Customer Reviews

Grow Younger, Live Longer: Ten Steps to Reverse Aging (Random House Large Print)

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I have regularly practiced Transcendental Meditation (TM) for a number of years, having originally become interested in it through one of Dr. Chopra's first books. I have found the practice to be a helpful one, and regularly recommend it to others. I have also experienced Ayurvedic health treatments and have read about the practice. As a result, I always look forward to reading Dr. Chopra's new books.

Grow Younger, Live Longer is an update on Ageless Body, Timeless Mind. The authors describe the Ayurvedic principles (practiced in India for many hundreds of years) of self-healing in a more detailed and understandable way than in any of Dr. Chopra's earlier books. Long-time practitioners of Transcendental Meditation will find little new in the book. Those who do not meditate now will find the book an easy, comfortable way to begin mind-body integration in ways that will probably help physiological and psychological health.

The authors argue that by forming ten new habits (by following the recommended practices for at least 10 weeks), you can "reset your Biostat (your biological or functional, age) up to fifteen years younger than your chronological age." Your Biostat is determined by various measures of your body's functioning, as compared to the average of people of the same sex and age. That point is not proven, however, in the text of the book. Many references care made in the notes. I am aware of studies done by practitioners of Transcendental Meditation that show such effects, which may be part of what the claim is based on. Some scientists have criticized the studies for potential bias because practitioners conducted almost all of the studies. The authors are not recommending TM, but rather other versions of meditation. Some nutritional and relationship studies have shown reversals of such biological markers.

You are encouraged to psychologically reframe aging to "an opportunity for greater wisdom, love, creativity, meaning, joy, and increased mental and physical capacity." "The real purpose of the book is to remind you, the reader, that this deeper reality, the domain of pure potentiality of spirit, is who you really are." "To know a person's body in the future, examine their experiences now." This sort of writing will remind you that Dr. Chopra likes to use Quantum physics as a metaphor for explaining the potential benefits of spiritual practices....

I also found much more scientific explanation here than in his earlier books about why these changes should be helpful. These were most detailed in the nutrition and exercise sections. The recommendations were explained in enough detail that I think that most people could understand and follow them. You will also find at least half of these food, water, and exercise recommendations in the better health books. The emphasis on spiritual and pscyhological practices is much stronger here. A good book on the importance of love from the scientific perspective is Dr. Dean Ornish's Love and Survival. The book also ends with a long section of vegetarian recipes from various cuisines (Thai, Chinese, Italian, Mexican, French, American, and Middle Eastern) for seven sample menus. These have fairly extensive lists of ingredients, and you may need to buy some provisions you don't have now. Tamari sauce is a good example of something that is not present in many American larders.

This book will probably be most appealing to a retired person who finds her- or himself feeling disconnected from a meaningful purpose. The practices here would be most helpful in that situation, and a retired person would have the time to take on the many new habits suggested here. Although middle-aged people with children at home would feel like they could never take the time to do these things, they would probably benefit even more from the stress reduction that these practices could bring.

I would also enourage you to learn about practicing TM. With that change, you would probably find it easier to make these other changes that Dr. Chopra suggests. Most cities have TM centers where you can locate a teacher. You can go to introductory sessions at no charge. The yoga in this book will make a nice complement to your meditation practice.

Take life's unexpected events less personally and with more curiosity!

This is a terrific book. Follow the ten steps and your life and health will be greatly improved. The two M.D.s who wrote this book are no strangers to scientific medicine. The fact that they have been willing to go beyond the limitations of our modern scientific medical community is to their credit. I've spent many years working in hospitals. I've seen the marvels of modern medicine and the horrors. New discoveries overcome past horrors but the mistakes of modern medicine are usually seen as steps forward, which they are except for the ones stepped on in this evolutionary process. My problem with modern scientific medicine is it's arrogance and criticism of other healing options when it has killed and maimed so many along the way.

The supposed scientific criticism of this book is based on the arrogant assumption that spiritual realities have little connection to or impact on our physical well-being. Heck, if we can't detect it with all our new fangeled toys, it doesn't exist! Give me a break. Does anyone believe that all of our modern scientists put together have discovered all of the dimensions of reality?! You can't even put them all together without starting a civil war of differing perspectives.

