Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning

NEW REPORT "How to Sell SEL: Parents and the Politics of Social-Emotional Learning" by Adam Tyner, The Fordham Institute

Welcome back to the Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast for episode #155 with Adam Tyner from the Thomas Fordham Institute[i] (an organization that promotes educational excellence for every child in America via quality research, analysis, and commentary) on his newly released report How to Sell SEL: Parents and the Politics of Social and Emotional Learning.
Watch this interview on YouTube here https://youtu.be/BWe04ByXOpk
Access the Online Report here https://sel.fordhaminstitute.org/
Access past episodes here https://www.achieveit360.com/episodes/ 
On this episode, you will learn:
The TOP 5 Findings from Adam Tyner's NEW REPORT "Parents and the Politics of Social-Emotional Learning"
 
I'm Andrea Samadi, author, and educator from Toronto, Canada, now in Arizona, and like many of our listeners, have been fascinated with learning and understanding the science behind high performance strategies in our schools, sports, and workplace environments with ideas that we can all use, understand and implement immediately.
We do this by covering the science-based evidence behind social and emotional learning (for schools) and emotional intelligence training (in the workplace). Our podcast provides tools, resources and ideas for parents, teachers, and employees to improve well-being, achievement and productivity using simple neuroscience as it relates to our cognitive (the skills our brain uses to think, read, remember, pay attention), social and interpersonal relationships (with ourselves and others) and emotional learning (where we recognize and manage our emotions, demonstrate empathy and cope with frustration and stress).
This past week, as I was researching and learning new ideas for upcoming episodes, I saw a notification come through my phone from Twitter that caught my attention. It was from Victoria McDougald, from the Fordham Institute in Washington DC and she let me know that they were about to release a new report that explores how parents view SEL and how they want it taught in schools. We have all seen how the mental-health challenges imposed by the Covid-19 pandemic have made it more urgent to better support students’ social and emotional learning needs while also advancing their academic learning, so I put down what I was doing and wrote her back immediately. This topic is urgent, timely and important. Every day I see emails about trainings in our schools to support our students SEL needs and the challenges we have all faced are not going away, they are changing and persisting in a way I don’t think any of us imagined. The challenge that I have seen from the very beginning of watching SEL being implemented in schools across the US (starting in 2014 with just 8 States to our present day where all 50 States have some sort of SEL implementation plan) is that educators saw the importance of SEL, but didn’t know where to begin, they weren’t sure which program to use, how to integrate the SEL competencies into the curriculum. Following many of the early SEL webinars, I noticed this was a common theme. This is why we launched The Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast in June 2019 to gather ideas, strategies and best practices for those interested in learning more about this topic, with easy-to-understand implementation strategies and ideas for our schools and workplaces. The topics we cover on this podcast were going to be an Introduction to SEL Course with a well-known educational publisher, but when this direction changed, I decided to put this content out into the world, for free, to help support educators and those in the workplace.
I had no idea that this podcast would gain a global following, going into 153 countries and approaching 100,000 downloads (over 8K downloads/month) as we noticed that educators and those in the workplace were looking for new ways to sharpen their saw—with these skills that are not new, but are newly important. If this is how educators were feeling as these skills were being implemented into our schools, or employees in their workplaces, I wondered what parents would be thinking and feeling? Does the everyday modern parent know what social and emotional skills are? Since launching the podcast, I have had constant feedback from people around the world how these topics are helping people, whether it’s from Superintendents in our schools running their District, Principals running their school sites, teachers running their classrooms, or parents looking to find new ideas to inspire themselves at work, or with their own children.
As you can see from the topics we cover, these skills (that we have tied the most current brain research) are not just about teaching our next generation to be responsible citizens, or to be respectful. There are 6 competencies that we focus on, based on the research from Casel.org[ii] and implementing these competencies is an important task not only for our students, but also for our teachers. I saw this emerge as a clear hot topic with my interview with Chey and Pav on their Staffroom Podcast[iii] (they are 2 phenomenal educators from Toronto who cover educational topics to improve our next generation of teachers/students) and it became clear that teachers can see the importance of modeling these skills in our classrooms of the future, integrating them into core subject areas, but what do parents think?
That’s what we will explore on today’s episode.
I looked closer at Victoria’s message to me on Twitter, and she reminded me that “as we enter another pandemic year, the results of this first-of-its kind survey will help educators, policymakers and philanthropists gain stronger parental support and better help students navigate this exceptionally challenging time” and my response to her was “how soon can we speak?”
The report, written Adam Tyner, and the Foreword and Executive Summary by Amber Northern and Michael J. Petrill shows 5 key findings that we will dive deep into with our questions starting with the premise that “America’s hard nosed focus on academic achievement in recent decades has not improved schools nearly enough” (page 1 How to Sell SEL” and that the Common Core wars taught us that “mishandling communication about education reforms can derail good intentions.” (page 1 How to Sell SEL) so the Fordham Institute partnered with YouGov, a global public-opinion firm to develop a nationally representative survey of 2,000 parents “to gain greater clarity on what parents of K-12 students think about SEL, how they understand it, whether they see it as more help or hindrance, and whether they have concerns about its implementation.” (page 1, How to Sell SEL)
**** Since there is a political angle to the report, I wanted to mention that I am a new US Citizen (September 2018) and have only voted once (born in Great Britain, grew up in Toronto, Canada, and moved to  AZ, USA a few months before 9/11/01—with a vision to make an impact with education after the Columbine Tragedy—with SEL skills as my motivator).
I’m really interested to dive deep with the report author, data analyst and project manager, Adam Tyner, on the results and findings, to see if we can bring more clarity for educators and parents on the future of SEL in our schools, and demystify these “social and emotional skills” that I have dedicated my life’s work towards, with the hopes that some change occurs in our schools, and communities of the future.
Welcome Adam Tyner, thank you for meeting with me so quickly after the release of this report. I’m sure you can see that I recognize how timely and important this topic is.
Before we get to the questions, and the top findings of your report, I have to ask you “How was your honeymoon?” as I know you’ve just returned!  Congratulations on this new milestone in your life. Life isn’t all about work, or we would all burn out fast, so I think it’s important to recognize and celebrate this time.
Adam, let’s dive into your “How to Sell SEL” Report. I wanted to go through each of the 5 key findings of the report and discuss each one to perhaps bring more clarity around each of the areas you have uncovered as important for parents of K-12 students. How does that sound?
Q1: For Finding #1: There is broad support among parents teaching SEL-related skills in schools, although the term “social and emotional learning” is relatively unpopular. (Page 1)
I looked at figure-1 and see the SEL skills that were measured in the survey, and my first thought was. Are parents clear what social and emotional skills REALLY mean? I looked at the survey questions and the term social and emotional learning was defined as “The process of developing self-awareness, self-control, interpersonal skills, responsible or ethical decision-making and civic awareness.” (page 34)
I mentioned in the backstory that SEL is not just about teaching our next generation how to hold open doors for each other, or to be responsible citizens. These are character traits that I agree need to be taught (and I saw one character trait being measured)—prepare students to be an active and informed citizen. When conducting this survey, I think there were still some grey areas that could use some clarity for parents to grasp the importance of these skills, that Casel.org has proven with their research[iv] to provide an 11-percentile point gain for students who learn and implement these SEL skills.  With this first finding, I wanted to break down the skills that you measured so that parents, educators, and policymakers can see which skills are social and interpersonal, which ones are emotional and the skills that are cognitive. This way, it takes the emphasis off the term “social and emotional skills” that people might have their own cognitive bias with--and look at these skills broken down into these 3 categories, so that we can then see which categories parents place more value on.
 
To break these skills into 3 clear categories, I’ve used a report developed by Hank Resnik for The Aspen Institute called Integrating Social, Emotional and Academic Development: [v] where he  brings clarity to the term “social and emotional learning.” From looking at the 3 categories in Hank Resnik’s report, it looks like parents in your survey
Valued Setting Goals and Working Towards Achieving Them (93%) which is listed as a Cognitive Skill
Approaching Challenges in a Positive Way (91%) which I think would fall under Social and Interpersonal Skills.
Parents next valued students Believe in Themselves and Their Abilities (91%) which I would put under the Emotional category.
Navigate Social Situations (Social-Awareness-Social and Interpersonal)
Respond Ethically (Social-Awareness-Social and Interpersonal)
Prepare to be an Active, Informed Citizen (Social-Awareness-Social and Interpersonal)
Understand, Express and Control Their Emotions (Self-Management-Emotional)
Empathize with the Feelings of Others (Social-Awareness-Social and Interpersonal).
Question 1: To me, when we break down the competencies into these 3 sections (cognitive, social and interpersonal and emotional) it seems like parents put the most value on setting goals and working towards them, which is a cognitive skill, Social and Interpersonal Skills (Mindset, Social Awareness) next, and emotional skills last (empathize with others/stand up for people of different backgrounds). What do you think about these findings? When we put the competencies into clear categories, what do you think about the fact that parents value setting and achieving goals over standing up for people with different backgrounds and empathizing with the feelings of others? If page 11 of the report noted a quote about the importance of our citizens to empathize with others, why did empathy show up last in the first findings, do you think?
Horacio Sanchez, the author of the Poverty Problem--Empathy plays a critical role in reading comprehension. Low empathy, low comprehension.
COGNITIVE SKILLS FIRST 
Setting/Achieving Goals (93%)
SOCIAL AND INTERPERSONAL
MINDSET
SOCIAL-AWARENESS
CHARACTER TRAIT of CITIZENSHIP
SELF-MANAGEMENT-Understand and Manage Emotions (82%)
SOCIAL-AWARENESS-Empathize with the Feelings of Others (81%)
Figure 2: Integrating Social, Emotional and Academic Development (page 3)
Social and Interpersonal Skills like:
How to navigate social situations
Resolving conflicts
Showing respect towards others
Emotional Skills like:
Recognizing and managing one’s emotions
Empathy: the ability to understand the emotions and perspectives of others
The ability to cope with frustration, disappointments and stress
Finally, there’s Academic or Cognitive Skills, the core skills our brain uses to think, read, remember, reason and pay attention. Skills like:
Focus
Setting goals
Planning and organizing
Perseverance
Problem solving
I have followed Stephanie Jones from Harvard[vi] over the years and her work on SEL Frameworks defines the domains with the three we mentioned (cognitive, social and emotional) in addition to values, perspectives and identity which I think are important to note as well.  
Do you think that values that include character skills, virtues and habits were clear where they fit into the realm of social and emotional learning instruction for parents? I think Values and Character are separate from SEL skills, and Identity/Mindset/Self-efficacy is important, just like your survey shows with the next findings.
Q2: For findings #2: Democratic parents favor schools allocating additional resources to SEL more than Republican parents do. 
Students should be given honest feedback for them to learn from mistakes/grown (which both parties agree on). When I see the discrepancy with students’ SEL needs must be met for them to reach their academic potential (89% for D and 75% for R) it makes me think that R are unclear of what exactly these SEL skills are. If they knew about how CASEL’s research shows that students who studied these SEL competencies show an 11-percentile academic gain, wouldn’t they all agree that students’ SEL needs must be met for them to reach their full potential?
Q3: Across the political spectrum, parents regard families as the most important entities for cultivating SEL yet there are partisan differences regarding how and where to emphasize SEL instruction.
Q3: I wasn’t surprised that the term “Social and Emotional Learning” is less popular than life skills, because going back to our question #1, I don’t think there is clarity around what these skills are.  Every single SEL webinar I attended began with someone giving a framework or clear definition of these skills so that educators began to see them in terms of SEL competencies.
Stephanie Jones from Harvard’s Easel Lab[vii] and her work on SEL Frameworks clearly defines the domains with the three we mentioned (cognitive, social and emotional) in addition to values, perspectives and identity which I think are important to note as well.  
For those who answered the survey and have their own assumption of what these skills are, will choose a term that fits what they think they are, and the problem I see, is that the survey leaves out the research behind these important skills. If we go back to Hank Resnik’s report from the Aspen Institute, life skills correlate closer to cognitive skills, but they leave out the skills that I’ve uncovered in this podcast that 58% of Employers Say Students Aren’t Learning in College.[viii]
with communication being one of them, which is a social and interpersonal skill. Adam, do you think that if Social and Emotional Learning was better defined with your survey, that all 2,000 respondents saw them divided how Hank divided them, with the research attached, and the survey that follows the importance of these skills in the workplace, that the label or term “Social and Emotional Learning” would have a wider acceptance?
Q4: Republicans are somewhat more wary than Democrats that SEL might divert schools away from academics or conflict with their own values.  This has been something I have heard for years, from students, teachers, parents, and from our publishers who wonder how important these SEL competencies are. Do these skills really make an impact on our next generation of students? 
Casel.org’s research says it does. I dive deep into the 5 SEL Competencies and why they are so important on a recent podcast episode #152[ix] with an expert in psychology and cognitive neuroscience, Dr. Howard Rankin, since the research is clear and shows us that students with strong SEL health “demonstrate self-control, communicate well, problem solve, are empathetic, respectful, grateful, gritty and optimistic.”[x]
“Success in life, and in college and career specifically, relies on student’s cognitive, social, and emotional development. (Integrating Social, Emotional and Academic Development: An Action Guide for School Leadership Teams[xi]) page 4
“Research shows that teaching these skills result in immediate and long-term improvement in academic achievements and are a better predictor of success than academic ability alone.” (Perspectives of Youth on High School and SEL Webinar, Dec. 11/18).[xii]
Were the parents surveyed aware of the research behind SEL impacting academic achievement? What do think of these findings? Saying they are important and instilling them in your own children are 2 completely different things.
Have they ever tried teaching these skills to their own children? I ask this because I’ve been aware of these skills since I saw them impacting a group of teens in the late 1990s, so of course, when my kids were old enough, I had them setting goals until they hit a certain age, and they started rolling their eyes at me when I would say “ok, what do you want to accomplish this year?” The yellow chart paper that used to hang up on their bedroom walls have been replaced with gymnastics trophies, and my girls don’t listen to me anymore…but they listen to their coaches at the gym. I saw that these skills were taught more effectively outside of the home. I can only reinforce these skills, like I do with healthy eating, but they stopped goal setting with me, and would prefer to do that with their coach at the gym.
Q5: Differences by parents’ race, class and religion are rarely as pronounced as differences by political affiliation and parents of different races prefer varying SEL related program names (Developing Grit/Emotional Intelligence/Positive Youth Development/Character Education).
For thing angle, I consulted with my good friend Horacio Sanchez, the author of The Poverty Problem, since our conversation on the podcast covered race and religion, and when I don’t know something, I like to ask others to gain a different perspective and he said to me “When non-political issues are politicized, it often stems from how its being portrayed and being informed” and asked “do you think the political debate concerning SEL is related to the lack of understanding of what it is?”
What do you think?
DIVING DEEPER INTO WHAT PARENTS THINK AND FEEL ABOUT SEL:
Andrea and Adams discuss these comments about the view of parents/SEL.
“Confidence is built by doing”  Andrea discusses with Adam that these skills can translate cross-curricular (math/confidence) blasting through a math problem, building confidence, but have a discussion about it so that it’s not missed that it was perseverance and persistence that helped the student to solve the problem.
Parents need to teach and reinforce SEL with their kids. Yes, we all must teach and reinforce these skills. Home/schools/sports. There are many skills I cannot teach my children (even though I have tried) but they learn them through their coaches through sport. It’s takes a village.
We must know how these skills translate back towards our academics, and think deeper about what improves our mathematical skills. (Dr. Ratey’s[xiii] work- Naperville’s Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) where they scored #1 in science and #6 in math, in the world, proving that there was something unique that Naperville had discovered with correlation of exercise and academic achievement).
Navigating relationships is important (which is why it’s one of Casel’s 5 competencies) and being mindful of behavior and consequences (brings us back to neuroscience and the brain with executive functions/thinking).
This is why teachers must be trained in trauma-informed practices and understand how the brain works. Horacio Sanchez[xiv] Dr. Bruce Perry (What Happened to You Book) and Dr. Lori Desautels[xv] all teach how the brain impacts learning.
Adam, I want to thank you very much for your time today, discussing something that I know we both agree is important to unpack a bit more.
What are your final thoughts?
For those who want to learn more about the report, what is the best way to access it? https://sel.fordhaminstitute.org/ 
Thank you!
 
REFERENCES:
[i] https://fordhaminstitute.org/tags/washington-dc
[ii] https://casel.org/sel-framework/
[iii] Chey and Pav Speak to Andrea Samadi about Social and Emotional Learning in our Schools https://open.spotify.com/episode/0IaXGeegsY2d3Y23WmCgRa?go=1&utm_source=embed_v3&t=0&nd=1
[iv] https://casel.org/research/
[v]Integrating Social, Emotional and Academic Development: An Action Guide for School Leadership Teams by Hank Resnik March 2019  https://www.aspeninstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/UPDATED-FINAL-Aspen_Integrating-Report_4_Single.pdf
[vi] https://easel.gse.harvard.edu/people/stephanie-m-jones
[vii] https://easel.gse.harvard.edu/people/stephanie-m-jones
[viii]Employers Say Students Aren’t Learning Soft Skills in College by Dana Wilkie October 21, 2019 https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/hr-topics/employee-relations/pages/employers-say-students-arent-learning-soft-skills-in-college.aspx
[ix] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #152 with Dr. Howard Rankin and Andrea Samadi  https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/expert-in-psychology-cognitive-neuroscience-and-neurotechnology-howard-rankin-phdinterviews-andrea-samadi/
[x] SEL: The Why and Hows of Implementation in a School District (Edweb) https://home.edweb.net/webinar/sel20190404/  (April 4, 2019)
[xi] Integrating Social, Emotional and Academic Development: An Action Guide for School Leadership Teams by Hank Resnik (March 2019) https://education-first.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/UPDATED-FINAL-Aspen_Integrating-Report_4_Single.pdf
[xii] Report By Civic with Hart Research Associates Jennifer L. DePaoli, Matthew N. Atwell, John M. Bridgeland & Timothy P. Shriver
Respected: Perspectives of Youth on High School & Social and Emotional Learning  https://casel.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Respected.pdf  CASEL WEBINAR https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3Nsr7ELsNQ
[xiii] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #116 with Dr. John Ratey  https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/best-selling-author-john-j-ratey-md-on-the-revolutionary-new-science-of-exercise-and-the-brain/
[xiv] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE  #74 with Horacio Sanchez https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/leading-brain-science-and-resiliency-expert-horatio-sanchez-on-how-to-apply-brain-science-to-improve-instruction-and-school-climate/
[xv]Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #56 with Dr. Lori Desautels  https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/educational-neuroscience-pioneer-dr-lori-desautels-on-her-new-book-about-connections-over-compliance-rewiring-our-perceptions-of-discipline/

Author and Film Producer Tom Cronin on "The Portal Book and Movie: How Meditation Can Save The World"

Welcome back to the Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast for episode #154 with someone who travels globally presenting about something we all need to learn how to experience in today’s world--- author of 6 books and the co-creator of the Portal Film/book experience, where he teaches about the power in the stillness and the science behind the stillness—Tom Cronin, also known as The King of Calm.[i]
Watch this interview on YouTube here https://youtu.be/veUZ-C5REl4
Learn more about Tom Cronin here https://www.tomcronin.com/
See past episodes of The Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast here https://www.achieveit360.com/episodes/ 
On this episode, you will learn:
✔︎ How Tom Cronin, from Australia, overcame a nervous breakdown by starting a meditation practice, inspiring him to share his story others with The Portal Film and Book.
✔︎ A Deep Dive into the Top 4 Meditation Styles (Concentration, Contemplation, Chanting and Transcendental).
✔︎ Tom’s thoughts on The Plane of Possibility and How to Create Something Out of Nothing.
✔︎ Why meditation is an important and timely topic to change the world during these high-stress and anxiety times.
I'm Andrea Samadi, author, and educator from Toronto, Canada, now in Arizona, and like many of our listeners, have been fascinated with learning and understanding the science behind high performance strategies in our schools, sports, and workplace environments with ideas that we can all use, understand and implement immediately.
Our guest this week, Tom Cronin[ii] spent 26 years in finance, as one of Sydney Australia’s leading bond and swap brokers. He discovered meditation in the early stages of his career when anxiety and chaos he was experiencing due to stress and poor lifestyle choices led him to a breakdown. He came across meditation, and it completely transformed his life—both personally and professionally.
Today Tom is passionate about reducing stress and chaos in people’s lives and his mission is to inspire 7 billion people to meditate daily through his Stillness Project that aims to transform and teach people the power of stillness and calm through the power of deep meditation and coaching. His work in transformational leadership and cultivating inner peace takes him around the world as a speaker, presenting keynotes, hosting retreats and teaching.
Tom has appeared on national TV, and featured in Vogue, Daily Telegraph, Sydney Morning Herald, Business Review and many other media outlets.
When I first was introduced to Tom Cronin, and looked up his work with The Stillness Project, I knew he was someone I needed to speak with and immediately recognized how important and powerful his mission is. Especially in today’s times. We have featured some speakers on the podcast who have explained meditation, and how to begin, with episode #25[iii] with Mick Neustadt on “How Meditation and Mindfulness Changes Your Life” and episode #28[iv] with Dr. Daniel J Siegel took us a bit deeper with his episode on “Mindsight: The Basis for Social and Emotional Intelligence.” I’m excited to dive even deeper into the power of meditation, exploring what we can all expect with our practice, and where and how to begin, at a time when we could all use stillness, calm and peace in our lives.
“When life is built on the stillness of being, it becomes an effortless flow.” –Tom Cronin
Let’s meet Tom Cronin!
Welcome Tom Cronin, thank you for meeting with me today—all the way from Australia! It’s incredible to speak directly with The King of Calm-just what I need today.
INTRO: Tom, before we get to the questions to dive deeper into The Stillness Project, and your Movie and Book The Portal, can you share what even brought you to start looking at meditation in the first place? Especially since it’s been challenging times for many people all over the world, and times where stress is at an all-time high, along with anxiety and depression. Can you share what happened to you that made you decide there has to be a better way, leading you to the work you are doing today and a healthier outlook on life?
Q1: I watched a few of your podcast interviews and will link them in the show notes, so listeners can go back and listen to you dive deep into the best way to begin a meditation practice, that you cover on your interview with Brian Scott[v] but I did love how took a deeper dive into the Top 4 meditation styles for people who might want to begin, and they aren’t sure of the best entry point? For these Top 4 meditation styles, can we start with what I think I know about them, and you expand them a bit?
Concentration: I was looking for ideas to improve my focus and concentration in the late 1990s when I first began studying with Bob Proctor. I came across an exercise with a candle to improve meditation, focus, concentration, and even use the mind to change colors.
Contemplation: Guided Meditation- I began using these types of meditation with John Assaraf’s Winning the Game of Money (wealth consciousness) and Business Programs (business mindset). These types of guided meditation are to help us to improve our mindset in a certain area?
Chanting: Andrew Newburg (professor and director of research from the from the Marcus Institute of Integrative Health) EPISODE #88[vi] talked about the power of the Kirtan Kriya Meditation[vii] (that I have not done, but his books swear by this technique for even the toughest guys he’s ever seen) and when I worked with Bob Proctor in the seminar industry, I was given a card with a Buddhist chant written on it from someone I would consider to be highly influential, who shanded me this card and said “Say this every day and watch your life change in front of your eyes.” That card has gone everywhere I go for over 20 years now. I didn’t have any training on what this chant was supposed to do, but I said it for years…what is the purpose behind chanting to improve focus/mindset or our results?
Transcendental: I think Dawson Church’s Bliss Brain Meditations from EPISODE #98[viii] fall into this category but I would like to learn more from you on this. I know you talk about this style of meditation leading someone to pure joy and bliss. I haven’t stopped listening to Dawson Church’s[ix] meditations since I interviewed him last December. They are all focused on finding peace, joy and happiness. How would you describe this type of meditation?
Q2: After I interviewed Dr. Daniel Siegel, when we first launched this podcast, I did a deep dive into the Science Behind the Benefits of a Meditation Practice, since Dr. Siegel highlighted so many of the proven health, wellness, and even anti-aging benefits of meditating on episode #60.[x] There is one concept that I think I’m still learning, and you covered it on the podcast I listened to with you and Brian Scott, but I wonder if you can go a bit deeper into explaining this. I have put an image in the show notes of what Dr. Siegel would call the “3 P Diagram with State of Mind” that I think is that plane of possibility that we enter during meditation where all possibilities open up. Not to say that everyone gets to this place on day 1 of meditating, but for those looking to solve problems, or gather insight about their life, can you explain some things you have learned about accessing this plane of possibility and what some people might have discovered here?
Q3: I loved hearing that you were inspired by the movie, The Secret[xi], to produce your own movie on meditation. I mention that I did begin my journey with Bob Proctor[xii] in the late 1990s and many of the Secret teachers over the years have inspired the work that I am doing today. From what I have seen with The Portal Movie[xiii] and Book with the trailer is that what you have created is equally as inspiring and life changing as the movie The Secret. How do you see this moving changing the world, helping people to find more happiness and joy and calm their minds in these challenging times?
Q3B: How can someone watch The Portal Movie? https://entertheportal.com/
Q4: What are some of the other programs and services you offer through your website?
Q5: Is there anything important that you think I have missed?
Thank you very much for speaking with me today, Tom. If someone wants to learn more about Tom Cronin, visit his website  https://www.tomcronin.com/  or https://entertheportal.com/ 
Thank you!
 
RESOURCES:
Andrea Samadi’s First Book The Secret for Teens Revealed was also inspired by the movie, The Secret, published in 2008.  https://www.amazon.com/Secret-Teens-Revealed-Teenagers-Leadership/dp/1604940336
https://awakeandmindful.com/how-to-do-a-candle-gazing-meditation-trataka/
REFERENCES:
[i] https://stillnessproject.com/about/
[ii] https://www.tomcronin.com/
[iii] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #25 with Mick Neustadt on “How Meditation and Mindfulness Changes Your Life” https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/mindfulness-and-meditation-expert-mick-neustadt-on-how-meditation-and-mindfulness-changes-your-life-results-and-potential/
[iv]Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #28 with Dr. Daniel Siegel on “Mindsight: The Basis for Social and Emotional Intelligence.”
https://www.achieveit360.com/clinical-professor-of-psychiatry-at-the-ucla-school-of-medicine-dr-daniel-siegel-on-mindsight-the-basis-for-social-and-emotional-intelligence/
[v] Brian Scott Interviews Tom Cronin, The Founder of The Stillness Project on “How Meditation Can Save the World” Published August 13th, 2020 on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aYT8-mcBFoc
[vi] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #88 with Dr. Andrew Newberg on “Neurotheology, Spect Scans and the Aging Brain” https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/neuroscientist-andrew-newberg-md-on-neurotheology-spect-scans-and-the-aging-brain/
[vii] Kirtan Kriya Meditation https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfKEAiwrgeY
[viii] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #98 with Dawson Church on “The Science Behind Using Meditation: Rewiring Your Brain for Happiness” https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/dr-dawson-church-on-the-science-behind-using-meditation-rewiring-your-brain-for-happiness-resilience-and-joy/
[ix] https://blissbrainbook.com/
[x] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #60 “The Science Behind a Meditation Practice: Daniel Siegel’s Wheel of Awareness Meditation” https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/the-science-behind-a-meditation-practice-with-a-deep-dive-into-dr-dan-siegel-s-wheel-of-awareness/
[xi] The Secret by Rhonda Byrne https://www.netflix.com/title/70063484
Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #66 with Bob Proctor on “Social and Emotional Learning: Where it All Began”  https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/the-legendary-bob-proctor-on/
[xiii] https://entertheportal.com/

Mark Herschberg on "The Career Toolkit Book: Essential Skills for Success That No One Taught You"

Welcome back to the Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast for episode #153 with Mark Herschberg[i], the author of The Career Toolkit: Essential Skills for Success That No One Taught You.
Watch this interview on YouTube here. https://youtu.be/ifPsPNT36WE
Learn more about Mark Herschberg and his Career Toolkit Book here https://www.thecareertoolkitbook.com/ 
See past episodes here https://www.achieveit360.com/episodes/ 
I'm Andrea Samadi, author, and educator from Toronto, Canada, now in Arizona, and like many of our listeners, have been fascinated with learning and understanding the science behind high performance strategies in our schools, sports, and the workplace with ideas that we can all use, understand and implement immediately.
Our guest for this week, Mark Herschberg, who has spent his career identifying and studying the skill gap that exists for what he calls firm skills, including networking, negotiating, communicating, leading, and career planning. We tend to think of many of these as situational skills, but Herschberg says they are really life skills — none of which are formally taught in school. We have been talking about these skills since the launch of this podcast 2 years ago. We call them social and emotional skills as they are known in our schools emotional intelligence skills in the workplace.
I’m extremely interested in speaking to Mark about the gaps that he sees with these skills since a recent survey that I saw and mention often showed that 58% of employers say college graduates aren’t adequately prepared for today’s workforce, and those employers noted a particular gap in social and emotional skills. Students who learn to master these important skills will get ahead faster with less effort and frustration than those who lack these skills.
We have spoken a lot about the social and interpersonal skills, emotional and cognitive skills where there is a clear gap on this podcast. These skills do translate into the workplace to help students prepare for life after high school, into college, career and beyond.
Just to recap, there are five distinct components of Emotional Intelligence that are important in the workplace:
Self-awareness: This is important in the workplace because you need to know yourself first before you can help others with your product or service.
Self-regulation: There will be many times in the day where you will be tested and to be able to manage your emotions under pressure is very important.
Internal (or intrinsic) motivation: What is motivating you to get up and serve each day?
Empathy: is an important skill to have to connect with others. You must be able to see the world through someone else’s eyes.
Social skills: are important from ordering your lunch in a restaurant, to picking up your rental car and dealing with the front desk employees in the hotel you are staying at.
If students do not learn these skills at an early age, they will struggle with their life and future career. Whatever model or SEL competency a school uses, whether it’s the Casel 5 competencies[ii] that we have modelled our work after, or something similar that Renee Adams explained in EPISODE #151[iii] with the Goleman Emotional Intelligence Training Model, the idea is that we prepare our next generation of students to thrive in this ever-changing world and that we as adults are modelling these skills.
Before we meet Mark, I want to share a bit more about the work he has been doing the past few decades, as there is always so much more to someone than meets the eye with the books they write, or their career path.
Mark is the author of The Career Toolkit, Essential Skills for Success That No One Taught You. Educated at MIT, Mark has spent his career launching and fixing new ventures at startups, Fortune 500s, and academia. He’s developed new software languages, online marketplaces, new authentication systems, and tracked criminals and terrorists on the dark web. I must ask him something about what he learned here, since my husband spends a lot of his spare time with his volunteer work with our local Sheriff’s Posse. Mark helped create the Undergraduate Practice Opportunities Program, MIT’s “Career Success Accelerator”, where he’s taught for twenty years.
Let’s meet Mark Herschberg!
Welcome Mark, I was so grateful that Howard Rankin introduced us after he interviewed you on his podcast. Thank you for taking the time to speak with me about what you have been focused on for the past few decades, that really is what my podcast has been centered around. Welcome!
Intro Question: Mark, as much as I want to go straight to asking you questions about The Career Toolkit, I can’t ignore one part of your BIO, especially as my husband spends so much of his time working in law enforcement with the volunteer work he does with AZ’s Maricopa Sheriff’s Posse Program. What did you learn from tracking criminals and terrorists on the dark web that you have applied to helping people with their career? Maybe how to stay busy and away from criminal activity?
Q1: We launched this podcast with the goal of helping educators to understand and implement social and emotional learning skills in our schools, with a focus on emotional intelligence skills for those in the workplace and I have been quoting a study that said 58% of employers say college graduates aren’t adequately prepared for today’s workforce, and those employers noted a particular gap in social and emotional skills and that “3 out of 4 employers say they have a hard time finding graduates with the soft skills their companies need.”[iv] What did you hear when you were at MIT[v] about these “missing skills” across the US and Internationally that inspired you to write The Career Toolkit Book?
Q2: As I am researching the top soft skills that are missing in the corporate world, (since I do get asked this all the time—why are the SEL skills that are being taught in our schools not transferring to our corporate space). I did see a PDF that Shrm.org released mentioning the Top 3 soft skills that are lacking are problem solving, critical thinking, innovation, and creativity (which I would agree to be lacking everywhere I have ever worked which is why I left the corporate world, tired of having a vision that no one else could see), the ability to deal with complexity and ambiguity (since the brain doesn’t like incompleteness or conflict)[vi] and communication. After 20 years of working directly with these missing skills, how would you list them, what other skills are missing, and let’s even pinpoint this down more, what would you say people are missing with something as important as Networking that will not set them up for the life-long ability to ask someone for help with whatever it is they might need, 3, 5 or 10 years down the line? I ask this with the vision to continue to produce content that reinforces the needed skills in the K-12 school market.
Image Source: The Global Skills Shortage PDF[vii]
Q3: As I was reading through your website, I saw an incredible number of FREE resources[viii] that I think are valuable and important for anyone to download in addition to The Career Toolkit Book. When I’m looking through social media these days, I can’t escape posts that are focused on “Finding Your Purpose” or even thinking about Simon Sinek’s Start With Why[ix] because this really should be the starting place when thinking about our Career Path (pick a career with meaning so you don’t mind waking up every day and spending all day working in this field. It might seem like going back to the basics, but as you say, this isn’t taught anywhere, and no one wants to wake up one day and realize they are on the wrong path with their career, and if they do, they need to pivot.  For companies who have bought your book to improve their team’s personal and professional effectiveness, what are some examples or case studies of those who have had outstanding results? Have you ever heard of people studying your work and it wakes them up to switching to an entirely new career?
Q4: Everyone loves the “Cliff Notes” version of a book to simplify the ideas you teach. I saw you have a SYNOPSIS[x] page on your website that takes someone through the 3 sections of the book (Career, Leadership and Management, and Interpersonal Dynamics) after some important chapters—Career Plan, Working Effectively and Interviewing. I have so many questions that would dig deep into each area but wanted to ask you to drill down more on Interviewing Skills, since anyone in a management position must interview candidates to fill their empty slots, but it can be extremely difficulty finding the right candidate. What are some tips/strategies that you think are crucial for a “trained” interviewer to consider when looking for their ideal candidate, so they avoid that dreaded experience of getting to the end of the hiring process and they must start over again because they weren’t able to identify the right candidate?
Q4B: What services do you offer?
Q5: I love The Career Toolkit App[xi] because it’s always fun to have tips and ideas on your phone, to put the new strategies we are working on at the forefront of our mind.  I downloaded the app and wonder what do you want users to think about, learn and take away from using this app?
5B: Can you explain the 3 parts of the book? (Career, Leadership and Management, and Interpersonal Dynamics)
Q6: Something that has come up a few times on the podcast as I’m talking to people about the post-pandemic workplace, many companies have gone through some sort of change (either in management) or even a whole new restructuring. During times of change, what would you suggest people focus on to keep moving forward, rather than get stuck in resistance of thinking they liked the old way better, or their old manager did things this way?
Q7: I know that you see how we’ve arrived at this place where these skills were missing in the corporate place, since they have not been important in our schools in the past, but they are gaining importance and making their way into the Corporate World. What would you say would be a model Corporate Workplace, using the skills and strategies in your book, and preparing the next generation of employees for a successful future career?
Q8: Is there anything important that I have missed?
Thank you very much Mark for your time today, to share these important resources with listeners.  I will put the links to connect with you in the show notes, but other than buying the book, what other programs and training do you offer?
Thank you!
Social Media and Follow Mark
https://www.linkedin.com/in/hershey/
https://twitter.com/CareerToolkitBk                                     @CareerToolkitBk
https://www.facebook.com/TheCareerToolkitBook              @TheCareerToolkitBook
https://www.instagram.com/thecareertoolkit/                       @thecareertoolkit
RESOURCES:
https://www.thecareertoolkitbook.com/resources
Career Toolkit App https://www.thecareertoolkitbook.com/app
Paul Ekman’s Work Inspired a TV Series https://www.paulekman.com/projects/lie-to-me/
Deborah Tannen Talking from 9 to 5: Women and Men at Work   http://www.deborahtannen.com/talking-from-9-to-5
REFERENCES:
[i] https://www.thecareertoolkitbook.com/
[ii] https://casel.org/core-competencies/
[iii] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #151 with Renee Adams on “Developing Emotional Intelligence Skills Early to Guarantee Future Success” https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/goleman-certified-emotional-intelligence-coach-renee-adams-on-developing-ei-skills-early-to-guarantee-future-success/
[iv] Employers Say Students Aren’t Learning Soft Skills in College by Dana Wilkie October 21, 2019 https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/hr-topics/employee-relations/pages/employers-say-students-arent-learning-soft-skills-in-college.aspx
[v] https://www.mit.edu/
[vi]Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #44 12 Mind-Boggling Discoveries About the Brain  https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/andrea-samadis-12-mind-boggling-discoveries-about-the-brain/
[vii] The Global Skills Shortage: Bridging the Talent Gap with Education, Training and Sourcing  PDF by Shrm.org  https://www.shrm.org/hr-today/trends-and-forecasting/research-and-surveys/documents/shrm%20skills%20gap%202019.pdf
[viii] https://www.thecareertoolkitbook.com/resources#guides
[ix] Simon Sinek “Start With Why” https://simonsinek.com/product/start-with-why/
[x] https://www.thecareertoolkitbook.com/synopsis
[xi] https://www.thecareertoolkitbook.com/app

Expert in Psychology, Cognitive Neuroscience and Neurotechnology, Howard Rankin Ph.D.Interviews Andrea Samadi

Welcome back to the Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast, episode #152 with a special episode with expert in psychology and cognitive neuroscience, Dr. Howard Rankin who will interview me for a change of pace.
Watch the interview on YouTube here https://youtu.be/Sh7_HAGzkhQ
See past episodes here https://www.achieveit360.com/episodes/ 
On this episode you will learn:
✔︎ A review of 3/6 Social and Emotional Learning Competencies
✔︎ Andrea’s Background and Where it All Began
✔︎ How She Started Working with Educational Neuroscience
✔︎ How Her Level Up Programs Were Chosen by AZ Department of Education
✔︎ How to Use an Understanding of the Brain to Impact Behavior
✔︎ How to Use Emotional Intelligence in the Workplace
I'm Andrea Samadi, author and educator from Toronto, Canada, now in Arizona, and like many of our listeners, have been fascinated with learning and understanding the science behind high performance strategies in our schools, sports, and the workplace with ideas that we can all use, understand and implement immediately, for improved results.  
This week, with the 2021 Olympics[i] in full swing, some of the headlines have caught my attention, specifically the story of gymnast Simone Biles, since both of my girls are in competitive gymnastics, with a rigorous training schedule. Assistant Superintendent Greg Wolcott, from Chicago, who has appeared on our podcast twice so far with EPISODE #7[ii] on “Building Relationships in Today’s Classrooms” and again for EPISODE #64[iii] on “Making Connections with Neuroscience and Social and Emotional Learning” pointed out that Biles used "self-awareness, self-management and responsible decision-making to look after her personal well-being" proving that these skills are not just important, but crucial to develop in our children, for future success.
As I was preparing to release my interview with Dr. Rankin, I thought it would be important to review these 3 Social and Emotional Learning Competencies and reflect on them to see where we are with them in our personal and professional life.  These competencies are the backbone to what we cover on this podcast, with our goals to connect these competencies to the most current neuroscience research, hence the name of our podcast, “Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning.”
Review of Three Important Social and Emotional Learning Competencies:
If we think about how these competencies played out for Simone Biles, I’m sure we could all agree that we use these important competencies on a day-to-day basis. It’s not just our students who must think about making responsible decisions, it’s all of us, every day, as we juggle life’s many obstacles like our work, family and all of the changes that come our way in our personal and professional lives. For today’s episode, we will look at the three competencies that Greg Wolcott pointed out she used and see if we can think about them in our daily life.
Are you self-aware?
How about your self-management? Are you in control of your emotions and behaviors?
Do you make responsible decisions?
SELF-AWARENESS: We released this episode #2[iv] in July 2019 and this episode gained immediate interest since to “know thyself” is the most substantial achievement we can have in our lifetime.
“The major value in life is not what you get. It’s what you become.” (Jim Rohn, American author, speaker and entrepreneur).
So, let’s take a deeper look. What is self-awareness, why do we need it, and how can we get more of it?
Self-awareness is “the ability to see ourselves clearly, understand who we are, how others see us and how we fit into the world.”[v] When we have self-awareness, we have a power within ourselves because there is a comfort in knowing who exactly we are and where we fit into the larger world around us. Research shows that “people who are more self-aware have stronger relationships, are more creative, competent are better communicators and perform better at work.”
Do you know yourself? What drives you, or even what gets under your skin? Go back and listen to this episode for a full list of strategies and suggestions to dive deeper into yourself, but as I’m learning, it’s a lifetime project. Keep learning, growing and moving towards your goals with each new idea and suggestion, and please do keep sending me messages through social media. It really does help to hear how you are using these ideas.
SELF-REGULATION/SELF-MANAGEMENT: We covered this competency on episode #14[vi] and in many other episodes as it clearly became a topic of interest, but one of my favorite episodes was episode #53[vii] from April 2020 on self-regulation and your brain based on the work on Dr. Bruce Perry from the Neurosequential Network[viii], who will be appearing on the podcast in October of this year on his new book with Oprah Winfrey, What Happened to You[ix]?
What is Self-Regulation and Why is it So Important? 
Self-regulation is “the ability to manage your emotions and behavior in accordance with the demands of the situation. It includes being able to resist highly emotional reactions to upsetting stimuli, to calm yourself down when you get upset, adjust to a change in expectations and (the ability) to handle frustration”[x] In other words, it’s the ability to bounce back after a setback or disappointment, and the ability to stay in congruence with your inner value system. 
The ability to control one's behavior, emotions, and thoughts is an integral skill to be taught to young children as well, so they can form and maintain healthy relationships and connections later in life.[xi]  As an adult, self-regulation is important in day-to-day life as we must learn how to handle and bounce back from life’s challenges and disappointments in our personal and professional lives.  This skill is crucial to develop as we all know that life is full of ups and downs and we must be able to navigate through challenging situations before we can reach any level of achievement and success. We all know people who seem to bounce back after adversity. It’s not by luck or chance, it’s because they have learned how to self-regulate and intentionally get themselves back on course. This is a learned skill and one that we must teach or model to our students/children for them to be able to master it as adults. I’m still working on this one myself!
RESPONSIBLE DECISION-MAKING: We released this episode #12[xii] on August 9th, 2019.
Understanding the neuroscience[xiii] behind decision-making can be an important tool when looking for new results and making improvements with this competency. To make sound decisions, we must have a healthy and sound brain. We discussed the importance of brain development and results and the fact that “your brain is not fully developed until the age of 25 for females and 28 for males”[xiv] on past episodes so it is critical that we take care of our brain to ensure that we are able to make sound decisions later in life.  An understanding of our brain’s functions and form are crucial to our future success, since our brain is involved in literally everything that we do. Changing our thinking is the first step towards changing our results and no one can do this for you. The next step is taking action on the decisions.
Most people get stuck here and end up blaming others for their results when they look around and don’t like what they see. They blame the job market for the fact they don’t have the job they would like to do, or what’s going wrong in the world for whatever results they have created. Responsible people never blame others for their results but take 100% responsibility and ownership.
This is an important skill to learn in the classroom as well as the workplace. Do you make responsible decisions?
Now that we have reviewed some of the important SEL competencies that we cover on this podcast, I hope it’s given you a chance to review them and think about some new ways of thinking that can help you make improvements in your life.
Let’s go straight to my interview with expert in psychology and cognitive neuroscience, Dr. Rankin, who will ask me some questions for a change and see what else we will uncover.
FOLLOW ANDREA SAMADI: 
YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/AndreaSamadi  
Website https://www.achieveit360.com/  
Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/Achieveit360com  
Neuroscience Meets SEL Facebook Group https://www.facebook.com/groups/2975814899101697  
Twitter: https://twitter.com/andreasamadi  
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/andreasamadi/ 
RESOURCES:
The Marshmallow Experiment with Andrea Samadi Uploaded Nov. 2, 2017 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rq903CXJUpg
REFERENCES:
[i] https://olympics.com/
[ii]Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE#7 with Greg Wolcott on “Building Relationships in Today’s Classrooms” https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/greg-wolcott-on-building-relationships-in-todays-classrooms/
[iii] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #64 with Greg Wolcott on “Making Connections with Neuroscience and SEL” https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/assistant-superintendent-greg-wolcott-on-making-connections-with-neuroscience-and-sel/
[iv] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #2 “Self-Awareness: Know Thyself” https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/self-awareness-know-thyself/
[v] “Increase Your Self-Awareness with One Simple Fix” YouTube uploaded Nov. 2017 Tasha Eurich https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGdsOXZpyWE
[vi] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #14 “Self-Regulation: The Foundational Learning Skill for Future Success” https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/self-regulation-the-foundational-learning-skill-for-future-success/
[vii]Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #53 on “Self-Regulation and Your Brain” https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/self-regulation-and-your-brain-how-to-bounce-back-towards-resilience/
[viii] https://www.neurosequential.com/
[ix] What Happened to You by Dr. Bruce Perry and Oprah Winfrey Published April 27, 2021  https://amzn.to/3j1KjqB
[x] How Can We Help Our Kids with Self-Regulation https://childmind.org/article/can-help-kids-self-regulation/amp/
[xi] How to Practice Self-Regulation https://www.verywellmind.com/how-you-can-practice-self-regulation-4163536
[xii] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #12 “Responsible Decision-Making Begins with Brain Health” https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/responsible-decision-making-begins-with-brain-health/
[xiii] The Neuroscience of Making a Decision https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-athletes-way/201505/the-neuroscience-making-decision?amp
[xiv] Brain Thrive by 25 Online Course https://www.brainmdhealth.com/brainthriveby25
 

Goleman Certified Emotional Intelligence Coach Renee Adams on ”Developing EI Skills Early to Guarantee Future Success”

Welcome back to the Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast for episode #151 with certified Goleman Emotional Intelligence coach, Renée Adams.
Watch the interview on YouTube.https://youtu.be/aavQGiAAXo8
Download 3 FREE EQ Guides from Renee's website
FREE EQ Guides https://hoppypoppie.com/guide-sign-up/ 
See past episodes here https://www.achieveit360.com/episodes/ 
On this episode you will learn:
✔︎ Why Renee sees the importance of teaching EI to young children and their parents as critical work.
✔︎ What are the Emotional Intelligence Competencies that the Goleman Training focuses on.
✔︎ What's missing from today's corporate environments?
✔︎ EI strategies that parents can use immediately to reduce stress while at the same time supporting your child at home or in the classroom.
 
Renée Adams[i] is a children’s book author, writing books that teach children and parents foundational Emotional Intelligence skills, including being able to identify and name their emotions. We have seen the importance of this skill that started with our interview #28[ii] with Dr. Daniel Siegel who talks about the importance of naming an emotion to tame it[iii] and then again with the Founding Director of Yale’s Center for Emotional Intelligence, Marc Brackett on episode #22[iv] with his book, Permission to Feel.
I'm Andrea Samadi, author, and educator from Toronto, Canada, now in Arizona, and like many of our listeners, have been fascinated with learning and understanding the science behind high performance strategies in our schools, sports, and the workplace with ideas that we can all use, understand and implement immediately.
 
When I was introduced to Renée Adams, I saw her background as a Certified Goleman Emotional Intelligence[v] coach, I immediately contacted her to see if I could pick her brain on many questions that I am asked myself in the area of Emotional Intelligence. Why not ask an expert when I have the chance.
 
Let’s meet Renée Adams.
 
Welcome Renée, thank you for coming on the podcast today to speak with me.
 
Are you still located in Bolder, CO? I almost considered moving to CO from Toronto in the late 1990s, since it was the Columbine tragedy that caused me to move to the US back then. I picked AZ because I really struggled with the altitude in CO.
 
Q1:  I did watch some of your other podcasts to learn more about why you started this work centered around Emotional Intelligence, and I will link these episodes in the show notes, but did wonder at what point in your career did you see the importance of teaching Emotional Intelligence to children and parents? Where was the missing link?
 
Q2: I cover 6 social and emotional competencies on this podcast (Mindset, Decision-Making, Self-Awareness, Social Awareness, Self-Regulated Learning/Self-Management, and Relationship Skills) as they closely mirror www.casel.org’s SEL competencies. Can you explain the competencies that were important in your Goleman Certification Program, and maybe how you would teach them to a parent or child? (Self-awareness, self-management, others awareness, relationship management).
 
 
Q3: When I first launched this podcast, I interviewed my husband on episode #1 on “The Importance of Setting Up an SEL Program in Your School, or Emotional Intelligence Training Program in Your Workplace.”[vi] And it’s funny thinking about it now because he had just got home from traveling and I handed him a list of questions and said “Can you answer these and speak into the mic?” It was a memorable launch to the podcast. Why do you think it’s so important to teach these skills at an early age and what skills do you think are missing from today’s corporate environments?
 
 
Q4: So growing up, we didn’t talk about our emotions in my home. If I ever cried at all, my Dad would yell at me because he hated to see emotion. And I’m the type that wears my emotions on my sleeve. I couldn’t hide them, not even when I knew I’d get a kick in the behind if I ever showed them. So now, I’m a parent, and learning all these new strategies from the work I’m doing, and trying to do things differently, but it’s exhausting sometimes. I forget how school-aged children react emotionally to everything. What are some strategies to really listen to what our kids are thinking and feeling, without letting it suck the life force out of us as parents?
 
Q6: What is your vision for what EQ programs?
 
Q7: Is there anything I have missed that’s important?
 
FREE EQ Guides https://hoppypoppie.com/guide-sign-up/
 
Thank you very much for speaking with me today. For those who want to learn more about you, they can go to your website https://hoppypoppie.com/, find you on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hoppypoppie
 
https://store.momschoiceawards.com/product/7445
 
 
BIO:
 
Renée is a children’s book author and the founder/owner of the Calm In Your Palm®, Hoppy & Poppie PinkCheeks™ and Learn.Love.EQ.™ brands. She and her team enthusiastically and diligently create and develop books for toddlers and babies along with entertaining and relatable characters/products. The stories and products focus on well-being and teaching children (and their parents) emotional intelligence and make learning fun. Renée is a certified Goleman Emotional Intelligence coach, a Whole Modern Parent emotional intelligence “Collective Expert” and serves on the board of the non-profit, My Conscious Coaching Group.She has recently launched two baby and toddler board books, Hoppy and Poppie character plush, the "Patoo" character blanket and EI/EQ wristbands (Happy, Sad, Excited, Scared, Angry and Calm) for the Hoppy & Poppie PinkCheeks™ brand! The setting is Bug Island, an enchanting place full of imagination, inspired by her home state of Colorado. The main characters are twin grasshoppers, Hoppy & Poppie PinkCheeks. They explore and share their Bug Island home with Queen Betty Bee, Chief Franco Firefly, Maestro Humphrey Hummingbird, King Walt Worm, Aunt Andie Ant, Dr. Spinner Spider, Patoo, the flying blanket, and more. The "Not SO Scary" and "What We Feel" books teach children, ages 0+, the most basic foundation of emotional intelligence including learning the names and being aware of feelings. She has written three downloadable digital Guides for parents or grandparents of young children, sharing key tools for teaching emotional intelligence to young children, such as how to name, understand and manage one’s emotions, manage the emotions of others, live mindfully, and be empathetic and compassionate with oneself and others.Renée has a B.S. in Speech Communication from The University of Texas in Austin, TX. Since graduating from college and prior to her current entrepreneurial business, she has worked in multiple industries and pursued a variety of endeavors including being an account executive in telecom, a counselor for homeless adolescent girls, full-time parent, volunteer for non-profits, Boy Scout and Girl Scout leader and co-owner of a home health and hospice business. She spends most of her free time with family and friends, cycling, hiking, camping, skiing, reading, meditating and writing. Renée has two sons, two daughters-in-law, a daughter and a granddaughter due 1-22-21. At this stage in her life, she loves to partner with parents of younger children along the heartfelt journey of raising happy children who thrive.
FOLLOW ANDREA SAMADI: 
YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/AndreaSamadi  
Website https://www.achieveit360.com/ 
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/samadi/ 
Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/Achieveit360com  
Neuroscience Meets SEL Facebook Group https://www.facebook.com/groups/2975814899101697  
Twitter: https://twitter.com/andreasamadi  
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/andreasamadi/ 
RESOURCES:
 
Renée Adams on The Dreamers and Doers Podcast https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?v=1139679273172920&ref=watch_permalink
 
100 Best Emotional Intelligence Books of All Time https://bookauthority.org/books/best-emotional-intelligence-ebooks
 
15 Best EQ Books to Raise Children’s Emotional IQ and Teach Empathy ages 6-9 Aug 21, 2018 by Retha Groenewald https://www.fractuslearning.com/the-best-15-books-to-raise-childrens-emotional-iq-and-teach-empathy/
 
Daniel Goleman Podcast https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/first-person-plural-ei-beyond/id1538498597
 
REFERENCES:
 
[i] https://hoppypoppie.com/
[ii] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #28 with Dr. Daniel Siegel on “Mindsight: The Basis of Social and Emotional Intelligence https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/clinical-professor-of-psychiatry-at-the-ucla-school-of-medicine-dr-daniel-siegel-on-mindsight-the-basis-for-social-and-emotional-intelligence/
[iii] Dan Siegel: Name it to Tame it Published on YouTube Dec. 8, 2014 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZcDLzppD4Jc
[iv] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #28 with Marc Brackett on his book “Permission to Feel” https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/founding-director-of-the-yale-center-of-emotional-intelligence-on-his-new-book-permission-to-feel/
[v] https://www.danielgoleman.info/
[vi] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #1 on “The Importance of Setting Up an SEL Program in Your School, or Emotional Intelligence Training in Your Workplace.” https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/the-why-behind-setting-up-a-social-and-emotional-learning-program-in-your-school-or-emotional-intelligence-training-for-your-workplace/

Scott Flansburg, The Human Calculator on ”Math Hacks Anyone Can Learn To Transform Your Math Mindset”

Welcome back to the Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast for episode #150 with Scott Flansburg[i] who Regis Philbin called “The Human Calculator[ii]” because he can mentally count faster than a calculator.
Watch this interview on YouTube here. https://youtu.be/aa8mbxvYqrc
Learn more about Scott Flansburg's online programs here.
https://scottflansburg.com/a/andrea
See past episodes here. https://www.achieveit360.com/episodes/
 
On this episode you will learn:✔︎  How someone with incredible math abilities has started the National Counting Bee to share his talents with students around the country.
✔︎ 2 NEW WAYS to look at numeracy and math that will change your mindset forever.
✔︎ How Scott Flansburg got into the Guinness World Book of Records for his unique mathematical abilities and what his brain scans revealed about his brain.
✔︎ Scott's vision for the future and how he plans to change the way ALL 3rd graders approach math in the future.
I'm Andrea Samadi, author, and educator from Toronto, Canada, now in Arizona, and like many of our listeners, have been fascinated with learning and understanding the science behind high performance strategies in our schools, sports, and the workplace with ideas that we can all use, understand and implement immediately. I do want to thank the listeners who have sent me messages through social media about how you are using these podcast episodes in your personal and professional lives. We are approaching our goal of hitting 200 episodes and 100,000 downloads and couldn’t do this without listeners, or high-quality guests.
Back to this episode.
After being introduced to Howard Berg[iii], who holds the Guinness World record for speed reading, I was introduced to Dave Farrow[iv], a two-time Guinness World Record holder for correctly memorizing and recalling the exact order of 59 decks of shuffled playing cards. I began to see that extraordinary results are possible, when regular people, like you and me, do certain things in a certain way. I look forward to sharing Scott Flansburg’s story, to see what strategies we can learn and implement to help us all improve our numeracy skills. Yes, he does hold the Guinness World Record for the fastest mental calculation after adding the same number to itself more times in 15 seconds, even faster than anyone could do with a calculator.
I’ve heard of the importance of developing strong numeracy skills twice already, from past guests. On episode #138,[v] Professor and Canada Research Chair in Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, Dr. Daniel Ansari, affirmed that research shows that students with weak numeracy skills are more likely to default on their mortgage payments in the future, and on episode #146[vi] Dr. Howard Rankin, an expert in Psychology and Cognitive Neuroscience who spoke on the topic of “How Not to Think” agreed that low numeracy skills are a noticeable problem in the US, and that many people have no idea on the concept of “compounding interest.”
Let’s see what we can learn from Scott Flansburg. But first, here’s a bit more about him.
Since about 1990 Scott Flansburg has regularly given lectures and presentations at schools. He has been a presenter at organizations such as NASA, IBM, The Smithsonian Institution, the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, and the Mental Calculation World Cup. The latter described Flansburg as “more an auditory than a visual [mental] calculator”.
One of Flansburg’s “personal missions” is to use education to elevate math confidence and self-esteem in adults and children. He says “Why has it become so socially acceptable to be bad at math?,” and reminds us that “If you were illiterate, you wouldn’t say that on TV, but you can say that you are bad at math. We have to change the attitude.” He believes students should become proficient with calculation methods rather than relying on table memorization.
Scott is the creator of The Counting Bee™[vii], an annual STEM competition open for K-12 students at all public, private, charter, and home schools. Its inaugural competition was held on November 8, 2018, in Arizona, where I live. I wish I had known of Scott back then, for I would have been sitting in the front row, hoping to learn something.
What’s really interesting is that Scott discovered his mental calculation ability at the age of 9 when his math teacher asked him to add four numbers. He can mentally add, subtract, divide and multiply numbers with the accuracy of the calculator naturally. In 1990, he started using his abilities in the education and entertainment industry. To date, he has published books like Math Magic and Math Magic For Your Kids.
Scott has been featured in popular shows around the world like The Ellen Show, The Oprah Winfrey Show, USA Today, BBC breakfast, ESPN, History Channel, and many more.
Let’s meet Scott Flansburg.
Welcome Scott, thank you very much for coming on the podcast today to share ways that we can improve our numeracy skills. This is such an honor for me to have this chance to speak with you. When I looked at your website, it’s clear that you have caught the attention of some of the greats who have made their mark in history, like Larry King, or Regis Philbin who nicknamed you “The Human Calculator,” Tony Robbins, Oprah or comic book writer Stan Lee.
Welcome!
I’ve got to tell you Scott, when I see talent, it’s impossible to look away! I was blown away with your story (watching you add a 2-digit number to itself 36 times in 15 seconds) but what really got me was seeing you on AZ Family TV with the 1st AZ Counting Bee[viii]and the National Counting Bee[ix] helping students with these skills.
Intro Q: Why did you start the Counting Bee, and what is your vision for young people around the world with numeracy skills?
Q1: Scott, what I love about stories like yours, is that there is such a huge need for numeracy skills (not just here in the US, but Globally) and I’m fully aware of how important mindset is for my own results/future, let alone my two girls who watch and model everything that I do, especially now that the Pandemic has taken away so much of those math skills that are cumulative. When I watched the winner of your Counting Bee, and the anchor asked his Mom “Where did he learn this from, was it you?” And she said strongly, “Definitely not!” Perhaps his Father? I recognized that I have said the exact same thing about my husband who is really good with numbers.  Why do you think people so afraid of numbers? Do you think there is a new sense of urgency around numeracy skills that is different now with the times we have faced?
Q2: When did you notice that you had these numeracy skills that were helpful for your family while grocery shopping (I read that you could add up the tally of a grocery list before the cashier had rung up your orders) or at what age did you notice that your brain worked differently from the other students?
Q3: How did you get into the Guinness World Book of Records? How did you even know about trying for this?
Q4: What have you learned about your brain and how it might be different from other brains? I saw something about the fact that scientists associate your mathematical skills with the fact that an area in your brain is displaced upward and significantly expanded? Did you have your brain scanned? How would anyone know this?
Q5: I have put a link to your website, with your programs listed, but what are the programs you offer?  I see courses for kids, students, and professionals. Can you tell me about each one?
Thank you so much for your time today and for what you are doing to help the world embrace numbers in a different way. If anyone wants to reach you, they can click on the link in the show notes and also find you
https://twitter.com/HumanCalculator 
 
https://scottflansburg.com/a/andrea
 
https://www.linkedin.com/in/thehumancalculator/
 
https://www.facebook.com/IAmTheHumanCalculator
 
Area 44 of the Brain https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brodmann_area_44
 
https://mobile.twitter.com/TheCountingBee The National Counting Bee on Twitter
Sign up for the next Counting Bee https://www.thecountingbee.org/
FOLLOW ANDREA SAMADI: 
YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/AndreaSamadi  
Website https://www.achieveit360.com/ 
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/samadi/ 
Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/Achieveit360com  
Neuroscience Meets SEL Facebook Group https://www.facebook.com/groups/2975814899101697  
Twitter: https://twitter.com/andreasamadi  
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/andreasamadi/ 
 
RESOURCES:
Nelson Dellis’ Mind Show with Scott Flansburg Published March 8, 2016  https://memory-sports.com/blog/videos/nelson-dellis-mind-show-with-scott-flansburg-the-human-calculator/
Re-learning Math with Scott Flansburg Part 1 Published on YouTube October 24, 2012 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hesKQ_y1P7k
Human Calculator Shares Math Secrets Feb. 23, 2012 https://www.greenwichtime.com/news/article/Human-Calculator-shares-math-secrets-3357228.php
Math Magic by Scott Flansburg Published in Amazon June 15, 2015 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B016UEKRA2/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1
Math Magic for Your Kids Published Jan. 20, 1998  https://www.amazon.com/Math-Magic-Your-Kids-Calculator/dp/0060977310
Scott Flansburg Shares How He Came Up with the 0-99 Grid May 21, 2015 https://news.wttw.com/2015/05/21/human-calculator
http://wellmichelleblog.blogspot.com/2013/10/the-power-of-00.html
Stan Lee’s Superhumans Human Calculator| History Channel Published on YouTube  October 1, 2020 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtotrboSUqQ
Extraordinary Humans with Scott Flansburg https://watch.insight.tv/extraordinary-humans/videos/scott-flansburg
REFERENCES:
[i] https://scottflansburg.com/a/andrea
[ii] Scott Flansburg, The Human Calculator, Short History, Published on YouTube Dec. 4, 2020 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXkt-hQbm_k
[iii] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #145 with the World’s Fastest Reader, Howard Berg on “Strategies to Improve Reading, Comprehension and Recall” https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/the-worlds-fastest-reader-howard-stephen-berg-on-strategies-to-improve-reading-comprehension-and-recall-for-educators-and-the-workplace/
[iv]https://farrowmemory.com/a/andrea
[v] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #138 with Dr. Daniel Ansari on “The Future of Educational Neuroscience” https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/professor-and-canada-research-chair-in-developmental-cognitive-neuroscience-and-learning-on-the-future-of-educational-neuroscience/
[vi] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #146 with Expert in Psychology, Cognitive Neuroscience and Neurotechnology, Howard Rankin, Ph.D. on “How Not to Think” https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/expert-in-psychology-cognitive-neuroscience-and-neurotechnology-howard-rankin-phd-on-how-not-to-think/
[vii] The Counting Bee https://www.facebook.com/TheCountingBee/
[viii] AZ Channel 3 News 1st AZ Counting Bee Winner Published on YouTube Nov. 23, 2018 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zjZ7cTBMEr4
[ix] The National Counting Bee April 3, 2019 https://www.kusi.com/the-human-calculator-encourages-students-to-sign-up-for-national-counting-bee/

Two-Time Guinness World Record Holder Dave Farrow on "Focus, Fatigue and Memory Hacks" for Students and the Workplace.

Welcome back to the Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast for episode #149 with Dave Farrow[i], a two-time Canadian Guinness World Record Holder for Most Decks of Playing Cards Memorized in a single sighting in 1996 and again in 2007 when he correctly memorized and recalled the exact order of 59 decks of shuffled playing cards—which is 3068 cards in total, exceeding his previous record of 52 decks (2704 cards).
Watch the Interview on YouTube here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrxuvnCpI0c
Learn more about Dave Farrow and his Memory Program https://farrowmemory.com/a/andrea
See past episodes here https://www.achieveit360.com/episodes/
On this episode you will learn:✔︎  How Dave Farrow overcame his diagnosis of ADHD and Dyslexia to develop talents that would set him miles apart from the rest in his future.✔︎ The learning strategies that Dave Farrow used to overcome his areas of weakness and work 8x faster than the average person.✔︎  The secret behind how he memorized 59 decks of shuffled playing cards that got him into the Guinness World Book of Records for memory.✔︎ His strategy for memorizing 109 balloon colors (in 60 seconds) winning him the episode on FOX TV's SUPERHUMAN SHOW.✔︎ How Dave Farrow now wants to give back and help others develop SUPERHUMAN MEMORY Powers, Increase Focus and Reduce Brain Fatigue, so they can rise to the top of their career and life.
I'm Andrea Samadi, author, and educator from Toronto, Canada, now in Arizona, and like many of our listeners, have been fascinated with learning and understanding the science behind high performance strategies in our schools, sports, and the workplace with ideas that we can all use, understand and implement immediately.
I can’t tell you how excited I am to speak with fellow Canadian, Dave Farrow[ii] who wasn’t born with the gift of memory, he was diagnosed with ADHD and dyslexia as a child. To help him to do better at school, Dave created a memory system called “The Farrow Method” which is now a certifiable scientifically proven system for memory backed by a double-blind neuroscience study at McGill University
In 2008 Dave was hired by Sony Corporation to live in a window on 5th Avenue in Manhattan and speed read on a Sony E-Reader for literacy in America. In 30 days, he read over 100 books and through his efforts, Sony gave 4.4 million E-Books to schools in America. Over 100 million people watched him in the window read for charity. As a memory expert, David has trained over 10,000 business professionals, students, managers and seminar attendees in memory programs offered in both Canada and the United States, with that number growing each day.
Today Dave uses his media savvy and keen understanding of the brain in the public relations sector. He is the founder and CEO of FarrowPR a full-service public relations and marketing firm in Buffalo NY. With his ability to speed read and memorize large amounts of information, Dave is an expert in Nanotechnology and microfluidics and is currently developing a prototype for a robotic moving mannequin with “Start Up New York.” Dave has been a featured guest expert on over 2000 interviews in the media including, The Today Show, Live with Regis and Kelly, Steve Harvey, Discovery Channel and many others.
I was introduced to Dave Farrow after episode #145 with Howard Berg[iii] who holds the Guinness World record for speed reading, and immediately started to make connections with his work, and past interviews and episodes. I’m always looking at ways to improve memory, especially after my brain scan at Amen Clinics[iv] showed that I was weak in the area of recall memory or recalling a list of random words and Dr. Creado who did my brain scan evaluation reminded me that “we can change our brain and memory with practice, but we must first of all believe it’s possible.” After seeing how easy it was to remember a list of 10 items with my interview with Howard Berg, I’m dying to learn more from Dave Farrow, and share these strategies with you.
Welcome Dave, thank you very much for meeting with me today. I see that you are originally from Kitchener, Ontario? Growing up in Toronto, I spent a lot of time in Kitchener in high school when a high school friend moved off the Homer Watson Blvd exit (I still remember that!). Where have I reached you today?
Q1: From reading your story, I can see how you got behind with your academics with the health challenges you experienced. Your story reminded me a lot of someone I interviewed years ago, named Nik Halik[v] from EPISODE #31 who overcame severe illness as a child, by studying Encyclopedias and went on to live a phenomenal life. What do you remember about your early years that motivated you to learn, study and begin developing the talents that would set you miles apart from others in your future?
Q2: Dave, a lot about your story is fascinating, but for those who work with students with dyslexia, or reading challenges, they might find it difficult to imagine results like yours. I interviewed Lois Letchford on episode #136 where her son, who was diagnosed with dyslexia in first grade, went on to get his Ph.D. and graduate from Oxford University, with a bright future. His Mom spoke about the switch she felt with his learning when he began to find an interest in learning through maps. Also, Barbara Arrowsmith-Young from episode #132[vi] who changed her brain and left her learning disability behind. Was there something that you remember that changed for you that took you from struggling with your academics, to mastery?
Q3: Can we talk about what got you into the Guinness World Book of Records for memory?
"There is nothing more empowering or motivational than discovering the ability for SuperHuman Memory has been inside you all along."
- Dave Farrow
I watched you on the FOX TV SUPERHUMAN SHOW[vii] where you were being tested by memorizing 109 balloon colors, (in 60 seconds) (and then I thought “What strategy does he use to do this as you close your eyes?” How on the earth could you memorize 59 decks of shuffled cards when I struggle to remember 10 things on a random list? Is there a secret?
Q4: Looking through your work this weekend, I couldn’t miss seeing Harry Lorayne[viii] somewhere, and I don’t remember where it was, maybe it was a reference on your website. When I worked with Bob Proctor in the seminar industry, he was always talking about Harry Lorayne being the person he knew with a great memory (maybe because he hadn’t met you yet)? Was Harry one of your early influencers? Who else inspired the work you are doing?
Q5: I can also see some of the leaders of motivation and sales on your website who I’ve come across over the years. I saw Greg Reid, the creator of Secret Knock, who’s written so many books on the power of positive thinking and developing your mind, and also the late Frank Shankwitz, the Founder of Make-A-Wish Foundation, who we interviewed on episode #40 and sadly we lost earlier this year.[ix] How are you now using your talents to help others to be more successful?
Q6: What is the Farrow Method™[x] that was proven at McGill University’s neuroscience study and how does it guarantee to improve someone’s memory? How can The Farrow Method  help sales teams, high powered executives, or anyone else looking to improve their productivity and results?
Q7: Is there something important, that you think I have missed?
Thank you for your time today, Dave, and for all you are doing to help lift up those who may think they don’t have a chance for mind-blowing results that you have attained.
For those who want to learn more about you and your programs, I will put the link in the show notes  https://farrowmemory.com/a/andrea as well, they can find you on
Twitter https://twitter.com/FarrowComms
Linkedin https://www.linkedin.com/in/davefarrowmemory/
RESOURCES:
The Gift of Dyslexia: Why Some of the Smartest People Can’t Read by Ronald D. Davis Published Feb.4th 2010 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0030CVQGW/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1
Educational Implications of the Theory of Multiple Intelligences First Published Nov. 1st, 1989 by Howard Gardner https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.3102/0013189X018008004
REFERENCES:
[i] https://farrowmemory.com/a/andrea
[ii] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dave_Farrow
[iii] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #145 with the World’s Fastest Reader, Howard Berg on “Strategies to Improve Reading, Comprehension and Recall” https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/the-worlds-fastest-reader-howard-stephen-berg-on-strategies-to-improve-reading-comprehension-and-recall-for-educators-and-the-workplace/
[iv] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #84 Brain Scan Results “How a SPECT Image Brain Scan Can Change Your Life”
[v] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #31 https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/entrepreneur-civilian-astronaut-and-extreme-adventurer-nik-halik-on-overcoming-adversity-to-create-an-epic-life/
[vi] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #132 with Barbara Arrowsmith Young on “How She Changed Her Brain and Left Her Learning Disability Behind” https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/the-story-of-barbara-arrowsmith-young-the-woman-who-changed-her-brain-and-left-her-learning-disability-behind/
[vii] Dave Must Memorize 109 Balloon Colors Published on YouTube June 10, 2017 by FOX NEWS https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pmacFBSH864&t=1s
[viii] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Lorayne
[ix]Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #40 with Frank Shankowitz https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/co-founder-of-the-make-a-wish-foundation-frank-shankwitz-on-lessons-from-the-wish-man-movie/
[x] https://farrowmemory.com/

Dr. James Hardt of Biocybernaut Alpha Training on "Change Your Brain Waves to Change Your Life"

Welcome back to the Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast for episode #148 that I’m hoping will expand your thinking, like it did mine, with our next guest, who has worked with Tony Robbins, leaders of Microsoft and IBM and other high-powered executives to elevate states of consciousness, results and high levels of productivity in elite athletes, to regular people, just like you and me.
Watch the interview on YouTube here. 
Learn more about Dr. Hardt and his Biocybernaut Alpha One Training here https://www.biocybernaut.com/
See past episodes here https://www.achieveit360.com/episodes/ 
I'm Andrea Samadi, author, and educator from Toronto, Canada, now in Arizona, and like many of our listeners, have been fascinated with learning and understanding the science behind high performance strategies in our schools, sports, and the workplace with ideas that we can all use, understand and implement immediately.
This week’s guest, Dr. James Hardt, of the Biocybernaut Institute[i], has devoted his life to the study of the electrophysiological basis of advanced spiritual states. He has travelled the globe in pursuit of his research including his visit to India to study advanced Yogis, from Zen Masters to prayer, Dr. Hardt has continued his relentless pursuit of advanced brainwave and meditation connections that allow people to become the best form of themselves that they can be. He believes it’s possible to “Change Your Brainwaves and Change Your Life.”[ii]
Dr. Hardt’s Alpha One Training is you if:
You’re a high performing CEO/entrepreneur who wants to connect more effectively with your customers, clients, employers, and employees;
You are an athlete who wants to access “the zone” on demand, to live in a Flow State, to improve your results, maximize your training, and turbocharge your practice;
You are an artist or writer who wants to deepen and strengthen your visionary capacity and create better than ever before from your highest Flow State;
You feel like negativity and traumas have been steering your life for years, ruining your health, relationships and finances;
You are a dedicated spiritual seeker, but states of mind like bliss, serenity, gratitude and Oneness are something you only read about in books;
You want to radically improve your “emotional intelligence” (EQ) and relationship skills for all good reasons: happier marriage, intimate relationships, better parenting or friendships...
Let’s dive into this new world and uncover what Dr. Hardt believes is the key to improved productivity and results.
Welcome Dr. Hardt, it’s wonderful to meet you, especially since your offices are in Sedona, AZ, which is just a little over a 2-hour drive from me here in Chandler, AZ. Thank you for being here today.
Q1: Dr. Hardt, I am very interested in helping people to use an understanding of their brain for improved results in their personal and professional lives, and just released an episode about the importance of understanding our brain states. Can you give an overview of our brain states, why you think most people are operating in the BETA state, (with high stress) and what happens when we are able to access the ALPHA brain state (where higher levels of productivity are experienced?
Q2: I know that Tony Robbins who you have worked with says “There is no problem that can’t be solved in Alpha” and until I saw your work, I only knew of accessing this brain state through a daily meditation and mindfulness practice, where we can feel a sense of calmness, inner peace, and increase productivity, but to access these levels, it takes years of daily practice. For people who might want the benefits from the Alpha Brain state (like higher IQ or EQ) can you explain what is the patented neurofeedback training you have developed, more about your programs, and the best way for people listening to learn more?
Q3: I know you have worked with some high-level people like we mentioned Tony Robbins, who I was connected to when I worked in the seminar industry with Bob Proctor in the late 1990s. I see you’ve worked with Michael Beckwith who we worked closely with back then as well. I can understand why people in the peak performance industry would come to see you, in addition to elite athletes who must reach those high levels of performance, but what have you seen with the US Army Special Forces, who are like athletes, but have no off season and often suffer with anxiety and depression for years after their service? How are you able to eliminate emotional trauma by impacting brain waves?
Q4: Do you ever have a vision of creating something that people could use without visiting the BioCybernaut Institute in Sedona, or your location in Germany, like a home use device? I ask this because I have been using the Fisher Wallace Brain Stimulator[iii] since I interviewed their CEO earlier this year to improve my sleep, and the other benefits have been helpful as well. Do you ever think you would create something people could use at home?
Q5: What’s involved with the ALPHA ONE Training for something taking their first look?
Q6: Is there anything that’s important that you think I have missed to help people to understand the benefits of your training for improved results?
Thank you very much Dr. Hardt for speaking with me today. For those who want to learn more about you, I will put all the links to learn more in the show notes.
https://www.biocybernaut.com/
EMAIL info@biocybernaut.com
FB: @biocybernautinstitute https://www.facebook.com/biocybernautinstitute
LinkedIn @James-Hardt https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-hardt/
Instagram: @Biocybernaut Institute
Learn more about the Alpha One Training https://www.biocybernaut.com/contact-us/
RESOURCES:
What Are the Akashic Records? Published July 27, 2019 https://medium.com/holisticism/what-are-the-akashic-records-ede3bee05673
https://www.biocybernaut.com/frequently-asked-questions/
Tony Robbins on Biocybernaut Published Dec. 16, 2017 on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZ9w-WS2ifs
Older than America Film (2008) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0932669/
Alpha brainwave neurofeedback training  reduces psycholopathology in a cohort of male and female Canadian aboriginals by Dr. James Hardt Published Fall 2012 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23341412/
The Quest for Mindfulness Published by Dr. James Hardt September 26, 2019 https://www.ecronicon.com/ecpp/pdf/ECPP-08-00548.pdf
Emotional Intelligence 2.0 by Travis Bradberry Published June 16, 2009 https://www.amazon.com/Emotional-Intelligence-2-0-Travis-Bradberry/dp/0974320625
Parallel Universes of Self by Frederick E. Dodson Published January 31, 2007 https://www.amazon.com/Parallel-Universes-Self-Frederick-Dodson/dp/B00QN5RS24
REFERENCES:
[i] https://www.biocybernaut.com/
[ii] Change Your Brainwaves, Change Your Life Published on YouTube Sept. 10, 2017 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_00ttCddWM
[iii] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #108 on “My Personal Review of the Fisher Wallace Brain Stimulator” https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/personal-review-of-the-fisher-wallace-wearable-medical-device-for-anxiety-depression-and-sleepstress-management/

Brain Fact Friday on "Improving Mental Clarity by Understanding our Brain States, Brain Fog, and How It's Created"

Welcome back to the Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast, for Brain Fact Friday and episode #147 that has taken me back to Dr. Jon Lieff from episode #143[i] and his book The Secret Language of Cells: What Biological Conversation Tells Us About the Brain-Body Connection, the Future of Medicine and Life Itself.[ii]
I'm Andrea Samadi, author and educator from Toronto, Canada, now in Arizona, and like many of our listeners, have been fascinated with learning and understanding the science behind high performance strategies in our schools, sports, and the workplace with ideas that we can all use, understand and implement immediately, for improved results.  
In Today’s Brain Fact Friday You Will Learn:
✔︎ How Brain Fog is Created 
✔︎ How the Brain and Immune System Work Together
✔︎ How Cells Communicate with Each other
✔︎ How to Strengthen Our Brain-Mind-Body Connection by Understanding Our Brain State
On our last Brain Fact Friday, episode #141, I talk about how meeting Dr. Lieff opened my eyes to the importance of keeping the cells in our body healthy for our future health, productivity, and results and that I had never thought about my health through this lens. His book explores the cellular conversation as a new way of understanding that our cells have constant, intelligent chatter between them, showing there is no separation of brain-body, mind-body or brain-immune and It got me thinking about neurogenesis, (how we create new cells in the brain) reminding me to take my Omega 3-DHA to increase Brain Derived Neurotrophic Factor, (which is the best way to produce new brain cells) and the ties to keeping our brain cells healthy for learning, memory and retention. But what else is there? What are some other ways that I can look at health, wellness and productivity at the cellular level?
Which Leads us to This Week’s Brain Fact Friday
Have you ever wondered why we get brain fog, or have a harder time thinking when we are stressed? Dr. Jon Lieff shared with me why this happens, and I think it’s important that everyone understands this function of our brain and body.
Did you know that the brain and immune system work together?
T-cells (an essential part of the immune system, a type of leukocyte or white blood cell) sends a message to the neurons (the cells in the brain and nervous system) to stop making memory cells (when you are stressed) and you get brain fog.
Dr. Lieff reminded us in our interview that stress is “at the interface of brain function and inflammation” and that “T cells are essential for dealing with stress…Both brain and immune cells pick up perceptions of stress. Brief stress related to learning or the unexpected can be helpful in stimulating positive brain activity. However, chronic stress (where the body has no way to break from a stressor) can trigger damaging inflammation.”[iii]
We have all heard that stress causes inflammation in the body, that “leads to a number of chronic health conditions”[iv] like cancer and viral infections and Dr. Lieff comes to the conclusion that “all processes in the human body, in all animals and plants, and in microbe communities as well, are based on conversations and group decision making among cells.”[v]
One of the many fascinating parts of my interview with Dr. Lieff, that I have had many messages about, was where he explained that no one knew there were immune cells near the brain. Cerebral fluid (a colorless fluid that surrounds the brain and spinal cord) he explained “is also for communication and that t-cells get into this fluid and send messages to neurons.”[vi]
When there is an infection in our body, the immune cells send “a sick feeling” to our body signaling us to pay attention to what we are feeling and take a rest or break so that healing can take place. Have you ever felt that feeling? You are working and something feels off in your body? Stefanie Faye mentioned the concept of “interoception” (being able to perceive the sensations from inside the body in episode #39[vii] and Dr. Daniel Stickler mentioned it in on episode #96[viii] with an athlete’s ability to read their body and not overtrain.
Dr. Lieff shared that when everything is well within the body, “T cells signal to the brain that conditions are safe for normal activity” (page 35) but the minute there is an infection, or trauma, “the T cells change their messages to the brain to signal that the body is sick and the brain must slow down” until the t cells recognize that it is ok to return back to normal. We should be able to feel this shift in the body.
This is a recent discovery that can serve us well to keep us operating at our highest levels possible. We must understand that our cells are smart, and that they communicate with each other, but this is just the beginning.
What are some simple steps we can take to strengthen our brain? We will dive deeper into this next week with our interview with Dr. James Hardt[ix], who has worked with Tony Robbins, Michael Jackson, leaders of Microsoft, IBM and other high-powered executives to elevate states of intelligence and consciousness, but until then, here are my tips for keeping a healthy brain-body-immune system.
HOW TO STRENGTHEN YOUR BRAIN-BODY-IMMUNE SYSTEM? UNDERSTAND YOUR PATTERNS AND BRAIN STATE:
If our brain and immune system are closely tied, it makes sense to me that we should understand something about how our brains work. Do you know the brain state you are in, how you operate, and how to switch between different brain states to improve your productivity?
We have talked about the importance of switching between different networks in the brain to improve levels of creativity, with episode #48[x] on Brain Network Theory (bringing us to heightened perception with GAMMA brain waves,  and Stefanie Faye just released an article that affirms “the more we start to notice the rhythms we have in our brain states, moods, relationships, and day to day functioning, the better we get at cultivating the right conditions ahead of time, in a preventative, systems-thinking and growth-oriented way.”[xi] Through the brain mapping she does, Faye believes that people who experience brain fog are operating with THETA BRAIN WAVES (4-8 HZ) which is slower than needed for higher levels of productivity experienced at the ALPHA (9-13 level).
Dr. James Hardt, who will take us deeper into the power of changing our brain states to change our life, next week, reminds us that “the average person’s brain state shows low ALPHA (where creativity exists) and high BETA (stress)” whether it’s time urgency, financial stress, or health related, this type of stress we know leads to dis-ease in the body. I do look forward to sharing more on this topic next week, and diving deeper, as I think we have only just started to scratch the surface of how to reach these higher levels of thinking with our last interview with expert in Psychology and Cognitive Neuroscience, Dr. Howard Rankin on “How Not to Think[xii]” and if we were to brain map ourselves, it would be very clear, that most of us do not think—or we think far less than we think we think.
That’s it for this week’s Brain Fact Friday on understanding how the brain-body, mind-body and brain-immune system work together and I hope that you have taken away something useful to help you to understand how we get brain fog, vs mental clarity, with some thoughts on moving to new brain wave levels for improved results. The key to this week’s brain fact is that switching brain states takes focused effort. We must first of all be aware of where we are, (Dr. Hardt thinks most of us are at the BETA STATE) before we can move to a new state.   The only way I know of to move to the ALPHA STATE is through a state of wakeful relaxation that can be cultivated with a mindfulness/meditation practice, or from deep thinking that takes us into our non-conscious mind that World Renowned Neuroscientist Dr. Carolyn Leaf explains in our bonus interview on “Cleaning Up Your Mental Mess.[xiii] From the research I am doing on Dr. Hardt, I can see there are quicker and easier ways to reach these higher levels and I look forward to sharing them with you.
If you would like to see Stefanie Faye’s recent article on “3 Ways to Get Rid of Brain Fog and Increase Mental Clarity” I will link her article in the show notes.
Will see you next week with Dr. James Hardt, and I do look forward to sharing with you the new workshops we are creating for schools and workplace, as we begin to implement these ideas into our classrooms and workplaces. Stay tuned, and in the meantime, you can see what we have been doing on our website at www.achieveit360.com .
 
