Two weeks ago, I turned 50.
And I caught myself doing something subtle but dangerous: I was aging myself.
Not biologically. On paper, I’m doing great. Most longevity and biomarker tests place me 10 to 20 years younger than my chronological age. My body is strong. My health is solid.
But mentally? I had started building a quiet list of excuses.
When my son Hayden, who somehow speaks seven languages, asked why I wasn’t learning Spanish and Italian, my answer came out automatically:
“Well, you’ve got a teenager’s brain. It’s easier for you.”
When my kids invited me to join them in new physical practices, I’d hesitate.
“My wrists aren’t as solid.”
“My recovery isn’t what it used to be.”
“That’s easier when you’re younger.”
None of these thoughts sounded dramatic. They sounded… sensible.
But taken together, they formed a pattern.
I wasn’t listening to my body.
I was talking it into decline.
And then I read a fascinating study by Ellen Langer that completely messed with my worldview.
The study that was almost never published
This study was conducted in 1979.
And here’s the part most people don’t know: The results were so wild that Langer hesitated to publish them.
She feared the scientific community simply wouldn’t accept what she’d found.
At the time, the idea that belief, identity, and mindset could meaningfully alter physical aging was considered fringe, if not outright heretical.
Today, with what we now know about meditation, placebo effects, neuroplasticity, stress biology, and longevity science, her findings are far easier to digest.
But back then?
They sounded impossible.
And yet, they happened.
When you read this study—really read it—I guarantee it will change how you think about your age and your life.
Here’s what she did.
The counterclockwise experiment
Langer took a group of men in their late 70s—some close to 80—and brought them to a retreat.
No supplements.
No exercise program.
No medical interventions.
Instead, she recreated the world of 1959.
The furniture.
The music.
The magazines.
The radio broadcasts.
The conversations.
The men weren’t asked to remember 1959.
They were instructed to live as if it were happening now.
They spoke in the present tense about events from that era.
They carried their own luggage.
They weren’t treated as fragile or dependent.
They were treated as fully capable men in their prime.
And then Langer measured them—before and after.
What happened next still makes people uneasy.
What changed in just one week
After only seven days, measurable biological and physical shifts occurred.
Not opinions.
Not feelings.
Measured changes.
Their posture improved.
Several men stood taller, reversing the hunched posture we associate with aging.
Their strength and flexibility increased.
Grip strength improved. Movement became easier and more fluid.
Their memory and cognitive performance improved.
Standardized tests showed real gains.
But here’s where it gets truly mind-bending.
Their eyesight improved.
So much so that some of the men were told they needed new glasses.
Not because their vision worsened… but because it got better.
And then there’s my favorite detail.
Their fingers got longer.
No—their bones didn’t grow.
What happened was this:
Inflammation in their finger joints reduced.
As swelling decreased, the fingers could extend more fully. Mobility returned. Measurable length increased.
Aging had been masquerading as inevitability.
But it turned out to be, at least in part, reversible signaling.
Even independent observers noticed. When people who didn’t know the experiment were shown before-and-after photos, they consistently rated the men as looking younger at the end of the week.
No drugs.
No devices.
No hacks.
Just a shift in identity and expectation.
The part that hit me hard
Here’s the implication I couldn’t ignore.
These men didn’t “fix” their bodies.
They changed how they related to themselves.
They stopped behaving like old men—and their biology followed.
That’s when I realized something uncomfortable.
I wasn’t being limited by my health.
I was being limited by my self-talk.
So I changed the rules at 50
Here’s what I decided as I crossed this milestone.
I stopped telling myself I was too old.
I’m learning Spanish and Italian.
I’m picking up skills I once believed had expiration dates.
I’m experimenting with new fitness protocols weekly.
Through ClassPass, I’m trying practices I once avoided—Pilates, yoga, new movement systems. And I’m shocked at how rapidly my body adapts.
Most of all, I’ve returned to martial arts.
At 17, I was an international fighter with a double black belt in taekwondo. Competing at the U.S. Open and training at the Colorado Springs Olympic Training Center shaped my discipline—and my life.
Then I stopped.
Not because I had to.
Because I told myself I was “too old.”
So I’m back.
Working on flexibility. Practicing kicks and forms. Chasing a full split again—yes, like Jean-Claude Van Damme in Kickboxer.
I’ve even redesigned my living space so movement is always within reach. Between meetings, I jump up, stretch, drop push-ups, and practice kicks.
Not because I’m chasing youth.
But because I refuse premature decline.
How you talk to your body matters
What Langer later showed—in another Harvard study—is just as powerful.
She found that how you talk to your body can sometimes have a greater effect than what you give it.
