women today have tremendous
opportunities hope and power to claim we
surely can do anything our minds a sieve
that mold and shape our world and the
people around us but why is it more
often than not women collectively reject
or deny their power
sometimes by force and other times by
choice as a mom and an integrated
physician I was disturbed to see this
happening and it led me to ask what’s
going on here could it be that it’s
rooted in the DNA of women that we’re
genetically programmed to give up our
power ladies and gentlemen welcome to
the female brain the story I bring to
you today is hard-fought and hard-won as
an integrative physician I have sat with
thousands of women in my exam rooms
listening to their stories of tragedy
and triumph as a writer I am desperate
to detail the struggles and the heroism
of the women I meet every day as a
daughter of immigrants I know the story
of my mother and my grandmother’s and as
a wife I have had to step beyond my
boundaries to embrace a family unlike
mine and understand their culture their
religion and their values I guess that
makes me a integrator bartender of sorts
mixing together
medicine culture religion history and
science sometimes I feel like the
bartender stepping back to observe while
the party continues in front of me in my
early years I used to get really
frustrated with women why would you say
with that guy why would you not fight
oppression why would you stay silent in
the face of abuse patience is not one of
my strengths and my intolerance would
to frustration and irritability losing a
few friends and acquaintances along the
way but what if I told you that these
decisions seemingly external or a
function of our will are embedded in our
DNA they’re molded and rooted in our
chemistry that there is a science to
empowerment and to empower women in
totality we simply have to help them
understand their chemistry change their
DNA and embrace their authenticity it is
our collective responsibility to change
the trajectory of disempowerment or
societies as we’ve already seen will
fail without healthy and empowered women
societies fail countries crumble and the
children the children are simply
forgotten swept away as collateral
damage now wait a minute what if we have
the power to change it all there exists
a challenge a responsibility that we as
women carry with us it winds us back to
our earliest ancestors and it connects
us to what we know about the primitive
brain it links together the knowledge of
DNA mitochondrial DNA and the anatomy of
thought and energy from early
archeological findings we know that the
size of our brain and the shape of our
heads differs from our prehistoric
ancestors from the enlarged frontal
cortex to the embossed forehead
thankfully we look far different than we
did in earlier times but while
geologists dig for bones the new way to
track our inheritance or history and
even our migration is to study
mitochondrial DNA or the DNA that’s
inherited from the mother
in fact ancestral studies use
mitochondrial DNA to track familial
roots and origins the mitochondrial
genome exists outside of the centre of
the cells so it can’t be recombined with
other cells providing scientists and
just a direct genetic link without the
influence of the Father or the
y-chromosome
let’s take a look we know that our
brains today have evolved from the early
primitive brain and we do know that the
male brain is larger than the female
brain but but the female brain has more
surface area and more volume making it a
more efficient organ but we all already
knew that at the same time take a look
at DNA the very molecule held in
families and passed down over
generations we’re learning so much every
day about what’s coded in DNA while we
know that how we look or our
intelligence are coded in DNA including
our phenotypic traits like our hair
color and our eye color we’re learning
that there’s so much more there
including the keys to our emotional
landscape take a look at a picture of a
cell every cell has DNA and every cell
as mitochondrial DNA and every organ is
made up of billions of these cells every
piece of us reverberating with all this
information coded down over time and
over history maybe even from prehistoric
times your brain one of these organs is
essentially a computer coated with
microchips and a memory more gigabytes
I’m sure than my Apple account all held
in DNA and passed down over the
generations and through the maternal
line here’s what we know about
mitochondrial DNA studies show that
certain sequences in mitochondrial DNA
are linked to cognition to memory to
attention to emotion into the ability to
multitask it is the storehouse for the
thoughts and emotions of your mother
your grandmother and her
great-grandmother finally let’s review
what we know about thought the anatomy
of thought and energy we understand
today without getting too much into
quantum physics
that all thought is essentially energy
that the brain then processes and
records we can actually see in research
how the size of our brain and the shape
of our cells changes in response to our
thoughts let me stop for just a second
we got our brains we’ve got DNA
we’ve got mitochondrial DNA and then we
have thought which is essentially energy
there’s also fascinating research on
vibrational energy and how every thought
and every emotion is essentially a
vibration that’s recorded on ourselves
and these billions of cells that we have
and walk around with every day let’s
take a look once we know and once we