REFERENCES:
[i] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #143 with Dr. Jon Lieff on “The Secret Language of Cells” https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/jon-lieff-md-on-the-secret-language-of-cells-what-biological-conversations-tell-us-about-the-brain-body-connection/
[ii] The Secret Language of Cells: What Biological Conversation Tells Us About the Brain-Body Connection by Jon Lieff, MD. September 22, 2020 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B084HKZ4HK/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1
[iii] IBID page 91
[iv] Here’s How Chronic Stress and Inflammation Are Linked by Denise Shipani October 16, 2018 https://www.everydayhealth.com/wellness/united-states-of-stress/link-between-stress-inflammation/
[v] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #143 with Dr. Jon Lieff on “The Secret Language of Cells” https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/jon-lieff-md-on-the-secret-language-of-cells-what-biological-conversations-tell-us-about-the-brain-body-connection/ Page 2
[vi] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #143 with Dr. Jon Lieff on “The Secret Language of Cells” https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/jon-lieff-md-on-the-secret-language-of-cells-what-biological-conversations-tell-us-about-the-brain-body-connection/
[vii] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #39 with Stefanie Faye on “Using Neuroscience to Improve our Mindset, Self-Regulation and Self-Awareness” https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/neuroscience-researcher-stefanie-faye-on-using-neuroscience-to-improve-our-mindset-self-regulation-and-self-awareness/
[viii] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #96 with Dr. Daniel Stickler on “Expanding Awareness for Limitless Peak Performance, Health, Longevity and Intelligence” https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/dr-daniel-stickler-on-expanding-awareness-for-limitless-peak-performance-health-longevity-and-intelligence/
[ix] Change Your Brain Waves, Change Your Life with Dr. James Hardt Published on YouTube September 10, 2017 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_00ttCddWM
[x] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #48 on “Brain Network Theory: Using Neuroscience to Stay Productive During Times of Change and Chaos” https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/brain-network-theory-using-neuroscience-to-stay-productive-during-times-of-change-and-chaos/
[xi] Stefanie Faye “3 Ways to Get Rid of Brain Fog: And Increase Mental Clarity”  Published July 14, 2021 https://stefaniefaye.com/articles/3-ways-to-get-rid-of-brain-fog-and-increase-mental-clarity/
[xii] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #96 on “How Not to Think” https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/expert-in-psychology-cognitive-neuroscience-and-neurotechnology-howard-rankin-phd-on-how-not-to-think/
[xiii] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast BONUS EPISODE with World Renowned Neuroscientist Dr. Caroline Leaf on “Cleaning Up Your Mental Mess: 5 Simple, Scientifically Proven Steps to Reduce Anxiety and Toxic Thinking” https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/worldrenownedneuroscientistdr-caroline-leaf-oncleaningup-your-mentalmess5-simplescientifically-proven-stepsto-reduceanxiety-and-toxic-thinking/

Expert in Psychology, Cognitive Neuroscience and Neurotechnology, Howard Rankin Ph.D. on ”How Not to Think”

Welcome back to the Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast for episode #146 with Dr. Howard Rankin, the host of the “How Not to Think Podcast” that runs on the premise that "People aren't logical, they're psychological with the emphasis on the psycho," which made me laugh at the same time as it made me think “How are we NOT supposed to think?” and the research on this topic began.
Watch the interview on YouTube here.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1DlnOXE39aQ
Learn more about Dr. Howard Rankin here https://hownottothink.com/
See past episodes here https://www.achieveit360.com/episodes/
On this episode, you will learn:
✔︎ What is the problem with our thinking, and why is it illogical?
✔︎ How awareness is important when making any decision.
✔︎ The importance of looking at things from a different perspective.
✔︎ Why "the more we know, the more we realize we know nothing at all."
✔︎ Why new knowledge opens up our world to new possibilities.
✔︎ How to motivate anyone to learn something new.
✔︎ Why reality is an illusion.
✔︎ Common problems that occur with our human thinking process and how to be aware of them.
✔︎ How self-limiting beliefs influence our results.
I'm Andrea Samadi, author and educator from Toronto, now in Arizona, and like many of our listeners, have been fascinated with learning and understanding the science behind high performance strategies in our schools, sports, and the workplace with ideas that we can all use, understand and implement immediately, for improved results.
This week’s guest, Dr. Rankin, an expert in cognitive neuroscience, recently published his book I Think Therefore I Am Wrong[i] which looks at the many ways we can sabotage our thinking through cognitive biases, binary thinking, false assumptions and numerous other strategies. The How Not To think Podcast[ii] based on his book, examines how this false reasoning manifests itself in many areas of society through myths, and 'conventional wisdom.' On his podcast that I will be a guest on, Howard speaks with leaders in their fields to examine the impact of faulty thinking that occurs in every sphere of life.
Dr.  Rankin has extensive expertise and knowledge in the areas of psychology, cognitive neuroscience and neurotechnology. He is also an experienced speaker and best-selling and award-winning author. Dr. Rankin has written 12 books in his own name, co-written another 9, and ghostwritten 30 others, all non-fiction. He has also published more than 30 scientific articles and been a consultant to the NIH and WHO (World Health Organization). His work has been featured in many newspapers and magazines and he has appeared on national networks including CNN, ABC, CBS, BBC, and on “The View” and “20/20”. He hosts the podcast How Not To Think and is the author of I Think Therefore I Am Wrong: A Guide to Bias, Political Correctness, Fake News and The Future of Mankind.
Let’s meet Dr. Rankin and see what we can learn about improving how we think.
Welcome Dr. Rankin, thank you for being here today to share your knowledge and insights on your recent book, I Think, Therefore I am Wrong that you say is about Epistemology, what our past speaker, Tom Beakbane, on episode #144 said was the origin of his book How to Understand Everything[iii]. Can we start right away with the most obvious question?
Q1: What is the problem with our thinking, how is it illogical, and why are people psychological, with an emphasis on the psycho?
Q2: What inspired you to write your book, and launch your podcast on this topic?
Q3: I love making connections with past speakers and what I see with your work, I connected with Tom Beakbane’s book on How to Understand Everything where he talks a lot about looking at things from a different angle. With all the books you’ve written, you’ve got the knack for uncovering ways to tell something from a different angle, in a way that someone might not have heard it in that way. Why is it important to be able to see things from a different perspective? What does this do to our thinking?
Q4: I was talking with my good friend Greg Link from Stephen Covey’s organization the other day, after one of my last podcasts, and after some discussion I came to the realization that the more I am learning through these interviews, the more I realize I don’t know anything at all! Greg told me that quote originated from the American author Warner Ehrhard who was quoting the Greek Stoic Philosopher Epictetus What do you think about this? The more we are learning, why does it take us into a rabbit hole where we realize we have no idea about anything at all?
Q5: Chapter 1 of your book is titled “Is Reality an Illusion” and Einstein said this. What does that mean?
Q6: What is logic and why do you think it’s involved with some of the problems you see with our thinking?
Q7: What about our beliefs or more specifically, our self-limiting beliefs? What are they and how do they influence our results?
Q8: How does neuroscience or an understanding of how our brain works tie into our thinking and behavior?
Q9: What should we all know and understand about “How Not to Think” for educators, or those in the corporate workspace?
Thank you very much Dr. Rankin for your time today to share your thoughts, ideas, books and podcast as tools and resources for those who would like to learn more about How Not to Think.
To learn more about Dr. Howard Rankin
Facebook page; https://www.facebook.com/HowardRankinBooks/
A website where he posts blogs: https://ithinkthereforeiamwrong.com/
LinkedIn and Instagram
Email: DrHRankin@gmail.com
WEBSITE FOR THIS TOPIC www.hownottothink.com
FOLLOW ANDREA SAMADI: 
YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/AndreaSamadi  
Website https://www.achieveit360.com/ 
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/samadi/ 
Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/Achieveit360com  
Neuroscience Meets SEL Facebook Group https://www.facebook.com/groups/2975814899101697  
Twitter: https://twitter.com/andreasamadi  
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/andreasamadi/ 
RESOURCES:
Daniel Kahneman’s Grip with Behavioral Economics April 26, 2013 https://www.thedailybeast.com/daniel-kahnemans-gripe-with-behavioral-economics
Power Talk, the Art of Effective Communication by Howard Rankin, Ph.D. Published Feb. 24, 2021 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08XJLJ6SN/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1
REFERENCES:
[i] https://ithinkthereforeiamwrong.com/the-book/
[ii] https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/how-not-to-think/id1488982079
[iii] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #144 with Tom Beakbane on “How to Understand Everything” https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/author-and-marketer-tom-beakbane-on-how-to-understand-everything-consilience-a-new-way-to-look-at-the-world/

The World‘s Fastest Reader, Howard Stephen Berg on ”Strategies to Improve Reading, Comprehension and Recall” for Educators and the Workplace.

Welcome back to the Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast for episode #145 with Howard Stephen Berg[i], who is recognized as the world’s fastest reader according to the Guinness Book of World Records with over a 90% comprehension rate, thanks to the cutting edge accelerated learning techniques he has developed over his lifetime while working on ways to speed up reading for himself and for others.
Watch the interview on YouTube here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Al0B6HzxtEk 
Access FREE RESOURCES from Howard Berg and visit his website here https://berglearning.com/a/andrea 
See past episodes here https://www.achieveit360.com/episodes/
On this episode you will learn:✔︎ 5 Steps to Improve Reading Comprehension That We Should All Know (Teachers and the Workplace)
✔︎ Improve Your Reading Speed by 20-40% with a Simple Activity.
✔︎ A Quick Strategy to Improve Your Memory and Recall.
✔︎ Using Humor to Make Learning Memorable.
✔︎ How to Write an EBOOK in 3-5 hours.
 
I'm Andrea Samadi, author and educator from Toronto, Canada, now living in Arizona, and like many of our listeners, have been fascinated with learning and understanding the science behind high performance strategies in our schools, sports, and the workplace with strategies that we can all use, understand and implement, for improved results.
On this week’s episode, we have Howard “Speedy” Berg, who has been recognized for setting the world record for speed reading. He is listed in the 1990 Guinness Book of World Records for reading more than 25,000 words a minute and writing more than 100 words a minute.
Howard is a graduate of S.U.N.Y, Binghamton where he majored in Biology and then completed a four-year psychology program in one year. His graduate studies at several New York City colleges, focused on the Psychology of Reading.
Howard is the Spokesperson for the Sony E-Reader along with Justin Timberlake, Peyton Manning, and Amy Sedaris.
He has appeared on over 1,100 radio and television programs including Neil Cavuto, Jon Stewart, and Live With Regis. His brain-based learning strategies have been hailed as a major breakthrough in publications like Forbes, Men’s Health, Red Book, and Bottom Line Magazine, and have been featured in dozens of newspaper interviews throughout North America.
I first met Howard Berg in 2013 when I was at a conference in Chicago, and first developing my programs for students in the classroom. I saw the importance of Howard’s work and immediately went to speak with him at the end of the event. When you meet Howard, you will see that his humble nature shines through. He told me to look at his website, and see if there is anything that I see where he could help me. He wasn’t just saying this. He really meant It, and I knew it. I never did follow up with Howard, as my programs went into the school market, and it wasn’t until a few years later that he was showcasing his speed-reading work, that I tuned in to watch him, hoping to learn something new that I could use with my girls.
I did learn a speed-reading technique where he teaches anyone to read 20-40% faster, which is a skill we could all use these days. If you want to learn more about Howard’s courses, go to his website berglearning.com and you can access his courses on speed reading (professional level, for kids or student edition), his memory training course, creative writing course, and mind math course.
In the meantime, let’s meet Howard Berg and see what he will teach us today!
Welcome Howard, it’s wonderful to see you again. I’m not sure if you remember every person you meet, especially not over 7 years ago, but we met at Bill Walsh’s event in Chicago, and I was blown away with what you were showcasing for students at a time I was just creating programs for the school market. I’ve followed you ever since, and am grateful for all of the strategies you have put out into the world. Thanks for being here today.
Q1: I know you cover this question on every interview you do, but I love your story. Can you give a quick overview on your background and how you came to be known as the world’s fastest reader?
Q2: Instilling lifelong learning is a skill I’m passionate about (for students and for those who want to get ahead in the workplace). What were some of the results of the young kids (ages 11-15) you saw and how do you think they reached such high levels?
Q3: These days we live in a knowledge-based economy. Everything you do is based on what you know. Reading and writing are important skills not just for our students, but for those who want to get ahead with their career, reading is essential but it’s one of those things we don’t get paid to do. What are the TOP 5 strategies you would suggest to help people to read faster?
Q3B: I saw you do something in an interview[ii], where you read 21 pages of a book in 35 seconds. I am reading a couple books a week depending on how many interviews are set up, and how many books each speaker has written. I really need to improve this skill because the research puts me ahead of the game, when I can dig deeper and not just ask the surface-based questions. I heard you speaking about this strategy to improve reading speed by 20-40% and I actually used this with my daughter when she was struggling with reading to help her with not just speed, but comprehension and it  helped her to improve her focus. What are some ways to improve reading speed and comprehension since I know that the faster we read, we can get to the point where we have lost the ability to recall and retain what we have read? 
Q3C: What about writing? I have on my list to complete my third book, and with everything going on, I know I just need to block off the time, and maybe cut out some things to create the time needed. But you say I can write an EBOOK in 3-5 hours? Tell me what I am doing wrong?!
Q4: Listening to some of your podcasts and past work, I learned a lot about you, but loved hearing about how much time you spent studying at the library. How did you become interested in the brain and its impact on learning years before neuroscience is being integrated into our schools and curriculum and most of all, where can we find the time for all the reading, we know we should be doing?
Q4B: What about memory. When I was preparing for this interview (last Saturday), I watched some of your prior interviews and you have a strategy for improving memory. This is something I have been working on ever since my brain scan test at Amen Clinics came back and I scored low on memory recall, or recalling a list of random items. So you did this activity, and it’s 5 days after Saturday the 3rd when I listened to your strategy. You’ll have to take my word for it that I haven’t listened again after this first time, but you have a way to match up the list you need to remember with something you already know. Can you share how we can use this strategy in the real world? Maybe for remembering hotel rooms or parking spaces?
Q5: Giving back is important to you, and I saw it when I met you.  You will do anything to help others. What special offer do you have going on today?
I want to thank you very much Howard for spending the time with me today, and for the impression you made on me all those years ago. I’ve loved seeing your work emerge all of the news and media and know that what you have created is needed, important and timely.
For people who want to learn more about your courses, visit www.berglearning.com 
To book a FREE one-hour session with Howard Berg call 1-214-952-9150 
RESOURCES:
Howard Berg, World’s Fastest Speed Reader: Speed Learn Music Techniques  Published on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MekruTgPgUg
White Bead Public Schools uses Howard’s Programs https://www.whitebead.net/
The Evolution and Modification of Behavior by Konrad Lorenz Published Oct.1, 1986 https://www.amazon.com/Evolution-Modification-Behavior-Konrad-Lorenz/dp/0226493342
FOLLOW ANDREA SAMADI: 
YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/AndreaSamadi  
Website https://www.achieveit360.com/ 
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/samadi/ 
Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/Achieveit360com  
Neuroscience Meets SEL Facebook Group https://www.facebook.com/groups/2975814899101697  
Twitter: https://twitter.com/andreasamadi  
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/andreasamadi/ 
REFERENCES:
[i] https://berglearning.com/
[ii] Can You Read 21 Pages in 31 seconds? Howard Berg, the World’s Fastest Reader Does Here Published on YouTube September 1st, 2020 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eDbNYF2A_GQ

Author and Marketer Tom Beakbane on ”How to Understand Everything, Consilience: A New Way to Look at the World”

Welcome back to the Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast for episode #144 with Tom Beakbane[i], author and president of Beakbane: Brand Strategies & Communications Inc., who has helped generate over $5 billion in brand value for his clients, and discover a new way to see the world.
Watch the interview on YouTube here.
Visit past episodes here https://www.achieveit360.com/episodes/
On this episode, we will take a mind-altering journey into his book How to Understand Everything: Consilience: A New Way to See the World[ii]
There is a new way to understand human beings — and everything else.
It’s known as consilience.
Consilience is a new paradigm that reveals how things self-organize from the bottom up – in contrast to how we think and communicate, which is from the top down. 
This new paradigm exposes the realities of human nature on both personal and collective levels revealing the overlap between different domains of life: family, health, business, technology, politics, and spirituality.
Consilience will help you see things differently – and make people less puzzling.
I'm Andrea Samadi, author and educator from Toronto, Canada, now living in Arizona, and like many of our listeners, have been fascinated with learning and understanding the science behind high performance strategies in our schools, sports, and the workplace with strategies that we can all use, understand and implement, for improved results.
When I first came across Tom Beakbane, his work caught my attention, as it was right in line with episode #143 with Dr. Jon Lieff on The Secret Language of Cells. Tom wrote some feedback on my Linkedin post about this interview, and let me know that his work was right in line with Dr. Lieff’s. When I started reading his book, How to Understand Everything, I saw the many connections:
Between Understanding the Mind vs the Brain
How We Think and Communicate (from the top down)
The term consilience which means the “jumping together of different insights and realms of knowledge.
What consilience means in the different domains of life, health, business, technology.
I started to think about the questions I would ask Tom during our interview, and knew that even after diving into his book, that some discussion was required to be sure that I had a solid grasp of his years of research.
I can’t wait to hear what Tom Beakbane has to say in our interview, bringing light to this new way of thinking, and looking at the world.
Welcome Tom Beakbane, , thank you very much for speaking with me today. How to Understand Everything: Consilience: A New Way to See the World
Q1: From my communication with you this past week, I am sure you could see that I was finding it difficult to come up with questions for you because I want to be sure that I have a solid understanding of your book BEFORE we speak. Why do you think I found the topic difficult (when your book is all about how to understand everything) and it’s right in line with what my prior interviews? What is this new way of thinking or looking at the world, why might I have a hard time seeing it, and how did you discover it?
Q2: Searching for the meaning of “mind vs brain” is something I have also been interested in, and I recorded an episode on “Understanding the Difference Between the Mind and the Brain[iii]” on EPISODE #23 when we first began our podcast. I actually asked Dr. Jon Lieff this question in our last episode. Can you give your perspective of what is our mind vs our brain?
Q3:Listening to your prior podcasts, I was relieved when other interviewers had not heard of, or used the word consilience that’s in the title of your book (jumping together of ideas of different realms)?  Every email you sent me signs off with “wishing you consilience” and I could guess it means something like an integration of something…or a coming together of something…What does consilience mean and can you explain why you think it’s important for looking at life, health, business, technology and even sports?
Q4: In my last interview with Dr. Jon Lieff on the Secret Language of Cells, he talked about the fact that cells communicate with each other (or that a liver cell carries out specific things in that cell) and so there must be some sort of intelligence in our cells to know this. I know that you cover consciousness from a biological standpoint. You cover in Chapter 6 of your book Complex Critical Systems in Us. What have you discovered about our cells and how they organize themselves and what do you think consciousness is?
Q5: What can you tell us about our behavior and give us some understanding on ways to change behaviors that don’t serve us?
Q6: What is something important that you want listeners to know about your book? How can we make these ideas actionable for our listeners?
If anyone wants to learn more about you, what are the best places to find you?
https://howtounderstandeverything.beakbane.com/
Thank you very much Tom, for the time you took with me prior to our interview, and for sharing your extremely brilliant way of looking at the world.
FOLLOW ANDREA SAMADI: 
YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/AndreaSamadi  
Website https://www.achieveit360.com/ 
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/samadi/ 
Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/Achieveit360com  
Neuroscience Meets SEL Facebook Group https://www.facebook.com/groups/2975814899101697  
Twitter: https://twitter.com/andreasamadi  
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/andreasamadi/ 
RESOURCES:
Consilience: Facing the Realm of Being Human Published on YouTube June 1, 2021 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ga9G2GReoY0
Consciousness Explained Published on YouTube May 2, 2021 https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=kkSq0LCCQ8c&feature=youtu.be
Beakbane Marketing Kokanee Beer Label History https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kokanee_beer
REFERENCES:
[i] https://www.beakbane.com/author/tom-beakbane/
[ii] How to Understand Everything: Consilience: A New Way to See the World  by Tom Beakbane Published January 12, 2021 https://www.amazon.com/How-Understand-Everything-Consilience-World-ebook/dp/B08N8CSRG6/?geniuslink=true
[iii] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #23 on “Understanding the Difference Between Your Brain and Your Mind” https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/understanding-your-brain-and-mind-for-increased-results/

Jon Lieff, MD on ”The Secret Language of Cells: What Biological Conversations Tell Us About the Brain-Body Connection”

Welcome back to the Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast for episode #143 with Dr. Jon Lieff, a nationally recognized neuropsychiatrist and expert on cellular communication science that’s all about how it's our cells communicating with each other that causes feelings, sickness, thoughts, and disease in our bodies. 
Watch this interview on YouTube here https://youtu.be/IKR6SAS4wSw
See past episodes here https://www.achieveit360.com/episodes/ 
In today's episode, you will learn:✔︎ Dr. Lief's thoughts on what is the mind vs the brain, and a closer look at perception and memory from the cell level.✔︎ Why we get brain fog with depression and chronic stress.✔︎ How acupuncture works and builds our immune system.✔︎ How meditation increases immunity and fights against viruses.✔︎ What we should ALL know about our cells for improved health and wellness.✔︎  Dr. Lief's thoughts on whether the mind can influence your health.✔︎  The fascinating intelligence within each cell and how a liver cell knows what it's supposed to do in the body.
This is going to be a fascinating conversation, and the excitement for this episode began the week BEFORE the interview, when I posted Dr. Lieff’s book and information about the interview on social media, with a link to his website, and the buzz began. I know this is a topic of interest for listeners, and I think it’s very important to feature speakers who provide scientific research to answer the questions we might have about ways to improve our health, productivity and results. What you will learn today will open up your mind to new ways of looking at your health and performance, going beyond our brain, and into the cells of our body, that Dr. Lieff says are “the way our health works.”[i]
If you are new here, I'm Andrea Samadi, author and educator from Toronto, Canada, now living in Arizona, and like many of our listeners, have been fascinated with learning and understanding the science behind high performance strategies in our schools, sports, and the workplace with strategies that we can all use, understand and implement, for improved results. If you have been listening to our podcast for some time, you will know that we’ve uncovered that if we want to improve our social and emotional skills, and experience success in our work and personal lives, it all begins with an understanding of our brain. And since most of us have not had a crash course in the basics of neuroscience, and how an understanding of our brain can impact learning, I launched this podcast in June 2019 with the goal of interviewing leaders and experts who have risen to the top of their field, using these success principles.
Which brings me to our next guest, Dr. Jon Lieff.[ii] What captivated me with Dr. Lieff’s work even before I had read his book, was when I heard him talking about where his interest in the topic of cellular communication began, and he noticed that the books written on this topic were impossible for the average person to understand. This is the whole reason why we started this podcast, with a focus on neuroscience, so we could take the research and break it down so that it is simple and easy for anyone without a background in science to understand. When you meet Dr. Lieff, you will find he is someone who can take high level, complex, scientific concepts, and break them down to be applicable in our daily life. This is what makes his work unique, and I know that it will be what propels him to reach the masses with these sought-after connections between the mind, brain, body and health.
Here’s Dr. Lieff’s background so you can see the work he has been involved in for most of his career, leading him to the fascinating work on The Secret Language of Cells.
Dr. Lieff is a graduate of Yale and holds a Doctorate in Medicine from Harvard Medical School; he is a known innovator in several medical fields and the leading neuropsychiatrist investigating cellular conversations.  His book explores the cellular conversation as a new way of understanding how our cells have constant intelligent chatter between them, showing no separation of brain-body, mind-body, or brain-immune.
As a Distinguished Life Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association and former president of the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry, Dr. Lieff is an expert in the field of neuropsychiatry. He has delivered innumerable lectures on neuroscience, psychopharmacology, brain injury, dementia, and depression for audiences of physicians, other health care providers, and the general public. 
Dr. Lieff wrote some of the first books on computing and high technology in psychiatry for the American Psychiatric Press, leading to the development of one of the earliest treatment facilities for brain injury in the US. 
Dr. Lieff has been quoted in Newsweek, People magazine, and other major national media outlets and has recently spoken on the podcast Stay Young America!
I’m so excited to dive deep into his most recent book, The Secret Language of Cells: What Biological Conversation Tells Us About the Brain-Body Connection[iii] and see what we will uncover.
Welcome Dr. Lieff, it’s wonderful to finally meet you after speaking via email the past week.
Q1: Dr. Lieff, I could begin our conversation with the question that everyone asks you about your book, “why did you write this book?” but I do like to dive a bit deeper and let the listeners visit the show notes where I will list some of your recent podcasts like your Stay Young America Podcast[iv] that was excellent or To Your Good Health Radio Podcast[v] and start with a topic that I know is important enough for you to name your website after “Searching for the Mind” which will bring your website up if anyone types that phrase into Google.
Searching for the meaning of “mind vs brain” is something I have also been interested in, and I recorded an episode on “Understanding the Difference Between the Mind and the Brain[vi]” on EPISODE #23 when we first began our podcast. Can you give your perspective of what is our mind vs our brain?
Q1B: Can you explain perception and memory?
Q2: When I read some of your testimonials of  your book, like the brilliant mind of Ray Kurzweil, who many educators know as an innovator, and he says your book is a “must read for anyone seeking to understand modern biology and advanced medical science” or Andrew Weil, MD, who says your book is “a new paradigm for understanding health and disease” I looked at the title of your book for a minute and thought about the fact that I have spent 2 years focused on podcasts about the brain, maybe some that go into the nervous system, but not one thought about how our cells control our health and well-being. Can you explain this discovery and what it means for the average person who wants to learn what they can do to improve their health, results and productivity with this understanding of what’s going on with our cells?
 
Q3: Now I have to ask some questions that I know the initial answer will be that “science hasn’t proven that yet” but I wonder what you think of this topic with your background as a medical doctor and research in this field. My Mom was diagnosed with Uterine Cancer in the late 1990s, with less than 15% chance of survival, and I have a good friend whose daughter was recently diagnosed with a rare brain tumor and was pretty much told there’s no hope for you. For people like my friend’s daughter, I wonder what you would think of my Mom’s story of how she beat Cancer.  She was very much into the study of the mind, and told me that she did this mental exercise where she would twice a day, go from head to toe, and picture a person with an axe chopping or breaking up the cancer cells in her body. She was the only person in her group who beat Cancer and remains Cancer free today. What do you think? Can the mind influence health to this extent?
 
Q4: What about my friend’s daughter with a brain tumor? What’s the difference between brain cells (the wired brain) and the wireless brain (immune cells, blood vessel cells, organ lining cells)?
4B: What would  you do if you were told that you had Cancer?
 
I did learn something from the quiz you have on the homepage of your website called “Do You Know Your Cells”[vii] but wonder, how did you discover that cells communicate with each other?
 
Q5: Where do you think this intelligence within each cell comes from? How does a liver cell know exactly what it’s supposed to do?
 
Q6: Dr. Lieff, I could keep asking you questions, but know that you will answer more when you come out with your second and third book on this topic, and I would love to have you back on the podcast to keep this discussion going, but what are the main topics with these next books?
I want to thank you very much Dr. Lieff for sharing your fascinating work with us. For those who want to learn more about you, I will put the link to your website and social media links in the show notes.
 
Dr. Lieff’s website https://jonlieffmd.com/ or put Searching for the Mind into Google and you come up right away.
Dr. Lieff on TWITTER https://twitter.com/jonlieffmd
Dr. Lieff on LINKEDIN https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonlieffmd/
https://jonlieffmd.com/resources
Q9: What would be your final thought, or something that I have missed, that you think is important?
Thank you Dr. Lieff.
FOLLOW ANDREA SAMADI: 
YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/AndreaSamadi  
Website https://www.achieveit360.com/ 
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/samadi/ 
Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/Achieveit360com  
Neuroscience Meets SEL Facebook Group https://www.facebook.com/groups/2975814899101697  
Twitter: https://twitter.com/andreasamadi  
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/andreasamadi/ 
RESOURCES:
Animal Scientist Dr. Mark Bekoff https://marcbekoff.com/
Helpful Microbes https://www.nationalgeographic.org/activity/helpful-microbes/
CAR T Cells: Engineering a cancer-fighting immune super soldier January 19, 2016 https://news.cancerresearchuk.org/2016/01/19/engineering-a-cancer-fighting-immune-super-soldier/
Carl Zimmer The Meaning of Life https://carlzimmer.com/the-meaning-of-life-437/
Know Thyself: Well-Being and Subjective Experience Published January 22, 2018 by Joseph E LeDoux, Richard Brown, Daniel S Pine, Stefan G Hoffmann https://dana.org/article/know-thyself-well-being-and-subjective-experience/
What is This thing Called Subjective Experience? https://psycnet.apa.org/record/1994-00672-001
Neuroimmune circuits in inter-organ communications Published by Jun R. Huh December 19, 2019 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41577-019-0247-z
REFERENCES:
[i] Stay Young America Podcast with Dr. Jon Lieff https://www.listennotes.com/podcasts/to-your-good/the-secret-language-of-cells-lTE5Nis0fk-/
[ii] https://jonlieffmd.com/
[iii] The Secret Language of Cells: What Biological Conversation Tells Us About the Brain-Body Connection by Jon Lieff, MD. September 22, 2020 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B084HKZ4HK/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1
[iv] Stay Young America Podcast with Dr. Jon Lieff https://www.listennotes.com/podcasts/to-your-good/the-secret-language-of-cells-lTE5Nis0fk-/
[v] To Your Good Health Radio Podcast with Dr. Jon Lieff https://www.listennotes.com/podcasts/to-your-good/the-secret-language-of-cells-lTE5Nis0fk-/
[vi] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #23 on “Understanding the Difference Between Your Brain and Your Mind” https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/understanding-your-brain-and-mind-for-increased-results/
[vii] https://jonlieffmd.com/ Do You Know Your Cells Quiz (halfway down the page)

Case Study: Michal Ricca on "ReaDefying the Odds of Dyslexia"

Welcome back to the Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast for episode #142, with Michal Ricca[i], the Founder of Now I Can Read who created an online literacy program called ReaDefy Learning[ii] for children aged 10-17 who struggle with literacy.  
Watch the interview on YouTube here. https://youtu.be/B-V003TGVu8 
See past episodes here https://www.achieveit360.com/episodes/
We know from our past episode #136[iii] with Lois Letchford, with her dyslexic son who went on to graduate with his Ph.D from Oxford University, that some children need different learning strategies than how they are taught traditionally in the classroom. Michal’s program focuses on the critical life skills of verbal and written language and communication with the backbone of social and emotional skills to help propel these students to excel both inside and outside of the classroom.  Michal has a powerful story that I wanted to share, to open up some ideas and strategies if you are a teacher in the classroom, or if you are a parent with a struggling reader at home.  For those looking for ideas for the workplace, Michal has a compelling story that she will share on how she took all of her programs online, maximizing her time and efforts with her students, and giving her more balance back in her life.
I'm Andrea Samadi, author and educator from Toronto, Canada, now living in the United States, and like many of our listeners, have been fascinated with learning and understanding the science behind high performance strategies in our schools, sports, and the workplace. If you have been listening to our podcast, you will know that we’ve uncovered that if we want to improve our social and emotional skills, and experience success in our work and personal lives, it all begins with an understanding of our brain.
When I first met Michael, through LinkedIn, I knew right away that she had created something unique, when I heard that she has been focused on helping struggling students to learn how to read for the past 20 years, and has helped over 1,000 students to read. If you have ever worked with one struggling reader, you will know that it takes someone extremely special to uncover exactly what each student needs, and Michal has this gift.
You can learn more about Michal and her programs through her website, but here’s a bit about her background.
Michal Ricca, M.Ed. Founded the Academic Associates Center in Williston, VT in 2008. She holds an Advanced Teaching Masters of Education from Northwestern University, a Bachelor’s Degree in Elementary and Special Education, and has over twenty years experience working with students with all types of learning styles and differences.
Michal has been trained in Wilson, Orton-Gillingham, Academic Associates, Framing Your Thoughts, MindPlay, and many other techniques, while also having studied at Columbia University with Lucy Calkins herself.  Michal is a literacy addict and sees herself as a lifelong learner, staying current with best practice through journals, collegiate discussions, and professional development.
Michal pulls from many sources to individualize instruction, but her foundation is the Orton-Gillingham technique.  Her program is a multi-sensory and enables students, by using direct instruction, to review, learn new concepts, practice, and to apply what they are learning.  Orton-Gillingham has been utilized for over 50 years and is multi-sensory, systematic, structured, sequential, cumulative, and success-oriented.
Research states that the effectiveness of quality literacy instruction has less to do with the program used, and more to do with the efficacy of the teacher and the intensiveness of the student’s engagement. 
Let’s meet Michal Ricca and see what strategies she can bring to light after 20 years of focused work in the field of literacy and social and emotional learning.
Welcome Michal. It’s wonderful to have this opportunity to speak with you here. Thank you very much for sharing your story that I know will spark some new ideas for those listening who might be working with students who are struggling readers.
Q1: When we first met through LinkedIn, something caught my attention about your work with students. It was the fact that you’ve been focused on one thing for over 20 years and that’s to help struggling students learn how to read. 
Over the past two decades, You’ve taught “over 1,000 students how to read without the need for repeat instruction.”
What or who was it that inspired you to pick reading for your life’s work and what’s kept you on this subject area for the past 20 years?
Q2: I read on your website something that any teacher can pick up in a heartbeat and it was that “that the art of teaching can’t be taught. Instead, it’s often the result of a natural gift that has been fostered by continuous study”
Can we talk about that? We’ve all had those teachers that had that quality. They instilled the love of learning in us—
I saw it in Lois Letchford whose son failed 1st grade and went on to graduate from Oxford university with his PhD and it was because she found what motivated her son to read when he began to learn about maps and world explorers like Captain Cook. That ignited his learning. 
I saw it immediately with you-20 years helping students learning to read. 
I know what inspired your love for the subject, but what else is there? Why do you think you’ve got something that most people don’t have?
Q3: I remember when I had to move my program for the school market to an online model, and this was in 2014 when I had to learn how to code a website. There was a huge learning curve back then, not like today you can just buy a pre-made template. Can you share how the pandemic and your health caused you to change your entire business model from one-on-one instruction to online, and how exactly did you do that? 
Q4: How does your program work? Are you working with students outside of VT? How about internationally? Could someone join your program if they lived in Canada or the UK? Is your training recorded or is it live? 
Q5: Since our podcast has a huge component for implementing social and emotional learning, I loved when you mentioned it’s also your focus. How do you incorporate social and emotional learning into your programs? 
Q6: What’s your vision for your online programs? Where would you like to see yourself in the next 3-5 years? 
Thank you very much for taking the time to share the incredible work you are doing to empower students through reading. If anyone wants to reach you and learn more about your programs, is the best way through your website https://www.readefylearning.com/
Michal Ricca LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/michalricca/
Book a Consultation https://www.readefylearning.com/contact
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/Readefy-Learning-101096415410740
I’m Worried My Child Has Dyslexia, What Now FREE Ebook https://www.readefylearning.com/ 
RESOURCES:
https://www.ortonacademy.org/training-certification/
REFERENCES:
[i] Now I Can Read with Michal Ricca https://www.readefylearning.com/
[ii] ReaDefy Learning https://www.readefylearning.com/readefy-learning
[iii] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #136 with Lois Letchford on “From Dyslexia to Ph.D” https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/case-study-the-story-of-lois-letchford-from-dyslexia-to-phd-at-oxford-using-neuroscience-to-inspire-learning/

Brain Fact Friday on "Neurogenesis: What Hurts or Helps Your Brain Cells?"

Welcome back to the Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast, for Brain Fact Friday and episode #141.
In today's episode, you will learn:
✔︎ Tips for regrowing your brain cells (neurogenesis)
✔︎ A reminder of what prevents neurogenesis and hurts your brain
I'm Andrea Samadi, author and educator from Toronto, Canada, now living in Arizona, and like many of our listeners, have been fascinated with learning and understanding the science behind high performance strategies in our schools, sports, and modern workplaces of the future. If you have been listening to our podcast, you will know that we’ve uncovered that if we want to improve our social and emotional skills, and experience success in our work and personal lives, it all begins with an understanding of our brain. And since most of us have not had a crash course in the basics of neuroscience, and how an understanding of our brain can impact learning, I launched this podcast in June 2019 with the goal of interviewing leaders and experts who have risen to the top of their field, using these success principles.
I’m writing this before recording episode #143 with Dr. Jon Lieff, whose book The Secret Language of Cells: What Biological Conversation Tells Us About the Brain-Body Connection, the Future of Medicine and Life Itself[i], and his book has really got me thinking.
We know that brain health is important, but could the cells in our body be important for our health, translating into our productivity, results and future well-being? Just like I had never thought about my brain as it related to my results prior to understanding how important our brain was for our future, I definitely have never thought about my health down to the level of my cells. Or even thought about how brain cells (neurons) are different from the other cells in my body (like organ lining cells, immune cells, or blood vessel cells).  Have you?
This Leads us to This Week’s Brain Fact Friday:
Did you know that “we can regrow brain cells (a process called neurogenesis) that we retain throughout our entire lifetime”[ii] and that the best way to increase neurogenesis (regrow your brain cells) is “when your body produces more BDNF (brain-derived neurotrophic factor.” (Dr. David Perlmutter).
We covered an introduction to BDNF on episode #114 “Building a Faster, Stronger, Resilient Brain, by Understanding Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor”[iii] and how important BDNF is for learning and memory, with some tips for increasing your BDNF levels.
What Helps Your Brain Cells?
Exercise releases BDNF:
Dr. Ratey, in his book Go Wild explained that researchers were looking at ways to prevent the aging brain and found that “seniors who exercised developed significantly larger hippocampal volumes (the part of the brain responsible for memory processing) improving their memory.”[iv] They found that exercise also “prevented a loss of grey matter overall (which is common in aging) and improved brain function.” (Page 107). Since we are all aging, it makes sense to me that this research is relevant to all of us, not just the aging brain, proving again, of the importance of exercise as one of the health staples we should all be aware of.
Nutrition also releases BDNF:
Taking Omega-3 DHA also increases your BDNF and helps to increase neurogenesis. “Omega-3 fatty acids have the potential to influence neurogenesis through at least two distinct mechanisms. First, omega-3 fatty acids are incorporated into neuronal membranes…A second potential pathway …(where) these diets may influence neurogenesis is via omega-3 fatty acid modulation of cytokine levels, which in turn regulates immune function.”[v]
What Hurts Your Brain Cells?
We know that diet and exercise help our brain to build new neurons, but what hurts your brain and kills your brain cells?
Chronic stress, lack of sleep, poor diet and chemical and pesticide exposure all prevent neurogenesis and our podcast episode with Dr. Lieff on The Secret Language of Cells (Coming next week) we touch on this, but contrary to popular belief, “moderate alcohol use doesn’t kill brain cells.”[vi]  Not to say that alcohol does not damage the brain it just doesn’t kill brain cells. “It can damage the dendrites which are the branch-like ends of the brain cells. Dendrites are key for passing messages from one neuron to another, so dendrite degradation can cause cognitive problems.”[vii]
Conclusion:
Can we control neurogenesis by increasing BDNF?
Sandrine Thuret thinks we can, and offers her ideas in her TED TALK[viii]
She shows the clear case for exercise with an image I have put in the show notes showing new brain cells (black dots) growing in rats who were runners, versus less brain cell growth in the no-running rats.
 
(Image showing new brain cells (black dots) growing in rats who were runners
Source-You can grow new brain cells. Here’s how. Published on YouTube October 30, 2015 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_tjKYvEziI&t=5s
 
Sandrine Thuret’s TED TALK lists many ways you can grow new brain cells (the highlighted words) with intermittent fasting, flavonoids (found in dark chocolate) and caffeine being a few evidence-based strategies. Conversely, she mentions a diet high in saturated fat, sugar or ethanol, will have a negative impact on neurogenesis.
Image Source: Here’s how. Published on YouTube October 30, 2015 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_tjKYvEziI&t=5s  (7:26)
This Brain Fact Friday was a reminder for me to take my OMEGA-3 fatty acids. I hope it’s opened up your mind for some new ideas.
Stay tuned next week for Dr. Jon Leiff’s fascinating interview on his book, The Secret Language of Cells, as well as a case study from Michal Ricca, the founder of the Now I Can Read Program, who has taught over 1,000 children to read with her program.
See you next week.
REFERENCES:
[i] The Secret Language of Cells: What Biological Conversation Tells Us About the Brain-Body Connection by Jon Lieff, MD. September 22, 2020 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B084HKZ4HK/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1
[ii] Grow New Brain Cells with Exercise with Dr. David Perlmutter YouTube Published Dec.4, 2014 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4NfYd4wq7o&t=3s
[iii] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #114 “Building a Faster, Stronger, Resilient Brain, by Understanding Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor”  https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/brain-fact-friday-on-building-a-faster-stronger-resilient-brain-by-understanding-brain-derived-neurotrophic-factor-bdnf/
[iv] Go Wild: Eat Fat, Run Free, Be Social, and Follow Evolution’s Other Rules for Total Health and Well-Being by John J Ratey, MD and Richard Manning (June 3, 2014) https://www.amazon.com/Go-Wild-Free-Afflictions-Civilization-ebook/dp/B00FPQA66C
[v] Omega-3 fatty acids upregulate adult neurogenesis by Barbara S. Beltz, Michael F Tlusty, Jeannie L Benton, and David C Sandeman Published Jan. 7, 2007 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1892224/#:~:text=Omega%2D3%20fatty%20acids%20have,transporters%20and%20receptors%20%5B4%5D.
[vi] Brain Myth: Drinking Alcohol Kills Brain Cells https://www.brainhq.com/brain-resources/cool-brain-facts-myths/brain-mythology/brain-myth-alcohol-kills-brain-cells/
[vii] IBID
[viii] You can grow new brain cells. Here’s how. Published on YouTube October 30, 2015 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_tjKYvEziI&t=5s
 

Brain Fact Friday "Neuroscience Q&A" Livestream Andrea with Katherine Alexander-Dobrovolskaia

Welcome back to the Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast, for Brain Fact Friday, episode #140 and our first Livestream event.
I'm Andrea Samadi, author and educator from Toronto, Canada, now living in the United States, (but broadcasting this livestream from my balcony in HI with my co-host Katherine Alexander-Dobrovolskia who is joining us from London, United Kingdom) and like many of our listeners, we have both been fascinated with learning and understanding the science behind high performance strategies in our schools, sports, and the workplace. If you have been listening to our podcast, you will know that we’ve uncovered that if we want to improve our social and emotional skills, and experience success in our work and personal lives, it all begins with an understanding of our brain.
For our FIRST Livestream event, I’ve invited my colleague, and good friend Katherine Alexander- Dobrovolskaia, the owner of Talent Investors, who is joining us from London, United Kingdom. Welcome Kate, thank you for coming on my first Live event. You know why I asked you to be here today, right?
Kate: give me a guess…maybe something about the fact we are broadcasting from Hawaii…maybe because we’ve been friends for almost 10 years, meeting in John Assaraf’s forum, and now taking our Neurocoaching Certification together? You tell me….
Andrea: Kate, since June is the anniversary of when we launched this podcast (June 2019) and now that we are going into our third year of creating bi-weekly episodes, approaching 100K downloads, reaching over 143 countries, I wanted to do something different.  Then add to the mix that this month I hit that mile marker of turning 50, I knew it was time to shake things up.
And you’ve always had an eye for innovation with the work you did with your Best Boss Series[i]. When you did that series, interviewing innovators in business, what do you think stuck out with leaders who rose to the top? What kinds of things did you notice they were doing differently from the rest?
Kate: Answer about what you learned from your Best Boss Series.
Andrea: Well, since this is Brain Fact Friday, I did want to share something we’ve recently learned from our Neuroscience coaching training that we are doing together, and invite the listeners to ask questions in the chat. Anything you’d like to know after listening to this podcast if you have been following us, from how we launched, to secrets of inviting such high-quality guests. What do you want to know? I’ll let Kate answer the questions, and I’ll sit back and relax on my balcony.
Q1: Andrea to Kate: Kate, what would you say is something you have learned recently about the brain, as it has applied to your personal and professional life?
Kate: Answer…something about the brain that’s helped you personally/professionally? What about you, Andrea? What’s something important that sticks out for you?
Andrea: It was probably from episode #100 with Mary Helen Immordino-Yang “We feel, therefore we learn” and the idea that when we connect emotions to learning, what we are studying goes into long-term memory. This brings in Friederike Fabritius’ How the Brain Learns book and her work with peak performance with the idea that we must have FUN with our work to hit those highest levels of peak performance and productivity.
Andrea: What about the listeners? Let me know if you have learned anything from this podcast, or any other area about the brain, and how you’ve used these ideas for improved results?
Answer anything that comes in on the chat….
Q2: Andrea to Kate: I’ve known you for some time now, I think we were accountability partners at one point in time, helping each other stay on track with the projects we were working on. And then life hits, and you’ve had some extremely difficult times, in addition to the Pandemic. How have you been able to stay on track with life, positivity and look after everything that’s going on personally for you if you want to share what’s happened in your personal life that’s really knocked things off course for you? How are you working with the fears that you have around everything you are dealing with?
Kate: How about you, Andrea?
Andrea: During difficult times, I’ve usually found that sticking to routine has helped. Probably because the brain like predictability and doesn’t like change, so keeping a daily routine that starts with consistent sleep/wake times has been a good starting point. Then building everything else around that. I had no idea that research has shown that this consistent sleep/wake time is an important marker for productivity (from the interview with Kristen Holmes) from Whoop.com, so much so, that when you wear the Whoop device, it tells you how consistent you are with your sleep/wake times and this can help your health in ways that research is just discovering to be beneficial. I haven’t had anything as difficult as you have had to deal with, but I am sure our listeners have.
But for those BIG fears…like fear of someone close to you with health problems, I have found Dr. Carolyn Leif’s work to be helpful. I did a podcast on her newest book, Cleaning Up Your Mental Mess: 5 Simple Scientifically Proven Steps to Reduce Stress, Anxiety and Toxic Thinking[ii]
Andrea: For our listeners?  What have you been doing to stay productive during difficult times?
Q3: Andrea to Kate: Kate, I shared with you that an area that I know we could improve on in my household (other than sleep which is so easy to master in HI—I’ve had perfect sleep scores this week because there’s no agenda or time pressure on vacation) but other than this area, it would be our meals.
With the fact that we all have different schedules (the girls train at the gym every night during the school year, so it’s not like we can sit down as a family like my parents did with us growing up) so my dinner is usually at my desk while I’m working and if my husband is home, we will eat together, but it’s not always this simple. So, you sent me an incredible cook book that we can use to try some new recipes together. Can you share how cooking as a family has helped you?
Kate: answers how cooking as a family has helped them to stay closer.
Andrea: How about our listeners? What have you been doing to stay healthy with meals? Or sleep? Since we can’t be on vacation all the time and depending on where you live, it might be difficult to still shop for groceries. My Mom told me they just started to open up shopping in Toronto, but before that, I was shipping her items from Amazon that she couldn’t get locally.
Q4: Andrea to Kate: I know you are a reader, and you always keep me up to date with books that you have been learning from. What books have you been reading this year?
Kate: What about you, Andrea, what books are you reading?
Andrea: I’ve always got the book of the next person I’m interviewing on my phone, and love this part of the podcast. Where else in the world do you get to read someone’s book and then email them and say “hey, can I pick your brain on your book?” and they say sure, and you get to dive deeper into what they have written, and share it? This is the part of the podcast that amazes me every day.
I’ve got to mention Mandy Krueckebrg Lengrich, a longtime listener of the podcast, who has sent me at least 10 books to read/research. I want to spend some time with these books that she is picking up from her studies in the field of educational neuroscience. (Gabor Mate, Nicole Tetreault/Seth Perler) and her most recent referral of the book Into the Magic Shop by James R Doty, M.D.
I’ve also been fascinated with Dr. Bruce Perry’s work, (he’s just released a book with Oprah and my friends stop me on the hiking trails saying…you need to interview Dr. Perry). Episode #53 “Self-Regulation and Your Brain: How to Bounce Back Towards Resiliency” was inspired by his recent webinar series. I asked him to be a guest on the podcast last June 2020 and he was in the middle of writing his book “What Happened to You” with Oprah, and he told me to contact him when he’s finished the book. A year later, his book is out, and I feel like a stalker, but I don’t want to miss an opportunity like that, so I contacted him again, and we are working on getting him on the schedule for October, so this book is always open on my phone.
I’ve also got a fun interview coming in August with Mike Rousell on how surprise impacts the brain. Who doesn’t like surprises? His book comes out in September, so the interview will be released right before this book,
 Andrea: What books are our listeners reading?
Q5: Andrea to Kate: You’ve known me for a while, and I know you love to push me beyond my limits, which I love.  We can all use a friend who doesn’t let you get comfortable. If you look at the speakers I’ve had on the podcast, who would you like to see me interview next? Give me a list of some people.
Andrea: to listeners: who would the listeners like to hear on the podcast next? Send me some ideas.
In Today’s Brain Fact Friday You Will Learn:
✔︎ What brain-based strategy Andrea and co-host Kate have found to be the most useful in their personal and professional life?
Share your favorite brain-based strategy in the Livestream chat.
✔︎ How Kate has been able to stay positive during some difficult life experiences.
Share what you have been doing to stay positive and productive during times of difficulty/challenge.
✔︎ How Kate has used cooking as a family to keep healthy habits during the Pandemic.
Share anything you have been doing as a family to stay healthy and productive.
✔︎ What books are Kate and Andrea reading now?
Share what books have been inspiring you.
✔︎Who does Kate think Andrea should have as a guest on the podcast?
Share ideas of speakers/authors you would like to see on the podcast.
What else? Any other thoughts?
Kate, I want to thank you for almost a decade of friendship, mentorship and learning. Thank you for co-hosting this livestream with me, it’s been a blast.
Thanks to all the listeners who have downloaded an episode, and are supporting the podcast. Thank you for joining the Livestream and sharing your ideas with us.
I’m off to the beach now, and hope everyone enjoys their weekend.
REFERENCES:
[i] Best Boss Series with Katherine Alexander Dobrovolskaia https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/best-boss-series-first-year-conclusions-alexander-dobrovolskaia/
[ii] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #106 Review of Dr. Caroline Leaf’s Cleaning Up Your Mental Mess https://www.achieveit360.com/review-of-neuroscientist-and-best-selling-author-dr-caroline-leafs-cleaning-up-your-mental-mess-coming-march-2nd/

Brain Fact Friday on "The Fascinating Discoveries That Link Math, Literacy and the Brain"

Welcome back to the Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast, for Brain Fact Friday and episode #139 on “The Fascinating Discoveries that Link Math, Literacy and the Brain Together.”
If you are listening on iTunes, click here to see the images in the show notes.
I'm Andrea Samadi, author and educator from Toronto, Canada, now living in the United States, and like many of our listeners, have been fascinated with learning and understanding the science behind high performance strategies in our schools, sports, and modern workplaces of the future. If you have been listening to our podcast, you will know that we’ve uncovered that if we want to improve our social and emotional skills, and experience success in our work and personal lives, it all begins with an understanding of our brain.
Our goal with this podcast is to bring the most current neuroscience research to you and make it applicable in your life whether you are a teacher in the classroom, a parent homeschooling, or using these ideas to improve productivity and results in your workplace. The idea is that these strategies will give you a new angle and provide you with a new way of looking at learning, results and productivity, with the brain in mind. As I am researching and uncovering new ideas, I’m also implementing them myself, and making connections to past speakers, so that we can all benefit from the research that is emerging in this new field of educational neuroscience.
 
I want to thank the listeners who have sent me messages through social media[i] about how you are using these ideas in your schools, community and personal lives. It does help to know that these episodes are useful, and how you are using this information, and that it’s not just me who finds the intricacies of the brain and learning to be fascinating.  Thanks so much for the messages.
Back to this week’s Brain Fact Friday.
DID YOU KNOW:
There is a test called the finger gnosis test[ii] (a child holds their fingers under the table and has to tell you which fingers you touch) and “this test is a strong predictor of future mathematical ability” (Dr. Ansari taught us this in our last episode) and that “finger movement and counting are closely associated with the brain?” (David Sousa).
David A Sousa in his book How the Brain Learns Mathematics found “that the region of the brain that controls finger movement is the same region associated with counting” [iii] and he thought it was interesting that finger movement and counting are closely associated in the brain. 
I asked Dr. Ansari what he thought about this, and he agreed there might be something to what David Sousa is thinking. This might explain why Dyslexia (a learning disorder that involves a difficulty with reading) and Dyscalculia (a math learning disability where children struggle with number sense) are so closely related. Dr. Ansari mentioned that 50% of children who struggle with math, also struggle with reading. The two go hand in hand.
We did cover the societal significance of our children or students learning to read proficiently by 3rd grade with last week’s Brain Fact Friday, episode #137[iv] where we examined the math learning disability dyscalculia, that’s closely related to dyslexia, but here’s a quick reminder of the importance of knowing why literacy is so important, especially understanding the implications of NOT staying on top of our children/students who might be struggling with the foundations of reading, or mathematics, at an early age.
When we look at the statistics, the importance of developing the foundational skills of literacy is clear. Just a reminder:
2/3 of students who cannot read proficiently by the end of 4th grade will end up in jail or on welfare. Over 70% of America’s inmates cannot read above a 4th grade level.
1 in 4 children in America grow up without learning how to read at all.
Students who don't read proficiently by the 3rd grade are 4 times likelier to drop out of school.
Nearly 85% of the juveniles who face trial in the juvenile court system are functionally illiterate, proving that there is a close relationship between illiteracy and crime.
 
When researching Dr. Ansari, I came across similar statistics for students who did not have the foundational skills in mathematics.
Did you know that:
“Low numeracy skills are associated with physical illness, depression and incarceration?” (Bynner and Parsons 2005)[v]
Students with poor numerical and mathematical skills are more likely to default on their mortgage payments than those with strong mathematical skills “(Gerardi, Goetta and Meier 2013).[vi]
Dr. Daniel Ansari’s interview #138[vii] provided many insights of the importance of understanding how the brain learns, but one of the most profound analogies he gave was about the importance of looking at the foundational competencies in mathematics to help students “build a solid foundation to their learning”[viii] so they build a strong foundation that is not at risk of collapsing.  
The Foundational Skills of Reading and Mathematics
There is a clear case for ensuring our students are proficient readers by 3rd grade, and we have just started to dive deep into strategies for struggling readers with episode #136 with the case study of Lois Letchford[ix] and how she helped her son to overcome dyslexia and graduate with his Ph.D. from Oxford University. Since this episode was released, I have had many emails with stories and case studies to support innovation in this field. Like Dr. Burton Clark[x], who sent me his story about beating the odds and overcoming dyslexia in the field of firefighting. We also can see the importance of developing the foundational skills in mathematics.
The core of reading, Dr. Ansari explains is “connecting sounds to letters” or phonemic awareness that David Sousa explains in depth in his “How the Brain Learns to Read” series and on episode #78[xi] but the core of math, Dr. Ansari reminds us is “connecting quantity to symbols” (or knowing that 3 apples is also three apples).
What Are the Foundational Reading Skills That Should Be in Place By 3rd Grade? 
David Sousa’s How the Brain Learns to Read[xii] has a clear list on page 208, reminding us that
“Teachers make a difference. Students of experienced teachers with knowledge of scientifically-based methods had higher reading achievement scores than students of inexperienced teachers.” (David A Sousa)
Most researchers agree that these skills must be in place by 3rd grade to ensure students will be able to cope with the increased difficulty in future grades.
They must:
Master the alphabet
Read fluently
Understand what students are reading
Have strategies to sound out unfamiliar words
Be confident in spelling
Read almost any book in the elementary school library
Write almost anything that falls within a child’s knowledge and experience
Have an appetite for reading and writing
Now we learned from our interview #136 with Lois Letchford that learning to read doesn’t come naturally for some children. It’s a serious struggle. But her episode focused on some strategies to help the students who do struggle with reading, and our next interview coming in the third week of June that will feature Michal Ricca[xiii], the Founder of the Now I Can Read Program, from Williston, VT (USA) who has in the past 2 decades, taught over 1,000 students how to read. She will share why she saw the need to create an online reading program for students that has greatly expanded her reach beyond what she was able to do working with students one on one.  Her program helps students with more than reading, but also with the social and emotional aspect that comes along with a student who is struggling, and who just wants to fit in with the other children in their class.
Instructional Strategies to Help Improve Reading Comprehension from David Sousa’s How the Brain Learns to Read (Page 99-101).
Using graphic organizers
Asking questions
Summarizing
Mental imagery
Paraphrasing
What Are the Foundational Mathematical Skills That Should Be in Place By 3rd Grade? 
When looking at the foundations to math that Dr. Ansari thinks are important to be in place by 3rd grade, he reminded me that math is much more complicated than reading, and that many skills need to be in place, but he did think that number sense is very important.
Students should understand:
Quantities
Concepts like more or less
Larger and smaller
Understanding the order in a line (1st, 2nd, 3rd)
Understand that symbols like 7 represent quantities and mean the same thing as seven.
Making number comparisons (like 12 is greater than 10)
Recognizing relationships between single items and groups of items (seven means one group of seven items)
Understand fractions, proportions, multiplying and dividing
Also the gradual progress of finger counting to the mental process of adding/subtraction numbers
Instructional Strategies
Dr. Ansari mentioned the 6 evidence-based strategies from the most recent report Assisting Struggling Students with Mathematics.[xiv] I will put the image of the 6 strategies in the show notes, but thought it was important to mention the importance of using number lines, since any time an abstract concept can be visualized, it makes it easier for the student to understand. Lois Letchford mentioned this with her work with her son, and that using a number line with the dates brought the maps they were studying to life.
REVIEW and CONCLUSION with This WEEK’S BRAIN FACT FRIDAY
David Souza uncovered finger movement and counting to be closely associated in the brain and Dr. Ansari spoke about finger gnosis and mathematical ability[xv] and that it is widely known finger gnosis (a child holds their hand under a table and someone touches their fingers, then asks, “which finger did I touch?” The ability to perform this test well is a strong predictor of future mathematical ability.
He also mentioned that even before brain scans, they knew from patients who had damage to the left hemisphere of the brain, the left angular gyrus, they became terrible at finger gnosis and terrible at math.
If you look at the diagram of the brain in the show notes, you will see how close the angular gyrus is to the Wernicke’s area (the part of the brain that controls speech) and the Broca’s area (also linked to speech production).
This is where Dr. Ansari says “we know that there’s a connection here, but we just don’t know the mechanism” which to me is the fascinating part of this work. Maybe next year, or maybe in 3 years’ time, neuroscience advancements will be made to show exactly what is happening in the brain when we are counting and using our fingers, but for now, we just know there is a connection, but what it is, remains to be discovered.
I hope today’s Brain Fact Friday has made you think, like it has opened up my mind, to all the possibilities that exist when we begin to study and learn this powerful topic of the human brain.
The next time you use your fingers to count something, or you watch someone else doing this, remember that what you are saying and counting with your fingers are firing off pathways in your brain that are very closely connected. I know we can’t see this happening, but we can get a clear image of this happening, and with time, we will learn even more about our brain, learning and ways we can use this information to improve our productive and results.
See you next week.
RESOURCES: 
The Number Sense: How the Mind Creates Mathematics by Stanislas Dehaene April 29, 2011  https://www.amazon.com/Number-Sense-Creates-Mathematics-Revised/dp/0199753873/ref=sr_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=the+number+sense&qid=1623114414&s=books&sr=1-3
REFERENCES:
[i] Contact Andrea Samadi  https://www.achieveit360.com/contact-us/
[ii] Finger gnosis predicts a unique but small part of variance in initial arithmetic performance by Mirjam Wasner, Hans-Christopher Nuerk, Laura Martignon, Stephanie Roesch, Korbinian Moeller June 2016  https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0022096516000163
[iii] How the Brain Learns Mathematics by David A Sousa Sept. 19, 2007 https://www.amazon.com/Brain-Learns-Mathematics-David-Sousa/dp/1412953065 Page 15
[iv] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #137 on “Understanding Dyscalculia: The Math Learning Disability” https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/brain-fact-friday-understanding-dyscalculia-the-math-learning-disability/
[v] PEN Distinguished Lecture Series with Dr. Daniel Ansari Published on YouTube Dec.16th, 2020 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0sioNHbGOkg&t=1580s (16:22)
[vi] PEN Distinguished Lecture Series with Dr. Daniel Ansari Published on YouTube Dec.16th, 2020 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0sioNHbGOkg&t=1580s (17:05)
[vii] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #138 with Dr. Daniel Ansari on “The Future of Educational Neuroscience” https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/professor-and-canada-research-chair-in-developmental-cognitive-neuroscience-and-learning-on-the-future-of-educational-neuroscience/
[viii] PEN Distinguished Lecture Series with Dr. Daniel Ansari Published on YouTube Dec.16th, 2020 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0sioNHbGOkg&t=1580s (18:51)
[ix]Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #136 with a Case Study of Lois Letchford “From Dyslexia to Ph.D. Oxford”  https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/case-study-the-story-of-lois-letchford-from-dyslexia-to-phd-at-oxford-using-neuroscience-to-inspire-learning/
[x] The Dyslectic Legend Who Failed Probation by Dr. Burton Clark Dec. 4, 2020  https://www.firehouse.com/careers-education/article/21165174/the-dyslectic-legend-who-failed-probation
[xi] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #78 with David Sousa on “How the Brain Learns” https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/award-winning-author-david-a-sousa-on-how-the-brain-learns/
[xii] David Sousa How the Brain Learns to Read March 2014 https://us.corwin.com/en-us/nam/book/how-brain-learns-read-0
[xiii] Michal Ricca http://www.nowicanread.com/about-us.php
[xiv] Assisting Students Struggling with Mathematics: Intervention in the Elementary Grades March 2021 Institute of Education Sciences with Lynn S. Fuchs https://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/Docs/PracticeGuide/WWC2021006-Math-PG.pdf
[xv] The relationship between finger gnosis and mathematical ability by Marcie Penner-Wilger and Michael Anderson December 5, 2013 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3851991/
 

Professor and Canada Research Chair Dr. Daniel Ansari in Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning on ”The Future of Educational Neuroscience”

Welcome back to the Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast, EPISODE #138 with Dr. Daniel Ansari[i], a professor and Canada Research Chair[ii] in Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning in the Department of Psychology and the Brain in Mind Institute[iii] at the University of Western Ontario in London, Ontario where he heads the Numerical Cognition Laboratory.[iv] His name is well-known in the field of educational neuroscience with a focus on numeracy and math which I know our listeners will find fascinating as we make connections with how children acquire math and numeracy, with brain science in mind.
You can watch the interview on YouTube here. 
I'm Andrea Samadi, an educator who has been fascinated with understanding the science behind high performance strategies in schools, sports, and the workplace for the past 20 years. If you have been listening to our podcast, you will know that we’ve uncovered that if we want to improve our social and emotional skills, and experience success in our work and personal lives, it all begins with an understanding of our brain.
Our goal with this podcast is to bring the most current neuroscience research to you and make it applicable in your life whether you are a teacher in the classroom or using these ideas to improve productivity and results in your workplace. As I am researching and learning new ideas, I’m also implementing them myself, and making connections to past speakers, so that we can all benefit from the research that is emerging in this new field of educational neuroscience.
Which brings me to our next guest, who I came across a few months ago while researching neuroscientists who specialize in the field of education. Dr. Daniel Ansari’s name came up as a speaker at the Dropping Out, What Neuroscience Can Teach Us[v] International Symposium on the long-held paradigms of dropout prevention with his session on “The Best Way for Children to Learn Math” and my attention was caught. When I worked at Pearson Education, (2004-2010) I was on a sales team that had a focus on one product, for dropout prevention at the high school level (NovaNET)[vi] and I spent years promoting this program with the hopes of saving students who were at risk of dropping out. This conference was happening just as I had begun to study the brain and learning in 2015, and I only wish I had found it sooner. I wrote down Dr. Ansari’s name on my desk, with the idea that I would look him up, and see if he would come on the podcast as a guest.
Then went back to work on researching in the field of educational neuroscience and the researcher I am working with, Mark Waldman, sent me an article that he thought would be of interest to me with a project I am working on. I opened the article called “Annual Research Review: Educational neuroscience: progress and prospects”[vii] by Michael S.C Thomas, Daniel Ansari, and Victoria C.P. Knowland and immediately contacted Daniel Ansari. I don’t believe in accidents and when someone’s name continues to come to my attention as someone I need to learn from, I don’t waste any time. Without further ado, let’s meet Professor and Canada Research Chair in Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, Dr. Daniel Ansari.
Welcome Daniel! I was so happy when you wrote back after I contacted you after reading your research abstract on educational neuroscience, thank you so much for being here.
Daniel, you let me know when I first contacted you that you were in lockdown in London, Ontario, Canada, that your son was doing his schooling in your office and as I am writing these questions, I saw that schools in Ontario (where I grew up, got my teaching degree, and was a teacher) have according to Professor Prachi Srivastava, a professor at Western University “the longest school closures in Canada. As of today (June 3rd), 23 weeks since March 2020).” What is going on with the schools in Ontario, and how do you think this is impacting student learning?
 
Q1: Dr. Ansari, when I first began to research this field of educational neuroscience, it was in 2014 when an educator urged me to go in this direction with the leadership/SEL program[viii] I created for middle and high schools, and there wasn’t a lot of resources to follow. There were books to read on learning and the brain and I have interviewed many of these leaders on the podcast (David Sousa, How the Brain Learns Series[ix], John Medina’s Brain Rules[x]) but I certainly had no idea there were undergraduate programs in this field. ((The term educational neuroscience came to me a few years later as I began to learn from Dr. Lori Desautels[xi], who runs the educational neuroscience graduate program at Butler University, but aside from her program, or taking a certification course like I am doing now from a leading researcher, I didn’t know of any pathway that an educator could take to learn more about the brain and how it impacts learning.)) Can you share how you came on this path, that took you from your work in England, to Dartmouth College’s first undergraduate program in neuroscience and perhaps your vision for where this field is going?[xii]
Q2: I’d love to dive into the work you are doing at Western University’s Numerical Cognition Lab where you are studying how children develop numerical skills. I’m sure that you hear this often, and it was the first thing that came across my mind when I began researching your work. Why did you put your focus on numeracy and math? What are the scientific and societal implications that you’ve uncovered to build a case for everyone to look mathematical skills with a new lens?
Q3: Now that you’ve built the case for the importance of numeracy and math for our students/children, and many students have been homeschooled for the past year, so this is information is important for parents, not just for those teaching in the classroom. What are some of the foundational numerical skills that our children/students should be proficient with by 3rd grade (since 3rd grade is such an important marker for literacy) and how can we be sure to not put our fear of math (if we have it) onto our students or children?
Q4: I watched the video on your website[xiii] that gives an overview of the work you are doing in your lab, and it caught my attention with the brain imaging you are doing to see how the brain’s structure and function impact our mathematical abilities. The only research I have come across so far on the brain and mathematics is David Sousa’s “How the Brain Learns Mathematics”[xiv] and in this book he says that with brain imaging they came across an interesting finding that he wasn’t sure was coincidental. They found “that the region of the brain that controls finger movement is the same region associated with counting”[xv]  and he thought it was interesting that finger movement and counting are closely associated in the brain. Do you have any interesting findings like this (linking brain functions) that would be interesting and helpful for teachers learning to integrate brain science into their lessons, or parents homeschooling? What are you seeing with your brain scans?
Q5: We just released a podcast on a fascinating story of a child who had a developmental reading disorder, who failed 1st grade in 1994, yet went on to graduate with his Ph.D. from Oxford in 2018 with brain-based learning strategies. Can you explain a brief overview of Developmental Dyscalculia, how we can recognize it with our children/students and some strategies we could all use to help those who show the signs of this brain-based disorder, so it doesn’t dictate their future?
Q6: What is your vision for the future of education, and how educational neuroscience can advance our understanding of best practices to accelerate learning, social/emotional and academic?
 
Thank you for your time, research and strategies linking neuroscience to the future of learning. If people want to learn more about your work, I will put your website in the show notes numericalcognition.org and social media links Twitter @NumCog. Is there anything else we should know about that I have missed or any final thoughts?
 
Thank you, Dr. Ansari.
Dr. Daniel Ansari
Website http://www.numericalcognition.org/
Twitter https://twitter.com/NumCog
RESOURCES:
Dartmouth College Educational Neuroscience Undergraduate Program https://pbs.dartmouth.edu/undergraduate/neuroscience
Donna Coch Faculty of Education https://educ.dartmouth.edu/
Bridges over troubled waters: education and cognitive neuroscience by Daniel Ansari, Donna Coch March 10, 2006 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16530462/
Casel’s SEL State Initiative https://casel.org/collaborative-state-initiative/
Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #77 with University Professors and Authors Douglas Fisher and Nancy Frey on “Developing and Delivering High Quality Distance Learning for Students” Published on YouTube August 4, 2020 H https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7nLe3P50j4Q
The British Psychological Society https://www.bps.org.uk/
What is Number Sense? https://www.understood.org/en/learning-thinking-differences/child-learning-disabilities/math-issues/number-sense-what-you-need-to-know
How number-spaced relationships are assessed by Katarzyna Patro, Hans-Christopher Nuerk, Ulrike Cress, and Maciej Haman May 14, 2014. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4030170/
David Sousa’s “How the Brain Learns Mathematics” Sept. 19, 2007 https://www.amazon.com/Brain-Learns-Mathematics-David-Sousa/dp/1412953065
The Number Sense: How the Mind Creates Mathematics by Stanislas Dehaene April 29, 2011  https://www.amazon.com/Number-Sense-Creates-Mathematics-Revised/dp/0199753873/ref=sr_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=the+number+sense&qid=1623114414&s=books&sr=1-3
What explains the relationship between spatial and mathematical skills? A review of evidence from brain and behavior by Zachary Hawes and Daniel Ansari January 2020 https://link.springer.com/article/10.3758/s13423-019-01694-7
Hand 2 Mind Math Tool Kits https://www.amazon.com/hand2mind-Manipulative-Toolkit-Grade-Hands/dp/B07S259K8N
https://www.college-de-france.fr/site/en-stanislas-dehaene/presentation.htm
The relationship between finger gnosis and mathematical ability by Marcie Penner-Wilger and Michael Anderson December 5, 2013 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3851991/
The role of fingers in number processing in young children by Anne LaFay, Catherine Thevenot, Caroline Castel, and Michael Fayol July 30, 2013  https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00488/full
Assisting Students Struggling with Mathematics: Intervention in the Elementary Grades March 2021 Institute of Education Sciences with Lynn S. Fuchs https://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/Docs/PracticeGuide/WWC2021006-Math-PG.pdf
https://www.understood.org/en/learning-thinking-differences/child-learning-disabilities/dyscalculia/what-is-dyscalculia
REFERENCES:
 
[i] Daniel Ansari  https://www.edu.uwo.ca/faculty-profiles/daniel-ansari.html
[ii] https://www.psychology.uwo.ca/about_us/achievements.html
[iii] Brain in Mind Institute https://www.uwo.ca/bmi/
[iv] http://www.numericalcognition.org/
[v] Dropping Out, What Neuroscience Can Teach Us International Symposium, Quebec, Canada, 2015. https://www.edcan.ca/event/dropping-out-what-neuroscience-can-teach-us/
[vi] Pearson’s NovaNET https://www.pearson.com/content/dam/one-dot-com/one-dot-com/ped-blogs/wp-content/pdfs/dc1-pearsondigitallearning-novanet-research-based.pdf
[vii] Annual Research Review: Educational neuroscience: progress and prospects by Michael S.C. Thomas, Daniel Ansari and Victoria C.P. Knowland (April 2019)  https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6487963/
[viii] Andrea Samadi’s Level Up Program, Books and Tools for the Classroom https://www.achieveit360.com/courses/
[ix] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #78 with David Sousa on “How the Brain Learns” https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/award-winning-author-david-a-sousa-on-how-the-brain-learns/
[x] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #42 with Dr. John Medina on “Implementing Brain Rules in our Schools and Workplaces of the Future” https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/dr-john-medina-on-implementing-brain-rules-in-the-schools-and-workplaces-of-the-future/
[xi] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #56 with Dr. Lori Desautels “Connections Over Compliance: Rewiring Our Perceptions of Discipline” https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/educational-neuroscience-pioneer-dr-lori-desautels-on-her-new-book-about-connections-over-compliance-rewiring-our-perceptions-of-discipline/
[xii] https://pbs.dartmouth.edu/undergraduate/neuroscience
[xiii] http://www.numericalcognition.org/
[xiv] How the Brain Learns Mathematics by David A Sousa Sept. 19, 2007 https://www.amazon.com/Brain-Learns-Mathematics-David-Sousa/dp/1412953065
[xv] How the Brain Learns Mathematics by David A Sousa Sept. 19, 2007 https://www.amazon.com/Brain-Learns-Mathematics-David-Sousa/dp/1412953065 Page 15

Brain Fact Friday "Understanding Dyscalculia: The Math Learning Disability"

Welcome back to the Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast, for Brain Fact Friday and episode #137.
In Today’s Brain Fact Friday You Will Learn:
✔︎ Why the Foundational Skills in Literacy and Mathematics are so Important.
✔︎ How Students with Reading Difficulties and Like Students with Math Difficulties.
✔︎ An Introduction to Dyscalculia: The Math Learning Disability.
✔︎ How to Recognize Dyscalculia, and Strategies to Assist Students Who Struggle with Math.
✔︎ Many Celebrities Have Dyscalculia and Dyslexia: It’s Not a Matter of Intelligence.
I'm Andrea Samadi, a former educator who has been fascinated with understanding the science behind high performance strategies in schools, sports, and the workplace for the past 20 years. If you have been listening to our podcast, you will know that we’ve uncovered that if we want to improve our social and emotional skills, and experience success in our work and personal lives, it all begins with an understanding of our brain.
Our goal with this podcast is to bring the most current neuroscience research to you and make it applicable in your life whether you are a teacher in the classroom or using these ideas to improve productivity and results in your workplace. The idea is that these strategies will give you a new angle and provide you with a new way of looking at learning, with the brain in mind. As I am researching and learning new ideas, I’m also implementing them myself, and making connections to past speakers, so that we can all benefit from the research that is emerging in this new field of educational neuroscience.
The Importance of The Foundational Skills: Literacy and Mathematics
Which brings us to this week’s Brain Fact Friday and the connections I made while recording episode #136[i] with Lois Letchford, and her son who failed first grade in 1994 when testing revealed he could only read 10 words, had no strengths and a low IQ and was clearly struggling with his academics in his early years.  Thank goodness his Mother figured out that he needed to learn how to read with different learning strategies that you can learn about in episode #136, and see how her son defied the odds he was given at an early age and graduated from Oxford University with his Ph.D.
What would have happened to Nicholas Letchford if he didn’t have such a happy ending to his story? If he did not find a different way to build those foundational skills that he needed for literacy achievement?  I remembered a webinar I prepared for the educational publisher, Voyager Sopris Learning in 2018 on “Nine Brain-Based Strategies to Skyrocket Literacy Achievement”[ii] and in the introduction to this webinar, I talk about the U.S. statistics that emphasize the importance of our children learning to read proficiently by 3rd grade.
Did you know that:
2/3 of students who cannot read proficiently by the end of 4th grade will end up in jail or on welfare. Over 70% of America’s inmates cannot read above a 4th grade level.
1 in 4 children in America grow up without learning how to read at all.
Students who don't read proficiently by the 3rd grade are 4 times likelier to drop out of school.
Nearly 85% of the juveniles who face trial in the juvenile court system are functionally illiterate, proving that there is a close relationship between illiteracy and crime. More than 60% of all inmates are functionally illiterate.
And these shocking statistics lead to high drop-out rates, low graduation rates and college completion, illiteracy, incarceration, and welfare, proving that when a student is struggling with their reading, there is so much more at stake than what meets the eye.
Then I began researching for episode #138 with Dr. Daniel Ansari, a professor, and Canada Research Chair[iii] in Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning in the Department of Psychology and the Brain in Mind Institute[iv] at the University of Western Ontario in London, Ontario where he heads the Numerical Cognition Laboratory[v] and I learned from Dr. Ansari that in addition to the importance of developing these foundational reading skills, he emphasized the importance of developing the foundational skills in numeracy and math saying that “low numeracy skills is associated with physical illness, depression and incarceration”[vi] and even that “students with poor math skills were likely to default on their mortgage”[vii] later in life. This builds a clear case for the need for intervention if a student is struggling with reading or math in their early years.
 