Your body is always listening.
Every decision is a conversation.
When you say,
“I’m too old for this,”
you’re talking to your body.
When you say,
“Let’s try this,”
you’re talking to your body.
When you experiment with a new movement practice,
when you challenge an old belief,
when you act like possibility is still open—
you’re talking to your body.
The question is:
What kind of conversation are you having with yours?
Why I can do all this now
What’s allowing me to explore all these health practices and return to martial arts is that I’ve radically changed how I work.
By using AI to clone how I think, decide, and create, I’ve gained 50× leverage.
What used to take me 50 hours now takes one hour.
As a result, I’m starting new companies and taking a week off every month just to enjoy life.
I’m taking classes in stand-up comedy, music, and languages.
I’m traveling more.
And I’m finally making time for my body.
If you want to learn how to create that kind of time, so you can actually add health, movement, and exploration back into your life, I’m teaching a class on cloning your brain with AI.
I’ll show you the exact workflows I use to create 50× leverage.
And then?
I invite you to join me in this adventure.
Stop aging yourself.
Try something new this week.
Your body is listening.
Stay curious,
105 Responses
I missed this … any chance of being able listen to a re-run?
Hello Rosemary, you can find the replays here: https://www.youtube.com/@Mindvalley/streams
This (cloning) is fascinating! I’d read of the “turn back time” experiment. Just another reminder that our thoughts can change us, for better or worse. I’d like to follow and know more about what you’re doing here.
One of the many inspiring messages you constantly send us to encourage us to be the best version possible of ourselves!
Thank you 🙏
I remember this study – somewhere in Mindvalley quests I read it. Even if it was not totally reproduced as one of the posts said; I like the idea or the goal of the experiment. I am a researcher and just the fact to recreate other era or time – all immersed is mind blowing.
I wish I could live it, because music of my time, like when I was in my 20s and 30s, just makes me alive and dance non-stop. I am in my 60s and with one of the quest “10x” completely changed my life and perspective of aging. I thought I would never reach a complete state of fitness, and I reached. I am a hungry learner and like to experiment.
Greetings and thank you for your many efforts. I seem to be at a very different stage of life and thought than you. I’ve accomplished a career, business, children, financial wealth and many things I envisioned and planned and wrote out. You seem to be at a point where being busy and accomplishing things ( maybe bucket lists?) are what you are about. Have you considered the why or is just being consumed by being busy is what is important?What is it that deep down propels you to all these activities?
There are people that are existing and not living. They may look interesting by doing or accomplishing things. I know you have earnest intent on helping people reach goals. For me, I’ve reached most milestones that had or have importance to me. I am tired of having to pull up and accept the mediocrity, ignorance, selfishness and apathy of the majority. AI is not going to fix that. AI delivers vanilla type compilations of answers and doctors and information streams are using it. Useful perhaps, but critical thinking and solutions to individual situations and solutions is absent and now vanilla is all we can expect. This issue was what initially drove me to the lifebook series. AI does not provide much of anything stellar nor does it help produce the well rounded individual of which the lifebook series dictates. Professionals are using the tools to do less work but not then directing focus on research or solving problems but rather offering door number 1,2 or 3.
If a person is going to use AI it needs to be used to address chores, like a washing machine, but not so that a person can then park their butt watching reality TV. I am not seeing the value chain because problems are not being solved and society and individuals are not improving overall.
So I conclude with the fact that you have created a very useful compilation of products. Daily, I ask myself the why. What am I doing this for. There are plans and actions but deep down the soul searching has to be way more than making money and being busy. I hope my remarks have not offended you but perhaps as you requested, given you pause for thought.
I missed your webinar about cloning yourself, but I am currently exploring the subject. Was it recorded and can I access the recording?
Hello Bill, you can find the replays here: https://www.youtube.com/@Mindvalley/streams
Please MindValley Sirs, I’m Jaime Sánchez from Perú. I suscribed to MindValley the 20th january, 2026. I’ve asked to get support to native Spanish people because no body can help me how can I get the Silva Method in voice-off version in Spannish, I going keeping communication with Louise with no more personal identification.
Por favor, AYUDA!!!
Hello Jaime, you can email support@mindvalley.com for support.
Yes, you left a spark in me ✨
Thank you Vishen for all your research, self-searching and inspiration you share …..food for thought.
The problem is that society treats aging as an expiration date. Something we are supposed to hide and be embarrassed about. That is even more prominent on women. Truthfully age is an indication of experience, knowledge, smarts and maybe how many people have you impact in your life.
Aging has nothing to do with capabilities, especially physical ones. We decide for our bodies without even trying first.