Chopra's prescriptions for health and longevity are based on both spiritual and scientific realities and he has expertise in each of these disciplines. After 31 years of spiritual ministry, much of it done in the world of health care, I advise you to not let the "smarty pants" M.D.'s and Ph.D's scare you away from this valuable health resource.

I took the audio program of this book out from my library due to sheer curiosity and since then have bought the book in print because I though it would be easier to use it as a reference that way.

I have many of Dr. Chopra's audio tapes and while I don't take everything he says at face value I try to stay open to what he says on any given program and judge the material for it's own merits.

Of course Dr. Chopra's popularity as a "Pop Culture Guru" can make it tempting to take him less seriously and write off anything he does as just another way for him to make a buck. Sometimes I myself feel this way due to the "factory-like" volume of materials that have come out under his authorship. Also, I do find that Deepak can get somewhat repetitive in much of his talk about "Cybernetic Feedback Loops" and the like :)

Still, I always feel that if there's even one idea that can be helpful it is worth the effort and I generally get some benefit out of Deepak's work which is what led me to check this out.

What I found on this particular program was a lot of good advice for living a healthier and less stressful life. While I'm not a scientist, it seems quite obvious that anyone with a brain and common sense would realize that if you actually follow the advice given on this program you could only realize tremendous benefits on many levels.

Perhaps the only thing that might be considered "hocus pocus" by the mainstream medical community is Dr. Chopra's use of affirmations. While I'm generally not personally drawn to use affirmations , I would have to at least admit that if an affirmation helps one to focus on something positive rather than something negative it certainly can't hurt.

As far as the claims of a program like this making you live longer, who knows, BUT it seems quite clear to me that if you follow this program you will in the least feel better during whatever time you do have. Not only that, it seems pretty logical that if you do follow the useful advice on this program and therefore improve your overall physical and mental well being that it should translate into having a longer life than if you didn't follow the advice, and there is a LOT of practical and sound advice here.

I would be wary of some of the obviously jaded and arrogant scientific criticism that I read in previous reviews listed here concerning this book. My experience with the book is that those criticisms didn't ring true. While I can understand their concerns that this book may make some bold claims which they don't feel are scientifically proven, in general it appears that scientists seem to have a very narrow window that they look through and if it doesn't fit their world view then they think it's false.

The danger is that they think their world view is one based on facts, but perhaps they fail to realize or admit that they are limited by their current level of understanding, methods and equipment.

It wasn't so long ago that Newton was THE voice of physics and Quantum physics didn't exist as a scientific discipline. It wasn't so long ago that Galileo was given quite a hard time for views that are obvious to us now. There are other world views out there, that are equally valid. There are also many other approaches to well being that have been working for thousands of years, long before there was the American Medical Association and the like.

Likewise it also always amazes me how many doctors like to write off certain healing anomalies as a "placebo effect". What they fail to admit is that the whole notion of a "placebo effect" in and of itself is quite miraculous and shows that there are possibilities beyond what many Western doctors and scientists would like to admit is possible. Just because they can't quantify it doesn't make it invalid.

All that being said :)

Aside from the "Affirmations", this book is actually very grounded and filled with excellent and practical advice and one doesn't need to have a Ph.D. in aging to realize it's benefits. Anyone who "has a body" and common sense can benefit by good nutrition, exercise and stress reduction and therefore can benefit by the information in this program.

This book IS by the way co-authored by two doctors, one of which is Dr. David Simon. Dr. Simon was trained in neurology but came to feel the limitations of Western medicine as a sole healing modality. His search has led him to an integrative approach utilizing the best of so called "Conventional" and "Alternative" disciplines.

I am currently reading two of his books "Vital Energy" and "Wisdom of Healing" which are excellent. I was first exposed to Dr. Simon through a 12 tape audio program he did with Deepak Chopra called "Training the mind, Healing the Body" which is fascinating and very helpful. I was deeply impressed with Dr. Simon's deep knowledge, obvious sincerity, and compassion. After encountering that program I started searching out more of his materials which have all been outstanding!