For this week’s Brain Fact Friday, I am sure you have heard of the term dyslexia for students who have difficulty with reading, problems with spelling and mispronunciation of words, but did you know there was a term like this for those who have specific difficulties learning mathematics?
Dyscalculia: The Math Learning Disability
Dyscalculia: “is a math learning disability that impairs an individual’s ability to learn number-related concepts, perform accurate math calculations, reason and problem solve, and perform other basic math skills”[viii]  and usually “co-occurs with dyslexia.”[ix]  I will dive deeper into this brain-based disorder on my interview with Dr. Ansari next week, but until then, if you want to learn more about recognizing the signs and symptoms of dyscalculia, with engaging and fun strategies to help your students or children learn mathematics, you can learn more with these resources below.
To learn more about Dyscalculia, watch the video with Dr. Ansari here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GRJS-jeZ7Is
You will learn:
What is Dyscalculia?[x]
Areas of difficulty (seeing how numbers fit together, counting, calculating, recalling math facts, using concepts like less than, greater than, reading a clock, working with money, not able to count backwards reliably, tendency not to notice patterns, inability to manage time in daily life).
Strategies to help students learn: Using manipulatives for counting, number lines and other visual tools to help solve problems and provide students with extra time so they can organize their thinking.
Educational Companies: Like ETA Cuisenaire (now Hand2Mind)[xi] who have created what they call “Cuisenaire Rods[xii]” to help students learn math in a more fun and enjoyable way.
Remember that students who have learning challenges like dyslexia with reading, or dyscalculia with math, can be just as successful in their life, future, and careers as those who do not have these challenges.  Just ask Alexander Graham Bell, Albert Einstein, John Lennon, Muhammed Ali, Steven Spielberg, Henry Winkler, Tom Cruise, Whoopi Goldberg, Walt Disney, Jay Leno and Keira Knightly, who all grew up with dyslexia and it was noted that Bill Gates, Henry Winkler, Cher, Mary Tyler Moore, and Benjamin Franklin also had dyscalculia.  Like we saw in episode #136 with Lois Letchford’s son Nicholas, children can be extremely successful in their life and future, if they are given the learning strategies that they need to help them to succeed whether it’s with learning to read, or with mathematics.
 
REVIEW OF THIS WEEK’S BRAIN FACT FRIDAY:
Dyscalculia: “is a common math learning disability that impairs an individual’s ability to learn number-related concepts, perform accurate math calculations, reason and problem solve, and perform other basic math skills”[xiii]  and usually “co-occurs with dyslexia.”[xiv] 
Stay tuned for episode #138 with Dr. Daniel Ansari, who I know will open our eyes with new connections with the neuroscience of learning.
See you next week.
RESOURCES:
What is Dyscalculia with Dr. Daniel Ansari https://www.understood.org/en/learning-thinking-differences/child-learning-disabilities/dyscalculia/what-is-dyscalculia  
One page information sheet about Dyscalculia https://assets.ctfassets.net/p0qf7j048i0q/5RsIIt1qjD0YvAsE9snkHV/21d0ca1ccedcdc87385fbe591506d10e/Dyscalculia_Fact_Sheet_Understood.pdf
Celebrities with dyslexia, ADHD and dyscalculia by Amanda Morin  https://www.understood.org/en/learning-thinking-differences/personal-stories/famous-people/success-stories-celebrities-with-dyslexia-adhd-and-dyscalculia
https://drlindasblog.com/famous-people-with-dyscalculia/
The Difference Between Dyslexia and Dyscalculia by Peg Rosen https://www.understood.org/en/learning-thinking-differences/child-learning-disabilities/dyslexia/the-difference-between-dyslexia-and-dyscalculia
Dyscalculia and Dyslexia: Different behavioral, yet similar brain activities during arithmetic by Lien Peters, Jessica Bulthe, Nicky Daniels, Hans Op de Beeck, Bert De Smedt July 4, 2017 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2213158218300731
REFERENCES:
[i] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #136 with Lois Letchford on “
[ii] Nine Brain-Based Strategies to Skyrocket Literacy Achievement Voyager Sopris Learning EDVIEW 360 Webinar Series with Andrea Samadi https://www.voyagersopris.com/webinar-series/andrea-samadi-webinar-form
[iii] https://www.psychology.uwo.ca/about_us/achievements.html
[iv] Brain in Mind Institute https://www.uwo.ca/bmi/
[v] http://www.numericalcognition.org/
[vi] PEN Distinguished Lecture Series with Dr. Daniel Ansari Published on YouTube Dec.16th, 2020 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0sioNHbGOkg&t=1580s
[vii] Ibid.
[viii]American Psychiatric Association. (2018, November). What is Specific Learning Disorder?  https://www.psychiatry.org/patients-families/specific-learning-disorder/what-is-specific-learning-disorder
[ix] Morsanyi, K., van Bers, B., McCormack, T., & McGourty, J. (2018). The prevalence of specific learning disorder in mathematics and comorbidity with other developmental disorders in primary school-age children. British journal of psychology (London, England : 1953), 109(4), 917–940. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjop.12322
[x] What is Dyscalculia with Dr. Daniel Ansari https://www.understood.org/en/learning-thinking-differences/child-learning-disabilities/dyscalculia/what-is-dyscalculia  
[xi] ETA Cuisenaire, now Hand2Mind https://www.hand2mind.com/
[xii] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuisenaire_rods
[xiii]American Psychiatric Association. (2018, November). What is Specific Learning Disorder?  https://www.psychiatry.org/patients-families/specific-learning-disorder/what-is-specific-learning-disorder
[xiv] Morsanyi, K., van Bers, B., McCormack, T., & McGourty, J. (2018). The prevalence of specific learning disorder in mathematics and comorbidity with other developmental disorders in primary school-age children. British journal of psychology (London, England : 1953), 109(4), 917–940. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjop.12322

Case Study: The Story of Lois Letchford: From Dyslexia to Ph.D. at Oxford "Using Neuroscience to Inspire Learning"

Welcome back to the Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast, EPISODE #136 I'm Andrea Samadi, a former educator who has been fascinated with understanding the science behind high performance strategies in schools, sports, and the workplace for the past 20 years. If you have been listening to our podcast, you will know that we’ve uncovered that if we want to improve our social and emotional skills, and experience success in our work and personal lives, it all begins with an understanding of our brain.
Watch the interview on YouTube here.
My goal with this podcast is to bring the most current neuroscience research to you and make it applicable in your life whether you are a teacher in the classroom, or using these ideas to improve productivity and results in your workplace. As I am researching and learning new ideas, I’m also implementing them myself, and making connections to past speakers, so that we can all benefit from the research that is emerging in this new field of educational neuroscience.
Today’s episode features Lois Letchford[i], the author of the book Reversed: A Memoir[ii], that tells the story of her son who failed first grade in 1994. His prognosis was dire. Testing revealed he could read 10 words, had no strengths, and a “low IQ.”  The first few chapters of her book are painful for a parent to read, and even worse if you’re a teacher or a coach, knowing how important your role is for shaping the lives of the students who come before you.
Her book sets the stage for just how chilling, and impactful their story is. I’ll read it slowly because there’s lots to think about here.
Sometimes it is the people no one imagines anything of who do the things that no one can imagine.  —THE IMITATION GAME
I have to spoil the story, and tell you there is a happy ending, with Lois’ son defying the odds he was given at an early age and graduating with his Ph.D. in 2018 from Oxford University.[iii]  I can just see this story as a movie, especially when I saw the book trailer on YouTube[iv], with the beautiful and prestigious University in the background, where scholars go to earn their degrees, where one young man would work harder than most to achieve what many only dream of. This story is of dreams becoming reality, where a Mother used the principles, she learned from Dr. Immordino Yang, to help her son to achieve his dreams.
This is our third case study on the podcast, with our first with Bridgid Ruden, and her story of overcoming a severe traumatic brain injury, and then with Barbara Arrowsmith-Young and her story of changing her brain and leaving her learning disability behind. Both of these stories moved me to such an extent that I realized the importance of featuring examples of people who have used the strategies we suggest on this podcast, with outstanding results.  Which brings us to the fascinating story of Lois Letchford. She had the opportunity to homeschool her son for six short months. During this time, she applied all the principals of learning provided by Dr. Immordino Yang. It turned her son’s life around – and hers too. 
Lois Letchford BIO:
Lois Letchford specializes in teaching children who have struggled to learn to read. Her creative teaching methods vary depending on the reading ability of the student, employing age-appropriate, rather than reading-age-appropriate, material. Her non-traditional background, multi-continental exposure, and passion for helping failing students have equipped her with a unique skill set and perspective. Originally a physical education teacher, she later completed a Master's in Literacy and Reading from the State University of New York at Albany. Lois has presented her work at The California Reading Association, Michigan Summer Institute, and New York State Reading Association conferences. She is co-president of the Albany City Reading Association and a member of the Australian College of Education. Lois continues to work with students to provide education and support to their teachers.
Let’s meet Lois Letchford, and hear her story, with the hopes that it will inspire you to look at your students in a different light, or your own child, and see the unlimited potential that just might need some extra fanning, and new ideas or strategies to ignite their excellence.
Welcome Lois! Thank you for reaching out to me with your fascinating life’s story on teaching and learning that you tell so beautifully in your book Reversed.
Q1: Just to set the stage for those who have not yet ready you book, when you got that phone call that day, waiting the news that Nicholas had passed his final tests for his PHD and he said, “you can write your book now” I wondered how he handled the fact that this was his story of struggle going out to the world.  Do you think he realized that it was time to show others that there is always a way by sharing his story of determination, struggle and success?
Q2: When I read your recollection of his life at school in PART 1 of your book “He sits alone every lunch time, every day” or “He has no friends, and no communication with anyone. It’s almost like he is an outcast” I couldn’t help but remember a young kid like this in my class...now this was middle school, and this kid, would sit by himself and not say a word. It wasn’t his academics he struggled with, but more the social aspect of school, making friends and there was this group of us who all worked hard to make him feel included and a part of everything. I think it took a good year before he finally found his place, and It wasn’t hard to find him a few years ago, he’s now a doctor. How did Nicholas keep his fire going through those difficult early years without those early relationships to “shape” his social and emotional development?
Q3: When I was reading your story, of the struggles to learn, I couldn’t help but to think of the extra work I’ve put in with my youngest daughter. Not even close to your story, but listeners who have noticed their child, or a student who needs constant support (not all children are the same—my oldest achieves perfect scores with little effort, but my youngest,  if I think back to kindergarten, it was with the letters of alphabet, to counting numbers by 5, progressing to vocabulary or spelling words I would print off in squares, cut out and then carry with us in the car to practice. Flashcards galore, they were everywhere in my house. The extra work built around trying whatever possible to inspire learning. Your ship at sea analogy made sense to me. Complete sense. I remember the moment I felt the same way. Can you explain why reading more books, working harder, doing the same thing, was not the answer with your ship at sea analogy?
Q4: Here I go tearing up again as I write my questions for you. It must be something to do with the process of teaching and learning. There’s something extremely powerful to me of educational institutions where you can “feel” the learning that has taken place before you. I used to spend time at the University of Toronto’s Hart House gym, and it was a feeling I’d never forget. I actually still have a towel from this gym to remind me of that feeling. Walking through these old buildings, looking at the athletes on the wall, wondering who they were. Exactly like Robin Williams in the movie “Dead Poet Society.”  Can you share what it was like teaching Nicholas to read maps, “on the outskirts of Oxford University, a seat of learning for almost one thousand years” (page 100)?
Q5: I also have tried everything to “make learning fun” and felt for you when Nana said “put the books away and make learning fun” and you said “But how do I do that?” How was learning for you growing up  and at what point did you discover that you had Dyslexia? What strategies did you use to find the joy in the learning?
Q6: What were some shifts that helped Nicholas with his learning?
Q7: How did you come across Mary Helen Immordino-Yang and what specifically helped you from her work?
Q8: What were some of the secrets that you think got you out of this Quagmire (I had to look that up!)  I must be a British term my Mum didn’t use.  She would have said jam or pickle. How can parents or teachers listening implement some of the ideas that you found to be the most useful for Nicholas?
Q9: What are you currently working on now? Where can people learn more about your innovative teaching methods?
Q10: Have I missed anything important you would like me to ask?
CONTACT LOIS:
https://www.loisletchford.com/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/lois-letchford-13762917/
https://twitter.com/LetchfordLois
https://www.facebook.com/loisletchfordauthor
RESOURCES:
Dr. Sam Bommarito talks with Dr. Brian Cambourne and Dr. Debra Crouch about the Conditions of Learning Published on YouTube May 13, 2021
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tmJLYqiD_jA&t=5s
Prof Pam Snow and Jake Downs: The Science of Language and Reading August 2020 on The Teaching Literacy Podcast
https://open.spotify.com/episode/5Q8QPjcrlpJn8cAdx7SixK
Maps from Ptolemy’s Geography https://www.carydalebooks.com/pages/books/3533/lelio-pagani-intro/cosmography-maps-from-ptolemys-geography
REFERENCES:
[i] https://www.loisletchford.com/
[ii] Reversed: A Memoir by Lois Letchford Published March 13, 2018   https://www.amazon.com/Reversed-Memoir-Lois-Letchford-ebook/dp/B079Y599W5
[iii] Reversed: A Memoir from Dyslexic to Ph.D. Oxford Published August 15, 2018 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nF-H07Ct7R0
[iv] Reversed: A Memoir from Dyslexic to Ph.D. Oxford Published August 15, 2018 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nF-H07Ct7R0

Brain Fact Friday "Recovery Strategies to Build Resiliency Against Physical, Mental and Emotional Stressors"

Welcome back to the Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast, for Brain Fact Friday and episode #135 on my biggest AHA moment from EPISODE #134 with Kristen Holmes, the VP of Performance Science of WHOOP[i], a wearable personal fitness and health coach that measures sleep, strain, and recovery.
To see the images in the show notes, and Andrea's Data, click here.
In Today’s Brain Fact Friday You Will Learn:
✔︎ How the wearable health tracker WHOOP measures recovery.
✔︎ Why this data is useful for athletes, and humans in general, for mitigating physical, mental, and emotional stress.
✔︎ Strategies to improve recovery and decrease physical and psychological stress.
✔︎ See Andrea’s data and how she achieved her highest recovery rates using these strategies.
✔︎ How you can measure your own recovery to improve performance and resiliency.
Welcome back, I'm Andrea Samadi, a former educator who has been fascinated with understanding the science behind high performance strategies in schools, sports, and the workplace for the past 20 years. If you have been listening to our podcast, you will know that we’ve uncovered that if we want to improve our social and emotional skills, and experience success in our work and personal lives, it all begins with an understanding of our brain.
The purpose of this podcast is to bring the most current brain research to you, so you can make it applicable in your life whether you are a teacher in the classroom, or using these ideas to improve productivity and results in your workplace. As I am researching and learning new ideas, I’m also implementing them myself, and making connections to past speakers, so that we can all benefit from the research that is emerging in this new field of educational neuroscience.
If you listened to EPISODE #134[ii] with Kristen Holmes, the VP of Performance Science with WHOOP whose Ph.D. work is in multilevel interactions of stress and circadian behavior[iii] or the impact of light on sleep optimization, you’ll know that I first came across Kristen while researching Heart Rate Variability for EPISODE #125[iv] where I started to see how important this one measurement was for tracking health, recovery, and resilience which is crucial to brain health and performance. After listening to the WHOOP podcast, with Founder Will Ahmed, I joined the community so that I could measure my HRV that I learned from Neurohacker Collective[v] is “the most important biomarker”[vi] --a measure that captures what’s going on in a cell at any given moment that can serve as an early warning system for your health.  As someone who has been working hard to make use of every second of the day, I thought, “I’ve got to know this number if I want to be operating at my highest capacity.” No one wants to intentionally leave anything on the table to chance or luck and staying on top of these metrics is a guaranteed way to take the guesswork out of human performance.
Which leads us to this week’s Brain Fact Friday with a powerful AHA Moment I had during the interview with Kristen Holmes. After a month of measuring my data, and looking at the daily recovery score, I adjusted my behavior based on that number, and thought that recovery was based on the idea that I had to let my body recover physically after those days that I had high strain or exercised harder than usual. Even without measuring this data, we have a pretty good idea of days that we need to rest, based on how we feel.  I looked at the recovery score each morning, and it was never showing GREEN which would be 66%-100% recovered. My recovery score (that you can see a snapshot of in the show notes) was either yellow (recovering) or RED (not ready to take on strain) that I thought meant give your body more rest to prevent injury.  I even had a chart that told me that multiple days above my optimal strain targets (that averaged a score of 16) will promote fitness gains, but to dedicate time to rest if I continue this behavior, so I told Kristen that I actually stopped some of my workouts.
 
My thinking was close, but not exactly accurate, and since I’m new to measuring this data, was missing some key information that I would learn from Kristen. What would you think recovery means?  When you are tired mentally and physically, how do you restore yourself?  There is a way to use this data to improve future performance, that goes beyond what I think we would usually think about, and this was the biggest AHA Moment I had with my interview with Kristen Holmes, and also from listening to the podcast WHOOP did with Patrick Mahomes[vii], a world-class athlete who quantified the strain of his NFL season using the WHOOP device.  I thought it was crazy to see that he averaged over 20 for strain on game days and learned to change his behavior (both mentally and physically) to recover after these high intensity days.
Bringing us to this week’s BRAIN FACT FRIDAY:
DID YOU KNOW that recovery is “a measurement of physiological stress (how our body responds to our environment, or the demands we are putting on our physical body with our workouts), and psychological stress (manifested from our Autonomic Nervous System)?  Patrick Mahomes talked about the mental aspect of his training in depth, going into detail of how he uses visualization and the importance of his mental mindset, in addition to working on the fundamentals, for his success.
Kristen Holmes reminded me that recovery is based on “how well you are coping with external stress”[viii] and the WHOOP device measures this score based on 4 measurements which each are important, but the first two gave me the insight I needed to better understand how we can measure and improve recovery.
HRV: heart rate variability or the distance measured between our heartbeats. “The higher your HRV (the more variability you have between heartbeats), the more your nervous system is in tune with your environment, and the better you’ll perform. A lot of things affect your HRV, with stress as the most common factor”[ix] and HRV will be low when you are exercising at a high capacity and really pushing it and goes back up higher when you allow your body the rest and recovery needed for repair.  HRV levels can tend to be lower when you are tired and go higher when you get enough sleep. Activity level, stress, illness, hydration, alcohol consumption, nutrition and how tired you are can all impact your HRV levels.
Sleep: how much you needed vs what you actually are getting, and how much sleep you spend at each sleep stage.
Resting heart rate: that’s an indicator of physical fitness and heart function.
Respiratory Rate: (that usually doesn’t usually change from day to day, but is something to pay attention to, if this measurement does change.”
Kristen went on to explain that recovery is “a measurement of physiological stress (how our body responds to our environment, or the demands we are putting on our physical body with our workouts), and psychological stress (manifested from our Autonomic Nervous System).
And that the “more recovered you are, the more responsive your heart will be to both demands of the ANS—and the less recovered, the less responsive you will be.”  If your recovery score is low, and you are trying to run from a tiger (as an example) you won’t be as responsive to the stress, or if your recovery score is low, and you are hoping to perform at work or school, you will not have the reservoirs of fuel that you could have, if you had done things differently, and were operating from a highly recovered score.
Since the WHOOP recovery score correlates to your HRV score, for those who don’t use the WHOOP device can still use their HRV score (you can measure this for FREE using an app on your phone)[x] and remember that “the more variability you have between heart beats (or the higher your HRV score) the more capable you are of adapting to external stress (relationship stress, financial stress, or the stress our body goes under with the foods we are putting into it etc.).” (Kristen Holmes)
So here was my AHA Moment: Recovery was lower not because of too much exercise, but not enough sleep, hydration, and other physical stressors. What strategies do you have to mitigate your daily stress? What is your relationship with light, and do you know how to use light to help your circadian rhythm?  Can you improve your sleep quantity and quality?
Some great questions to think about with this AHA Moment, making me reflect on some strategies from past episodes that can help improve the psychological stressors to improve recovery, and then I was speaking to a colleague from Israel, named Shlomit, who was sharing with me the turmoil her country has been experiencing with the missile attacks earlier this month.[xi] She mentioned to me the psychological and mental conflict these attacks have had on many people in her area, disrupting their daily life and bringing uncertainty, fear and stress. Their peace and safety were taken away in a heartbeat, and she realized this was something she had taken for granted for so long. She didn’t ever worry about not having safety and security in her own home and suddenly she is sharing a bomb shelter with another family and not even sure she can finish her shower, for fear of evacuation. Much like the freedom that many people around the world lost during the Pandemic, and the upheaval this time has caused families worldwide. During this conversation, Shlomit asked me if I knew the meaning of the word “Shalom” and although I had heard this word often, especially during Passover, I couldn’t give her the meaning. She told me it meant “peace” and was also used to say hello or goodbye, and that her name, Shlomit, was the feminine version of the word peace and that although there was much fear, turmoil, stress and uncertainty in her world, she knew she had to savor the peace in her life, and never take this freedom for granted again the future.
My AHA moment with Kristen, on the importance of managing psychological stress, paired with my conversation with Shlomit, reminded me to look back at the bonus episode we did with Dr. Carolyn Leaf[xii], on Cleaning Up Your Mental Mess[xiii]: 5 Simple, Scientifically Proven Steps to Reduce Anxiety and Toxic Thinking for our strategies to improve psychological well-being, that will improve our recovery score.
You can download her APP Neurocycle[xiv] (formerly called the Switch App) that walks you through the 5-step process that I cover in my review of her book,[xv] based on 38 years of research, on how to change your brain (which is neuroplasticity in action) and get rid of toxic thoughts through self-awareness, journaling and reflecting. These 5 steps do take some time, but if you want to clean up your mental mess and close the gaps you might have with energy you are wasting on toxic thinking, it’s important to do this work.
STEP 1: Gather Awareness (of what’s bothering you). We’ve all heard of the importance of knowing our emotions, or when we name what’s bothering us, we can tame it[iv]. What about those worries that we name, and they don’t go away? These worries or fears really can impact our mental health, and we have seen with our recovery score, can impact our health and performance. If you have something on your mind, the first thing you can do is to take out a journal, and write out some of the worries that are taking space in your mind.
I’ve also heard this being called a CRAP Board, where you write out all of your conflicts, resistances, anxieties and problems. Once you have gotten them out of your head, and see them on paper, it’s easier to look at them and think “am I worrying about something that has not happened yet?” If so, get it out of your head, and stop worrying about things that may or may not happen in the future. Schlomit reminded me to savor the peace and safety in your day, as it can be quickly taken away, like hers was.
STEP 2: Reflect and Analyze: Answer, Ask and Discuss Some Questions to Find the Root Cause of Your Emotions or What’s Bothering You.
This is how we pull thoughts from our non-conscious mind to our conscious mind, where it becomes weaker. It’s no longer suppressed but acknowledged. Use your mind to ask yourself questions, and it will be interesting to see what comes up. This process takes time, reflection and daily effort. Our emotions are unique signals to learn how to cope with challenges, but over time, they will damage our brain with consistent worry.  See if you can get a new perspective on what you are worrying about. Is there anything positive you can gather from your insight?
STEP 3: Write out what you discover from step 2. Begin to capture what’s bothering you and see if you can come up with root causes, or why you think this worry is on your mind. Learn to write in pictures, add color, shapes. Learn how to write in a metacog  formula.[v]
STEP 4: Recheck and Edit What You Have Written Down. Re-read what you have written and see what comes up. Can you add more to your answer to help make more sense of it? Dig deeper, look for patterns, triggers and keep looking for the root cause of the problem that’s occupying your mind.
STEP 5: Practice and Apply Through Active Reach. Look at what you have written and see if you can come up with an action statement to practice what you have learned from your introspection.  You will read out your daily Aha Moment 7x a day to remind yourself what you are re-shaping, or make it easy, and let the app or your phone send you a reminder.
Example: I am worrying about xyz because I am afraid of xyz…but this hasn’t happened, and most likely will not happen, so this worry is wasting my time. If it happens one day, I will deal with this problem then, but not wasting the mental energy worrying about something that I cannot control. I can control my reaction to my worry.
So in my journal, I wrote out my worries like branches on a tree, and the trunk she says is the perspective of the thought. I begin to look at my worries from a different angle or perspective. Right here you should notice a shift in energy about the problem. I started to see mine differently here looking at it from a distance. Then the roots of the tree are the origin story, or root of why I am worrying about this problem, which is what we want to uncover. This activity will give you an incredible amount of self-awareness.
The next day, I had my highest recovery day in the past month:
 
If you have something like this on your mind, I highly suggest taking the time to upload the app on your phone, grab a journal and begin the work to eliminate and clean up your mental mess.
You could also learn more about Resonance Frequency Breathing[xvi], that Kristen Holmes suggested as “the best way to improve HRV, sleep, recovery and reduce anxiety.” (Kristen Holmes, WHOOP). This type of breathing is when the frequency of our breath matches the frequency of our heart, bringing coherence, giving us a stronger ANS (Autonomic NS) and allows us to control our stress response better, and become resilient to physical, mental and emotional stressors.
To review this week’s Brain Fact:
DID YOU KNOW that recovery is “a measurement of physiological stress (how our body responds to our environment, or the demands we are putting on our physical body with our workouts), and psychological stress (manifested from our Autonomic Nervous System)?  It’s important that we have strategies in place to mitigate our physiological and psychological stress.
Once you have these strategies in place, (like Dr. Leaf’s 5 steps to Cleaning Up Our Mental Mess), Meditation, or what Kristen suggested as the best way to improve HRV, sleep, recovery and reduce anxiety, with Resonance Frequency Breathing, it’s as simple of implementing them, measuring how your recovery has improved and then knowing when to add more strain. The key is to not just guess with these numbers.
If you have a passion to improve your performance and life and are human, I highly recommend looking at the WHOOP device to learn more about your recovery score. Episode #134 with Kristen Holmes received so much feedback and interest from high level performers, past podcast guests, athletes, Google executives, people in the health and wellness industry, from around the world, letting me know how much they love this wearable health and wellness tracker.
I look forward to seeing you next week with another case study, this one is a fascinating story of Lois Letchford, whose son failed first grade, could only read 10 words, had no strengths, and was given a low IQ. Lois used the principles from Dr. Immordino-Yang, from interview #100, and her son was able to defy the odds, and graduated from Oxford University with his Ph.D. in 2018. I can’t wait to share her story with you, but until then, have a good weekend. See you next week.
 
RESOURCES:
Recovery Tips from Leading WHOOP Members
https://www.whoop.com/thelocker/recovery-tips-from-leading-whoop-users/
REFERENCES:
[i] https://www.whoop.com/
[ii] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #134 with Kristen Holmes, VP of Performance Science of WHOOP.com on “Unlocking a Better You: Measuring Sleep, Recovery and Strain” https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/kristen-holmes-from-whoopcom-on-unlocking-a-better-you-measuring-sleep-recovery-and-strain/
[iii] Let there be circadian light Feb.20, 2020 University of Washington Health Sciences https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/02/200220141731.htm
[iv] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #125 “What is Heart Rate Variability and Why is it Important for Tracking Health, Recovery and Resilience”  https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/what-is-hrv-and-why-is-it-important-for-tracking-health-recovery-and-resilience-with-andrea-samadi/
[v] https://neurohacker.com/
[vi] Biomarkers https://www.niehs.nih.gov/health/topics/science/biomarkers/index.cfm
[vii] Patrick Mahomes’ WHOOP Data: Quantifying the Strain of an NFL Season by Mark Van Deusen https://www.whoop.com/thelocker/patrick-mahomes-heart-rate-strain-data/?utm_source=members&utm_campaign=the-locker&utm_medium=email&utm_content=patrick-mahomes-heart-rate-strain-data&_ke=eyJrbF9jb21wYW55X2lkIjogIlBBQm5XSyIsICJrbF9lbWFpbCI6ICJhbmRyZWFAYWNoaWV2ZWl0MzYwLmNvbSJ9
[viii] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #134 with Kristen Holmes, VP of Performance Science of WHOOP.com on “Unlocking a Better You: Measuring Sleep, Recovery and Strain” https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/kristen-holmes-from-whoopcom-on-unlocking-a-better-you-measuring-sleep-recovery-and-strain/
[ix] IBID
[x] https://welltory.com/
[xi] https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-57094737
[xii] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast BONUS EPISODE with Dr. Carolyn Leaf on “Cleaning Up Your Mental Mess: 5 Simple, Scientifically Proven Steps to Reduce Anxiety and Toxic Thinking” https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/worldrenownedneuroscientistdr-caroline-leaf-oncleaningup-your-mentalmess5-simplescientifically-proven-stepsto-reduceanxiety-and-toxic-thinking/
[xiii] Cleaning Up Your Mental Mess: 5 Simple, Scientifically Proven Steps to Reduce Anxiety, Stress and Toxic Thinking by Dr. Caroline Leaf AVAILABLE FOR PRE-ORDER NOW (March 2, 2021)  https://www.amazon.com/Cleaning-Your-Mental-Mess-Scientifically/dp/0801093457
[xiv]https://theswitch.app/?_ke=eyJrbF9jb21wYW55X2lkIjogIktxZ0g5ZCIsICJrbF9lbWFpbCI6ICJhbmRyZWEuc2FtYWRpQGNveC5uZXQifQ%3D%3D
[xv] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #106 Review of Neuroscientist and Best-Selling Author Dr. Carolyn Leaf’s “Cleaning Up Your Mental Mess” https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/book-and-app-review-of-neuroscientist-and-best-selling-author-dr-caroline-leafs-cleaning-up-your-mental-mess-coming-march-2-20201/
[xvi] Resonance Frequency Breathing Published on YouTube Sept. 25, 2020  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EIi1Tc5i8s4&t=694s

Kristen Holmes from WHOOP.com on "Unlocking a Better You: Measuring Sleep, Recovery and Strain" with a WHOOP Device.

Welcome back to the Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast, EPISODE #134 with Kristen Holmes[i], the VP of Performance Science with WHOOP,[ii] a wearable personal fitness and health coach that measures sleep, strain and recovery.
Watch the interview on YouTube here.
Welcome back, I'm Andrea Samadi, a former educator who has been fascinated with understanding the science behind high performance strategies in schools, sports, and the workplace for the past 20 years. If you have been listening to our podcast, you will know that we’ve uncovered that if we want to improve our social and emotional skills, and experience success in our work and personal lives, it all begins with an understanding of our brain. We’ve also uncovered the “Top 5 Brain Health and Alzheimer’s Prevention Strategies”[iii]  that we covered on EPISODE #87 that took us in the direction of health and wellness, with a focus on sleep, exercise, and nutrition as being important for brain health, and optimizing personal and professional results.
We even went to Dr. Amen’s Clinic in CA for a brain scan to see what we could learn about further optimizing our brain health, and sleep emerged as an area of weakness for me, along with some other areas we are still working on optimizing.
The powerful part of hosting this podcast, is that as I am interviewing guests, and learning, sharing their advice, I’m learning and implementing these ideas myself, as I share them with you. When I was introduced to Kelly Roman, from Fisher Wallace Laboratories, with his wearable medical device to help improve sleep, while reducing anxiety and depression, I immediately jumped at the opportunity to learn more, knowing that I needed help in this area, specifically with sleep. I had no idea how much this device would help me to create more balance in my life, and my review of the Fisher Wallace device, EPISODE #119[iv] has risen to my most downloaded episode, (with over 1250 downloads) beating out EPISODE #68 “The Neuroscience of Personal Change” where I linked Dr. Stephen Covey’s “7 Habits of Highly Effective People” to Neuroscience Strategies.  This showed me that while there’s an interest in creating personal change and understanding how to connect practical neuroscience to our daily lives, it shouldn’t come at the expense of our personal health or well-being.
Since May is mental health awareness month, and many experts like Dr. Daniel Amen[v] consider brain health to be at the root of mental health, we will continue to dive deeper into ways to improve our own personal health and well-being.
Which brings me to today’s guest, Kristen Holmes, the VP of Performance Science with WHOOP whose Ph.D. work is in multilevel interactions of stress and circadian behavior[vi].  I first came across Kristen while researching Heart Rate Variability for EPISODE #125[vii] where I started to see how important heart rate variability was for tracking health, recovery and resilience. I found the WHOOP Podcast[viii]  hosted by Will Ahmed and featuring Kristen Holmes and Emily Capodilupo, and I was captivated with what I learned.
So captivated that I decided to join the WHOOP community[ix] which means that I can use the device for the amount of time I want to be a member (I joined for a year—but can’t imagine giving this tool up after just a month of use) and wanted to ask Kristen to come on the podcast to help me to further explore the benefits of using this device that appears to have been built with pro athletes in mind.
I’m looking forward to learning and sharing the benefits of the WHOOP device, and diving into what I have uncovered after just one month of measuring my sleep, heart rate variability, daily strain and recovery.
Welcome Kristen, thank you for being so quick to agree to come on this podcast to help me to learn more about the data using the WHOOP device.
Q1: When I look at the reviews on your website, I see a lot of pro athletes using WHOOP, like Justin Thomas (Pro Golfer), Kate Courtney (Mountain Bike World Champion) and Sue Bird (3x WNBA Champion, 4x Olympic Gold Medalist) holding up their arms, showing their WHOOP and explaining how important it is for their training. It was during one of my interviews, EPISODE #96[x] with Dr. Daniel Stickler, a former vascular surgeon whose built a career helping others to achieve what he calls “limitless peak performance” where I first saw someone hold up their arm and tell me “I measure everything.” After this interview I looked up this device to learn more, and then came across it again while researching the importance of measuring heart rate variability. Can you share in a nutshell why someone like me, who is not a pro athlete, but someone passionate about sharing health and wellness strategies, could benefit from using a WHOOP device?
Q2: I honestly was so moved by the power of measuring heart rate variability after I did that podcast that dove deeper into understanding this measurement on rest, recovery and resilience, that I joined just to see this one measure. I had to be patient, which I’m not, and wait a few days for the numbers to calibrate. I did see the email with Patrick Mahomes’ data[xi] that “quantified the strain of an NFL season” (Van Deusen) that was eye-opening. Can you explain what we should expect from our first 30 days measuring our data[xii], and maybe what’s the potential of measuring for a year if we are not pro athletes like Patrick Mahomes?
Q3: Can we look at my data and you tell me what you see? I know it says it loud and clear, but is there anything you notice? If you were my personal coach, what would you tell me (constructive feedback to help me to improve)?  (I would like to have the monthly assessment for this that should unlock the day of the interview).
Q4: What is your vision for WHOOP, and what have you learned most from your work at VP of Performance Science?
I want to thank you very much Kristen, for your time to speak with me and dive a bit deeper into the WHOOP device for personalized training, sleep and recovery insights. If people want to learn more about coming on as a member, I have the website in the show notes, and do you have any final thoughts? Thank you!
RESOURCES:
https://www.bostonmagazine.com/health/2017/04/02/charles-czeisler-sleep-doctor/
The Impact of Resonance Frequency Breathing on Measures of Heart Rate Variability, Blood Pressure, and Mood by Patrick R Steffen, Tara Austin, Andrea DeBarros, and Tracy Brown August 25, 2017 https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2017.00222/full?source=post_page---------------------------
REFERENCES:
[i] https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristen-holmes-she-her-b9b44647/
[ii] https://www.whoop.com/
[iii] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #87 “Top 5 Brain Health and Alzheimer’s Prevention Strategies” https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/do-you-know-the-top-5-brain-health-and-alzheimers-prevention-strategies-with-andrea-samadi/
[iv] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #119 “Personal Review of the Fisher Wallace Medical Device for Anxiety, Depression and Sleep Management” https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/personal-review-of-the-fisher-wallace-wearable-medical-device-for-anxiety-depression-and-sleepstress-management/
[v] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #128 Review of Dr. Daniel Amen’s Book, “The End of Mental Illness” https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/review-of-dr-daniel-amens-the-end-of-mental-illness-6-steps-for-improved-brain-and-mental-health/
[vi] Let there be circadian light Feb.20, 2020 University of Washington Health Sciences https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/02/200220141731.htm
[vii] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #125 “What is Heart Rate Variability and Why is it Important for Tracking Health, Recovery and Resilience”  https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/what-is-hrv-and-why-is-it-important-for-tracking-health-recovery-and-resilience-with-andrea-samadi/
[viii] Whoop Podcast The Locker with Will Ahmed EPSIODE #29 Kristen Holmes and Emily Capodilupo on HRV https://www.whoop.com/thelocker/podcast-29-heart-rate-variability-hrv/
[ix] https://www.whoop.com/
[x] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast Episode #96 with Dr. Daniel Stickler on “Expanding Awareness for Limitless Peak Performance, Health, Longevity and Intelligence.” https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/dr-daniel-stickler-on-expanding-awareness-for-limitless-peak-performance-health-longevity-and-intelligence/
[xi] Patrick Mahomes’ WHOOP Data: Quantifying the Strain of an NFL Season by Mark Van Deusen https://www.whoop.com/thelocker/patrick-mahomes-heart-rate-strain-data/?utm_source=members&utm_campaign=the-locker&utm_medium=email&utm_content=patrick-mahomes-heart-rate-strain-data&_ke=eyJrbF9jb21wYW55X2lkIjogIlBBQm5XSyIsICJrbF9lbWFpbCI6ICJhbmRyZWFAYWNoaWV2ZWl0MzYwLmNvbSJ9
[xii] https://support.whoop.com/hc/en-us/articles/360057137353-What-to-Expect-in-Your-First-30-Days

Brain Fact Friday "Applying Neuroplasticity to Your School or Workplace"

Welcome back to the Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast, for Brain Fact Friday and episode #133 on Neuroplasticity, or “the ability for our brain to re-wire, grow, adapt or change throughout a person’s lifetime”[i]
Welcome back, I'm Andrea Samadi, a former educator who has been fascinated with understanding the science behind high performance strategies in schools, sports, and the workplace for the past 20 years. If you have been listening to our podcast, you will know that we’ve uncovered that if we want to improve our social and emotional skills, and experience success in our work and personal lives, it all begins with an understanding of our brain.
I remember the first time I heard the term “neuroplasticity.” It was in 2014 when I first began learning about the brain and learning, and a teacher in a workshop I was running asked me if I knew what it was, and I remember having an idea about what I thought it was but wouldn’t have been able to explain it without this specific YouTube video[ii] showing how pathways of the brain are strengthened with use and weakened when they are not used, or the “use it, or lose it” idea.  I put this video in the show notes, but if you have been learning about the brain for some time, I’m sure you’ve already seen this video, as it’s been around for almost 10 years now and I have to say I’m so grateful for content like this that has helped me to learn the basics of neuroscience that I will continue to share with you, and help you to make connections whether you are using this information in the classroom or workplace.  
I love hearing new ways the podcast is helping people, most recently from Dorothee Oung, from Madrid, Spain, who let me know she has been guiding coaches to the podcast who are learning the basics of neuroscience to help their clients. I always appreciate knowing how these ideas are being used, and that the content is helpful. Thanks for the note Dorothee.  Please do send me a message via social media[iii], as I love hearing where you are listening to this podcast, and how you are using this information.
Remember: Knowledge isn’t power, until it’s applied. (Dale Carnegie)
Back to this episode.
In Today’s Brain Fact Friday You Will Learn:
✔︎ What is neuroplasticity and how this concept works in the brain when learning a new skill, thinking a certain way, or feeling a certain emotion.
✔︎ How neuroplasticity helps us to create new habits, and how we can use it to break habits we don’t want to keep.
✔︎ The controversy behind this topic, and how two of the people we have interviewed ignored the naysayers, and built a powerful career with the foundations of neuroplasticity.
 
Which brings us to this week’s Brain Fact Friday:
Did you know that "Neurons that fire together, wire together"[iv] and "neurons that are out of synch, fail to link."[v] 
I remember writing an article on LinkedIn a few years ago, explaining how we can use this idea which involves the concept that every time we learn a new skill, think a certain way, or feel a certain emotion, we strengthen the connections in our brain for whatever it is that we are reinforcing or repeating, or weaken the connection with less use.  Since learning creates a synaptic connection when you are thinking, feeling or doing something new, and with repeated practice, we create a neural pathway in our brain that becomes stronger the more we repeat it, it would make sense that if we want to stop doing something, or break a habit, that we just need to avoid certain thoughts, feelings and actions, making the impulses, or neural connections weaker and weaker.
 
Stefanie Faye spoke about this concept on EPISODE #39[vi], taking it one step deeper, explaining that the brain creates high priority pathways with skills we are practicing and then eliminates low priority pathways with skills we ignore. She shares how the brain re-wires itself using myelin (a mixture of protein and fatty substances that form an insulating sheath around the nerve fiber, increasing the speed and efficiency of electrical impulses along the nerve cells) and explaining why patterned repetition is so important for the skills we want to improve, develop, and keep.
 
The Controversy Behind Neuroplasticity
What I think is crazy, is that two of the people I have interviewed, have spoken about the fact that they became interested in this concept of neuroplasticity, at a time that it was not yet accepted.
Dr. Caroline Leaf, on a bonus episode we released February, 2021[vii] mentioned she wanted to dedicate her studies to the fact that “if we can direct our mind, we can direct or change our brain” and two of her professors told her this was a ridiculous idea.  She went on to build her career around this idea, has worked with thousands of people all over the world for the past 38 years, teaching people how to cultivate the power of their own thinking and direct their own brain changes.
During our last interview with Barbara Arrowsmith-Young[viii] she mentioned to me prior to our interview that the early days of her program caused quite a lot of controversy, and people even picketed outside her presentation because the concepts she was teaching were not understood or accepted. I have to say, honestly, that if I was picketed during my first presentation on the brain, (it was difficult enough creating a presentation on something new let alone have any criticism about it) I’m not sure I would have continued with this work. To me, you can see the belief that was behind Dr. Leaf’s work for her to push forward and make such an impact, and then Barbara knew that she changed her own brain with the results in her life being so obvious, that this belief is all that both women would need to move forward, leaps and bounds with these ideas.
So how can we use this concept of Neuroplasticity in our schools or workplaces? I learned about the AGES Model[ix] that is a good way for us to remember how we can continue to grow our brain and strengthen the neural pathways we want to keep.
LEARNING WITH THE BRAIN IN MIND: THE AGES MODEL
A: Attention: This was John Medina’s Brain Rule #4. “We don’t pay attention to boring things.”
I’m sure you have heard that “audiences check out after 10 minutes” (Summary 4, Brain Rules, Page 94) or that the brain can only focus on one thing at a time, making multitasking a bad idea. The funny thing is that although you may have heard of the fact that the “average person’s attention span is shorter than that of a goldfish, there’s no evidence that human attention is shrinking or that goldfishes have particularly short attention spans either.”[x] So how do we hold our student’s attention in the classroom, or during a presentation we might be doing in the workplace? The next 2 letters hold this secret.
G: Generation or Gender to make meaningful connections to prior learning. I think it’s important to make connections based on age, and experience, but I would change this one to gender, using John Medina’s Brain Rule #4 that “male and female brains are different.”[xi] Did you know that men’s and women’s brains are “different structurally and biochemically—men have bigger amygdala and produce serotonin faster and women and men respond differently to stress.” (Summary 11, Brain Rules, Page 260).  Women remember emotional details easier not because they are more emotional, but because “they perceive their emotional landscape with more data points (or detail) and see it in greater resolution.”[xii]
E: Emotion and EPISODE #127[xiii] went deep into this area. We do know that when audiences (or our students) are checking out after 10 minutes, we can grab their attention back by “telling narratives or creating events rich in emotion.” Emotions help memories form and stick so if you want to make your next presentation or lesson memorable, the best way is to somehow connect with your audience or class with a story that they connect to on an emotional level. This activates the mirror neurons in your audience, and they will listen, connect with you and trust you on a deeper level.
S: Spaced Repetition: We heard from Dr. John Dunlosky, a Professor of Psychology at Kent State University, who has contributed empirical and theoretical work on memory and metacognition, including theories of self-regulated learning and metacomprehension. With years of research on which learning strategies yielded the most results for learning new information, it was not using a yellow highlighter in class, (I still always use mine though) but it was spaced repetition of new learning that took the new skill from short term memory to long-term.
If we think about how neuroplasticity works, it makes sense that we use whatever method we can to keep what we are learning interesting for learners to actually listen to you, connecting to different generations and genders, adding emotion and repeating the new learning to strengthen the neural pathway and be sure that it’s reinforced with myelin that will make this information pass through the pathway quickly and efficiently.
Neuroplasticity to me is to the secret to learning something new, with the knowledge that this new learning will forever change my brain: both its structure and function. Both Dr. Leaf and Barbara Arrowsmith-Young would agree with this.
See you next week, for episode #134 with an incredible woman, Kristen Holmes, the VP of Performance Science at WHOOP.com as we debrief my first month using this device that measures sleep, strain and recovery, and was listed at #1 in Wellness with Fast Company’s 2020 Most Innovative Companies. The results and deep dive into my data of this device that’s used by many pro athletes like Patrick Mahomes, will blow you away.
Have a good weekend.
REFERENCES:
[i] Neuroplasticity Published on YouTube August 13, 2018 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmEOJyWVQj4
[ii] Neuroplasticity Published on YouTube November 6, 2012  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ELpfYCZa87g
[iii] https://www.achieveit360.com/contact-us/
[iv] Donald Hebb, a Canadian neuropsychologist coined this term in 1949.
[v] Neurons That Fire Together, Wire Together: Using Your Brain to Break Bad Habits, Published on LinkedIn May 27, 2017 https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/neurons-fire-together-wire-so-simple-andrea-samadi/
[vi] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #39 with Stefanie Faye on “using Neuroscience to Improve Our Mindset, Self-Regulation and Self Awareness: https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/neuroscience-researcher-stefanie-faye-on-using-neuroscience-to-improve-our-mindset-self-regulation-and-self-awareness/
[vii] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast BONUS EPISODE with Dr. Caroline Leaf on “Cleaning Up Your Mental Mess” https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/worldrenownedneuroscientistdr-caroline-leaf-oncleaningup-your-mentalmess5-simplescientifically-proven-stepsto-reduceanxiety-and-toxic-thinking/
[viii] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #132 with Barbara Arrowsmith-Young on “The Woman Who Changed Her Brain” https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/the-story-of-barbara-arrowsmith-young-the-woman-who-changed-her-brain-and-left-her-learning-disability-behind/
[ix] Neuroplasticity and Learning Explained: The AGES Model Published on YouTube Feb.14, 2018 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=88OL8NdkV-s
[x]  72 Amazing Brain Facts #32 by Deane Alban https://bebrainfit.com/human-brain-facts/
[xi] John Medina Brain Rule #11 https://vimeo.com/52295224
[xii] John Medina’s Brain Rules Page 274 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B005Z6YGRC/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1
[xiii] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #127 “How Emotions Impact Learning and the Brain” https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/brain-fact-friday-how-emotions-impact-learning-memory-and-the-brain/

The Story of Barbara Arrowsmith-Young "The Woman Who Changed Her Brain and Left Her Learning Disability Behind"

Welcome back to the Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast, EPISODE #132 with Barbara Arrowsmith Young, an incredible woman from my hometown, Toronto, Canada, who is otherwise known as “The Woman Who Changed Her Brain”[i]
Watch this interview on YouTube here.
In this episode, you will learn:
✔︎The heroic story of Barbara Arrowsmith-Young that Dr. Norman Doidge, the author of The Brain That Changes Itself says is “truly heroic, on par with the achievements of Helen Keller.”
✔︎ What specific learning challenges Barbara noticed by 1st grade, and how she struggled through school during the time of the “fixed” brain, before the concept of neuroplasticity.
✔︎ How her parents prepared her for the legacy she would create years after she graduated from OISE’s Faculty of Education in Toronto.
✔︎ How a Russian neuropsychologist Alexander Luria and psychologist Mark Rosenzweig would help her to find the solution she was looking for to overcome her learning challenges and change her brain.
✔︎ What is the Arrowsmith School and Program that serves schools in educational institutions in worldwide?
✔︎ How you can connect with the Arrowsmith School to learn more about their programs to change student’s brains.
Welcome back, I'm Andrea Samadi, a former educator who has been fascinated with understanding the science behind high performance strategies in schools, sports, and the workplace for the past 20 years. If you have been listening to our podcast, you will know that we’ve uncovered that if we want to improve our social and emotional skills, and experience success in our work and personal lives, it all begins with an understanding of our brain.
I first learned about Barbara Arrowsmith Young when researching for Brian Fact Friday and EPISODE #129 as she was a case study in Dr. Norman Doidge’s book, The Brain That Changes Itself[ii] Dr. Doidge is a Canadian scientist, medical doctor, and psychiatrist who was one of the researchers who put Neuroplasticity on the map and he dedicated a whole chapter in his book to Barbara’s story called “Building Herself a Better Brain” which is exactly what she did. You can read Barbara’s book, The Woman Who Changed Her Brain,[iii]  that’s now in its third edition, here.   I’ve heard Dr. Daniel Amen say over and over again that “you are not stuck with the brain that you have. You can be empowered to change it for the better[iv]” and Barbara Arrowsmith Young did just that, and more. Her story just below me away. Literally. It was the first time I cried while researching someone, as her story of struggling as a young girl hit a chord for me. The whole reason I do the work I’m doing now, is to help educators or those in the workplace to use the understanding of their brain to improve productivity (whether that’s in the classroom, or the workplace) and when someone is struggling in this area, like many people who have dedicated their life to the field of teaching and learning, most would want to know “why is this person struggling and what can we do to help them past this?”
You can watch Barbara Arrowsmith Young’s  TEDx Talk, or read her story in Dr. Doidge’s book, to dive deeper into her story, that began when she was told she had a mental defect with her brain when she was younger, would never learn like other children, and would just have to learn to live with these limitations. For those of us who have children who need a little extra help, or who have worked with children with learning disabilities, we know that many times, even though other areas of the brain are highly functioning, and can even appear to make up for those areas of the brain that are not as strong, not addressing the areas of weakness, fixing or correcting them, can cause years of frustration for the child and will show up eventually when the brain becomes tired of working hard to compensate for the weaker areas.  This even showed up in my results with my brain scan at Amen Clinics with the X test, or the Connor’s Continuous Performance Test Score where we had to hit a key on the keyboard of a computer every time an X appeared, and not hit it when we didn’t see the x. Dr. Creado who did my test evaluation mentioned that “he has noticed that people who have weaker executive functions in their brain can develop life hacks to help them to focus and concentrate when they need to. But the problem is, that with time, and not working on brain health, or function, it will just become more difficult to keep up with these life hacks. Eventually, the brain will not be able to keep up with the hack which is why it’s so important to look and see what’s happening in your brain. You won’t know any of this, without looking.”[v]
 
 Her work, begun in 1978, has been recognized as one of the first examples of the practical application of neuroplasticity which, simply put, is the ability of the brain to change and rewire itself over one’s lifetime. As the Director of Arrowsmith School and Arrowsmith Program, she continues to develop and refine programs for students with learning difficulties.   
 Her vision is that all students struggling with learning will have the opportunity to benefit from cognitive programs utilizing the principles of neuroplasticity, programs that change the brain’s capacity to learn and open to these learners a world of possibilities.   
 The genesis of the Arrowsmith Program’s cognitive exercises lies in Barbara Arrowsmith-Young's journey of discovery and innovation to overcome her severe learning disabilities. Her inspirational book ‘The Woman who Changed Her Brain’ has become an international bestseller and a third edition updated with new research was published in December 2019.  
 Barbara is the recipient of the 2019 Leaders and Legends Innovation Award from the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto for her outstanding contributions to education in Ontario.  
About the Arrowsmith Program  
The Arrowsmith Program has been recognized by Sharp Brains as the Most Innovative Special Education Program of its kind, identifying and strengthening the weak cognitive functions that underlie specific learning difficulties.   
The Arrowsmith Program is offered in over 90 educational organizations in 13 countries.  Ongoing research with neuroscientists, neuropsychologists and psychologists is demonstrating that the program not only changes the brain, cognitive functioning, and academic achievement but also leads to social-emotional well-being. 
 ‘Barbara’s story is truly heroic, on par with the achievements of Helen Keller.’  Norman Doidge M.D. author of the New York Times Bestseller The Brain that Changes Itself.  
 Barbara Arrowsmith-Young is the founder of the Arrowsmith Program, an assessment process and a suite of cognitive exercises designed to stimulate and strengthen weak areas of cognitive functioning that underlie a range of learning difficulties, which has been delivered for 40+ years throughout the world. 
Sadly, Barbara grew up at the time when most medical experts believed our brains were fixed, so she had to defy the odds, and find solutions to overcome her learning challenges on her own. She did and created the Arrowsmith School is Toronto where she now teaches other children many of the strategies that she used herself to strengthen her brain.
Let’s meet this extraordinary woman, from my hometown, Barbara Arrowsmith Young.
Welcome Barbara, I’m so grateful to have found you. It started when I read Dr. Doidge’s book The Brain That Changes Itself and chapter 2 of his book was dedicated to your story. My eyes saw Toronto (where I grew up and went to school) and Peterborough where you were raised, where I still send some Christmas cards to friends and family that way, and now I wanted to know your story. Then I saw your TEDx and the connection grew stronger with my background in teaching (I saw we both attended OISE’s Faculty of Education for our teacher training), and I had an interest in earning additional training in strategies for students with Learning Disabilities. Your story brought tears to my eyes as my focus on for the past 9 years has been to create content to help students/teachers in the classroom to instill a positive mindset for these young learners, and I saw how things were so different before there was such an emphasis on these skills.  Thanks so much for being here today.
Q1: Barbara, can you share what you were told about your brain, and learning when you were in 1st grade, (mental block) and the challenges you had growing up at a time when doctors believed that our brains were fixed?
Q2: What specifically did you have a difficult time with and what did this do to your ability to learn at school (thinking of those students in the classroom today with a learning challenge)?
Q3: Things reached their lowest point for you in grade 8 where you just couldn’t see how you could go on with learning being this difficult, but your father, an inventor, helped you to adopt the mindset you would need to soldier on. When I heard what he told you, it made me feel more connected to you. I had a mousepad given to me from a friend back in Toronto as a gift when I was moving to the US, with the exact same saying on it. What did he teach you and how did this help you to move forward?
Q4: This is where my mind started to blow up a bit when I watched your TEDx. A bit because I can’t imagine researching before the internet. How did you come across the work of neuropsychologist Alexander Luria and psychologist Mark Rosenzweig[vi] and what did you learn from them?
Q5: The final missing piece for anyone who has gone through life with a learning challenge like you, or like me as a parent, watching my youngest child, wondering why can one of my kids sail through school, without any effort, and the other, needs constant support and guidance? Or a teacher out there, wondering what else could we do to help that one student putting in extra effort, without any results. Can you share what are the Assessments[vii] you use at Arrowsmith to identify a learning challenge, and what can they do for a student to help them past this challenge?
Q6: This podcast is going into our 6th season, and 3rd year and has a reach of over 148 countries around the world. Our top countries are the USA, Australia next and Canada and the UK not far behind. I saw your participating sites link[viii] on your website, and wonder how schools could become a participating site to access your assessments and curriculum?
Q7: What programs can you tell our audience about at Arrowsmith Schools? I saw a powerful video about your Summer Intensive program in Toronto that drew students from around the world (USA, Australia, the UK and beyond). Do you have anything like this coming up?
Q8: What’s your vision for Arrowsmith Schools, and on the horizon for you that we should all be aware of?
For people who want to learn more about your school, assessments and programs, I have put all of the links in the show notes, in addition to your website. https://arrowsmithschool.org/
Where else can people follow you and your school?
Thank you Barbara for taking the time to speak with me. It’s a true honor to meet someone who has made such an incredible impact on the world, that began with an understanding of your brain.  I will continue to follow work and wish you much success!
RESOURCES:
Here are some videos of students and parents describing the changes from the work:
https://youtu.be/YB1NPYJIcuE
https://youtu.be/kK_fe_KcXA0
https://youtu.be/8v8d_6u9iKM
Summary documents on our research
https://arrowsmithschool.org/research/
ArrowsmithProgram-Research-Summary-2019.pdf (arrowsmithschool.org)
ArrowsmithProgram-Research-Overview-2020.pdf (arrowsmithschool.org)
Participating Sites of the Arrowsmith School and Programs Worldwide https://arrowsmithschool.org/participating-sites/
Arrowsmith Cognitive Enhancement Program https://arrowsmithschool.org/enhancementprogram/
Live Arrowsmith Cognitive Classroom Demonstration with Howard Eaton Published on YouTube March 5, 2013 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=epHBDNBPnHg
Cognitive Questionnaire https://questionnaire.arrowsmithprogram.com/
Neuroplasticity: How the Brain Can Heal Itself by Lynn Malcolm April 21, 2015 https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/allinthemind/neuroplasticity-and-how-the-brain-can-heal-itself/6406736
Alexander Luria: Life, research and contribution to neuroscience by Maria Illmarovna Kostyanaya https://www.thescienceofpsychotherapy.com/alexander-luria-life-research-contribution-to-neuroscience/
The Man with a Shattered World: The History of a Brain Wound by A.R. Luria Published April 30, 1987  https://www.amazon.com/Man-Shattered-World-History-Brain/dp/0674546253
REFERENCES:
[i] The Woman Who Changed Her Brain TEDx Toronto Published April 27, 2013 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0td5aw1KXA
[ii] The Brain That Changes Itself by Dr. Norman Doidge Dec. 18, 2007 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2c5aTlq3nYI
[iii] Barbara Arrowsmith-Young The Woman Who Changed Her Brain: How I Left My Learning Disability Behind and Other Storis of Cognitive Transformation, Foreword by Norman Doidge. Published  Sept. 17, 2017 https://arrowsmithschool.org/books-3/
[iv] Dr. Amen http://www.globenewswire.com/en/news-release/2019/08/14/1901976/0/en/Dr-Daniel-Amen-s-Change-Your-Brain-Change-Your-Grades-Helps-Students-Parents-and-Teachers-Sync-Up-for-Better-Success.html#:~:text=Amen%20Clinics%2C%20Inc.,-Los%20Angeles%2C%20California&text=LOS%20ANGELES%2C%20Aug.,change%20it%20for%20the%20better.
[v] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast Episode #84 “How a SPECT Scan Can Change Your Life.” with Andrea Samadi https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/how-a-spect-scan-can-change-your-life-part-3-with-andrea-samadi/
[vi] American research psychologist Mark Rosenzweig https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Rosenzweig_(psychologist)#:~:text=Rosenzweig%20initiated%20experimental%20research%20upon,than%20rats%20raised%20in%20cages.&text=This%20work%20led%20in%201962,enrichment%20increased%20cerebral%20cortex%20volume
[vii] https://arrowsmithschool.org/assessments/
[viii] https://arrowsmithschool.org/participating-sites/

Brain Fact Friday: "Understanding How We Learn: Declarative vs Procedural Systems"

Welcome back to the Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast, for Brain Fact Friday and episode #131. Of all the Brain Fact Fridays, so far, this one really made me stop, think and make connections to past episodes, and how the brain learns.
To view images in the show notes, click here.
Welcome back, I'm Andrea Samadi, a former educator who has been fascinated with understanding the science behind high performance strategies in schools, sports, and the workplace for the past 20 years. If you have been listening to our podcast, you will know that we’ve uncovered that if we want to improve our social and emotional skills, and experience success in our work and personal lives, it all begins with an understanding of our brain.
This week’s brain fact came to me when I was asked to appear this past weekend, on Naomi Toland’s[i] Live Q and A with Barbara Oakley[ii] the author of many books, including Learning How to Learn[iii] to ask her a question related to how the brain learns.
In this episode, you will learn:
✔︎ The 2 Major Ways the Brain Learns
✔︎ The difference between these 2 modes of Learning: Declarative and Procedural Learning
✔︎ Why one of type of learning might work better for one student than the other.
✔︎ Aha Moments for the Classroom, Sports and Beyond.
The first question for Barbara on this call caught my attention, and it was from Phil Stringer[iv], a Department Head of Math, Research Chair of Applied Cognitive Science from Vancouver, Canada, and it was his question that got me thinking.  He asked, “how can we move away from a grades-based culture, to a learning culture…or the idea of using points and grades verses just feedback for students” and I got my pencil out right away, knowing that there are a few schools near me who don’t use grades at all. Students just complete assignments, receive feedback, and work at their own pace. Some students are very happy working in this environment, and I wondered what Barbara, the expert on teaching and learning, would say.
How the Brain Learns:
Her answer blew us all away. The feedback after this event continued all night. She shared her screen and explained that the brain learns through two major systems:
The Declarative System: which is like when I am teaching something. Declarative links in the brain occur because we have listened to an explanation of something. The information goes from the working memory, through the hippocampus and puts the new information into long-term memory.   I thought back to EPISODE #127[v] “How Emotions Impact Learning and the Brain” and thought how important it is to be sure that students are making connections with their learning with what’s important to them, to sear the new learning and information at the brain level using emotion.  Since we “feel” therefore we learn.[vi]
The Procedural System: Is built when we practice a skill over and over again without thinking about it. This new information goes through the Basal Ganglia in the brain and deposits the new learning or new skill learned into the long-term memory. Todd Woodcroft talked about this idea on EPISODE #38[vii] with “The Daily Grind in the NHL” and Dr. John Dunlosky mentioned it in EPISODE #37[viii] when he spoke about the importance of spaced repetition as the most effective cognitive strategy for student success.
We need both types of learning when learning a new language, math, sports, or when we are learning anything, but Barbara reminds us that some people like to learn declaratively, (with an explanation) like people with Dyslexia, and others on the Autism Spectrum Disorder prefer to learn more procedurally, (with practice) if you are applying this to the classroom.
(Source: Barbara Oakley with Naomi Toland and Phil Stringer) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAwzdCc8EPY
 
This brings us to this week’s Brain Fact Friday:
“We want people to learn both declaratively (through an explanation) or procedurally (by practicing a skill over and over again) but what we learn procedurally, we cannot explain.” Barbara Oakley
AHA Moments for the Classroom
If you have been asking your students to explain every step with their math problems, remember that some mathematical concepts have been acquired procedurally, and they won’t be able to explain it. This doesn’t mean they don’t understand the concept, they just cannot explain it back to you declaratively. Barbara Oakley further explains that “you could even destroy their interest in learning the subject if you force them to explain every step.”
Think About This:
Have you ever asked a student or your own child to explain something and they say, “Oh this is just how I do it?” This is because they were taught the skill using the procedural system and they cannot explain it to you.
Making Connections:
Friederike Fabritius, from EPISODE #27[ix], covers in her book, The Leading Brain: Neuroscience Hacks to Work Smarter, Better, Happier the process of procedural learning or “Intuitive Decisions” as she calls it. She offers the example of when Captain “Sully” Sullenberger explained that he was able to make that safe, emergency landing in the Hudson River that saved all 155 passengers, because he said “for forty-two years, I’ve been making small, regular deposits in this bank of experience, education and training. And on January 15th the balance was sufficient that I was able to make a withdrawal.”[x]  He acted intuitively, after years of experience.
She also explained this concept with Wayne Gretzky, who is considered to be the greatest hockey player of all time because his years of experience and practice on the ice gave him what many fans consider “hockey sense” or knowing how to be in the right place at the right time.  These “intuitive decisions” come without thinking and Friederike shares that it could even be “disruptive” if you ask someone to explain “how” exactly they do what they do.
To Sum up Brain Fact Friday:
“We want people to learn both declaratively (through an explanation) or procedurally (by practicing a skill over and over again) but what we learn procedurally, we cannot explain.” Barbara Oakley
The procedural system recognizes patterns and helps you to react quickly, so don’t eliminate rote learning from the classroom, just don’t call it Drill and Kill. Call it something more positive, Barbara suggests, like Drill and Skill.  And don’t forget that when learning procedurally, you need to provide feedback immediately. Don’t delay the feedback as this breaks the pattern made, and will make it harder for the student to learn the new skill effectively.
We all learned from Phil Stringer’s question: and were reminded that too much focus on grades or points has a detrimental impact on student learning, but testing a student is one of the most effective ways to help students to learn, since it provides the perfect amount of stress to motivate the student to perform.
I hope you can see the importance of thinking about these 2 ways that our brains acquire new information, and that it opens up your thinking, like it opened up mine. I’m no longer going to ask my children to explain every step in their math problems, and trust that they have learned the steps procedurally.
See you next week where we will have another Case Study, of a fascinating woman, from my hometown of Toronto, who is otherwise known as “The Woman Who Changed Her Brain.”[xi]
 REFERENCES:
[i] Naomi Toland’s Live Q and A with Barbara Oakley https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAwzdCc8EPY
[ii] https://barbaraoakley.com/books/
[iii] Learning How to Learn by Barbara Oakley Published August 7, 2018  https://barbaraoakley.com/books/learning-how-to-learn/
[iv] Phil Stringer on Twitter https://twitter.com/xphils and YouTube https://www.youtube.com/user/StringerCHS
[v] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #127 “The Impact of Emotions on Learning and the Brain” https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/brain-fact-friday-how-emotions-impact-learning-memory-and-the-brain/
[vi] Mary Helen Immordino Yang Emotions, Learning and the Brain (November 16, 2015) https://www.amazon.com/Emotions-Learning-Brain-Implications-Neuroscience/dp/0393709817
 
[vii] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #38 with Todd Woodcroft on “The Daily Grind in the NHL” https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/assistant-coach-to-the-winnipeg-jets-todd-woodcroft-on-the-daily-grind-in-the-nhl/
[viii] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #37 https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/kent-states-dr-john-dunlosky-on-improving-student-success-some-principles-from-cognitive-science/
[ix] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #27 with Friederike Fabritius on “Achieveing Peak Performance” https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/pioneer-in-the-field-of-neuroleadership-friederike-fabritius-on-the-recipe-for-achieving-peak-performance/
[x] The Leading Brain by Friederike Fabritius page 147 https://www.amazon.com/Leading-Brain-Science-Based-Strategies-Performance/dp/014312935X
[xi] The Woman Who Changed Her Brain TEDx Toronto Published April 27, 2013 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0td5aw1KXA

Case Study: The Story of Bridgid Ruden "Overcoming a Severe Traumatic Brain Injury"

Welcome back to the Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast, EPISODE #130 with a fascinating case study/story of Bridgid Ruden[i], a traumatic brain injury survivor, whose life changed on May 24, 2008 with a bicycle accident that would begin her new life inspiring her book Discovering Your Life’s Purpose: From Tragedy to Triumph[ii], as she now inspires people nationally and internationally with her story of resilience.
To watch the interview on YouTube click here.
To see the images in the show notes if you are listening on iTunes click here.
Welcome back, I'm Andrea Samadi, a former educator who has been fascinated with understanding the science behind high performance strategies in schools, sports, and the workplace for the past 20 years. If you have been listening to our podcast, you will know that we’ve uncovered that if we want to improve our social and emotional skills, and experience success in our work and personal lives, it all begins with an understanding of our brain.
Before I give the backstory of Bridgid, and why I think her story is important to share, I want to read you a testimonial from the doctor who saw her first CT scan after her bike accident in 2008.
“Bridgid, you are a miracle. I remember as your physician telling you these words as I reviewed your brain CT scan from your initial head injury. I believe that you are unique in your positive approach to your recovery, your dedication to sharing your experience, and your commitment to helping and motivating others to overcome their own life obstacles and adversity. I deeply and sincerely admire your efforts and your positive attitude in dealing with a truly difficult and challenging personal experience so that they can benefit from your experience, wisdom, and wit. Although we sometimes are witness to events that are miraculous, sometime the real miracles are people like you.” -Dr. Andrew G. Lee, MD
In this episode, you will learn:
✔︎How a Traumatic Brain Injury can happen (statistics) and Bridgid Ruden’s Story.
✔︎ Who was Bridgid Ruden before the accident and how she used pure determination to re-build her brain and life after her accident on May 24, 2008.
✔︎ What her CT brain scans showed after the injury that led to 4 surgeries.
✔︎How Bridgid rebuilt her brain and life with exercise, nutrition, art, music therapy and laughter.
I came to meet Brigid Ruden when she reached out to me through our website[iii] to share her story, and at the time her email came in, I was in the middle of writing the review of Dr. Daniel Amen’s book, The End of Mental Illness on EPISODE #128 where we spoke about Traumatic Brain Injury as one of the brain risk factors of head trauma that Dr. Amen considers to be “the silent epidemic that underlies mental illness.” When I saw her email, I was reading it quickly, and saw the following words-severe traumatic brain injury survivor, healing, education, miracles, author, speaker and reiki therapist, and that’s all I needed to see. It’s not often that you see severe traumatic brain injury survivor and author in the same paragraph. Writing a book has to be the most daunting task, requiring brain focus, and here was someone who had survived a severe brain injury with a book about it. I was amazed, curious to learn more and emailed her back immediately.
The rest is history. I can’t wait for you to meet this woman whose determination to heal herself has opened her to a whole new life’s purpose.
Just to review, we did cover the statistics behind head trauma on episode #128 with a review of Dr. Daniel Amen’s “The End of Mental Illness” book where he called Head Trauma: “The silent epidemic that underlies many mental illnesses.”
(Dr. Amen). According to the CDC, “more than 2 million new head injuries occur in the US every year” ranging from falls, to motor vehicle collisions, to sports injuries and Dr. Amen treats many of these injuries at his clinics across the country, saying that his database of “tens of thousands of patients, 40% had a significant brain injury before they came to see us.”[iv]
 
Here’s Brigid Ruden!
Welcome Brigid. Thank you so much for reaching out to me with your story. It was timely and I’m so glad to have this opportunity to speak with you directly.
Q1: Brigid, I have just completed an episode[v] where I reviewed Dr. Daniel Amen’s book, The End of Mental Illness and one of the brain risk factors he outlines is Head Trauma that he describes as “The silent epidemic that underlies many mental illnesses.” Can you share the statistics that you’ve learned about the leading causes of Traumatic Brain Injury and why do you think the police officer that found you after your fall thought you had just a mild concussion?
Q2: To help others who might have someone in their life recovering from a TBI, can you take us through how serious your fall was from your first CT Scans, to your 2nd CT Scans, to your 4th surgery, and what happened to you after this?
Q3: Your story is a true story of resilience. Can you explain how you re-built your brain using the power of exercise, the value of nutrition, art and music therapy and reiki?
Q4: What helped to motivate you along your path to healing?
Q5: I know that documenting your life story in your book was not easy. I’m in the beginning stages of my third book and it requires more brain power than I’ve got on most days. How did you write your book while still healing to help others to develop and redefine themselves?
Q6: What vision do you have with your story? How do you want to help others who might be stuck in the recovery process?
Brigid, I want to thank you very much for taking the time to share your story. For those who want to learn more about you, they can go to your website at www.bridgidruden.com  or find your book Discovering My Life’s Purpose on Amazon.
Brigid, I want to thank you very much for taking the time to share your story. For those who want to learn more about you, they can go to your website at https://www.bridgidruden.com/ and can you explain the services that you offer there? 
RESOURCES:
All slides in the YouTube interview were from I Believe in the Power of Believing Movie Published on YouTube November 2, 2020 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZsa3mKAboE&t=607s
Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #88 with Neuroscientist Andrew Newberg, M.D. on Demystifying the Human Brain “Neurotheology, Spect Scans, and the Aging Brain” https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/neuroscientist-andrew-newberg-md-on-neurotheology-spect-scans-and-the-aging-brain/
REFERENCES:
[i] https://www.bridgidruden.com/
[ii] Discovering My Life’s Purpose: From Tragedy to Triumph by Brigid Ruden Published September 19, 2016  https://www.amazon.com/Discovering-My-Lifes-Purpose-Tragedy/dp/1681971992/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=bridgid+ruden&qid=1603334667&sr=8-1
[iii] https://www.achieveit360.com/contact-us/
[iv] The End of Mental Illness: How Neuroscience is Transforming Psychiatry and Helping Prevent or Reverse Mood and Anxiety Disorders, ADHD, Addictions, PTSD, Psychosis, Personality Disorders and More by Dr. Daniel Amen  March 3, 2020 https://www.amazon.com/End-Mental-Illness-Neuroscience-Transforming/dp/1496438159 Location 4574
[v] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning EPISODE #128 with a review of Dr. Daniel Amen’s “The End of Mental Illness: Book https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/review-of-dr-daniel-amens-the-end-of-mental-illness-6-steps-for-improved-brain-and-mental-health/

Brain Fact Friday "Using Neuroscience to Lessen the Impact of COVID-19 on Learning"

