If an algorithm could give you the best physical, mental, and spiritual health, would you trust it to make every decision in your life and follow it without question?
One day in 2021 as I wandered down the YouTube Rabbit Hole, I stumbled upon a video from some guy named Bryan Johnson. I had no idea who he was, but I took an immediate liking to his work as it fit right into my interests of health, fitness, and the importance of making your body a laboratory to find answers. Perhaps this is characteristic of the Ex-Mormon journey of healing and self discovery, or it’s just a coincidence? He, however, has far more resources than I to explore.
People were horrified when Bryan brought multigenerational plasma exchange into the zeitgeist. Think “Human Centipede,” but with blood plasma: Bryan received a donation from his son, and then donated to his father. The good thing about being The Most Measured Man In History is that he was able to clearly see there were no benefits of this procedure, and ultimately pulled the plug on it after six months.
I started talking about him with friends and colleagues. Only two had heard of him and none were as fascinated with his work as me. I didn’t agree with everything he was doing, but I kept an open mind and I kept watching…knowing at some point his obsession with immortality would lead him into spiritual territory. I wondered what he would find.
Yogic traditions have long believed that meditation, breath, diet (or lack thereof, à la breatharianism), and mastery over the physical and energetic body radically changes the course of typical human development. There are even stories of sages living for hundreds of years deep in the Himalayas!
Fast forward to now, Bryan has become more mainstream, thanks in part to a 2025 Netflix documentary, troll antics, IDGAF authenticity, and delivering his message in memefication translations. Oh, and scandals. Of course there are scandals.
People love to hate him, and I get that. I think it’s because they’re so caught up in judgement they can’t acknowledge the good work he is doing, for example, exposing just how sad the Standard American Diet is (and trying to do something about it) and explaining to people why they should take a social media fast (with measurable results!).
Sure his endeavor isn’t purely altruistic, but to write him off as another biohacking grifter is ignoring the pioneering research he’s done with his own resources and makes publicly available. Even more exciting (and drawing more criticism, of course) is his endeavor to make his girlfriend The Most Measured Woman In History, which could be a real boon for women’s health issues like endometriosis, fertility, and menopause. I’m rooting for her!
Bryan gives loads of information away for free and you don’t have to be wealthy to implement the most critical health recommendations. In fact, the meal plan will probably cut your grocery budget (mostly veggies and lentils) and the most valuable intervention is totally free: SLEEP. He’s very blunt: Don’t waste your money on supplements unless you eat and sleep properly.
This year he’s gone public about wading into the deep end of consciousness expansion and spiritual exploration by documenting his experiences with psilocybin and 5-MeO-DMT. Although he’s paying particular attention to the anti-aging effects of psychedelic substances (the potential for treating neurodegeneration and Alzheimer's disease is pretty exciting), it’s undeniable they are having a significant impact on his body, mind, and soul. I’m watching him change in real time, and my fascination only grows. I really do love the guy and he also makes me cringe — what a formula to keep me hooked, eh?
Bryan’s recent post about prayer caught my eye. He is very methodical, guided entirely by research and evidence. He knows that prayer has been proven to have a measurable effect on calming the nervous system and reducing stress hormones. Depending on the technique, the cadence of spoken prayer can even mimic the physiological benefits of yogic breathwork practices. There is plenty of evidence supporting the benefits of daily prayers to lower depression, anxiety, and pain.
Scientific investigation of prayer is nothing new. The first study on the effects of prayer was proposed in 1872 by Irish physicist John Tyndall. He sought to investigate the impact on hospitalized patients, but his plan stirred up so much controversy the experiment was never completed. There was disagreement about what constituted prayer, and who did it “right.” Critics thought it was irreverent to try to distill divine grace down to a mechanical, measurable force rather than appreciate the gifts of prayer come from a sincere relationship with God.
If he was actually interested in hearing an answer from little ole me, this is what it would be:
I can’t tell you how you should pray, but I can share how I do it, then you can decide for yourself. I stopped relying on instructions that were given to me (I discarded them a long time ago) and tuned into messages coming from inside of me. Call it God, intuition, or just let it be A Mystery. I started calling it Ancient Intelligence - I think of it as the original AI that’s part of our inborn operating system.
The tricky thing is, it doesn’t come with an instruction manual. Everyone’s AI is both unique and the same. Stay with me here. There’s no precise protocol to follow and LLMs can only take you so far. Guidelines and tools can be found in various contemplative practices. I like the framework yoga gives me for understanding it, and I practice daily to get hardware and software updates. You might find something else that works for you.
Be careful with psychedelics — they can open the door, but they won’t keep you there, and can do a great deal of harm in the process. You might appreciate the story of Ram Dass sharing LSD with his enlightened guru only to find it had no effect on him because he was in fact “already there.”
The only thing I do every day is wake up and pray. No fuss, no elaborate ritual or rules to follow. Rarely do I ever kneel at the bedside like they told us to do in Sunday School.
I don’t even get out of bed to do it. I just say - “Hello, ____. Thank you for bringing me here. I only work for you now. How can I be of service today?” I don’t always say God since I don’t fully grasp the meaning of that word. Sometimes the prayer is to Ma, or no name at all, just a sense of mystery and divinity, and that is enough when you hold a loving intention in your heart.
The last thing I would say is…
Bryan, if you or someone on your team is listening, please take a look at the Emergent Phenomenology Research Consortium. We have a global network of researchers standing by to answer your big questions about contemplative practices, prayer, and psychedelics — and we could really use your help.
The EPRC was born from the need to create a new approach to study the science of “emergence.”1 What others may call spiritual, religious, mystical, or energetic — and where other efforts at integrating these concepts into the mainstream have failed — we remain ontologically agnostic. We do not seek to decide which interpretation is “right,” but rather focus on what is useful to support scientific progress and improve clinical outcomes.
By building a shared language for phenomena that has historically been fragmented across disciplines, we are bringing together a diverse team of curious scientists, clinicians, scholars, and teachers from different traditions to work together without imposing theological, materialist, or clinical assumptions onto the research. Like the African proverb says: “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” This is the way.
We have a huge vision, one that could take generations to carry out and have a more significant impact on the health and wellbeing of humanity than any other clinical specialty.
The missing piece to your longevity puzzle is here. Don’t die before you find it.
Some of the links on this page are Amazon affiliate links, which means I’m selling my soul to Bezos in my quest to make a living as a yoga teacher I may earn a small commission if you click through and make a purchase. This comes at no additional cost to you. I only suggest what I genuinely believe will bring value to you!
Sandilands O and Ingram DM (2024) Documenting and defining emergent phenomenology: theoretical foundations for an extensive research strategy. Front. Psychol. 15:1340335. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1340335
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