understand this concept of where we go
with DNA then we understand that our
thoughts matter and determine our daily
decisions we are essentially coding and
computing processing and responding to
every moment of every day and all this
data all this information and here’s the
challenge held in DNA and passed down
generation after generation in fact
there’s some thought that it takes up to
seven generations to reprogram our
coding fully stop for a second and let’s
absorb this responsibility if we follow
this line of reasoning does that mean we
have learned or are fighting the genetic
imprinting of our maternal ancestors
we’re still fighting their fight is this
why we say yes and don’t say no is this
why a strong woman chooses the wrong
partner or can’t protect her financial
interest is this why we resort to tribal
behavior stepping on each other to get
to the man or the perceived power source
sacrificing our sisterhood along the way
think about the implications here that
means that groups that are
disenfranchised today will struggle for
generations to reclaim their identity
and their power as the experience of one
generation is slowly diluted over time
when this hit me I was stunned but I was
relieved I finally get it
I get why women sacrifice their interest
why they can’t claim and own their power
we’re still fighting their fight we have
to change this or our children will be
fighting the same fight and it will take
exponentially longer to change the
course of history but here is the best
news of all we have the power to change
this by embracing the power of thought
understanding is connection to our
actions and recognizing the past we can
reshape the future women everywhere and
need to band together need to take hold
of their chemistry take responsibility
for their minds and listen to your
intuition listen to that voice that
guides you and sees you at your highest
not the one that sacrifices you or ask
you to hurt another woman you have to do
this sing dance pray do yoga go to an
ashram go take a hike meditate I don’t
care just do something but you have to
find a way to own your chemistry and
harness your mind because every thought
and emotion is with action and with
consequence for generations when we’re
gone we want to leave this world a
better place than when we found it we
want our daughters to fight their fight
not our fight so yes yes yes you can
change your DNA you can influence what’s
passed down and if we all did this we
could change the world this is the time
the moment to embrace this
responsibility wherever you are in the
world
don’t settle for second best stand up
fight for your rights and claim your
power our daughters
and our granddaughters are watching
thank you
[Music] you
opportunities hope and power to claim we
surely can do anything our minds a sieve
that mold and shape our world and the
people around us but why is it more
often than not women collectively reject
or deny their power
sometimes by force and other times by
choice as a mom and an integrated
physician I was disturbed to see this
happening and it led me to ask what’s
going on here could it be that it’s
rooted in the DNA of women that we’re
genetically programmed to give up our
power ladies and gentlemen welcome to
the female brain the story I bring to
you today is hard-fought and hard-won as
an integrative physician I have sat with
thousands of women in my exam rooms
listening to their stories of tragedy
and triumph as a writer I am desperate
to detail the struggles and the heroism
of the women I meet every day as a
daughter of immigrants I know the story
of my mother and my grandmother’s and as
a wife I have had to step beyond my
boundaries to embrace a family unlike
mine and understand their culture their
religion and their values I guess that
makes me a integrator bartender of sorts
mixing together
medicine culture religion history and
science sometimes I feel like the
bartender stepping back to observe while
the party continues in front of me in my
early years I used to get really
frustrated with women why would you say
with that guy why would you not fight
oppression why would you stay silent in
the face of abuse patience is not one of
my strengths and my intolerance would
to frustration and irritability losing a
few friends and acquaintances along the
way but what if I told you that these
decisions seemingly external or a
function of our will are embedded in our
DNA they’re molded and rooted in our
chemistry that there is a science to
empowerment and to empower women in
totality we simply have to help them
understand their chemistry change their
DNA and embrace their authenticity it is
our collective responsibility to change
the trajectory of disempowerment or
societies as we’ve already seen will
fail without healthy and empowered women
societies fail countries crumble and the
children the children are simply
forgotten swept away as collateral
damage now wait a minute what if we have
the power to change it all there exists
a challenge a responsibility that we as
women carry with us it winds us back to
our earliest ancestors and it connects
us to what we know about the primitive
brain it links together the knowledge of
DNA mitochondrial DNA and the anatomy of
thought and energy from early
archeological findings we know that the
size of our brain and the shape of our
heads differs from our prehistoric
ancestors from the enlarged frontal
cortex to the embossed forehead
thankfully we look far different than we