Welcome back to the Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast, for Brain Fact Friday and episode #129.
If you are listening on iTunes, click here to see the images.
In this episode, you will learn how to lessen the impact that COVID-19 has had on our mental health, well-being and learning by understanding:
✔︎ What brain research can teach us about new ways to position learning for our students.
✔︎ Tips to re-build our student’s brains after the impact of the Global Pandemic.
✔︎ The importance of motivation, learning and the brain.
✔︎ Why neuroplasticity is the most important change in the understanding of our brain in the past 400 years. (Norman Doidge, MD).
Welcome back, I'm Andrea Samadi, a former educator who has been fascinated with understanding the science behind high performance strategies in schools, sports, and the workplace for the past 20 years. If you have been listening to our podcast, you will know that we’ve uncovered that if we want to improve our social and emotional skills, and experience success in our work and personal lives, it all begins with an understanding of our brain.
We also know that “mental health is brain health”[i] and that research demonstrates that “students who receive social, emotional and mental health support achieve better academically. School climate, classroom behavior, on-task learning, and students' sense of connectedness and well-being all improve as well”[ii]   
As May is Mental Health Awareness Month, it’s clear that mental health disorders are a worldwide concern, magnified with the effects of the Global Pandemic. Here in the United States, 4 in 10 adults have reported symptoms of anxiety or depressive disorder…up from 1 in 10 adults who reported these symptoms from January-June 2019”[iii] before the Pandemic, and we know that “young adults are already at risk for poor mental health”[iv] but these statistics, along with some comments from some of the educators I speak with often got me wondering “What will be the long-term impacts of COVID-19 on the mental health of our students in our classrooms, let alone the havoc it’s created in the workforce.”
Since leaving the corporate world in 2012, I have been focused on creating content to help students and educators implement social and emotional skills, character education, practical neuroscience and leadership,[v] with a focus on well-being, but the recent changes in our world have got me thinking:
What are the long-term impacts of COVID-19 on our students’ well-being?
How has wearing a mask every day impacted their self-image, their self-esteem, and confidence levels?
What will happen to those students who struggle (or are still struggling) with Distance Learning?
What are some solutions to these questions that we can implement to bridge the gap that was created with this Global Pandemic?
I don’t think I’ll be able to solve everything here in this episode but it’s a starting point. What are your thoughts? I’d love to hear from you with what issues you are facing in your schools and workplaces in different parts of the world, a year after the global pandemic.
These questions bring us to this week’s brain fact Friday, and a reminder from our last episode where we reviewed Dr. Daniel Amen’s book, The End of Mental Illness, that we are not stuck with the brain we have. We can change our brain and change our results. Whatever impact the Global Pandemic has had on our student’s social, emotional and cognitive thinking in our schools, or on those in the workplace, I strongly believe that this impact will not last forever, especially with the application of brain science to guide us through this time.
For this week’s Brain Fact Friday
DID YOU KNOW THAT:
“Nature has given us a brain that survives in a changing world by changing itself?” –Dr. Norman Doidge, a Canadian distinguished scientist, medical doctor, a psychiatrist on the faculty of the University of Toronto and Columbia University in New York, and the author of The Brain That Changes Itself[vi] (that has sold over 1 million copies) and The Brain’s Way of Healing[vii] said that.
Dr. Norman Doidge is one of the researchers who put Neuroplasticity on the map (meaning that neurons, the building blocks of the brain) are changeable (plastic) which means that our brains “can change their structure and function through mental experience alone” and he believes this to be “the most important change in the understanding of our brain in 400 years.”[viii]
How Can this Idea of Neuroplasticity Help Us in Today’s Classrooms?
Norman Doidge’s book, The Brain That Changes Itself is full of case studies of people who have experienced chronic pain, Parkinson’s disease, TBI, autism, ADHD, and even Blindness, train new parts of their brain with focused thought and movement alone.  If our neural pathways can be re-wired and strengthened in these case studies in this book, as well as in The Brain’s Way of Healing, (his most recent book) how can we use this information in today’s classrooms to help with our student’s well-being? Understanding how our brain’s works is a crucial next step for accelerating learning in our post-pandemic classrooms, with a goal of lessening the learning loss that may have occurred in the past year.
3 TIPS TO ACCELERATE LEARNING IN TODAY’S CLASSROOMS:
Think of New Ways to Position Learning: With the Brain in Mind
Chapter 2 of The Brain That Changes Itself features a fascinating story about a woman named Barbara Arrowsmith who was born with learning challenges. Tests to her brain revealed that she had extremely strong areas with her audio and visual centers, but her spatial reasoning was weak.  Barbara was determined to find ways to improve her learning and found a study by Mark Rosenzweig[ix] using rats that helped her to understand the neuroplastic nature of her own brain.
This study showed that rats in a stimulating environment had “an increase in neurotransmitters, a heavier brain, and more blood flow to the brain”[x]  Once Barbara saw that the rats could change their brain, she began a series of mental exercises to help her to strengthen the areas of her own brain that were weak and with time, she brought her deficiencies back up to a normal level. There’s more to the story, but I found it fascinating that Barbara Arrowsmith was able to overcome her learning challenges using mental exercises and strengthened the parts of her brain that were weak. She later opened the Arrowsmith School in Toronto[xi], where she used many of the techniques, she used on herself, with her students. With this case study in mind, can you think of ways could you use Barbara’s story to help students in your classroom?
IMPLEMENTING THIS IDEA IN THE CLASSROOM:
Whatever challenges your students have faced the past year, remember that our student’s brains are resilient and with practice, repetition, and a stimulating environment, they will continue to learn and make academic gains like Barbara did.
I’ll learn more from Barbara and the school she has built, but it’s clear that many students would benefit from knowing what areas of their brain need more work to identify these weak links. This is exactly why looking at your brain is so powerful instead with instruction that just repeats the same thing over again, missing an opportunity to target learning and instruction.
Strengthening Neural Pathways in the Brain: Priming the Brain to Learn
We know that Mark Rosenzweig’s rat experiments inspired Barbara to improve her learning, but they also taught her that “animals raised in enriched environments—surrounded by other animals, objects to explore, toys to roll, ladders to climb, and running wheels—learn better than genetically identical animals that have been reared in impoverished environments.”[xii]
Our learning environment matters our brains will grow in the right environment. Doidge mentioned in postmortem examinations, “it was shown that education increases the number of branches among neurons. An increased number of branches drives the neurons further apart, leading to an increase in the volume and thickness of the brain.”[xiii] Which brings us to the question, “Is a bigger brain better?” and a Stanford neuroscientist would say that “some studies claim the answer is yes” to this question.[xiv]
IMPLEMENTING THIS IDEA IN THE CLASSROOM:
This has been a challenging one this year, with many students still using distance learning[xv], and it’s not easy to have control over your students’ learning environments, when many students are doing the best that they can, with their individual circumstances. Take a look at what the dendrites in the brain look like without stimulation vs stimulation, and most teachers I know get excited about this concept. Our students brains have been impacted in the classroom, and when they leave, they will continue to grow and expand from the lesson that you have taught them. Their brains will expand, and yes, you helped to build a stronger, smarter brain.
The Importance of Motivation:
We did cover the importance of motivation in the workplace on episode #127 “How Our Emotions Impact Learning, Memory and the Brain”[xvi] with a reminder that the motivation network of the brain is driven by your instinct and curiosity which is one of Jaak Panksepp’s Core Emotions (Panksepp was an Estonian neuroscientist who mapped out 7 emotional circuits in the mammalian brain (the hindbrain) with play being one of them.
Panksepp identified another emotion called SEEKING that keeps us moving forward, engaged in new and interesting activities and work throughout our lifetime. If you think your students have lost motivation for their work, it’s time to look or like Panksepp would say, SEEK something that their brain will find new, and interesting, that will bring them JOY. This will engage them at the brain level.
Doidge found that “when animals were motivated to learn, the brain responds plastically” and stimulating the brain makes it grow in almost every conceivable way.
IMPLEMENTING THIS IDEA IN THE CLASSROOM:
Keeping the focus on the joy of learning in difficult times will allow our students’ brains to do what they do naturally—learn and grow. Making sure our students and children at home are motivated to learn is the first step in engaging them at the brain level.
Reviewing our brain fact for the week “Nature has given us a brain that survives in a changing world by changing itself” makes me think of the possibility that exists within each of us. I know this past year has revealed many changes for all of us, all over the world, but the science clearly says that our brain has the ability to survive in an ever-changing world.
Next week I will be speaking with a TBI survivor who has rebuilt her brain to create an incredible life, helping others to do the same. See you next week, and I hope this brain fact has given you some new ideas to look at our students, colleagues or families, and see the power behind neuroplasticity, and the ability for our brain to adapt and change on its own…which I would agree with Doidge to be the most important change in the understanding of our brain in 400 years.
See you next week!
Contact Andrea Samadi andrea@achieveit360.com or via Twitter https://twitter.com/andreasamadi or LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/samadi/
REFERENCES:
[i] The End of Mental Illness: How Neuroscience is Transforming Psychiatry and Helping Prevent or Reverse Mood and Anxiety Disorders, ADHD, Addictions, PTSD, Psychosis, Personality Disorders and More by Dr. Daniel Amen  March 3, 2020 https://www.amazon.com/End-Mental-Illness-Neuroscience-Transforming/dp/1496438159
[ii] School-Based Mental Health Services: Improving Student Learning and Well-Being  https://www.nasponline.org/
[iii] The implications of COVID-19 for Mental Health and Substance Use Published by Nirmita Panchal, Rabah Kamal, Cynthia Cox, and Rachel Garfield Feb. 10, 2021 https://www.kff.org/coronavirus-covid-19/issue-brief/the-implications-of-covid-19-for-mental-health-and-substance-use/
[iv] IBID
[v] Andrea Samadi’s Programs and Services https://www.achieveit360.com/
[vi] The Brain That Changes Itself by Dr. Norman Doidge Dec. 18, 2007 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2c5aTlq3nYI
[vii] Dr. Norman Doidge The Brain’s Way of Healing Jan. 26, 2016 https://www.amazon.com/Brains-Way-Healing-Discoveries-Neuroplasticity/dp/014312837X/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=the+brain%27s+way+of+healing&qid=1620322327&s=books&sr=1-1
[viii] Dr. Norman Doidge | The Power of Thought Published on YouTube Feb. 15, 2015 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2c5aTlq3nYI
[ix] Animal research on neuroplasticity (Rosenzweig and Bennett, 1961) https://www.themantic-education.com/ibpsych/2018/12/10/key-study-animal-research-on-neuroplasticity-rosenzweig-and-bennett-1961/
[x] The Brain That Changes Itself Part 1 Published on YouTube Jan. 5, 2012 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gI1BT7E58WU
[xi] https://arrowsmithschool.org/toronto/
[xii] he Brain That Changes Itself by Dr. Norman Doidge Dec. 18, 2007 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2c5aTlq3nYI location 873
[xiii] The Brain That Changes Itself by Dr. Norman Doidge Dec. 18, 2007 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2c5aTlq3nYI location 888
[xiv] Ask a Neuroscientist: Does a bigger brain make you smarter? May 24, 2014 by Kendra Lechtenberg https://neuroscience.stanford.edu/news/ask-neuroscientist-does-bigger-brain-make-you-smarter
[xv] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #77 with University Professors and Authors Doug Fisher and Nancy Frey on “Delivering High Quality Distance Learning” https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/university-professors-and-authors-doug-fisher-and-nancy-frey-on-developing-and-delivering-high-quality-distance-learning-for-students/
[xvi] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #127 “How Our Emotions Impact Learning, Memory and the Brain” https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/brain-fact-friday-how-emotions-impact-learning-memory-and-the-brain/

Review of Dr. Daniel Amen's "The End of Mental Illness" 6 Steps for Improved Brain Function and Mental Health

Welcome back to the Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast, for episode #128 with a review of Dr. Daniel Amen’s book, The End of Mental Illness: How Neuroscience is Transforming Psychiatry and Helping Prevent or Reverse Mood and Anxiety Disorders, ADHD, Addictions, PTSD, Psychosis, Personality Disorders and More.[i]  
If you are listening on iTunes, click here to see the images. 
Welcome back, I'm Andrea Samadi, a former educator who has been fascinated with understanding the science behind high performance strategies in schools, sports, and the workplace for the past 20 years. If you have been listening to our podcast, you will know that we’ve uncovered that if we want to improve our social and emotional skills, and experience success in our work and personal lives, it all begins with an understanding of our brain.
Since May is Mental Health Awareness month, and every 14 minutes, someone in the country commits suicide, and it’s the 2nd leading cause of death for young people, I thought it was important to cover the one person, the leading expert on this topic, who has a goal to eliminate the stigma around mental illness with the understanding of brain health, and that’s with the world-renowned psychiatrist, brain disorder specialist, New York Times best-selling author and director of Amen Clinics, Dr. Daniel Amen.
We’ve had his daughter on the podcast, Chloe Amen, for episode #11[ii] with the book that she helped Dr. Amen to write, Change your Brain, Change Your Grades and we have definitely asked Dr. Amen and his wife Tana to join us on the podcast. We understand that his schedule is tight between running Amen Clinics[iii], The Brain Warrior’s Way Podcast[iv], and making television appearances, like his recent episode with Dr. Oz[v], but we are still working with this with his staff and his schedule with the hope that we can get him on, to give my husband and I a quick overview of our brain scans, and hopefully shed some light on why a brain scan can change your life for those listening.
Visiting Dr. Amen’s Costa Mesa clinic was eye-opening, especially from the point of view of two people who didn’t have any obvious symptoms, just to gain more awareness into our health and well-being. It was a process that I think everyone could gain awareness from, whether you are having symptoms that you would like to dive deeper into, or not.  If you haven’t yet seen the 3-part series on where I outline what exactly a spect image brain scans, and how it can change your life, you can listen to it here.[vi]
For those who are listening that might be interested like we were in visiting his offices, it’s a simple process. Just go to www.AmenClinics.com  and schedule a call with their offices to help you to find the best location to visit (in the US) and the best solution for you. 
There’s no doubt that Dr. Amen is disrupting psychiatry with his brain scans, and the evidence is there on the wall at his clinics. You will see in plain view as you walk to his office, the famous studies he’s conducted. Dr. Amen has published “more than 70 peer-reviewed scientific articles, including some of the largest brain imaging studies ever done…if you type in ‘brain spect’ in the National Library of Medicine’s website www.pubmed.gov it will return more than 14,000 scientific abstracts.”[vii]
Dr. Amen was the “principal investigator on the first and largest brain imaging and rehabilitation study on active and retired NFL players, showing high levels of damage, but also the possibility of recovery for many, using the principles in his book…Dr. Amen was also a consultant on the 2015 movie Concussion starring Will Smith”[viii]
Since this information is so valuable,  I wanted to cover the highlights of his book, The End of Mental Illness that I know we could all benefit from reading. I don’t know anyone who doesn’t know someone who is impacted in some way with their mental health, and Dr. Amen says it pretty clearly that “most of us will have a mental health issue in our lifetime—and that “normal” is a myth..that 51% of us will have a mental health issue (post-traumatic stress, depression, anxiety, addiction, an eating disorder)”[ix] showing me that it’s more normal to have a problem, than not.
When you pick up your copy of this book, (even if you aren’t ready to buy a copy, you can get a free sample on Amazon using the Kindle version) and just scan through the leaders in the health and wellness industry in the beginning.
You’ll see Dr. David Perlmutter who we’ve mentioned often on this podcast, with his Alzheimer’s: The Science of Prevention Series,[x] Mark Hyman[xi], who appeared in Dr. Perlmutter’s series, Dr. Andrew Newberg[xii], director of research at the Marcus Institute of Integrative Health at Thomas Jefferson University, who we had on the podcast for EPISODE #88[xiii] and many other well-known names from the sports industry, medicine, and education.
In the first few pages of this book, Dr. Amen poses the question, “What if mental health was brain health?” which brings us back to our goal with this podcast, to bridge the gap that exists in our schools and workplaces that begins with an understanding of our brain.
Part 1 of the book gives a history of mental health over the years, with some tips for brain health that can change your life. You will see some SPECT image scans and case studies and begin to see how some common brain health issues like depression, anxiety, TBI, substance abuse, or Alzheimer’s Disease show up in the brain vs a healthy brain scan image.
Part 2 of the book explains the BRIGHT MINDS acronym which is a guide for well-being with the brain in mind. We will cover the BRIGHT part on this episode.
Part 3 of the book offers strategies that can be used in schools and the workplace to end mental illness with a focus on brain health.
We believe that well-being is the key to achievement and that an understanding of our brain health is behind the success our students will experience in the classroom, and then take with them for future success in the workplace.
There’s no better place to learn about the brain, health, and well-being, than Dr. Amen. For this episode, if you would like to improve your mood, energy, focus and sleep, I’ll be using the acronym that Dr. Amen uses, (BRIGHT MINDS) with six tips to help us to improve brain health and function. This book also has an online class you can access for free on YouTube.[xiv]
You can learn more about the acronym BRIGHT MINDS in Part 2 of The End of Mental Illness with the idea that in order to have a healthy brain, you must have a healthy mind.
Dr. Amen mentions at the start of the book that we want to create as much “brain reserve” as we can as we age “since the more brain reserve you have, the more resilient you are and the better your brain can handle the aging process to keep mental health disorders at bay.”[xv]
Although we have all been exposed to stressors to our brain in our lifetime, whether we have had an injury or not, we all have had some of our brain reserve depleted from our day-to-day life experience.  Here are six tips and strategies that are a good starting point when looking at our brain/mind health.
6 TIPS FOR IMPROVED BRAIN HEALTH
B- Blood Flow: “If your brain doesn't get enough blood flow its function will be compromised”[xvi] so Dr. Amen believes “the number one strategy to support your brain and mental health is to protect, nurture, and optimize your heart and blood vessels”[xvii] and exercise pumps blood to the brain.
DID YOU KNOW THAT “Blood vessels age, not your brain cells? Keep blood vessels healthy so blood flows to your brain.”[xviii]
BRAIN TIP:
Keep your blood vessels healthy with moderate exercise 5 days/week and weight training 3 times/week.  I know we all have heard how important exercise is for our health, it’s one of the top 5 health staples we have been covering on the podcast, but have you thought about it from this point of view? Keeping our heart healthy, keeps our blood vessels healthy, and helps blood flow to our brain. When you follow Dr. Amen’s work, you will quickly learn how important blood flow is to the brain. When looking at a brain scan with holes, the hole you see represent a 45% drop in blood flow to that area and it’s important to understand ways to increase blood flow to your brain (like with exercise and diet) as well as what lowers blood flow in your brain (more than 2 cups of caffeine/day, smoking, lack of sleep, excessive alcohol use).[xix]
R: Retirement/Aging: “When your brain stops learning, your brain starts dying.”[xx]
DID YOU KNOW: “That negative thoughts release chemicals in your brain that make you feel bad?”[xxi] It’s important to always be learning something new to keep the brain active, growing, and healthy and that we hold a positive mindset.
BRAIN TIP:
It’s important to find activities that we enjoy keeping us learning and growing and staying positive as we age. What I think is interesting is that activities we might have enjoyed doing 10 years ago, might have changed, so be open to trying something new, since your brain loves novelty and novelty makes us happy.[xxii] The more connected we are to what makes us happy, the more we can continue to contribute to the world, helping others and continue our lives with a sense of purpose.
I: Inflammation: “Which is your body’s process of fighting against things that harm it, such as infections, injuries and toxins, in an attempt to heal itself. When something damages your cells, your body releases chemicals that trigger a response from your immune system.”[xxiii] Amen explains that the word inflammation comes from “the Latin word inflammare, meaning to set on fire”[xxiv]
DID YOU KNOW “That a poor, inflammatory diet leads to less energy production in the brain?” (Ari Whitten, The New Science of Energy)[xxv] Dr. Amen explains that “Just as it can ravage your body, it can also damage your brain and mind. It’s been associated with a wide range of neurological and psychiatric illnesses including depression, bipolar disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder, schizophrenia, personality disorders, Alzheimer’s Disease and Parkinson’s Disease.”[xxvi]
BRAIN TIP: Keep your gut microbiome healthy, to maintain good brain health. We covered this topic on episode #93 with Dr. Vuyisich[xxvii] and it’s important to understand what creates an imbalance in our gut microbiome (stress, excessive alcohol, artificial sweeteners, and certain medications) while adding probiotics, being careful about taking antibiotics, and taking Omega-3 fatty acids[xxviii], can all reduce inflammation and improve brain health.
G: Genetics: “Your history is not your destiny.” (Dr. Amen). I loved the dedication to this book: To Alize and Amelie, Your history is not your destiny. Let’s end mental illness with your generation.” You will see this dedication after the reviews of this book in the beginning and if you don’t know the story, Alize and Amelie are Dr. Amen’s nieces (Alize co-wrote Change Your Brain, Change Your Grades with Chloe Amen) and they are the reason Dr. Amen wrote this book, with the goal in mind to show the world that we are not stuck with the brain we have. You can read the story on page 5 of the book and see how Dr. Amen used these brain strategies as a blueprint to change the brains of his nieces, but it’s such a moving story, that caught my attention for many different reasons, because it’s powerful to know that we can change our brain’s (structure and function) with these strategies.
DID YOU KNOW: “You are not stuck with the brain you have. You can make it better.” (Dr. Amen)
BRAIN TIP: Just because certain things run in your family, like some people really are genetically inclined to be overweight (Dr. Amen says he has to be careful of what he eats and when) “don’t believe your genes are your destiny.”[xxix]
Do you know what your genetic vulnerabilities are? I’m fully aware that depression runs in my family, so years ago, I put certain habits like exercise and healthy eating as priority, and it’s not something I even think about anymore. It became a healthy habit. When you can focus on brain health first, everything else will fall into place, and family history, or genetics can be changed.
H: Head Trauma: “The silent epidemic that underlies many mental illnesses.”
(Dr. Amen). According to the CDC, “more than 2 million new head injuries occur in the US every year” ranging from falls, to motor vehicle collisions, to sports injuries and Dr. Amen treats many of these injuries at his clinics across the country, saying that his database of “tens of thousands of patients, 40% had a significant brain injury before they came to see us.”[xxx]
DID YOU KNOW: That your brain is soft like butter or tofu, and you don’t need to have lost consciousness to have injured it? Have you ever “fallen out of a tree, fallen off a horse, dove into a shallow pool, had a whiplash accident, hit your head on a ball, the ground, or someone else’s helmet in sports?”[xxxi]   I didn’t think that the patten of a TBI would show up on my brain scan, but it did, and I’m sure it was from when I hit my head on a pool deck during a triathlon, over 20 years ago.
BRAIN TIP:
Hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) is a simple, noninvasive treatment that many athletes have been using for years to help with the healing and reduce inflammation in the brain.[xxxii] This was suggested for me with the pattern of a TBI showing with my brain scan. I have not had a session yet, mostly because I don’t have symptoms that bother me but I would look into this if I did.
T: Toxins: “Toxins are one of the major causes of brain/mental health issues…and can increase the risk of depression, suicide, ADD/ADHD, learning problems, memory problems, brain fog, and temper outbursts.”[xxxiii]
I’M SURE YOU ALL KNOW: “That every day we are exposed to a host of chemicals, pesticides, fumes, and products that poison the human brain?”[xxxiv] Dr. Amen reminds us that we can’t avoid some of these toxins, but there’s a lot we can do to limit our exposure to them and help to detoxify our homes, workspaces and environment.
BRAIN TIP: If your think you could be sharper,  improve your focus, or memory, the first place to look, is at what you are putting into your body that could be harming your brain.  There’s the obvious drugs and alcohol category, but some other areas to consider looking at are mold exposure, cleaning supplies, and what you are putting on your body (lotion/makeup) that could contain harmful chemicals that can hurt your brain. Learn to read labels and identify chemicals and preservatives we should avoid like “potassium bromate (carcinogenic), BHA, BHT (linked to tumors), Sodium benzoate (may damage DNA), Sodium nitrate (linked to Cancer), Tartrazine dye (makes cheese yellow) linked to asthma, MSG (linked to seizures and heart issues), Red Dye #40, and artificial sweeteners (aspartame-blue packets) and saccharin (pink packets) both linked to obesity. I know that in the past 10 years, this area has improved with many people switching to green cleaning supplies, and I know that many students themselves know what foods have red dye #40 in them, as their parents tell them, and that some countries are far more advanced than others, but you can still look around and see toxins everywhere and just be mindful of what they do to our brain.
REVIEW:
To close out the review of Dr. Amen’s book, The End of Mental Illness, there’s a lot that we can all do, just by reviewing his BRIGHT MINDS Tips.
Improve blood flow to our brain with exercise.
Keep learning as we age and find strategies to hold a positive daily mindset.
Take supplements to keep our gut microbiome healthy as a poor diet can cause less energy production in our brain.
Your history is not your destiny. Know your genetic vulnerabilities but also that you are not stuck with the brain you have. You can change your brain with new habits that create new results.
Your brain is soft like butter or tofu. Protect it by wearing a helmet playing sports.
Toxins surround us every day. Do what we can to reduce exposure to chemicals we know harm our brains.
If we can start with these six steps to prioritizing our brain health, we will be miles ahead with our productivity and results. When we can get our brain health right, everything else in our life will improve.  I highly suggest reading this book and taking the 6-week online course that goes with it, as there are many resources that can help guide you towards having a better brain and life. It really doesn’t take a lot to make small improvements that will yield huge results.
To close out this episode, I wanted to list the top brain tips I have learned from studying Dr. Amen to give some hope during Mental Health Awareness Month.  If you want to learn more about Amen Clinics, go to their website www.amenclinics.com and you can click on the conditions tab to search for a list of the brain disorders they treat, with valuable information.
Hope you have a wonderful week! See you for Brain Fact Friday.
REFERENCES:
[i] The End of Mental Illness: How Neuroscience is Transforming Psychiatry and Helping Prevent or Reverse Mood and Anxiety Disorders, ADHD, Addictions, PTSD, Psychosis, Personality Disorders and More by Dr. Daniel Amen  March 3, 2020 https://www.amazon.com/End-Mental-Illness-Neuroscience-Transforming/dp/1496438159
[ii] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning EPISODE #11 with Chloe Amen on “Change Your Brain, Change Your Grades” https://www.achieveit360.com/15-year-old-chloe-amen-reveals-strategies-on-how-to-change-your-brain-change-your-grades/
[iii] https://www.amenclinics.com/
[iv] https://www.amenclinics.com/podcast/
[v] Dr. Amen on The Dr. Oz Show with his Memory Rescue Plan https://www.doctoroz.com/article/dr-daniel-amens-memory-rescue-plan
[vi] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast Episode #82 “How a SPECT Image Brain Scan Can Change Your Brain and Life” PART 1 with Doug Sutton https://www.achieveit360.com/how-a-brain-scan-changed-my-brain-and-life-with-doug-sutton/
Neuroscience Meets SEL Podcast EPSIODE #83 with Andrea Samadi on “What is a SPECT Brain Scan and How Can it Change Your Life?” https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/how-exactly-can-a-spect-imaging-brain-scan-change-your-life-with-andrea-samadi-part-2/
Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast Episode #84 “How a SPECT Image Brain Scan Can Change Your Life” PART 3 with Andrea Samadi https://www.achieveit360.com/how-a-spect-scan-can-change-your-life-part-3-with-andrea-samadi/
[vii] The End of Mental Illness: How Neuroscience is Transforming Psychiatry and Helping Prevent or Reverse Mood and Anxiety Disorders, ADHD, Addictions, PTSD, Psychosis, Personality Disorders and More by Dr. Daniel Amen  March 3, 2020 https://www.amazon.com/End-Mental-Illness-Neuroscience-Transforming/dp/1496438159 Location 547
[viii] The End of Mental Illness: How Neuroscience is Transforming Psychiatry and Helping Prevent or Reverse Mood and Anxiety Disorders, ADHD, Addictions, PTSD, Psychosis, Personality Disorders and More by Dr. Daniel Amen  March 3, 2020 https://www.amazon.com/End-Mental-Illness-Neuroscience-Transforming/dp/1496438159 Location 532
[ix] Dr. Amen, Brain Thrive by 25 Online Course http://brainthriveby25.com/
[x] Dr. David Perlmutter’s Alzheimer’s: The Science of Prevention Series  https://www.drperlmutter.com/alzheimers-the-science-of-prevention-2020-air-dates/
[xi] https://drhyman.com/
[xii] http://www.andrewnewberg.com/
[xiii] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #88 with Dr. Andrew Newberg https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/neuroscientist-andrew-newberg-md-on-neurotheology-spect-scans-and-the-aging-brain/
[xiv] The End of Mental Illness 6 Week Online Class Published on YouTube Jan. 21, 2020 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-8CiGDWYXQ
[xv] The End of Mental Illness: How Neuroscience is Transforming Psychiatry and Helping Prevent or Reverse Mood and Anxiety Disorders, ADHD, Addictions, PTSD, Psychosis, Personality Disorders and More by Dr. Daniel Amen  March 3, 2020 https://www.amazon.com/End-Mental-Illness-Neuroscience-Transforming/dp/1496438159 Location 2034
[xvi] Dr. Amen on The Dr. Oz Show https://www.doctoroz.com/article/dr-daniel-amens-memory-rescue-plan
[xvii] The End of Mental Illness: How Neuroscience is Transforming Psychiatry and Helping Prevent or Reverse Mood and Anxiety Disorders, ADHD, Addictions, PTSD, Psychosis, Personality Disorders and More by Dr. Daniel Amen  March 3, 2020 https://www.amazon.com/End-Mental-Illness-Neuroscience-Transforming/dp/1496438159 Location 2755
[xviii] Tana and Daniel Amen on The Brain Warrior’s Way Podcast https://brainwarriorswaypodcast.com/its-not-your-brain-cells-that-age-its-your-blood-vessels
[xix] The End of Mental Illness: How Neuroscience is Transforming Psychiatry and Helping Prevent or Reverse Mood and Anxiety Disorders, ADHD, Addictions, PTSD, Psychosis, Personality Disorders and More by Dr. Daniel Amen  March 3, 2020 https://www.amazon.com/End-Mental-Illness-Neuroscience-Transforming/dp/1496438159 Location 2787
[xx] The End of Mental Illness: How Neuroscience is Transforming Psychiatry and Helping Prevent or Reverse Mood and Anxiety Disorders, ADHD, Addictions, PTSD, Psychosis, Personality Disorders and More by Dr. Daniel Amen  March 3, 2020 https://www.amazon.com/End-Mental-Illness-Neuroscience-Transforming/dp/1496438159 Location 3256
[xxi] The End of Mental Illness 6 Week Online Class Published on YouTube Jan. 21, 2020 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-8CiGDWYXQ (lesson 5)
[xxii] The Importance of Novelty Sept. 5, 2019 by Nicole Dean https://brainworldmagazine.com/the-importance-of-novelty/
[xxiii] Understanding and Managing Chronic Inflammation Written by Adrienne Santos-Longhurst July 27, 2018 https://www.healthline.com/health/chronic-inflammation
[xxiv] The End of Mental Illness: How Neuroscience is Transforming Psychiatry and Helping Prevent or Reverse Mood and Anxiety Disorders, ADHD, Addictions, PTSD, Psychosis, Personality Disorders and More by Dr. Daniel Amen  March 3, 2020 https://www.amazon.com/End-Mental-Illness-Neuroscience-Transforming/dp/1496438159 Location 3714
[xxv] Ari Whitten, The New Science of Energy from The Energy Blueprint https://theenergyblueprint.com/new-science-of-energy1/
[xxvi] The End of Mental Illness: How Neuroscience is Transforming Psychiatry and Helping Prevent or Reverse Mood and Anxiety Disorders, ADHD, Addictions, PTSD, Psychosis, Personality Disorders and More by Dr. Daniel Amen  March 3, 2020 https://www.amazon.com/End-Mental-Illness-Neuroscience-Transforming/dp/1496438159 Location 3728
[xxvii] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #93 with Dr. Momo Vuyisich on “Improving the Health of Your Microbiome, Preventing and Reversing Chronic Disease.” https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/dr-momo-vuyisich-on-improving-the-health-of-your-microbiome-preventing-and-reversing-chronic-disease/
[xxviii] The End of Mental Illness: How Neuroscience is Transforming Psychiatry and Helping Prevent or Reverse Mood and Anxiety Disorders, ADHD, Addictions, PTSD, Psychosis, Personality Disorders and More by Dr. Daniel Amen  March 3, 2020 https://www.amazon.com/End-Mental-Illness-Neuroscience-Transforming/dp/1496438159 Location 3967
[xxix] The End of Mental Illness: How Neuroscience is Transforming Psychiatry and Helping Prevent or Reverse Mood and Anxiety Disorders, ADHD, Addictions, PTSD, Psychosis, Personality Disorders and More by Dr. Daniel Amen  March 3, 2020 https://www.amazon.com/End-Mental-Illness-Neuroscience-Transforming/dp/1496438159 Location 147
[xxx] The End of Mental Illness: How Neuroscience is Transforming Psychiatry and Helping Prevent or Reverse Mood and Anxiety Disorders, ADHD, Addictions, PTSD, Psychosis, Personality Disorders and More by Dr. Daniel Amen  March 3, 2020 https://www.amazon.com/End-Mental-Illness-Neuroscience-Transforming/dp/1496438159 Location 4574
[xxxi] The End of Mental Illness: How Neuroscience is Transforming Psychiatry and Helping Prevent or Reverse Mood and Anxiety Disorders, ADHD, Addictions, PTSD, Psychosis, Personality Disorders and More by Dr. Daniel Amen  March 3, 2020 https://www.amazon.com/End-Mental-Illness-Neuroscience-Transforming/dp/1496438159 Location 4642
[xxxii] The End of Mental Illness: How Neuroscience is Transforming Psychiatry and Helping Prevent or Reverse Mood and Anxiety Disorders, ADHD, Addictions, PTSD, Psychosis, Personality Disorders and More by Dr. Daniel Amen  March 3, 2020 https://www.amazon.com/End-Mental-Illness-Neuroscience-Transforming/dp/1496438159 Location 110
[xxxiii] The End of Mental Illness: How Neuroscience is Transforming Psychiatry and Helping Prevent or Reverse Mood and Anxiety Disorders, ADHD, Addictions, PTSD, Psychosis, Personality Disorders and More by Dr. Daniel Amen  March 3, 2020 https://www.amazon.com/End-Mental-Illness-Neuroscience-Transforming/dp/1496438159 Location 4881
[xxxiv] The End of Mental Illness: How Neuroscience is Transforming Psychiatry and Helping Prevent or Reverse Mood and Anxiety Disorders, ADHD, Addictions, PTSD, Psychosis, Personality Disorders and More by Dr. Daniel Amen  March 3, 2020 https://www.amazon.com/End-Mental-Illness-Neuroscience-Transforming/dp/1496438159 Location 4953

Brain Fact Friday "How Our Emotions Impact Learning, Memory and the Brain"

Welcome back to the Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast, for Brain Fact Friday and episode #127 on Using Brain Network Theory to Understand How Emotions Impact Learning, Memory, and the Brain.
To see the images for this episode, click on this link, if you are listening on iTunes.
In this episode, you will learn:
✔︎ The how our emotions drive learning.
✔︎ How our memories form, and how to erase unwanted memories.
✔︎ The old way of looking at our brain (The Three Brains) vs (Brain Network Theory).
✔︎ Strategies to create balance in our brain in our classrooms and workplaces.
Welcome back, I'm Andrea Samadi, a former educator who has been fascinated with understanding the science behind high performance strategies in schools, sports and the workplace for the past 20 years. If you have been listening to our podcast for some time, you will know that we’ve uncovered that if we want to improve our social and emotional skills, and experience success in our work and personal lives, it all begins with an understanding of our brain.
We started Brain Fact Fridays last month to dive a bit deeper into some of top brain strategies we uncover in our interviews, or weekly episodes and from the feedback I have heard, these short episodes are helpful for learning about the brain in quick, easy to digest lessons, so we will continue with Brain Fact Fridays and I do appreciate the feedback!
This past weekend, I was asked to be interviewed by Ti-Fen Pan, the host of the Compass Teachers Podcast,[i] from Taiwan. She interviews people around the globe on the most current educational topics, tactics, and resources, and she sent me a list of incredible questions that really made me think.  I love taking a break from being the person doing the interviews, and tune into other people’s shows, since I always want to learn something new, that I can share, and Ti-Fen really got me thinking with her podcast questions.
How Do Our Emotions Drive Learning?
Her first question to me was “what has neuroscience discovered about the relationship with our emotions and learning” and I had to think back to episode #100[ii] with Mary Helen Immordino-Yang, who is a Professor of Education, Psychology and Neuroscience at the University of Southern California and Director of the USC Center for Affective Neuroscience, Development, Learning and Education (CANDLE Center).[iii]  Mary Helen is an expert on learning and the brain, especially when it comes to emotions and learning. She wrote the book Emotions, Learning and the Brain,[iv] where she talks about how “We feel, therefore we learn”[v] in Part 1 of her book and this topic is one of her most powerful YouTube publications.  She is someone who I know I could spend the rest of my life following and I would learn something new from her every day. She studies the psychological and neurobiological development of emotion and self-awareness, and connections to social, cognitive, and moral development in educational settings.
I opened up her book, and if you have come from the field of education, you will recognize Howard Gardner, an American psychologist best known for his theory of multiple intelligences who wrote her foreword reminding us that “30 years ago, we had no idea that one could study human emotions that emerge slowly over time—such as admiration and awe—and compare them psychologically and neurobiologically with emotions that emerge more quickly like surprise or fear.” (page 80. Emotions, Learning and the Brain) This is a whole other topic, and I will be interviewing Mike Rousell[vi] on what the element of surprise does to our brain this summer when his book The Power of Surprise comes out, but Gardner explains that even if we are not scientists ourselves, most of us are intrigued to learn these new scientific findings.  I couldn’t agree more, and with the interest that these episodes are creating, I think you would agree with me also. This thought from Howard Gardner, along with Ti- Fen’s podcast questions, made me want to put some serious thought into what exactly it is that motivates us to learn something new, and what is it that helps us to remember what we’ve learned.
For this week’s Brain Fact Friday
BRAIN FACT 1: Did you know that emotions help memories form and stick?
I could spend the next year diving deep into this brain fact, and we can learn from Jaak Panksepp[vii]  a neuroscientist who concluded that humans have seven networks of emotion in the brain that begin with seeking—we are always looking for something new, the brain releases dopamine when it finds it, which awakens our perception of strong positive and negative emotions.
“Emotions form a critical piece of how, what, when, and why people think, remember and learn Mary Helen reminds us (page 146 Emotions, Learning and the Brain) she says “it is literally neurobiologically impossible to build memories, engage complex thoughts, or make meaningful decision without emotion.”
We know that humans are emotional and social beings, (hence the name of this podcast, Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning) and these skills are finally being recognized as crucial in our schools and workplaces, in addition to academic and cognitive development, or the core skills your brain uses to think, read, remember, reason, and pay attention.
Research shows that “emotion has a substantial influence on the cognitive processes in humans including perception, attention, learning, memory, reasoning and problem solving.”[viii]
This happens because our amygdala “is activated by emotional events. The amygdala boosts memory encoding by enhancing attention and perception and can help memory retention by triggering the release of stress hormones such as adrenaline and cortisol, to boost arousal.”[ix]
A New Way of Looking at Our Brain vs The Old Way
When I think about the first few years I began to learn how the brain learns, from my first few sessions with my mentor, Mark Waldman, everyone was talking about the 3 parts of the brain, and how they interact with each other. I still think it’s important to understand these 3 parts of the brain, (especially the Limbic System, the emotional part of our brain where our amygdala sits) but it’s important to change how we think about our brain from this old way, where we would maybe draw the amygdala in the limbic area of the brain, and point to it in our presentations, saying, this is the part of our brain that activated while we are under stress and we experience “fight, flight or freeze.” You might have heard that when under stress, our executive functions (in the neocortex of our brain) begin to shut down, and students cannot learn and it’s difficult to complete meaningful work. You might have even heard this being called the amygdala hi-jack or that the amygdala was responsible for the “fight or flight” response, but there’s much more involved with this part of the brain than to just keep us safe and alive.
Brain Network Theory: Creating Balance in Our Brain
Instead of thinking about just one part of our brain, or our amygdala and how it responds to stress and impacts our learning, or memory, or ability to work, I want to use Brain Network Theory to explore this a bit deeper. I did cover Brain Network Theory on episode #48[x] but here’s a review.
When looking at the brain, some people use fMRI scans, others use SPECT image scans, but I am sure you have seen these images that show how different parts of our brain light up when we are doing different things. You will no longer see studies that talk only about the individual parts of the brain—like the amygdala, or hippocampus, you will now see images that describe brain networks, nodes and connectivity. This is a fascinating discovery that comes to life with these images.
When thinking about our brain, learning, and memory, think about how our networks are all working together. You can see an image in the show notes created by Mark Waldman that shows the key networks in our brain.
 
Our Default Mode Network is the largest network in our brain--remember this image is just a map or metaphor to simplify the explanation of our brain networks to give you something to picture as you image your brain—not just the 3 parts of the brain in the first image, but how these networks interact with each other.  How these networks are all connected to our awareness with the star in the middle of the image and how these networks overlap each other. The DMN (or the I in the diagram for imagination)  contains our imagination processes like daydreaming, creative problem solving, and mind wandering and involves those thought processes that can include worry, doubts and fears that can stimulate our amygdala by sending a message to other parts of our brain that something important is going on that we should pay attention to. Our emotional state is governed by our amygdala which is “responsible for processing positive emotions like happiness, and negative ones like fear and anxiety”[xi]  and it’s important to find the equilibrium between our Amygdala, our Default Mode (Imagination) Network, and Salience (Stabilizing)  Network that is like the balancing part of our brain that thinks, weighs what’s important, and helps us to create the balance that we need.
Balancing Our Emotional Brain: To Help Memories Stick
Using Brain Network Theory as a tool to bring balance back to our brain, let’s imagine that our amygdala, Default Mode Network and Salience Network are playing a game of basketball. They all need to work together to create balance, to get the ball in the basket (a metaphor for whatever we are working on in our daily life).  When the amygdala suddenly trips,(like it would if it was telling you there’s something you need to pay attention to—good or bad) and the ball goes out of bounds, it can be like our amygdala processing our emotions and the rest of our brain needs to step in to bring the balance back. We’ve got to learn how to interrupt the emotion (it can be good or bad emotion) so you can bring the balance and focus back to your brain to continue learning. The more rapidly we can change between these 3 networks in our day, (imagine the amygdala, Default Mode Network and Salience Network passing a basketball back and forth to each other smoothly, and quickly that you can hear the ball snapping on each networks fingers) creating more well-being and productivity with this balancing act. This is exactly what Cognitive Behavioral Therapy does, but there are some simple ways to quickly bring balance back to your brain so you can gain control of your Central Execute Network and continue learning and make those memories stick.
The Brain in the Classroom
If emotions help memories form and stick, and the amygdala is the part of the brain that tells you to pay attention to something, and remember it, whether it’s good or bad, we want to do what we can to bring balance to our student’s brains in the classroom, or our brains in the workplace.
Mindfulness in the Classroom: We have covered mindfulness on a few different episodes, starting with episode #25[xii] but this strategy is the most effective way to stimulate the insula and anterior cingulate in the brain (where our awareness lies) and brings back balance and well-being that have been documented in over 4,000 research studies. Mindfulness can be taught through breath work like box breathing[xiii] that’s a technique that’s a powerful tool for anyone to use to reduce stress. It’s used from “athletes to U.S. Navy Seals, police officers and nurses” and is simple for students to learn in the classroom, and hopefully take with them as a lifelong coping strategy.
Taking Brain Breaks for Improved Creativity: when we are asking our students to give their focused attention, think about Brain Network Theory. Focus will cause brain fatigue, and too much of it depletes your brain of glucose and depletes you. Be sure to allow your students the time to shift between their Default Mode/ Imagination network, Central Executive (Thinking) Network and Salience (Stabilizing) Network so they can gain insights that are impossible during focused only times.  Allow them time to get up, rest their brain, walk around, go outside (if possible) and take short breaks every hour to keep students as productive as they can be.
 
The Amygdala First Aid Station[xiv]: I first saw this idea with Dr. Lori Desautels[xv], who suggested an area for students to go in the classroom when they feel overwhelmed. Instead of causing a fight in the classroom, students get up and go to a designated area that has calming lotion or something like that to allow students to reset their brain. I’ve put a link to some ideas in the show notes like cups to have students share their mood for the day, stress balls, popsicle stick coping strategies and many other creative ideas to calm a stressed student.[xvi] I noticed when my children were home from school during the pandemic that my youngest daughter enjoyed getting up from her desk, to go and pet the cat, before going back to do her work. These short breaks gave her a brain break and reset her focus for her next work session. I know we can’t have cats in our classrooms, but I have seen fluffy pillows work just as well for students like my daughter who can tend to get overwhelmed with her work. Dr. Lori Desautels, an Assistant Professor at Butler University (whose been on our podcast a few times) mentioned that students enjoy learning about their brain and how they can use this knowledge to improve their behavior and focus. She said “when we teach students about the amygdala, the hippocampus, neuroplasticity, and prefrontal cortex, it gives the brain science. It objectifies their behavior.” Many of her undergraduate students said “they wish they would’ve known neuroscience in middle school because students think something is wrong with them when they exhibit negative behavior. When students understand the science behind it, it intrigues them and they’re challenged to change those hard-wired circuits.” If you really want to capture a student’s attention in the classroom, teaching them the basics of how their brain works, especially to help them to achieve their goals, this information will fascinate them.
Using the Brain in the Workplace for Improved Results
Find Your Balance and Allow Creativity to Flow: The way to experience optimal health and well-being, that’s crucial for success in the workplace, is to create balance with your Default Mode (Imagination) Network, Central Executive (Thinking) Network and Salience (Stabilizing) Network. Notice when you are out of balance, or overly anxious--your Default Mode Network may be overly active, with worry, so learn to switch to a different brain network (since spending too much time with imagination can lead to ruminating thoughts) so switch to your Central Executive (thinking) Network, (get to work on something and notice there’s no time to worry). Work as long as you can, and then switch to your (stabilizing/values/social awareness) Network to bring back the give yourself a break. When we can give our brain breaks, it will allow for creative insights to flow during our imagination/resting states where we can have breakthroughs like the “20% time policy at Google, where the company’s engineers get a day a week to work on whatever they want”[xvii] to keep their creativity flowing.  See how you can replicate this process with your work.
Tap into Your Motivation Network: Your motivation network is what gets you out of bed in the morning and pushes you to seek out anything that has a pleasurable reward. This circuit is located in the nucleus accumbens[xviii] of the brain and is driven by your instinct and curiosity that’s one of Jaak Panksepp’s Core Emotions (Panksepp was an Estonian neuroscientist who mapped out 7 emotional circuits in the mammalian brain (the hindbrain) with play being one of them. We went deep into the importance of having fun with our work on episode #27 with Friederike Fabritius[xix] on Achieving Peak Performance where she spoke about the importance of having fun with our work, bringing us to those higher levels of peak performance. Panksepp identified another emotion called SEEKING that keeps us moving forward, engaged in new and interesting activities and work throughout our lifetime. If you have lost motivation for your work, it’s time to look or like Panksepp would say, SEEK something that your brain will find new, and interesting, that will bring you JOY. This will engage you at the brain level.
Listen to Your Second Brain: Your Gut Instinct Have you ever made a decision based upon your gut instinct? Neuroscience tells us “that this mind-gut connection is not just metaphorical. Our brain and gut are connected by an extensive network of neurons and a highway of chemicals and hormones that constantly provide feedback about how hungry we are, whether or not we’re experiencing stress” [xx] and many other important signals. You can strengthen your second brain with mindfulness, opening the door to one of the most powerful tools you can use to help you to become more self-aware and socially aware as you’ll begin to sense what others need and want. I once asked a business executive who was the last step in my interview process for this job I really wanted, after she offered me to position, I asked her “What made you choose me for the job?” I wanted to know what she would say, and the answer that came from this seasoned executive was not what I expected. She said “I went with my gut instinct” showing me of the power of using our second brain, or our gut, when making decisions in the workplace.
Now That Our Brain is Primed for Learning, How Do We Make Our Memories or Learning Stick?
We remember John Dunlosky focused on the importance of spaced repetition for memory formation on episode #37[xxi], (practicing a skill over and over again) and we know that memories aren’t reliable from episode #44[xxii] (that each time we recall something from our past, it changes) but what exactly is happening in the brain when we remember something?
Neuroscientist Joseph LeDoux explains memory consolidation:
“Consolidation is what happens when a memory persists. When you have a memory, it goes into short term memory and If for some reason the memory isn’t consolidated, long term memory doesn’t occur. The conversion of short-term memory to long term memory is called consolidation. This process involves that the neurons in the brain that are forming the memory undergo protein synthesis. These proteins basically glue the memory together. Reconsolidation occurs when the memory that is fully consolidated is reactivated or retrieved, has to go through another phase of protein synthesis in order for that memory to persist into the future. If you block protein synthesis after retrieval, you prevent that storage process and disrupt the memory. This is important because each time we retrieve a memory, we have to update it.”[xxiii]
He simplifies this by saying—when we first meet someone, we have a memory of that experience.  When we meet that person again, we retrieve the first memory and whatever else we’ve learned about the person in the meantime are added to form the new memory. To not forget this memory, it has to be stored, and updated with what we remember from the past, with what we add to it in the present moment.
It’s not like watching a video of exactly what occurred the first time, which is the old view of how our memory works. What really happens is that “every time you take a new memory out, you must put it back in and this forms a new memory.”[xxiv]
Can We Forget Certain Memories?
LeDoux explains it is possible for people who had had a traumatic experience that they would like to forget to be given a substance that would “block the protein synthesis and prevent memories from forming which is called Reconsolidation Blocking and it doesn’t erase the memory, but just dampens the impact of the memory so it’s less troubling or arousing or troubling when it’s remembered later.”[xxv]
REVIEW OF THIS WEEK’S BRAIN FACT
BRAIN FACT 1: Did you know that emotions help memories form and stick?
This episode we went deep into where our emotions begin in our brain, with strategies to balance our brains using Brain Network Theory, in our classrooms and workplaces, so we can easily take in new information, and understand how we can retain it.  We know that “memories linked with strong emotions often become seared in the brain”[xxvi]  and we can even test this theory ourselves by thinking back to certain memories you might have in your life and see what you can remember about that event.
What do you remember about September 11th, 2001?
Do you remember anything about September 10th, 2001?
I couldn’t tell you a thing about Sept. 10th. Not what I ate for breakfast that day, or even much about the house I was living in at the time. But the day after, for some reason, everything seems crystal clear to me. I can see the television that I turned on while getting ready to watch the planes crash into the twin towers, can remember the sun coming in the windows, and even the shade the sunlight made on the ground in front of the television. The rest of that day is pretty clear as well, proving that emotions really do make memories stick.
I hope this episode has helped you to imagine our brains in a new light using Brain Network Theory, how we prime them for optimal learning, to ensure what we learn goes into our long-term memory, and then how to make these memories stick…if we want them to.
See you next week.
REFERENCES:
[i] The Compass Teachers Podcast with Ti-Fen Pan from Taiwan https://compassteacher.com/
[ii] Neuroscience Meets SEL Podcast Episode #100 with Mary Helen Immordino-Yang https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/professor-mary-helen-immordino-yang-on-the-neuroscience-of-social-and-emotional-learning/
[iii] Mary Helen Immordino-Yang, EdD https://candle.usc.edu/people/
[iv] Mary Helen Immordino Yang Emotions, Learning and the Brain (November 16, 2015) https://www.amazon.com/Emotions-Learning-Brain-Implications-Neuroscience/dp/0393709817
[v] Mary-Helen Immordino-Yang “We Feel, Therefore We Learn” Published on YouTube April 16, 2012 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=85BZRVE6M0o&t=338s
[vi] Mike Rousell, Ph.D.  The Power of Surprise: How Your Brain Secretly Changes Your Beliefs https://www.amazon.com/Power-Surprise-Secretly-Changes-Beliefs/dp/153815241X
[vii] Jaak Panksepp The Science of Emotions TEDxRanier Published on YouTube Jan. 13, 2014  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=65e2qScV_K8
[viii] The Influences of Emotion on Learning and Memory Published August 24, 2017 Chai M Tyng, Hafeez U Amin, Mohammed N M Saad, Aamir S Malik  https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5573739/
[ix] What Makes Memories Stronger? https://qbi.uq.edu.au/brain-basics/memory/what-makes-memories-stronger
[x] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #48 with Andrea Samadi on “Brain Network Theory” https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/brain-network-theory-using-neuroscience-to-stay-productive-during-times-of-change-and-chaos/
[xi] A Delicate Balance Between Positive and Negative Emotion by Anne Trafton Oct. 17, 2016 https://bcs.mit.edu/news-events/news/delicate-balance-between-positive-and-negative-emotion
[xii] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #25 with Mick Neustadt on “Mindfulness and Meditation” https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/mindfulness-and-meditation-expert-mick-neustadt-on-how-meditation-and-mindfulness-changes-your-life-results-and-potential/
[xiii] What is box breathing? By Ana Gotter June 17, 2020 https://www.healthline.com/health/box-breathing
[xiv] https://www.pinterest.co.uk/kath6490/amygdala-first-aid-station/
[xv] Neuroscience Meet Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODES #16 and #56 https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/lori-desautels-and-michael-mcknight-on-the-future-of-educational-neuroscience-in-our-schools-and-communities/  
https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/educational-neuroscience-pioneer-dr-lori-desautels-on-her-new-book-about-connections-over-compliance-rewiring-our-perceptions-of-discipline/
[xvi] Amygdala First Aid Station https://www.pinterest.co.uk/kath6490/amygdala-first-aid-station/
[xvii] Your Brain at Work by Adam Waytz and Malia Mason August 2013 https://hbr.org/2013/07/your-brain-at-work
[xviii] Neurowisdom: The New Brain Science of Money, Happiness, and Success by Mark Robert Waldman and Chris Manning, Ph.D. (2017) https://www.amazon.com/NeuroWisdom-Brain-Science-Happiness-Success/dp/1682303055
[xix] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #27 with Friederike Fabritius on “Achieving Peak Performance” https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/pioneer-in-the-field-of-neuroleadership-friederike-fabritius-on-the-recipe-for-achieving-peak-performance/
[xx] Gut Feelings-The “Second Brain” in our Gastrointestinal Systems by Justin and Erica Sonnenburg May 1, 2015 https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/gut-feelings-the-second-brain-in-our-gastrointestinal-systems-excerpt/
[xxi] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #37 with Professor John Dunlosky https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/kent-states-dr-john-dunlosky-on-improving-student-success-some-principles-from-cognitive-science/
[xxii] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #44 “12 Mind-Boggling Brain Discoveries” https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/andrea-samadis-12-mind-boggling-discoveries-about-the-brain/
[xxiii] What is Memory Consolidation and Reconsolidation? Joseph LeDoux Published on YouTube November 9, 2017 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKiV3FNpXhk
[xxiv] IBID
[xxv] IBID
[xxvi] Why Are Memories Attached to Emotions So Strong? July 13, 2020 https://neurosciencenews.com/emotion-memory-16631/

Brain Fact Friday on "Building Resilience: A Pathway for Inner Peace, Well-Being and Happiness."

Welcome back to the Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast, for Brain Fact Friday and episode #126 on Building Resilience: A Pathway for Inner Peace, Well-Being and Happiness.
If you are listening to this episode on iTunes, click here to see the images in the show notes. 
This week’s Brain Fact Friday will take a closer look at resiliency, with some simple strategies that you can implement immediately, for improved results in your personal and professional life by accessing this powerful inner resource that will allow you to walk confidently, especially, on uneven ground.
Rick Hanson, Ph.D., a psychologist, senior fellow of the Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley and New York Times best-selling author is so passionate about this topic, that he wrote an entire book on it, called Resilient: How to Grow an Unshakable Core of Calm, Strength and Happiness.[i]
“If we are going to have lasting well-being in a changing world, we’ve got to be resilient. To be resilient, we’ve got to have inner resources.” (Rick Hanson, Talks at Google)[ii]
In Today’s Brain Fact Friday we will cover:
What does it mean to be resilient?
How can we build it in ourselves and others?
And how does it create a sense of well-being, an inner sense of peace and happiness?
Welcome back, I'm Andrea Samadi, a former educator who has been fascinated with understanding the science behind high performance strategies in schools, sports and the workplace for the past 20 years. If you have been listening to our podcast for some time, you will know that we’ve uncovered that if we want to improve our social and emotional skills, and experience success in our work and personal lives, it all begins with an understanding of our brain.
We started Brain Fact Fridays last month to dive a bit deeper into some of top brain strategies we uncover in our interviews, or weekly episodes and from the feedback I have heard, these short episodes are helpful for learning about the brain in quick, easy to digest lessons, so we will continue with Brain Fact Fridays and I do appreciate the feedback!
Getting back to today’s BRAIN FACT:
DID YOU KNOW:
That Mindfulness[iii] leaves a lasting impact on our brain (Rick Hanson) and when we practice mindfulness, we become more compassionate, resilient, and more skillful with others.
Rick Hanson quotes “If the mind is like a sailboat, growing inner resources is like strengthening and lengthening its keel. Then you can live more boldly.  Trusting you can explore and enjoy the deeper waters of life and handle any storms that come your way.”
I first started to take a closer look at resiliency when I interviewed Horacio Sanchez on episode #74[iv] where Horacio, who named his company, Resiliency Inc[v] defined Resiliency as “a collection of protective risk factors that you have in your life.” He explains how there are some factors we are born with, and others come in through childhood, family, school, life events and social experiences.
Horacio further explains that “if you have little risk, it takes less to be resilient. But—if you have a lot of risk, it takes a lot more protective factors to offset the scale.”  This is why two people can possibly respond in two completely different ways after a traumatic experience. One person walks away, and recovers quickly, while the other has a completely different outcome, and needs more assistance.
With resiliency, we can overcome adversity or difficulty and have good outcomes in our life, but you can see why not everyone is born with exactly the same protective factors needed, so we don’t all have the same levels of resiliency. Horacio mentioned that “25% of the population are naturally resilient” so his work focused on instilling resiliency in those who were not naturally resilient due to the number of risk factors associated to them.
This is what I love about this inner resource—that it can be instilled in others, or that we can build our own levels of resiliency, our own psychological strengths, that we can access at any time of the day, when we need it. And when we take the time and effort to do this, we will create lasting changes in our brain over time, as well as others who we instill with this valuable inner resource.
How can resiliency be instilled in ourselves and others? We all want resiliency for our own children, or those we work with or for ourselves. Here are some ideas to build this skill in ourselves and others with the idea that whenever we face a threat (whatever it might be that knocks you off course in life—the Pandemic, the loss of a job, worrying about losing your job, an illness) these strategies will help to provide coping mechanisms, and take away the feeling of helplessness that often accompanies a threat.
APPLY PROTECTIVE FACTORS LIKE BUILDING AND MAINTAINING RELATIONSHIPS:
Horacio mentioned the work he has done over the years with applying protective factors (like teaching social and emotional skills, or involvement with a caring adult) with those children who had many risk factors, and explained that this took time, with many serious challenges along the way as the students he was working with had to learn the changes that take place over time. If we think about it, lasting change, at the brain level does time and effort, but well worth the results in the long run. He spoke about the fact it was clear that everyone needed help with building relationships, and this was a valuable lesson for everyone involved to build family harmony and stability. It’s a lesson we can all use.
 
TUNE INTO A MEMORY OF GRIT: Angela Duckworth put this word on the map with her TED TALK[vi] Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance and believes that “Grit is the tendency to sustain interest in and effort toward very long-term-goals” (Duckworth et al., 2007). She believes that although people are born with grit, that it also develops through experience, just like resilience. I saw a powerful example of building resilience in students with Jemi Thompson’s Thriving YOUniversity’s[vii] facebook group. Jemi wrote “never forget that each student walking into our classroom has years of experience we know nothing about.” Students wrote these responses anonymously, and it reminded me of how much we can learn from our students, and children, or even our co-workers when we provide the opportunity to share.
(Images from Jemi Thompson Thriving YOUniversity's Facebook Page for SEL Resources).
MAINTAIN A MINDFULNESS PROGRAM: We know from our interview with Dr. Daniel Siegel[viii] of the powerful benefits of adding a mindfulness program to your daily practice. He mentions six science-backed benefits that can be seen in the brain:
Integration of structure and function of the brain (promotes well-being)
Reduction of the stress hormone, cortisol.
Enhancement of immune function.
Improvement of cardiovascular risk factors.
Reduction in inflammation via epigenetic changes.
Optimization of telomerase that slows aging.
Our brain fact for this week was That Mindfulness[ix] leaves a lasting impact on our brain (Rick Hanson) and when we practice mindfulness, we become more compassionate, resilient, and more skillful with others.  It’s just one of those pieces of research we can only believe as we begin a practice ourselves. There are a few Mindfulness programs I recommend, but the learning only occurs with action. If you want to learn more about the Mindfulness programs I use, I’ll list them in the resource section.
When we can take the time to look within for answers, this gives a sense of power or inner confidence, and then add deep breathing to this and we’ll be activating the parasympathetic branch of the nervous system that helps us to feel rested and grounded. It’s much easier to feel optimistic in the face of a threat when you have your body and mind working for you, not against you.
I hope you find this Brain Fact Friday useful! Let me know if you use any of these strategies in your schools or workplaces.
Have an incredible week, and see you next Friday!
RESOURCES:
Resilience: How Your Brain Helps You Bounce Back by Stephen Southwick, MD. June 4, 2020  https://brainworldmagazine.com/resilience-brain-helps-bounce-back/2/
Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #60 A Deep Dive into Dan Siegel’s Wheel of Awareness Meditation https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/the-science-behind-a-meditation-practice-with-a-deep-dive-into-dr-dan-siegel-s-wheel-of-awareness/
Daniel Siegel’s Wheel of Awareness https://www.wheelofawareness.com/
Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #98 with Dawson Church on “The Science Behind Using Meditation: Rewiring Your Brain for Happiness: https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/dr-dawson-church-on-the-science-behind-using-meditation-rewiring-your-brain-for-happiness-resilience-and-joy/
REFERENCES:
[i] Resilient: How to Grow an Unshakable Core of Calm, Strength and Happiness by Rick Hanson, Ph.D. (March 27, 2018). https://www.amazon.com/Resilient-Grow-Unshakable-Strength-Happiness/dp/0451498844
[ii] Resilient| Rick Hanson| Talks at Google Published on YouTube October 17, 2018 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9nqR9XNU7Wk
[iii] IBID
[iv] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #74 with Horacio Sanchez on “How to Apply Brain Science to Improve Instruction and School Climate” https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/leading-brain-science-and-resiliency-expert-horatio-sanchez-on-how-to-apply-brain-science-to-improve-instruction-and-school-climate/
[v] https://www.resiliencyinc.com/about-us
[vi] Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance  TED TALK April 2013 https://www.ted.com/talks/angela_lee_duckworth_grit_the_power_of_passion_and_perseverance?language=en
[vii] Jemi Thompson’s Thriving YOUniversity’s Private Facebook Group https://www.facebook.com/groups/thrivingyouniversitybecomingbettereducators/permalink/3315911391986109
[viii] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #28 with Dr. Daniel Siegel on “Mindsight: The Basis for Social and Emotional Intelligence” https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/clinical-professor-of-psychiatry-at-the-ucla-school-of-medicine-dr-daniel-siegel-on-mindsight-the-basis-for-social-and-emotional-intelligence/
[ix] IBID

What is Heart Rate Variability and Why is it Important for Tracking Health, Recovery and Resilience? with Andrea Samadi

Welcome back to the Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast episode #125 on Heart Rate Variability that I just heard as being “The Most Important Biomarker for Tracking Health, Recovery and Resilience”[i] to Optimize Our Results by Dr. David Rabin on Neurohacker[ii] The Collective Insights Podcast with Heather Sandison. ND.
My name is Andrea Samadi, I’m a former educator who has been fascinated with understanding the science behind high performance strategies in schools, sports and the workplace for the past 20 years. If you have been listening to our podcast for some time, you will know that we’ve uncovered that if we want to improve our social and emotional skills, and experience success in our work and personal lives, it all begins with an understanding of our brain.
If you are listening to this episode on iTunes, click here to see the images in the show notes.
Our podcast took a turn towards the importance of health and well-being with the Top 5 Health and Alzheimer’s Prevention Strategies last September 2020 with our episode #87[iii]  and we have put a serious focus on these health staples and their importance on cognitive performance, ever since.
I want to thank you for listening, and for keeping us in the TOP 100 charts on iTunes in the USA (for How-To/Education Category), Great Britain, Sweden, Mexico, Hong Kong, and many other countries. We appreciate everyone who supports the podcast which helps us to continue to produce content that will help you to further increase productivity and results in schools, sports and the workplace.
I’m always looking for ideas and strategies that we can all use to optimize our lives, especially these days, a year after COVID-19 shut down the world, changed the way many of conduct business, run our schools, communities and live our own personal lives. As the focus has taken a serious shift to health, with mental health at the forefront, and well-being in our schools and workplaces, I want to share the most important strategies that I come across and make them actionable for everyone to implement. This brings us to this week’s topic, understanding Heart Rate Variability.
What is Heart Rate Variability (HRV) and Why is it Considered the Most Important Biomarker[iv] --a measure that captures what’s going on in a cell at any given moment that can serve as an early warning system for your health.
Unless you have been training with a forward-thinking coach, you’re an elite athlete, or someone who has taken a serious interest in measuring their performance, most of us have not heard of, or really understand what exactly heart rate variability means, or why Dr. Rabin, a board-certified psychiatrist and neuroscientist, would consider it to be “the most important biomarker for tracking health.”  
I started to hear about heart rate variability while interviewing and researching certain guests, starting with Dr. Daniel Stickler[v], who raised his arm in the interview and mentioned that he wore the Whoop[vi] device that tracks his performance, and then again with Kelly Roman[vii], the CEO and Co-founder of Fisher Wallace Laboratories, when we were talking about his wearable medical devices for anxiety, depression, stress management and sleep that were shown to improve heart rate variability.
I wrote down the term, thinking, it’s got to be connected to heart rate somehow, and had plans of looking it up to see what exactly it was, so I could learn more about it. The problem was, when researching this term, I seemed to come across very high-level explanations. For those listening who are teachers, we know that when learning a new topic, it really does help to begin at the starting point and build from there.
One morning, I came across a post on Instagram from Neurohacker Collective[viii] that caught my attention. I’ve shared the Instagram post in the show notes, where they highlighted one of their recent podcasts that explained the importance of heart rate variability. I immediately sent an email to myself with the link to this podcast, and listened to it, and highly suggest this episode if you want to dive a bit deeper into understanding the importance of HRV.
Heather Sandison, from Neurohacker Collective, interviews Dr. David Rabin on this episode where he explains that HRV shows each person’s ability to bounce back from stress, and why two people exposed to the exact same stressor, might respond differently. One person has a complete meltdown, and the other seems to bounce back easily and quickly. It’s all explained with how our brains have been individually trained to recognize safety, and threats, and also how we handle these threats. We did cover the parasympathetic and sympathetic nervous system on episode #59 with Suzanne Gundersen[ix]  that’s a good review for ways to bring balance back to our brain and body (like breathing techniques) and Dr. Rabin mentions on the Neurocollective Podcast the importance of gratitude, being able to name what emotion you are feeling to tame them as positive ways to respond to stimuli which trains our brains to stay calm while under stress.
With HRV, it all begins with taking a closer look at our heartbeat.
“Our heartbeat is not regular like the ticking of a clock beating once every second. A healthy heartbeat is irregular. This irregularity is desirable and an indicator of how ready the body is to adapt to stress. This stress could be bad like a fight with your boss or good like a promotion. When HRV is high, you can handle the incoming stress. When HRV is low you are less adaptable and less able to handle the stress. 
HRV is a measure of our autonomic nervous system and the balance between our parasympathetic and sympathetic branches. The parasympathetic branch is our “Rest & Digest” and correlates with a high HRV. The sympathetic branch is our “Fight or Flight” and correlates with a low HRV.”[x]
Our HRV (or the distance measured between our heartbeats) tells you that “your nervous system constantly changes the length of time between your heartbeats in response to your environment. “[xi]  When we are rested and alert, our HRV will show that we can respond well to how the world changes around us. When we have high levels of stress, and are not managing this stress very well, it will show in our HRV score.
High HRV: Improved performance, high adaptability, improved cognition because your body is highly responsive to your environment.[xii]
Low HRV: Fight or Flight, easily exhausted, low adaptability, decreased cognition because either your sympathetic or parasympathetic system[xiii] is inhibiting the other.
“The higher your HRV (the more variability you have between heartbeats), the more your nervous system is in tune with your environment, and the better you’ll perform. A lot of things affect your HRV, with stress as the most common factor.”[xiv]
I mentioned that it was Dr. Daniel Stickler on episode #96 who held up his arm during our interview to tell me that he measures everything with a WHOOP (a wrist-worn heart rate monitor that tracks health data including your body’s recovery, respiratory rate, and activities to help you to optimize your well-being). What better place to learn more about HRV than with the company that was designed to help high performers, top performers, do what they do.
HRV Explained on the Whoop Podcast
So I went to Whoop.com and found their podcast to see how they explain HRV. You can tune into WHOOP’s podcast episode #29[xv] with Kristen Holmes and Emily Capodilupo that covers everything you want to know about HRV.
What Impacts HRV Levels:
Whoop’s HRV episode was interesting, reminding me that HRV is a signal that your nervous system is balanced and of the importance of finding our baseline HRV by measuring daily and then looking at the number to see trends over time. Emily Capodilupo explains that HRV is “your nervous system manifesting in your heart” which made me think about how everything changed for Paul Zientarski when they added heart rate monitors to their Zero Hour PE program, but what if they had added the understanding of HRV.  They would have had a whole new level of understanding of their students and what they were capable of.
This number is becoming more popular as a tool for athletes, because “the basic idea is that when HRV is high, an athlete is primed for optimal performance”[xvi] but Whoop discovered a phenomenon known as “parasympathetic saturation” where the body is “peaking physically” but also has a low HRV score. With only using HRV as an indicator, the opportunity to push this athlete at this time would be lost.
So HRV goes low when you are exercising at a high capacity and really pushing it and goes back up when you allow your body the rest and recovery needed for repair.  Your HRV levels can show to be lower when you are tired and go higher when you get enough sleep. Activity level, stress, illness, hydration, alcohol consumption, nutrition and how tired you are can all impact your HRV levels. The key is to fuel your body properly and understand that if you are going to put anything in it that we know is bad for us (like alcohol or processed foods) it will lower our HRV level.
Why Should We Care?
We don’t have to be endurance athletes to want to improve our performance, but if you are, I hope that you know of the importance of that Razor’s Edge Advantage, that my mentor Bob Proctor would talk about all the time. He thought this concept was so important he dedicated a whole chapter to it in his book, You Were Born Rich[xvii], that you can access from his website, that talks about the potential we all have, but many of us don’t use.
“The line which separates winning from losing is as fine as a razor’s edge.” (Bob Proctor).
Knowing what our HRV levels are can help us to gain insight into our own performance in a whole new way as we learn to understand when we are operating at our peak levels, and when we are operating at lower levels, so that we can fix our own productivity with rest, sleep, hydration or nutrition. The top 5 health staples that we’ve been talking about for the past few months.
HRV Levels and the Covid Vaccine:
Whoop featured an episode that dives deep into this topic and I found this podcast[xviii] to be fascinating as many people are beginning to receive their vaccines around the world, here in the US, most people in my age group have received their second vaccine, and those people who are in the Whoop Community[xix] had an opportunity to add a metric to their daily log that allowed them to notice how HRV scores were impacted by the vaccine.
They noted:
The results showed that “28.9% of members showed significantly depressed heart rate variability (defined here as at least 20% below their 14-day baseline)”[xx] which made sense to me when I put together that however you might feel after your vaccine, it’s “just your immune system being activated and a sign that the vaccine is working.” Emily Capodilupo explains.
How Can You Use HRV in Your Life?
Here are some steps that you can follow if you want to discover what your HRV measurement is, so that you can take this information, and use it to make changes.
Download an App to Help You Measure HRV:
I’ve only been measuring my HRV since April 17th, and have been measuring through the Welltory App[xxi] that measures HRV by you placing your fingers over the camera, and it monitors your heart rate this way.  They say this measurement is extremely close to using a chest strap. I looked at my data from my Apple Watch (using the Breath App) and it was very close, and much easier to measure when I wanted to with this app.
Measure Your HRV Daily to Find Your Own Trends:
HRV is a highly personalized/individualized score. It’s you competing against yourself and it wouldn’t do you any good if you were to glance at the score of an elite athlete and compare your numbers to see who is higher. There are so many variables involved, but well worth you learning how to optimize your own daily performance. On the Welltory App, you receive a score of your productivity level, energy and stress levels, and can gain deeper insights with the paid version of this app and learn how to upgrade or downgrade your performance.
(Andrea's HRV Scores from April 17th-22).
Take it To Another Level
It wasn’t long after learning about HRV, measuring my own data with the Welltory App, that I decided to become a member of the WHOOP Community[xxii] or try out this device for a year. You can join for as little as $30 for one month.  I have not spoken to anyone from WHOOP yet (other than contacting Kirsten Holmes, VP of Performance Science from WHOOP on Linkedin) to see if she would come on the podcast at a later date.  I was sold on learning more about this device months ago, when Dr. Stickler held up his arm and showed me how he monitors his daily activities. He mentioned that he has seen people who were not sleeping well, just fix that one parameter, and all other areas of their life fell into balance.
 
My WHOOP Strap arrives this Thursday, the day after I plan to release this podcast. I will plan on doing another episode with my results, and hopefully will get Kristen Holmes to come on and answer some of the many questions I have on understanding HRV, but until then, I hope this has given you a starting point, like it gave me, to begin to measure your HRV for free, through the Welltory app, and see what you discover with your own data.
This information could be helpful to motivate behavioral change and gives you direct access to how you “live and think, and how your behavior affects your nervous system and bodily functions.”[xxiii] My hopes are that this understanding will help us to better manage the stress we face, with a new angle of awareness.
See you on Friday!
RESOURCES: 
Normative HRV Scores by Age and Gender by Jason Moore March 10, 2021 https://elitehrv.com/normal-heart-rate-variability-age-gender
Interpreting HRV Trends in Athletes: High Isn’t Always Good, and Low Isn’t Always Bad by Andrew Flatt https://simplifaster.com/articles/interpreting-hrv-trends-athletes/
What is Heart Rate Variability and What Can it Tell Us About Our Health? https://knowledgeasmedicine.com/2017/10/heart-rate-variability-can-tell-us-health/
REFERENCES:
[i] Dr. David Rabin “The Neuroscience of Stress: Strategies to Relax the Mind” May 5, 2020 with Heather Sandison, ND on the Collective Insight Podcast https://neurohacker.com/the-neuroscience-of-stress-strategies-to-relax-the-mind
[ii] https://neurohacker.com/
[iii] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast Episode #87 “Top 5 Health Staples and Alzheimer’s Prevention Strategies with Andrea Samadi”   https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/do-you-know-the-top-5-brain-health-and-alzheimers-prevention-strategies-with-andrea-samadi/
[iv] Biomarkers https://www.niehs.nih.gov/health/topics/science/biomarkers/index.cfm
[v] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast Episode #96 with Dr. Daniel Stickler on “Expanding Awareness for Limitless Peak Performance, Health, Longevity and Intelligence.” https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/dr-daniel-stickler-on-expanding-awareness-for-limitless-peak-performance-health-longevity-and-intelligence/
[vi] https://www.whoop.com/
[vii] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast Episode #108 with Kelly roman on “Wearable Medical Devices for Anxiety, Depression, Sleep and Stress Management” https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/ceo-of-fisher-wallace-laboratories-on-wearable-medical-devices-for-anxiety-depression-and-sleepstress-management/
[viii] https://www.instagram.com/p/CNxlupkD4BX/
[ix]Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast #59 with Suzanne Gundersen with “The Polyvagal Theory in Practice”  https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/suzanne-gundersen-on-the-polyvagal-theory-in-practice/
[x] What is Heart Rate Variability and How Can You Improve It? June 3, 2019 by Michelle Viggiano https://www.aimhumanperformance.com/blog/2019/6/3/what-is-heart-rate-variability-and-how-can-you-improve-it
[xi] 8 Ways to Increase HRV July 12, 2019 by Spencer Brooks https://biostrap.com/blog/8-ways-to-increase-hrv-biohacking-with-biostrap/
[xii] Why Athletes Should Want High Heart Rate Variability by Todd Stewart https://www.whoop.com/thelocker/why-athletes-should-want-high-heart-rate-variability/
[xiii] Why Athletes Should Want High Heart Rate Variability by Todd Stewart https://www.whoop.com/thelocker/why-athletes-should-want-high-heart-rate-variability/
[xiv] IBID
[xv] Whoop Podcast The Locker with Will Ahmed EPSIODE #29 Kristen Holmes and Emily Capodilupo on HRV https://www.whoop.com/thelocker/podcast-29-heart-rate-variability-hrv/
[xvi] Whoop Recovery: HRV App Takes it Up a Notch Nov. 22, 2016 https://www.whoop.com/thelocker/whoop-recovery-taking-hrv-to-the-next-level/
[xvii] You Were Born Rich by Bob Proctor Download this Book for FREE here https://www.proctorgallagherinstitute.com/you-were-born-rich-book
[xviii] The Science Behind Vaccinations and Data from WHOOP Members After Getting a COVID-19 Vaccine by Emily Capodilupo (Jan 26, 2021). https://www.whoop.com/thelocker/covid-19-vaccine-effects-data/
[xix] https://www.whoop.com/
[xx] The Science Behind Vaccinations and Data from WHOOP Members After Getting a COVID-19 Vaccine by Emily Capodilupo (Jan 26, 2021). https://www.whoop.com/thelocker/covid-19-vaccine-effects-data/
[xxi] https://welltory.com/
[xxii] https://www.whoop.com/membership/
[xxiii] Heart Rate Variability: A New Way to Track Well-Being by Marcelo Campos, MD November 22, 2017 https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/heart-rate-variability-new-way-track-well-2017112212789
 

Brain Fact Friday on "How to Be a Neuroscience Researcher in 4 Simple Steps"

Welcome back to the Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast, for Brain Fact Friday and episode #124. If you’ve been listening to this podcast, called Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning, I’m sure you’ve made the connection with the importance of improving our social and emotional skills, in our schools and otherwise called emotional intelligence skills in the workplace with an understanding of how our brain works.
This week we interviewed Professor Chuck Hillman, from Northeastern University, and he mentioned that an important concept he would like to see in the future, would be more people like Paul Zientarski, who built his career with the application of Professor Hillman’s brain research.
Today’s Brain Fact Friday will teach you how to do this. If you’re interested in how you could be this person in your school or workplace, who could spearhead the implementation of these new evidence-based ideas, I’ll show you how simple it can be so that you can be confident that what you are sharing with your schools or teams is accurate, and not pseudoscience. 
In 2014, when an educator urged me to add the most current neuroscience research to my programs, I had to quickly learn about the brain and be sure what I was learning was accurate. I didn’t go to school for a degree in Neuroscience which is one route I highly suggest especially through Butler University’s Applied Educational Neuroscience Graduate Program Certificate with Dr. Lori Desautels[i]. I went another route, and found the leading neuroscience researcher, Mark Waldman[ii]  to teach me all he knew and later joined his Neuroscience Certification Program[iii] so I could share the most accurate research with others and stay up to date, since this information is always advancing and changing.
This is exactly what Paul Zientarski had to do when he began to learn how the brain works from Professor Hillman’s research. Once you have an understanding of how the brain works, and know where to look to attach the most current research studies for your hypothesis, or something you are interested in sharing with others, it’s really not that difficult. We can all be neuroscience researchers, but the key is to find accurate studies that come from a website called Pubmed.gov[iv] not just Google, YouTube or random articles you might find on the internet.
This is how I added brain-research to my second book, Level Up: A Brain-Based Strategy to Skyrocket Student Success and Achievement[v] and began speaking on the topic of “Stress, Learning and the Brain” in 2016. My first brain-based presentation for YRDSB Quest Conference[vi] in 2016 filled up and had standing room only. Principles, Superintendents, teachers and students filled the room, with the hopes of learning something new. It was the research that was throughout this presentation that helped me to have the confidence to share this knowledge, and not feel intimidated with the fact that I am not a Cognitive Neuroscientist, but someone who is passionate about the subject, that I would gladly trade my weekends to study and learn more, so I can share it with others. There was one slide that gave credibility to the topic, with the advice of Mark Waldman, who had been presenting on the topic many years before me.  It’s funny because he mentioned that studies show if you put an image of the brain in your presentation, it adds instant credibility to what you are saying.
I’ll put the slide in the show notes, so you can see how easy it can be to attach a Pubmed Study and picture of a brain, to your next presentation if you want to add neuroscience to your next presentation. You can see my slide where I am talking about what stress does to our brain, as well as our students’ brains.
If you are listening to this podcast on iTunes, you can access the images in the show notes here. 
How Can You Become a Neuroscience Researcher?
Here’s 4 simple steps that I know you could implement.
STEP 1: First you want to think of your hypothesis, or something you are interested in, that you will back up with the most current research. Let’s use my presentation slide as an example and say that want to do a presentation on “How Stress Impacts the Brain and Learning.”
STEP 2: Go to PubMed.gov[vii] and it’s important what you type into the search bar.
Typing in chronic stress and the brain brings up over 16,000 results and is too many for you to read through.
If you put (fMRI) in brackets, next to what you are searching, it will bring up studies that use brain scans, and this narrowed our search down a bit more to 628 studies.
STEP 3: Read through the studies whose titles interest you.  If you’ve ever looked at an abstract or research study from Pubmed, you might think like I did when I first went there “how can I take this and implement it properly? I’m not even sure what the study is saying.”
Don’t worry, the parts of the study that are important are the title, that tells you the topic and hypothesis, or what the researchers want to prove. Then there’s a middle part that give you some details about the study that you can scan, and don’t worry about all of the language. I’m sure many researchers aren’t sure what it all means either. If you’ve ever conducted a study, you’re usually an expert on your subject area, and not an expert at finding the statistical mean for your study, but someone who is an expert will inform this part of the study, that helps them to find an accurate conclusion, that you will want to read. 
STEP 4: Pick a study that makes sense for what you are trying to prove.  The study that I used in my slide was “Chronic stress disrupts neural coherence between cortico-limbic structures” and you will see that I sited all of the authors of the study, exactly as they appeared along with the date of publication of the study.
It really is that simple. You can become a Neuroscience Researcher and add the most current research to your own presentations using these 4 steps.
You can also find interesting brain facts that would go along with this study, to make what you are sharing more interesting, because another brain discovery is that “people don’t pay attention to boring things, or people” and you don’t want to be boring. You’ll want to take the science, and add it to your presentation, without the scientific jargon that loses people’s attention. You can add engaging brain facts throughout your presentation on your topic to bring the attention back, and give a sort of brain break.
 
BRAIN FACT
We know that stress impacts the brain and learning, but did you know that:
“Your brain is 73% water. It takes only 2% dehydration to affect your attention, memory and other cognitive skills.”[viii] The authors of this brain fact were so brilliant that they tied it to a study on PubMed.gov on “Cognitive Performance and Hydration.”[ix] You could easily add this brain fact to a slide, encourage your audience to take a drink of water, and remind them that our brain needs water to hold our attention, memory and other important cognitive skills.
How easy is that? I hope you find this Brain Fact Friday episode useful. If you do use these tips to implement some new ideas into your work, I would love to know. Please do reach out to me[x] and share how you’ve been inspired to add the most current neuroscience research to your school or workplace.
See you next week.
RESOURCES:
Tools and Ideas for Physical Educators with the Brain in Mind by Doug Smith @Smitty30sports on Twitter https://sites.google.com/view/extrainningspe/presentations
REFERENCES:
[i] https://www.butler.edu/coe/applied-educational-neuroscience
[ii] https://markrobertwaldman.com/
[iii] https://markrobertwaldman.com/certification/
[iv] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/
[v] Level Up: A Brain-Based Strategy to Skyrocket Student Success and Achievement by Andrea Samadi (September 2015) https://www.amazon.com/Level-Up-Brain-Based-Skyrocket-Achievement/dp/1976819865/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=
[vi] http://www.questconference.ca/
[vii] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/
[viii] 72 Amazing Brain Facts by Deanne Alban https://bebrainfit.com/human-brain-facts/
[ix] Cognitive Performance and Hydration https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22855911/
[x] andrea@achieveit360.com

Northeastern University Professor Chuck Hillman, PhD on "The Impact of Exercise on the Brain and Learning."