Chopra and Simon offer 10 basic steps to living longer and feeling younger. The steps in of themselves are not complicated (drink water, sleep 8 hours, meditate, etc.), but putting them into practice is difficult for most of us.

I, for one, have a terrible sleep schedule, I drink coffee like a fiend, and I hardly look for activities that get me out of my daily hum-drum routine. But the fact of the matter is that I do these things unconsciously, and this book has motivated me to live a more conscious life and be more aware of how every choice I make affects my health for the better or worse.

You don't have to follow the book's plan to the letter, but learning more about healthy habits and adopting what works in your life can only help.

I don't know much about quantum physics (or science in general), Ayurveda, or biological aging, but I do know that there are many older people who have the energy and attitute of those 20 years younger. Maybe it has to do with diet, exercise, and vitamins. Maybe it does have to do with "letting things go." I know that it is possible to break your body down by having bad attitudes about life and not taking care of yourself in general. I have worked with a lot of older women who laugh at me when I tell them that I will be a strong older woman who is not only going to talk about my aches and pains all of the time. I agree that "what you see, you become." I also believe that you can look and feel younger by getting lots of sleep, using sunscreen, exercising, deep breathing, eliminating toxins, being flexible (physically and emotionally) loving, and expanding your mind and perceptions. That is the whole point of this book. I know that many people seem to disagree about this book, but my grandmother lived to a healthy 91 years old because she continued to do things she always did. She swam till she was in her 80's and painted until her last year of life. I hope that I keep a good attitude throughout life to be as healthy and she was, and this book had a lot of good ideas and recipes!

Despite some blatant entrepreneurial pitches for Chopra's Prana Institute and its products, as well some blatant abuse of quantum physics, and the annoying "I am young" manatra you will repeatedly be asked to mouth throughout the book in order to help change your psychological perception of age, GROW YOUNG, LIVE LONGER is a fine book that will indeed enhance health, and thus perhaps make you look and feel younger. It's one of those all-around good books: covering basic yoga, providing some good recipes, filled with wonder facts about detoxification, wise nutritional supplementation, and the benefits of proper sleep and exercise. And of course, Chopra outlines his universal philosophy of love, which I found inspiring. On the whole, I was deeply impressed with the book, and ended up buying copies for friends. Another book I highly recommend that will add to your healthly living arsenal is The Optimum Nutritional Bible by Patrick Holford. Unlike Chopra, Holford takes a purely nutritional stance, but his dietary suggestions have the power to increase intelligence, vitality and life-span. Now go eat your veggies!

The message within the pages of Grow Younger, Live Longer is nothing short of transformational! Practical, easy to follow, result oriented ways to live a long, healthy life. Chapters cover a wide variety of topics including, sleep/daily routine, diet, exercise, creativity, flexibility, and mind/body/spirit balance to name a few. There is also a selection of delicious, nutritious recipes that leave the reader wanting more.

A personal story: I had the pleasure of meeting (and having my picture taken with) Dr. Deepak Chopra at a presentation he delivered as part of the promotional tour for this book. After hearing the lecture and reading the book, I finally found the courage and inspiration to finish my own book. Give Dr. Chopra a chance to show you how to Grow Younger, Live Longer.... you won't be disappointed!

[...]

This book is a true gem! It's recommended reading for everybody who is interested in feeling better, healthier and looking younger. The book offers a 10-step program to achieving this, and is written in a nicely, loving and easy to understand way.
The negative reviews here on amazon are coming from people who never devoted any time to practicing the exercises in this book. Anyone who has spend some time doing the exercises can account for the splendid results they produce!
So if you are looking for a well written and practical guide to health, youth and joy, read this book.
And for those of you who want a good laugh, go to Master Hoax Elixxer's (the guy who is writing his own positive reviews on amazon because no sane person will) website. It's amazing how much BS can fit in one website...

