soul Gazing Ritual

With your partner, take a minute to stretch and relax your bodies. Especially focus on your spine, neck and head. Contract and relax the muscles around these areas. Wiggle your jaw back and forth and side to side. Allow the muscles to become fully relaxed and fluid. Before you sit, say the sacred greeting “namaste,” which is Sanskrit for “the divine within me honors the divine within you.”

Sit down with your partner, either on the floor or on the bed. Sit facing each other, either kneeling or cross-legged. If you are sitting cross-legged, place a thick pillow under yourself to support your spine. You may also wish to sit in chairs facing each other.

Touch each other lightly in a way that is pleasing to both of you. You may want to hold hands, or simply allow your hand to rest on your partner’s knee.

Close your eyes, and begin to focus on your breathing. Allow yourself to breathe deeply, with a long inhale and a long exhale. Look within yourself. Feel your feelings and listen to your thoughts. Notice any physical tension or feelings you may have. Experience each of these in their fullness. Acknowledge and accept each of these, but do not be distracted from your breath. Continue to breathe deeply.

When you feel these thoughts, emotions, and physical sensations begin to ebb, send a signal to your partner. Keep your eyes closed, but lightly squeeze your partner’s hand, or brush her shoulder to let her know that you have reached a place of stillness and are ready to begin the Soul Gazing. Wait for her response to your signal. She should respond in a similar manner. When she does, open your eyes slowly.

Open your eyes slowly, and allow them to focus on your partner. Look into the left eye of your partner. In Eastern tradition, the left eye is considered the feminine or receptive eye. Gazing into the left eye allows each partner to let the energy in, and to be in a receptive mode.

Direct your complete attention to your gaze. Allow all distractions to melt away. Continue to breathe deeply. Be drawn into the present moment, where all thoughts of past and future melt away. See how it feels to be intimately connected with another while staying aware of your breathing, and centered in yourself. Let your eyes truly be the windows of your soul.

The stillness of your gaze will gradually quiet your mind. In this quiet moment of stillness, you cease to identify with your body, mind, thoughts and become aware of the observing, centered self that quietly, dispassionately watches all you do.

Here, beyond the concerns of your ego, you may also witness your partner beyond the concerns of her ego. For the man, see in the eyes of your partner the universal female. See in her the manifestation of the divine feminine goddess on earth. For the woman, see in the eyes of your partner the universal male. See in him the manifestation of the divine masculine god on earth.

Notice the rhythm of your breath and that of your partner. Begin to synchronize your breathing until you are inhaling and exhaling together. Let your breath be subtle, but charged with the energy of your life force, and the energy of this moment of intimacy.

Continue the Soul Gazing ritual for five minutes or so. When the time has expired, again say “namaste” to your partner. Enjoy the feeling of honoring your partner, and the intimacy you have just shared. Each time you do this ritual, gradually increase the time you spend on it. Start with 5 minutes, and work your way up to 20 minutes or more. The longer you go, the more deep and intimate the experience becomes, and the more is revealed.

Me: Here is a shorter version of the technique but with the same basic steps, which involve breathing, reaching resonance with the other person, hand touching, and gazing through into each other’s left eye. 

Soul Gazing  (Source 2)

When I was doing research for Body Hack IV with Bill Andrews and the studies trying to stop senescence and increase lifespan, I came across a substance that many medical professional shave started to say has a really powerful anti-aging effect. The substance is L-Carnosine.

From the website JonBarron.Com

End Of Old Age

I’m not a big believer in magic bullets. Everything I’ve ever learned says that you’re only as strong as your weakest link. That’s why I’ve always preached that the key to health is raising your entire Baseline of Health. But that said, I have to admit that what we’re talking about here today is a uniquely important anti-aging discovery.

What Is Aging?

The best place to start is at the beginning. What is aging? What makes us age? There are actually many factors that contribute to old age (free radical damage, hormonal changes, etc.), but of all of the things that make us “old,” two things stand out because until now, they have been so untouchable:

• The Hayflick Limit
• The glycation of proteins

The Hayflick Limit: Cell Life Span

The Hayflick Limit is named after the person who discovered it almost 40 years ago. A quick description is that all cells have only a limited capacity to continue to divide through the course of our lives.

Those numbers are different for each type of cell in our body, and by early adulthood, half of those divisions have been used up. By mid-life, maybe only 20-39% of those divisions are left. At that point, old age starts taking over – then death.

This limited capacity of a cell to perpetuate itself is called the Hayflick Limit. In effect, the Hayflick Limit determines life span at the cellular level. With each division, a cell becomes less likely to divide again, until finally it stops dividing altogether and becomes what we call senescent.