Welcome back to the Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast episode #123 with Dr. Charles Hillman, whose research and brain scans on students during his time at the University of IL (from 2000-2016) provided enough science to spearhead Naperville’s Zero-hour PE program that we’ve been covering on the past few podcast episodes (#116,[i] #118[ii], #119[iii], #121[iv], #122[v]) that put physical exercise and its impact on cognition and the brain, on the map. It was Paul Zientarski, the former PE teacher and football coach from Naperville who mentioned Dr. Chuck Hillman’s brain scan studies in our interview #121 and I thought these brain scans were so important, that I covered a deeper dive into the results of these scans on episode #122.
You can watch the interview on YouTube here.
My name is Andrea Samadi, and if you have been listening to our podcast for some time, you will know that we’ve uncovered that if we want to improve our social and emotional skills, and experience success in our work and personal lives, (in school, sports or the workplace) it all begins with an understanding of our brain. The goal of this podcast is to bring in experts, who’ve risen to the top of their field, and share their knowledge, wisdom and tips that many of us wouldn’t have access to, since this understanding of the importance of our brain and results is relatively new.
Here’s more about our guest today,
Dr. Hillman received his doctorate from the University of Maryland in 2000, and then began his career on the faculty at the University of Illinois, where he was a Professor in the Department of Kinesiology and Community Health for 16 years. He continued his career at Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts, where he currently holds appointments in the Department of Psychology and the Department of Physical Therapy, Movement, and Rehabilitation Sciences. He co-directs the new Center for Cognitive and Brain Health[vi], which has the mission of understanding the role of health behaviors on brain and cognition to maximize health and well-being and promote the effective functioning of individuals across the lifespan. Dr. Hillman has published more than 265 refereed journal articles, 15 book chapters, and co-edited a text entitled Functional Neuroimaging in Exercise and Sport Sciences[vii].
When Paul Zientarski mentioned that it was Dr. Hillman who helped him to make up his mind about making changes to their PE program in Naperville, after he saw the scans of students’ brains after just 20 minutes of walking, I knew I had to find out if Dr. Hillman would come on the podcast.
I emailed him at Northeastern University on Saturday afternoon, and he replied early Sunday morning that he was interested helping to expand on the results he discovered through his brain scans. We had a chance to exchange some emails, pick an interview time, and that’s how simple it is when you reach out to someone who really does want to see change occur in the world.  Let’s hear from Dr. Hillman.
Welcome Dr. Hillman,
Thank you so much for such an enjoyable chat Sunday morning, as were picking a time to speak. I know that time is always a factor, when I’m reaching out for the podcast, and do want to maximize our time together, so we can dive a bit deeper into the research that began when you were at the University of IL.
Q1: Dr. Hillman, I listened to a podcast that you did with a young man from the UK, Daniel Elias[viii], and I loved his introductory question to you about what it was that began your interest early in your career to study children and the impact that exercise has on their brain? Can we start with where it all began for you?
Q2:  The research is clear that exercise has a significant impact on student achievement, from your work, and from the results that Naperville was able to create using your research to create their Zero-hour PE program, and from our conversation on Sunday morning, we know how powerful nature can be on our mindset and health, but I wonder, is there anything we can do to encourage physical activity in those students or children who have not caught the fitness bug, and prefer their screen time vs getting out and going for a walk in the outdoors?
Q3: Before I ask some questions about what your early studies showed, I wanted to double check to be sure that I have the correct understanding of what happened with the lower fit student’s brain vs higher fit. Is it accurate to say that “The most noticeable difference was during the difficult test, the brains of the higher fit students lit up bright red, showing the increase of brain activity they had access to, and the lower fit students just didn’t have enough brain power during the difficult test?” To be sure that I am sharing the most accurate information, how would you explain the results of this brain scan and what other research have you done that goes beyond what you discovered early on?
Q4: I saw 2 studies under the research tab on your website. What are you currently working on at your Center for Cognitive and Brain Health, and what is your vision for your work in the next 10 years?
Q4B: Are you looking at how exercise slows down cognitive decline?
Q5: Dr. Hillman, At your lab, do you only use fMRI scans? As brain scan technology changes, advances and improves, can you see how different brain scanning technology and tools could help us to learn more about the brain by perhaps measuring neurotransmitters, or looking at how different parts of the brain interact with each other? What do you think is on the horizon for how we can look at and measure with our brain?
Dr. Hillman, I want to thank you very much for your time today. If anyone wants to learn more about you and your work, is the best place https://web.northeastern.edu/cbhlab/  and your Center for Cognitive and Brain Health Lab?
I have put links in the show notes for people to learn more about your lab through Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin.
Have an incredible week!
https://www.facebook.com/TheCBHLab/
https://twitter.cWom/CBHLab
https://www.linkedin.com/in/charles-hillman-2b55a614/
RESOURCES:
Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans 2nd Edition https://healthysd.gov/physical-activity-guidelines-for-americans-2nd-edition/
Effects of the FITKids Randomized Controlled Trial on Executive Control and Brain Function (October 2014) https://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/134/4/e1063
Art Kramer Director and Professor of Psychology https://cos.northeastern.edu/people/art-kramer/
REFERENCES:
[i] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast Episode #116 with Best Selling Author John J. Ratey on “The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain” https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/best-selling-author-john-j-ratey-md-on-the-revolutionary-new-science-of-exercise-and-the-brain/
[ii] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast Episode #118 with Andrea Samadi on a Deep Dive into Best-Selling Author John J. Ratey’s Books “Spark, Go Wild and Driven to Distraction” https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/deep-dive-into-best-selling-author-john-j-rateys-books-spark-go-wild-and-driven-to-distraction/
[iii] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast Episode #119 Brain Fact Friday on “The Damaging Impact of Sugar on the Brain and Body” https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/brain-fact-friday-on-the-damaging-impact-of-sugar-on-the-brain-and-body-with-andrea-samadi/
[iv] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast Episode #121 with Naperville’s Central High School’s former PE teacher and football coach Paul Zientarski on “Transforming Students Using Physical Education and Neuroscience” https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/naperville-central-high-schools-paul-zeintarski-on-transforming-students-using-physical-education-and-neuroscience/
[v][v] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast Episode #122 Brain Fact Friday https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/brain-fact-friday-on-transforming-the-mind-using-athletics-and-neuroscience/
[vi]Center for Cognitive and Brain Health at Northeastern University  https://web.northeastern.edu/cbhlab/
[vii]Functional Neuroimaging in Exercise and Sport Sciences 2012th Edition  https://www.amazon.com/Functional-Neuroimaging-Exercise-Sport-Sciences-ebook/dp/B00A9YGOY8
[viii] Believe, Move Grow Podcast EPISODE #2 with Dr. Charles Hillman https://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-i76v8-f88e16?utm_campaign=i_share_ep&utm_medium=dlink&utm_source=i_share
 

Brain Fact Friday on "Transforming the Mind Using Athletics and Neuroscience"

Welcome back to the Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast, for Brain Fact Friday and episode #122.
This week we interviewed Paul Zientarski,[i] the former PE teacher from Naperville Central High School, who reinvented physical education using the understanding of simple neuroscience. Then last week’s interview with Dr. John Ratey,[ii] and his book Spark, cemented the idea of the profound impact that exercise has on our cognitive abilities and mental health.
Paul Zientarski said many things that caught my attention in the interview and took me by surprise especially with the whole idea of their Zero Hour PE creating such noticeable results with students in the classroom, and even going on to inspire some student to become PE teachers in the future. I thought what their research uncovered at Naperville was important enough to reinforce and take a closer look at why those students at Naperville scored so high on their tests after they took this NEW Physical Education class that blended aerobic activity with an understanding of neuroscience.  If you haven’t listened to Dr. Ratey’s episode #116, or Paul Zientarski on #121, be sure to go back and listen after this brain fact.
BRAIN FACT: Aerobic activity can transform not only the body, but also the mind.
Dr. Ratey said it clearly in his book Spark when he said that “aerobic activity has a dramatic effect on adaptation, regulating systems that might be out of balance and optimizing those that are not—it’s an indispensable tool for anyone who wants to reach his or her full potential.” (Spark, Page 10).
By now we all know that exercise increases brain activity, and that the benefits of exercise “come directly from its ability to reduce insulin resistance, reduce inflammation, and stimulate the release of growth factors—chemicals in the brain that affect the health of brain cells, the growth of new blood vessels in the brain, and even the abundance and survival of new brain cells.”[iii]
Dr. Chuck Hillman[iv], from the University of IL (now at Northeastern University) conducted a series of brain scans on students and showed what their brain activity looked like after sitting quietly (not much color if you look at the images in the show notes) vs how vibrant the brain looks after even a 20-minute walk.
Without knowing anything about fMRI scans, one look at how the brain lights up after exercise, and we all can come to the same conclusion. “Exercise primes the brain, putting it in the right environment for learning.”
Hillman took his research a bit further, and divided students (aged 9/10) into 2 groups. Higher fit (if they could run 0.25 miles without stopping) and lower fit if they had to stop in this 0.25 mile run.
The students were asked to take a test similar to what you would find on Lumosity.com and the brains of the higher fit students lit up during the easy test, showing more red color (more brain activity) than the lower fit students. The most noticeable difference was during the difficult test, the brains of the higher fit students lit up bright red, showing the increase of brain activity they had access to, and the lower fit students just didn’t have enough brain power during the difficult test.
This study clearly shows how the power of exercise and being physically impacts our brain and cognition.
Hillman went another step further with his research and created a 9-month intervention PE program, taught by future PE teachers.
Half of the students had an hour of PE prior to their school day, and half didn’t attend the PE program. They went straight to school (they called them the wait list group).
The brain scans of the one-hour PE group showed a significant increase of brain activity compared to the students who did not take this extra hour of PE each day.
If you are listening to this podcast, I am sure that this will get you as excited as Paul Zientarski was when he first saw these results, and what made Dr. John Ratey jump on an airplane when Naperville scored so high on those tests, using this strategy.
“Many studies have suggested that the parts of the brain that control thinking and memory (the prefrontal cortex and medial temporal cortex) have greater volume in people who exercise versus people who don’t.”[v]
How Can You Implement This Brain Fact in Your Life?
Whether you are an educator working in the classroom, or an employee working in the corporate world, this concept can be easily implemented to get you into a state of heightened awareness before learning, or before you need to sit and work for long periods of time at your desk.
START WITH WALKING: If you have something important you need to work on, go for a walk ahead of time, to activate and prime your brain for the focused attention it will need. Hillman’s study showed it only took 20 minutes of walking to light up the brain. How much physical activity would you need to do to impact your memory? Standard recommendations advise “half an hour of moderate physical activity most days of the week, or at least 150 minutes a week.”[vi]
START YOUR OWN MOVEMENT: If you want to take advantage of this concept and work in a school, share Paul Zeintarski’s[vii] podcast with your site administrator, and see how you can spearhead a movement of neuroscience in your school.  Watch episode #3 with Ron Hall, from Valley Day School on “Launching a Neuroeducational Program in Your School.”[viii]
LEARN FROM OTHERS WHO HAVE PAVED THE WAY: If starting an exercise program seems too much, start doing some research to see how other people began theirs. I loved seeing the story of the Dallas Stars Executive, Tom Holy, who lost almost 100 pounds from starting a walking routine every night.[ix] What started for Holy with just 3 mile walks a day, at the beginning of COVID turned into walking 26.2 miles in a day, and over 100 miles in a week.  He began inspiring his neighbors to do the same, and health really is infectious. Everyone wants to help or motivate each other.
MEASURE YOUR HEART RATE: It was adding the heart rate monitors into the game that really made the difference for Naperville students. To experience the best results with their Zero Hour PE, Paul Zientarsky explained that they had to measure the student’s heart rates during exercise and they needed to get their heart rate into the Peak Heart Zone Range of over 150 beats per minute, for at least 20 minutes. Of course, after I heard this, I looked at my workouts the past few months and noticed that although I exercise a lot, I’m very rarely in that Peak Heart Zone Range, unless I’m running. If we want to experience the benefits to our brain, we must put in the effort for this to occur.
I hope you have enjoyed diving a bit deeper into what exactly exercise does to the brain. As brain scan technology improves and advances, I know we will have more questions answered, and more strategies to implement for our brain health and well-being. Until then, I hope you have found something that lights a “Spark” for you to take some new action towards exercise, to improve your brain health.
See you next week.
 
RESOURCES:
Exercise Appears to Improve Brain Function Among Younger People Dec. 18, 2006 by Melissa Mitchell https://news.illinois.edu/view/6367/206773
REFERENCES:
[i] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #121 with Paul Zientarski on “Transforming Students Using Physical Education and Neuroscience” https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/naperville-central-high-schools-paul-zeintarski-on-transforming-students-using-physical-education-and-neuroscience/
[ii] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #116 with John J. Ratey, MD on “The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain” https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/best-selling-author-john-j-ratey-md-on-the-revolutionary-new-science-of-exercise-and-the-brain/
[iii] Regular Exercise Changes the Brain to Improve Memory and Thinking Skills April 9, 2014 by April Godman  https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/regular-exercise-changes-brain-improve-memory-thinking-skills-201404097110
[iv] Dr. Chuck Hillman https://cos.northeastern.edu/people/charles-hillman/  
[v] Regular Exercise Changes the Brain to Improve Memory and Thinking Skills April 9, 2014 by April Godman  https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/regular-exercise-changes-brain-improve-memory-thinking-skills-201404097110
[vi] IBID
[vii] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #121 with Paul Zientarski on “Transforming Students Using Physical Education and Neuroscience” https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/naperville-central-high-schools-paul-zeintarski-on-transforming-students-using-physical-education-and-neuroscience/
[viii] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #3 https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/interview-with-ron-hall-valley-day-school-on-launching-your-neuroeducational-program/
[ix] How Dallas Stars Executive. Tom Holy, used COVID-19 to Lose 100 pounds.https://www.star-telegram.com/sports/spt-columns-blogs/mac-engel/article245434890.html
 

Naperville Central High School's Paul Zeintarski on "Transforming Students Using Physical Education and Neuroscience"

Welcome back to the Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast, episode #121 with the former PE teacher from Naperville, IL, Paul Zientarski.
Watch the interview on YouTube here.
Hello and Welcome back! I’m Andrea Samadi, a former educator who has been fascinated with learning the science behind high performance strategies in schools, sports and the workplace, for the past 20 years. If you have been listening to our podcast for some time, you will know that we’ve uncovered that if we want to improve our social and emotional skills, and experience success in our work and personal lives, it all begins with putting our brain health first. We’ve mentioned that exercise is one of the top 5 health staples that’s a known brain-health and Alzheimer’s prevention strategy, from our episode #87[i]  helping us to take our results, productivity and health to these higher levels.  Ever since I came across John J Ratey’s book Spark[ii], I have been drawn in, wanting to learn more, so that I can share his research you, with the hope that something he has uncovered, inspires you, like it inspired me, and that together, we make improvements, even small ones, in our lives, that lean us closer towards the health and wellness that we need these days.
Today, I am so excited to introduce you to Paul Zientarski, the physical education coordinator from Naperville’s Central High School as well as the football coach who worked closely with Phil Lawler to attain the profound results that put Naperville on the map for outstanding academic achievement with their Zero Hour PE Program. John Ratey described Paul Zientarksi in Spark as “a grey-haired furnace of a man with steady eyes and a fact-is fact delivery with the presence of Mike Ditka and Bill Parcells rolled into one figure of authority.”(Spark, Page 18).  This paints the picture of one tough coach, with high expectations and no room for messing around. I have worked with a couple of PE teachers who had this same reputation in the toughest schools in the West end of Toronto, and found that there was always a softer side to this tough exterior, that I felt when I watched Mr. Zientarski’s TED TALK.[iii] You can see for yourself or go to his website where you can learn more about his Learning Readiness PE Program[iv] that reveals the passion he has for his students to learn, and be healthy at the same time.
What excites me the most as I am preparing my interview questions for coach, they called Mr. Z, is that not only did he have the vision for what he expected of his team, school and players, but that he had the vision of the “Smart Jock” back then, before everyone was talking about the importance of neuroscience in the classroom. Dr. Ratey recalled saying that when he first met Mr. Z, he was shocked that he heard these coaches saying things he never expected coaches to be saying. He quoted Mr. Z saying, “In our department, we create the brain cells, and it’s up to the other teachers to fill them” (Spark, Page 19) with regards to their academics.
I’ve thought long and hard about the questions I want to ask Paul Zientarski, whose presence has been described as that of “a seasoned U-boat commander” (Spark, Page 22) with the hopes that something he says, lights a Spark for the listener, to do something, take some action, using the immense wisdom that transformed Naperville’s well-oiled PE Program.
Let’s hear from Mr. Z!
Welcome Paul Zientarski! What an honor to have this opportunity to speak with you. Thank you very much for joining me on the podcast today. What part of the country have we reached you today?
Q1: Paul, can you take us back to when Phil Lawler[v] (who I was sorry to see lost his battle with Cancer in April, 2010) first came to you with this idea for this new PE program. Dr. Ratey said that it took the longest time to convince you. What do you remember about this new PE idea and what made you want to give it a shot?
Q2: As the movement grew, and the media attention caught a hold of what you were building at Naperville, from Newsweek, to your appearance in Morgan Spurlock’s Super Size Me Documentary[vi],  how did you start to make the connection between what you were doing, the results you were creating, and the brain, to begin your work studying neuroscience back then?
Q3: Who were you studying? What were other teachers saying as you began to share what you were learning? Did you receive any pushback from anywhere?
Q4: When schools began cutting PE, how did you make sure your vision that I see you’ve created with your Learning Readiness PE[vii] kept going?
Q5: What drew me in when I first heard about you, was your vision for the “Smart Jock” years before it was “in.” I hear all the researchers talking about how it’s the kids who look after their brain, who might have not be the coolest kid in school because they are kind of nerdy, not the typical jock we might have remembered back in school, but nerdy is in, and smart, from what I see, are those kids who work hard, with an understanding of their brain (health, nutrition etc). When did you first notice the need to recognize and reinforce this new stereotype?
Q6: What exactly did zero-hour PE entail and how did you motivate students to put in the hard work needed to attain the results?
Q7: I liked seeing a student mention that she took the skills you taught her in high school into college, and when she was stressed with her work in college, would run up the stairs to manage this stress. What do you think it was that took these students, and made them life-long exercisers?
Q8: Were there any concerns with pushing these students too hard and causing injury? (liability) and did any parents protest this rigorous PE program before the results were clear?
Q9: I love how Dr. Ratey compared you to Mike Ditka and Bill Parcels, 2 of the toughest head coaches in football history. With that being said, and knowing there’s always a soft side to the toughest coaches, how did you know how hard to push these kids? I know we can all go a bit more than our limits, but what was your strategy for this?
Q10: If someone is listening to this podcast, and wants to learn more about you and your program Learning Readiness PE, what’s the best way? https://learningreadinesspe.com/
Thank you so much for your time today Paul, for sharing the legacy you have built redefining PE class, reinforcing the “Smart Jock” with our next generation’s brain health in mind. It’s a true honor to have had this opportunity to speak with you.
Have a wonderful day!
RESOURCES:
Exercise Appears to Improve Brain Function Among Younger People Dec. 18, 2006 by Melissa Mitchell https://news.illinois.edu/view/6367/206773
Dr. Chuck Hillman https://cos.northeastern.edu/people/charles-hillman/  
REFERENCES:
[i] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #87 with Andrea Samadi on “The Top 5 Brain Health and Alzheimer’s Prevention Strategies”   https://www.achieveit360.com/the-top-5-brain-health-and-alzheimers-prevention-strategies-with-andrea-samadi/ 
[ii] Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain by John J. Ratey, MD (January 10, 2008) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07D7GQ887/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1
[iii] Want Smarter, Healthier Kids? Try Physical Education! Paul Zientarski Published on YouTube May 26, 2015 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V81cO8xyMaI
[iv] https://learningreadinesspe.com/
[v] Remembering PE Advocate Phil Lawler by Michael Popke for Athletic Business April 2010 https://www.athleticbusiness.com/people/remembering-p-e-advocate-phil-lawler.html
[vi] http://wjhmspe.weebly.com/super-size-me.html
[vii] https://learningreadinesspe.com/

Personal Review of the Fisher Wallace Wearable Medical Device for Anxiety, Depression and Sleep/Stress Management.

Welcome back to the Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast, episode #120 with a review and my experience using of the Fisher Wallace Brain Stimulator from episode #108 with Kelly Roman.
*NOTE: Andrea Samadi did not receive any incentive or royalty for this review for the Fisher Wallace sleep device. Anyone can test this device, in exactly the same way, as they do offer a 30 day trial period through their website. 
REVISION ADDED APRIL 5th/2021 at 9:58 marker with TIPS from Kelly Roman, Fisher Wallace Co-founder and CEO.
You will learn:✔︎ What to expect if you want to try the Fisher Wallace Brain Stimulator to improve your sleep, anxiety or mood.✔︎ How Andrea Samadi measured and tracked her sleep, using the FitBit App, and improved her sleep from getting around 5 hours and 28 minutes in her baseline week to hitting close to 7 hours of sleep in her final days of the trial.✔︎ How you can try the Fisher Wallace Brain Stimulator for Improved Sleep, Reduced Anxiety or Depression.Access past episodes here: https://lnkd.in/grfaE7y
Hello and Welcome back! I’m Andrea Samadi, a former educator who has been fascinated with learning the science behind high performance strategies in schools, sports and the workplace, for the past 20 years. If you have been listening to our podcast for some time, you will know that we’ve uncovered that if we want to improve our social and emotional skills, and experience success in our work and personal lives, it all begins with putting our brain health first. We’ve mentioned that sleep is one of the top 5 health staples that’s a known brain-health and Alzheimer’s prevention strategy, from our episode #87[i]  helping us to take our results, productivity and health to these higher levels, so when I had the opportunity to improve my sleep, I jumped on the chance, with the hopes that with what I learn from my experience, could help you, or someone you know who might be struggling with getting enough sleep each night. There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t hear someone in my network mention that they are working on improving their sleep.
If you want to hear the episode with Kelly Roman[ii], the CEO of Fisher Wallace Labs and their wearable medical devices to help improve sleep, while also treating anxiety and depression, go back and listen to episode #108. After this interview with Kelly Roman last February of 2021, I shared with him that my brain scan at Amen Clinics (in July 2020)[iii] showed what Dr. Shane Creado felt my brain showed signs of sleep deprivation, and Kelly graciously offered to send me one of the devices/paired with a Fitbit see if we could improve my sleep. I accepted the offer and promised to take the month-long trial seriously.  It’s just a few days after the end of the month, and the results are in.
But first,  if you’re interested in this device, contact Fisher Wallace Labs[iv] at www.fisherwallace.com or by calling 1-800-692-4380. For just under $500 (they show a discount on their website when I last checked) you will be mailed a kit with the simulator, electrode headset, Velcro headband, sponges, carry case, manual, and shipping label. The Fitbit is separate if you want to measure your results like I did, and something you can purchase on your own. They offer a 30-day Refund Policy.
There are videos that you can watch that show you how to use the device right on their website.[v] When I received the Fisher Wallace device, it came quickly, via Fedex, and was simple and easy to set up, after I watched a video through their website.
Here’s what I learned:
Before doing the month-long trial of wearing the device, Kelly suggested getting a baseline for my sleep, and measure at least 3 days without using the device, to see the quality and quantity of sleep beforehand. I wanted to get the most accurate reading of how I was sleeping before I tested the device, so I did everything I knew would help my sleep like eliminating alcohol one week prior and during the baseline so I knew it wouldn’t interfere and setting the stage for a good night sleep each night.
Just a note: I have a strange sleep schedule, going to bed by 8:30pm each night and waking by 3:30am, which is a 7-hour slot. I live in Arizona and choose this sleep time mostly because the summers are hot, and it’s helpful to be able to hit the hiking trails early morning, see the sunrise, and beat the heat that gets well above 110 degrees in the summer.
My baseline was shocking, and if you have never measured your sleep, I highly suggest doing this as a starting point. In that 7-hour slot, I was only averaging 5 hours and 28 minutes of sleep each night, and this was with me really trying during my baseline measurement.
IMAGE OF BASELINE RESULTS FROM THE FITBIT APP:
If you are listening to this episode on iTunes, go to the Podbean Site to see the images in the show notes.
 
After week 1 of using the device twice a day, for 20 minutes, I felt a surge of energy as well as a clear head, but that first week I had a couple of things that I had to complete late into the night, and it threw off my schedule for that week. Also, being a Mom, there are times the kids wake up at night, and that threw it off this week.
After week 2, I was averaging 6 hours and 23 minutes of sleep each night. This was a significant jump. So for the 7 hour block, it was saying that I was sleeping for most of that block, and not awake for an hour or so, like the baseline week showed. When the baseline week showed I was up an hour or so, this wasn’t me up, walking around, doing work or anything. This was the fact that without the machine, the quality and quantity of my sleep was much less.
After week 3, I was close to 6 hours of sleep each night, and week 4 and 5 breaking the 6 hour mark again averaging 6 hours and 10 minutes.
With what I know about sleep, just from the research I have been doing, and from my brain scan conversation with Dr. Shane Creado, a sleep expert who works with elite athletes, I know that I can still improve my sleep from getting 6 hours to 7 hours, but this would mean not waking up as early and I know that for the time being this is the best slot, so I will see how close to 7 hours of sleep I can get using the device.
This whole experience has given me a lot to think about, and far more understanding with how to create more energy in the day by using a device that was designed to relax your brain and improve sleep. It clearly has improved mine.
Here are the specific weekly results:
Baseline Week 1 (Feb 21-28) Averaged 5 hours and 28 minutes of sleep).
2/24: 5 hours and 53 minutes sleep. (took 10 minutes to fall asleep, 5 times awake, 11 times restless and 48 minutes awake)
2/25: 5 hours 45 minutes sleep. 1 hour 3 minutes awake SLEEP SCORE 70
2/26: 5 hours 21 minutes sleep. 40 minutes awake. SLEEP SCORE 76
2/27: 4 hours 54 minutes of sleep. (took 15 minutes to fall asleep, 3 times awake, 5 times restless and 25 minutes awake).
2/28: 5 hours 18 minutes of sleep. 31 minutes awake.
 
Using Device for 20 minutes 2x/day
WEEK 1 (averaged 5 hours and 23 minutes of sleep)
3/1: 3 hours 22 minutes (first day using the device I had a deadline and had to work well past my bedtime to meet it. This happens sometimes, but I wasn’t tired after just 3 hours of sleep and felt energized on day 1 of using the machine.
3/2: 5 hours 46 minutes. 58 minutes awake.
3/3 5 hours 7 minutes. 53 minutes awake. SLEEP SCORE 68
3/4 5 hours 37 minutes. 34 minutes awake.
3/5 6 hours 34 minutes 18 minutes awake.
3/6 5 hours 58 minutes 1 hour awake. (kid up in the night).
 
WEEK 2 (averaged 6 hours and 3 minutes of sleep).
3/7 6 hours 46 minutes with 26 minutes awake.
3/8 6 hours 17 minutes with 38 minutes awake.
3/9 6 hours and 12 minutes. SLEEP SCORE 79
3/10 5 hours 56 minutes. SLEEP SCORE 74
3/11 6 hours 15 minutes awake 24 minutes.
3/12 5 hours 16 minutes. SLEEP SCORE 76
3/13 5 hours 36 minutes. SLEEP SCORE 66
 
WEEK 3 (averaged 5 hours and 51 minutes of sleep).
3/14 6 hours 3 minutes. SLEEP SCORE 71
3/15 5 hours 29 minutes. SLEEP SCORE 68
3/16 6 hours and 18 minutes with 37 minutes awake.
3/17 6 hours and 28 minutes with 28 minutes awake.
3/18 6 hours and 19 minutes with 45 minutes awake.
3/19 6 hours and 7 minutes with 41 minutes awake.
3/20 4 hours and 13 minutes with SLEEP SCORE 66.
 
WEEK 4 (averaged 6 hours and 10 minutes of sleep).
3/21 6 hours 46 minutes with 49 minutes awake.
3/22 5 hours and 10 minutes with 39 minutes awake.
3/23 6 hours and 38 minutes with 43 minutes awake.
3/24 5 hours and 54 minutes forgot to wear fitbit. Don’t know how many min. awake.
3/25 5 hours and 56 minutes with 56 minutes awake.
3/26 5 hours and 49 minutes with 27 minutes awake.
3/27 6 hours and 54 minutes. Forgot to wear fitbit.
 
WEEK 5 (averaged 6 hours and 10 minutes of sleep).
3/28 5 hours and 51 minutes with 21 minutes awake.
3/29 5 hours and 36 minutes with 23 minutes awake.
3/30 5 hours and 52 minutes with SLEEP SCORE 69.
3/31 6 hours and 51 minutes with 42 minutes awake.
IMAGE OF FINAL WEEK RESULTS FROM THE FITBIT APP:
TRIAL OVER
4/1 5 hours 22 minutes with 33 minutes awake. DIDN’T USE DEVICE.
4/2 6 hours and 53 minutes with 34 minutes awake. USED DEVICE.
Mood and Anxiety
I did notice some other improvements in addition to sleep, and I know the device also helps to improve your mood, anxiety and depression. While depression does run in my family, and it’s something I am fully aware of, it’s not something I’ve encountered any symptoms with to date, and I think this might that I’m aware of the fact that I need a certain amount of exercise to keep the endorphins and neurotransmitters flowing.
But I did notice that I had more patience, was less high strung or anxious, and was calmer with my day-to-day activities. I noticed this change immediately (and so did my husband) and along with an increase of energy, I was able to complete more tasks, in less time, and felt less stress before going to sleep.
Final Evaluation
I will continue to use the Fisher Wallace Brain Stimulator, maybe not every day, as I do want to continue to measure and see how I do without it, but I’d love to get my sleep into the 7-hour range, because I know this would help me in many other areas of my life. If you would like to try the device, and have any questions at all for me, please feel free to contact me with your questions. [vi]
In the meantime, if you want to learn more about tips to improve your sleep, I recommend going back to some of our podcasts that dive deep into the importance of sleep, like episode #71 on Self-Regulation and Sleep with a Deep Dive into Dr. Shane Creado’s “Peak Sleep Performance for Athletes”[vii] or episode #85 with Dr. Sarah McKay on “High Performing Brain Health Strategies that We Should All Know About and Implement.”[viii]
See you later next week with episode #121 with Paul Zientarski, who is the former PE teacher from Naperville, IL where I will dive deep into exactly what their program entailed to achieve the outstanding results that put them on the map for the most compelling case study proving the profound impact that exercise has on our cognitive abilities.
See you next week!
SLEEP STUDY REVISION (added April 5th/2021) at marker (9:58).
After I released my sleep study episode, I sent it over to Kelly Roman from Fisher Wallace Laboratories, and he let me know that there were some important considerations that I should mention to further improve this episode, to go a bit deeper into the sleep study results. He suggested that I read the article “How to Interpret the results of a sleep study”[1] that had some important terminology that he felt was important to mention.
The article explains Total Sleep Time
“The total sleep time is the total amount of sleep time scored during the total recording time. This includes time from sleep onset to sleep offset and is distributed throughout the sleep time as minutes of Stage N1 sleep, Stage N2 sleep, Stage N3, and rapid eye movement (REM) sleep. All these times are described in minutes. A low total sleep time may indicate that the patient slept for an insufficient period of time due to non-medical/non-physiological reasons, certain medical or sleep disorders, or as a result of the effect of medications. Long total sleep time may suggest prior sleep deprivation, medical conditions, or effects of medications. High levels of sleep fragmentation, as defined by recurrent awakenings and/or stage shifts may result in complaints of non-restorative sleep even when an apparently normal total sleep time is present.” (How to Interpret the Results of a Sleep Study).
A Fitbit does measure these sleep stages, and in my study, I showed the total time I was asleep in the 7-hour block of time, and minutes awake but didn’t share the REM time since I only got this report with a sleep score. I’m not sure why some days I didn’t get a sleep score.  If I was to repeat this study, or go deeper into my results, I could look at the stages of sleep and REM time to see how much deep sleep I’m getting using the device vs without the device. Looking at the scores, I can see that in my baseline week I was averaging 42 minutes of REM sleep and 58 minutes in my last week using the device.
Sleep Efficiency
“Sleep efficiency is another important parameter that refers to percentage of total time in bed actually spent in sleep. It is calculated as sum of Stage N1, Stage N2, Stage N3, and REM sleep, divided by the total time in bed and multiplied by 100. Sleep efficiency gives an overall sense of how well the patient slept, but it does not distinguish frequent, brief episodes of wakefulness. A low sleep efficiency percentage could result from long sleep latency and long sleep offset to lights on time with otherwise normal quantity and quality of sleep in between. Many laboratories report total wake time, that is, the amount of wake time during the total recording time in minutes after the sleep onset. The total amount gives a general estimation for overall quality of sleep. Total wake time is the reciprocal of total sleep time. A high total sleep time percent is always associated with low total wake time percent and vice versa.” (How to Interpret the Results of a Sleep Study)
I looked up sleep efficiency and found a calculator[2] to help figure out this time and I’m not sure how accurate this calculator is, but this is a start for taking a closer look at the data from my sleep study.
BASELINE: To see my sleep efficiency in my baseline, I took 2/24 where I went to sleep at 8:27pm and woke up at 3:12am. I used the sleep efficiency calculator to see how efficient it says my sleep was in the baseline period. It calculated that I was in bed for 423 minutes, (7.1 hours) was awake 1.3 hours, and had a sleep efficiency score of 82%.
FINAL WEEK: I took the last day of the study, 3/31 and where I went to sleep at 7:56pm and woke up at 3:29am. The calculator logged 454 minutes of sleep (7.6 hours) with 57 minutes awake, and a sleep efficiency score of 87%.
Wakefulness After Sleep Onset (WASO)
Another important reported parameter is “wake after sleep onset, also known as ‘WASO’. This refers to periods of wakefulness occurring after defined sleep onset. This parameter measures wakefulness, excluding the wakefulness occurring before sleep onset. WASO time is a better reflection of sleep fragmentation.” (How to Interpret the Results of a Sleep Study).
 
The Fitbit measures total time awake, and I did log this time in my results. This was the part of the study that I found to be a bit shocking, since I just assumed that when I went to sleep around 8:30pm, that I was sleeping until I woke up around 3:30am or so. I didn’t know that during my 7-hour block of time, I was averaging 53 minutes of wakefulness in my baseline and only 29 minutes of wakefulness in my last week of testing. It’s definitely eye-opening to see how the device improved my sleep WASO score.
In my baseline, I was showing an average of 47.2 minutes awake or WASO and in the final week of the study, WASO score was significantly improved, averaging 36.8 minutes using the device.
Kelly Roman suggested that I look at each week using the device, compared to the baseline of 5 hours and 28 minutes of sleep, (323 minutes)  showing week 1 not much change due to that one night I worked late with 323 total minutes of sleep , week 2 showed an increase in 35 minutes of sleep, Week 3 an increase of 23 minutes, week 4, an increase of 42 minutes, and week 5, the same increase of 42 minutes above the baseline.  According to Kelly Roman, 20 minutes of sleep increase is what he says would be the gold standard minimum that doesn’t seem like a lot but allows for improved REM sleep and over time he says reduces sleep debt.  What was powerful was that my study showed an increase of much more that this gold standard of 20 minutes improvement showing me that the device worked better than I realized without showing him these results.
He also suggested the importance of talking about drug therapy for sleep improvement, where a drug like Ambien would be clinically significant to improve total sleep time by 20 minutes per night, and my results showed to be much higher than this. The Fisher Wallace Device is an incredible tool for improving sleep without using any medicines, but it’s important to note-- I’ve heard over and over again from Dr. Daniel Amen of the negative impacts that sleep aids have on the brain saying “They cause memory problems, daytime drowsiness, confusion, addiction and severe withdrawal syndrome if they are abruptly discontinued”[3] If you are listening to this episode, using a doctor prescribed sleep medicine, please do speak to your doctor before making any changes to your health care plans.
I hope this additional information on my sleep study was helpful for you, if you know that sleep is something that you want to improve.  I am going to continue to improve mine, and so grateful to have had this opportunity to test the Fisher Wallace Sleep Device.
UPDATE ONE YEAR AFTER THIS REVIEW: Don't miss Andrea's RECAP of this episode a year later, answering the question "One year later, do you still use the Fisher Wallace device?" 
Listen here https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/update-one-year-later-on-my-personal-review-of-the-fisher-wallace-wearable-sleep-device-for-anxiety-depression-and-sleep-management/  
RESOURCES:
The Secret to Overcoming Sleep Problems by Dr. Daniel Amen June 25th, 2019 https://www.amenclinics.com/blog/the-secrets-to-overcoming-sleep-problems/
[1] How to Interpret the results of a sleep study by Deepack Shrivastava, MD Published Nov. 25, 2014 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4246141/
[2] https://mysleepwell.ca/cbti/sleep-efficiency-calculator/
[3] Sleeping Pills, Anxiety Meds, and the Impending Disaster by Dr. Daniel Amen, June 11, 2020 https://www.amenclinics.com/blog/sleeping-pills-anxiety-meds-and-the-impending-disaster/
 
REFERENCES:
[i] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #87 with Andrea Samadi on “The Top 5 Brain Health and Alzheimer’s Prevention Strategies”   https://www.achieveit360.com/the-top-5-brain-health-and-alzheimers-prevention-strategies-with-andrea-samadi/  
[ii] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #108 with Kelly Roman, the CEO of Fisher Wallace Laboratories on “Wearable Medical Devices for Anxiety, Depression and Sleep/Stress Management” https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/ceo-of-fisher-wallace-laboratories-on-wearable-medical-devices-for-anxiety-depression-and-sleepstress-management/
[iii] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #84 BRAIN SCAN RESULTS “How a Spect Scan Can Change Your Life” with Andrea Samadi PART 3 https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/how-a-spect-scan-can-change-your-life-part-3-with-andrea-samadi/
[iv] https://www.fisherwallace.com/ 1-800-692-4380
[v] https://www.fisherwallace.com/
[vi] andrea@achieveit360.com
[vii] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Episode #71 on a Deep Dive into Dr. Shane Creado’s “Peak Sleep Performance for Athletes” https://www.achieveit360.com/self-regulation-and-sleep-with-a-deep-dive-into-dr-shane-creados-peak-sleep-performance-for-athletes/
[viii] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Episode #85 with Dr. Sarah McKay on “High Performing Brain Health Strategies that We Should All Know About and Implement.” https://www.achieveit360.com/neuroscientist-dr-sarah-mckay-on-high-performing-brain-health-strategies-that-we-should-all-know-about-and-implement/

Brain Fact Friday on "The Key Ingredients of Learning with the Brain in Mind."

Welcome back to the Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast, for Brain Fact Friday and episode #119.
Hello and Welcome back! I’m Andrea Samadi, a former educator who has been fascinated with learning the science behind high performance strategies in schools, sports and the workplace, for the past 20 years. If you have been listening to our podcast for some time, you will know that we’ve uncovered that if we want to improve our social and emotional skills, and experience success in our work and personal lives, it all begins with putting our brain health first. As I am working closely with neuroscience researcher, Mark Robert Waldman, and learning new ideas that could help improve results for students in our classrooms, or those in the corporate world, I will share with you what I am learning, with the hopes you can implement the new idea in your life, for immediate, improved results.
This week’s brain fact goes right along with the past few episodes where we have been talking about the profound impact that exercise has on our cognitive abilities and mental health. Dr. Daniel Amen, (who we’ve talked a lot about on past episodes) and Dr. John J Ratey would both agree that it’s “simply one of the best treatments we have for most psychiatric problems.”[i]
Instead of just one brain fact about the importance of exercise on our brain, I have a few-- to really hit the importance of this brain fact home.
Here are Your Brain Facts for This Week: Did You Know That:
“Physical activity is crucial to the way we think and feel.” (John J Ratey, MD).  
“Children who exercise regularly are likely to do the same as an adult.” (Spark, Page 12)
“Statistics show that about half of those who start out with a new exercise routine drop out within six months to a year” (Spark, Page 260) probably because they jump in at a high intensity, it’s too much, and they give up.
If you have heard our past 2 episodes, you will know that Dr. Ratey wrote the book Spark on this topic after he saw Naperville’s scores on the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) where they scored #1 in science and #6 in math, in the world, proving that there was something unique that they had discovered with the correlation of exercise and academic achievement.  Naperville provided a powerful case study that “aerobic activity can transform not only the body, but also the mind.” (Spark, Page 19)
Dr. Daniel Amen often talks about the importance of exercise, or walking 5 days a week, like you are late (he would say) for your brain health. He mentions that “blood vessels age, not your brain cells”[ii] and the best way to keep blood vessels healthy so blood flows to your brain, is with moderate exercise.
So for such an important brain fact, that two of the most famous brain experts I know, have focused most of their careers teaching the world about, why isn’t everyone taking advantage of this profound impact of exercise on the brain—for our students in our classrooms and for everyone in the workplace looking for increased productivity.
It All Begins With Understanding How Our Brain Works
Most us have not had the crash course in this topic. Since we know that our brain is involved in everything that we are and everything that we do, it’s important that we understand how it works, especially when it comes to making habits (like implementing a new exercise program) stick.
I was speaking with Victoria Sambursky this week (she is working closely with Dr. Ratey with her company Edominance)[iii] with assessments that unlock personality and behavior, and she was asking me about the best way to break a habit. I shared with her what I cover on episode #35 on “Using Your Brain to Break Bad Habits”[iv] since what we must do to break a habit is the exact opposite of what we must do when forming our new habit, like our new exercise routine that we want to start.
I Shared with Her—Here’s How We Break Habits and Here’s How We Form New Ones
Learning creates a synaptic connection when you are thinking, feeling, or actually doing something new. New neural pathways are formed. I’m sure you have seen the YouTube videos that show how the pathways look in the brain, like a highway.[v] Each time you think that same thought, or do that same action, you strengthen that neural pathway.  Each time you do that new exercise routine, that pathway strengthens. This is how you create a new habit.
Breaking a habit is just the opposite; by avoiding certain thoughts, feelings or actions, your impulses or neural connections become weaker and weaker. Just as knowledge and skills are constructed in our brain with focus, they also diminish (or prune away) without the focused attention. As we learn, our dendrites actually grow as they make new synaptic connections. Learning something new happens when we forge these new connections.
Think About it This Way:
“Neurons that fire together, wire together” and “neurons that are out of sync, fail to link.” If we want to form a new habit, we must practice the new skill over and over again, (wiring and strengthening the pathway) and breaking a habit, means don’t practice the skill—don’t even think about it.
It’s easy to see now that “we are what we think about” or “we create our reality” as we do reinforce our neural pathways with the attention to the habits or goals that we want. We even reinforce what we don’t want when we are thinking” I don’t want that piece of pie” or” I don’t want this project to fail” or “I don’t want to lose that game” and so on. The neural pathways for “I don’t want this or that” are being formed! Our brain only knows what we tell it, so we must be very careful with our thoughts, feelings, and actions, as they will reinforce those neural pathways in our brain.
In Learning Something New: The Key Ingredient is Motivation
Since the brain only hold information it finds to be useful, and discards what is doesn’t need, we have to be sure that when we want to learn something new (for ourselves or for others) that we make the learning relevant, and interesting. The brain will be motivated to learn when it’s exposed to something new, and unfamiliar.
How to Motivate Students to Learn and Move with Brain Health in Mind
I’m always looking for new ideas to help students learn when searching through social media, and this week I saw something that caught my attention.
If you are looking for tools, or ideas on how to motivate your students in the classroom, or kids at home if you are homeschooling, I highly suggest taking a look at the FutureSmart Program[vi] where MassMutual’s Foundation has partnered with the NHL to provide engaging financial education along with movement. The videos are motivating, interesting, and we know they are building the brains of our next generation.
If we can encourage our children and students to move, in any possible way, we will be stimulating their thinking skills needed for academic performance.[vii]  A new study suggests that “when academic classes include physical activity, like squats, or running in place, students do better on tests.”[viii] Take a look at this resource for some new ideas that go beyond just movement. They also have financial education and skills to help prepare our next generation to be future-ready.
What Does the Latest Neuroscience Research Reveal About Exercise and Our Brain?
We know that exercise increases levels of serotonin, norepinephrine, and dopamine—important neurotransmitters that monitor the flow of our thoughts and emotions. You’ve probably heard of serotonin, and maybe you know low levels of it is associated with depression, but even many people don’t know the rest.
“They don’t know that toxic levels of stress erode the connections between the billions of nerve cells in the brain or that chronic depression shrinks certain areas of the brain. And they don’t know that, conversely, exercise unleashes a cascade of neurochemicals and growth factors that can reverse this process, physically bolstering the brain’s infrastructure. In fact, the brain responds like muscles do, growing with use, withering with inactivity. The neurons in the brain connect to one another through “leaves” on treelike branches, and exercise causes those branches to grow and bloom with new buds, enhancing brain function at a fundamental level.” John J Ratey
We are just starting to learn about the impact on our brain cells with exercise at the gene level and as technology in neuroscience improves, there will be new ways to measure the changes that are happening in the brain. I just learned from Dr. Andrew Newburg, who is a Professor in the Department of Integrative Medicine and Nutritional Sciences and the Director of Research at the Marcus Institute of Integrative Health at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, from episode #88,[ix] that the changes in brain scan technology make his job very exciting. Like Dr. Ratey mentioned we can see the changes in the brain with exercise, Dr. Newburg says that someone could start a mediation practice today, (or an exercise program) and wonder if they can measure the changes in the brain, and Dr. Newburg would say they can. With time, the frontal lobes of meditators become thicker, and he can see the changes in the brain with Blood/Oxygen Imaging that follows the brain through meditation.  With time, and new technology, it will be very clear that exercise and meditation changes the structure and function of the brain. I’m looking forward to learning what else they discover here.
Once We Know How to Create This Heightened State of Well-Being, Where Else Can We Use It?
In our podcast episode #27 with Friederike Fabritius, we covered the DNA of success or peak performance[x] which is that brain state where we lose the presence of time and are the most productive.
If we can create this heightened state of well-being for our students through exercise, we could also create this environment in our workplaces.
Friederike mentioned the importance of having fun with your work, (or with your workouts) releasing the neurotransmitter dopamine, having just enough fear, fun or a challenge to release the neurotransmitter noradrenaline and that with these two factors, focus will occur, and the neurotransmitter acetyl choline will be released to help us to achieve the “flow” that occurs at this heightened level of productivity. These three neurotransmitters must be in place for peak performance to occur and when we hit this level of performance, it’s important that we are able to manage our distractions so that we can stay here for as long as possible for those higher levels of productivity.
To Review Our Brain Facts, Let’s See if We Can Gain Some New Insight with Our Brain in Mind
“Physical activity is crucial to the way we think and feel.” (John J Ratey, MD).  
An understanding of our brain helps us to see why. Rigorous activity helps to put the brain in the right environment for learning to take place.
“Children who exercise regularly are likely to do the same as an adult.” (Spark, Page 12)
Since they have built the neural pathways in their brain that they reinforce over and over again. The only way they would not keep the same habit as an adult, is if they stopped exercising. And even with this example, we do have incredible muscle memory, for anyone who has ever had to stop their exercise program for a certain amount of time. Your muscles will remember, and your neural pathways will keep strengthening even with your time away.
“Statistics show that about half of those who start out with a new exercise routine drop out within six months to a year” (Spark, Page 260) probably because they jump in at a high intensity, it’s too much, and they give up.
That’s because most people start off fast and lose motivation when it becomes difficult. Pace yourself, remember that everyone is different, and don’t compare your workout or results to anyone else’s. Find something that you enjoy, and you will be motivated, creating the neurotransmitters you will need to reach those peak performance levels.
I hope you’ve enjoyed these Brain Facts, preparing us for our interview with next week with Paul Zientarski, the PE Teacher from Naperville, who will help us to see exactly what was involved with their PE program to reveal such outstanding results.
See you next week!
REFERENCES:
[i] Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain by John J. Ratey, MD (January 10, 2008) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07D7GQ887/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1
[ii] Dr. Daniel Amen on the Brain Warrior’s Way Podcast “It’s Not Your Brain Cells That Age, it’s Your Blood Vessels” https://brainwarriorswaypodcast.com/its-not-your-brain-cells-that-age-its-your-blood-vessels/
[iii] https://www.endominance.com/company/about-us/
[iv] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast Episode #35 on “Using Your Brain to Break Bad Habits” with Andrea Samadi https://www.achieveit360.com/how-to-use-your-brain-to-break-bad-habits-in-2020/
[v] Neural Plasticity YouTube Uploaded November 6, 2012  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ELpfYCZa87g
[vi] FutureSmart Program https://www.nhl.com/fans/futuresmart
[vii] How Exercise Can Boost Young Brains by Gretchen Reynolds October 8, 2014 https://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/10/08/how-exercise-can-boost-the-childs-brain/?_r=0
[viii] Movement During Class Improves Students’ Academic Abilities by Linda Carroll October 21, 2019 https://mobile.reuters.com/article/amp/idUSKBN1X02CZ
[ix] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning EPISODE #88 with Dr. Andrew Newburg on “Demystifying the Human Brain” https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/neuroscientist-andrew-newberg-md-on-neurotheology-spect-scans-and-the-aging-brain/
[x] Friederike Fabritius: “Fun, Fear, and Focus: The Neurochemical Recipe for Achieving Peak Performance” | Talks at Google Published Jan.15, 2019  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWi-oCySuFA

Deep Dive into Best-Selling Author John J. Ratey's Books "Spark, Go Wild and Driven to Distraction."

Welcome back to the Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #118 with a deep dive into John J. Ratey’s most recent books including the groundbreaking ADHD “Driven to Distraction” with Dr. Edward (Ned) Hallowell, MD, "Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain" that established Dr. Ratey as one of the world’s foremost authorities on the brain-fitness connection and “Go Wild”, that explores how we can achieve optimal physical and mental health by getting in touch with our roots.
During our interview together on EPISODE #116[i], we barely scratched the surface of these three books, so I wanted to take the time to dive a bit deeper into each one of them, keeping in mind the top 5 health staples that we focused on with episode #87.[ii] Dr. Ratey’s interview was insightful and many people from around the world emailed me with feedback about how timely and inspiring they thought Dr. Ratey’s research was, especially with where we are in the world today.
Dr. Ratey said himself, “If we are going to have to learn to live with COVID, we’re going to have to learn to be well.” (Episode #116) and I thought about how our podcast took a turn from just focusing on social and emotional skills and neuroscience to a serious focus on the importance of health, around Season 3 and episode #71 (which was July 2020-right in the middle of the Pandemic) when I first started to study Dr. Shane Creado, from Dr. Daniel Amen’s offices on the importance of sleep[iii].  It seems to me that we can’t ask our students in our classrooms, or employees in our workplaces to focus on social, interpersonal, emotional or cognitive skills, without first, putting an emphasis on health. The more I Iearned in this area, the more convinced I became of the mind-brain-body connection that inspired me to take a trip to Dr. Amen’s Clinics in Costa Mesa, CA for a brain scan to see what we could learn to improve the health of my family and share these findings on the podcast.
After the 3 episodes where I covered the importance of getting your brain scanned,[iv] there was one person who was integral to me meeting new people in the area of health and wellness and that was Luke DePron, the host of the Live Great Lifestyle Podcast[v] from episode #90.[vi] Luke and I became friends through LinkedIn, and I immediately asked if he would come on the podcast as a guest.  Although health is my number one value, and something I block time off each day for, I knew there was so much more that I needed to learn in this area.  We only know what we know, and after looking at Luke’s podcast, I was blown away. I highly recommend going to his website[vii] and looking thorough his episodes. I knew there was so much more I needed to learn in this area, and you will find many different topics that go really deep into the area of health and wellness through Luke’s podcast. After an incredible interview, it was Luke DePron who referred me to Dr. Erik Won and the Wave Neuroscience Team for episode #89[viii], Momo Vuyisich, from episode #93.[ix] and Dr. Daniel Stickler, for episode #96.[x] All of these interviews stretched me to think beyond what I knew before in the area of health and wellness and Luke’s podcast helped me to do this.
Then, around September of 2020, after watching Dr. David Perlmutter’s Alzheimer’s: The Science of Prevention Series[xi], I began thinking of who I could get to fill in interviews to cover these top 5 health staples that kept appearing everywhere.
I knew I could ask Dr. Shane Creado[xii] to cover the importance of sleep, but I had no idea that he would urge me and my husband to get our brains scanned through Amen Clinics and lead us to a whole new level of understanding of our health. Jason Whittrock from episode #94[xiii] was someone I had followed for a few years on social media, and he really left the impression on me that he was there to help people to get in shape and stay in shape. He just seemed genuine, so I sent him a message through Instagram for the interview, he replied, and before I knew it, he wrote back, and our interview was set. I had the top 5 health staples covered.
Now that you see how we found the importance of health and wellness on our podcast, you will see why I dropped everything I was doing when I saw Dr. Ratey’s book “Spark” that focused on getting kids hooked on moving instead of sitting in front of the television or their computers or iPads. If exercise and nutrition could be important for adults, anti-aging and Alzheimer’s Prevention, what could it possibly do for our students?
Here’s what I learned:
Top Lesson Learned from Spark[xiv]
LESSON 1: EXERCISE: The Impact of Physical Activity on Academic Achievement: Dr. Ratey wrote the book Spark after he saw Naperville’s Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) where they scored #1 in science and #6 in math, in the world, proving that there was something unique that Naperville had discovered with the correlation of exercise and academic achievement.  Naperville provided a powerful case study that “aerobic activity can transform not only the body, but also the mind.” (Spark, Page 19)
What was being taught at Naperville that was so unique was a lifestyle. They were teaching fitness instead of sports with a program called Zero Hour PE that was “supported by emerging research showing that physical activity sparks biological changes that encourage brain cells to bind to one another. For the brain to learn, these connections must be made; they reflect the brain’s fundamental ability to adapt to challenges. The more neuroscientists discover about this process, the clearer it becomes that exercise provides an unparalleled stimulus, creating an environment in which the brain is ready, willing, and able to learn.” (Spark, Page, Page 10).
What I loved about what they discovered at Naperville with their Zero Hour PE that “prepared students to learn through vigorous exercise” (Spark, Page 11) was that they created life-long habits for choosing exercise as a stress-management tool in college and beyond.
Implementing the Zero Hour PE in Your Life
Whether you are an educator working in the classroom, or an employee working in the corporate world, this concept can be easily implemented to get you into a state of heightened awareness before learning, or before you need to sit and work for long periods of time at your desk.
I will be interviewing Paul Zientarski, who worked closely with Naperville’s study through his work in PE at the high school, next week, and he does have clear ideas on how to implement a program like Naperville’s with his Learning readiness PE Program[xv], but until then, think of ways that you could encourage students to get this aerobic activity before class, or what types of programs could you set up in the workplace to encourage high impact aerobic activity before the workday begins.
It’s clear that “aerobic activity has a dramatic effect on adaptation, regulating systems that might be out of balance and optimizing those that are not—it’s an indispensable tool for anyone who wants to reach his or her full potential.” (Spark, Page 10).
Top Lesson Learned from Go Wild[xvi]
There were many lessons in Go Wild that were important, that stemmed from the fact that we must understand that “our happiness is greatly dependent on our biological well-being” but the one I picked out was focused on sleep, since it’s one of the top 5 health staples that we’ve been talking about the past few months.
LESSON 2: THE OBESITY/SLEEP CONNECTION
“Put college students on four hours of sleep a night, and then give them a glucose tolerance test, and they look prediabetic[xvii] (meaning they have a higher-than-normal blood sugar level). Food consumption goes up.” (Go Wild, Page 127)
This explains insulin resistance, (which is when cells in your muscles, fat and liver don’t respond well to insulin and can’t use glucose from your blood as energy. To make up for it, your pancreas makes more insulin. Over time, your blood sugar levels go up)[xviii] provoked solely by lack of sleep.
Obesity and sleep loss have long been associated, but the research has finally found out why.  “Researchers based at the University of Colorado found that sleep deprivation did indeed show a marked increase in weight gain, even with no measurable decline in activity or in energy expenditure. Instead, the experience disrupted the body’s signaling pathways associated with the insulin response, particularly a set of hormones that signal satiety: ghrelin, leptin, and peptide YY. As a result, people ate more—especially women, especially in the evening.” (Go Wild, Page 127).
The connection between sleep and weight loss is something I also heard from the CEO of Fisher Wallace Laboratories Kelly Roman, on episode #108 on “Wearable Medical Devices for Anxiety, Depression and Sleep/Stress Management”[xix] and Dr. Daniel Stickler from episode #96[xx].
Implementing this Knowledge in Our Daily Life: How Can You Improve Your Sleep?
Now has never been a better time for all of us to take our sleep seriously. I have just spent the last month measuring my sleep, using the Fisher Wallace Sleep Device, and plan to release my results next week that will help all of us learn new ways to improve our sleep, but until then, I recommend going back to some of our podcasts that dive deep into the importance of sleep, like episode #71 on Self-Regulation and Sleep with a Deep Dive into Dr. Shane Creado’s “Peak Sleep Performance for Athletes”[xxi] or episode #85 with Dr. Sarah McKay on “High Performing Brain Health Strategies that We Should All Know About and Implement.”[xxii]
Top Lesson Learned from Driven to Distraction[xxiii]
LESSON 3: ADD/ADHD: How to Get the Most out of Life with Attention Deficit Disorder
Driven to Distraction was first released in 1994, and Dr. Ratey was worried that people would think the book had to do with driving, instead of understanding Attention Deficit Disorder. This first book went on to sell over a million copies and “sparked” an understanding of this “neurological disorder that causes a range of behavior problems such as having trouble focusing on school or work, following instructions, completing tasks as well as difficulties with impulse control and appropriate social interactions.”[xxiv]
I had no idea that “15 million people (in the USA) have (ADD/ADHD), both children and adults.” (Driven to Distraction, Page 432) and it made me think back to my visit to Dr. Amen’s Clinic for my brain scan and the X test that we had to do before our scan to test for ADD.
If you listened to part 3 of the brain scan series, where I gave the results of my brain scan, I mention the X test we had to take that was designed to identify whether someone has ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder) or not. I also mention actress Laura Clery’s SPECT SCAN results that showed she clearly had ADD.[xxv]
Implementing This Knowledge in Your Daily Life? Do YOU Have ADD?
If you are listening to this episode, and wonder if your short attention span, distractibility, or procrastination could be ADD, there is a test that you can do right now that can help guide you towards some answers. This online test is through Amen Clinics and wasn’t far off from some of the pre-brain scan testing we had to do. If you would like to learn more about yourself, take this test and see what you learn.[xxvi] You can take this 4 minute test, and learn if you have it or not, and you will receive tips on what you can do about it.
This, coupled with Dr. Ratey’s book, Driven to Distraction, will provide you with the understanding and strategies you will need to learn how to gain some control back in your life.
Just to review:
LESSON 1: EXERCISE: The Impact of Physical Activity on Academic Achievement:
LESSON 2: THE OBESITY/SLEEP CONNECTION: Improving Health by Improving Sleep
LESSON 3: ADD/ADHD: How to Get the Most out of Life with Attention Deficit Disorder
These 3 lessons all tie back into the TOP 5 health staples (sleep and exercise) and we’ve added a new one with the understanding of ADD/ADHD that is one of the most misunderstood illnesses today. The more we can learn about our health and well-being, the better prepared we can be to become proactive with our life, health and future.
Some wise words from John J Ratey to end this episode:
“Getting older is unavoidable, but falling apart is not.” John J Ratey
I hope this episode will Spark an interest in you to read Dr. Ratey’s books, so that you can take his wisdom and apply it to your life for improved results.
See you on Friday for our next Brain Fact Friday episode.
REFERENCES:
[i] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast Episode #116 with John J Ratey, MD on “The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain” https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/best-selling-author-john-j-ratey-md-on-the-revolutionary-new-science-of-exercise-and-the-brain/
[ii] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #87 with Andrea Samadi on “The Top 5 Brain Health and Alzheimer’s Prevention Strategies”  https://www.achieveit360.com/the-top-5-brain-health-and-alzheimers-prevention-strategies-with-andrea-samadi/  
[iii] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast Episode #72 with Andrea Samadi “Deep Dive into Shane Creado’s Peak Sleep Performance for Athletes” https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/self-regulation-and-sleep-with-a-deep-dive-into-dr-shane-creados-peak-sleep-performance-for-athletes/
[iv] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast Episodes #82, #83 #84 https://www.achieveit360.com/how-a-brain-scan-changed-my-brain-and-life-with-doug-sutton/
https://www.achieveit360.com/what-is-a-spect-imaging-brain-scan-and-how-exactly-can-it-change-your-life-with-andrea-samadi-part-2/
https://www.achieveit360.com/how-a-spect-scan-can-change-your-life-part-3-with-andrea-samadi/
[v] Luke DePron, Live Great Lifestyle Podcast https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/live-great-lifestyle/id1375402072
[vi] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Episode #90 with Luke DePron on “Neuroscience, Health, Fitness and Growth.” https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/host-of-the-live-great-lifestyle-podcast-luke-depron-on-neuroscience-health-fitness-and-growth/
[vii] https://www.livegreatlifestyle.com/podcast/
[viii] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Episode #89 with the President of Wave Neuroscience Dr. Erik Won on “Ground-Breaking Technology That is Changing the Future of Mental Health” https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/president-of-wave-neuroscience-dr-erik-won-on-ground-breaking-technology-that-is-changing-the-future-of-mental-health/
[ix] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast #93 with Dr. Momo Vuyisich on “Improving the Health of Your Microbiome, Preventing and Reversing Chronic Disease.”  https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/dr-momo-vuyisich-on-improving-the-health-of-your-microbiome-preventing-and-reversing-chronic-disease/
[x] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast #96 with Dr. Daniel Stickler on “Expanding Awareness for Limitless Peak Performance, Health, Longevity and Intelligence.” https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/dr-daniel-stickler-on-expanding-awareness-for-limitless-peak-performance-health-longevity-and-intelligence/
[xi] Dr. David Perlmutter’s Science of Prevention Series https://www.drperlmutter.com/alzheimers-the-science-of-prevention-2020-air-dates/
[xii] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Episode #72 with Dr. Shane Creado on “Sleep Strategies That Will Guarantee a Competitive Advantage.”   https://www.achieveit360.com/dr-shane-creado-on-sleep-strategies-that-will-guarantee-a-competitive-advantage/
[xiii] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Episode #94 with Jason Whittrock on “Nutrition, Intermittent Fasting and the Ketogenic Diet” https://www.achieveit360.com/personal-trainer-and-fitness-model-jason-wittrock-on-nutrition-intermittent-fasting-and-the-ketogenic-diet/
[xiv] Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain by John J. Ratey, MD (January 10, 2008) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07D7GQ887/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1
[xv] Paul Zientarski (Naperville) and his Learning Readiness PE Program https://learningreadinesspe.com/
[xvi] Go Wild: Eat fat, Run Free, Be Social, and Follow Evolution’s Other Rules for Total Health and Well-Being by John J. Ratey, MD and Richard Manning (June 3, 2014) https://www.amazon.com/Go-Wild-Free-Afflictions-Civilization-ebook/dp/B00FPQA66C
[xvii] https://www.cdc.gov/diabetes/basics/prediabetes.html
[xviii] https://www.webmd.com/diabetes/insulin-resistance-syndrome
[xix] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Episode #108 with Kelly Roman on “Wearable Medical Devices for Anxiety, Depression and Sleep/Stress Management.” https://www.achieveit360.com/ceo-of-fisher-wallace-laboratories-kelly-roman-on-wearable-medical-devices-for-anxiety-depression-and-sleep-stress-management/
[xx] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast #96 with Dr. Daniel Stickler on “Expanding Awareness for Limitless Peak Performance, Health, Longevity and Intelligence.” https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/dr-daniel-stickler-on-expanding-awareness-for-limitless-peak-performance-health-longevity-and-intelligence/
[xxi] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Episode #71 on a Deep Dive into Dr. Shane Creado’s “Peak Sleep Performance for Athletes” https://www.achieveit360.com/self-regulation-and-sleep-with-a-deep-dive-into-dr-shane-creados-peak-sleep-performance-for-athletes/
[xxii] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Episode #85 with Dr. Sarah McKay on “High Performing Brain Health Strategies that We Should All Know About and Implement.” https://www.achieveit360.com/neuroscientist-dr-sarah-mckay-on-high-performing-brain-health-strategies-that-we-should-all-know-about-and-implement/
[xxiii] Driven to Distraction Revised: Recognizing and Coping with Attention Deficit Disorder From Childhood through Adulthood by Edward M Hallowell, MD and John J. Ratey MD. September 13, 2011. https://www.amazon.com/Driven-Distraction-Revised-Recognizing-Attention/dp/0307743152
[xxiv] What is Attention Deficit Disorder by Dr. Daniel Amen https://www.amenclinics.com/conditions/adhd-add/
[xxv] Actress Laura Clery SPECT Scan Results with Dr. Amen https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=3472842882747938 (start video at 4 minutes where she arrives at Dr. Amen’s Clinic).
[xxvi] ADD Test by Amen Clinics https://addtypetest.com/

Brain Fact Friday on ”The Damaging Impact of Sugar on the Brain and Body.”

Welcome back to the Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast, for Brain Fact Friday and episode #117.  Since we just released the ground-breaking interview with Dr. Ratey on the impact of exercise and nutrition on the brain, I wanted to focus today’s episode on something that he said, that caught my attention.
Since last week’s Brain Fact Friday was about “Building a Faster, Stronger, Resilient Brain, by Understanding Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF)” or the compound that Dr. Ratey says is crucial for preventing cognitive decline and Alzheimer’s Disease, I wanted to focus this episode on something Dr. Ratey said that really made me think.
This week's Brain Fact Friday, you will learn:
✔︎ What sugar does to the brain, cognition and well-being.✔︎ How sugar contributes to cognitive decline and Alzheimer's Disease.✔︎ Why sugar is so addictive.✔︎ What surprising things spike blood sugar.✔︎ Healthy ways to naturally lower blood sugar.
DID YOU KNOW THAT:
High Glucose Levels are Toxic to the Brain and Limits the Production of BDNF
He said, did you know that “High glucose levels are toxic to the brain, and limits the production of this glorious compound BDNF that has such a profound effect on cognition and well-being?”
I remember a powerful quote from a BONUS episode I did for Podbean’s Wellness week[i]  that goes right along with what Dr. Ratey said, coming from Dr. David Perlmutter, who wrote the foreword to Dr. Ratey’s book Go Wild![ii]
DID YOU KNOW THAT: Sugar in the brain looks like Alzheimer’s in the Brain?
I wrote in this bonus episode, after watching Dr. Perlmutter’s Alzheimer’s The Science of Prevention Series, Did you know that sugar in the brain “looks like Alzheimer’s” in the brain, and that “60% of cognitive decline is related to how you handle blood sugar?”[iii] 
There was a study that followed “over 5,000 people over 10 years and found that people with high blood sugar had a faster rate of cognitive decline than those with normal blood sugar—whether or not their blood-sugar level technically made them diabetic. In other words, the higher the blood sugar, the faster the cognitive decline.”[iv]
So when Dr. Ratey said that “high glucose levels are toxic to the brain” I thought back to this study, and wellness episode, and thought we could take a closer look at how our glucose levels increase, with tips for healthy ways to keep our blood levels stable.
I’m sure we all know that sugar is bad news for our brain, our body, and that sugar (a class of molecules called carbohydrates) will give us a rush of energy at first but will make us hungry a few hours later). Now to think that it limits the production of this key protein we all know is important for anti-aging, and Alzheimer’s prevention.  Imagine that you have half the equation right. You are exercising, watching what you eat, and allowing some treats in moderation. This would be the perfect way to live your life, according to Dr. Ratey, but I started to wonder, what are some ways that we could unknowingly be raising our glucose levels and preventing the production of this powerful BDNF protein? Other than eating a bunch of sugar, are there other things I could be doing that could possibly be raising my glucose levels without me even knowing it? Until I heard Dr. Ratey talking about how damaging sugar was to our brain, I hadn’t spent much time thinking about this lately.
We don’t have to be diabetic to watch or be aware of our blood sugar or glucose levels. I mention in one of my earlier episodes[v] that it was a visit to a foot doctor around 2005 for foot numbness after exercise, that got me to eliminate sugar completely from my diet back then.  I was looking for solutions to why I couldn’t feel the top of my foot during exercise, and I didn’t show any signs of diabetes, but this doctor was writing a book, that is now released called Sugar Crush: How to Reduce Inflammation, Reverse Nerve Damage and Reclaim Good Health[vi] and he was convinced that sugar intake was at the root of most health problems. He suggested that I take fish oil, and learn to avoid higher glycemic foods, and the results that occurred were so impactful, that I wished I had done this sooner. The benefits of cutting out sugar from my diet back then snowballed my health for the better down the road. But here I am 16 years later, and not suggesting an elimination diet (unless you want to fix something like I did) but knowledge is power. I think being more aware of the impact that sugar or glucose has on our brain will help us to all make better, healthier decisions for ourselves and families.
But First, What Exactly Does Sugar Do to the Brain?[vii]
When the sugary treat that you are eating (a bit of chocolate, cookie or cake) hits your tongue, your cerebral cortex registers the taste as sweet versus bitter or salty. Next, the brain’s reward system is activated and this part of the brain that loves the sugar you just ate, light up.  The neurotransmitter dopamine, part of our reward system is released, and your body begins to produce more chemicals like insulin to offset the sugar. You can either have just a little bit, and not create much damage to your brain (which is why I think it’s ok to eat a few bites of whatever sugary treat you like—chocolate is something I personally love to eat even though my old foot doctor would probably not be happy to hear this) but for some reason, if you can’t just take a few bites, and your brain is telling you to “eat more” then you will find it difficult to stop eating the treat and it will damage your brain and body, like Dr. Ratey explained.
What Else Spike Our Blood Sugar? I had no idea that there were so many other ways that we can increase glucose in our brain. Did you know about these 10 surprising things that can spike your blood sugar?[viii] According to an article on Cdc.gov, sunburn, artificial sweeteners, coffee, not enough sleep, dehydration and gum disease all spike your blood sugar levels?
What Lowers Our Blood Sugar? We all know that movement and exercise lowers blood sugar, and I am sure we could all guess that managing our carb intake also helps to reduce blood sugar levels and prevent blood sugar spikes[ix], since carbohydrates are mostly glucose.  But did you know that “increasing your fiber intake improves the body’s ability to regulate blood sugar”[x] or that “drinking water and staying hydrated lowers blood sugar levels?”[xi]
I’ve included all the links to the research I did on this topic in the show notes if you would like to dig a bit deeper into the damaging effects of sugar on the brain, but I think we have made a clear case for thinking hard about the next sugary treat we eat, or what we buy for our families at the grocery store.
I hope this brain fact inspired by Dr. Ratey, has made you think. If you haven’t listened to his episode #116 yet, go back and listen to it, and stay tuned for next week, where I will dive deeper into his books. We only scratched the surface in our interview together, and there’s so much more to uncover.
See you next week!
 