There are a few examples of people getting their PHDs in their 80s and dancing salsa (doing a perfect split) yes in their 80s and 90s.
I always enjoy your content.
I have heard about study but the way you have explained it makes more impact for me. So inspiring!.
Thank you
Okay, this is just a techy, needy fixin’ kind of problem I’d like to make you aware of. You see, I luv reading others different perspectives and insights on your weekly blogs, BUT it seems to me that in order to get to the OLDER comments posted at an earlier date, you have to keep selecting the NEWER comments button to go backwards in time. And I’ve even triple diple checked out my observation and I think I am correct in saying that those flippin’ switches need to be flopped, as it’s doing my head in. Especially when you have hundreds of replies and I am searching for…oh, I don’t know…like my own response to make sure I came across somewhat coherently and also enjoy my 15 seconds of fame (and a bit of ego stroking) while also ego stroking you at the same time. But yeah, swap your switches. Or maybe I’m wrong and just completely cornfused. Wouldn’t be the first time.
The most picturesque bragging I have ever read… Regarding ‘cloning thinking’—a nice buzzword, given the technical fact that thinking is absent in AI systems by design. Not taking that literally, I am pretty sure that thinking is more like a quantum phenomenon; no binary code will ever clone real thinking.
Truly inspiring, Vishen. Just what I needed. I am sharing with my husband too. I have been a member for more than a year with an annual subscription but have not done any course last year and was about to unsubscribe. The courses are less visible than before. But this blog makes me reconsider.
So it’s true that we become who we think we are.
Today and for the rest of my life, I am a highly intelligent woman connected to Source. I’m young, vibrant, attractive to amazing things (like money so I can travel), deeply loved. I’m here to do important things and I’m on my journey to get them completed.
Love this! Im 43, have 4 kids and my body was starting to feel “old”. Just sitting on the sidelines watching my kids to sports didn’t help. So I took up PARKOUR. Went to a free class at a parkour gym and was hooked. Im in class with mostly guys in their 20s but who cares, Im learning to run, jump, and balance like a kid again. I think its not so much about reversing aging or being “healthy”, it’s about HAVING FUN and LIVING, playing, experimenting…all the things this culture tells us to outgrow.
I love this information, yes I am aware of this study. Have bought into it at many levels. Reading it again with you Vishen has made me even more determined to fulfil the ever young philosophy.🤗It truly is a great deal more Fun!🤸♂️🌈😃
Love the work you do, the information you locate and give to us AND the dedication you have put in to Mind Valley. It is collectively an incredible blessing to this world along with changing the way people think! Fantastic! Change our world.Go Go Go! Thankyou Vishen.♥️🫶💕🫶♥️😘
Thank you for your story. I have had almost the opposite experience. I stopped paying attention to my age after I turned 21. My thinking was, there is no milestones for age after 21 so who cares? I didn’t make a big announcement about it or anything, I just quit counting. Throughout the years I have heard “Wow!” That’s your mom?” and “Your too young to have grown children,” and similar comments so obviously I knew I was getting older, I just didn’t care to pay attention to what number I was at. Until a few years ago. My daughter so thoughtfully pointed out that it was my 50th birthday and we should celebrate. I can honestly say I was shocked and upset. I didn’t think I was 50 and I didn’t want to know that it was the truth. Since that revelation, I suddenly started thinking of myself as too old. Almost over night I started changing, for the worst, how I acted and moved. I have had some health issues show up and struggles. For the next several years I was angry and depressed. It has taken me a while but I slowly started putting myself back on track. Watching what I say to myself and not thinking about how old I am (I stopped counting again so I’m not quite sure again) and pushing myself to do whatever physical activities I want to do. I absolutely 100% know that how you think and what you say matters!
Hey Vishen
I’ve tried a few principles from your study and honestly feel like I’ve found a little teleport to a younger me.😊
Any other,,magical ingredients,,you’re keeping for yourself?😔
I am turning 30 in May. That’s an expiration date for a woman, especially in the African culture where you need to have been married with just one child left of you, at the bare minimum. But I have been able to work past the societal expectations, and what I needed was this blog post to shift all the ‘I’m too old for this’ stuff I’ve been saying to myself lately and treating 30 like an expiration date for something. Thanks Vishen!
The quote here reinforces my experiences and knowledge as a NLP and psychological therapist. Human knows only a little bit about himself. Human trust in things that science has come to conjecture as absolute truth to risks his life. It is my experience that what modern medicine cannot solve can be solved amazingly through therapies. The mind is the ultimate player. If we take proper care of it, we can return to life as mentioned in this study or even more beautifully.