Cell senescence is the final step before cell death. Senescent cells are still alive and metabolically active, but they’re no longer capable of dividing. More importantly, though, senescent cells exhibit all of the characteristics that so bother us about old age, such as the difference between the supple skin of a child and the wrinkled skin of the elderly.

How do cells age?

As cells approach the Hayflick Limit, they divide less frequently and become aberrant. They take on wildly irregular forms. They no longer line up in parallel arrays; they assume a granular appearance, and deviate from their normal size and shape. This distorted appearance, called the senescent phenotype, is accompanied by a state of declining functionality that, UNTIL RECENTLY, was thought to be irreversible.

Astounding News: Reverse Aging

As it turns out, not only can we reverse the aging process at the cellular level now, and actually do it quite simply AND QUICKLY – but we can also reverse aging at the system level and the organ level. And for that matter, we can reverse it in terms of how we look and feel – and by that I mean our skin and hair and energy levels. And then, of course, we can even reverse aging in terms of lifespan.

What’s the Secret?

The substance I’m talking about is L-carnosine. It’s a naturally occurring combination of two amino acids, alanine and histidine, that was discovered in Russia in the early 1900s. Because much of the research was done in Russia, it has been largely unavailable in the United States until recently. Now, though, there have been a number of studies and experiments in other parts of the world verifying everything done in Russia – and more.

Most notably, there were a series of astonishing experiments done in Australia that proved that carnosine rejuvenates cells as they approach senescence. Cells cultured with carnosine lived longer and retained their youthful appearance and growth patterns.

What’s probably the most exciting result of the studies is that it was discovered that carnosine can actually REVERSE the signs of aging in senescent cells.

The Reversal of Aging

When the scientists transferred senescent cells to a culture medium containing carnosine, those cells exhibited a rejuvenated appearance and often an enhanced capacity to divide. When they transferred the cells back to a medium lacking carnosine, the signs of senescence quickly reappeared.

As they switched the cells back and forth several times between the culture media, they consistently observed that the carnosine medium restored the juvenile cell phenotype WITHIN DAYS, whereas the standard culture medium brought back the senescent cell phenotype.

Increase Cell Life

In addition, the carnosine medium increased cell life span — even for old cells. When the researchers took old cells that had already gone through 55 divisions and transferred them to the carnosine medium, they survived up to 70 divisions, compared to only 57 to 61 divisions for the cells that were not transferred.

This represents an increase in the number of cell divisions for each cell of almost 25%.

But in terms of cell life, the increase was an astounding 300%. The cells transferred to the carnosine medium attained a life span of 413 days, compared to just 126 to 139 days for the control cells.

Increase Life Expectancy

This is mind-boggling. But so far, all we’ve talked about are cells. What does carnosine mean for actual life expectancy?

A new Russian study on mice has shown that mice given carnosine are twice as likely to reach their maximum lifespan as untreated mice. The carnosine also significantly reduced the outward “signs of old age.”

In effect, it made the mice look younger. 44% of the carnosine treated mice had young, glossy coats in old age as opposed to only 5% in the untreated mice. This represents 900% better odds of looking young in old age.

Feel Young Again

Another important difference between the treated and the untreated mice was in their behavior. Only 9% of the untreated mice behaved youthfully in old age, versus 58% of the carnosine treated mice. That’s a 600% improvement in how they felt.

Strong Antioxidant

Quite simply, carnosine is one of the most powerful antioxidants known. It’s a great heavy-metal scavenger. It’s a powerful auto-regulator. And it stands alone when it comes to preventing and reversing protein glycation or cross-linking.

Auto-Regulator

Carnosine has the remarkable ability to throttle down bodily processes that are in a state of excess, and to ramp up those that are under expressed.

For example, carnosine thins the blood of people whose blood tends to clot too much andincreases the clotting tendency in those with a low clotting index.

Another example is that carnosine suppresses excess immune responses in those who have “hyper” immune systems, whereas it stimulates the immune response in those with weakened immune systems – such as the aged.

And carnosine even seems to have the ability to normalize brain wave functions.

Protein Glycation: Sugar And Aging

Glycation is the uncontrolled reaction of sugars with proteins. It’s kind of like what happens to sugars when you heat them and they caramelize. In effect, glycation is what happens when excess sugars caramelize the proteins in your body. It’s a major factor in the aging process – and it’s particularly devastating to diabetics.

Your body is mostly made up of proteins. In fact, proteins are the substances most responsible for the daily functioning of your body. That’s why anything that causes protein deterioration has such a dramatic impact on the body’s function and appearance.

