I have to level with you.
I stopped calling myself a biohacker.
For a decade I found effective quick-fix ways of hacking the body and brain. I saw spectacular results, as did brave friends willing to suspend belief in conventional wisdom. All the while I had an uneasy feeling at the back of my mind.
Could my knowledge of human biology, or even that of modern medicine as a whole, really override the body’s intricate systems without consequence?
I suppressed my doubts. But eventually, biology always wins. The more I took biohacking compounds, the harder my biology fought back.
Biohacking without thoroughly understanding the interconnected web of bodily systems is downright dangerous. Share on XTechnology far outpaces the fundamentals of life. In my spare time, I looked into wisdom through the years. In the timeline of our evolution, our allopathic model of fighting against the body is relatively new. Now under the monikers Bioregulatory Medicine (BioMed), ancestral medicine, alternative health, or the two synonyms bioharmonizing and biosynergizing. For millennia humans worked with the body. Today you’ll learn why you should quit biohacking for this intuitive, powerful, and genetically compatible practice.
What are Bioharmony & Biosynergy?
There are two approaches to manipulating life:
- Fighting against it
- Working with it
Your body has an innate intelligence. It knows how to heal itself from any injury and rid itself of any disease. Just look around at cases of spontaneous remission (I recommend the book Cured [Amazon]). For these individuals, conventional treatments failed. Then the body took control and overcame the obstacle. But those are edge cases.
Take a treatment used throughout the world to heal broken bones. Even today, casts don’t actually do any healing. They merely stabilize the surrounding area until the body has the time and resources to mend the break.
Bioharmonization recognizes this intelligence. Instead of fighting your biology, this form of bioregulatory medicine augments it. Biosynergy is the process of aligning with human biology and nature for greater effectiveness and efficiency. Unlike biohacking, this form produces long-lasting, sustainable change.
Yet, today humans are sicker than ever. And most medicine fights our bodily processes. Why?
Our State of Medicine
Rooting up established ideas, concepts, frameworks, and models hurt. Livelihoods are at stake. Vast resources poured into the current paradigm. Change is uncomfortable. It’s easier to continue doing things the same way.
The isolationist, reductionist perspective may be easy for our minds to grapple with. But it doesn’t work:
- Drugs build tolerance.
- Common procedures are fraught with complications.
- Researchers often discover the side effects of household medications decades after introduction to consumers.
Then we introduce other man-mades in a maze of symptom whack-a-mole. In reality, problems rarely fit neatly into the domains of a single specialist. Or a single faulty system. All life is connected, as are the systems that comprise it.
“When one tugs at a single thing in nature, he finds it attached to the rest of the world.”
— Naturalist John Muir
Bioharmonizing is about improving the entire web of life.
Bioharmonizing: The Promising Biohacking Alternative
So what makes it better?
Biosynergizing is better than biohacking:
- Longer-lasting results
- Less negative rebound effect from stopping
- Intuitive. Worry less about downstream consequences
- Safer
- Makes Earth more inhabitable for humans and other life
- You’ll experience corollary benefits that science will eventually understand
- Fancy gear isn’t required. Usually free or inexpensive
- Your body can provide you feedback on your progress
- More effective
But there’s one huge downside.
Nature doesn’t work as fast as our modern lifestyle.
Shortcuts are the longest way to accomplish something. Do it right the first time, and you'll have done it the fast way. Share on XThe biggest drivers of health & wellness aren’t supplements. Nor some fancy workout protocol. Or even a radical diet.
A quick fix leads to temporary results. The slower route lasts longer.
While there’s a time and place for each, re-aligning with nature is our primary means of lifelong wellness. The body gives subtle cues to those willing to listen. The healthier and more open-minded, the easier you’ll pick up on them.
“Life is just one damn relatedness after another.”
— Biologist Julian Huxley
Next, we’ll look at how you can start biosynergizing.
Real-World Examples of Biosynergizing
Biohacking and bioharmonizing frequently overlap.
For example, the following time-tested biohacks are core to bioharmony:
- Cold showers
- Walking 10,000+ steps per day
- Sun gazing
- Yoga
- Forest bathing
- Sleep
- Micro-movements throughout the day
- Meditation
- Changing postures
- Earthing
- Breath work
- Scheduling downtime
- Intermittent fasting or eating fewer meals per day. Occasionally trying an extended fast
- Eating fresh, whole-foods from as close to the source as possible
- Seasonal eating
Most of these are lifestyle practices. But there’s a nutritional component too.
