Mind & Life Podcast

Emeran Mayer – Biological Interconnectedness

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Sept 21, 2023

View or download a transcript of this episode

In this episode, Wendy speaks with gastroenterologist, author, and microbiome researcher Emeran Mayer. Emeran is a world renowned expert in the connections between the gut and the mind, and brings a biological lens to the concept of interconnection. This conversation covers many topics, including:

Emeran Mayer, MD
  • his interest in mind-body connection;
  • microbiome overview & current questions;
  • how we’ve inherited systems of communication from microbes;
  • gut-brain connections, and the concept of the “second brain”;
  • how meditation might affect our microbes;
  • gut-immune connections;
  • the importance of barriers, and what goes wrong in “leaky gut”;
  • barrier compromise as common core of nearly all chronic disorders;
  • stress and diet as key factors affecting our gut permeability;
  • what we can do to protect our gut;
  • equity issues around healthy food access;
  • the gut as a sense organ;
  • reductions in the diversity of microbes on the planet;
  • the role of antibiotics and environmental destruction;
  • development of the microbiome in pregnancy and infancy;
  • implications for our concept of self;
  • balance between reductionism and embracing complexity in science;
  • and the need for more of the feminine archetype in our world.

Emeran Mayer is a Distinguished Research Professor in the Departments of Medicine, Physiology and Psychiatry at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Executive Director of the G. Oppenheimer Center for Neurobiology of Stress and Resilience, and Co-director of the CURE: Digestive Diseases Research Center at UCLA. He is a world renowned gastroenterologist and neuroscientist with 35 years of experience in the study of clinical and neurobiological aspects of how the digestive system and the nervous system interact in health and disease. He has received numerous awards, including the Distinguished Mentor Award from the American Gastroenterological Association and the Ismar Boas medal from the German Society for Gastroenterology and Metabolic Disease. Throughout his career—both in his research and clinical practice—Emeran has pursued a Buddhist philosophy of interconnectedness, balance and compassion. He has explored ancient healing practices of primal people around the world, of Native Americans and those in the Traditional Chinese and Aryuvedic tradition and has always strived to integrate the wisdom of these traditions with the discoveries of modern science.

Resources

Faculty website and academic publications
Personal website