Thanks largely to the destructive effect of sugar and aldehydes, the protein in our bodies tends to undergo destructive changes as we age. This destruction is a prime factor, not only in the aging process itself, but also in the familiar signs of aging such as wrinkling skin, cataracts, and the destruction of our nervous system – particularly our brains. Studies show that carnosine is effective against all these forms of protein modification.

Protein Modification for Longevity

As I said, aging is associated with damage to cellular proteins. But carnosine protects cellular proteins from damage in at least two ways.

1. First, it bonds with the carbonyl (or aldehyde) groups that if left alone will attack and bind with proteins.
2. Second, it works as an antioxidant to prevent the formation of oxidized sugars, also calledAdvanced Glycosylation End-products or AGEs for short. That’s really the caramelization thing that I mentioned earlier. The bottom line here is that the less AGEs, in your body, the younger you are.

Both of these processes have important implications for anti-aging therapy. The key is that carnosine not only prevents damaging cross-links from forming, it eliminates cross-links that have previously formed in proteins, thus restoring normal membrane function.

Alzheimer’s

Carnosine has been proven to reduce or completely prevent cell damage caused by beta amyloid, one of the prime protein risk factors for Alzheimers. The presence of beta amyloid leads to damage of the nerves and arteries of the brain. Carnosine blocks and inactivates beta amyloid. In effect, it protects neural tissues against dementia.  The key is that carnosine not only prevents damaging cross-links from forming in proteins, it eliminates cross-links that have previously formed in those proteins, thus restoring normal membrane function in cells. This is true not only in the brain, but in all the organs of our body – our skin included. Keep in mind that the damage you see in the skin is not just a cosmetic question. That damage is absolutely an indicator of the kinds of damage happening to every other organ in your body – including your eyes and your brain.

The Reversal of Age

Carnosine levels in our body directly correlate with both the length and quality of our lives. And since carnosine levels decline with age, supplementation with carnosine represents one of the most powerful things you can do to hold back the ravages of old age.

Results

While it is true that many people who supplement with carnosine are going to notice everything from younger looking skin to more energy, the bottom line is that you really shouldn’t look for any short term benefits from carnosine supplementation. If any short-term benefits are noticed, you should consider them an added bonus.

The reason you want to supplement with carnosine is for the long term, not for the short-term benefits that you may or may not notice. You supplement with carnosine to protect against the long-term ravages of aging.

Using Carnosine

Some experts recommend using only 50-100 mg of carnosine a day. Others say that if you don’t take 1,000-1,500 mg a day it won’t work because your body metabolizes the first 500 mg or so.

The key here is that all of these experts are ignoring the simple fact, that different people need different amounts. For example:

• The older you get, the more you need.
• If you eat a mostly vegetarian diet, you need more.
• If you’re diabetic, or just have trouble with blood sugar, you need more.

I think most people will do best on 500-750 mg a day.

If you’re young and healthy and include meat in your diet, then 250 mg a day makes sense. As you get older, and if you’re starting to show signs of aging or glycation (such as cataracts), then you’d want to think of increasing the dosage up to 1,000 mg a day – maybe even as high as 1,500 mg a day.

Safety

In studies, carnosine has been proven safe in amounts as high as 70, 80, or even 100 grams a day, although a small number of people have noticed some minor muscle twitching at doses as small as 1,000 mg. The bottom line is use what you need, and you won’t have any problems – only benefits.

Importance

As I mentioned earlier, I don’t believe in magic bullets. Everything I’ve ever learned says that you’re only as strong as your weakest link. I still believe that improving your entire Baseline of Health^® is the key to good health and long life.

But that said, I think that once you actually understand what carnosine does – once you understand the role it plays in preventing and potentially reversing all of the signs of old age in the body (and we’re talking about everything from wrinkled skin to cataracts to Alzheimer’s) – heck, once you understand the role it plays in extending life itself – then you’re left with the unmistakable conclusion that supplementing with carnosine may represent one of the single best things you can do to help “turn back your biological clock.”

A Missing Link

As important as carnosine is, there is a “gap” in its usefulness. It’s called lipofuscin.

Lipofuscin is the age pigment commonly found in aging brains and in other tissue such as the skin. By itself, it is not dangerous. It is merely a byproduct of harmful reactions that have already taken place. For example, one of the byproducts of free radical damage and protein/aldehyde damage (both conditions that carnosine addresses) is lipofuscin.

When you supplement with carnosine, however, something different happens. The carnosine quickly binds with the aldehydes, preventing them from damaging the proteins. The byproduct of this reaction is lipofuscin. So once again you have inactive lipofuscin compounds, but this time as the result of PREVENTING protein damage. In a sense, with carnosine you trade protein damage for lipofuscin.