REFERENCES:
[i] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning BOUS EPISODE “ A Deep Dive into the Top 5 Health Staples, and a Review of Seasons 1-4” https://www.achieveit360.com/bonus-episode-a-deep-dive-into-the-top-5-health-staples-and-review-of-seasons-1-4/
[ii] Go Wild: Eat fat, Run Free, Be Social, and Follow Evolution’s Other Rules for Total Health and Well-Being by John J. Ratey, MD and Richard Manning (June 3, 2014) https://www.amazon.com/Go-Wild-Free-Afflictions-Civilization-ebook/dp/B00FPQA66C
[iii] Dr. David Perlmutter’s “Alzheimer’s: The Science of Prevention” EPISODE 5  https://scienceofprevention.com/
[iv] The Startling Link Between Sugar and Alzheimer’s by Olga Khazan Jan. 26, 2018 https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2018/01/the-startling-link-between-sugar-and-alzheimers/551528/
[v] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning BOUS EPISODE “ A Deep Dive into the Top 5 Health Staples, and a Review of Seasons 1-4” https://www.achieveit360.com/bonus-episode-a-deep-dive-into-the-top-5-health-staples-and-review-of-seasons-1-4/
[vi] Sugar Crush: How to Reduce Inflammation, Reverse Nerve Damage and Reclaim Good Health by Dr. Richard Jacoby (April 2014)  https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00KPVB4OA/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1
[vii] How Sugar Affects the Brain by Nicole Avena, Published on YouTube January 7, 2014 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lEXBxijQREo
[viii] 10 Surprising Things That Can Spike Your Blood Sugar https://www.cdc.gov/diabetes/library/spotlights/blood-sugar.html
[ix] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26965765/
[x] 15 Ways to Lower Blood Sugar Levels Naturally by Arlene Semeco December 21, 2020 https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/15-ways-to-lower-blood-sugar#TOC_TITLE_HDR_4
[xi] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20439785/

Best Selling Author John J. Ratey, MD on "The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain"

Welcome back to the Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #116, with best-selling author Dr. John Ratey[i],  who is also an Associate Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and an internationally recognized expert in Neuropsychiatry. He has published over 60 peer-reviewed articles, and 11 books published in 17 languages, including the groundbreaking ADHD “Driven to Distraction” series with Dr. Edward (Ned) Hallowell, MD. With the publication of "Spark:The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain", Dr. Ratey has established himself as one of the world's foremost authorities on the brain-fitness connection. His most recent book, “Go Wild”, explores how we can achieve optimal physical and mental health by getting in touch with our caveman roots, and how we can “re-wild” our lives. Dr. Ratey lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and Los Angeles.
Watch the interview on YouTube here. 
On this episode you will learn:✔︎ Who inspired Dr. Ratey to connect exercise and nutrition to the brain, health and learning?✔︎ Are some people born runners, meant for exercise and others are not?✔︎ What happens to the brain after exercise so that it's primed for learning?✔︎ What is the "disease of civilization" that we all face at some point in our life, before we learn the foods that we should eat and foods we should avoid?✔︎ What is the lesson we should all understand about carbs/sugar/good fats/insulin and glucose?✔︎ What is BDNF and why is it so important for brain health?✔︎ How did one school in Chicago inspire Dr. Ratey to write the book Spark?
Hello and Welcome back! I’m Andrea Samadi, a former educator who has been fascinated with learning the science behind high performance strategies in schools, sports and the workplace, for the past 20 years. If you have been listening to our podcast for some time, you will know that we’ve uncovered that if we want to improve our social and emotional skills, and experience success in our work and personal lives, it all begins with putting our brain health first. We’ve mentioned that daily exercise is one of the top 5 health staples that’s a known brain-health and Alzheimer’s prevention strategy, from our episode #87[ii]  helping us to take our results, productivity and health to these higher levels.
I can’t tell you how excited I am to have come across our guest today, from a referral from someone who was interviewing me a couple of weeks ago.  I always participate in Anna Alba’s “Thriving Parents, Happy Student[iii]” Summit, and this year, she asked me “have you read Dr. Ratey’s book called Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain” and I had not. After I had read just the first few pages of his book, I learned about a school in Chicago, called Naperville[iv], that provides a powerful case study on how aerobic activity can transform not only the body, but also the mind.  I started making connections between the direction our podcast took last year with Dr. David Perlmutter’s Science of Prevention Series from episode #87 where exercise was listed as a top 5 health staple and Alzheimer’s prevention strategy, and now there was a book all about how this one school was using exercise to transform their student’s academic performance.  It took me back to my early days as an educator, and when I used exercise to calm down my students who were labelled behavioral. I was probably onto something back then, without even knowing it.
After I learned about the study and research from Naperville, I asked Greg Wolcott, the Assistant Superintendent of Teaching and Learning from episode #64 and one of our first episodes #7, if he had heard of this school and the research and he had.  He let me know that Naperville is about 20 minutes from him and he said “I have based interventions with several schools off the research and found MTSS interventions to have the strongest effect after PE.”
I emailed Dr. Ratey immediately (it was late in the evening) and asked if he would come on the podcast as a guest, and he responded right away and agreed to set up our interview. His book Spark was about cementing the idea that “exercise has a profound impact on cognitive abilities and mental health. It is simply one of the best treatments we have for most psychiatric problems.”[v] I couldn’t have been more excited about speaking with him.
Well, I could, and I was! When I began reading his most recent book, Go Wild: Eat fat, Run Free, Be Social, and Follow Evolution’s Other Rules for Total Health and Well-Being[vi] I almost dropped my phone when I read the last page of his Foreword, when I learned that it was written by Dr. David Perlmutter[vii], whose Alzheimer’s The Science of Prevention Series[viii] inspired our podcast to take a turn towards health and wellness last summer.
Let’s hear from Dr. Ratey!
Welcome Dr. Ratey, thank you for taking the time to speak with me today.
Q1: Before we get to the questions I have for you on your book Spark, and the impact that exercise has on our cognitive abilities, I read in your book Go Wild, that a chance meeting changed the direction of your life. Who did you meet that had such an incredible impact on your life and direction of your work?
Q2: When I think of the title of your book, Go Wild, and began reading it, I began to think of how we have evolved like you mention in chapter 1 as humans 1.0. One of my recent podcast interviews #113 was with Troy Busot[ix], who spoke a lot about endurance running. As a new runner, just starting out, it shocks me that I can run up and down a mountain (over 5 miles) easily but tell me to run 2 miles on the street, and it almost kills me. What would you say?  Does my friend Troy find running long distances easy because he has conditioned himself for it, or are certain people “not made for running?” What does the research say?
Q3: What’s happening at the brain level to help me to think better after I exercise?
Q3B: What does your routine look like, Dr. Ratey, after all of the research you have done?
Q4: Chapter 3 of your book, “Food: Follow the Carbs” with a case study of Mary Beth Stutzman, caught my attention, because her story, although far worse than mine, reminded me of when I was at a standstill with my health (around 2016) and a trip to the ER with stomach pain, led me to a colonoscopy, to look for some answers about exactly what diet should I be eating.  I talk about some of the solutions I found with intermittent fasting and eating a higher fat diet on episode #94 with fitness model and trainer Jason Wittrock[x] but can you explain what is “the disease of civilization” that each of us suffers from in one way or another, and what are some of the solutions that you have seen to work when it comes to diet and nutrition? What should we be eating and what food should we avoid?
Q5: I love how we have someone to blame for what you call “fat-o-phobia” and knowing our cholesterol numbers—you mention Ancel Keys from the University of Minnesota who did some studies that focused on fat and cholesterol, bringing to light that we should avoid fats like the plague. I don’t even know where my fear of butter came from, but it was a huge paradigm shift for me when I made the mental shift away from the fat that eating fats is bad for you. Can you explain why someone can get lean, and feel a surge of energy on a higher fat diet vs one that’s high carb/or sugar that makes someone feel sluggish?  What’s the lesson we should all understand with carbs/sugar/insulin and fat?
Q6: We are getting closer now to bringing in the impacts of exercise on the brain, and its effect on cognition and mental health, but I’ve got one more question that ties what we eat, to how we feel and our mental well-being. In the book Spark, you mention brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) as “Miracle Gro for the Brain” and its importance for brain health. How does nutrition, or what we choose to eat, have such a profound effect on BDNF and become so important for brain health?
Q7: So now we move to the impact that exercise has on the brain and cognition, or the whole reason why I couldn’t put your book, Spark, down, and I have to say, that when I read you say that a school in Chicago, Naperville, ignited a “spark” in you, to write the book, my attention was caught. I wondered, what did Dr. Ratey learn from this school, and perhaps I was onto something when I used to make my behavioral students run around the building, to bring their focus back on track, in the late 90s, when I was a teacher in the classroom. How does aerobic activity transform the body, and the mind? What in a nutshell did you learn from Naperville’s Zero Hour PE Class?
Q8: Where is your focus now? What are you researching at the moment? What is your vision for change in the future?
Thank you very much Dr. Ratey for the time you have taken to speak with me about your books, and years of research. If people want to learn more about you, what’s the best way? www.JohnRatey.com?
https://www.facebook.com/JohnRateyMD
http://www.sparkinglife.org/ Power Your Brain Through Exercise 
RESOURCES
Run, Jump, Learn! How Exercise Can Transform Our Schools: John J Ratey at TEDxManhattanBeach Published on YouTube Nov. 18, 2012 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hBSVZdTQmDs&t=4s
How to Increase BDNF: 10 Ways to Rescue Your Brain (Sept. 17, 2020) https://strongcoffeecompany.com/blogs/strong-words/how-to-increase-bdnf-10-ways-to-rescue-your-brain
One Small Change Turned These 19,000 Students into the Fittest and Smartest in the US by Alan Freishtat, August 9, 2012  https://www.ou.org/life/health/one-small-change-turned-these-19000-students-into-fittest-smartest-us-alan-freishtat/
Learning Readiness PE with Paul Zientarski  https://learningreadinesspe.com/
7 Minute Workout App (J&J Official 7 Minute Workout)  https://7minuteworkout.jnj.com/  
RESOURCES:
ADHD 2.0: New Science and Essential Strategies for Thriving with Distraction by John J Ratey, MD and  Edward Hallowell MD (Jan. 12, 2021) https://www.amazon.com/ADHD-2-0-Essential-Strategies-Distraction/dp/0399178732
Delivered from Distraction: Getting the Most Out of Life with ADHD by Edward M Hallowell and John Ratey (December 27, 2005)  (https://www.amazon.com/Delivered-Distraction-Getting-Attention-Disorder-ebook/dp/B000FCKLWK/ref=sr_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=ratey&qid=1616618626&sr=8-3
These 2 Habits Can Help You Live Longer, Says Bulletproof Coffee Creator (who plans to live to 180) by Jade Scipioni November 20, 2019 https://www.cnbc.com/2019/11/20/bulletproof-coffee-founder-dave-asprey-how-to-live-longer.html
https://www.bulletproof.com/
Neuroplasticity—Why You Should Care About Your BDNF by Jurie Rossouw https://home.hellodriven.com/neuroplasticity-bdnf-resilience.html
Michael Pollen’s Food Rules https://www.glutenfreegal.com/michael-pollans-food-rules/
Remembering P.E. Advocate Phil Lawler by Michael Popke April 2010 https://www.athleticbusiness.com/people/remembering-p-e-advocate-phil-lawler.html
Learning Readiness PE with Dr. Paul Zientarski https://learningreadinesspe.com/
REFERENCES:
[i] http://www.johnratey.com/
[ii] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #87 with Andrea Samadi on “The Top 5 Brain Health and Alzheimer’s Prevention Strategies”  https://www.achieveit360.com/the-top-5-brain-health-and-alzheimers-prevention-strategies-with-andrea-samadi/
[iii] Anna Alba’s Thriving Parents, Happy Student Summit https://thrivingstudents-happyparents.com/
[iv] Enhancing P.E. in Illinois: Naperville Central High School, September 2013 Case Study https://iphionline.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/P.E._Case_Study_Naperville.pdf
[v] Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain by John J. Ratey, MD (January 10, 2008) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07D7GQ887/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1
[vi] Go Wild: Eat fat, Run Free, Be Social, and Follow Evolution’s Other Rules for Total Health and Well-Being by John J. Ratey, MD and Richard Manning (June 3, 2014) https://www.amazon.com/Go-Wild-Free-Afflictions-Civilization-ebook/dp/B00FPQA66C
[vii] https://www.drperlmutter.com/about/bio/
[viii] Dr. David Perlmutter’s Science of Prevention Series https://www.drperlmutter.com/alzheimers-the-science-of-prevention-2020-air-dates/
[ix] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #113 with Troy Busot on “Launching a Successful Business, Health and Chasing 50” https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/founder-of-athlinks-troy-busot-on-launching-a-successful-business-health-and-chasing-50/
[x] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning EPISODE #94 with Jason Wittrock on “Nutrition, Intermittent Fasting, Nutrition and the Ketogenic Diet” https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/personal-trainer-and-fitness-model-jason-wittrock-on-health-nutrition-intermittent-fasting-and-the-ketogenic-diet/

Denise Cooper on 30 Years of Executive Level Talent Development with "Remarkable Leadership Lessons"

Welcome back to the Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #115, with Denise Cooper[i], the author of the book, Remarkable Leadership Lessons[ii], with 30 Years of executive level Talent Development experience.
Watch the interview on YouTube here.
On this episode you will learn:
✔︎ After 30 years of teaching leadership to executives, what are the most important lessons that we should all know and practice?
✔︎ How can leaders incorporate social and emotional skills into the workplace to improve communication with their team?
✔︎ How can we ensure that all team members hold the same vision?
✔︎ How can we help diverse groups to feel included and help them to step to their next level?
✔︎ How can behavior change happen within an organization? What are the best ways to introduce new ideas for change?
✔︎ Why is collaborative thinking such an important problem-solving skill?
Hello and Welcome back! I’m Andrea Samadi, a former educator who has been fascinated with learning the science behind high performance strategies in schools, sports and the workplace, for the past 20 plus years. I can’t tell you how much I’m looking forward to introducing you to Denise Cooper. When I first was introduced to Denise, it was through email, and I took one look at her media kit, and wrote back immediately (within seconds) to her team that I would love to speak with her. I didn’t need an intro phone call to know that Denise Cooper exuded leadership. We set up a call anyway, and I learned so much from our chat together.
Denise
Serves corporate clients of large, midsize, and smaller companies
Coaches senior level executives to continue to succeed in a new or different role
Assists high performers struggling with a new scope of responsibility
Helps companies develop new leadership strategies during times of management, performance, structural, or business change
Works with individuals, departments, or management teams to enable them simply to perform better
Through one-on-one coaching, structured leadership training, coursework, team or group workshops, or tailor-made curricula, Denise guides companies and individuals to elevate their game and maximize their company's performance.
A review of her book says it all- “Her book answers the hard questions we all ask ourselves in our careers. How do I influence others? How do I get my colleagues to respect me? How do I present with confidence, even if I don't feel it? No one in my life has given me these answers, which makes this book worth its weight in gold to me.”
During these times of change, I don’t know anyone who wouldn’t benefit from hearing what Denise has to say. I will create some questions for her, so you can dig a bit deeper into her book, trainings and coursework to help shift your mindset to possibility thinking, and perhaps some breakthroughs of your own.
Be sure to look in the show notes for the link to her Masterclass that begins May 17th called “Change Terrifies Us” and without further ado, here’s Denise Cooper.
Welcome Denise, thank you for coming on the podcast today to share your knowledge and expertise in the field of leadership, at a time when everyone could do with a refresher course on communication, or thinking differently to hit those breakthroughs we all are looking for.
Q1:  Denise, when we first spoke, you mentioned where your work began in the area of leadership. Whether we are leading team in the corporate world, working as a school admin, or superintendent, or even leading ourselves in business, what are some of the most important leadership lessons from your book that we should all know about to become better leaders? (leadership is more about you than the other person).
Q2: In section 1 of your book, you talk about becoming a Change Leader. How can a leader incorporate some of these important social and emotional skills that I’ve built this podcast on (like self-awareness—the importance of knowing ourselves, or social awareness—getting to know our team members) to create change in their organization?
2B: How do we make sure everyone on our team holds the same vision?
Q3: As we grow older, and can look back at our path, it’s interesting to see where we all started, but also recognize that there are many marginalized groups (women, people of color, the LGBT community (others I haven’t mentioned?) that have been left out of the picture. How do you help diverse groups like this to feel included, and help them to step to their next level? (I know it took me some time to gain the confidence that I knew was missing for some time as a woman in business). I know this message would help those who might feel that stepping up another level might not be for them, (like maybe they don’t belong, or it’s for someone else whose more connected or something). I know you can show them this is not the case.
Q4: Most of us has experienced a toxic work environment at some point in our career. I always offered to be on the committee for impacting change within our teams at work and was always suggesting ideas from the years of seminars and personal growth workshops I had attended prior to working the corporate space with the hopes that change would occur. I remember the look of shock on many people’s faces when I suggested some ideas that are now considered mainstream in schools and workplaces (like energy tapping or breathing techniques to reduce stress).  Where do you think self-help has gone wrong, and how do you see behavior change happening within organizations when there are clear problems?
Q5: Why is Collaborative Thinking a Leader’s best problem-solving skill?
Q6: Now that we’ve dove a bit deeper into the topic of leadership in the workplace, what would you say would be an important call to action for us all to think about?
Q7-Final Thoughts, or anything I’ve missed that you think is important?
Thank you so much Denise, for sharing 3 decades of your experience with us.
 If anyone wants to learn more about your book, leadership training and coursework, is the best place https://rllessons.com/ Denise also has a Masterclass coming up on May 17th.[iii] It is titled "Change Terrifies Us!"
https://rllessons.com/masterclass/
Attendees will learn how to overcome fear and build a thriving culture through collective ownership, focus, and measuring the cycles of change. You can access the link to this class in the show notes.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/denisecooper/ LinkedIn
https://www.facebook.com/CoachDJCooper/ Facebook
RESOURCES:
Tina Turner https://nypost.com/2021/03/16/tina-turner-says-goodbye-to-fans-with-doc-amid-ptsd-stroke-cancer/
Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #66 with the Legendary Bob Proctor https://www.achieveit360.com/the-legendary-bob-proctor-on-social-and-emotional-learning-where-it-all-started/
REFERENCES:
[i] https://www.denisecooperinc.com/about-denise-cooper
[ii] Remarkable Leadership Lessons: Change Results One Conversation at a Time by Denise Cooper https://www.amazon.com/Remarkable-Leadership-Lessons-Results-Conversation-ebook/dp/B08QXGQT31
[iii] May 17th Masterclass https://rllessons.com/masterclass/

Brain Fact Friday on "Building a Faster, Stronger, Resilient Brain, by Understanding Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF)"

Welcome back to the Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast, for our third Brain Fact Friday and episode #114.
This week's Brain Fact Friday, you will learn:✔︎ What is BDNF (brain-derived neurotrophic factor) and what are it's benefits to the brain.✔︎ What we should all understand about BDNF with Alzheimer's Disease, Parkinson's Disease and how our brains learn.✔︎ Exercise, Nutrition and BDNF: What's the Connection?✔︎ Why Putting the Body Under Stress is a Good Thing.✔︎ Sleep, Stress and the BDNF Factor.See past episodes here https://lnkd.in/grfaE7y
 
This week, we recorded 2 ground-breaking interviews with 3 decades of leadership expertise with Denise J Cooper on her book, Remarkable Leadership Lessons[i], and Dr. John Ratey,[ii] an Associate Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and an internationally recognized expert in Neuropsychiatry. Stay tuned for these interviews coming next week, but for today, here’s Brain Fact Friday.
Did you know that trace brain-derived neurotrophic factor or BDNF[iii]  that Dr. Ratey says is like “Miracle-Gro (or fertilizer) for the Brain” is “the important link that explains why simple exercise can have such a profound effect on cognition and well-being[iv] and that “eating foods with folate, vitamin B12, and omega-3 fats increases BDNF in the brain, just as exercise does?”
Dr. Ratey and I dive deep into his 2 books Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain[v], and Go Wild: Eat Fat, Run Free, Be Social and Follow Evolution’s Other Rules for Total Health and Well-Being on our interview coming next week where he explains the importance of BDNF as it relates to diet and exercise (which are 2 of the top 5 health staples we have been focused on the podcast since last year). His book does dive deep into sleep as a health staple, but that’s another story.  We will take a closer look at sleep in a later episode.
But First, What is BDNF?
Brain Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF)[vi] is a protein that’s found in the brain and other parts of the body “involved in plastic changes related to learning and memory [vii] and higher-level cognitive abilities. This signaling protein is the reason why you can sit at your desk with a heightened sense of focus and concentration, after you exercise. Dr. Ratey taught me that “movement places demands on the brain, just as it does on muscle, and so the brain releases BDNF which triggers the growth of cells to meet the increased mental demands of movement”[viii] and the whole brain benefits from this movement.
THE BENEFITS OF BDNF
BDNF helps with learning, memory, or other higher-level thinking.
It grows new neurons and synapses in the brain while also supporting the survival of existing neurons.
It increases neurogenesis and can help to heal our brain after a traumatic brain injury.[ix]
WHAT WE SHOULD KNOW AND UNDERSTAND ABOUT BDNF?
BDNF is reduced in the brain of someone who has developed Alzheimer’s Disease[x] and Parkinson’s Disease[xi] and explains why someone with Alzheimer’s has their memory weakened.
BDNF is involved in how long it takes us to learn something[xii]. A child’s rate of learning is higher than an adult, because of their highly plastic brain. This explains why learning a second language is much easier when you are younger, versus trying to learn a new language as an adult.
HERE ARE SOME TIPS TO INCREASE BDNF TO BUILD A FASTER, BETTER, STRONGER BRAIN, WHILE IMPROVING RESILIENCE AND RESISTANCE TO STRESS.
Exercise and Nutrition releases BDNF:
Dr. Ratey, in his book Go Wild explains that researchers were looking at ways to prevent the aging brain and found that “seniors who exercised developed significantly larger hippocampal volumes (the part of the brain responsible for memory processing) improving their memory.”[xiii]  They found that exercise also “prevented a loss of grey matter overall (which is common in aging) and improved brain function.” (Page 107). Since we are all aging, it makes sense to me that this research is relevant to all of us, not just the aging brain, proving again, of the importance of Exercise and Nutrition as one of the health staples we should all be aware of.
Hormesis or Putting the Body Under Stress releases BDNF:
Fitness expert Thomas Delauer talks about fasting and the ketogenic diet as another way to increase BDNF.[xiv] Delauer explains the importance of this protein to the development of our brain, and that BDNF doesn’t just grow new neurons and synapses, but it protects existing neurons. Whenever we put our body under stress, like during fasting, or exercising, or even think about when you go into the heat in a sauna, BDNF upregulates as a result.  This is known as hormesis- the process by which a mild or acute stressor increases resistance to other stressors and increases the health, vitality and resilience of that organism. (Ari Whitten).  The body realizes it needs to increase BDNF to protect it, proving again, that exercise, and intermittent fasting, are important health staples.
Controlling Stress, Improving Sleep and Raise Your BDNF levels.
Getting enough sleep (at least 7-8 hours) should be on our list as a top 5 health staples that we’ve been talking about for so long on this podcast. When we add in the fact that research shows that obesity, insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes (that Dr. Perlmutter proved to be the precursor for Alzheimer’s disease), it’s clear that this should be a priority for all of us. If you have never measured your sleep to see exactly how much you are getting, I highly suggest starting to do this. It will shock you when you start to see how much sleep you are actually getting. I have been testing the Fisher Wallace medical device from episode #108[xv] for the past 18 days to see if it can improve the amount and quality of sleep I am getting. I will be testing this device for the rest of the month, and will share the results, but I can tell you right now that I saw and felt a difference after day 1 of using this device. If you are not getting enough sleep, or are stressed, it will show up in your brain, and with your BDNF levels.[xvi]
Remember “That Which Does Not Kill Us, Makes Us Stronger” (Friedrich Nietzsche)
Our bodies and brains are designed to release the chemicals needed to keep us healthy, but we must put ourselves in the right environment for this to occur. This episode goes right back to the 5 health staples[xvii] that we reviewed last December and is an excellent reminder of the importance of putting our health and well-being first. Our lives kind of depend on it.
I hope you’ve enjoyed this Brain Fact Friday, and some quick tips on the importance of the protein BDNF for building a better brain, while improving our resilience. Stay tuned for EPISODE #115 with Denise Cooper on Remarkable Leadership Lessons, and #116 with Dr. Ratey where we dive deep into the benefits of exercise and nutrition and the brain. See you next week.
RESOURCES:
140+ Natural Ways to Increase Brain Derived Neurotrophic Factor https://mybiohack.com/blog/how-to-increase-bdnf-brain-derived-neurotropic-factor#basics
How Exercise Reprograms the Brain Nov. 1, 2018 by Ashley Yeager https://www.the-scientist.com/features/this-is-your-brain-on-exercise-64934
Ari Whitten https://www.theenergyblueprint.com/  
REFERENCES:
[i] Denise J Cooper https://rllessons.com/
[ii] http://www.johnratey.com/
[iii] How to Increase BDNF: 10 Ways to Rescue Your Brain (Sept. 17, 2020) https://strongcoffeecompany.com/blogs/strong-words/how-to-increase-bdnf-10-ways-to-rescue-your-brain
[iv] Go Wild: Eat fat, Run Free, Be Social, and Follow Evolution’s Other Rules for Total Health and Well-Being by John J. Ratey, MD and Richard Manning (June 3, 2014) https://www.amazon.com/Go-Wild-Free-Afflictions-Civilization-ebook/dp/B00FPQA66C
[v] Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain by John J. Ratey, MD (January 10, 2008) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07D7GQ887/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1
[vi] Understanding BDNF and its Importance to Brain Health Published on YouTube April 10, 2018 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YU9kviOMQy0
[vii] Brain Derived Neurotrophic Factor: A Key Molecule for Memory in the Healthy and Pathological Brain (August 07, 2019) by Magdalena Miranda, Juan Facundo Morici, Maria Belen Zanoni, and Pedro Bekinschtein https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fncel.2019.00363/full
[viii] Go Wild: Eat fat, Run Free, Be Social, and Follow Evolution’s Other Rules for Total Health and Well-Being by John J. Ratey, MD and Richard Manning (June 3, 2014) Page 103 https://www.amazon.com/Go-Wild-Free-Afflictions-Civilization-ebook/dp/B00FPQA66C  
[ix] Therapeutic potential of BDNF Published Jan. 2017 by Mary Wurzelmann, Jennifer Romeika, Dong Sun https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28250730/
[x] BDNF ameliorates learning deficits in a rat model of Alzheimer’s https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25849905/
[xi] Relationship of circulatory BDNF with cognitive deficits in people with Parkinson’s disease
[xii] Understanding BDNF and its Importance to Brain Health Published on YouTube April 10, 2018 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YU9kviOMQy0
[xiii] Go Wild: Eat Fat, Run Free, Be Social, and Follow Evolution’s Other Rules for Total Health and Well-Being by John J Ratey, MD and Richard Manning (June 3, 2014) https://www.amazon.com/Go-Wild-Free-Afflictions-Civilization-ebook/dp/B00FPQA66C
[xiv] What is BDNF? It’s like fertilizer for the brain. Uploaded to YouTube May 14, 2019 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tvBlHgGL8ew
[xv] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #108 with Kelly Roman from Fisher Wallace Labs on “Wearable Medical Devices for Anxiety, Depression, and Sleep/Stress Management.” https://www.achieveit360.com/ceo-of-fisher-wallace-laboratories-kelly-roman-on-wearable-medical-devices-for-anxiety-depression-and-sleep-stress-management/
[xvi] The Link Between Sleep, Stress and BDNF April 2017 by Karen Eckert, J Beck, S Brand, U Hemmeter, M Hatzinger, E Holsboer-Trachsler https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0924933817324033
[xvii] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast BONUS EPISODE Dec. 2020 with Andrea Samadi on “A Deep Dive into the Top 5 Health Staples and Review of Seasons 1-4) https://www.achieveit360.com/bonus-episode-a-deep-dive-into-the-top-5-health-staples-and-review-of-seasons-1-4/

Founder of Athlinks, Troy Busot on "Launching a Successful Business, Health and Chasing 50"

Welcome back to the Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #113, with Troy Busot, the Founder of Athlinks[i], the world’s largest racing database with a mission of making it easier for people to race more often and have more fun in the process.
Watch this interview on YouTube here.
With this episode, you will learn:
How Troy Busot, the founder of Athlinks.com helped Andrea to launch her business 10 years ago.
How Troy took an idea, and created the world's largest racing database.
The Secret to launching a business, or any idea.
The importance of failing fast, identifying and fixing deficiencies.
Hello and Welcome back! I’m Andrea Samadi, a former educator who has been fascinated with learning the science behind high performance strategies in schools, sports and the workplace, for the past 20 plus years.  Our initial goal with this podcast was to close the gap recent surveys show exists in our workforce where 58 percent of employers say college graduates aren’t adequately prepared for today’s workforce, with a particular gap in social and emotional skills. Research shows that social-emotional skills like social awareness, self-regulation, and growth mindset (the skills that we covered early in the podcast episodes) are crucial to college and career readiness. The outcomes of developing these intelligences are vast as they impact our performance, leadership, personal excellence, time management, and decision-making.
And if you have been listening to our podcast for some time, you will know that we’ve uncovered that if we want to improve our social and emotional skills, and experience success in our work and personal lives, it all begins with putting our brain health first. We’ve mentioned that daily exercise is one of the top 5 health staples that’s a known brain-health and Alzheimer’s prevention strategy, from our episode #87[ii]  helping us to take our results, productivity and health to these higher levels. Our guest today, Troy Busot, has always impressed me by the way that he and his family took their health and fitness seriously, and his dedication to his health, spilled over into his work life, as a successful entrepreneur. He’s my old neighbor—his family used to live directly across the street from me, but they moved to another state, and now like many of us, we stay in touch via social media where we recently connected on some of his latest missions and to brainstorm ideas with our podcasts. Not only is Troy the CEO of Athlinks.com, but he also runs the Athlinks Podcast, a high-quality podcast that features interviews with athletes around the world as they prepare for events.  I will tell you more about Troy, the company he founded, his podcast, and how he gave me that push that I needed to launch my business, achieveit360.com over 10 years ago, but first, let me tell you about what he invented.
He’s the founder of Athlinks--the best way to track all of your race results in one place.
Basically it’s a Results Database for those who compete in races.
Each year, over 40 million athletes in the U.S. cross a finish line at an endurance event, but with the recent Pandemic, these numbers have been reduced to under 10 million, but you get the picture. There’s a lot of people who train long and hard, pushing themselves to these higher limits. For most people, it's not about the medals. It's about the results. It's about getting better each race - going faster, going farther, beating a rival, or lifting up a loved one. It’s about the hours, minutes, and seconds scribbled on the back of a race bib or on a row in a spreadsheet.
Athlinks (or my old neighbor Troy) set out to make capturing those rewards as simple as typing your name into a search box. This was his idea, and he’s the mastermind behind this company, who pulls in times for running races, triathlon, swimming, cycling, mountain biking ... pretty much any timed endurance sport that you can think of - if they can find the results, they will add them to the database and link them to their members' accounts.
So how did Troy help me to launch my business idea? I realized that after producing 113 episodes of the podcast now, I haven’t done one episode on exactly what we do at Achieveit360.com. If you ever make it to the end of our episode, you’ll hear the trailer telling you to go there, and you will find books, and tools for schools and the workplace. I will do another episode explaining where we began with our work, and where we are going now with our workshops to help you integrate the simple neuroscience into your school or workplace. Stay tuned for that.
But first, let’s go back to 2012/13. This was a year before I partnered with AZ Department of Education with the Character and Leadership program, Level Up, that you can see through my website, making my first huge step forward towards the vision I had for making an impact with education, character, SEL and leadership. The vision that began when I worked with Bob Proctor seminars in the late 1990s, when I watched him change the lives of 12 teens in a matter of months with topics that mirrored what we now know to be called Social and Emotional Learning.
Troy was and I’d say still is a very serious businessman. He was always working on something, not much time wasting going on when I saw him.  But he would always say in passing, “If you ever want me to come over, and brainstorm where you are with your business, and where you want to go, I’d be happy to do that” and when he offered, he said it with a serious tone, that made me realize he wanted to help, and I knew he meant it. He didn’t mean, “Hey, we are kicking back and chilling out, come and join us, and throw out your ideas.” He meant business, and had this look in his eye that he knew I needed some direction.
At the time I was taking all of the content I had created, and was putting it online, creating an online portal www.achieveit360.org where you can see our courses for students and educators. I was working with a young kid out of Chicago, whose not a young kid anymore, but back then he was teaching me how to create a website, to code, and everything I needed to know about the online world, and he was a high school student at the time. Once I had my content online, I was ready.  So one day I said to Troy, “I’d love to take you up on that brainstorming session” and it was the end of the year when many people were in the middle of their holiday celebrations, and he asked “What are you doing on New Year’s Eve?”  I almost laughed out loud, because EVERY New Year that I can remember, was always focused on planning and firming up the following year, not going to parties or fancy dinners. It’s always been a time to reflect, gather new ideas, and “Sharpen the Saw” for the New Year, so I wasn’t surprised that the founder of Athlinks was doing exactly the same thing.
Troy came over after dinner time, and we sat at my dining room table and brainstormed some ideas of the vision I saw, where I was starting from and where I wanted to go. Troy offered some ideas, but the most valuable information I remember, was some of the leaders he told me to follow. He said “You have got to follow and read Gary Vee’s book Crush It[iii]” and I did, and it really helped me to create the work ethic that I have today. It was a serious meeting, no joking around. He let me know that he has seen far too many people never start something, and he hoped that our meeting would give me a push to get moving. It did. It was shortly after this meeting that I presented my ideas to AZ Department of Education when they opened up the doors for new vendors to provide their services for a Character Education Matching Grant. We would end up being one of the preferred providers chosen for this grant that went from 2014-2020, and this is where everything began for me, working for myself, outside of the corporate world, with just an idea.
I wanted to bring Troy on the podcast because many people I know have been forced to start something new maybe because their job was eliminated, or they’ve just had some sort of shift with what they are doing, and if you were like me, I had my idea just about ready to go, and hearing from someone who had launched something successful, gave me the insight I needed get going, and learn how to quickly fail forward (which we did). I hope you find this time with Troy as helpful as I did many years ago, as he shares exactly how he launched Athlinks, and his vision for the future. Here’s Troy Busot!
Welcome Troy! Thank you so much for coming on the podcast today, and also for helping me to launch my business almost 10 years ago. I don’t remember exactly when it was, but it was before I had partnered with AZ Department of Education in 2014.  I’m just curious, what do you remember about coming over to the house that day?
Q1: Getting back to your work Troy, where did your vision for starting Athlinks begin and how did you go from an idea, to building such a successful database that’s used by so many people?
Q2: Can you tell me more about the programs and services that you offer through Athlinks? Other than a database, what is there?
Q3: I haven’t raced since I used to do these mini triathlons back in Toronto when I was a lifeguard, so I know there’s no information next to my name, but some of my high school friends are avid racers.  How can they use the info in Athlinks to help them?
Q4: We’ve been friends for years, but I just started to notice you posting on Instagram about something you’re doing called 50 Chasing 50. I had no idea we were both chasing 50, but now I know! What month are you turning 50?
Q4B) I also know that putting health first has been a huge mission of mine, especially as we uncovered that Exercise is one of the top 5 health staples and Alzheimer’s Prevention strategies. I don’t know anyone chasing 50 who doesn’t want to arrive there healthy. What exactly is 50 Chasing 50?
Q5: You’ve launched a successful business, sold it, and the last time we spoke, you mentioned that you had your eye on another vision. That’s the entrepreneurial bug at work, I recognize it! After 50, what’s your vision for yourself?
Q6: Anything I have missed? Final thoughts?
Thank you very much Troy first of all, for offering your time, ideas and suggestions that launched my business Achieveit360.com in the early days, and for coming on the podcast to share your vision with our listeners. I’m so grateful that we met and have remained friends. Looking forward to learning more about 50 Chasing 50, and watching your success well beyond this next milestone. Thanks Troy.
 
If anyone wants to reach you to learn more about your next phase/what’s the best place to connect to you?  https://www.instagram.com/troybusot/
RESOURCES:
https://www.leadvilleraceseries.com/
https://worldsmarathons.com/marathon/silver-rush-50-run
Athlinks Podcast https://blog.athlinks.com/2020/12/29/podcast-episode-20-jeff-tkach-rodale-institute-on-regenerative-organic-farming/
REFERENCES:
[i] https://www.athlinks.com/about
[ii] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #87 with Andrea Samadi on “The Top 5 Brain Health and Alzheimer’s Prevention Strategies”  https://www.achieveit360.com/the-top-5-brain-health-and-alzheimers-prevention-strategies-with-andrea-samadi/
[iii] Crush It by Gary Vaynerchuk (Sept. 25, 2009)  https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0029ZA3H4/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1

Brain Fact Friday on "Training Your Brain to Self-Regulate Automatic Negative Thoughts and Emotions"

Welcome back to the Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast, for our second Brain Fact Friday! When we recorded episode #109[i] we announced we would be pulling out an important Brain Fact every Friday to dive deep into some of the brain-based strategies we are offering in each episode, so we can be sure to implement these important concepts in our schools, workplaces and lives.
BRAIN FACT: Here’s our Brain Fact for this week from Horacio Sanchez, who we had an insightful interview with for Episode #111[ii] on his new book “Finding Solutions to the Poverty Problem.”
“Did you know that when we engage in inner speech, all the mechanisms of outer speech and the auditory process activate in the brain. Therefore, what we say to ourselves is just like hearing it said by someone else to us. Inform students (and ourselves) that inner speech can build them up or destroy them.” (Horacio Sanchez)[iii]
I brought up the damaging effects of Automatic Negative Thinking on one of our early episodes, #14 on Self-Regulation[iv]. The skill of managing our thoughts, emotions and behavior comes under the competency of self-regulation (one of the 6 social and emotional learning competencies that we covered in the beginning episodes of this podcast).
What is Self-Regulation and Why is it So Important? 
It’s “the ability to manage your emotions and behavior in accordance with the demands of the situation. It includes being able to resist highly emotional reactions to upsetting stimuli, to calm yourself down when you get upset, adjust to a change in expectations and (the ability) to handle frustration”[v] In other words, it’s the ability to bounce back after a setback or disappointment, and the ability to stay in congruence with your inner value system. 
Using Self-Regulation to Manage Negative Thinking in the Workplace
I’ve got to say, this topic has come up recently as stress in the workplace is at an all-time high. Things are going to happen on a day to basis that you might not like, and you might have the urge to say every negative thought in your head, out loud, in the heat of the moment, to get your point across. Then, we could spend the rest of the day brewing over the incident and playing the negative thoughts over and over again. We must have a strategy to stop them from ruminating or continuing in a loop, since we know that switching off these negative thoughts is an important step towards self-regulation, moving forward and preventing further problems. Besides, Horacio’s quote tells us that this type of negative thinking can destroy us.
An effective strategy used in cognitive behavioral therapy[vi] is to say the word “SWITCH” in your head as you focus on switching the negative emotion that you feel to something more positive. This takes some practice, that’s for sure. I’ve always used the strategy of saying “STOP” when this happens and changing the thought pattern in my head to something more productive.
Also, remembering to RESPOND to situations with questions to dig deeper, and learn more, instead of REACTING with emotion is always a better solution.
When difficult situations arise, we have three choices. We can approach (by asking questions), avoid, or attack.[vii] The best results obviously occur when we are able to respond to a situation (approaching it with understanding) rather than react (by avoidance or attack) by asking questions to uncover more and see if there might be something we are missing or some sort of miscommunication that could explain the conflict. We always have a choice on how we respond to situations. The research is clear that mindfulness and meditation can help increase the gap between a stimulus and our response to it, so those who have developed their own practice, will find making this choice to respond vs react, much easier.[viii]
How to Teach Self-Regulation to Our Children or Students?
The ability to control one's behavior, emotions, and thoughts is an integral skill to be taught to young children as well, so they can form and maintain healthy relationships and connections later in life.[ix] This skill is crucial to develop as we all know that life is full of ups and downs and we must be able to navigate through challenging situations before we can reach any level of achievement and success. We all know people who seem to bounce back after adversity. It’s not by luck or chance, it’s because they have learned how to self-regulate and intentionally get back on course. This is a learned skill and one that we must teach or model to our students/children for them to be able to master it as adults.
Why is This Such an Important Skill?
 Horacio Sanchez’s brain fact says it all. If we don’t teach children (or ourselves) a strategy to stop automatic negative thoughts, or ways to respond instead of react to distressing situations, our brain will hear these thoughts, and think they are true. We all know of the impact of negative thinking on our results. Our inner speech has the ability to build us up or destroy us.   
“Keep my words positive. Words become my behaviors. Keep my behaviors positive. Behaviors become my habits. Keep my habits positive. Habits become my values. Keep my values positive. Values become my destiny.” (Mahatma Gandhi)
I hope you have enjoyed our second episode of Brain Fact Friday! Stay tuned for episode #112 next week with Troy Busot, the founder of Athlinks.com[x] on “Health, Chasing 50, and The Secrets to Launching a Successful Business.”
RESOURCES:
Your Brain Can Be Trained to Self-Regulate Negative Thinking January 10, 2016 by Christopher Bergland-The Athlete’s Way  https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-athletes-way/201601/your-brain-can-be-trained-self-regulate-negative-thinking?amp
ANTS Workbook Grades 1-12 https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Automatic-Negative-Thoughts-ANTs-Workbook-1103094
REFERENCES:
[i] Neuroscience Meets SEL Podcast Episode #109 with Andrea Samadi https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/achieving-quantum-leap-results-using-price-pritchetts-you-squared-principles/
[ii] Neuroscience Meets SEL Podcast Episode #11 with Horacio Sanchez on “Finding Solutions to The Poverty Problem” https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/resiliency-expert-and-author-horacio-sanchez-on-finding-solutions-to-the-poverty-problem/
[iii] Horacio Sanchez on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/posts/hsanchezceo_neuroscience-education-activity-6770706945264386048-BDCn
[iv] Neuroscience Meets SEL Episode #14 with Andrea Samadi on “Self-Regulation: The Foundational Learning Skill for Future Success” https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/self-regulation-the-foundational-learning-skill-for-future-success/
[v] Edutopia article “Teaching Self-Regulation by Modeling” (January, 2019) https://www.edutopia.org/video/teaching-self-regulation-modeling
[vi] What is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy with Therapist Kati Morton YouTube uploaded Sept. 23, 2013 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7B3n9jobus
[vii] How to Practice Self-Regulation https://www.verywellmind.com/how-you-can-practice-self-regulation-4163536
[viii] Mindfulness, Meditation and Executive Control https://academic.oup.com/scan/article/8/1/85/1694475
[ix] How to Practice Self-Regulation https://www.verywellmind.com/how-you-can-practice-self-regulation-4163536
[x] www.athlinks.com

Resiliency Expert and Author Horacio Sanchez on "Finding Solutions to The Poverty Problem"

Welcome back to the Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast episode #111 with our 3rd returning guest, whose interview episode #74[i] made an impact on many of our listeners (and me) as we were right in the first few months of the Pandemic. If you are new here, my name is Andrea Samadi, and I’m a former educator who created this podcast to bring the most current neuroscience research, along with high performing experts who have risen to the top of their field, with specific strategies or ideas that you can implement immediately, whether you are an educator, or in the corporate space, to take your results to the next level. If we want to improve our social, emotional and cognitive abilities, it all starts with an understanding of our brain. 
You can watch the interview on YouTube here. 
Going back to today’s guest and our first interview—while many of my questions for our guest,  on episode #74 were focused on Horacio Sanchez’s, book The Education Revolution [ii]published by Corwin Press, that addresses the decline in empathy, increase in obesity, and the impact of implicit bias on minority students, our conversation turned to focus on the problems we were seeing in the world at that moment (July 2020) highlighting the need for racial change through an understanding of race and culture. I knew that Horacio was deep into his next book, The Poverty Problem: How Education Can Promote Resilience and Counter Poverty's Impact on Brain Development but had not read it, nor made the connection between this book, the implicit biases that we all have, how to understand where they originated from in order to self-correct them and where to even begin to make these changes. If you have not yet watched our first interview, I recommend reviewing it before this one.[iii]
A Bit About Horacio
Horacio Sanchez who is recognized as one of the nation’s prominent experts on promoting student resiliency and applying brain science to improve school outcomes as they relate to diverse topics such as overcoming the impact of poverty, improving school climate, engaging in brain-based instruction, and addressing issues related to implicit bias. His new book was just released in January of this year, The Poverty Problem: How Education Can Promote Resilience and Counter Poverty's Impact on Brain Development and Functioning.[iv] If you follow Horacio on Twitter @ResiliencyInc, you will see the excitement this book is creating with educators around the country who are receiving their books, attending his trainings and learning how to Improve outcomes for students in poverty by understanding their developing brains.
I highly recommend following Horacio on LinkedIn, as he has a daily brain tip where he shares brain tips and how they are relevant for student learning.
Horacio’s new book covers how economic hardship is changing our students’ brain structures at a genetic level, producing psychological, behavioral, and cognitive issues that dramatically impact learning, behavior, physical health, and emotional stability. But there is hope. He offers solutions that will change minds, attitudes, and behaviors. You will learn about how problems develop between people of different races, how the brain develops in persistent poverty, and how it might react to solutions.
In addition:
The lack of culturally competent instruction and its impact on students of color
Poverty's effect on language development and how it can be positively influenced
The importance of reading
How to counteract the effects of the widespread stress in lower SES environments
Remember: “Children make up 23% of the U.S. population and account for almost 33% of those living in poverty, making the education system our most distressed institution. In The Poverty Problem, you’ll learn how to increase students’ perseverance and confidence and positively impact outcomes by arming yourself with research-based instructional strategies that are inspiring, realistic, and proven to work.”
Welcome back Horacio, it’s wonderful to see you again, even though I feel like we have kept in touch since last July through other projects, social media, and I’m always learning something from your posts on LinkedIn. Thanks so much for coming back on the podcast to talk about your new book, The Poverty Problem.
Q1: Horacio, it seems we were just getting started as we ended our last interview, with our discussion on the change needed to take place in or educational system as it relates to the lack of culturally competent instruction and its impact on students of color. We talked about this, with some ideas of change, and wonder what do you think needs to happen for these changes to take place with clear, science-based strategies for these changes?
Q1B: Why did you call the book The Poverty Problem vs The Poverty Solution?
Q2: What about poverty’s impact on our brain. Can you explain how the outcome of poverty’s load compromises decision-making regardless of intellect?
2B) How can schools turn around poverty
Q3: How does poverty affect language development resulting in language processing difficulties? What are some recommendations for this?
Q4: What can be done to combat the fact that poverty leads to a negative self-image? How can we teach our children the important character skills necessary to build their own life path when they might not feel like they have a chance to begin with?
Q4B: What about growth mindset vs skill building?
Q5: We spoke about the protective risk factors in our first interview and how poverty and resiliency are so closely correlated, but can we talk about how we can build protective factors in all students with a resiliency plan?
Q5B: How do you get your children to stick to routines and still remain a positive, supportive parent vs yelling and being a stressor?
Q6? Is there anything important that I have missed?
Thank you Horacio for the time you have taken to share your work with us on this podcast. If anyone wants to learn more about your programs, books, or find you, they can go to https://www.resiliencyinc.com/
People can follow you on Linkedin https://www.linkedin.com/in/hsanchezceo/ or Twitter https://twitter.com/ResiliencyInc where I have mentioned you share valuable brain tips and how to apply them at home or in the classroom.
Your book, The Poverty Problem can be found https://us.corwin.com/en-us/nam/the-poverty-problem/book276652
BIO: Horacio Sanchez has been a teacher, administrator, clinician, mental health director, and consultant to the Department of Education in North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and other states. His diverse education and background have helped him to merge research, science, and practice which is why he has been so successful in the field of neuro education. His best-selling book, The Education Revolution published by Corwin Press, addresses the decline in empathy, increase in obesity, and the impact of implicit bias on minority students. 
RESOURCES:
A Brief Guide to Embodied Cognition: Why You are Not Your Brain by Samuel McNerney Nov. 4th, 2011 https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/guest-blog/a-brief-guide-to-embodied-cognition-why-you-are-not-your-brain/
REFERENCES:
[i] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Episode #74 with Horacio Sanchez on “How to Apply Brain Science to Improve Instruction and School Climate” https://www.achieveit360.com/leading-brain-science-and-resiliency-expert-horatio-sanchez-on-how-to-apply-brain-science-to-improve-instruction-and-school-climate/
[ii] The Education Revolution by Horacio Sanchez https://us.corwin.com/en-us/nam/the-education-revolution/book249726
[iii] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Episode #74 with Horacio Sanchez on “How to Apply Brain Science to Improve Instruction and School Climate” Published on YouTube July 27, 2020 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R57XnrSSQqw
[iv] The Poverty Problem: How Education Can Promote Resilience and Counter Poverty's Impact on Brain Development and Functioning by Horacio Sanchez (January 2021) https://us.corwin.com/en-us/nam/the-poverty-problem/book276652

Brain Fact Friday on "Using the Reticular Activating System to Set Your Intent and Achieve it!"

Welcome back to the Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast, for our very first Brain Fact Friday episode.
When we recorded episode #109[i] on “Achieving Quantum Level Results Using Price Pritchett’s You Squared Principles” we announced we would be pulling out an important Brain Fact every Friday to dive deep into some of the brain-based strategies we are offering in each episode.
I love how my good friend Samuel Holston and Kirin Goy pull out their brain tools on their podcast Brain Tools[ii] or how Lewis Howes has his 5 Minute Fridays on The School of Greatness Podcast.[iii] And I did mention one of the top strategies for taking your results to the next level is to find a mentor who is achieving outstanding results and do what they are doing—so we are following in their footsteps.
BRAIN FACT: Did you know that Giuseppe Moruzzi, from the University of Pisa, is responsible for discovering the Reticular Activating System?
What is the Reticular Activating System and How Can it Help You?
To achieve your goals, or things that you want in your life, learn how to understand and use your Reticular Activating System[iv] which is a filter in your brain that helps you to focus on the things that are important to you. If you have heard the idea that “energy flows where your attention goes” this explains why putting some focus on what you want to create in your life is so important. Be very careful of where you are putting your focus, because your RAS will help you to achieve whatever you are focused on, good or bad. There really is a power of making your environments work for you, not against you.
Tobias van Schneider explains how the Reticular Activating System (RAS) that’s a “bundle of nerves at our brainstem that filters out unnecessary information, so the important stuff gets through.”[v] He believes that the Reticular Activating System can be trained, and I agree.
Using the Reticular Activating System
So let’s apply this important brain discovery to our daily life. First, think of when you have noticed this system at work in your life.
I remember a time I met someone at an event, and I asked him what he did for a living. He said, “I’ll tell you, but then watch out, because you will never forget me, and you’ll see what I invested EVERYWHERE” and he went on the share he was one of the people responsible for the MAXON ® Liftgate you see on the back of trucks. He was right. I never forgot him, and think of him every time I see that yellow Maxon sign while driving. That’s my RAS at work.
So how do we use this part of our brain to achieve our goals? Just knowing that it’s there is a start. We have a part of our brain that helps us to filter out what we don’t need, and focus on what we do need. This is why saying your goals out loud is so important. Know what you want, say it out loud, expect it, and let your brain help you to achieve what you want. It’s really that simple.
Sorry if now you will also see the MAXON sign everywhere. This also happened to me when someone mentioned the country Botswana. I had never heard of this country at the time, but after hearing about it, for some reason, I couldn’t stop hearing about it. IT appeared on the news, in the articles I was reading, and reminded me again that what we focus on, we notice—everywhere.
 I hope you have found our first episode of Brain Fact Friday to be helpful. Stay tuned for EPISODE #111 next week with Horacio Sanchez on his new book, the Poverty Problem.[vi]
REFERENCES:
[i] Neuroscience Meets SEL Podcast Episode #109 with Andrea Samadi https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/achieving-quantum-leap-results-using-price-pritchetts-you-squared-principles/
[ii] Brain Tools Podcast with Samuel Holston and Kirun Goy https://braintools.podbean.com/
[iii] Lewis Howes School of Greatness Podcast https://lewishowes.com/sogpodcast/
[iv] What is the Reticular Activating System May 2013  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCnfAzAIhVw
[v] If You Want it, you might get it. The Reticular Activating System explained by Tobias van Schneider (June 22, 2017) https://medium.com/desk-of-van-schneider/if-you-want-it-you-might-get-it-the-reticular-activating-system-explained-761b6ac14e53
[vi] The Poverty Problem: How Education Can Promote Resilience and Counter Poverty's Impact on Brain Development and Functioning by Horacio Sanchez (January 2021) https://us.corwin.com/en-us/nam/the-poverty-problem/book276652

Achieving Quantum Leap Results Using Price Pritchett's "You Squared" Principles

Welcome back to the Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #109 with a special episode where I want to take a minute to thank anyone who has ever downloaded an episode or come on a guest to the podcast. Without you (the listener) or our guest speakers, there is no podcast, and there would be no chance that we would have hit our milestone of surpassing 50,000 downloads since our launch in June 2019.
I want to take a minute to share why hitting 50,000 downloads is such a big deal and why we couldn’t have done this on our own. It took a year and 8 months to attain this goal (that I’ve had my eye on since last summer) and if you are not a podcaster, these numbers don’t have as much meaning as those out there who create and release content and wonder—will anyone actually find what I have just created interesting, helpful and meaningful?
When starting anything new, you are building something out of nothing, and the only way to do this is to have a vision of where you are going. For me, it started with “I hope I can get 100 people to listen to this podcast. That would be incredible!” Our first month we had 27 downloads (probably my good friends and family—thank you!), month 2 was 204 downloads, month 3, 248, then 396, jumping up to 1,648 in December 2019. What’s crazy is that if I look back to February 2020, or this time last year, our monthly numbers started to hit the thousands each month, but we were still just at 7,800 downloads in total. I’ve included a graph in the show notes so  you can see these results. If you are listening on iTunes, go over to Podbean to see these graphs. https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/ 
So, How Did We Go From 7,800 Downloads to 51,800 Downloads in Just One Year?
When we launched the podcast, we did one episode a week, except for the beginning of the Pandemic last summer, we released 3 episodes in a week a couple of times, just due to the fact that we had extra time, most people we wanted to interview were available, and we knew the more episodes we released, the higher the downloads, which is exactly how the numbers increased so quickly.  If we want quantum leap results, it takes effort, focus, persistence and hard work.  There’s actually a formula that I learned in the late 1990s when I was given Price Pritchett’s book “You Squared: A High Velocity Formula for Multiplying your Personal Effectiveness in Quantum Leaps.”[i] Who doesn’t want to achieve exponential improvement in their performance, or multiply their personal effectiveness?
“You don’t have to be content with improving things incrementally or gradually—You Squared implies an explosive jump in your personal performance that puts you far beyond the next logical step.” (Price Pritchett)
So of course, I was looking for that exponential leap with our numbers, and not sure what the secret was. Since I always have the You Squared book on my desk, one day I looked up Pritchett and contacted his offices to see if I could have him on the podcast to discover what I was missing and share it with our listeners at the same time. He isn’t doing interviews anymore, but I will have one of his team members on this year and we will dive deeper into the principles of his book.
The tips I’m going to share with you on this episode today are for anyone who is building something from nothing. You might have an idea in the back of your head, and aren’t sure where to begin, or you’ve been given a new sales territory, and you just can’t see how you will accomplish your goal. Whatever it is that you are looking to do, there are some secrets to achieving your goals, and I highly recommend reading Pritchett’s book, You Squared to begin with.
Here’s Some Tips for Accelerating Your Rate of Achievement, and they all involve a shift in your mental mindset.
Tip #1 Learn from Those Who Have Already Paved the Path
Seek out those who have risen to the top, and model what they are doing. They had to have started where you are at some point. Whatever you are doing, there is always someone who has gone before you, and achieved your goal with ease. How did they do it? Ask them, and then be prepared to do exactly what they say.
I watched other podcasters to see how they hit this milestone, and I remember that Lewis Howes, the host of one of the top podcasts, The School of Greatness, said something along the lines of “to get more downloads, I knew I had to release more episodes.”[ii]
Since its launch in January 2013, the School of Greatness podcast has grown rapidly to be one of the top-ranked Business and Self-Development podcasts in iTunes. It regularly appears in the Top 50 of all iTunes podcasts, and has over 150 million downloads.
He said “I built up my podcast through consistently providing quality valuable content and constantly being open to my own growth without being attached to the end result. In the early stages of the podcast, I was only doing one episode per week, and then I started adding two episodes, and then I added in my 5 Minute Fridays, and then I added video. This was a slow and gradual growth and has taken years to get to where I am today.”[iii]  Lewis Howes describes what it took for the Quantum Leap results he has achieved.
So How Did This Work?
Lewis Howes suggested doing 3 episodes/week to improve his downloads. To move away from releasing just one episode a week, we did try 3 episodes in a week but that almost killed me. My life was 100% focused on each guest, preparing and editing, but I did it because I was given access to high level speakers and didn’t want to miss that opportunity. Other projects were put aside, and it was an incredible learning opportunity, but I couldn’t sustain this level on my own.
I was reminded of something I heard Brendon Burchard, the author of the book High Performance Habits talk about with how “High performers have mastered the art of prolific quality output (PQO). They produce more high-quality output than their peers over the long term, and that is how they become more effective, better known, more remembered. They aim their attention and consistent efforts toward PQO and minimize any distractions (including opportunities) that would steal them away from their craft” (Burchard, 2017)[iv]
To release more than one interview a week would compromise the quality of the work I’m doing (unless I decide to outsource some of it, which I haven’t done yet).  So, I’m sticking to one interview a week, and will be adding Brain Fact Fridays, which will be short brain tips, to reinforce the strategies offered within the interviews.  Stay tuned, as we will begin Brain Fact Fridays next week.
Who Can You Learn From? If there is someone that you know in your field who has a track record of success, look them up, and contact them. With 100% certainty, I can tell you that they will answer any questions that you might have for them. Ask them what they did to achieve their high levels of success, write it down, and follow what they did. You might have to adjust, like I did, but you will find your rhythm, and what works for you, once you begin to implement the ideas you are given. Just remember to take the advice they give you and try it.
“If you want to accelerate your rate of achievement rapidly, you must search out and vigorously employ new behaviors.” (Pritchett, Page 7)
Tip #2 Act As if Your Success is Certain—Expect It.
“If you doubt something, doubt your limits.” (Pritchett).
When starting something new, it’s normal, I think, to wonder if you will attain success with what you are doing. Just keep doing the work, and day by day, you will begin to see small wins that stack up, building your belief system. When you have true belief and faith that you will accomplish your goal, something inside you shifts. I have launched quite a few ideas that never took off, or never reached the heights I was hoping for. Even with all the belief in the world, some things just don’t work.
But when something begins to turn the corner, and the momentum builds, you will see it. Never look back to the doubts, fears and uncertainty that you might have had at the beginning.  Even if it completely shocks you, just hold that belief.
So How Did This Work?
When I saw the numbers going up last summer around the time we were doing 3 podcasts each week, I remember feeling shocked, but also thinking “it’s about time.” The belief started to come, and it never left at that point.
Do you believe in what you are doing? How can you strengthen your belief? What do you say to someone who tells you what you are trying to do is impossible, or that past results have proven it will fail?
Tip #3 The How is Not Important, You Just Need to Know What You Want
“A quantum leap is the unexpected that comes to you with sudden grace. You can open yourself to such a breakthrough, you can even invite it, but you can’t make it happen by struggling harder.” (Pritchett, page 17)
I always remember my mentor, Bob Proctor[v] talking about forgetting about “how” I was going to attain my goal but focus on what I wanted. I remember saying “But Bob, how am I going to do that?” and he would look at me and say, “You don’t need to know how” and I would be left standing there, puzzled.
Lewis Howes mentioned it when he said he remained focused on his growth. Just keep learning, working, moving, and growing, and putting one foot forward. Ideas and opportunities will come your way that you might have never seen or expected before.
So How Did This Work?
When our numbers started to accelerate, it was like a perfect storm of activity. I had just interviewed my mentored, Bob Proctor, and he offered to send out my podcast to his entire database. That really helped. Then Podbean (our podcast host) featured our podcast on the front page of their app, and we went from 32 followers to almost 4,000. This means that every time we upload an episode, 4,000 people are notified. Then we were contacted by Corwin Press, with 8 authors who they thought would be a great fit for the podcast. These authors all led me to other opportunities outside of the podcast, and the list can go on.
If you are crystal clear on where you are going, the way will be shown to you. It might not look like the pathway you expect, but with faith and belief, it will come to you, and when your quantum leap appears, it won’t shock you, because you saw it all along.
To close out this episode, I want to say thank you again to our past and future guests and listeners. I’m so grateful for the opportunity to provide this content, and that you are finding value with this podcast, from whatever part of the world you are in.  As I watch the statistics of who is listening where, I have to give a shout-out to the top 4 countries who tune into the podcast: The United States (where I live) Australia (where I have many friends), Canada (where I grew up) and the UK (where I was born).  We are proud to be showing up in the TOP 100 charts on iTunes all over the world in the Education (how-to) Category[vi] currently #55 in the US and #34 in Great Britain[vii] among other countries. Thank you for listening. 
Stay tuned for episode #110 with Dr. Caroline Leaf on her new book, Cleaning Up the Mental Mess (coming on Monday March 1st) the day before the release of her new book on Amazon, and I hope you find Brain Fact Fridays useful. See you next week!
 
RESOURCES:
10 Best Social and Emotional Learning Podcasts to Follow in 2021 https://blog.feedspot.com/social_emotional_learning_podcasts/   
10 Trending SEL Podcasts for District Leaders and Educators https://www.panoramaed.com/blog/10-trending-sel-podcasts 
REFERENCES:
[i] Price Pritchett, Ph. D “You Squared” (Feb. 2012)  https://www.amazon.com/You-Velocity-Multiplying-Personal-Effectiveness/dp/0944002048/ref=sr_1_2?crid=18FQLA0V3NW9Y&dchild=1&keywords=you+squared+price+pritchett&qid=1614386412&sprefix=you+squared%2Caps%2C199&sr=8-2
[ii] Lewis Howes School of Greatness Podcast https://lewishowes.com/sogpodcast/
[iii] Lewis Howes on Building his Podcast School of Greatness https://observer.com/2017/10/how-lewis-howes-got-to-40m-podcast-downloads-bestseller-list-ellens-couch-robert-greene/amp/
[iv] High Performance Habits by Brendon Burchard Published Sept.19, 2017  https://www.amazon.com/dp/B072N6MQ5V/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1
[v] Neuroscience Meet Social and Emotional Learning EPISODE #66 with the Legendary Bob Proctor https://www.achieveit360.com/the-legendary-bob-proctor-on-social-and-emotional-learning-where-it-all-started/
[vi] Neuroscience Meets SEL Podcast #55 on iTunes (Education Category-How-To) in the US https://chartable.com/charts/itunes/us-how-to-podcasts
[vii] Neuroscience Meets SEL Podcast #34 in Great Britain https://chartable.com/charts/itunes/gb-how-to-podcasts

CEO of Fisher Wallace Laboratories Kelly Roman on "Wearable Medical Devices for Anxiety, Depression, and Sleep/Stress Management"

Welcome back to the Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast episode #108 with Kelly Roman, the Co-Founder and CEO of Fisher Wallace Laboratories[i], an FDA-regulated manufacturer of wearable medical devices for the treatment of insomnia, anxiety and depression, as well as wellness devices for sleep and stress management (Circadia®). 
Watch the interview on YouTube here. 
Fisher Wallace has over 70,000 patients and 10,000 subscribers using their devices and has continued to run three sizable clinical trials during the pandemic, investigating how neurostimulation is a strong contender as a treatment for anxiety and depression compared to drug use. 
Welcome to the Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast. My name is Andrea Samadi, and if you are new here, I’m a former educator who created this podcast to bring the most current neuroscience research, along with high performing experts who have risen to the top of their field, with specific strategies or ideas that you can implement immediately to take your results to the next level. I can’t tell you how excited I am to speak with Kelly Roman today, as we have been on the topic of mental health and well-being on this podcast for the past few months, because this is an area that most people are interested in these days. There’s a serious need  here.
When I was covering the most important brain-health strategies, after watching the Alzheimer’s: The Science of Prevention Documentary[ii] last year, it became clear that sleep was one of the top 5 health staples that we should all be aware of. I covered this last December with a review of these top 5 health staples[iii] where getting a good quality sleep was a staple that is shown as an Alzheimer’s prevention strategy.
When I was first introduced to Kelly Roman, and saw that the company he co-founded, Fisher Wallace Labs has created wearable devices to help improve sleep, while also treating anxiety and depression, I wanted to learn more. If you take one look at their website, you can see their appearance on the TV Show, the Drs. where a patient shares that she has been wearing the device for just a week, and is already sleeping better. The more I began to research this company, and their wearable devices, the more excited I became.
I started to think up what questions I would ask our guest, and wondered:
If these devices are helping people to improve sleep, and reduce anxiety and depression, what else could they possibly do?
Could a wearable device help to improve someone’s mood and consequently help someone who struggles with addiction to stay sober?
The questions could go on…let’s see what Kelly Roman, the co-founder of Fisher Wallace Laboratories has to say.
 
--------Interview starts here----------------------------
Welcome Kelly, thank you so much for taking the time to speak with me today.  I’ve got to say that my mind was going 100 miles an hour when I was creating your questions. An FDA-regulated manufacturer of wearable medical devices for the treatment of insomnia, anxiety and depression, as well as wellness devices for sleep and stress management—we can go in so many directions here. But I’ve got to start with sleep--
Q1: We’ve created a clear case on this podcast over the past 6 months for the importance of getting a good night sleep as it’s one of the top 5 health staples that we should all be aware of for Alzheimer’s Prevention.  Can you explain what you are focused on at Fisher Wallace (wearable home use vs other forms- Electro Convulsive Therapy/Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation) how do these devices work, and how does this improve someone’s sleep?
Q2: Kelly, my husband is a volunteer for the Maricopa Sheriff’s office here in Phoenix, he’s a commander for one volunteer units, and the stories I hear from those working in police/fire these days, it’s extremely stressful, and he lived in New Jersey, covering New York City for work, (where you live) and can deal with high stress situations. I saw a presentation you did for Brainstorm Health in 2019[iv] where you combined your technology with VR to help treat those with anxiety, insomnia or depression. Can you explain what the device is that I saw you present with VR, and how could it help people, like those in policing to increase their focus while reducing stress?
Q3: We know that anxiety and depression are at an all-time high these days, with the effects of the Pandemic, and how life has changed for many of us. How does your device help your body to release dopamine, serotonin and fall into a state of deep relaxation, with no drugs required?
Q4: What is the research saying about treatment like wearable devices for depression or anxiety vs drug use? I watched your interview with Luke Storey[v] where you give an incredible overview of the hurdles that you had to overcome with these “blockbuster anti-depressant drugs” like Prozac.  What is the research showing now about these drugs and what they are doing to the body?
Q5: When we connected on LinkedIn, I had to check to see who we have in common. When I saw that we have Aneesh Chaudhry, who I launched the year with his interview on overcoming addiction[vi]—I had to wonder- Could a wearable device help to improve someone’s mood and consequently help someone who struggles with addiction to stay sober?
Q6: What is your 10-year vision for where these devices are going? Do you think we are moving towards where health care will cover them so that we could be prescribed them for lower cost?
Q7: Can this device help improve heart rate variability? (the measure of the variation in time between each heartbeat).
Kelly Roman, Thank you for taking the time to meet with me, and for opening up my mind to the power behind wearable devices vs taking drugs for anxiety, insomnia or depression.
For people who want to learn more, they can go to https://www.fisherwallace.com/ and find you on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/kellyroman/
Any final thoughts for our listeners about this technology and how it is innovating the future of mental health?
STAY TUNED: for a follow-up to this episode after I have tested out the device for sleep.
RESOURCES:
Luke Storey Podcast https://www.lukestorey.com/lifestylistpodcast/treating-depression-anxiety-and-insomnia-naturally-with-kelly-roman-188
 
The Doctors Review of The Fisher Wallace Stimulator (Brain Stimulator) Published on YouTube Sept. 18, 2013 https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=gSHAUmGqrHU
Electroconvulsive Therapy: A History of Controversy, but Also of Help (Jan.12, 2017) https://theconversation.com/electroconvulsive-therapy-a-history-of-controversy-but-also-of-help-70938
Electroconvulsive Therapy The University of Vermont Medical Center https://www.uvmhealth.org/medcenter/wellness-resources/health-library/ty1541
How the Fisher Wallace Stimulator Works https://www.fisherwallace.com/pages/how-it-works
New Technologies for the Treatment of Mental Health with Chip Fisher TEDxBeaconStreet Published on YouTube Jan.4, 2017 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XIjkLvt8f1A
Home Use Brain Stimulators vs Drug Use https://www.fisherwallace.com/pages/scientific-evidence-homepage-opioid-withdrawal
The Effectiveness of Cranial Electrical Stimulation (CES) for the Treatment of Pain, Depression, Anxiety, PTSD (Feb. 2018) Investigators: Paul Shekelle, MD, PhD, Ian Cook, MD, Isomi M Miake-Lye, PhD, Selene Mak, PhDc, Marika Suttorp Booth, MS, Roberta Shanman, MLS, and Jessica M Beroes, BS. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK493132/
Mark Powers, Baylor, Director of Trauma Research https://www.bswhealth.med/research/Pages/institutes-and-centers/trauma-research-center/mark-powers.aspx
Elon Musk’s Neuralink Brain Chip Explained Published on YouTube August 30, 2020 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KsX-7hS94Yo
Phoenix House Pilot Study https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0315/7737/files/Phoenix_House_Pilot_Study_Poster.pdf?315
REFERENCES:
[i] https://www.fisherwallace.com/
[ii] Alzheimer’s: The Science of Prevention Documentary https://www.drperlmutter.com/alzheimers-the-science-of-prevention-2020-air-dates/
[iii] Neuroscience Meets SEL BONUS Episode “Deep Dive into the Top 5 Health Staples” https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/bonus-episode-a-deep-dive-into-the-top-5-health-staples-and-review-of-seasons-1-4/
[iv] Brainstorm Health 2019: Treating Insomnia, Anxiety and Depression Using VR and Neurostimulation https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rIX_PklkrCI&list=PLS8YLn_6PU1lLLTFbHlK3WD1tAkmgCjqz&index=27&t=0s&fbclid=IwAR2HvJ0wlDPBp4bttb_lp7agHRc4ioSyqxqORlaPfjgu8j5u9YGBuyeLGzM
[v] Luke Storey Podcast https://www.lukestorey.com/lifestylistpodcast/treating-depression-anxiety-and-insomnia-naturally-with-kelly-roman-188
[vi] Neuroscience Meets SEL Episode #102 Aneesh Chaudhry on “Mental Health, Well-Being and Meditation: Overcoming Addiction Using Your Brain” https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/aneesh-choudhry-on-mental-health-well-being-and-meditation-overcoming-addictionusing-your-brain/

Behavior Analyst and Author Jessica Minahan on her book "The Behavior Code: A Practical Guide to Understanding and Teaching the Most Challenging Students"

Welcome back to the Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast episode #107 with Jessica Minahan[i], the author of The Behavior Code: A Practical Guide to Understanding and Teaching the Most Challenging Students[ii] In this much needed book, based on a collaboration dating back nearly a decade, the authors Jessica Minahan, a behavioral analyst and Nancy Rappaport,  a child psychiatrist—reveal their systematic approach for deciphering causes and patterns of difficult behaviors and how to match them with proven strategies for getting students back on track to learn.
Watch the interview on YouTube here. 
My name is Andrea Samadi, and if you are new here, I’m a former educator who created this podcast to bring the most current neuroscience research, along with high performing experts who have risen to the top of their field, with specific strategies or ideas that you can implement immediately, whether you are an educator, or in the corporate space, to take your results to the next level. If you have ever heard my story of where my career began, you would know why I would be so interested to speak with Jessica about the strategies in The Behavior Code. My first job out of The University of Toronto’s Faculty of Education, was a behavioral class. I felt overwhelmed and frustrated by the lack of resources to manage and teach my students and this was one of the catalysts that drew me towards social and emotional learning in the late 1990s. If only I had read this book back then, I wouldn’t have struggled so much.
Let me tell you more about Jessica:
She is a licensed and board-certified behavior analyst (BCBA), author, special educator, and consultant to schools internationally.  Since 2000 she has worked with students who struggle with mental health issues and challenging behavior in public school systems.  She specializes in training staff and creating behavior intervention plans for students who demonstrate explosive and unsafe behavior. She also works with students who have emotional and behavioral disabilities, anxiety disorders, or high-functioning Autism. Her particular interest is to serve these students by combining behavioral interventions with a comprehensive knowledge of best practices for those with complex mental health profiles and learning needs.
She is a blogger on The Huffington Post[iii], the author of The Behavior Code: A Practical Guide to Understanding and Teaching the Most Challenging Students,[iv] with Nancy Rappaport (Harvard Education Press, 2012), and author of The Behavior Code Companion: Strategies, Tools, and Interventions for Supporting Students with Anxiety-Related or Oppositional Behaviors [v](Harvard Education Press, 2014).]
She holds a Bachelor in Science in Intensive Special Education from Boston University and a dual master’s degree in Special Education and Elementary Education from Wheelock College. She has a certificate of graduate study (CGS) in teaching children with Autism from the University of Albany and received her BCBA training from Northeastern University in Boston. She is sought-after internationally to speak on subjects ranging from effective interventions for students with anxiety to supporting hard-to-reach students in full-inclusion public school settings.
How did I come across Jessica’s work?
A couple of Saturday mornings ago, I was at my desk getting caught up from the week, and an email came in from Greg Wolcott, who I mention often on the podcast. He’s an assistant superintendent from Chicago who has not only been a guest a couple of times on the podcast, but is a huge supporter. He often brainstorms ideas, topics, and guest speakers with me, and this time, when he sent me Jessica’s name, and told me that he was on a webinar with her, and that I should take a look at her work, I knew I needed to speak with her the minute I saw the title of her book.
If you are a current teacher, former teacher, or thinking about being a teacher, I am sure that you would want to know “what is the behavior code?”  As a parent I am still trying to figure this out, and my girls are not teenagers yet! So I emailed Jessica that second, asked her if she would come on the podcast, and within hours we had the interview set up.
Let’s hear what Jessica has to say about the Behavior Code.
--------------------This is where the interview begins-----------
Welcome Jessica, thank you so much for taking the time out of a busy schedule (where I know you’ve been working hard presenting on the weekends) to speak with me about your book The Behavior Code.
Before we get to the questions, I wanted to read one of the reviews that you have in the beginning of the book. We haven’t met until now, so you wouldn’t possibly know my story of my first job out of teacher’s college being a behavioral class, where I wished I had some strategies, any strategies, to manage my class that was out of control, but this review could have been written by me and I think it will give you some insight into the passion that I have for your work before I begin the questions.
The review says….
“The Behavior Code needs to be read by all teachers, counselors, administrators, and parents!/From cover to cover I felt (the authors) were speaking to me, an elementary teacher (I was a middle-school teacher) and a mom (I wasn’t a mom back then, but I am now). I felt they knew me, and knew those students who kept me awake at night.  ( I still wonder what happened to those students who used to keep me up at night, over 20 years later). Teachers, this book is written by authors who KNOW what our jobs are like.” —  Lorna d’Entremont,  Special Needs Book Review
Jessica, I’ve heard you say that when you show up at a school to help teachers, it’s usually after an incident has happened, and teachers or school admin are looking for an immediate solution. I know you can’t solve everyone school’s behavior problems, but what is your vision with the Behavior Code?
Q1: When I left teaching, in the late 1990s, my close friends would say that I was the least likely out of anyone to quit anything. I broke my contract, felt burnt out, after one year of teaching behavioral students. There were no strategies at all in my teacher training programs to help me to deal with challenging behavior, and it’s been just recently that I have come across books like Dr. Lori Desautels” Connections Over Compliance: Rewiring Our Perceptions of Discipline[vi] where I started to see that there were strategies out there to help turn around even the most challenging students. Why do you think there is this gap in our teacher training programs, that “creates teachers who are undertrained and overwhelmed?” (Jessica Minahan, on Unrestrained Podcast Episode #18)[vii].
My thoughts: Unless you have stood in a classroom, in front of students, it’s not easy to really understand the job of an educator. Even sitting in the back of the classroom, as a parent volunteer, you can get a glimpse of what the day-to-day life is like in today’s schools.
Q2: When I was teaching, I remember thinking in my head “what’s wrong with these kids?” showing that I was missing some really important training.  What should all teachers know about behavior, and can you explain how we can turn around even the most challenging student behavior?
Q3: What is the process of figuring out the underlying cause behind a behavior? What are some patterns and causes of challenging behavior?
Q4: How do social and emotional skills tie into behavior control? In Ch 1 of your book you mention an incident with a student name Alyssa who blows up at another student, and you had a chart showing the SEL skills that were missing, that need to be taught. How can teachers assess the strategies you outline a situation like this in real-time, to prevent more disruption, or is the key just to keep our calm until we can get more information?  What is the best way to deal with explosive situations while they are happening?
Q5: I know that you go into depth on your FAIR Intervention Plan that you describe in chapter 2 on the podcast I heard you on recently. I will put a link to this podcast in the show notes[viii] so you don’t have to explain it again, but can you briefly explain why replacement behavior is the first step toward desired behavior, and what would the FAIR PLAN look like in practice, maybe with a student with Anxiety-Related behavior, since anxiety is at an all-time high these days?
Q6: If you had met me 20 years ago when I was a new teacher, with a room full of behavioral students, and I shared with you that I was thinking of leaving teaching, not only leaving teaching, but thinking of moving to another country, it was such a stressful experience. What would you have said to me? What would you say to teachers these days who are feeling the stress and pressure of Covid19, whether they are teaching in the classroom or online?
Q7: I just presented at a virtual conference on the topic of stress, learning and the brain[ix], as this topic is something I would like to bring more awareness to for our teachers in the classroom, or parents who might be homeschooling their children, or helping them on a different level than they’ve ever had to before. What calming strategies do you think would help a stressed teacher, or even a parent stressed out in the workplace, and then they have to come home and find new strategies to help their children who are also stressed with the way the world is today?
Jessica, I want to thank you so much for taking the time to speak with me today, to share your research and years of work around a topic that I am deeply invested in. If people want to learn more about your books, articles, radio and podcasts, they can go to
https://jessicaminahan.com/publications/
They can follow you on social media:
https://twitter.com/jessica_minahan
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessica-minahan-64a8782/
https://www.facebook.com/TheBehaviorCode
https://www.websudoku.com/
RESOURCES:
The Behavior Code Book and Companion Guide. You will learn:
*Tools that can be understood and used immediately*How anxiety-related behaviors impact students and easy to implement strategies that are really effective!*Case studies that are springboards to creating effective intervention support plans.*Progress monitoring tools that measure if the interventions are effective!*Clearly outlined components of a transition and how to support all students be successful with the numerous transitions they incur in the school day.*The IEP goals and objectives included in the book are fantastic templates*Protocols for unsafe behaviors*Comprehensive list of helpful apps
Treating Explosive Kids by Ross Green and J. Stuart Ablon, https://www.stuartablon.com/treating-explosive-kids
REFERENCES:
[i] https://jessicaminahan.com/about-jessica-minahan/
[ii][ii] The Behavior Code: A Practical Guide to Understanding and Teaching the Most Challenging Students (April 1, 2012) https://www.amazon.com/Behavior-Code-Practical-Understanding-Challenging/dp/1612501362
[iii] 5 Tips for Preventing Dependency in Anxious Students (Feb.2017) by Jessica Minahan https://www.huffpost.com/entry/5-tips-for-preventing-dependency-in-anxious-students_b_58b4a421e4b0e5fdf61975f0
[iv] The Behavior Code: A Practical Guide to Understanding and Teaching the Most Challenging Students (April 1, 2012)  https://jessicaminahan.com/the-behavior-code/
[v] The Behavior Code Companion: Strategies, Tools and Interventions for Supporting Students with Anxiety-Related or Oppositional Behaviors https://jessicaminahan.com/the-behavior-code-companion/
[vi] Lori L Desautels, Ph.D Connections Over Compliance: Rewiring Our Perceptions of Discipline (Sept. 18, 2020) http://revelationsineducation.com/the-book/connections-over-compliance-rewiring-our-perceptions-of-discipline/
[vii] Cracking the Behavior Code (Unrestrained Podcast Episode #18) with Terry Vittone https://www.crisisprevention.com/Blog/Unrestrained-Episode-18-Guest-Jessica-Minahan
[viii] Cracking the Behavior Code (Unrestrained Podcast Episode #18) with Terry Vittone https://www.crisisprevention.com/Blog/Unrestrained-Episode-18-Guest-Jessica-Minahan
[ix] Neuroscience Meets SEL: 12 Brain-Aligned Strategies to Reduce Stress and Increase Learning by Andrea Samadi https://twitter.com/andreasamadi/status/1359096620848058371/photo/2

Review of Neuroscientist and Best-Selling Author Dr. Caroline Leaf's "Cleaning Up Your Mental Mess" Coming March 2nd!

Welcome back to the Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast episode #106. This episode is a deep dive into Dr. Carolyn Leaf's NEW book that is coming out March 2, 2021 and App "Cleaning Up Your Mental Mess." Stay tuned for the interview that will be released on March 1, 2021. 
My name is Andrea Samadi, and if you are new here, I’m a former educator who created this podcast to bring the most current neuroscience research, along with high performing experts who have risen to the top of their field, with specific strategies or ideas that you can implement immediately, whether you are an educator, or in the corporate space, to take your results to the next level. If we want to improve our social, emotional and cognitive abilities, it all starts with an understanding of our brain. 
This week we are going to take a deep dive into the work of Dr. Carolyn Leaf[i], as we did record a bonus interview with her this week, but this episode will be released on March 1st, one day before the release of her new book, Cleaning Up Your Mental Mess: 5 Simple, Scientifically Proven Steps to Reduce Anxiety, Stress and Toxic Thinking.[ii]
This book is timely and important, backed by clinical research and illustrated with compelling case studies, where Dr. Leaf provides a scientifically proven five-step plan to find and eliminate the root of anxiety, depression, and intrusive thoughts in your life so you can experience dramatically improved mental and physical health. This 5 step plan will build a healthy new and automated neural network in 63 days, the length of time to properly build a new habit.
Dr. Leaf told me “I truly believe that mental mess is something we all experience often and that it isn’t something we should be ashamed of. She mentions that “this is my profession, and I still have to clean up my mind daily. The events and circumstances of life aren’t going anywhere; people make a lot of decisions every day that affect us all, suffering of some sort for you and your loved ones is inevitable. That said, I wholeheartedly believe that although the events and circumstances can’t be controlled, we can control our reactions to these events and circumstances. This is mind-management in action!”  Which to me is exactly what self-regulation is all about.
Dr. Leaf leverages the strategies she has developed working with patients over the last 38 years (which to me is shocking since she doesn’t look a day over 35, but she was doing research in the 1980s that complements the work that Dr. Daniel Amen was doing back then) and she’s taken her years of research to teach her readers how to foster and cultivate the power of their own thinking and direct their own brain changes. Mind-management, when done correctly, helps facilitate talk between the conscious, the subconscious, and the nonconscious mind. This, in turn, gets brainwaves flowing in a healthy way, optimizing brain function. This is done by implementing the Neurocycle, a simple, clinically researched mind-management tool for personal use to address anxiety, depression, toxic thinking, inability to concentrate, irritability, exhaustion and burnout before they take over your mind.
Last week I was speaking with my good friend Nancy, who asked me what book I was currently reading, and I shared with her that I was reading Dr. Leaf’s book to prepare for her interview, and that her book was coming out on March 2nd so it wasn’t out just yet. My friend went over to Amazon, read the title description, and told me “I need this book NOW” so I decided to release a deep dive into Dr. Leaf’s work so we can all prepare for the release of this important book, become familiar with her research and get a head start at Cleaning Up our Mental Mess.
I’ll share the back story to how I came across Dr. Leaf’s work when I release her bonus episode next month, but I will share that I don’t believe in accidents, or that things happen by chance or luck. I believe that we are all faced with multiple opportunities to learn and grow,  that we can easily miss it if we are not aware. I first heard Dr. Leaf speak on Dr. Daniel and Tana Amen’s Brain Warrior’s Way Podcast where she shares the story of her work and research that began 38 years ago in her home country, South Africa. Most of her work in her early days was focused on the mind-brain connection, the nature of mental health and the formation of memory. During her early years in clinical practice, she worked with thousands of underprivileged teachers and students in South Africa, and the US, where she developed a theory of how we think, build memory and learn, helping to transform the lives of thousands of individuals with Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI), Learning Disabilities (ADD, ADHD) autism, dementia and mental ill-health issues like anxiety and depression. She has helped thousands of students and adults learn how to detox and grown their brain to succeed in all areas of their lives, including school, university and the workplace.  
To get our brains thinking, over the next month, I ask that you if you haven’t learned about Dr. Leaf, that you begin taking a look at her work, and start to implement her 5-step process to clean up you mental mess. I have just started this process and have downloaded her SWITCH app[iii] where you can begin to unpack your own worries in a simple 5 step process, where Dr. Leaf guides you through each step. I grabbed a journal for this process to keep my notes in one place.
I started with a 21-day program:
STEP 1: Gather Awareness (of what’s bothering you). We’ve all heard of the importance of knowing our emotions, or when we name what’s bothering us, we can tame it[iv]. What about those worries that we name, and they don’t go away? I’ve had the same worry on my mind since 2016. Each year I write it out, acknowledge it’s there, and work on strategies for solving it, but it’s now 2021 and this particular worry has not budged. It’s even getting worse as the years go on! I’m only on day 3 of using this app, but can already see how this process is more helpful than anything else I have ever tried in the past to eliminate fears and worries. With this case, acknowledging this fear, knowing what it is, and moving forward despite it being there, hasn’t helped me. It’s always there is the back of my mind. I’m sure you will know what I mean if there’s something that you’ve been worrying about.
STEP 2: Reflect and Analyze: Answer, Ask and Discuss Some Questions to Find the Root Cause of Your Emotions or What’s Bothering You.
This is how we pull thoughts from our non-conscious mind to our conscious mind, where it becomes weaker. It’s no longer suppressed but acknowledged. Use your mind to ask yourself questions, and it will be interesting to see what comes up. This process takes time, reflection and daily effort. Our emotions are unique signals to learn how to cope with challenges, but over time, they will damage our brain with consistent worry.  
STEP 3: Write out what you discover from step 2. Begin to capture what’s bothering you and see if you can come up with root causes, or why you think this worry is on your mind. Learn to write in pictures, add color, shapes. Learn how to write in a metacog formula.[v]
STEP 4: Recheck and Edit What You Have Written Down. Re-read what you have written and see what comes up. Can you add more to your answer to help make more sense of it? Dig deeper, look for patterns, triggers and keep looking for the root cause of the problem.
STEP 5: Practice and Apply Through Active Reach. Look at what you have written and see if you can come up with an action statement to practice what you have learned from your introspection.  You will read out your daily Aha Moment 7x a day to remind yourself what you are re-shaping.
Example: I am worrying about xyz because I am afraid of xyz…but this hasn’t happened, and most likely will not happen, so this worry is wasting my time. If it happens one day, I will deal with this problem then, but not wasting the mental energy worrying about something that I cannot control. I can control my reaction to my worry.
Already, after just 3 days of working with my top worry in the SWITCH app (that will have a name change soon to match the book) I can see how this 5-step process is taking me closer to solving something I have been worrying about for years. I started by writing out all the things I was worrying about, and these days there’s a lot of them. Dr. Leaf says that your worries are like branches on a tree, with emotions attached to them, and that these worries can kill you. We go into detail on the damage that our worries can do to our brain, life and results in our interview. So in my journal, I wrote out my worries like branches on a tree, and the trunk she says is the perspective of the thought. I begin to look at my worries from a different angle or perspective. Right here you should notice a shift in energy about the problem. I started to see mine differently here looking at it from a distance. Then the roots of the tree are the origin story, or root of why I am worrying about this problem, which is what we want to uncover. This activity will give you an incredible amount of self-awareness.
If you have something like this on your mind, I highly suggest taking the time to upload the app on your phone, grab a journal and begin the work to eliminate and clean up your mental mess.
 