Deepak Chopra's new book entitled Grow Younger, Live Longer is the latest in his line of frequently churned out pop culture manuscripts devoted to encouraging the public to adopt healthier lifestyles. The premise is not far different from his previous publication entitled Ageless Body, Timeless Mind, but in this case the central focus revolves around the notion that aging itself is reversible through lifestyle modification. The book is organized such that each chapter is devoted to revealing the various ways in which the author believes you may choose to reduce your biological age. These include Changing Your Perception, Deep Rest, Healthy Food, Nutritional Complements (e.g., vitamin supplements), Mind/Body Integration, Exercise, Eliminating Toxins, Cultivating Flexibility and Creativity in Consciousness, Love, and Maintaining a Youthful Mind. Fifty-one pages of the book are devoted to recipes designed to make their consumers grow younger and live longer. The idea combines together in one book the nearly identical idea presented by Michael Roizen in his books RealAge: Are You As Young As You Can Be? and The RealAge Diet: Make Yourself Younger With What You Eat in which he too claims you can reduce your biological age and grow younger. However, the difference is that in Chopra's book there is not just bad science, as is the case with anyone claiming we can reduce our biological age, there is no science at all.

The basis for Chopra's argument is his claim that your biological age can be measured by such things as blood pressure, body fat, cholesterol, blood sugar tolerance, bone density, and a host of other measures. Unfortunately, scientists who study aging in humans and other animals have already concluded that at present there are no reliable biomarkers of aging. In other words, it is not currently possible to measure biological age, nor is there any scientific evidence to suggest that growing younger is possible. Reducing your risk of age-associated diseases is certainly a benefit of regular exercise and a diet based on moderation, but aging itself cannot be stopped or reversed. Anyone telling you that you can reduce your biological age or grow younger is selling a modern form of anti-aging medicine that has been sold successfully to the public for more than 3,500 years - it didn't work in the past, and it doesn't work now.

Chopra leads the reader to believe that you can reset your BIOSTAT for your biological age by convincing yourself that you're younger than your chronological age. This is done by encouraging readers to repeat the following mantra: "Every day in every way, I am increasing my mental and physical capacity, my BIOSTAT is set at a healthy __ years old. I look and feel a healthy __ years old. I am reversing my biological age"...by doing whatever is suggested in each chapter. The idea then is that if you BELIEVE you're younger, your BIOSTAT will orchestrate your biochemistry to MAKE you younger. Suggesting that you can grow younger by willing it to be so is an anti-aging strategy that has been around for thousands of years, which is considerably longer that the duration of the lives of its proponents. It never ceases to amaze me how such nonsense can make its way into books. Perhaps it is not so surprising once one realizes that those making such ridiculous claims are not scientists in any one of the various fields that inform the study of aging - they are entrepreneurs. I used to look upon Chopra's books with great amusement, because in a way he wasn't really selling anything except a suite of pop culture ideas that are unsupported by basic science. But now even he has crossed over the line to becoming an anti-aging entrepreneur, and this is what prompted my review. In Chapter 5 of this book he claims that nutritional supplements can activate your body's rejuvenating chemicals, and not surprisingly, he is now selling these supplements through the Chopra Center Essentials line of nutrients. Amazing! Scientists are now cautioning against the indiscriminate use of single dose supplements because of possible adverse side effects (such as with beta-carotene). While antioxidant supplements may have some health benefits for some people, so far there is no scientific evidence to justify the claim that they have any effect on human aging.

The pseudo science of anti-aging medicine has now permeated every aspect of our modern world. Although most books on the market are written by people who have no background in any of the scientific fields associated with aging, there are a handful of books written by scientists for the general public that explain the true story about human aging. Take your pick - I've listed them in alphabetical order by first author. In the meantime, don't waste your money on this book by Chopra.

Steven Austad's Why We Age; Leonard Hayflick's How and Why We Age; Tom Kirkwood's Time of Our Lives; John Medina's The Clock of Ages; and Olshansky and Carnes' The Quest for Immortality.

What a cool book! Not only does it give you the spiritual & scientific underpinnings to change your perspective on your body's health & biological age, it gives you practical things to do that really make a difference in how you feel. Some of the recommendations were a bit fanciful - like eating dinner every night before 7 pm (as a New Yorker, we don' t even make reservations for anything earlier than 8 pm), but the parts on getting a better night's sleep and meditating were extremely helpful.

If you're looking to make a healthier change for the better in your life, I definitely recommend checking this book out