Biosynergistic supplements include:
- Mushrooms (see my review of my top mushroom supplement company)
- Desiccated organ meats
- Adaptogenic herbs
- Spices
- Micro-algae
My 3-Step Bioharmonization Framework
I wouldn’t want to live at any other time in history. Efficiency, effectiveness, and convenience sit at each of our fingertips. You can still enjoy the conveniences of modern technology without irreparable harm. The key lies in how you structure your lifestyle.
The basics of biosynergy condense into three steps:
- Live an ancestrally compatible lifestyle
- Decide on essentials and add them to your life
- Reduce harm
At the very base of the pyramid, is living a lifestyle aligned with our biology and evolutionary upbringing. Follow the most possible timeless principles. The weaker this foundation, the less effective the “hacks” layered on top.
Next comes identifying the critical modern essentials and conveniences. After all, what good is living in a cave isolated from the rest of life? No way I’ll give up critical tools like laptops, the internet, cell phones, or the shelter of my apartment.
For each item on your mission-critical list, research the possible side effects of their use. For example, computers and cell phones emit electrosmog, sleep-degrading blue light, and vision-destroying screen flicker. I’ve mitigated each:
- IrisTech software (read my review on it) protects me from blue light and screen flicker.
- Earthing mats, hard wiring my internet connection when possible, and grounding my charging cord all mitigate the effects of EMF.
“Biohacking” is Dead
I long considered myself a biohacker because I too apply systems thinking to biology. I recognize the many correlated—even causative—effects around me.
I differ in my approach. Instead of looking for the quick fix (“hack”), I’m interested in safer, more effective, lifelong wellness. With a low potential for nasty side effects down the road.
Unlike biohacking, biosynergizing recognizes that all life is interwoven. A ripple somewhere causes a wave elsewhere. Share on XThe body has an innate intelligence, more powerful than any intervention, protocol, or man-made machine. “Hacking” is a myopic view. If you’ve made it this far hopefully you understand that bioharmony is the state of alignment between your biology, your lifestyle, and your environment.
You have the potential for Wolverine-like recovery, to defy the odds and overcome unthinkable situations. Share on XBioharmonizing is a three-part process:
- Engage in many of the practices that have withstood countless generations of humans
- Identify your can’t-live-without modern conveniences and evaluate potential consequences
- Mitigate each danger through the responsible use of modern technology
Recognize that modern scientific understanding often falls short in unknown ways. Applying damage control doesn’t justify recklessness.
Bioharmonization is applying the same “first do no harm” Hippocratic Oath to our 21st-century technologies
Don’t take my word. Test it for yourself. Design an effective biohacking experiment. Try some of the above practices and log how you feel. Take photos & videos. Then after a while, reflect on your results.
I didn’t come to this conclusion from a single book, speaker, or resource. I’ve been studying ancient wisdom. I began to realize that many of today’s scientific discoveries were documented millennia ago. While I’ve yet to find a definitive guide to biosynergy, my thoughts are an amalgamation of the following.
Additional Resources:
- Field of study: Ayurveda
- Field of study: Traditional Chinese Medicine
- Field of study: Hermetic Principles
- Education: CHEK Institute
- Book: Bioregulatory Medicine
- Book: Regenerate
- Book: Cured
- Podcast: Living 4D With Paul Chek
- Podcast: Huberman Lab
Thanks for the stimulating article, Nick. I’ve been Biohacking for a decade and I’d like to share my thoughts:
Biohacking Pros
– may be efficient in terms of time and/or resources
– often non-conventional or unorthodox, which may encourage us to explore new, better solutions
Biohacking Cons
– can draw attention away from more systemic underlying issues
– can have poor ROI, limited scope of effects (helps mitochondria for 3 hours), and low leverage (have to keep doing it)
– can be expensive, so either limits who can use it, or requires continual commitment for long periods to obtain the value
– may have little understood drawbacks, side-effects (e.g., demands of fat digestion on a keto diet)
– temporary solution intended to be replaced with more robust solution, but could create a temptation to pursue more hacks rather than invest in the more robust solutions
Great insights, Ryan! What are your core/favorite biohacks that you still use now that it has been over a decade?