As I said before, by itself, lipofuscin is not harmful. However, if enough of it accumulates over time (and this process is accelerated when you supplement with carnosine), it can interfere with proper cellular and organ functions. So the bottom line is that however it is produced (as a result of protein damage, or as the result of taking sacrificial carnosine to prevent protein damage), you want to get rid of it.

DMAE

By any definition, DMAE is the perfect companion to carnosine in an anti-aging formulation. First, it reinforces carnosine’s own anti-aging properties. Then, it provides a whole series of complementary benefits of its own.

What Is DMAE?

DMAE is short for (dimethylaminoethanol), a naturally-occurring nutrient that enhances acetylcholine (ACh) synthesis. Adequate levels of ACh are important for proper memory function. Normally found in small amounts in our brains, DMAE has been shown to remarkably enhance brain function when used as a supplement in clinical studies.

DMAE Reinforces Carnosine

One of the prime actions of DMAE is that it flushes accumulated lipofuscin from your body – from the neurons in your brain, from your skin, and from all other organs. It also complements carnosine in that DMAE on its own has been shown to inhibit and reverse the Cross-Linking of proteins and extend lifespan.

Many people have heard of the anti-aging results that Romanian scientist, Ana Aslan, achieved using something called GH3, or procaine. What most people do not know is that GH3 breaks down in the body to form DMAE (after first metabolizing into DEAE) and PABA. In other words, DMAE is the key active component in Ana Aslan’s anti-aging formula.

Numerous scientific studies now show that DMAE can help:

• Increase Acetylcholine levels and RNA levels in the brain
• Stimulate mental activity
• Increase attention span
• Increase alertness
• Increase intelligence (especially in children)
• Improve learning and memory
• Increase energy levels
• Provide a mild, safe tonic effect
• Stimulate the central nervous system
• Relieve anxiety
• Elevate mood in general
• Alleviate behavioral problems and hyperactivity associated with Attention Deficit Disorder
• Increase motivation and reduce apathy in persons suffering from depression
• Induce sounder sleep
• Over time reduce the amount of sleep required by about 1 hour per night
• Intensify dreams tremendously. (Even more so when you take it along with a large dose of phosphatidyl choline — a key component of lecithin)
• Cause dreams to become more lucid
• Increase willpower
• Decrease the incidence and severity of hangovers in people who consume excessive amounts of Alcohol

DMAE Is Safe

Clinical studies of DMAE have used up to 1,600 mg per day with no reports of side effects. In some cases, some people may experience slight headaches, muscle tension, or insomnia if they take too much too soon.

These effects are easily eliminated if intake is reduced and then gradually increased. Although there is no direct connection, many manufacturers recommend that women who are pregnant or breast-feeding, anyone who suffers from convulsions, epilepsy, or seizure disorders, and people with manic-depressive illness should avoid using DMAE.

This is probably more of a legal issue than a medical issue.

Acetyl-L-Carnitine

Like DMAE, acetyl-L-carnitine is a perfect complement to L-carnosine.

Although your body can synthesize L-carnitine in the liver, it depends on outside sources (meat being a primary source) to fulfill its requirements. This can present a problem for vegetarians since L-carnitine performs several key functions in the human body. For one, it can improve the functioning of the immune system by enhancing the ability of macrophages to function as phagocytes. And it can improve the functioning of muscle tissue. In fact, it has been shown to increase running speed when given prior to exercise. It also plays a major factor in cellular energy production by shuttling fatty acids from the main cell body into the mitochondria (the cell’s energy factories) so that the fats can be oxidized for energy. Without carnitine, fatty acids cannot easily enter the mitochondria.

There is, however, a specialized form of L-carnitine known as acetyl-L-carnitine (ALC) that is often deficient even in meat eaters and that performs virtually all of the same functions – but better. For example, in terms of cellular energy production, in addition to shuttling fatty acids into cell mitochondria, ALC provides acetyl groups from which Acetyl-Coenzyme A (a key metabolic intermediate) can be regenerated, thereby facilitating the transport of metabolic energy and boosting mitochondrial activity. But beyond that, the addition of the acetyl group makes ALC water soluble, which enables it not only to diffuse easily across the inner wall of the mitochondria but also to cross all cell membranes more easily. In other words, ALC reaches parts of the body where L-carnitine cannot go. In particular, ALC readily crosses the blood/brain barrier, where it provides a number of specialized neurological functions. For example, it can:

• Facilitate both the release and synthesis of acetylcholine, a key brain biochemical.
• Increase the brain’s levels of choline acetylase.
• Enhance the release of dopamine and improve the binding of dopamine to dopamine receptors.
• Protect the neurons of the optic nerve and the occipital cortex of the brain.