Next, to prepare for the release of Dr. Leaf’s book, and learn more, I suggest:
Listen to Dr. Leaf on Dr. Amen and Tana Amen’s Brain Warrior’s Way Podcast[vi] to learn more about her work, research and beginning story.
Listen to Dr. Leaf speaking with Ed Mylett https://drleaf.com/blogs/news/how-to-deal-with-the-death-of-a-dream-tips-for-building-self-confidence-common-mindsets-of-the-most-successful-people-interview-with-ed-mylett 
Take a look at her book Think, Learn, Succeed: Understanding and Using Your Mind to Thrive at School, the Workplace and Life (August 7, 2018)[vii]
Pre-order a copy of Cleaning Up Your Mental Mess[viii] If you are human, and have a brain, you will have noticed, like I have, that it can use all the help possible these days.
You will gain access to exclusive pre-order bonuses like a workbook, bonus chapters and more: https://www.cleaningupyourmentalmess.com/
Sign up to join her free text program and receive mental health care tips.
Just text DRLEAF to 1 (833) 285 3747
Register for her FREE NeuroCycle workshop (Feb 27th!): https://neurocycle.eventbrite.com
 
You will learn:
What happens when we don’t use our minds properly
Mind-management and why we need it
How the 5 steps can help reduce anxiety and depression by up to 81% according to clinical studies
Why mind-management is the solution to cleaning up your mental mess
How the science can help us transition from being aware of toxic thoughts, to catching and managing them in their early stages
How our thoughts physically affect ourselves and others
How to capitalize on directed neuroplasticity using the Neurocycle
To apply mind-management to unwire toxic habits and trauma
How to leverage the lessons in the book for their daily lifestyle, including connection, brain-building, sleep, diet, exercise, people-pleasing, toxic perfectionism, overthinking, toxic emails and texts
Why mindfulness is not enough and how strategic mind-management through the 5 steps can take a reader beyond mindfulness
I hope you have found this overview of Dr. Leaf’s work helpful as a starting point. Her interview will be released on March 2nd and you will have access to the book and can keep working on a deeper level, but at least you will have had a head start.
Have a wonderful weekend and see you next week!
REMEMBER: The interview with Dr. Leaf will be released on March 1st, 2021.
RESOURCES:
[i] Dr. Caroline Leaf https://www.cleaningupyourmentalmess.com/
[ii] Cleaning Up Your Mental Mess: 5 Simple, Scientifically Proven Steps to Reduce Anxiety, Stress and Toxic Thinking by Dr. Caroline Leaf AVAILABLE FOR PRE-ORDER NOW (March 2, 2021)  https://www.amazon.com/Cleaning-Your-Mental-Mess-Scientifically/dp/0801093457
[iii] The Switch App by Dr. Caroline Leaf https://theswitch.app/?_ke=eyJrbF9jb21wYW55X2lkIjogIktxZ0g5ZCIsICJrbF9lbWFpbCI6ICJhbmRyZWEuc2FtYWRpQGNveC5uZXQifQ%3D%3D
[iv] Dr. Dan Siegel “Name it to Tame it” YouTube Published Dec. 2014 https://www.youtube.com/watch/ZcDLzppD4Jc
[v] Metacognitive Map https://drleaf.com/pages/research-publications
[vi] The 5-Step Process to Managing Trauma with Dr. Caroline Leaf on The Brain Warrior’s Way Podcast Published on YouTube May 22, 2020 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_sHPAvOXh4&t=2661s
[vii] Think, Learn, Succeed: Understanding and Using Your Mind to Thrive at School, the Workplace and Life by Dr. Caroline Leaf (August 7, 2018)  https://www.amazon.com/Think-Learn-Succeed-Understanding-Workplace/dp/0801093279
[viii] Cleaning Up Your Mental Mess by Dr. Caroline Leaf (March 2, 2021) https://www.amazon.com/Cleaning-Your-Mental-Mess-Scientifically/dp/0801093457

Dr. Kelley Munger and Megan Marcus from FuelEd Schools "Developing Emotionally Intelligent Educators Who Create Relationship-Driven Schools"

Welcome back to the Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast, episode #105 with Dr. Keeley Munger (researcher) and Megan Marcus, (founder) of FuelEd, a non-profit organization that builds educator emotional intelligence and relationship-driven schools.
Watch the interview on YouTube here. 
Here’s some background on our guests today, before we get into the questions:
Megan Marcus holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of California at Berkeley and masters’ degrees in psychology from Pepperdine University and in education, policy, & management from Harvard University. She served as lead researcher for the book, The Social Neuroscience of Education: Optimizing Attachment & Learning in the Classroom,[i] which explores how teacher-student relationships trigger neural plasticity and optimal academic, social and emotional learning. Her experiences working on this book while training to be a counselor served as both inspiration and the research foundations for FuelEd.
 
Dr. Kelley Munger crafts and executes research projects that enhance our understanding of social and emotional development in educational environments while also bridging the gap between science and practice. What a perfect match for the Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning podcast. Welcome Megan and Kelley.  
 
When I saw that you were focused on educator SEL at FuelEd and that my career began as a classroom teacher over 20 years ago with a classroom of behavioral students that I couldn’t manage, I knew I had to speak with you and learn more about what you have built with FuelEd that is having such a significant impact on our schools. Thanks so much for being here today.
I know how important educator SEL is from not only all of the SEL experts that I have been interviewing on this podcast, but personally since I found my first year of teaching behavioral students to be extremely difficult without any emotional intelligence skills to draw from, since these skills were left out of my teacher training. Can you tell me more about why you decided to focus on working directly with educators instead of students at FuelEd?  
I did an episode when I first launched this podcast on the Why Behind Implementing an SEL program in your school or District, or an emotional intelligence program in the workplace, but with all of your research, What do you think is the best starting place when it comes to helping educators grow socially and emotionally?
We all know that it was an incredibly difficult year (last year) with many schools thrown into distance learning last spring with the start of the Pandemic. How do you see this year impacting the emotional lives of educators specifically?  
What do you think educators will need in order to address the large-scale trauma and stress they have experienced this year?    
It’s been a few years now, but in 2018 I entered an educational policy contest to see if I could help put more of a focus on educator well-being with this awareness.
The premise of the paper that I wrote that didn’t win the contest, but was a great learning experience, was that “Teaching has become a high-stress occupation, leading to educator burnout, demoralization1 in the profession, and eventual instructor dropout, creating a negative impact on society and costing $7.3B in the United States with all of the training that needs to occur. Recent studies have shown that “students’ cortisol levels were much higher if the educator was overwhelmed or experiencing burn-out.”3  “People are finally seeing what negative stress does to the body, what that does to the psyche, and what it does to school engagement. I spent hours researching this topic and met some incredible people who were doing research in this area. When I first began presenting on the topic of stress and the brain in 2016, I saw that schools in Canada seemed to be ahead of us here in the US, putting a huge focus on this topic back then. Why do you think this is such an important topic, and what do you think teachers wish that their leaders understood about educator mental health?  
You mentioned a story about A veteran teacher who has always loved teaching told you recently that, after the stress of this year, he hates his job now. What are your most innovative ideas for restoring teachers and preventing them from leaving the field?
For Megan: What inspired you to launch FuelEd and how did you meet Kelley?
For those who want to learn more about your programs, they can go to https://www.fueledschools.org/ click on programs and schedule a call with you to learn more.  Can you give an overview of the programs that you offer at FuelEd?
FuelEd Programs:
Core Educator Collective, Empathy School and Trauma and Transitions https://www.fueledschools.org/our-programs
For webinars from FuelEd https://www.fueledschools.org/events
Kelley Munger on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/kelley-munger-phd-lpc-ncc-836190107/
Megan Marcus on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/megan-marcus-99517921/
@FuelEd on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/fueledschools
RESOURCES:
Neuroscience Meets SEL Podcast EPISODE #7 “Building Relationships in Today’s Schools” with Assistant Superintendent Greg Wolcott https://www.achieveit360.com/assistant-superintendent-greg-wolcott-on-building-relationships-in-todays-classrooms/
Neuroscience Meets SEL Podcast EPISODE #64 Assistant Superintendent Greg Wolcott on “Making Connections with Neuroscience and SEL” https://www.achieveit360.com/assistant-superintendent-greg-wolcott-on-making-connections-with-neuroscience-and-sel/
Unleashing the Power of Relationships in Today’s Schools https://www.significant72.com/
Attachment Theory with Dr. Daniel Siegel Published on YouTube March 3, 2011 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zovtRq4e2E
Dr. Daniel J Siegel “Name it to Tame it” Published on YouTube December 8, 2014. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZcDLzppD4Jc&ab_channel=DalaiLamaCenterforPeaceandEducation
“Social and Emotional Learning, Teacher Well-Being, and Student Success: What Do We Know? And Where do We Go From Here?” Webinar June 5th 2018 with Dr. Mark Greenber, Penn State and Dr. Kimberly A. Schonert-Reichl https://vimeo.com/275147739
Stress Contagion Possible Amongst Students and Teachers: UBC Study https://news.ubc.ca/2016/06/27/ubc-study-finds-stress-contagion-amongst-students-and-teachers/
Dr. Kimberly Schonert-Reichl (UBC Faculty of Education) and Advisory Board Member for FuelEd https://sel.ecps.educ.ubc.ca/dr-kimberly-schonert-reichl/
Neuroscience Meets SEL Podcast Episode #2 “Self-Awareness: Know Thyself” https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/self-awareness-know-thyself/
(#5 most listened to podcast of all time).
Neuroscience Meets SEL Podcast Episode #9 “Using Your Brain to Build and Sustain Effective Relationships”  https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/how-to-build-and-sustain-effective-relationships/
REFERENCES:
[i]  The Social Neuroscience of Education: Optimizing Attachment & Learning in the Classroom by Louis Cozolino (Norton & Company, January 7, 2013). Why https://wwnorton.com/books/9780393706093

Sleep Scientist Antonio Zadra on "When Brains Dream: Exploring the Science and Mystery of Sleep."

Welcome back to the Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast, episode #104.
Watch this interview on YouTube here. 
Our guest today came to me when I was referred to his book on one of my neuro-coaching training calls with Mark Robert Waldman[i], from episode #30 when I asked a question that was sent to me from a close friend from the UK, on dreams.  Mark Waldman told me that he was anxiously awaiting the NEW book, When Brains Dream: Exploring the Science and Mystery of Sleep[ii] and I immediately looked up the book, and contacted the author, Antonio Zadra, to appear on our podcast. He agreed, and the rest is history!
Before I get to the interview, I want to give you a bit more background information on this book, and the authors, and what you can expect before picking it up. I’ve got to say that what I expected from this book, continually changed as I began to read it, and it took me deeper and deeper into the mysterious world of our dreams.
Antonio Zadra and Robert Stickgold bring together state-of-the-art neuroscientific ideas and findings to propose a new and innovative model of dream function called NEXTUP—Network Exploration to Understand Possibilities. By detailing this model’s workings, they help readers understand key features of several types of dreams, from prophetic dreams to nightmares and lucid dreams. When Brains Dream reveals recent discoveries about the sleeping brain and the many ways in which dreams are psychologically, and neurologically, meaningful experiences; The book explores a host of dream-related disorders; and explains how dreams can facilitate creativity and be a source of personal insight.
Antonio Zadra[iii] is a professor at the Université de Montréal and a researcher at the Center for Advanced Research in Sleep Medicine. He has appeared on PBS's Nova and BBC's Horizon.
Welcome Tony, thank you so much for agreeing to share more about your new book, When Brains Dream today.
Q1: Tony, when we first spoke, I mentioned to you that I had been writing down my dreams since the late 1990s (off and on) it started when the speaker, Bob Proctor from episode #66[iv], who I worked for, suggested that I could learn a lot of insight from journaling about dreams, but nothing was more powerful than my first conversation with you.  You taught me a valuable lesson, that “we cannot interpret other people’s dreams, only our own.” Can you share why this is important for all of us to understand, as we all probably have the same urge to ask “what does this dream mean?” and what should we be thinking of asking instead when searching for meaning with our dreams? (Ch 12 Working with Dreams).
Q2: How can readers use your model NEXTUP (Network Exploration to Understand Possibilities) to understand prophetic dreams, nightmares or lucid dreams?
Q3:  Before we look at working with dreams, can you explain that while Freud’s influence on dreams was great,  (you cover his influence in Chapter 3) what powerful scientific and clinical work was being done on dreams way before Freud?
Q4: What made you become interested in studying about dreams, and becoming a dream scientist?
Q5: I have to ask, the biggest question about dreaming that you cover in chapter 7. Why do we dream?  I always thought our dreams were our wishes or fears, something from the past, unresolved issues, and something triggered by a current event. What would you say? Why do we dream?
Q6: What are the contents of most dreams and how can they facilitate creativity and have our dreams be a source of personal insight?
6 PART B Also, you mention in chapter 12 that “20 percent of dream material can be confidently traced to waking-life sources.”  Where is the rest of 80% coming from? Our non-conscious?  The collective consciousness that I know you mentioned.
Q7: When we were talking about 2 of my dreams before this call, you noticed that water was a theme in both dreams, and one included flowing water that you mentioned can be metaphor for our emotions. You were able to ask me some questions that pinpointed very quickly and easily the meaning of those dreams. Can you expand on any other metaphors like water that might be common themes for people? Also, what can you tell me about dream characters and why are they of such interest to you?
Q8: You had mentioned to me that taking art appreciation classes can help to get a better appreciation for our dreams, and not being one to go to the museum or art gallery, I wondered what I could learn from this. Then you mention Santiago Ramón y Cajal, (Cahal) a Spanish histologist and anatomist who won the 1906 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his discovery of nerve cells and I watched a video about his book The Beautiful Brain: The Drawings of Santiago Ramon y Cajal[v] on YouTube and it was fascinating. For the first time I began to make connections between art and dreams and see this strategy in a new light. Can you expand on this idea and explain why art appreciation is an important strategy for dream exploration?
Q9: In the epilogue you talk about the future of dreaming and that maybe one day sleep trackers could store/log our dreams and how scary this could be. What do you think the future holds for us and our dreams? Do you think there will ever be solid answers that neuroscience can answer to help us to better understand some of the questions that come up with our dreams?
Thank you very much for your time today Tony and for sharing your insights on the power of understanding how our brains dream. If anyone wants to purchase your book, is the best place Amazon? If people want to contact you directly, or learn more about your work, what is the best way?
@DrZDreams on Twitter
https://antoniozadra.com/en
https://antoniozadra.com/en/media
Thank you!
RESOURCES:
Ready Player One https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1677720/
The Dream Keepers https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07L21GQBD/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1
REFERENCES:
[i] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Episode #30 Neuroscience Researcher Mark Robert Waldman on “12 Brain-Based Experiential Living Principles” https://www.achieveit360.com/neuroscience-researcher-mark-robert-waldman-on-12-brain-based-experiential-learning-and-living-principles/
[ii] When Brains Dream: Exploring the Science and Mystery of Sleep by Antonio Zadra and Robert Stickgold (Jan. 12, 2021) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08D1SF658/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1
[iii] https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Antonio_Zadra
[iv] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast episode #66 The Legendary Bob Proctor on “Social and Emotional Learning: Where it All Started” https://www.achieveit360.com/the-legendary-bob-proctor-on-social-and-emotional-learning-where-it-all-started/
[v] The Beautiful Brain: The Drawings of Santiago Ramon y Cajal Published August 10, 2017 on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72IPPIt5iMw&feature=youtu.be

The Neuroscience of Leadership: 3 Ways to Reset, Recharge and Refuel Your Brain for Your Best Year Ever

Welcome back to the Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning podcast, episode #103, where we will cover “The Neuroscience of Leadership: How to Reset, Recharge and Refuel Your Brain for Your Best Year Ever.” As we are now well into the New Year of 2021, with 2020 behind us as a distant but not forgotten memory, have you taken the time to close out the old year and welcome in the new? Whatever planning activity you do, I’ve added some ideas to this episode that I’ve collected over the years of working directly with the top leaders in motivation and success that really do add new energy to fuel this new year, with practical neuroscience tied to each strategy.  The idea is to look at your year with your brain in mind and see if this new lens can create the best year ever for you.
We all intuitively know that there’s a mental energy boost that comes along with “being ahead” of the game, and for those who work in our classrooms, you know that this year, getting ahead with our students looks much different than prior years, with perhaps a phone call before the start of the year to welcome your new students, break the ice, or tie something personal into your lessons that helps you to quickly connect on a deeper level, setting the tone for your year.
Getting ahead also translates into the workplace, with significant advantages in sales, for instance, knowing and planning where your sales will come from and having a solid pipeline, sets the tone for the rest of the year, much like the sports team who gets that first point early in the game, there’s a competitive advantage to this that builds momentum. Many people will be starting new jobs or careers with the mergers and resets that occurred from 2020, and the strategies that I am going to share with you, will be relevant to those of us who are starting something new, looking to refuel for a new year, recharge our batteries in 2021, shift, pivot and building momentum early, to set the rhythm for your best year ever. 
For those who work as entrepreneurs, this is the way we launch every year. For me, it’s been since I left the corporate space in 2012, so this will be my ninth New Year implementing these strategies.  The first year, on Day One of working on my own, I remember calling my good friend Patti Knoles, who had been in business for herself for many years, and saying “Patti, I’m so scared! What if what I am planning to do doesn’t work out?” I don’t remember exactly what she said, but I do remember where I was at the time, and that whatever she said made me feel better.  I think she said something like “how will you know if you don’t try?” and she was right—that’s the same words of wisdom that I give to those people, including one of my former sales managers, who called me after they have made this leap recently, for any thoughts, ideas or suggestions on how to be successful working from home, for yourself.
Whether in business for ourselves, or working for someone else, it takes a certain mental mindset to be 100% in charge of our results—our day, income, and life, and I know that it can also be quite scary, so for those of you facing 2021 with this new lens, here are some strategies that you can implement that will put you ahead of the game mentally, which I’m confident will change your results and set you up, for your best year ever.
 
Idea #1: Create Early Wins to Increase Motivation, Creativity and Overcome Challenges.
Michael D. Watkins, the cofounder of Genesis Advisers, a leadership development company, and the author of The First 90 Days: Critical Success Strategies for New Leaders at All Levels[i]  shares that “the single most important principle to making a successful transition in times of change, is to get early wins to build momentum fast.”[ii]
We talked about this in the introduction, how achieving early wins creates a new rhythm and momentum that changes your mindset to help you to focus on the success you are destined for, with greater outcomes, but how exactly do we win early? Winning doesn’t usually just happen. It’s never by chance or luck. Here are some strategies you can use to develop a winner’s brain within yourself, or your organization, or team, so that you can have those predictable results that come with winning early.
How To Put This Tip into Action With the Brain in Mind?
Uncover What Motivates You, Get into Flow State and Create Your Winning Brain. There is a fine line between setting and achieving goals, and research shows that motivation is what is behind those who are successful at achieving the goals they have set.  How do we uncover what motivates us? By now, most of us have heard of Simon Sinek’s[iii] work and the importance of starting with our “why” to inspire others to take action. If you haven’t watched this TED Talk[iv] in a while, it’s a good one to revisit.  I read a more recent example of uncovering your own motivation with the newly appointed head coach of the New York Jets, (NFL) Robert Saleh, who is taking over the team “coming off one of the worst seasons in franchise history.”[v] Saleh explains his powerful story that launched his coaching career when he traded his “cubicle for his coaching dream after his brother’s 9/11 close call.”[vi] In an article I have included in the show notes, Saleh shares that he might not have been a football coach at all—if it weren’t for what his brother experienced on Sept. 11th, 2001. This is a true story that explains the motivation that skyrocketed Saleh’s coaching career, and I am certain will be the foundation for the success he will experience as a head coach, in addition to the emotional intelligence that he has developed that former Jaguars star Paul Posluszny (Poslozny) describes when he explains that Saleh’s “presence commands attention because of his knowledge, the way he communicates, and the trust players have in him.”[vii]
Connect Your Brain to this Strategy
So, how does this translate into developing your winning brain? Although focusing on the tasks you must complete to achieve your goals may seem boring, “neuroscience research suggests that commitment to mastering a craft can feel rewarding…that kind of immersion can help a person to achieve a state of heightened concentration described as flow.”[viii]
A study by researchers at the National Institutes of Health, involved professional jazz musicians. Using (fMRI) scans the researchers found that when the musicians practiced their craft, they displayed interesting patterns of brain activity.
“During creative improvisations, (or practice) the medial prefrontal cortex, an area of the brain involved in the integration of information to support complex goals and aspirations, became more active.”  At the same time, “the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, which is often involved in inhibiting behavior and monitoring thinking, became less active. (This is also the part of the brain where we feel overwhelmed). Limbic areas associated with anxiety also quieted. This study may provide a glimpse of the brain "in flow," as the musicians used skills they'd already mastered — playing notes — in new and creative ways.”[ix]
The key to achieving these heightened levels of creativity, is to keep working, practicing, and learning, and your brain will further assist you to achieve your goals in flow state, in new and creative ways.
Problems and challenges will come up, they always do, for example, just imagine that you had this momentum built, started 2021 with your best foot forward, started winning early, and BAM—there’s a Covid-19 outbreak and you need to self-quarantine for the next 10 days, halting everything you’ve built for this year to a fast and sudden stop. This is the reality of the times we live in today, and more than ever it’s crucial to remember that goal achieving is a mental activity, starting at the brain level, and it’s important to take the time to remember your motivation. Instead of getting side-tracked by these problems, think of the bigger picture and “why” are you doing what you do. Take this time to think and reflect and you will be able to overcome any challenge, increase the thinking center of the brain, decrease where overwhelm and anxiety occur, and you will be well on your way to developing your winning brain.
Idea #2: Using Brain Network Theory to Increase Self-Awareness, Empathy, Creativity and Energy
Self-awareness was put on the map by Daniel Goleman[x] in 1995 with his book Emotional Intelligence: Why it Can Matter More Than IQ[xi] We all know of the importance of being aware of our emotions and human behavior, we covered it in episode #22 with Marc Brackett[xii] and his book, Permission to Feel[xiii], but do you have strategies in place for this? We did cover this topic in depth on Season 1 of the podcast “Self-Awareness: Know Thyself.”[xiv] Go back and listen to this episode—it was actually in our Top 5 most listened to episodes.
Next, take a look at the Start, Stop and Continue Graphic I’ve included in the show notes (if you are reading or listening to this episode on iTunes, go over to the Podbean app, where you can see the images) and start to think about the habits will you start, to bring you more energy, (like how will you become more self-aware and mindful by being in the present moment this year) what will your stop, (like living in the past or becoming reactive to the negativity that surrounds us on a daily basis) and what’s working for you, that you will continue (where will you be more focused and intentional)?
 
How to Put This Tip into Action with the Brain in Mind?
Start with the graphic and honing your self-awareness skills. Do more of what gives you energy, and less of what is draining.  You’ll notice some things that are becoming obsolete in your life. What new strategies and knowledge can you gain? This is a powerful activity to think about, even its just long enough to think about one area you’ll focus on in each column this year.
When you begin to improve self-awareness, you can tune into others on a deeper level. Empathy stems from awareness. You can “either be aware and have empathy, or you can act out habitual behaviors, but you can’t do both at the same time.”[xv] Awareness involves the insula and the anterior cingulate in the brain, that work together.
Look at the graphic in the show notes created by my mentor, Mark Waldman, he explains how the key brain networks operate. Just as a reminder, when we look at any new research on the brain these days, we will notice that we no longer see studies that talk about the individual parts of the brain—like the thalamus, or the hippocampus, or even just the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) (the part of the brain that lights up when we meditate) we will now see images that describe brain networks, nodes and connectivity. This means that at any given time, we might be daydreaming about something, and an entire network in our brain will light up. I’ve included an explanation of the TOP 3 brain networks in the show notes, because I think it’s fascinating. There are hundreds of these networks in our brain, and most of them are non-conscious, meaning that we are not aware of them, and how they can work for us, or against us.  This is what motivates me personally—to keep learning more, and sharing this understanding with you for improved results.
We have the Default Mode Network, (imagination processes like daydreaming, creative problem solving, and mind wandering. This area is significantly larger than the other networks possibly because it develops so early in life and plays such an important role in child and brain development).
Next we have the Central Executive Network (which holds our conscious decision-making processes like thinking, planning, concentration, taking action in an organized way and focused attention). This area is in our prefrontal cortex and is also known as our Executive Functions—all of our task-oriented thoughts. If we are NOT performing a task, and do NOT have focused attention, this area turns off, and we can go into the Imagination Network into daydreaming, worrying or creating, depending on what we are allowing into our thoughts. When this network is turned on, when we are working and using our focused attention, and the Imagination Network is turned off. We can only be in one network at a time. That’s why it is so important to take breaks to prevent burnout, and to allow for creative thoughts to flow into your mind when working on difficult tasks. 
Finally, there’s the Salience Network that doesn’t fully develop until we are around 28-30 years old, (which holds our awareness, intuition and compassion processes that integrate and stabilize the other two networks helping us to develop social awareness, empathy and our values).  This network puts the importance of what we are thinking, weighs what is important, and helps to balance the other networks. 
You can review this further with episode 48 on Brain Network Theory[xvi] for a more detailed overview, but for this episode, I just want you to look at the image and notice that these networks are all connected by our Awareness (the black star in the middle (underneath the I or the imagination/default mode network)—and know that if this area that includes the anterior cingulate and insula in the brain, is not stimulated, we cannot be empathetic or kind).
“The insula and the anterior cingulate are the parts of the brain that together allow you to switch between habitual behaviors (that won’t help you to attain new results) and self-awareness that will. (It’s self-awareness that increases our empathy). Those who spend more time noticing and being aware have a larger insula and anterior cingulate when their brains are viewed through fMRI scans.”[xvii]
The key to improving your own emotional intelligence here, is to continually work on being more self-aware and in turn, you will become more empathetic, kindness will increase and your results will soar. Just like what I mentioned with Robert Saleh, his presence commands attention, and I know that this is something he has developed over the years, by increasing his own self-awareness.
Idea #3: Your 9 Environments[xviii]: How to Create Energy Naturally from Your World Around You
This idea takes some self-reflection and thought, but I do highly recommend taking a 360 look at your life every year to evaluate where energy might be leaking that could be directed somewhere else. Your environments (that surround you) either inspire you or expire you. They either add energy and move you ahead or drain your energy and hold you back. The key here it to design your environments from the inside out, to support a happier and healthier version of you. You can stop relying on force and willpower, when your environments are lined up as everything is so much easier. We can change our inner environment and mindset with the Start, Stop Continue Chart that helps to improve our self-awareness and empathy, but also as equally important is to change our outer environment.
As we go into a new year, we might have some ideas with of that we want to improve our physical health, since health goals are usually the ones we see people starting the new year with, but it all begins with our mental mindset. After the year we had last year, we know of the importance of mental health and well-being, and that we must take control of our mental and emotional state, before we can even consider doing anything else. If we focus even for a moment on what’s fearful, or uncertain, we just won’t feel right, won’t be working at our best, and this takes training, because our brain has evolved to focus on what’s wrong, to keep us safe.  So how do we focus intentionally on what we want in all areas of our life, without letting our automatic negative thoughts kill our goals before we have even started, or the negativity of the world bring us down?
For the past 5 years, I’ve attend a training call with Jim Bunch to run through my 9 environments, then I pick a few of them that I’ll focus on for the upcoming year. Since doing this activity, I’ve noticed that each year, planning becomes easier as environments have been “cleaned up” let’s say, with the work from prior years. Each year builds a stronger, more confident version of you and it helps my brain to put a focus on the environments that I want to focus on for that year. I don’t choose all 9, just 4 areas that receive most of my attention, and the others are in maintenance mode, as I look at them, and clean them up every year.
Look at the graphic and I will outline some tips for you to think about.
Body: how was your health this year? Did you try anything new? Some people want to lose weight, others gain weight. What things have you done for your nutrition? Have you done anything new for exercise? Have you tried adding supplements? Green shakes? What about your health team? Do you have a new chiropractor, physical therapist, doctor, dentist, trainer at the gym? Have you looked into any online health courses? Have you done any health challenges?
Memetic: your beliefs, your inner game, your ideas, how you perceive yourself in the world, your paradigms. A positive structure here sets us up for a successful life vs negative (or not good enough) belief structure that will prevent us from reaching our greatest heights. Have you let go of any negative information? Have you added anything to help you be more positive, productive and focused? 
Self: We’ve talked about this area a lot, and it’s very important. It’s your identity, or what you do to improve yourself. Think about your wins, strengths, skills, and talents? Spend more time doing the things you love and outsource the things you don’t love to gain more energy in this area.
Nature: This environment includes the outdoors, four seasons, everything that’s living.  Did you spend more time in nature this year? (Mountains, the beach, the park)? Did you take any trips that took you into nature? 
Spiritual: (not the same as religion) connection to something greater than you, connection to a greater purpose. Do you practice yoga, meditation, prayer? Did you expand your spiritual community? Have you visited any locations that connected you more in this area? 
Relationships: family, friends, close colleagues are you communicating better? Are you building more authentic relationships? Even with social distancing, what effort have you put in here to focus on others?
Network: your extended relationships (clubs, groups, social networks, wherever you connect w people) have you met any new people? When the pandemic hit, I wondered how I was going to build this area, last year, but was surprised to see just how many people were more available to speak virtually, than in any other year. I was able to interview people that I know would usually be traveling, and difficult to reach, giving me an incredible opportunity that helped this area as well as the relationship area.
Financial: wins in cash flow creation new job for active income? Develop any passive or residual income? Any new strategies for managing cash? You you tried using tools like Mint. com and have you looked at cutting your expenses? Do you have a clear picture of what comes in each month vs what you spend? What about wins at work, or your own business? 
Physical: (home, office, cars) Have you organized your desk, workspace, closets, drawers, have you decluttered? Upgraded computer, cleaned up your memory? 
With time, you can make your environments work for you, where they give you energy, rather than drain you. Think about the 4 you will focus on and make these 4 your priority. 
How to Put This Tip into Action with the Brain in Mind?
Learn to understand and use your Reticular Activating System[xix] which is a filter in your brain that helps you to focus on the things that are important to you. If you have heard the idea that “energy flows where your attention goes” this explains why putting some focus on what you want to create in your 9 environments is so important, especially as you launch a new year. Be very careful of where you are putting your focus, because your RAS will help you to achieve whatever you are focused on, good or bad. There really is a power of making your environments work for you, not against you.
There’s so much more I could say about tips to reset and refuel your brain to create your best year ever, but these would be my top 3 tips of where to begin.
To Review:
Idea #1: How to Win Early and Overcome Challenges
Don’t forget to identify what motivates you, like how the near death of Robert Saleh’s brother during 9-11 inspired him to quit his cubicle job, leading him to being the newly appointed head coach of the NY Jets. What’s new and different will stimulate your motivation and reward networks, helping to drive you towards your goals at the brain level, while at the same time, will help you to bypass challenges that will inevitably come your way.  With continued practice, you will reach those heightened levels of creativity that was seen with the jazz musicians who reached levels of flow that inspired them to play in new and creative ways.
Idea #2: How to Win by Increasing Self-Awareness, Empathy and Creativity
Improve your own self-awareness and this in turn will help you to be more empathetic and demonstrate kindness toward others. Our awareness expands with our experiences but develops later in life since it’s connected to the Salience Network, that fully develops around age 28-30.  Put as much focus as you can on developing and improving your own self-awareness and your results will soar, as you hone this important emotional intelligence skill.
Idea #3: Designing Your Winning Environments: How to Create Energy and Stay Focused on Your Goals
With an understanding of the RAS, we can direct our laser and focused attention to what is important to us. Use the 9 environments activity as a guide to focus on 4 areas that you will focus on in 2021, and watch your life improve with this directed attention.
Reminder: The reticular activating system (RAS) is the area of the brain responsible for regulating arousal and sleep-wake transitions and is considered as one of the most important systems which facilitates the functioning of sensation and attention. 
It functions as a filter of unnecessary noise so the important stuff can get through. 
Your RAS takes what you focus on and then creates a filter for it. It then sifts through the data and presents only the pieces that are important to you. All of this happens without you noticing. The RAS programs itself to work in your favor without you actively doing anything at all. So if we set our intent and refocus, our RAS will help us out by filtering through billions of pieces of data that surround us every day, so we can see, hear and become exactly what we want to be, purely by what we put our attention towards.
I would love to know what insights you learned from these 3 brain-aligned strategies  that I designed to reset, recharge and refuel your brain to create your best year yet.  Send me a message on social media and share anything you’ve learned with me.
Stay tuned for EPISODE #104 being recorded this week, on “Brains that Dream: Exploring The Science and Mystery of Sleep.”
REFERENCES:
[i] Michael D. Watkins The First 90 Days: Proven for Getting Up to Speed Smarter and Faster (April 2013)  https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00B6U63ZE/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1
[ii] New Leader? Get Early Wins by Michael D. Watkins (Jan. 2009) https://hbr.org/2009/01/new-leader-get-early-wins
[iii] Simon Sinek Start With Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action https://simonsinek.com/product/start-with-why/
[iv] Simon Sinek TED Talk  Published Sept. 2009 “How Great Leaders Inspire Action” https://www.ted.com/talks/simon_sinek_how_great_leaders_inspire_action?language=en
[v] Robert Saleh becomes Jets new head coach January 14, 2021 by Brian Costello https://nypost.com/2021/01/14/robert-saleh-becomes-jets-new-head-coach/
[vi] Robert Saleh traded cubicle for coaching dream after brother’s 9/11 close call by Ryan Dunleavy Jan. 12, 2021 https://nypost.com/2021/01/15/robert-saleh-wouldnt-be-jets-coach-without-brothers-9-11-close-call/?utm_campaign=iphone_nyp&utm_source=mail_app
[vii] ibid
[viii] Cultivating a Winner’s Brain (May 2010)  https://www.health.harvard.edu/newsletter_article/cultivating-a-winners-brain
[ix] ibid
[x] https://www.danielgoleman.info/
[xi] Daniel Goleman: Emotional Intelligence: Why it Can Matter More Than IQ (January 2012) https://www.amazon.com/kindle-dbs/thankYouPage?_encoding=UTF8&a=DT%3AKCL&action=&asin=B000JMKVCG&noDevicePurchaseAllowed=&subtype=FREE_CHAPTER&targetFiona=DT%3AKCL
[xii] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE#22 with Marc Brackett on his book Permission to Feel: Unlocking the Power of Emotions https://www.achieveit360.com/founding-director-of-the-yale-center-for-emotional-intelligence-on-his-new-book-permission-to-feel/
[xiii] Marc Brackett Interview with Andrea Samadi on his book “Permission to Feel” (Published on YouTube Sept. 2019) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CeOzi8ZrFO4&feature=youtu.be
[xiv] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #2 “Self-Awareness: Know Thyself” https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/self-awareness-know-thyself/
[xv] Where Does Self-Awareness Come From? (January 2017)  by Nicole Gravagna, Ph.D https://www.forbes.com/sites/quora/2017/01/31/where-does-self-awareness-come-from/?sh=6080d3bd32b5
[xvi] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #40 “Brain Network Theory: Using Neuroscience to Stay Productive During Times of Change and Chaos” https://www.achieveit360.com/brain-network-theory-using-neuroscience-to-stay-productive-during-times-of-change-and-chaos/
[xvii] Where Does Self-Awareness Come From? (January 2017)  by Nicole Gravagna, Ph.D https://www.forbes.com/sites/quora/2017/01/31/where-does-self-awareness-come-from/?sh=6080d3bd32b5
[xviii] The 9 Environments of You by Jim Bunch https://unmistakablecreative.com/podcast/the-9-environments-that-make-up-your-life-with-jim-bunch/
[xix] What is the Reticular Activating System May 2013  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCnfAzAIhVw

Aneesh Chaudhry on "Mental Health, Well-Being and Meditation: Overcoming Addiction Using Your Brain"

Welcome back to the Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning podcast, episode #102 with Aneesh Chaudhry, the CEO of SoulPhysio Lifestyle that was born largely from his own personal struggles.
Watch the interview on YouTube here. 
As we start a new year, and Season 5 of the podcast, we will continue where we left off with Season 4, with a focus on Health and Wellness, that will take a shift to the importance of brain health, mental health and well-being. If we want to improve our results, and the brain is involved in everything that we do, and everything that we are, then we must put our attention towards understanding how we can optimize this organ—our brain.
We all know that 2020 was difficult for many people, but those who struggled the most were those who already were struggling. The Centers for Disease Control found that from a survey in June 2020, adults in the United States reported “considerably elevated adverse mental health conditions associated with COVID-19”[i] and that “40.9% of over 5,000 respondents reported an adverse mental or behavioral health condition, including symptoms of anxiety disorder, trauma-related symptoms, new or increased substance use, or thoughts of suicide.”[ii]
When I was introduced to Aneesh Chaudhry, through a mutual friend, you will see why I took one look at the work he is doing and knew immediately that I had to interview him in our first podcast to launch 2021, to provide some hope and direction for those who might either know someone who is struggling at this time or going through their own personal struggle.
Aneesh dealt with significant Mental Illness and Addiction through his teenage years into his early twenties. He was diagnosed with conditions including depression, anxiety, bipolar, and this led him to search for answers as to why he was feeling the way he did. A Major shift occurred for Aneesh when he had his brain scanned in 2013 at Amen Clinics. He learned that the brain can heal itself, where his brain might be imbalanced, leading him to have the symptoms he was having. These answers gave him hope and direction that catapulted him into years of diligent study and lifestyle change. He got his bachelor’s degree in Psychology with a concentration of Behavioral Neuroscience. Aneesh also has a list of certifications in the area of health and wellness, including a Brain Health Coach Certification through Amen Clinics, making him a true expert in the field of Mental Health, Wellbeing and Neuroscience.
Welcome Aneesh, thank you so much for agreeing to come on the podcast to share your incredible story that really does defy the odds, showing the dedication you have in this area.
Q1: Aneesh, when we first spoke, on New Year’s Eve of all days, it really hit me that you understood this topic at the brain level, and this means that you have a grasp of something that we were never taught about in school, and most families that have these issues usually end up sweeping problems like addiction, mental illness or depression, under a rug, never to be discussed or addressed out loud, which doesn’t solve the problem.  I shared with you that when I first encountered someone with a serious addiction, I was at a loss of what to do. Now this was going back 20 years ago, when I didn’t find out all my answers to whatever I wanted to solve through Google (that had just gone live a few years before this). I spent hours at the library reading books, trying to understand alcoholism, and why one person can have one drink and not be bothered with a second, while another person just can’t do this. It baffled me that something so important was never taught to us in school. Can you share just how deep your addiction to marijuana and alcohol was, how you think it began, and how were you able to defy the odds and make it to the other side to recovery?
Q2:  For people listening, this can be a challenging time of year, (with the Pandemic aside which we all know amplified this issue) whether they are struggling with an addiction themselves, or living with someone else whose struggling which is just as stressful. This time of year can be the perfect time to make some personal changes. I’ve covered how to use your brain to break bad habits on EPISODE #35,[iii] covered Self-Regulation and Behavior Change for Leaders with David R. Hawkin’s “Power vs Force”  on EPISODE #70[iv] and we did speak with the hosts of the BrainTools Podcast Samuel Holston and Kirin Goy for EPISODE #97[v] on “The Neuroscience Behind our Habits, and Addictions” but can we go a bit deeper into first of all understanding what’s happening at the brain level and what exactly is involved in stopping the addictive behavior from the point of view of someone who has been there, come to the other side, and now wants to help others do the same? I want to go to the level of understanding what triggers the brain to engage in something we know is bad for us, and how do we break these triggers?
Q3: Aneesh, now that you have this understanding, I love how you want to make an impact on other people’s lives and educate our youth on this topic. Since you are certified with Dr. Amen as one of his brain coaches, I think it’s important to note something that I heard him say. If you are a parent, and you know that addiction runs in your family, Dr. Amen[vi] talks about the importance of having a discussion with your kids when they are old enough to understand, by saying something like, “Since addiction runs in the family, I want you to be prepared that you might like alcohol more than other people” or something along those lines. I know that Health and Wellness and this topic finally making its way into our schools, which I think is great progress, since it wasn’t there at all when I was growing up and having these conversations with our children can reverse the cycle of this disease.  Can you share why you were drawn to working with children, your vision with your Foundation for Youth[vii] and the work you are doing in our schools to beat the addiction cycle?
Q4: Since this is the Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast, I like to bring in the 6 SEL competencies, and when we spoke, one them, self-awareness came up a few times in our conversation. Why is self-awareness so important here? What should we all know about ourselves, and others, and why is a daily routine so important?
Q5: Can you explain what Ayurvedic Medicine is, how it helped you and how does it help to balance the body?
Q6: Since 2 of my favorite actors of all time (Robin Williams[viii] and Phillip Seymour Hoffman[ix] both relapsed after decades of sobriety, I’ve got to ask you about this. How do you look at relapse, and does using your drug of choice ever cross your mind? What do you do to prevent this from happening?
Thank you so much for your time, for all you are doing for the world to give people hope in these challenging times. If people want to learn more about you, they can go to
https://soulphysiolifestyle.com/
Twitter @soulphysio https://twitter.com/soulphysio
Instagram @soulphysiolifestyle  https://www.instagram.com/soulphysiolifestyle/?hl=en
Aneesh Choudhry on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/aneesh-chaudhry-986186145/
https://soulphysiolifestyle.networkforgood.com/projects/103477-main-giving-page Learn more about how to give to your youth foundation where you will support young people through the prevention of these challenges.
I also want to list some resources for people for might be looking for some answers with addiction.
RESOURCES:
https://www.bannerhealth.com/services/behavioral-health/conditions/chemical-substance-abuse
https://www.aa.org/
Changeology: 5 Steps to Realizing Your Goals and Resolutions by John Norcross (Dec.25, 2012) http://www.changeologybook.com/
David R. Hawkins, M.D. Ph.D. Power vs Force: The Hidden Determinants of Human Behavior. https://www.amazon.com/Power-Force-David-Hawkins-M-D/dp/1401945074
Understanding the Neuroscience of Addiction: What it Means for Prevention and Treatment April 25, 2018 by https://www.drugabuse.gov/news-events/news-releases/2018/04/understanding-the-neuroscience-of-addiction-what-it-means-for-prevention-and-treatment
Neuroscience of Addiction Abstract https://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/doi/full/10.1176/appi.ajp.2018.17101174
Understanding Addiction: New Insights into the Causes of Addiction https://www.helpguide.org/harvard/how-addiction-hijacks-the-brain.htm
How to Balance Your Limbic System by Daniel Amen Dec. 27, 2016 https://www.amenclinics.com/blog/limbic-system-caring-brains-limbic-system/
Neuroscience Meets SEL Podcast EPISODE #80 with Samantha Wettje on “Mitigating the Negative Effects of ACES” https://www.achieveit360.com/harvards-samantha-wettje-on-mitigating-the-negative-effects-of-aces-with-her-16-strong-project/
www.16stong.com
Rick Hanson The Neuroscience of Happiness https://www.rickhanson.net/ and his book Hardwiring Happiness https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00CCPIIZK/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1
Ayurvedic: The 6 Stages of Disease https://essentialayurveda.com/ayurvedic-6-stages-of-disease/
The 3 Doshas: Their Elements and Attributes https://www.ayurveda.com/resources/articles/doshas-their-elements-and-attributes
COVID-19 and Alcohol Consumption Resource https://www.bluecrestrc.com/covid-19-and-alcohol-consumption/
REFERENCES:
[i] Is the Country Experiencing a Mental Health Pandemic? Oct 13, 2020 by Ronald W. Pies, M.D. Psychiatric Times. https://www.psychiatrictimes.com/view/are-we-really-witnessing-mental-health-pandemic
[ii] Mental Health Symptoms During COVID (Source CDC.gov) https://cdn.sanity.io/images/0vv8moc6/psychtimes/07d1f6853560f1cb04ddc689734c02ef87ab2d67-996x565.jpg?auto=format
[iii] Neuroscience Meets SEL Podcast Episode #35 Solo Lesson with Andrea Samadi “How to Use Your Brian to Break Bad Habits” https://www.achieveit360.com/how-to-use-your-brain-to-break-bad-habits-in-2020/
[iv] Neuroscience Meets SEL Podcast Episode #70 on “Self-Regulation and Behavior Change for Leaders with David R. Hawkin’s “Power vs Force”  https://www.achieveit360.com/self-regulation-and-behavior-change-for-leaders-with-david-r-hawkins-power-vs-force/
[v] Neuroscience Meets SEL Podcast EPISODE #97 with Kirin Goy and Samuel Holston on “The Neuroscience Behind our Habits, Addictions, Love/Fears” https://www.achieveit360.com/kirun-goy-and-samuel-holston-from-the-brain-tools-podcast-on-the-neuroscience-behind-our-habits-addictions-love-fears/
[vi] Alcoholic Parents: What it Does to a Child’s Brain by Dr. Amen and Tana Amen on the Brain Warrior’s Way Podcast https://www.amenclinics.com/blog/alcoholic-parents-what-does-it-do-to-a-childs-brain/
[vii] The SoulPhysio Foundation https://soulphysiolifestyle.com/foundation-overview
[viii] Robin Williams’ Long Struggle with Addiction https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/robin-williams-death-his-cocaine-724802
[ix] Phillip Seymour-Hoffman’s Partner Opens Up About His Tragic Drug Addiction https://www.today.com/popculture/philip-seymour-hoffman-s-partner-opens-about-his-tragic-overdose-t120028

Lessons Learned From Our FIRST 100 Episodes

Welcome back to the Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning podcast, episode #101, where we will review highlights from the past 100 episodes, that began in June 2019, with a behind the scenes lens, where we will take a look at the results created from this podcast, with the goal to inspire listeners to not just implement the ideas offered in each episode, but to think about what Horacio Sanchez from EPISODE #74 reminded me this week, of “the impact possible when you have an idea, nurture it, and watch it grow.” (Horacio Sanchez, EPISODE #74[i]).
My name is Andrea Samadi, and if you haven’t met me yet, I’m a former educator who created this podcast to bring the most current neuroscience research, along with high performing experts who have risen to the top of their field, with specific strategies or ideas that you can implement immediately, whether you are an educator, or working in the corporate space, to take your results to the next level. 
Before we get to the episode, and the highlights learned from our guests, I want to share some of the unexpected results that have come as a byproduct of this podcast to perhaps light a spark under anyone who might be thinking of new ways to create brand awareness, or market their business in 2021. If you have been thinking of ways that you can extend your voice, message and reach, I highly recommend this mode of delivery. I also want to thank everyone who has supported us with this mission, come on as a guest, or downloaded an episode. We wouldn’t exist without the guests who offer their time, expertise, and strategies designed to help our listeners (in over 132 countries) who tune in on a regular basis and take the ideas offered to make an impact locally in their schools, communities, businesses and workplaces. I appreciate the feedback and messages received via social media and email and look forward to the next 100 episodes. As long as there is still growth, I will continue to produce new episodes.
So Here are 3 Lessons Learned Looking Back at the 100 Episodes.
LESSON 1: WHEN THERE’S A NEED, CAN YOU PUT A SPIN ON IT?
I saw a serious need in the area of social and emotional learning that was being implemented in schools around the country and the world, and many educators didn’t know the best way to begin their implementation.  I thought it would be a good place to gather “best practices” from experts around the world to offer their ideas that we could all learn from and apply to our own lives.
But I knew I needed a bigger idea than just a podcast about social emotional learning in our schools, or emotional intelligence training in our workplaces. Too many people were already doing this. But not that many people were teaching the basics of practical neuroscience as it relates to this topic. The idea to combine neuroscience and social/emotional learning came with the thought that “success in life, and in college and career specifically, relies on student’s cognitive, (the core skills your brain uses to think, read, remember, and pay attention) social and interpersonal skills, (including the ability to navigate through social situations, resolve conflicts, show respect towards others, self-advocate and learn how to work on a team with others) and emotional development (including the ability to recognize and manage one’s emotions, demonstrate empathy for others and cope with stress).” In the corporate world, these skills aren’t new, but they are “newly important” and of high urgency to develop in our future generations. I’ve mentioned this quote before but think it’s important enough to repeat. A recent survey showed that 58 percent of employers say college graduates aren’t adequately prepared for today’s workforce, and those employers noted a particular gap in social and emotional skills. This is where our goal with this podcast began—to close this gap by exploring six social and emotional learning competencies as a springboard for discussion and tie in how an understanding of our brain can facilitate these strategies. 
AHA! MOMENT with LESSON 1
That’s really how I took the need, put a spin on it, and came up with the title Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning in 2016 (3 years before launching the podcast) when I first began presenting on this topic. This title drew the session on the introduction to practical neuroscience to fill up with standing room only, at the YRDSB Quest Conference, in Toronto, Canada. This was my first presentation on the topic, and I knew at that moment that there was a serious interest in this topic.
Back then, I was working one on one with one of the leading neuroscience researchers in the country, Mark Robert Waldman, and he had just finished writing his book Neurowisdom: The New Brain Science of Money, Happiness and Success[ii], When he shared his research with me, I saw how practical neuroscience could help people to gain a deeper understanding of how to create change from the brain level and impact their social and emotional thinking and began to write the outline for the vision I saw. I also found Dr. Lori Desautels this year, who is now a good friend and supporter of our work.
This was how we took a need and put a spin on it. The rest is history.
LESSON 2: THINK IMPACT vs INCOME: GIVER’S GAIN
After the first few months of releasing episodes, I heard from so many people who wanted to know “how did you launch this idea,” and asked about some best practices as they began thinking of ways to replicate the results that inevitably come when you put in consistent daily effort that turns into weekly and then monthly effort until it’s no longer effort, but what you do every day, habitually. If you want to know if launching a podcast would work for you, message me and I can send you some ideas on how to get started, but my first tip would be that you should pick a topic that you love, something that you won’t mind putting in the time and effort to learn more about, as this is what you will be immersed in on a daily basis.
I heard a few times “How do you make money with a podcast?” and that’s a great question and why I wanted the second lesson to focus on the impact you will have, not the income. When you have enough listeners, you can earn money from sponsorships and ads, but the key is to use the podcast as a tool to drive people to your programs and services. Doors will start to open for you in ways that you never imagined. I heard Max Lugavere (an American television personality and health and wellness writer) talking about these incredible types of results at about the 2-year mark of his podcast on Dhru Purohit’s Broken Brain Podcast[iii]. The income will come once you put your focus on service and helping others to achieve their goals.
This is exactly the same concept as writing a book. Most people who dream of writing a book, think that it will take off like the Harry Potter Series, and they will be set, riding off into the sunset as a millionaire. The truth is that most authors never sell more than a few hundred copies of their books, and for it to become a best seller, it should reach 10,000 copies sold in a week. This is easier to do when selling larger volumes (like to schools or organizations that want your book) but not easy at all to do when selling books one at a time, relying on Amazon as your distribution service. Authors know that books, like a podcast, are just a tool to get your message out there. Since I have released content both ways, I can say from experience that putting your best content out into the world, for FREE, with the idea of helping people, will yield better results than thinking of selling your ideas before anyone even knows who you are.
AHA! MOMENT with LESSON 2
This podcast was actually originally going to be an educational course, written for a publisher, but a turn of events had me decide to release this content in the form of a podcast for FREE, to be used by anyone who needed these resources. What was interesting is that when I put a focus on the IMPACT I wanted to create, rather than the INCOME it would give me back in return, something magical happened. Max Lugavere mentioned it happened for him at the 2-year mark, and I would have to say it happened for me around the 100th episode mark after just a year and seven months. The opportunities came disguised as consistent, daily, effort and work.
LESSON 3: MASTER PROLIFIC QUALITY OUTPUT (PQO).
I heard this statement for years, until this experience made me finally understand it. Brendon Burchard, the author of the book High Performance Habits talks about how “High performers have mastered the art of prolific quality output (PQO). They produce more high-quality output than their peers over the long term, and that is how they become more effective, better known, more remembered. They aim their attention and consistent efforts toward PQO and minimize any distractions (including opportunities) that would steal them away from their craft” (Burchard, 2017[iv]). 
 
Over the years, I never really understood what PQO meant. I listened to Brendon explain it a few times, and he would give the example of “Beyonce, who puts out hit after hit, or Ralph Lauren who creates luxury and designer product after product, or even Seth Godin who creates blog post after blog post.” There’s also the WakeUpIt’sDayOne Blog who explains PQO as it relates to athletes as “the type of things you typically don’t see an immediate reward with or have to repeat on a daily basis. Think about Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods, Lebron James, Tom Brady – the greatest athletes of all time. When you research them and understand how they became who they are today, all you ever read is that they focused on the fundamental things that improved their overall physical and mental skills[v]” their PQO—and I would add consistently, on a daily basis.
AHA! MOMENT with LESSON 3
Then I thought, what is my PQO? What is my output? What am I creating day in and day out? I’ve always been creating content, but it hit me after I had been producing episodes consistently for a year, that my PQO was the podcast episodes. I had created a certain standard with each episode that included the fact that each one had to be my best effort. If I wasn’t ready to interview someone, or had not researched enough, I would not produce the episode until it hit that standard.
I also saw the importance of creating a video interview where I could edit in images and text to explain what the person I was interviewing was talking about. Many times, the concepts discussed are difficult to understand with words alone, so this became another standard. The final standard was that each interview had to be produced and released either that same day, or no longer than 2 days after. Waiting too long in production destroys the momentum created by the interview, so this meant many times that editing went into the night and researching early morning and weekends. Many content producers outsource their video or audio editing and production, but to date, each of the episodes have been produced and edited by yours truly. We will see what happens with this over the next 100 episodes.
If you want to make an impact that goes beyond what your mind can imagine, a global impact, you need to have mastered Prolific Quality Output. Do YOU know what YOUR PQO is?
Now that we have looked at some of the results created from this podcast, that really were unexpected, this episode will take a closer look at some lessons learned from the speakers along the way, as they relate to the 6 social and emotional competencies and how we tied in a connection to practical neuroscience for improved productivity and results.
After each interview, I brainstormed the most important points learned with my husband, since he is also in the field of education. He always asks “what did you learn from this speaker” and there’s always 2-5 AHA points that definitely surprised me. I love making connections between the speakers and mapping out what each one says to other episodes. We really are connected, and what one person says, connects to what someone else will say in a later episode.  I’m always looking for ways to take knowledge and make it applicable for anyone who is willing to apply it and use it.
Just a note: Even though I had a written outline for the podcast, it did take a turn towards health and wellness close to the end of 2020, which I think was important and necessary. I will pull out examples used from our speakers in the following areas:
EXPERTS WHO:
Demonstrate Practical Neuroscience to Improve Results
Demonstrate the Social and Emotional Learning Competencies (Mindset, Self-Regulation, Self-Awareness, Social Awareness, Relationship Skills, and Decision-Making).
Explain SEL in the EDUCATIONAL SETTING
Are Involved with PHYSICAL HEALTH, WELLNESS AND NUTRITION
LESSONS LEARNED FROM PRACTICAL NEUROSCIENCE
THE POWER IN LEARNING ABOUT HOW OUR AMAZING BRAINS WORK: This area is where I spent the most time on the podcast, making sure we had a variety of experts, many who are well known with their books and research, to make a case for the importance of learning the basics of neuroscience to improve our productivity and results.
Whether it was tips from 15-year-old Chloe Amen on how you can “Change Your Brain and Change Your Grades,” neuroscientist Friederike Fabritius on ways to “Achieve Peak Performance,” Dr. John Medina on his “Brain Rules” or Dr. Lori Desautels on the power of implementing neuroscience in today’s schools, the one person who tied everything together was Dr. Mary Helen Immordino-Yang with her research that shows “The Brain Basis for Integrated Social, Emotional, and Academic Development.” Her work shows how emotions and social relationships drive learning, bringing the entire podcast full circle as Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning. I saw the importance of these 2 topics, and Mary Helen can prove why they are so important, with her work at the University of SCA in her Center for Affective Neuroscience, Development, Learning and Education (CANDLE LAB).  
We will continue to bring more lessons that tie practical neuroscience to social, emotional and academic development in our future episodes as this really is the future of education. What was interesting to note in this area was that EPISODE #68: Neuroscience of Personal Change with Stephen R Covey’s “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People” was the #1 most downloaded EPISODE with over 1100 downloads, showing me that people want to make this connection linking neuroscience to success and of the POWER IN LEARNING ABOUT HOW OUR AMAZING BRAINS WORK.
LESSONS LEARNED FROM THE 6 SEL COMPETENCIES
SEL COMPETENCY: MINDSET
“A great attitude does more than turn on the lights in our worlds, it seems to magically connect us to all sorts of serendipitous opportunities that were somehow absent before the change.” Earl Nightingale, author of Think and Grow Rich 
Frank Shankwitz, from EPISODE #40 has modeled what happens when you keep a good mental mindset, for the course of his life. So much so, that they made a movie about his life, called Wish Man, that is based on Frank’s life story (he was a motorcycle cop in Arizona who was haunted by the traumatic separation from his father when he was a boy. After surviving a near-fatal accident, he finds hope with a terminally ill boy, who reunites him with his father. To honor this boy, Frank creates the Make a Wish Foundation, and continues to live a life of honor every day. Nothing can tear this man down. Follow him on social media and you will see for yourself of the importance of a “great mental attitude.”
SEL COMPETENCY: SELF-REGULATION with PERSISTENCE and PERSEVERANCE
“Success has to do with deliberate practice. Practice must be focused, determined, and in the environment where there’s feedback.” Malcolm Gladwell
Dr. John Dunlosky from EPISODE #37 started this topic off with his years of research that showed that “deliberate practice” was one of the most effective learning strategies, vs cramming for a test. We’ve all heard this and know that knowledge will be retained and recalled more efficiently when it’s learned over a period of time.  
Todd Woodcroft, the former assistant coach to the Winnipeg Jets, current Head Coach to the University of Vermont Catamounts[vi], from EPISODE #38 puts John Dunlosky’s theory into practice as he explained that the “daily grind in the NHL” begins with “hard work” being a baseline of what is expected of each player, and that to rise above this baseline, players must embrace certain daily habits, without complaining of the work, knowing that “things don’t get easier as you get better, they get harder” with the repetition of these important skills.
Dalip Shekhawat further reinforced Dunlosky’s research with his interview detailing the preparation involved in climbing Mount Everest, and neuroscientist Stephanie Faye from EPISODE #39 shares why this spaced repetition is so important at the brain level when she explains how the neural pathways are formed with this daily, consistent practicing of skill.
SEL COMPETENCY: SELF-AWARENESS with MENTAL HEALTH and WELL-BEING
“When I discover who I am, I’ll be free.” Ralph Ellison
Moving into the 3rd SEL competency, self-awareness, this was the area that received the most downloads. The second most downloaded episode was my interview with my mentor, Bob Proctor, that shares where this idea began over 20 years ago. The third most downloaded episode was my solo lesson with a deep dive into everything I learned working directly with Bob, in the seminar industry for 6 years.
Many of the speakers interviewed in this area came from the connections made from these speakers that I met in the late 1990s. It was here that I first saw the power of these social and emotional learning skills with 12 young teens, who would inspire me to keep moving forward with this work.
This section is full of speakers, leaders, entrepreneurs of all ages who have a vision, like I do, for change with our educational system.
EPISODE #66 Bob Proctor #2 MOST DOWNLOADED EPISODE on “Social and Emotional Learning: Where it all Started for Andrea Samadi”
EPISODE #67 “Expanding Your Awareness with a Deep Dive into the Most Important Concepts Learned from Bob Proctor Seminars” (Solo Lesson by Andrea Samadi)
EPISODE #68 The Neuroscience of Personal Change with Stephen R. Covey’s “The 7 Habits of Highly Successful People” (Solo Lesson with Andrea Samadi)
#1 MOST DOWNLOADED EPISODE with over 1100 downloads
SOCIAL AWARENESS/RELATIONSHIPS/DECISION-MAKING
These 3 SEL competencies are important with solo lessons for each topic. Greg Wolcott, the author of the book www.significant72.com was dominant in this area. I will mention an aha moment with his work in the next section.
LESSONS LEARNED FROM EXPERTS IN SEL/EDUCATION
TAKE ACTION, EVEN WHEN YOU AREN’T READY. My first guest speaker was my husband, Majid Samadi, who always is there to offer ideas, suggestions and support with all of my projects, so of course when I needed to interview someone to launch this idea, I asked him to be my first guest. If you go back to EPISODE #1 that covers “The Why Behind Launching an SEL or Emotional Intelligence Program in Your School or Workplace” you will hear me interview him on his thoughts, from the point of view of someone who spends most of his time, working in schools across the country, as the Regional Vice President of Sales for an Educational Publishing Company. This interview happened 5 minutes after he walked in the door after getting off a flight, I think from LA, and he put his suit jacket on my desk, and I handed him a sheet of questions and said “Answer these and talk into the mic.” I’m sure he had been working since early that morning, and it was well into the evening when we recorded this, but he did it, without rehearsing his answers, or spending time preparing. We launched the podcast when we weren’t 100% ready because if we didn’t, I’m sure I would still be spending my days planning. Take action, even when you aren’t ready.
PAY ATTENTION TO EVERYTHING AND EVERYONE: SMALL DETAILS CAN LEAD TO BIG DISCOVERIES AND RELATIONSHIPS THAT LAST My second interview was with educator, Ron Hall, from Valley Day School (who I found from an article I saw through Linkedin, and reached out to him hoping he would say yes to being a guest on the show). He agreed, and we have remained in contact ever since. Something funny to mention is that I had just started using Zoom for these interviews, a year before everyone would be using Zoom, and I hadn’t mastered the audio yet. There was a setting on my end that I needed to fix, and finally figured it out, but I’ll never forget the stress of not being able to hear my first guest for a good 30 minutes (could have been longer) as he tried everything on his end to fix the audio, that we finally figured out was on my end. Once we figured it all out, Ron spoke about how he launched neuroscience into his school with one of his major influencers being an author and speaker named Horacio Sanchez. When I created the video for Ron’s interview, I added an image of Horacio as he explained his story. This became important a year later, when I was introduced to Horacio Sanchez from Corwin Press Publishers for Episode #74. With each person you meet, whether in your life, or work, it’s important to pay attention to small details that can lead to something important to you later on. Always develop and maintain relationships as you never know how that person could be of assistance to you, or you to them, at some point in the future.  I’m forever grateful for Ron Hall being my first guest, for staying in touch with me, and for the introduction to Horacio Sanchez, who I’m working with now on another project. GRATEFUL FOR BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS THAT LAST.
KEEP LEARNING AND DON’T GET IN YOUR OWN WAY: One of my early interviews was with Greg Wolcott, and assistant superintendent from Chicago, and the author the book Significant 72[vii]. I had been following Greg’s work since I heard him on an SEL webinar in 2016, where he explained how he was building relationships in schools across the country. Greg quickly became an incredible supporter of the podcast after our interview and referred me to many other guests. We became friends, and kept in touch as each episode was released, he would let me know how useful the information was for the educators he was working with, as he brainstormed the ways that the episodes were helping him. This gave me belief in the content, as I saw it being applied, and made me realize that it was crazy that I was nervous interviewing Greg, who would become an incredible support, leading me to step out of my own way, and into a path of greater opportunity down the line. Reminding me to KEEP LEARNING AND DON’T GET IN YOUR OWN WAY!
LESSONS LEARNED FROM HEALTH/NUTRITION
When I launched this podcast, I had no idea I was going to even go in the direction of health, wellbeing and nutrition. It just happened. Health is my #1 value, and something I put an incredible amount of time towards, so it wasn’t a surprise to me that when the Pandemic hit our world, I saw the importance of interviewing people who were putting a focus on their physical health as well as their mental health and well-being.
I’ve always stayed close to my trainer, Kelly Schmidt, from episode #51, but when I watched a documentary on the health staples that were shown to prevent Alzheimer’s Disease, I decided that I needed to expand what I knew in this area.
 
I took the 5 health staples and began looking for people I could contact who were experts in each of these areas. I met Luke DePron on Linkedin, who connected me to Dr. Stickler, and Momo Vuyisich. I reached out to Shane Creado from Dr. Daniel Amen’s Clinics, leading us to get our brain scans, learn more about the importance of sleep and finally, reached out to Jason Wittrock on Instagram, after his videos had inspired me to make changes with my diet a few years back.
This set of interviews led me to moderate Podbean’s Wellness Week with Dr. Carolyn Leaf and John Kim, who you bet I am working on getting on the podcast for 2021.
I hope you have enjoyed this review of our first 100 EPISODES. There is a lot of information to review, and many lessons that I plan on revisiting over the holidays as a review. I’ll definitely be reviewing EPISODE #66 The Neuroscience of Personal Change (our #1 episode) and will be planning Season 5. Please do send me a message via social media, or email andrea@achieveit360.com and let me know what episodes you have liked, so I can be sure that I am producing the best content I can for you.
See you next year.
Health Staple 1: Daily Exercise  (Luke DePron)
Health Staple 2: Getting Good Quality Sleep (Dr. Shane Creado)
Health Staple 3: Eating a Healthy Diet (Dr. Daniel Stickler).
Health Staple 4: Optimizing our Microbiome (Momo Vuyisich)
Health Staple 5: Intermittent Fasting (Jason Wittrock)
 
EXPERTS WHO DEMONSTRATE PRACTICAL NEUROSCIENCE TO IMPROVE RESULTS:
EPISODE #11: 15-year-old Chloe Amen on how to “Change Your Brain, Change Your Grades”
EPISODE #17: Harvard Researcher Jenny Woo on “The Latest Research, Brain Facts, Myths, Growth Mindset, Memory and Cognitive Biases”
EPISODE #26: Simple Strategies for Overcoming the Pitfalls of Your Brain
(Solo Lesson by Andrea Samadi)  to Prepare for EPISODE #27
EPISODE #27: Friederike Fabritius on “Achieving Peak Performance”
EPISODE #28: Dr. Daniel Siegel on “Mindsight: The Basis of Social and Emotional Intelligence”
EPISODE #30: Mark Robert Waldman on “12 Brain-Based Experiential Learning and Living Principles”
EPISODE #35: How to Use Your Brain to Break Bad Habits (Solo Lesson by Andrea Samadi)
EPISODE #42 Dr. John Medina on “Implementing Brain Rules in the Schools and Workplaces of the Future”
EPISODE #43 Deep Dive into Dr. John Medina’s Brain Rules
(Solo Lesson by Andrea Samadi)
EPISODE #44 Andrea Samadi’s “12 Mind-Boggling Discoveries About the Brain”
(Solo Lesson by Andrea Samadi)
EPISODE #46: As Close to Mind Reading as Brain Science Gets “Developing and Using Theory of Mind in Your Daily Life”
EPISODE #48: Brain Network Theory : Using Neuroscience to Stay Productive During Times of Change and Chaos  (Solo Lesson by Andrea Samadi)
EPISODE #56: Dr. Lori Desautels on her new book “Connections Over Compliance: Rewiring Our Perceptions of Discipline
EPISODE #57: Taking Initiative: Your Brain and Change and Your Mentors
(Solo Lesson by Andrea Samadi)
EPISODE #58: James MacDiardmid and Natasha Davis on "The Wise Emotional Fitness Program" (Virtual Reality).
EPISODE #59: Suzanne Gundersen on “Putting the Polyvagal Theory into Practice”
EPISODE #60: The Science and Benefits of Dan Siegel’s “Wheel of Awareness Meditation” (Solo Lesson by Andrea Samadi)
EPISODE #68: Neuroscience of Personal Change with Stephen R Covey’s “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People” (#1 EPISODE with over 1100 downloads)
EPISODE #69: Ben Ampil on “Using Your Brain to Manage Your Behavior and Results”
EPISODE #73: Chris Manning on "Using Neurowisdom to Improve Your Learning and Success in Life."
EPISODE #78: David A Sousa on “How the Brain Learns”
EPISODE #81 Critical Thinking and The Brain (Solo Lesson by Andrea Samadi)
EPISODE #82 Doug Sutton “How a Brain Scan Changed My Life” PART 1
EPISODE #83 What Exactly is a Brain Scan and Can it Change Your Life PART 2 (Solo Lesson with Andrea Samadi) 
EPISODE #84 Brain Scan Results PART 3 (Solo Lesson by Andrea Samadi)
EPISODE #85: Dr. Sarah McKay on “High Performing Brain Health Strategies That We Should All Know and Implement”
EPISODE #88: Dr. Andrew Newberg on “Neurotheology, Spect Scans and Strategies for the Aging Brain”
EPISODE #97: Kirun Goy and Samuel Holston on “The Neuroscience Behind Our Habits, Addictions, Love and Fears.”
EPISODE #98 Dr. Dawson Church on “The Science Behind Meditation: Rewiring Your Brain for Happiness”
EPISODE #100: Mary Helen Immordino-Yang on “The Neuroscience of Social and Emotional Learning”
 
EXPERTS WHO DEMONSTRATE THE 6 SEL COMPETENCIES: MINDSET
EPISODE #20: Coaching a Growth Mindset: Strategies for Overcoming Obstacles and Cognitive Bias (Solo Lesson by Andrea Samadi)
EPISODE #40 Frank Shankwitz on “Lessons from the Wishman Movie”
EPISODE #49: Dr. Jeffrey Magee on “Managing Fear, Focus and Strategy During Challenging Times”
EPISODE #52: “Igniting Your Personal Leadership to Build Resiliency”
(Solo Lesson by Andrea Samadi—Inspired by Dr. Bruce Perry).  
EPISODE #55: Torsten Nicolini on “Working Smart: How to Improve Productivity and Efficiency at Work”
EPISODE #61 Maria Natapov on “Building Autonomy, Self-Confidence, Connection and Resiliency Within our Children”
EPISODE #73 Chris Manning Ph. D on “Using Neurowisdom to Improve Your Learning and Success in Life”
EPISODE #74 Horacio Sanchez who Addresses Race, Culture and How to Apply Brain Science to Improve Instruction and School Climate”
EPISODE #86 University of Phoenix President Peter Cohen on “A Positive Vision for K-12 and Higher Ed Campuses”
EPISODE #99 Irene Lyon on “The Science Behind Trauma and a Healthy Immune System”
 
SELF-REGULATION with PERSISTENCE and PERSEVERANCE
EPISODE #14: Self-Regulation: The Foundational Learning Skill for Future Success
(Solo Lesson by Andrea Samadi)
EPISODE #37: Dr. John Dunlosky on “Improving Student Success: Some Principles from Cognitive Science”
EPISODE #38:  Former Assistant Coach to the Winnipeg Jets Todd Woodcroft on “The Daily Grind in the NHL”
EPISODE #39 Stephanie Faye on “Using Neuroscience to Improve our Mindset, Self-Regulation and Self-Awareness”
EPISODE #45: Dalip Shekhawit on “Life Lessons Learned from Summiting Mount Everest”
EPISODE #53: Self-Regulation and Your Brain: How to Bounce Back Towards Resiliency (Solo Lesson by Andrea Samadi)
EPISODE #70 Self-Regulation and Behavior Change-Andrea Samadi solo lesson on David R Hawkins’ “Power vs Force” (4th MOST DOWNLOADED EPISODE)
CASE STUDIES
EPISODE #13: Teen Artist Sam Roberts on “Winning a 4-Year Prestigious Leadership Scholarship at the University of AR Fort Smith.”
EPISODE #68: Donte Dre Winrow on “Breaking into a Challenging Career Path”
EPISODE #50: Shark Tank Season 1 Success Story Tiffany Krumins on “Life After Shark Tank”
SELF-AWARENESS with MENTAL HEALTH and WELL-BEING
EPISODE #6: Helen Maffini from the Mindful Peace Summits on “Launching Mindfulness and Meditation in Our Schools”
EPISODE #8: 14- year-old Adam Avin on “Improving Well-Being and Mental Health in Our Schools”
EPISODE #21: Spencer Taylor on his Educational Documentary “The Death of Recess”
EPISODE #23: Understanding the Difference Between Your Mind and Your Brain
(Solo Lesson by Andrea Samadi)
EPISODE #25: Mindfulness and Meditation Expert Mick Neustadt on “How Meditation and Mindfulness Changes Your Life”
EPISODE #29: How to Re-Wire Your Brain for Happiness and Well-Being
EPISODE #31: Nik Halik on “Overcoming Adversity to Create an Epic Life”
EPISODE #32: John Assaraf on “Brain Training, The Power of Repetition, Resourcefulness and the Future”
EPISODE #33: Kent Healy on “Managing Time, Our Greatest Asset”
EPISODE #34: Chris Farrell on “Actionable Strategies for High Achievers to Improve Daily Results”
EPISODE #65 Dr. Barbara Schwarck on “Using Energy Psychology and Emotional Intelligence to Improve Leadership in the Workplace”
EPISODE #66 Bob Proctor on “Social and Emotional Learning: Where it all Started for Andrea Samadi”
#2 MOST DOWNLOADED EPISODE
EPISODE #67 “Expanding Your Awareness with a Deep Dive into the Most Important Concepts Learned from Bob Proctor Seminars” (Solo Lesson by Andrea Samadi)
EPISODE #68 The Neuroscience of Personal Change with Stephen R. Covey’s “The 7 Habits of Highly Successful People” (Solo Lesson with Andrea Samadi) #1 MOST DOWNLOADED EPISODE with over 1100 downloads
EPISODE #80 Samantha Wettje on “Mitigating the Negative Effects of ACES with Her 16 Strong Project”
EPISODE #92 Sarah Peyton on “Brain Network Theory, Default Mode Network, Anxiety and Emotion Regulation.”
EPISODE #95 Dr. Sandy Gluckman on “Reversing Children’s Behavior and Mood Problems”
 
SOCIAL AWARENESS
EPISODE #5: Social Awareness: How to Change Your Social Brain (Solo Lesson with Andrea Samadi)
RELATIONSHIP SKILLS
EPISODE #7: Greg Wolcott on “Building Relationships in Today’s Schools”
EPISODE #9: Using Your Brain to Build and Sustain Effective Relationships (Solo Lesson with Andrea Samadi)
DECISION-MAKING
EPISODE #9: Using Your Brain to Build and Sustain Effective Relationships (Solo Lesson with Andrea Samadi)
EXPERTS IN SEL AND EDUCATION
EPISODE #1: Majid and Andrea Samadi on “The Why Behind Implementing an SEL or Emotional Intelligence Training Program in Our Schools and Workplaces”
EPISODE #2: Self-Awareness: Know Thyself (Solo Lesson with Andrea Samadi)
EPISODE #3: Ron Hall from Valley Day School on “Launching Your Neuro-educational Program”
EPISODE #4: Jennifer Miller on “Building Connections with Parents and Educators”
EPISODE #12: Clark McKown on “SEL Assessments Made Simple”
EPISODE #16: Dr. Lori Desautels and Michael McKnight on “The Future of Educational Neuroscience in Our Schools and Communities”
EPISODE #18: Kenneth Kohutek, PhD on his new book “Chloe and Josh Learn Grit”
EPISODE #19: Bob Jerus on “Emotional Intelligence Training and Suicide Prevention”
EPISODE #22: Marc Brackett on his new book “Permission to Feel”
EPISODE #24: Dr. Jeff Rose on “Leadership, Innovation and the Future”
EPISODE #36: James Nottingham on “The Importance of Challenge with Learning”
EPISODE #40: Erik Francis on “How to Use Questions to Promote Cognitive Rigor, Thinking and Learning”
EPISODE #47: Erik Francis on “Transitioning Teaching and Learning in the Classroom to Home”
EPISODE #54: David Adams on “ A New Vision for Education: Living Up to the Values We Want for Our Next Generation.”
EPISODE #62: CEO of CASEL Karen Niemi on “Tools and Strategies to Enhance and Expand SEL in our Schools and Communities”
EPISODE #63: Hans Appel on “Building an Award Winning Culture in Your School or Organization”
EPISODE #64: Greg Wolcott on “Making Connections Between Neuroscience and SEL”
EPISODE #75 Maurice J Elias on “Boosting Emotional Intelligence Through Sports, Academics and Character”
EPISODE #76 Michael B Horn on “Using a Positive Lens to Explore Change and the Future of Education”
EPISODE #77 Doug Fisher/Nancy Frey on “Developing and Delivering High Quality Distance Learning for Students”
EPISODE #79 Eric Jensen on “Strategies for Reversing the Impact of Poverty and Stress on Student Learning:”
EPISODE #91 Drs. Jessica and John Hannigan on “SEL From a Distance: Tools and Processes for Anytime, Anywhere.”
 
EXPERTS IN PHYSICAL HEALTH, WELLNESS and NUTRITION
EPISODE #51: Kelly Schmidt on “Easy to Implement Fitness and Nutrition Tips”
Jason Wittrock on “Nutrition, Intermittent Fasting and the Ketogenic Diet”
EPISODE #71 Self-Regulation and Sleep with Dr. Shane Creado’s “ Peak Sleep Performance for Athletes” (Solo Lesson by Andrea Samadi)
EPISODE #72 Dr. Shane Creado on “Sleep Strategies That Will Guarantee a Competitive Advantage”
EPISODE #87 The Top 5 Brain Health and Alzheimer’s Prevention Strategies (Solo Lesson with Andrea Samadi)
EPISODE #89 Dr. Erik Won on “Groundbreaking Technology That is Changing the Future of Mental Health”
EPISODE #90 Luke DePron on “Neuroscience, Health, Fitness and Growth”
EPISODE #93 Momo Viyisich on “Improving the Microbiome, Preventing and Reversing Chronic Disease”
EPISODE #94 Jason Wittrock on “Nutrition, Intermittent Fasting and the Ketogenic Diet”
EPISODE #96 Dr. Daniel Stickler on “Expanding Awareness for Limitless Peak Performance, Health, Longevity and Intelligence.”
BONUS EPISODE: Top 5 Health Staples and Review of Season 1-4
(Solo Episode by Andrea Samadi)
EPISODE #82 "How a Brain Scan Changed My Life" With Doug Sutton PART 1
EPISODE # 83 "What is a SPECT Scan and How Can it Change Your Life?" PART 2 (with Andrea Samadi)
EPISODE #84  "Brain Scan Results" with Andrea Samadi PART 3
 
Each Season at a Glance:
Season 1: Consists of 33 episodes that begin with introducing six the social and emotional competencies (building a growth mindset, making responsible decisions, becoming self-aware, increasing social-awareness, managing emotions and behavior and developing relationships) along with an introduction to cognitive skills that I call Neuroscience 101 where we introduce some of the most important cognitive strategies, or the core skills your brain uses to think, remember and pay attention.
 
