After an easy drive from my day job in San Rafael up to Santa Rosa, I arrived at the now-familiar Flamingo Resort. Little has changed in the past two weeks. Same rotating neon flamingo atop its spire at the end of Farmers Lane; same easy-going atmosphere in the hotel below.

The Advanced Weekend started at 5:00 with a warm welcome from Dr. McDougall. He reviewed the past six months of subjects he has covered in his newsletter: MS, Type 1 diabetes, heart disease, breast and prostate cancer. A lot of the material was covered in the 10-day session so I will not review it here. However, it was great to be back with this brilliant doctor and to hear his evaluations of modern medical (mis)practices.

Dinner followed and wow did we eat well! The meal was served buffet style and I piled my plate high with quinoa, lasagna, split pea soup (okay, it was in a separate cup) and sweet potato with Mary McDougall’s famous peanut sauce(!!). Desert was an apple/strawberry crisp, chocolate brownies and soy ice cream. I stuck to the crisp although I regret missing the brownie.

We reconvened at 7:00 and Dr. McDougall introduced Dr. Dean Ornish. I am familiar with Dr. Ornish’s work in prevention and reduction of heart disease and prostate cancer but this was the first time I heard him speak on his techniques. He is a very surprising speaker in that I was expecting a much more clinical talk from him. His topic was The Power of Lifestyle Changes & Love.

He did offer many clinical insights. In his address he went from his early years of dropping out of medical school to conduct clinical trials of heart patients to his recent project implementing Ornish-style lifestyle alternatives to bypass surgery in 50 hospitals around the country. The project is the culmination of 16 years of working to get Medicare to pay for such an alternative and it is having amazing results. He shared a video of one recovering patient who gave a litany of before and afters illustrating the typical success (and adherence!) to a process most doctors don’t believe “practical.”

Changing diet, practicing meditation, and having loving and intimate relationships are key to not just better heart disease outcomes but, he says, for many other diseases. The body “wants” to heal and when you treat it well, it repays you with not only good health but good feelings. A person is willing to do behaviors, lifestyle changes, only if they have an immediate and tangible benefit. As he said, we go “on” diets only so we can go “off” them. But if we are not in deprivation, we can be successful. If we are doing well by relieving stress, enjoying our food and having meaningful relationships, we do physically better.

I was surprised how much he emphasized the importance of love. He had General Stanley McChrystal, the general who was undone by unwise remarks to a Rolling Stone reporter, speak on camera about love and military leadership. Dr. Ornish has spoken to the Army War College about the subject. McChrystal evaluation was that soldiers don’t respond to fear of their superiors anywhere as well as they do when they love and respect them. It was a startling thing to hear from general but, as with much of what Dr. Ornish said, it is a very “human” thing.

He also spoke about telomeres and their effect on our body’s aging. These are the ends, the caps if you will, on our DNA. He showed the first evidence that meditation grows these strands from a study he conducted. Conversely, he showed telomeres degrading and fraying as the result of handling stress badly. His study shows that, so far, the only known way to improve or enhance our genetic code is through meditation. This serves as proof that while we are dealt our genetic code at birth, “our genes are not our fate.”

I found Dr. Ornish’s talk very inspiring. I think this is going to be an amazing weekend.