In addition, studies have shown that acetyl-L-carnitine can inhibit the deterioration in mental function associated with Alzheimer’s disease and slow its progression. Part of this is a result of its ability to shield neurons from the toxicity of beta amyloid protein. As a result:

• ALC improves alertness in Alzheimer’s patients.
• Improves attention span.
• And it increases short term memory.

Through its action on dopamine (a chemical messenger used between nerve cells) and dopamine receptors, ALC seems to play a major role in preventing and/or minimizing the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease.

• ALC enhances the release of dopamine from dopaminergic neurons and improves the binding of dopamine to dopamine Receptors.
• ALC retards the decline in the number of dopamine receptors that occurs as part of the normal aging process and (more rapidly) with the onset of Parkinson’s disease. In fact, many researchers believe that Parkinson’s may be caused by a deficiency of dopamine.
• And ALC inhibits tremors.

And acetyl-L-carnitine may even play a role in helping with MS.

• ALC inhibits (and possibly reverses) the degeneration of myelin sheaths

But most of all, ALC just helps slow down the aging process of the brain.

• ALC retards the inevitable decline in the number of glucocorticoid teceptors that occurs with aging.
• It retards the age-related deterioration of the hippocampus.
• It retards the inevitable decline in the number of nerve growth factor receptors that occurs as we age.
• It stimulates and maintains the growth of new neurons within the brain (both independently of Nerve Growth Factor (NGF) and as a result of preserving NGF) and helps to prevent the death of existing neurons.
• ALC protects the NMDA receptors in the brain from age-related decline.
• ALC inhibits the excessive release of adrenalin in response to stress and inhibits the depletion of luteinising hormone releasing hormone and testosterone that occurs as a result of excessive stress.
• And ALC enhances the function of cytochrome oxidase, an essential enzyme of the Electron Transport System.

The mind boosting effect of acetyl-L-carnitine is often noticed within a few hours — or even within an hour — of supplementing. Most people report feeling mentally sharper, having more focus, and being more alert. Some find a mild mood enhancement. More specifically:

• ALC improves learning ability along with both short term and long term memory
• It improves mood by 53%.
• It both improves the quality of and reduces the need for sleep.
• It improves verbal fluency.
• And ALC improves hand eye coordination by some 300-400%.

And yes, acetyl-L-carnitine helps flush lipofuscin from the body — especially from the brain.

The Longevity Bottom Line

Based on everything we know, supplementing with a combination of L-carnosine, DMAE, and acetyl-L-carnitine is one of the simplest, most effective, and safest steps we can take to help turn back the clock and optimize our health.

From the website emaxhealth.com I copy and pasted the article that talks about the possible benefits towards anti-aging with L-Carnosine.

Along with the biohackers movement is another underground phenomenon that is getting a lot of attention these days. This movement involves a group of people trying to find the most cutting edge science and technology to try to extend their lifespan. For some, they would prefer to be immortal. In front of the movement is biochemist Bill Andrews, who I had first read about two years ago when I picked up a Time (or some other very big name) magazine from a Barnes & Noble in Seattle. Imagine my surprise when I found his name and research also talked about in a weekly college newspaper editorial from a top ranked university in Seoul last year. Then I see his name appear again on the podcast with Dave Asprey and I realized that I wanted to know about this guy, and his mission to find a way towards immortality.

This is the article/ story I managed to find from the Popular Sciences website. Again, I will highlight the parts which I found the most interesting and worth looking over.

There is another underground group of individuals these days who have developed a methodical approach to tracking and measuring nearly everything they do. These are the Biohackers, who have developed the name “quantified self movement”. For them, the objective is to find out ways to manipulate and get the body and the mind to be at its optimum state using what science and the data states.

The article of the San Francisco Gate  is below. Again, I will highlight the parts which I felt is important or relevant to what we are doing with this site.

There is a small underground group of people these days who are trying to do with biology and genetics what the computer hackers did 20 years ago. They are trying to figure out cool ways to hack biology and genetics. I personally think that this new field of synthetic biology is going to be a completely new area of study that will grow far bigger in the future.

This is a post I found from HPlusMagazine.com which talks about the DIY Biology movement going on.

 DIY Bio: A Growing Movmeent Take On Aging

A movement is growing quietly, steadily, and with great speed. In basements, attics, garages, and living rooms, amateurs and professionals alike are moving steadily towards disparate though unified goals. They come home from work or school and transform into biologists: do-it-yourself biologists, to be exact.