did in earlier times but while
geologists dig for bones the new way to
track our inheritance or history and
even our migration is to study
mitochondrial DNA or the DNA that’s
inherited from the mother
in fact ancestral studies use
mitochondrial DNA to track familial
roots and origins the mitochondrial
genome exists outside of the centre of
the cells so it can’t be recombined with
other cells providing scientists and
just a direct genetic link without the
influence of the Father or the
y-chromosome
let’s take a look we know that our
brains today have evolved from the early
primitive brain and we do know that the
male brain is larger than the female
brain but but the female brain has more
surface area and more volume making it a
more efficient organ but we all already
knew that at the same time take a look
at DNA the very molecule held in
families and passed down over
generations we’re learning so much every
day about what’s coded in DNA while we
know that how we look or our
intelligence are coded in DNA including
our phenotypic traits like our hair
color and our eye color we’re learning
that there’s so much more there
including the keys to our emotional
landscape take a look at a picture of a
cell every cell has DNA and every cell
as mitochondrial DNA and every organ is
made up of billions of these cells every
piece of us reverberating with all this
information coded down over time and
over history maybe even from prehistoric
times your brain one of these organs is
essentially a computer coated with
microchips and a memory more gigabytes
I’m sure than my Apple account all held
in DNA and passed down over the
generations and through the maternal
line here’s what we know about
mitochondrial DNA studies show that
certain sequences in mitochondrial DNA
are linked to cognition to memory to
attention to emotion into the ability to
multitask it is the storehouse for the
thoughts and emotions of your mother
your grandmother and her
great-grandmother finally let’s review
what we know about thought the anatomy
of thought and energy we understand
today without getting too much into
quantum physics
that all thought is essentially energy
that the brain then processes and
records we can actually see in research
how the size of our brain and the shape
of our cells changes in response to our
thoughts let me stop for just a second
we got our brains we’ve got DNA
we’ve got mitochondrial DNA and then we
have thought which is essentially energy
there’s also fascinating research on
vibrational energy and how every thought
and every emotion is essentially a
vibration that’s recorded on ourselves
and these billions of cells that we have
and walk around with every day let’s
take a look once we know and once we
understand this concept of where we go
with DNA then we understand that our
thoughts matter and determine our daily
decisions we are essentially coding and
computing processing and responding to
every moment of every day and all this
data all this information and here’s the
challenge held in DNA and passed down
generation after generation in fact
there’s some thought that it takes up to
seven generations to reprogram our
coding fully stop for a second and let’s
absorb this responsibility if we follow
this line of reasoning does that mean we
have learned or are fighting the genetic
imprinting of our maternal ancestors
we’re still fighting their fight is this
why we say yes and don’t say no is this
why a strong woman chooses the wrong
partner or can’t protect her financial
interest is this why we resort to tribal
behavior stepping on each other to get
to the man or the perceived power source
sacrificing our sisterhood along the way
think about the implications here that
means that groups that are
disenfranchised today will struggle for
generations to reclaim their identity
and their power as the experience of one
generation is slowly diluted over time
when this hit me I was stunned but I was
relieved I finally get it
I get why women sacrifice their interest
why they can’t claim and own their power
we’re still fighting their fight we have
to change this or our children will be
fighting the same fight and it will take
exponentially longer to change the
course of history but here is the best
news of all we have the power to change
this by embracing the power of thought
understanding is connection to our
actions and recognizing the past we can
reshape the future women everywhere and
need to band together need to take hold
of their chemistry take responsibility
for their minds and listen to your
intuition listen to that voice that
guides you and sees you at your highest
not the one that sacrifices you or ask
you to hurt another woman you have to do
this sing dance pray do yoga go to an
ashram go take a hike meditate I don’t
care just do something but you have to
find a way to own your chemistry and
harness your mind because every thought
and emotion is with action and with
consequence for generations when we’re
gone we want to leave this world a
better place than when we found it we
want our daughters to fight their fight
not our fight so yes yes yes you can
change your DNA you can influence what’s
passed down and if we all did this we
could change the world this is the time
the moment to embrace this
responsibility wherever you are in the
world
don’t settle for second best stand up
fight for your rights and claim your
power our daughters
and our granddaughters are watching
thank you
[Music] you
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