DIYbiology (“DIYbio”) is a homegrown synthesis of software, hardware, and wetware. In the tradition of homebrew computing and in the spirit of the Make space (best typified by o‘Reilly‘s Make Magazine), these DIYers hack much more than software and electronics. These biohackers build their own laboratory equipment, write their own code (computer and genetic) and design their own biological systems. They engineer tissue, purify proteins, extract nucleic acids and alter the genome itself. Whereas typical laboratory experiments can run from tens-of-thousands to millions of dollars, many DIYers knowledge of these fields is so complete that the best among them design and conduct their own experiments at stunningly low costs. With adequate knowledge and ingenuity, DIYbiologists can build equipment and run experiments on a hobbyist‘s budget. As the movement evolves, cooperatives are also springing up where hobbyists are pooling resources and creating “hacker spaces” and clubs to further reduce costs, share knowledge and boost morale.

This movement, still embryonic, could become a monster — a proper rival to industry, government, and academic labs. The expertise needed to make serious breakthroughs on a regular basis at home hasn‘t yet reached a critical mass, but there are good reasons to believe that this day will soon come.

Software

DIYbio software has been around for a long time. Folding@home, which came out of Professor vinjay Pande‘s group at Stanford Chemistry Department in 2000, is designed to perform computationally intensive simulations of protein folding and other molecular dynamics. FAH, as it‘s known, is now considered the most powerful distributed computing cluster in the world. Open source software for bioinformatics, computational neuroscience, and computational biology is plentiful and continues to grow. On their own time, students, professors, entrepreneurs, and curious amateurs contribute to open source work that captures their interests. BioPerl and BioPython have hundreds of contributors and tens of thousands of users. Programs like GENESIS and NEURON have been downloaded by computational neuroscientists for over twenty years.

The software part is easy. The FOSS/OSS machine is well established, and has been successful for a long time. As the shift to open source software continues, computational biology will become even more accessible, and even more powerful. (Red Hat has recently asked the US Supreme Court to bar all software patents, submitting an amicus brief to the Supreme Court in the “Bilski case.” See Resources.)

Hardware

Biological research is expensive. Microscopes, pipetmen, PCR machines, polyacrylamide gels, synthesizers — basics for any molecular biology lab — run from hundreds to thousands of dollars apiece. Traditional experiments cost hundreds-of-thousands to millions of dollars to conduct. How can the hobbyist afford this equipment? Unless “Joe (or Jill) the DIYBiologist” is extremely wealthy, they can‘t. So instead of purchasing brand new equipment, DIYers like to find good deals at auction sites like eBay or Dovebid, refurbish discarded equipment from labs or biotech companies, or — more and more frequently — build it themselves.

Hardware hacking has a rich history, filled with geek heroes, and these skills are being turned towards the creation of biotech equipment. On the bleeding edge of it all, some DIYbiologists are applying their skills to h+ technologies. SENS researchers John Schloendorn, Tim Webb, and Kent Kemmish are conducting life-extension research for the SENS Foundation, building equipment for longevity research, saving thousands of dollars doing it themselves.

The DIY SENS lab is headed by PhD candidate John Schloendorn. John is a last- year PhD student at Arizona State University. He volunteers full time for the SENS Foundation. Entering his lab was a mind-blowing experience. The ceilings were high, the lab itself was spacious and well-lit. It smelled of sawdust, the product of constructing the furniture on site. The equipment was handmade, but brilliantly so. Elegance and function were clear priorities. When a panel could be replaced with a tinted membrane, it was. When metal could be replaced by sanded wood, it was. The on-site laser was modified from a tattoo-removal system. Costs were down, but the technical skill involved in manufacturing was top notch.

In addition to his own experiments, Schloendorn is building an incubator (no pun intended) for DIYbio engineers who work on fighting death.

Schloendorn tells me that working by ourselves might only take us so far, but thinks it‘s a great place to start (many successful discoveries and businesses were founded in someone‘s garage). He believes that being a DIYer doesn‘t mean you must “go it alone,” but can include cooperation and teamwork. He cautions that since time and effort are limited, DIYers must choose carefully what they‘re going to work on and do that which is most important for them. His personal priority is to solve parts of the aging question, and he‘d obviously like many other DIYers to take up this challenge. “I wanted to make a dent in the suffering and death caused by aging. It seemed like the SENS people were the smartest, most resourceful and best organized among those ambitious enough. Of course, there are also DIYers with no ambitions to save the world, who are content to ‘make yogurt glow‘ in the basement for their own personal satisfaction.”

The DIYbio community has a high-traffic mailing list, where projects are discussed, designs shared, and questions asked or answered. The community has worked on dozens of DIY designs: gel electrophoresis techniques, PCR machines, alternative dyes and gels, light microscopes, and DNA extraction techniques. All of them focus on enabling cheap and effective science.

Wetware

The most popular conception of wetware is the genome — the language of life, the ultimate hackable code. Genetic engineering and (more recently) synthetic biology are the hallmarks of this effort. Synthetic biology takes genetic engineering and builds it into a scalable engineering framework. It is the synthesis of complex, biologically-based (or inspired) systems that display functions that do not exist in nature. In synthetic biology, genetic code is abstracted into chunks, colloquially known as biological “parts.” These parts allow us to build increasingly complex systems: putting several parts together creates a “device” that is regulated by start codons, stop codons, restriction sites, and similar coding regions known as “features.” (Visit MIT‘s Standard Registry of Biological Parts for more detailed information, and tutorials on how to make your own biological part.)

These parts are primarily designed by undergraduates competing in the International Genetically Engineered Machine (iGEM) competition, the largest student synthetic biology symposium. At the beginning of the summer, student teams are given a kit of biological parts from the Registry of Standard Biological Parts. Working at their own schools over the summer, they use these parts, and new parts of their own design, to build biological systems and operate them in living cells.

Randy Rettberg, director of the iGEM competition, says that iGEM is addressing the question: “Can simple biological systems be built from standard, interchangeable parts and operated in living cells? Or is biology just too complicated to be engineered in this way?” The broader goals of iGEM include enabling the systematic engineering of biology, promoting the open and transparent development of tools for engineering biology, and helping to construct a society that can productively apply biological technology.

If this sounds suspiciously like a front for DIYbio, that‘s probably because it is. In addition to attracting the brightest young minds to the critical field of molecular biology, many of the founders of iGEM, including Drew Endy at Stanford, Tom Knight at MIT, and DIYbio-rep Mac Cowell are heavily involved in or supportive of the DIYbio community. The recent introduction of iGEM teams unaffiliated with universities (“DIYgem”) is a step towards an inclusive community, allowing anyone with the brain and the drive to participate at the level of academics.

Mainstream science is increasingly friendly to DIYbio. DIYbiologist Jason Bobe works on George Church‘s Personal Genome Project (PGP), which shares and supports DIYbio‘s drive to make human genome data available for anyone to use.

How to get involved

Join the DIYbio mailing list (see Resources). Anyone can join and it‘s the best way to begin your involvement with DIYbio. You‘ll want to check out their DIYbio forums, which are growing rapidly. You can also find a local group there and connect with like-minded DIYers. Have a look around the DIYbio.org site, which lists some of the current projects:

BioWeatherMaps: “Self-Assembly Required” 
Flash mobs meet consumer-generated science in the new DIYbio initiative Flashlabs, where they‘ll be pulling-off a new large-scale collaborative science project annually for amateurs and enthusiasts worldwide. Case in point — the BioWeatherMap initiative is a “global, grassroots, distributed environmental sensing effort aimed at answering some very basic questions about the geographic and temporal distribution patterns of microbial life.”

SKDB: “Apt-Get for Real Stuff (Hardware)” 
Skdb is a free and open source hardware package management system. The idea is to let the user “make” a project by using all of the packaged hardware out on the web, so that the wheel isn‘t reinvented every time a new project is started. The package includes milling machines, gel boxes, semiconductor manufacturing processes, fabratories, robot armies, wetlab protocols… everything. At the moment, they‘re working on OpenCASCADE integration. Package maintainers from the DIYbio and open manufacturing communities assist others in bringing in projects into the system.

Smartlab: “Taking the Work out of Benchwork” 
Project Smartlab is aiming to build hardware to augment the benchtop science experience. This includes automatic data logging instruments with painless electronic lab book integration, video streaming with “instant replay” features for those “did-I-just-pipette-that-into-the-wrong-tube” moments, and interactive protocol libraries that guide new scientists and the scientifically enthusiastic alike through tricky protocols.

The Pearl Gel Box: “A Built-In Transilluminator and Casting Box for $199!” 
Want to get a jump start in DIYbio? The gel electrophoresis box is a basic tool for any DIYbiologist — and they‘re making kits so you can build your own. The Pearl Gel Box is cutting edge, open-source, and cheap. The participants in this project have created a professional grade gel box, available fully assembled or as free design documents. Plus, they want you to design new features like a built-in light filter or a mount for your digital cam.

This is a mere glimpse into the vast undertaking that is DIYbio. Most DIYers work independently on projects that have significant personal meaning. Tyson Anderson, a specialist in the US Army, was struck by the lack of technological infrastructure during his time in Afghanistan. Anderson, a transhumanist as well as a DIYbiologist, was trying to discuss the implications of the Singularity with the friends he had made there. He realized it was difficult to conceive of a technological paradise in a world with limited electricity. He looked to DIYbio to make a difference, and is now engineering bioluminescent yeast to construct sugar-powered lamps for his friends in Afghanistan.

Because there is much overlap between the DIYbio and transhumanist communities, it‘s not surprising that many emerging projects focus on both. DIY-SENS is only the tip of the iceberg. DIYh+ is a fusion of DIYbio and h+, coordinating projects that allow willing individuals to experiment with practical human enhancement. Example projects include supplement/ exercise regimens, DIY-tDCS, DIY-EEG, and the personal harvesting of stem cells. From the group description: “This group is a friendly cross between DIYbio and Open Source Medicine, with a dash of the ImmInst (Immortality Institute) forums [see Resources]. It‘s the slightly edgier half of OSM. The community, ideally, should strive to foster an open and safe way for responsible adults to learn about do-it-yourself human enhancement. We do not believe in limiting the use of medical technology to therapy.”

It‘s not just enhancement technology that can benefit from DIYbiology. As the popular distrust of doctors grows, people will want to understand and monitor their own body. Likewise, as personalized medicine becomes a reality, we will probably see a rise in the number of hobbyists who treat their own bodies as machines to be worked on — like a radio or a car — branching out from personalized genomics to things like DIY stem cell extraction and manipulation, DIY prosthetics, DIY neural prosthetics and sensory enhancements (infrared vision, anyone?), immune system testing, and general tweaking of whatever system strikes the hobbyist‘s fancy. This hacker‘s paradise has not yet come to pass, but it is, perhaps, our exciting future.

The road to true DIYbiology will not be easy. It‘s not a magic bullet. It will probably not produce the next Bill Gates, at least not for a long time. Biology is hard, messy, and failure is more common than success. The knowledge required takes time and effort to acquire, and even then, so-called textbook knowledge is being revised almost daily. Many are attracted by the glamour of it all. They‘re drawn to the romance of being a wetware hacker — the existential thrill of tweaking life itself. They tend to become quickly disappointed by the slow, tedious, difficult path they face.

Hobbyist biology is still in its infancy, and it will take a great deal of work before it reaches its potential. Few are more skeptical than DIYbiologists themselves. But many see no choice. Squabbles over sponsorship, intellectual property, and cumbersome regulations often prevent progress along more conventional lines. An anonymous DIYbiologist puts it this way: “universities charge far more than the experiments really cost, and bureaucratic rules constantly retard real progress.” Questions of IP and ownership can hamstring innovation in industry, while concerns for national security prevent real information sharing in government science. Large, unwieldy bureaucracies and regulatory agencies find it difficult to keep pace with the breakneck speed of technological progress. Thought-monopolies make it unwise to promote new ideas while waiting for tenure, despite the fact that many central dogmas of biology change. Individuals willing to intelligently circumvent convention may find themselves stumbling into uncharted areas of biology where they may make new discoveries.

Indeed, it is only in the last century that biology has become an unreachable part of the academic-corporate-government machine. History‘s naturalists, from Darwin to Mendel, are the true fathers of DIYbiology. They shared the spirit of discovery and scientific ingenuity and the drive to “figure it out yourself.” No one told Isaac Newton to discover the laws of classical mechanics, and you can bet he was never given calculus homework. Einstein‘s life would have been respectable if he hadn‘t spent a silent decade questioning the nature of spacetime. They were driven by the simple need to know, and they would not be stopped by the incidental truth that no one had figured it out before. DIYbiology is perhaps a reemergence of this basic curiosity, applied to the study of life.

As technologyl advances, let us study the workings of the cell the same way Newton may have studied the effects of gravity. Who wouldn‘t want to know? Who can resist a peek at the mechanisms of our own existence? DIYbio may be young, but it is a symptom of our species‘ unbreakable curiosity. We will know these secrets too, someday.

“For me, chemistry represented an indefinite cloud of future potentialities which enveloped my life to come in black volutes torn by fiery flashes, like those which had hidden Mount Sinai. Like Moses, from that cloud I expected my law, the principle of order in me, around me, and in the world. I would watch the buds swell in spring, the mica glint in the granite, my own hands, and I would say to myself: I will understand this, too, I will understand everything.” —Primo Levi

Without a lab supervisor to guide them, DIYbiologists must take a carefully disciplined (and perhaps more genuine) approach to science. DIYbio has the potential to revive a noble tradition of pure scientific curiosity, with a modern, engineering twist. If you want to get something done, some day it really will be possible to do it yourself.

Parijata Mackey is the Chief Science Officer of Humanity + and a senior at the University of Chicago, interested in applying synthetic biology, stem cell therapies, computational neuroscience, and DIYbio to life-extension and increased healthspan.

I didn’t write this article but I wanted to post it here to let other people know what is being build in around the world today. From the NY Times, the story of these group of people unfolds…

Do-It-Yourself Genetic Engineering