CONTENT: In this season, you will learn about understanding your mind vs your brain, mindfulness and meditation, the 3 parts of your brain, achieving peak performance, and improving awareness, mindsight, rewiring your brain for happiness, and experiential learning. We interviewed Ron Hall from Valley Day School who talked about how he launched his neuroeducation program into his school, Jennifer Miller on “Building Connections with Parents and Educators,” Helen Maffini on her Mindful Peace Summit and “Launching Mindfulness and Meditation in our Schools,” Greg Wolcott on “Building Relationships in Today’s Classrooms,” 14 year old Adam Avin on “Improving Our Mental Health in Our Schools,” Clark McKown from xSEL Labs on “SEL Assessments” and how we can actually measure these skills, Sam Roberts on her experience of “Winning a 4 Year Prestigious Scholarship” using these skills, Donte Winrow on “Breaking into a Challenging Career Path” with the application of these skills immediately after graduating from high school, Dr. Lori Desautels and Michael McKnight on “The Future of Educational Neuroscience in Today’s Schools,” Harvard researcher Jenny Woo on “The Latest Research, Brain Facts and Myths, Growth Mindset, Memory and Cognitive Biases,” Psychologist Dr. Kenneth Kohutek on his new book “Chloe and Josh Learn Grit,” Psychologist Bob Jerus on “Suicide Prevention and Emotional Intelligence Training,” Spencer Taylor on his “Death of Recess Educational Documentary” featuring Carol Dweck and Sir Ken Robinson, Marc Brackett on his powerful book “Permission to Feel,” former Superintendent Dr. Jeff Rose on “Leadership, Innovation and the Future,” Mick Neustadt on “How Meditation and Mindfulness Can Change Your Life,” Friederike Fabritius from Germany on “Achieving Peak Performance with the Brain in Mind,” Dr. Daniel Siegel on “Mindsight: The Basis for Social and Emotional Intelligence,” my mentor and neuroscience researcher Mark Robert Waldman on “12 Brain-Based Experiential Learning and Living Principles,” Nik Halik on “Overcoming Adversity to Create an Epic Life,” and John Assaraf on “Brain Training, the Power of Repetition, Resourcefulness and the Future.”
 
Season 2: These 33 episodes build on the strategies from Season 1, with high level guests who tie in social, emotional, interpersonal and cognitive strategies to increase results in schools, sports and the workplace. You will learn about the power of repetition, challenge, creativity, using your brain to break bad habits, how the brain ties into mindset, self-regulation, and self-awareness, cognitive rigor, thinking, learning, brain rules for schools and the workplace, the theory of mind, brain network theory, personal leadership, taking initiative, resiliency, the science behind mindfulness/meditation and your values.
 
CONTENT: You will hear from Chris Farrell on “Strategies for High Achievers,” James Nottingham on “The Importance of Challenge with Learning,” Dr. John Dunlosky on “Improving Student Success,” Todd Woodcroft on “The Daily Grind in the NHL,” Stefanie Faye on “Using Neuroscience to Improve our Mindset, Self-Regulation, and Self-Awareness,” the Co-Founder of the Make-A-Wish Foundation, Frank Shankwitz on “Lessons from the Wish Man Movie,” Erik Francis on “How to Use Questions to Promote Cognitive Rigor, Thinking and Learning,” Dr. John Medina on “Implementing Brain Rules in the Schools and Workplaces of the Future,” Dalip Shekhawat on “Life Lessons Learned from Summiting Mount Everest,” Dr. Jeff Magee on “Managing Fear, Focus and Strategy During Challenging Times,” Tiffany Krumins on “Life After Shark Tank,” Kelly Schmidt on Easy to Implement Fitness and Nutrition Tips,” David Adams on “A New Vision for Education,” Torsten Nicolini on “Working Smart,” Dr. Lori Desautels on her book “Connections Over Compliance,” The Wise Emotional Fitness Program delivered via virtual reality with James MacDiarmid and Natasha Davis all the way from Australia, Suzanne Gunderson on “Putting the Polyvagal Theory into Practice,” Maria Natapov on “Building Autonomy, Self-Confidence, Connection and Resiliency Within Our Children,” Casel President Karen Niemi on “Tools and Strategies to Enhance and Expand SEL in our Schools and Communities,” Hans Appel on “Building an Award Winning Culture in Your School or Organization,” Greg Wolcott on “Making Connections with Neuroscience and SEL,” Dr. Barbara Schwarck on “Using Energy Psychology and Emotional Intelligence to Improve Leadership in the Workplace,” and an Introduction to my first mentor, speaker, Bob Proctor on “Social and Emotional Learning: Where it All Started,” where I share how I began working with these skills over 20 years ago,  along with a deep dive into some of the lessons learned from Bob Proctor’s Seminars.
Season 3: These 14 episodes tie in some of the top authors in the world who connect their work to these social, emotional and cognitive skills, with clear examples for improved results, well-being and achievement within each episode.
CONTENT: You will learn about the neuroscience of personal change with a deep dive into Dr. Stephen Covey’s “7 Habits of Highly Effective People,” (that’s currently the most downloaded episode) Self-Regulation and Behavior Change with David R Hawkins’ “Power vs Force,” Self-Regulation and Sleep with Dr. Shane Creado’s “Peak Sleep Performance for Athletes,” Chris Manning on using “Neurowisdom” to Improve Learning and Success in Life, Horatio Sanchez on “Resilience,” Maurice J Elias on “Social and Emotional and Character Development,” Michael B Horn on “Disrupting Education” and the future of education, Doug Fisher and Nancy Frey on “High Quality Distance Learning.” David A Sousa on “How the Brain Learns,” Eric Jensen on “Reversing the Impact of Poverty and Stress on Student Learning” and Samantha Wettje from Harvard on “Mitigating the Negative Effect of ACES.” I conclude this season with a solo lesson from me, on critical thinking and the brain, after being asked to create an episode on this topic for the corporate space.
 
Season 4:  These 18 episodes (82-100) that begin to tie in health, and mental health into the understanding of our brain, productivity and results. The shift to health on this podcast became apparent when we started to see how important our brain health is for our overall results.
 
CONTENT: Everything that we do starts at the brain level, and we dive deep into this with our 3-part episodes on “How a Brain Scan Changed My Life” with a look at what we can learn from looking at our brain using a SPECT image brain scan. The interviews of this season mix in the power of education with an understanding of health and wellness. Dr. Sarah McKay agreed with Dr. Shane Creado (from Season 3) that sleep is one of the most important health strategies we can implement. It became apparent that there were 5 health staples that emerged as so powerful they were showing an impact on Alzheimer’s Prevention, so this season became a deep dive into these top 5 health staples (daily exercise, getting good quality and quantity sleep, eating a healthy diet, optimizing our microbiome and intermittent fasting). You will also hear from Dr. Andrew Newberg and his episode on Neurotheology, Dr. Erik Won and his ground -breaking technology that’s changing the future of mental health, Luke DePron, who is stretching the limits with neuroscience, health, fitness and growth, Sarah Peyton on “Brain Network Theory, Default Mode Network, Anxiety and Emotion Regulation,” Momo Vuyisich on “Preventing and Reversing Chronic Disease by Improving the Health of Your Microbiome,” Jason Wittrock on the Ketogentic Diet and Intermittent Fasting, and Dr. Sandy Gluckman on “Reversing Children’s Behavior and Mood Problems.” We also hear from behavior experts Drs. Jessica and John Hannigan on their new book “SEL From a Distance” that offers simple strategies for parents and educators who are working on implementing these SEL skills into their home or classroom, during the pandemic.
When Season 4 took the direction of health, mental-health, and wellness, I began looking for guests to dive deeper into the Top 5 health staples that seemed to continue to emerge with each guest. Dr. Daniel Stickler came on with the topic of “Expanding Awareness for Limitless Peak Performance, Health, Longevity and Intelligence, Kirun Goy and Samuel Holston from the BrainTools Podcast on “The Neuroscience Behind our Habits, Addictions, Love/Fears,” Dr. Dawson Church on “The Science Behind Meditation: Rewiring Your Brain for Happiness,” Irene Lyon on “The Science Behind Trauma and a Healthy Immune System” and Dr. Mary Helen Immordino-Yang on “The Neuroscience of Social and Emotional Learning.”
 
REFERENCES:
[i] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning EPISODE #74 with Horacio Sanchez https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/leading-brain-science-and-resiliency-expert-horatio-sanchez-on-how-to-apply-brain-science-to-improve-instruction-and-school-climate/
[ii] Mark Robert Waldman and Chris Manning, Ph.D. Published Jan.31, 2017  https://www.amazon.com/NeuroWisdom-Brain-Science-Happiness-Success/dp/1682303055
[iii] Drhu Purohit’s Broken Brain Podcast with Max Lugavere on “Building a Personal Brand” https://shows.acast.com/broken-brain/episodes/behind-the-scenes-max-lugavere-on-building-a-personal-brand
[iv] High Performance Habits by Brendon Burchard Published Sept.19, 2017  https://www.amazon.com/dp/B072N6MQ5V/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1
[v] WakeUpIt’sDayOne Blog https://wakeupitsdayone.com/2018/07/16/increase-productivity-habit-4-of-high-performers/
[vi] Interview with Todd Woodcroft on Hockey Minds Podcast https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/hockey-minds-podcast/id1517330567#episodeGuid=https%3A%2F%2Fpinecast.com%2Fguid%2F7dcaf914-d44a-42e6-a9c5-bca89a40aff6
[vii] Greg Wolcott www.significant72.com

Professor Mary Helen Immordino-Yang on "The Neuroscience of Social and Emotional Learning"

Welcome back to the Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning podcast, episode #100—this episode is a very special one, that comes full circle for all of the listeners who have ever wondered, “what exactly is the neuroscience of social and emotional learning?”
You can watch the interview on YouTube here. 
Today, this question will be solved with Dr. Mary Helen Immordino-Yang, who is a Professor of Education, Psychology and Neuroscience at the University of Southern California and Director of the USC Center for Affective Neuroscience, Development, Learning and Education (CANDLE)[i]. She studies the psychological and neurobiological development of emotion and self-awareness, and connections to social, cognitive and moral development in educational settings. What I find to be powerful about Dr. Mary Helen is that although she is a former public junior-high-school science teacher, who went on to earn her doctorate at Harvard University and has received numerous awards for her work and research, she is able to set us straight when it comes to understanding how the emotions we have with others, and our social interactions can change our brain, and literally shape who we are, with powerful findings that she can prove with FMRI scans.
Welcome Mary Helen, it’s beyond incredible to finally have this opportunity to speak with you, after studying your work when I first started on this mission to learn and understand the basics of neuroscience back in 2015 when an educator urged me to take this path to integrate neuroscience into the programs I had developed for the school market. I’m sure I first saw you speaking somewhere with Dr. Daniel Siegel, who we had on with episode #28[ii] on “Mindsight: The Basis of Social and Emotional Intelligence” then when I saw you come on his PEPP MWE UP Community Chats this past July[iii], I immediately reached out to speak with you when I saw that your life’s work provides the evidence for the powerful connection with neuroscience and social and emotional learning.
Thank you so much for being here today. Dr. Daniel Siegel said this, and I have to repeat it, because your research truly has shown incredible pioneering and achievement when it comes to showing through your social-emotion experiments, how what we think, feel and the emotions that we have—can physically change the structure of our brains. I am so grateful to have you here today and after writing your questions, I decided that it made perfect sense to have your interview as the 100th episode, to show the impact that we can have when we connect neuroscience to social and emotional learning.
Q1: You said it really well on Dan’s event, and I have put this link in the show notes so you don’t have to repeat what you said there, but can you share how you started to look at the connection with the social and emotional brain. You mention that in 2001/2002 there wasn’t much out there on culture and the brain, and then when you looked at emotion, it was just some basic stuff about the amygdala lighting up with certain emotions, and the social brain was still in its infancy. Where did this idea begin to work with Antonio Damasio[iv] measuring brain activity and connecting our relationships and emotions to our future results?
My thoughts: When I was urged by a school administrator to write another book that included the most current brain research to the programs I was offering schools in Arizona through a Character Education Grant, I began to look for those who were out in the world, teaching educational neuroscience. I found Judy Willis, and Dan Siegel, David Sousa who was showing how the brain learns to read, and some others, but wanted to find those who saw how neuroscience connected to social and emotional learning (the name of the podcast) because I saw how these social skills were changing the results of students, I just wasn’t measuring their brains in FMRI scanners. Your work really is bringing the research to re-think the next generation’s educational experience.
Q2: I watched one of your earlier presentations from 2012 called “We Feel, Therefore We Learn”[v] where you talk about some of your early social-emotion experiments. Can you share in a nutshell how our brain changes when we feel inspired or compassionate towards another human being? I found this fascinating!
My thoughts: It’s interesting to me because I worked with high school students with Character Ed Grant and one of the activities was to write out who they wanted to be in 10 years, create a vision for themselves. They found this activity really difficult and as I started to study and read more about the teenage brain, I thought that their prefrontal cortex is not fully developed yet, so this planning activity might take them some time. Out of a class of 30 students, maybe 5 could quickly write out their path of where they are now, and where they wanted to go. After some time, they all had a plan created, but I wonder what you are seeing with your work with students in the classrooms that you are measuring now. Is this something they could easily tell you?
Q3: We all want our children (if we are parents) or students (if we are educators) to be successful, and you have some research that shows how a child reacts to an unfair situation can predict certain things about their brain. Can you explain concrete talk vs abstract talk, and how they are associated with a specific developmental trajectory of the brain?
My Thoughts: We’ve all heard of the marshmallow experiment[vi], and how delaying gratification predicted future success in children. When I heard this, of course I did the experiment with my children and am always working on this skill with them. Do you think that these findings would make a case for integrating this thinking into classroom work for improved function of the brain?
WE WILL ADDRESS THESE QUESTIONS IN EPISODE #101 since we ran out of time here.
 
Q4: You talk about how the brain networks rework at different stages in our life, like in adolescence with hormonal shifts that coincide with puberty, and relationships as well as how our brains change as we transition to parenting. Can you explain how our brains were designed to support us at these different life stages?
My thoughts: It’s interesting when life is just happening and then you have an experience with a life-changing moment, as a parent, where you seem to gear down and get a bit more serious. I would like to understand what’s happening on the brain level to make this occur.
Q5: What is your vision for the research you are doing? What changes do you think are possible to help our future generations think more deeply, more abstract, and reach higher levels of capability?
My thoughts: The Pandemic disrupted at a time when change was past due, for many years. How can school admin/parents/teachers take your research and make improvements to what wasn’t working before? What about educational publishers? How can your work be integrated into mainstream curriculum? (I see brain-boost boxes being added in the margins of teacher manuals with tips for how this activity is impacting the brain).
Mary-Helen, I want to thank you very much for taking the time to speak with me today. I find your work fascinating, and really am grateful to have found you all those years ago. Thank you for pioneering the way in this field, and for sharing your work so graciously.  I will continue to follow your work, and see the vision you are creating for a better world for student learning.
BIO
Dr. Mary Helen Immorindo-Yang is a Professor of Education, Psychology and Neuroscience at the University of Southern California. A former public junior-high-school science teacher, she earned her doctorate at Harvard University. She holds an NSF CAREER award and is serving on the NAS committee writing How People Learn II. In 2015-2016 she was chosen as one of 30 scholars to participate in the AERA’s Knowledge Forum initiative. She has received numerous national awards, is the inaugural recipient of the International Mind, Brain and Education Society (IMBES) award for Transforming Education through Neuroscience and was elected 2016-2018 IMBES president.
A former urban public junior high-school science teacher, she earned her doctorate at Harvard University in 2005 in human development and psychology and completed her postdoctoral training in social-affective neuroscience with Antonio Damasio in 2008. Since then she has received numerous awards for her research and for her impact on education and society, among them an Honor Coin from the U.S. Army, a Commendation from the County of Los Angeles, a Cozzarelli Prize from the Proceedings of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences editorial board, and early career achievement awards from the AERA, the AAAS, the APS, the International Mind, Brain and Education Society (IMBES), and the Federation of Associations in Behavioral and Brain Sciences Foundation (FABBS). Immordino-Yang is a Spencer Foundation mid-career fellow.
Dr.Mary Helen is currently the Director of the USC Center for Affective Neuroscience, Development, Learning and Education (CANDLE) is to bring educational innovation and developmental affective neuroscience into partnership, and to use what is learned to guide the transformation of schools, policy, and the student and teacher experience for a healthier and more equitable society.
website: candle.usc.edu
 
Twitter: twitter.com/CandleUSC
 
FB: facebook.com/CandleUSC/
 
Linkedin: linkedin.com/company/candleusc/
 
Hashtag: #CANDLEUSC
 
RESOURCES:
Jul 24, 2017 Nova Episode featuring Mary Helen Immordino Yang on PBS on “School of the Future.” https://rossier.usc.edu/improving-learning
Building Meaning Builds Teens’ Brains by Mary Helen Immordino-Yang and Douglas R Knecht http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/may20/vol77/num08/Building-Meaning-Builds-Teens'-Brains.aspx
Ed Leadership: Building Meaning Builds Teens' Brains. http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/may20/vol77/num08/Building-Meaning-Builds-Teens'-Brains.aspx 
REFERENCES:
[i] Mary Helen Immordino-Yang, EdD https://candle.usc.edu/people/
[ii] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #29 with Dr. Dan Siegel on “Mindsight: The Basis for Social and Emotional Intelligence”  https://www.achieveit360.com/clinical-professor-of-psychiatry-at-the-ucla-school-of-medicine-dr-daniel-siegel-on-mindsight-the-basis-for-social-and-emotional-intelligence/
[iii] Dr. Daniel Siegel’s PEPP MWE UP Community Talks (July 31, 2020) https://www.crowdcast.io/e/PEPPTalk-1/17
[iv] Antonio Damasio https://dornsife.usc.edu/cf/faculty-and-staff/faculty.cfm?pid=1008328
[v] Mary-Helen Immordino-Yang “We Feel, Therefore We Learn” Published on YouTube April 16, 2012 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=85BZRVE6M0o&t=338s
[vi] The Marshmallow Experiment with Andrea Samadi Uploaded Nov. 2, 2017 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rq903CXJUpg

Irene Lyon, Msc on "The Science Behind Trauma and a Healthy Immune System for an Improved Life"

Welcome back to the Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning podcast, episode #99 with Irene Lyon[i], MSC.  who teaches the world’s leaders and coaches how to work with the nervous system to heal trauma, and live full and productive lives. To date her online programs[ii] have reached people in over 63 countries and Irene clearly has a knack for making complex information easy for ALL of us to understand and apply to our lives, which is exactly the type of person I am always looking for on this podcast.
Watch the interview on YouTube here.
My name is Andrea Samadi, and if you are new here, I’m a former educator who created this podcast to bring the most current neuroscience research, along with high performing experts who have risen to the top of their field, with specific strategies or ideas that you can implement immediately, whether you are an educator, or in the corporate space, to take your results to the next level. If we want to improve our social, emotional and cognitive abilities, it all starts with an understanding of our brain. 
Welcome Irene, thank you so much for taking the time to speak with me today, as we are approaching our 100th episode! We are always looking for people who can take complex concepts and help explain them so that we can all use them in our daily lives for improved results, so thank you for being here to help us to better understand trauma, our nervous system and our results.
INTRO: Before we get to the questions, can you explain exactly what you do as a nervous system specialist and somatic neuroplasticity expert and perhaps who some of your mentors were for you when you began this work?
Q1: Since this topic is of high interest, I’m looking forward to diving deeper into the area of trauma so we can all gain more awareness and understanding of what trauma looks like for each person as an individual. I’ve just started to scrape the surface of this topic in the yearlong neurocoaching program I am taking with the study of Joseph LeDoux on trauma, fears, anxiety and memory consolidation. LeDoux says that each person has their own anxiety level, and we respond to trauma or difficult situations in different ways because our brains are “one of a kind, they are wired differently from our genes and our life experiences.” (LeDoux). Can you explain the science of trauma, and why one person could easily walk away from an accident or traumatic situation, yet another person’s life completely unravels with the same incident? What’s happening on the brain level for this to occur?
Q2: Can you explain what you learned from Steven Hoskinson, that pretty much ALL chronic and mental illness (conditions that affect our thinking, feeling, mood and behavior) can be connected to dysregulation of the nervous system and unresolved traumatic stress? 
Q3: What is your 21 Day Nervous System Tune Up[iii] where you take people from a sick nervous system with emotional symptoms like depression, anxiety, stress, fatigue, immune system troubles to a healthy nervous system that includes improved sleep, a boosted immunity, elevated energy levels, and a regulated gut health?
We’ve looked closely at Dr. Stephen Porges’ Polyvagal Theory on our episode #59[iv] and most listeners who follow this podcast know of the importance of understanding our Central Nervous System when it comes to managing our stress response, but can you share how you show people how to break through anxiety, burnout and chronic symptoms by healing the nervous system—what you teach in your Smart Body, Smart Mind Course[v]?
Q4: I have to ask you just one question on your dissertation that you wrote in 2008 while pursuing your Masters in Research in Australia within the biomedical and health sciences, since the topic of your dissertation ties into where we have ended the year on this podcast, with a focus on health and anti-aging strategies. I know this area is of high interest for our listeners since episodes that focus on health and the brain has been very popular. You quote the statistic that in 2030, 70 million people in the US will be 65 years and over, what would you say would be the TOP 3 health staples that you have found to be crucial for longevity, mental well-being and health?
Irene, I want to thank you so much for your time and knowledge today. Now more than ever, we all need to understand these strategies to deal with the daily challenges that we are all facing in today’s world. We all need to be intentional about our mental wellbeing and health.
If someone wants to learn more about you, and your courses, they can go to https://irenelyon.com/ or visit your YouTube channel where you have thousands of followers and videos that dive deep into the courses that you offer https://www.youtube.com/c/IreneLyon
https://www.facebook.com/groups/nervoussystem
https://twitter.com/Irene_Lyon
Q6: What closing thoughts do you have that you think we should all be aware of these days when it comes to mental health, well-being and the brain?
RESOURCES:
Using Neuroscience to Understand Fear and Anxiety: A 2 Step Framework by Joseph Ledoux, Ph.D. https://www.cns.nyu.edu/ledoux/pdf/LeDoux%20Pine%20Two%20Systsem.pdf
Neuroscientist Jospeh LeDoux on Anxiety and Fear published on YouTube Sept.28, 2016 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87xF-wB9LEs
The Feldenkrais Method for  https://feldenkrais.com/
REFERENCES:
[i] Irene Lyon YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bO5MneHxOKA
[ii] Irene’s Online Programs https://irenelyon.com/programs/
[iii] 21 Day Nervous System Tune-up https://21daytuneup.com/#cta-1
[iv] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #59 with Suzanne Gundersen https://www.achieveit360.com/suzanne-gundersen-on-the-polyvagal-theory-in-practice/
[v] Smart Body, Smart Mind https://smartbodysmartmind.com/

Dr. Dawson Church on "The Science Behind Using Meditation: Rewiring Your Brain for Happiness."

Welcome back to the Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning podcast, episode #98 with researcher Dr. Dawson Church[i], the author of the new book called Bliss Brain: The Neuroscience of Remodeling Your Brain for Resilience, Creativity and Joy[ii]. Dr. Church is an award-winning science writer who blends cutting-edge neuroscience with the stories of people who’ve had firsthand experience of brain change. Neural plasticity—the discovery that the brain is capable of rewiring itself—is now widely understood. But what few people have grasped yet is how quickly this is happening, how extensive brain changes can be, and how much control each of us exerts over the process of our thinking.
You can watch the YouTube interview here. 
My name is Andrea Samadi, and if you are new here, I’m a former educator who created this podcast to bring the most current neuroscience research, along with high performing experts who have risen to the top of their field, with specific strategies or ideas that you can implement immediately, whether you are an educator, or in the corporate space, to take your results to the next level. If we want to improve our social, emotional and cognitive abilities, it all starts with an understanding of our brain. 
Welcome Dr. Church, thank you for taking the time to speak with me today, and sharing the fascinating research you have been doing for the 50-plus years you’ve spent investigating human potential since first learning to meditate as a teenager, is that correct?
Dr. Church, before getting to the questions, I’ve got to say that I loved seeing Dave Asprey, the author of the book, Superhuman, and the creator of Bulletproof Coffee as your Foreword. I’m a longtime Dave Asprey follower and fan and loved to see his perspective where he mentions that the top performers he’s come across in his career, those people he calls “Game Changers” all meditate to improve the quality of their life.
 
Q1: This interview is timely and important, since the world is experiencing such difficult times, (on a day to day basis we are all experiencing significant change no matter what part of the world we are living in) your book is needed, and I do hope that people around the world listening to this episode will read your book (Bliss Brain) and implement the ideas.  Can you explain what you have discovered to be the secret for tuning our brain towards positivity, directing our thoughts, habits and behaviors to support a long and happy life?
Q2: Most people who are listening to this podcast are aware of the importance of meditation, but I do hear some places where people often get stuck with their practice. Can you explain how it’s possible to release emotions that keep us in a reactive state—responding to the past—rather than the present so we can learn to be in the moment, rather than somewhere else?
Q3: I remember when I first started to meditate (around 2014), it was because I received a course as a gift that included a meditation program, and I thought I had better use it, knowing I would be asked what I thought about it.  I started with sessions that were about 30 minutes long and found it to be a huge learning curve, mainly to sit still and clear my mind. Why do people find it so hard with learning to meditate? What can you tell us about our brain so that we can bypass this roadblock to learning to implement this valuable and important skill?
Q4: I think everyone could use more resilience these days, with the world we are living in. It’s not easy to push forward during such adverse times. Can you explain what your research has shown about how we can learn to relax, even during the most stressful times, explain the brain waves associated with relaxation and resilience, and what exactly does this do to the body/its effect on aging or even our energy?
Q5: What exactly happens to the brain when we meditate? What health and cognitive benefits do we receive?
Q6: What is “the bliss molecule” and how can we access it?
Q7: Can you sum up the benefits can we expect to see from developing a meditation practice and how soon will we see the results?
Thank you very much Dr. Church for taking the time to speak with me today about this important work, and years of research that’s needed right now in the world today. For people to learn more about your work, is the best place http://blissbrain.com/
https://www.facebook.com/dawsonchurch
https://www.facebook.com/mindtomatterbook
https://www.youtube.com/user/TheEFTUniverse 
Bliss Brain reviews studies that provide remarkable evidence of rapid and radical brain change. In just eight weeks of meditation practice, 12 minutes a day, brain remodeling begins. Over time, these structural changes in brain anatomy make us calmer, happier, and more resilient.
When we cultivate these pleasurable states over time, they become traits. We don't just feel more blissful as a temporary state; the changes are literally hard-wired into our brains, becoming stable and enduring personality traits.
The startling conclusions of Church’s research show that neural remodeling goes much further than scientists have previously understood, with stress circuits shriveling over time. Simultaneously, the “Enlightenment Circuit”—associated with happiness, compassion, productivity, creativity, and resilience—expands.
During deep meditation, Church shows how “the 7 neurochemicals of ecstasy” are released in our brains. These include anandamide, a neurotransmitter that's been named “the bliss molecule” because it mimics the effects of THC, the active ingredient in cannabis. Meditation also boosts serotonin and dopamine; the first has a chemical structure similar to psilocybin (“magic mushrooms”), the second to cocaine. He shows how cultivating these elevated emotional states literally produces a self-induced high.
The foreword is by Dave Asprey[iii], of “Bulletproof” fame. The book includes numerous “Deeping Practices” that apply this brain science in a practical program of self-transformation. Presenting the latest research in non-technical language understandable to a lay audience, Bliss Brain makes an intriguing case for the potential each of us has to rewire our brains for happiness.
RESOURCES:
FREE ACCESS TO BLISS BRAIN RESOURCES, MEDITATIONS https://blissbrainbook.com/
How to Develop Zen Presence by Karl Albrecht, Ph.D. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/brainsnacks/201708/how-develop-zen-presence
Rhonda Byrne The Movie The Secret https://www.thesecret.tv/products/the-secret-book/
Dr. Dawson Church The Genie in Your Genes Published May 1, 2009  https://www.amazon.com/Genie-Genes-Dawson-Church-Ph-D-ebook/dp/B0028MVH28
When Science Meets Mindfulness by Alvin Powell April 9, 2018  https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2018/04/harvard-researchers-study-how-mindfulness-may-change-the-brain-in-depressed-patients/
REFERENCES:
[i] http://blissbrain.com/
[ii] Dr. Dawson Church, Bliss Brain https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1401957757?ie=UTF8&tag=energypsych00-20
[iii] Dave Asprey https://40yearsofzen.com/

Kirun Goy and Samuel Holston from the Brain Tools Podcast on "The Neuroscience Behind our Habits, Addictions, Love/Fears."

Welcome back to the Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning podcast, episode #97 with Samuel Holston and Kirun Goy, the hosts of one of my favorite podcasts, Brain Tools[i] which focuses on practical brain science for everyday people. Samuel and Kirun provide engaging science-backed episodes to help you to learn how your brain works when it comes to sleep, stress, communication and so much more.  What I love about their podcast that’s different from others (besides the fact that they are absolutely hilarious, while covering a very serious topic) is that they offer a regular episode, then they have a 20 minute break-out episode with 6 practical brain tools, or steps, that you will need to master, to be successful with the brain tip for that episode. It’s a great way to access the strategies quickly and easily, to ensure implementation.
Watch the interview on YouTube here. 
I first met Samuel on LinkedIn, when we first connected last summer, and became immediate friends, with neuroscience and emotional intelligence in common. At that time, I had no idea just how much I would learn from their podcast, and that we would check back in with each other occasionally, offering ideas, suggestions, tips and encouragement for eachother. I learned that Samuel began studying neuroscience at age 15 and I immediately asked him to be a guest on our podcast.  It took a few months, but they were finally ready, and I grabbed this opportunity to speak with them both today.
So here’s a bit about Samuel:
On top of being the co-host of the Brian Tools Podcast, he’s a freelance copywriter from Melbourne Australia. He says he’s not a scientist but has been obsessed with the brain (cognitive) science since he was 15 years old.
And a bit about Kirun:
In addition to being the co-host of the Brain Tools Podcast, Kirun Goy is the Director of Elevate Education where he co-founded the Singapore branch that helps over 40,000 students each year across 10 countries in Asia with workshops and online courses focused on improving learning skills.
This is Andrea Samadi, on the Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast and I’m excited to welcome both Samuel Holston (located in Australia) and Kirun Goy (in Singapore) to the podcast today! How’s it going for you both?
Before I get to your questions, I would love to know how you both met. I am guessing at University of Melbourne?  Once you answer that questions, I want to know how on the earth did you both decide to start your podcast Brain Tools?
Q1: For the past 2 months, I have been focused on health and the brain, especially after watching this documentary from Dr. Perlmutter called Alzheimer’s the Science of Prevention a few months ago, inspiring me to take a closer look at health as it relates to our results, knowing that there’s so many components to look at when it comes to improving our results.  Now I know you are both way younger than me, and not yet worried about some of the things that pop into our minds when you are getting older, but tell me, why did you pick sleep as your FIRST episode? Sleep is one of the TOP 5 health staples[ii] that we know we must focus on for brain health and longevity. Why did you find it important to launch your podcast with[iii]?
Q2: Your second episode focuses on well-being[iv], and I think this is a hot topic these days. You list self-awareness as one of the tools for well-being, to understand what your stress response looks like. (When stressed, do you go into fight, flight, or freeze mode)? I just had someone suggest this strategy a couple of episodes ago, and I know that when I’m stressed, I pick up my shoes and find a mountain to run up, so I’m guessing that my stress response is flight…How would you encourage people to learn more about their stress style? Should we just ask our friends and family, hey, when I’m stressed, what exactly do I do?
Q3: From your episode on “Overcoming Fear[v]” I want to know, what happens at the brain level when we name our fear? I’ve said it 100 times on this podcast. Name it, to Tame it. Why does writing down the emotion or naming what we are feeling reduce the fear?
Q4: On your episode of “Making Habits Stick[vi]” you quote Albert Einstein who says that “compounding is the greatest mathematical discovery of all time.” Can you talk about the importance of building good habits and breaking bad ones?
Q5: What episode did this come from? This one was from “Your everyday addictions and Neuroscience.”[vii] It’s at the TOP of my notes page, but obviously something I learned from you and added later. Can you talk about how opioids are 1,000 x more dopamine than sex, what we would think to be the most pleasurable? I’d love to understand how we can perhaps monitor where we think we are for our daily dopamine levels, and find healthy ways to increase it, without turning us into drug addicts!
Q6: In your “Breaking Everyday Addictions” episode, can you talk about dopamine fasting and why it’s not at all effective? The crazy thing is that I had a twitter message from someone I hadn’t heard from in years, asking this specific question. He’s a tech guy and sent me a link to an article about Silicon Valley companies that are encouraging tech breaks. Why do tech breaks not work with our brain in mind?
Q7: Was your relationships and dating apps episode[viii] really your most downloaded episode? What happens to our brain when we are in love, and why do you think this episode was so popular over the past few months?
Q8: Thanks so much for the shout out in your last episode on taming your emotions with brain science[ix].  I was listening to this episode and taking notes, because taming my emotions is something I’m always working on, especially with raising 2 kids, and trying to live by example and I can lose it at times when the pressure hits. I was caught off guard when you quoted me in this episode, but then thought, well, I’ve definitely improved over the past 5 years with the practice of meditation. I had to create a graphic about what you said, to “stop the loop and create a pause because your brain becomes impaired when angry” and people loved this graphic. Why is this pause so important at the brain level for us to stay in control of our emotions?
Kirun and Samuel, I could talk to you all night, but know I’ve got to let you both get back to work. I want to thank you both so much for your time today, and will continue to listen and share your podcast moving forward.
For those who want to follow your podcast, what’s the best way?
ITunes and Spotify Just type in BrainTools
https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/braintools/id1523655668
https://open.spotify.com/show/6n5wcgjhkf7RR84ZXtYVrX 
For those who want to follow you, what’s the best way?
Brain Tools on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/braintools/
Kirun Goy on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/kirungoy/
Samuel Holston on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/samuel-holston/
REFERENCES:
[i] Brain Tools Podcast with Kirun Goy and Samuel Holston https://pod.casts.io/podcasts/brain-tools
[ii] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning EPISODE #87 https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/do-you-know-the-top-5-brain-health-and-alzheimers-prevention-strategies-with-andrea-samadi/
[iii] Brain Tools Podcast EPISODE #1 “Sleep Deep with Neuroscience”  https://pod.casts.io/podcasts/brain-tools/episodes/sleep-deep-with-neuroscience-braintools
[iv] Brain Tools Podcast EPISODE #2 “Destress Your Wellbeing with Neuroscience” https://pod.casts.io/podcasts/brain-tools/episodes/destress-your-wellbeing-with-neuroscience-braintools
[v] Brain Tools Podcast EPISODE #3 “Mastering Fear with Neuroscience” https://pod.casts.io/podcasts/brain-tools/episodes/mastering-fear-with-neuroscience-braintools
[vi] Brain Tools Podcast EPISODE #4 “Form Habits that Stick with Neuroscience” https://pod.casts.io/podcasts/brain-tools/episodes/form-habits-that-stick-with-neuroscience-braintools
[vii] Brain Tools Podcast EPISODE #5 “Breaking Everyday Addictions” https://pod.casts.io/podcasts/brain-tools/episodes/your-everyday-addictions-and-neuroscience-braintools
[viii] Brain Tools Podcast EPISODE # 6 “Love, Tinder and Neuroscience” https://pod.casts.io/podcasts/brain-tools/episodes/love-tinder-and-neuroscience-braintools
[ix] Brain Tools Podcast EPISODE #14 “Taming Your Negative Emotions with Brain Science” https://pod.casts.io/podcasts/brain-tools/episodes/taming-your-negative-emotions-with-brain-science-braintools

Dr. Daniel Stickler on "Expanding Awareness for Limitless Peak Performance, Health, Longevity and Intelligence."

Welcome back to the Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning podcast, episode #96 with Dr. Daniel Stickler, MD, a former vascular surgeon who concluded that traditional medicine is not the best route for ideal health. He is now the Co-Founder and Chief Medical Officer of The Apeiron Center for Human Potential (Apeiron meaning Limitless) and is the visionary pioneer behind systems-based precision lifestyle medicine, which is a new paradigm that redefines medicine from the old symptoms-based disease model to one of limitless peak performance. His work now focuses on longevity, epigenetics and lifestyle optimization and along with his work at the Apeiron Center, he’s the Medical Director for the Neurohacker Collective, a Google consultant for wearable technology, AI in healthcare and a guest lecturer at Stanford University on Epigenetics in Clinical Practice.
Watch the interview on YouTube here.
I was introduced to Dr. Stickler from Luke DePron[i], whose interview opened up my awareness to a whole new level with even just a glance of the title “Limitless Peak Performance and Human Potential, Epigenetics, Aging and Anti-Aging, and the Future of Being a Healthy Human.”  For those listening, I urge you to be open minded and think about your own potential. Wouldn’t you like to be limitless? Wouldn’t you like to improve your longevity? Turn back the hands of time a few years? Let me introduce you to Dr. Daniel Stickler, who has no doubt in his mind that these are all things that will be commonplace in the next 10 years, even the thought of living to and perhaps past 150 years of age. Get ready to have your mind expanded and pay close attention if you have been searching for ways to increase your productivity, well-being, and results
This is Andrea Samadi, on the Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast and my guest today is Dr. Daniel Stickler, an author, speaker, medical pioneer and expert in human optimization.
Welcome Dr. Stickler, what an incredible honor to have this chance to speak with you today. Thank you so much for your time, and for all you doing to expand the world’s awareness of what is truly possible when it comes to human potential.
Dr. Stickler, I’m sure anyone listening will be as intrigued as I was at what exactly you are doing with this whole new paradigm of health and performance. Before we get to the questions, can we just start with the idea of your work being a new paradigm for health and performance and how what you are doing will change the way we perceive the world, just like when Roger Bannister ran the 4 minute mile and changed people’s perceptions of their ability to do the same?
Q1: Dr. Stickler, the reason I asked you to come on this podcast, is because I had been looking to dive deep into the TOP 5 health stapes that have been proven to prevent Alzheimer’s Disease[ii] after I watched Dr. David Perlmutter’s Science of Prevention Documentary[iii] and was looking to learn more about each of these 5 health staples.  When I saw your podcast with Luke DePron, I wanted to dig deeper into what you are doing, since it seems that your work takes these 5 health staples to a whole new level.
Health Staple 1: Daily Exercise
Health Staple 2: Getting Good Quality Sleep
Health Staple 3: Eating a Healthy Diet
Health Staple 4: Optimizing our Microbiome
Health Staple 5: Intermittent Fasting
Can you explain how you discovered this new world that opened through the lens of genetics and epigenetics and how your fascination for personalized human systems led to the fact that we truly have the ability within us to take charge of our destiny and become the architects of our own future? What is our DNA is versus our epigenetics, and how we can change the expressions of our genes with the application of these health staples like nutrition, exercise, sleep, meditation?
THOUGHT: This is powerful right here! Most people are not optimizing these 5 health staples, but to make quantum leap changes like many of us want and believe is possible with our potential, this is where it all begins, at the level of gene expression.
Q2:  I had no idea just how much my level of awareness would change before I began looking at your work and I came from the personal development world where we were conditioned to push our mental limits every day. I worked closely with this well-known speaker who challenged our thinking to look deeper at the world, he would say, don’t just look through the keyhole, but open the door, and see the possibilities that exist out there in the world.  It’s why I’m doing what I’m doing today with a vision on the possibilities. I’ve heard you talking about this concept as “the 100th monkey theory” where there are enough people out there that believe what you are talking about that critical mass starts to occur. Can you explain this theory and where are we in the world right now when it comes to advancements in longevity and human potential and do you think the majority of the world is ready for what you are working on at The Apeiron Center? (Ap-eer-on)
THOUGHT: There’s always room for improvement whether we are regular people looking to take our results to a new level, or people that seek you out (pro athletes, those in special operations in the military). This is a whole new paradigm of health, productivity and results are possible. You are giving us a blueprint or model to think about, which is mind-blowing. “There’s no way to guess at what our limit is.”
Q3: You mention the importance of a concept called “interoception” or the ability to listen to the signals within the body that we have spoken about in a few episodes on this podcast (whether it was with Dr. Dan Siegel and his Wheel of Awareness meditation[iv] that strengthens this awareness) or personal trainer Jason Wittrock who talked about the importance of listening to your hunger cues to gain control over your eating habits. You talk about interoception as a skill used by pro athletes to achieve results with their athletic career, or with those in the special forces who must learn this skill since they are often faced with life vs death situations. What are some ways that we can learn this skill and how are you measuring important data points to get people to hit these higher levels of achievement using this skill?
Thought: Dr. Dan Siegel’s Wheel of Awareness Meditation[v] has a segment where he takes us from head to toe, giving us access to listen to part the wisdom we feel in each part of our body. This helps us to become more aware of our organs, bones and muscles and parts of our body that we rarely ever put our focused attention towards.
Most people have not yet mastered these 5 health staples (exercise, sleep, nutrition etc) in order to reach the high levels of performance, health and longevity that you work with people on, but on the other hand, not everyone is a Google Executive, a Pro Athlete, or Special Operations in the Military, but there’s a craving in many people I come across to reach these higher levels. Can you take us through the process of how you optimize a person from where they are now, to where they want to go, and what/how you are measuring this?
 
Health Staple 1: Daily Exercise
Health Staple 2: Getting Good Quality Sleep
Health Staple 3: Eating a Healthy Diet
Health Staple 4: Optimizing our Microbiome
Health Staple 5: Intermittent Fasting
Q4: I watched your interview with Brian Rose, on London Real[vi] where you give an incredible overview of the work you are doing taking people’s results to higher levels, and your podcast interview with Ari Whitten, who I’ve followed for years, on the topic of “The Best Peptides to Boost Mitchondria, Brain Health and Longevity.”[vii] I’ve provided links in the show notes for people who want to dive deeper into understanding what you do but can you give a brief overview of how you are using peptides to help people in ways that pharmaceuticals cannot?
What about the cognitive side? I’ve created this podcast to provide tools and resources for the most current neuroscience research as well as social and emotional learning skills for schools and the workplace. Did I hear this correctly? Is there REALLY a peptide that can enhance empathy and compassion in people?  How does this work?
 
Q5: What is your vision for where you are going at the Apeiron Center?
 
For people who want to learn more and reach you personally what are the best places to go?
 
Apeiron.Academy https://apeiron.academy/ To learn more about being a Certified Epigenetics Performance Coach
 
Apeiron Center https://apeironzoh.com/center/ if you want to learn more about what Dr. Stickler’s team is doing with offices around the world.
Dr. Stickler, thank you so much for your time today. This is serious work, and I heard you say that you are a serious coach, who gives the guidance needed to get someone on the right path vs you are not a cheerleader who won’t call someone out on their crap. This is the only way to get serious results, and I’m grateful to have had this opportunity to learn from you.  Thank you.
RESOURCES:
Importance of the Systems Approach Principle by Patrick Gleeson PhD. Published Jan.25, 2019 https://smallbusiness.chron.com/importance-system-approach-principle-81413.html
Garmin Fitness and Lifestyle watches https://buy.garmin.com/en-US/US/c10002-p1.html
Get your own genetic testing kit http://getmydnakit.com/ and access an epigenetics coach to guide you in the process.
Apeiron Zoh Collective Community Learn More Here https://www.lifeofexcellence.io/main-zoh
 
REFERENCES:
[i] Luke DePron and his Live Great Lifestyle Podcast with Dr. Daniel Stickler https://livegreatlifestyle.libsyn.com/limitless-peak-performance-and-human-potential-epigenetics-aging-anti-aging-and-the-future-of-being-a-healthy-human
[ii] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning EPSIODE #87 “The Top Brain Health and Alzheimer’s Prevention Strategies”  https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/do-you-know-the-top-5-brain-health-and-alzheimers-prevention-strategies-with-andrea-samadi/
[iii] Dr. David Perlmutter’s Alzheimer’s: The Science of Prevention Documentary https://www.drperlmutter.com/alzheimers-the-science-of-prevention-2020-air-dates/
[iv] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning EPSIODE #60 “The Science Behind a Meditation Practice with a Deep Dive into Dr. Daniel Siegel’s Wheel of Awareness Meditation”  https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/the-science-behind-a-meditation-practice-with-a-deep-dive-into-dr-dan-siegel-s-wheel-of-awareness/
[v] Dr. Dan Siegel’s “Wheel of Awareness Meditation” https://www.drdansiegel.com/resources/wheel_of_awareness/
[vi] Brain Rose London Real Interview with Dr. Daniel Stickler Published on YouTube July 14, 2019 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ynbaJ2038K0&feature=emb_logo
[vii] Ari Whitten and Dr. Daniel Stickler  YouTube Interview Published June 29, 2019 “The Best Peptides to Boost Mitchondria, Brain Health and Longevity” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wn6Q1Eh7uR0&feature=emb_logo

Dr. Sandy Gluckman on "Reversing Children's Behavior and Mood Problems by Treating Root Causes."

Welcome back to the Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning podcast, episode #95 with Learning, Mood, Behavior, Author, Educator and Speaker Dr. Sandy Gluckman.
You can watch the interview on YouTube here. 
Dr. Sandy Gluckman describes her quest as saving the next generation from a growing explosion of learning, behavior and mood problems.  Her work is rooted in the science that shows that children will thrive when parents thrive.  Dr. Sandy empowers parents to raise healthy, resilient, confident children primed for success, by showing them how to first heal themselves. 
Dr Gluckman is sought after for her expertise on a range of children’s challenges such as Anxiety, Defiance, Emotional Resilience, Self-Worth, Screen Addiction, Stress as a Survival Mechanism and the Sensitive Child. 
Rather than offering quick-fix, superficial solutions to these complex issues, Dr Sandy uses science to teach parents how to create the kind of parent-child neurochemistry that prevents and heals these problems.
Welcome Dr. Gluckman! Thank you so much for being available to speak with me today.
I have to say, that when I was reading your book, Parents Take Charge[i], and saw the acknowledgements, I can see how you fit in perfectly with the content we have been focused here on this podcast, especially with our most recent jump that focuses on health and mental wellbeing. If we are not healthy physically and emotionally, how on the earth can we expect ourselves to perform at high levels, and we definitely can’t expect it of our children, right?
I can see that many who have inspired your work, we have been focused on for the past year and a half on this podcast, with Dr. Dan Siegel a year ago this week, Dr. Amen with his daughter Chloe Amen’s interview[ii] on Change Your Brain, Change Your Grades, and then inspiring the brain scan content,[iii] Stephen Porges with his Polyvagal Theory[iv], and most recently with our focus on health and the brain with Dr. Mark Hymen, and his recent program, Alzheimer’s The Science of Prevention that really did inspire our health and wellness episodes.[v] Your life’s work is a perfect match for us, and I am so grateful to have this chance to speak with you.
Today, our topic with you is Reversing Children’s Behavior and Mood Problems by Treating the Root Causes and before I even get to your questions, I have to put my background in context for you, since your work, and this podcast will probably make some things come full circle for me, as well for those listening who might work with or know children with behavior or mood problems.
Back in the late 1990s, I was a teacher in Toronto, and I worked with behavioral students. It was my first teaching assignment right out of teacher’s college, and I had no training at all on how to deal with difficult students, and also had hardly any strategies for managing my own stress. I have had author and educational neuroscience leader, Dr. Lori Desaultels[vi] on twice to this podcast,  and her work, along with Michael McKnight, focuses on how the students’ behavior usually is a reaction to the teacher or parent’s state of mind.  I now know stress reducing strategies that help me on a daily basis, but I wish I knew them when I first started my career.
Q1: Can you take me back to the beginning of your professional career, with students in their last year of high school in South Africa, and what made you begin to wonder “why did some students have a robust, healthy and feisty spirit, while others did not?”  How did this question inspire you to further your studies and obtain a PhD in clinical psychology, and dive deep into how different people respond to stress?
Q2: In your book, Parents Take Charge, you introduce a new way of healing children’s learning, behavior and mood problems, with the story of an 11-year old named David, who was having some challenges with learning at school, was diagnosed with a bunch of different disorders like ADHD, OCD, and depression, and was given a ton of medicine to go with each diagnosis. Can you share how this Mom got the root of David’s problem, finding some challenges with his digestive system, and how he was put on a treatment program that included supplements his body was missing and some changes to his diet, and 9 months later his symptoms were almost gone?
This is such a powerful story! For this example, David became a new child, with improved grades, and a natural leadership that emerged with his new levels of confidence.  As a parent, this is all we want for our children. To be able to go through life with ease, and be successful.
Q3: Where do we begin when looking at mood problems with children, whether we are talking about the eye-rolling that I’m just starting to get with my young girls when I ask them to do something, or the flat out difficult behavior that I saw as a new teacher in the classroom?
Q4: What did your experience as a teacher, psychologist and leadership coach teach you about the mental, emotional and social well-being of a student, as well as those working in the corporate world about the importance of managing our emotional states?
Q5: What inspired you to learn more about the effect of stress, and how it can trigger learning, behavior and mood problems?
Q6: With the impacts of the pandemic, I’m hearing so many new issues emerge with learning challenges that come from the fact that some children didn’t want to return to in school learning, and prefer home schooling, or the opposite, those who are still doing virtual learning at  home, are missing the social connection that in person school provides.
Q7: What would you say to support our children in each of these situations? What about solutions for screen addiction? I saw it with my youngest daughter the most when she was doing at home learning, missing her friends, and using her devices to stay connected. Now that she has returned to school, how can we lessen her dependence on these devices?
Thank you so much Dr. Gluckman for your time today, and your solutions to what many of us are going through whether it’s with our own children at home, or those in the classroom, getting to the root cause of the behavior or learning challenge.
I highly recommend Dr. Gluckman’s books and online programs.  She does have an online program for raising confident, resilient children that are primed for success that you can access on her website.
https://drsandygluckman.com/confident-children-program/
You can follow Dr. Gluckman on
IG, LinkedIn,  Facebook and Twitter @DrSandyGluckman
https://www.youtube.com/user/sandygluckman
And visit her website www.drsandygluckman.com and contact Dr. Gluckman for a 30  minute FREE session  https://drsandygluckman.com/schedule-call/
 
Expanded BIO: Dr. Gluckman is the founder of a private practice, Parenting That Heals, where she consults with couples, families and children. Dr Sandy’s work is based on her unique blend of her studies in Functional Medicine, Interpersonal Neurobiology and Psychology, woven together with her own insights and experience. She has consulted with, and trained, thousands of parents and teachers in different parts of the world. Her signature programs, called, “Parenting That Heals,” and “Teaching That Heals the Brain,” are presented in live workshops, as well as online. 
Dr Sandy is the author of, Parents Take Charge: Healing Learning, Behavior and Mood Challenges Without Medication, and, Who’s in the Driver’s Seat: Leading with Spirit.
RESOURCES:
Dr. Mark Hyman on Reversing and Preventing Alzheimer’s Disease  https://www.usagainstalzheimers.org/alzheimers-talks/changing-how-we-approach-alzheimers-dr-mark-hyman
Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning EPISODE #56 with Dr. Lori Desautels on her new book Connections Over Compliance: Rewiring Our Perceptions of Discipline https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/educational-neuroscience-pioneer-dr-lori-desautels-on-her-new-book-about-connections-over-compliance-rewiring-our-perceptions-of-discipline/
Dr. Lori Desautels Connections Over Compliance (Sept. 2020)  https://www.amazon.com/Connections-Over-Compliance-Perceptions-Discipline/dp/1948018896
Stress Contagion Possible Amongst Students and Teachers: UBC (Study with Kimberly Shonert-Reichl)  https://news.ubc.ca/2016/06/27/ubc-study-finds-stress-contagion-amongst-students-and-teachers/
The 4 S’s of Parenting Dr. Dan Siegel https://www.parentmap.com/article/the-four-ss-of-parenting-dan-siegels-whole-brain-child about the
REFERENCES:
[i] Parents Take Charge: A Practical 3-Step Program by Dr. Sandy Gluckman https://www.amazon.com/Parents-Take-Charge-Sandy-Gluckman/dp/1491252243
[ii] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning EPISODE #11 with Chloe Amen on “Change Your Brain, Change Your Grades.” https://www.achieveit360.com/15-year-old-chloe-amen-reveals-strategies-on-how-to-change-your-brain-change-your-grades/
[iii] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning EPISODES #82, #83, #84 “How a Spect Image Brain Scan Can Change Your Life”
PART 1 https://www.achieveit360.com/how-a-brain-scan-changed-my-brain-and-life-with-doug-sutton/
PART 2 https://www.achieveit360.com/what-is-a-spect-imaging-brain-scan-and-how-exactly-can-it-change-your-life-with-andrea-samadi-part-2/
PART 3  https://www.achieveit360.com/how-a-spect-scan-can-change-your-life-part-3-with-andrea-samadi/
[iv]  Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning EPISODE #59  https://www.achieveit360.com/suzanne-gundersen-on-the-polyvagal-theory-in-practice/
[v]  Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning EPISODE #87 on “5 Important Brain Health and Alzheimer’s Prevention Strategies We Should All Know.”  https://www.achieveit360.com/the-top-5-brain-health-and-alzheimers-prevention-strategies-with-andrea-samadi/
[vi] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning EPISODE #16 with Dr. Lori Desautels and Michael McKnight on “The Future of Educational Neuroscience in Our Schools” https://www.achieveit360.com/pioneers-lori-desautels-and-michael-mcknight-on-the-future-of-educational-neuroscience-in-our-schools-and-communities/
Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning EPISODE #56 with Dr. Lori Desaultels on her new book Connections Over Compliance: Rewiring Our Perceptions of Discpline.  https://www.achieveit360.com/educational-neuroscience-pioneer-dr-lori-desautels-on-her-new-book-about-connections-over-compliance-rewiring-our-perceptions-of-discipline/

Personal Trainer and Fitness Model Jason Wittrock on "Nutrition, Intermittent Fasting and the Ketogenic Diet."

Welcome back to the Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning podcast, episode #94 with personal trainer and fitness model, Jason Wittrock.
Watch the interview on YouTube here.
My name is Andrea Samadi,  and if you are new here, I’m a former educator who created this podcast to bring the most current neuroscience research, along with high performing experts who have risen to the top of their field, with specific strategies or ideas that you can implement immediately, whether you are an educator, or in the corporate space, to take your results to the next level. If we want to improve our social, emotional and cognitive abilities, it all starts with an understanding of our brain. 
I first found our next guest, Jason Wittrock late 2016/  2017 when I was searching for answers with my diet. I was at a crossroads with my health, and knew I needed to do some things differently, I just didn’t know exactly what to do, and I had heard some friends in some of my online groups talking about how they were drinking keto coffee, and experiencing health benefits, like increased energy and weight loss.  So I went to YouTube, and typed in “how to make keto coffee” and Jason Wittrock’s video came up called “Keto Coffee”[i] and my journey began here, taking my health to a whole new level, and have never looked back. I’m sure there are thousands of stories just like mine.
Welcome Jason, thank you so much for your time today to come on the podcast and share what you have been doing with your YouTube videos, inspiring people around the world with their health, nutrition and lifestyle for years.
Jason, I’ve got to tell you this. Back when I first found your videos, I saw something different with what you were doing. This was the beginning of my health journey, but it did stick, and here we are all these years later speaking.
There’s a few things that I wanted to tell you that stuck out to me, looking back, about why I think the results stuck and it’s that you really come across that you want to help people. You said quite a few times on your videos, as you spoke 100 miles an hour about what you were doing, the products you were using and why, you said “hey, I’m just trying to help” and it really did come across that you were, so I listened. You said “look, some guy just did this diet for 45 days, that’s awesome, make it a lifestyle” so I did, and pretty sure I posted a million times on my social media about how much I was loving keto coffee, and your fat bombs[ii] (those were awesome)! I’m just one person, so can just image the ripple effect of your work. Way to go and thank you for what you are doing.
So let’s get to some questions here--
Q1: Jason, I reached out to you, as I have recently recorded an episode on the TOP 5 Health Staples[iii] that have been proven to prevent Alzheimer’s Disease and that I’m looking to dive deeper into these 5 health strategies.  I thought of you a few times when I was thinking about when I changed my diet after watching your videos. Can you share how your journey to health began, and what’s been happening with you since I first saw your videos?
Health Staple 1: Daily Exercise
Health Staple 2: Getting Good Quality Sleep
Health Staple 3: Eating a Healthy Diet
Health Staple 4: Optimizing our Microbiome
Health Staple 5: Intermittent Fasting
Q2: A few years ago, it was a huge paradigm shift for me to think about putting butter in my coffee. I’m not sure about other people, but you are talking to someone who used to count calories (not anymore) and used to be terrified of eating anything high in fat.  I did some research, and then watched you making your keto coffee, then bought exactly the same ingredients, then trusted you. Now this is all from a YouTube video, and maybe from one other person I knew who was drinking coffee this way who I also trusted. Now, we’ve got Dave Asprey and his Bulletproof Coffee products, but back then, he was just getting started with that and I didn’t know about it. What are you hearing now from people who have made the switch from eating a diet that’s higher in fats now, and how easy is it for them to map out their macros (the percentage of fats/proteins and carbs)?
Q3: I was surprised when I listened to a recent health documentary called “Alzheimer’s: The Science of Prevention”[iv] where they listed intermittent fasting as one of the top 5 health staples for brain health and Alzheimer’s prevention. They say that Intermittent fasting “fights insulin resistance, lowering your risk of type-2 diabetes, reduces inflammation in the body, is beneficial for heart health, and may prevent cancer.”[xxxiii]  What are your current thoughts on IF? I remember watching your video[v] from 2016 when I was first starting the keto diet, and I didn’t fast at this time. (I do now). Do you still not fast?  
Q4: After a few years of eating this way, what have you seen with your blood results? What have you noticed? What would you say to someone who is worried about stressing out their liver over time?
Q5: I see that you have 2 kids (not sure of their ages). How do you plan to keep them eating healthy as they grow up? This has been the hardest thing for me, trying my best to let them be kids and eat an ice-cream and then say “hey, who wants some scrambled eggs!” Is living by example enough?
Q6: What is your current vision for your personal training and coaching?  (Do you plan to create something personalized like the Vshred program) or others that we see out there? What’s next for you?
Thank you so much for taking the time to speak with me Jason. I’m so grateful to have found you all those years ago when I was searching for a change, and the change stuck around. Keep going, you are making an incredible impact on the world. I highly encourage those listening to learn more about you (is there anything you want to promote?)
For people who want to learn more about you, they can find your helpful videos on https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOfJHaFLpfbi87xPoAa_NbQ
https://www.facebook.com/jasonwittrock/
https://www.instagram.com/jason.wittrock/
RESOURCES:
How to Eat Keto on the Road for 21 Days https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GC3pMTPtfPU
Full Day of Eating Keto at Home https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2TH1c_qucc
14 Healthy Fats for the Keto Diet https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/healthy-fats-for-keto
Keto Clarity by Jimmy Moore (Aug. 2014)  https://www.amazon.com/Keto-Clarity-Definitive-Benefits-Low-Carb/dp/1628600071
The Great Cholesterol Myth: Why Lowering Your Cholesterol Won’t Prevent Heart Disease by Johnny Bowden PhD and Stephen Sinatra M.D. (Nov. 2012)  https://www.amazon.com/Great-Cholesterol-Myth-Disease-Statin-Free/dp/1592335217
Is the Ketogenic Diet Good or Bad for Brain Health? By Dr. Daniel Amen Dec. 2019 https://www.amenclinics.com/blog/is-the-keto-diet-good-or-bad-for-brain-health/
Does the Keto Diet Work? Dr. Mark Hyman Published on YouTube Jan.2019 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mp2qO6UGmos
REFERENCES:
[i] Keto Coffee with Jason Wittrock Published August 2017 on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IzLwqBDMgGc
[ii] How to Make Fat bombs| The Ketogenic Diet Published August 2016 on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=do7o-jykU_4
[iii] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning EPISODE #87 on the Top 5 Brain Health and Alzheimer’s Prevention Strategies https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/do-you-know-the-top-5-brain-health-and-alzheimers-prevention-strategies-with-andrea-samadi/
[iv] Dr. David Perlmutter’s “Alzheimer’s: The Science of Prevention” https://scienceofprevention.com/
[v] Keto and Intermittent Fasting with Jason Wittrock Published on YouTube Dec. 2016 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xY9Ix0hIa_g

Dr. Momo Vuyisich on "Improving the Health of Your Microbiome, Preventing and Reversing Chronic Disease."

Welcome back to the Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning podcast, episode #93 with Dr. Momo Vuyisich, the co-founder and chief science officer of Viome[i], a healthcare disruptor that’s using IA to analyze your gut microbiome to make personalized nutritional recommendations.
You can watch the interview on YouTube here. 
I’m excited to introduce you to Momo Vuyisich, the chief science officer at Viome, who leads their efforts in product development and clinical research. Momo knows all too well of the importance of the gut/brain connection and how we can take control of our own life and health by optimizing our gut microbiome with personalized nutritional recommendations using Viome testing.  
Before co-founding Viome in 2016, Momo spent 12 years at Los Alamos National Laboratory[ii], where he was the leader of the Applied Genomics team. His research focused on applying modern genomics to the areas of gut microbiomes, host-pathogen and microbial inter-species interactions, pathogen detection, cancer biology, toxicology, infectious diseases, and antibiotic resistance.
In this episode, you will learn  
How Momo, the founder of Viome.com reversed his rheumatoid arthritis with a change in diet.
Forward thinking strategies for taking your health into your own hands.
What your poop can tell you about your health.
What exactly is microbiome testing and how it works.
A vision of the future where chronic disease is preventable and diet is personalized.
“Today we have 100% of the science and technology needed to cure every chronic disease and every cancer.” Momo Vuyisich
“The only way to predict the future is to invent it.”  Momo Vuyisich
Welcome Momo, thanks so much for taking the time out of your day to be here today.
INTRO
Momo, I mentioned to you that I recently did an Dr
Q1: Can you give us your background, and what brought you to where you are today, inspiring your work with Viome, whose on a mission to help the world understand what we uniquely need to be healthy, and ultimately prevent and reverse chronic disease like Alzheimer’s, Diabetes, Parkinson’s, MS and Obesity?
Q2: I don’t want to repeat the incredible information you gave Luke DePron on his podcast, so I am posting the links to his episode in the show notes.[iii] For those of us like me who were beginners to understanding what the microbiome is, and the gut/brain connection, you did offer an incredible resource for everyone to check out. You suggested to look up Dr. Robynne Chutkan and her book[iv], The Microbiome Solution, and she has a new book out now called Gut Bliss.  She also did a great intro to understanding the microbiome for CBS Morning News that you can see on her website.[v] Can you give a quick overview on why it’s so important for us to understand our gut microbiome, the gut/brain connection and why true health begins in the gut?
Q3: Before I heard Luke’s podcast with you, I knew that we need to protect our gut microbiome, and that taking a probiotic can help balance our gut and keep us healthy. I also had heard about prebiotics, or foods that were good for gut health, and do try to stick to low glycemic foods. After listening to some of your podcasts, I know there are medicines  (like antibiotics, acid reflux medicine, NSAIDS and birth control pills) that can damage our microbiome and foods that can either help or hurt us, and perhaps that the foods I am choosing from the glycemic index might be spiking my blood sugar?  Can you explain why probiotics are limiting and why different foods can be beneficial to my microbiome, but not yours?
Q4: How are you helping people to understand what they uniquely need to be healthy and allow them to take back control of their health? What exactly do you do at Viome?
Q5: What are you focused on now at Viome, what is your 10-year vision, and what do you need to get there?
Thank you very much for your time today, Momo.
For people who want to learn more about Viome, they can go to Viome.com and learn more about the process of taking the simple at-home test, learning their scores, and the supplements and suggestions for foods they should either avoid, minimize, enjoy and those that are superfoods for them.
Email studies@viome.com if you would like a FREE mold test on your home or workplace.
Thanks so much!
RESOURCES:
The Links Between the Gut Microbiome, Aging, Modern Lifestyle and Alzheimer’s Disease Edited by Ashley E Franks March 18, 2020 https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcimb.2020.00104/full
https://www.viome.com/blog
Neuroscience Meets SEL Episode #82 with Doug Sutton “How a Brain Scan Changed My Life.” https://www.achieveit360.com/how-a-brain-scan-changed-my-brain-and-life-with-doug-sutton/
What is the Difference Between a Prebiotic and a Probiotic https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/323490
Gut Intelligence Test https://www.viome.com/products/gut-intelligence
Health Intelligence Test https://www.viome.com/products/health-intelligence
Monthly Supplements https://www.viome.com/products/supplements
See if you qualify for an active study at Viome https://www.viome.com/research-institute/studies
REFERENCES:
[i] https://www.viome.com/
[ii] https://www.lanl.gov/ How MomWhat W
[iii] Gut/Microbiome Health with Momo Viyisich on Luke De Pron’s Live Great Lifestyle Podcast http://www.livegreatlifestyle.com/podcast-category/gut-microbiome-health-w-viome-co-founder-dr-momo-vuyisich/
[iv] https://robynnechutn.com/books/
[v] Dr. Robynne Chutkan https://robynnechutkan.com/

Author and Neuroscience Educator Sarah Peyton on "Brain Network Theory, Default Mode Network, Anxiety and Emotion Regulation."

Welcome back to the Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning podcast, episode #92 with neuroscience educator, author and trainer, Sarah Peyton[i].
You can watch the interview on YouTube here. 
My name is Andrea Samadi,  and if you are new here, I’m a former educator who created this podcast to bring the most current neuroscience research, along with high performing experts who have risen to the top of their field, with specific strategies or ideas that you can implement immediately, whether you are an educator, or in the corporate space, to take your results to the next level. If we want to improve our social, emotional and cognitive abilities, it all starts with an understanding of our brain. 
I’m so grateful to have been introduced to Sarah Peyton, a neuroscience educator, and author of the book, Your Resonant Self: Guided Meditations and Exercises to Engage Your Brain’s Capacity for Healing[ii].  I took one look at Sarah’s work and website, and immediately had 100 questions for her. She also does have a workbook coming out to accompany this book, this summer. I will put the links in the show notes to learn more.[iii]
Welcome Sarah, thank you so much for your time today, to share your knowledge and resources with us.
Q1: Sarah, Brain Network Theory is now being talked about all over the place, listeners of this podcast, who follow the most current neuroscience research, will have heard about it. There are many books being written on this NEW Brain Network Theory (I’ve mentioned Dr. Srini Pillay and his book about the power of the unfocused mind in past episodes). I’ve been working closely with Mark Waldman (from EPISODE 30)[iv] this past year and know that applying Brain Network Theory to our life can be powerful.
Just as a reminder of what Brain Network Theory is all about, if you were to go to www.pubmed.gov  and search for the most recent studies on the brain, instead of looking at different parts of the brain, like we used to do, we now know and study different networks in the brain to gain understanding, and we can measure and see the activity in each of these brain networks. This is a fascinating discovery that comes to life with these images that we’ve all seen with different regions of our brain lighting up.
Sarah, can you go over some of the brain function networks you cover in the beginning of your book and how an understanding of these networks can help us with our understanding of the world, and our perhaps ways we can improve our results? (seeing the world, decision-making, discerning importance, dorsal attention, listening, sensing and moving)?
Q2: How does trauma show up in the brain?
Q3:  I did cover the Default Mode Network in EPISODE #48[iv] and mention the fact that this Default Mode Network involves those thought processes that can include worry, doubts and fears like “don’t try that, it didn’t work out last time” and so on. Swiss Psychologist Piaget called this “inner speech” that can be positive or negative, depending on what you are thinking.  Chapter 1 of your book begins with “How We Talk to Ourselves: The Default Mode Network” that talks about our beliefs, our self-talk and strategies to overcome some of these limiting beliefs. How would you suggest we first of all identify, and then eliminate limiting beliefs from our brain to improve our results?
Q4: The Default Mode Network has also been linked to the Imagination. Marty Seligman, the founder of positive psychology calls the DMN the Imagination Network and my mentor, Mark Waldman created a diagram which he refers to as a map to simplify the 5 major brain networks, and he intentionally put the DMN or Imagination as the largest area, possibly because it develops so early in life and plays such an important role in child and brain development. How would you explain the Default Mode Network and why is it so important for us to understand this network in our brain with our early years of development in mind?
Q5: On EPISODE #53[v], we dive deep into self-regulation, and why it’s so important. This is such an important topic and one I’m always looking for new ideas with, especially these days, as the event in the world keep most of us on our toes. How do you suggest we stay emotionally regulated?
Q6: With anxiety being at an all-time high for many of our students these days, as well as everyone else, with the looming effects of the pandemic this year, what are your best tips for understanding anxiety and the brain, and what are you telling those you are working with, on how to reduce anxiety?
Q7: Sarah, I could keep asking you another 10 questions but do know that our time is limited. In closing, I wonder what the most important concept is, that you think everyone should know, whether we are educators in the workplace, or parents, with children we are raising, or if we are just trying to find our place in the world and make an impact. How can we best use our brain, and guide others to do the same?
Thank you so much for your time today, Sarah. For those who want to learn more about you, they can go to www.empathybrain.com and sign up for your newsletter and free meditations to help improve brain health and resiliency.   https://empathybrain.com/newsletter/
They can follow you on Twitter @empathybrain
https://www.facebook.com/empathybrain
@yourresonantself on IG
Thanks Sarah!
RESOURCES:
Dr. Srini Pillay Tinker, Dabble, Doodle, Try: The Power of the Unfocused Mind (May 2017) https://www.amazon.com/Tinker-Dabble-Doodle-Try-Unfocused/dp/1101883650
Know Your Brain: The Default Mode Network June 16, 2015 by https://www.neuroscientificallychallenged.com/blog/know-your-brain-default-mode-network
A Brief Introduction to the Default Mode Network YouTube Published May, 2011  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6A-RqZzd2JU
Ruth Lanius Neuroscientist and Professor of Psychiatry, University of Western, Ontario, Canada https://www.thetraumatherapistproject.com/podcast/ruth-lanius-phd/
Joseph LeDoux, author of The Emotional Brain, on Trauma, Fear and Memory Consolidation YouTube Published Dec. 2012 “Can Memories be Erased” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=km_unuMr-l8
 
Avoiding the Sickening Effects of Stress (July 2016) https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2016/07/how-to-prevent-stress-from-sickening-the-body/490841/
Matthew Lieberman, Social: Why our brains are wired to connect (July 2015) https://www.amazon.com/Social-Why-brains-wired-connect/dp/0198743815
Beatrice Beebe https://www.beatricebeebe.com/
Jaak Panksepp and his discovery on human emotions https://www.discovermagazine.com/mind/discover-interview-jaak-panksepp-pinned-down-humanitys-7-primal-emotions
REFERENCES:
[i] https://empathybrain.com/ Sarah Peyton’s Website
[ii] Your Resonant Self by Sarah Peyton https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B074WBVG42/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i0
[iii] Your Resonant Self Workbook by Sarah Peyton https://www.amazon.com/Your-Resonant-Self-Workbook-Self-sabotage/dp/0393714640/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=your+resonant+self&qid=1602474119&sr=8-2
[iv] Neuroscience Meets SEL Podcast EPISODE #48 “Brain Network Theory” https://www.achieveit360.com/brain-network-theory-using-neuroscience-to-stay-productive-during-times-of-change-and-chaos/
[v] Neuroscience Meets SEL Podcast EPISODE #53 on “Self-Regulation and Your Brain” https://www.achieveit360.com/self-regulation-the-foundational-learning-skill-for-future-success/

Behavior Experts Drs. Jessica and John Hannigan on "SEL From a Distance: Tools and Processes from Anytime, Anywhere."

Welcome back to the Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning podcast, episode #91, with Jessica and John Hannigan, the authors of the brand-new book, SEL From a Distance: Tools and Processes for Anytime, Anywhere. [i] This is a timely and importance topic, with the pandemic this year, and subsequent switch to distance learning combined with recent instances of racial injustice has put a spotlight on the cracks in the practice of social and emotional learning (SEL). I launched this podcast in June of 2019 when I saw the need to highlight leaders in the field of SEL, but now, more than ever before, schools are shifting their focus and prioritizing SEL competencies—around the nation and the world. 
 
Watch this interview on YouTube here. 
 
My name is Andrea Samadi,  and if you are new here, I’m a former educator who created this podcast to bring the most current neuroscience research, along with high performing experts who have risen to the top of their field, with specific strategies or ideas that you can implement immediately, whether you are an educator, or in the corporate space, to take your results to the next level. If we want to improve our social, emotional and cognitive abilities, it all starts with an understanding of our brain. 
 
Today I am thrilled to have behavior experts Jessica and John Hannigan, who have drawn together a collection of tools and processes for social and emotional learning that can be applied in any learning environment with their NEW book, SEL from a Distance.
 
Dr. Jessica Hannigan is an assistant professor in the Educational Leadership Department at California State University, Fresno. She works with schools and districts across the nation on designing and implementing effective behavior systems. Her expertise includes response-to-intervention (RTI) behavior, multi-tiered systems of supports (MTSS), positive behavior interventions and supports (PBIS), social and emotional learning (SEL), and more.
 
John E. Hannigan, EdD , is an executive leadership coach for Fresno County Superintendent of Schools in California. He has served in education for over 15 years as a principal, assistant principal, instructional coach, and teacher. Under his leadership, his school has received numerous awards and recognitions, including California State Distinguished School, Gold Ribbon School, Title I Academic School, Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (Platinum Level). 
 
Hannigan, Jessica,Hannigan, John E. (2106-02-06T23:28:15). SEL From a Distance (Kindle Locations 410-414). SAGE Publications. Kindle Edition.
 
In SEL from a Distance, you’ll learn: 
The five SEL competencies and dozens of easy to use processes for building skills in each.
How to identify challenging behaviors and prioritize, define mastery, and teach the SEL skills necessary to address them.
Tips for identifying, teaching, modeling, and reinforcing SEL skills in a virtual setting.
Strategies for applying SEL to the needs of your unique learning environment.
Welcome Jessica and John, thank you so much for taking the time to speak with me today, and sharing this new resource for those listening around the world. 
For this interview, I did want to read what others are saying about this new book, with a question attached to each testimonial.  I really do think that everyone listening should go to the link below, and grab a copy of this book, whether you are an educator, or someone looking for ideas to implement social and emotional learning competencies with your children, this book is a must read.
Just to give you both some background, since we are just meeting, my interest in social and emotional learning goes back over 20 years ago, when I was a frustrated educator, with no resources in the area of behavior management. When I see a book like yours, I really do want the world to know about it.  Here’s what other leaders in the field of education are saying about your book:
INTRO QUESTIONS
“People are seeing the importance of SEL, and Jessica Hannigan and John Hannigan have written a timely and responsive book that will help teachers and leaders create opportunities for students to become more independent and successful now, during distance learning, and in the future.” Peter DeWitt, Author/Blogger/Consultant 
 
Q1: I love how you begin this book by addressing what is SEL, and why is it so important. This is exactly how I started this podcast, when I saw a need to showcase leaders in SEL in one place. Why is SEL important now, more than ever?
“With the rise in anxiety, depression, and suicide over the last few years, schools have faced the challenge of how to address the social and emotional needs of all students. Now, during the pandemic, the need is more acute, and schools require more assistance. SEL From a Distance offers an easy-to-follow framework to build our students’ skills in the key SEL competencies. The authors have taken a complex topic and created an easy-to-use guide for school teams and leaders. Any school searching for what to do next should pick up this book.” Brian Jaramillo, Executive Director of Education Services Lompoc Unified SD
Q2: I also love the framework that you chose, honoring the work that CASEL[ii] has done with their 5 SEL competencies.  We did interview Karen Niemi, the president of CASEL on EPISODE #62[iii] since their work around SEL has been so robust. When writing the Tools and Processes section, that focuses on each of the 5 competencies, how did you brainstorm the sub-sections within each competency? For example, under self-awareness, you have sub-sections of identifying emotions, self-perception, and strengths, with tools for each sub section. Can you share how you came up with these subsections, that create the powerful framework for this book?
Chapter 7. Self-Awareness Tools and Processes
SEL Competency: Self-Awareness
Identifying Emotions
Tool 1: Daily SEL Check-In
Tool 2: Virtual Mindfulness Minutes
Self-Perception
Tool 1: “Virtual Camera Imagery” Exercise
Tool 2: Email/Letter to Self Recognizing
Strengths
Tool 1: Growth Mindset Exercise
Tool 2: Self-Esteem Lesson
Tool 3: Help-Seeking Prompts
Hannigan, Jessica,Hannigan, John E. (2106-02-06T23:28:15). SEL From a Distance (Kindle Locations 286-296). SAGE Publications. Kindle Edition.
 
“Social and emotional skills they are lacking via distance learning, and this book solves that problem. It is structured so that the reader and school teams can implement the techniques and strategies to best meet the needs of their students. The rubrics and activities can be easily implemented into core curriculum content across all grade levels. I highly recommend this book for all school staff, support staff, and district office personnel to truly understand how to implement SEL in a concrete and appropriate way to ensure student success.”
Brooke Warkentin , Director of Special Services Lemoore Union Elementary School District, CA
Q3: I have heard over and over again, “how will SEL be implemented with Distance Learning?” and your book was clearly written with this purpose in mind? How are teachers implementing the rubrics and activities into core curriculum?
“What is great about this book is that it provides a clear process to identify students’ needs followed by effective and practical methods to teach these critical social and emotional skills. The learning and support students receive will help them at school, at home, and within their communities for the rest of their lives. The book does an excellent job of supporting educators in an area where we often struggle and need additional support.” Eduardo Ochoa, Assistant Superintendent Lemoore Union Elementary School District, CA
Q4: I’ve heard that many teachers know that SEL is important, but they don’t have a clear starting point, or plan in place for SEL. They aren’t sure if they should buy a whole program or use the kernel approach of implementing some ideas on a smaller scale. How does this book identify students’ needs and create a clear path for the SEL skills they need whether they are in school, their homes, or in their community?
“My teacher helps us use strategies to relax our brains when we are feeling stressed.” Harmon, 4th Grade, CA 
“My teacher told our class, ‘If you need someone to talk to, I am here for you.’ This was powerful to hear. I have never had a teacher say that to an entire class before.” Ani, 12th Grade, MO
Q5: What are students saying about the activities they are doing? Are there any specific stories you can share with feedback from students?
Q6: Is there anything important, that we have missed?
For those who want to learn more about your book, they can get it right now through Corwin, Press, or from Amazon. What is the best way for people to reach you?
@Jess_Hannigan
@JohnHannigan75 on Twitter.
Equity in School Discipline FB Group  https://www.facebook.com/groups/792746961121756
RESOURCES:
Peter DeWitt http://www.petermdewitt.com/
Casel’s SEL Competencies Framework PDF https://casel.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/CASEL-SEL-Framework-10.2020-1.pdf
Behavior Solutions by Jessica and John Hannigan, Mike Mattos and Austin Buffum https://www.solutiontree.com/behavior-solutions.html
Don’t Suspend Me, Jessica and John Hannigan
https://us.corwin.com/en-us/nam/dont-suspend-me/book252372
Netflix The Social Dilemma https://www.netflix.com/title/81254224
Corwin Press 30% off till the end of the year with CODE SELNOW https://us.corwin.com/en-us/nam/sel-from-a-distance/book276617
[i] SEL From a Distance https://us.corwin.com/en-us/nam/sel-from-a-distance/book276617
[ii] Casel.org’s 5 CORE SEL Competencies https://casel.org/sel-framework/
[iii] Neuroscience Meets SEL EPISODE #62 with Karen Niemi, President of CASEL https://www.achieveit360.com/ceo-and-president-of-casel-karen-niemi-on-tools-and-strategies-to-enhance-and-expand-sel-in-our-schools-and-communities/

Host of the Live Great Lifestyle Podcast, Luke DePron on "Neuroscience, Health, Fitness and Growth."

Welcome back to the Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning podcast, episode #90 with Luke DePron, a Men’s Health & Performance Coach[i], and graduate of Exercise Science, Kinesiology. Luke has done everything from personal training with 100s of clients, to working alongside Drs of Chiropractic as a corrective exercise specialist, training Olympic level athletes, to performance work with world champion mixed martial arts fighters.
Watch this episode on YouTube here. 
Currently Luke works as a Men’s Online Health and Performance Coach—learn more at http://www.livegreatlifestyle.com/ where he helps men step into a lifestyle approach of exercise and nutrition to transform their physique, energy, and confidence. 
He’s also the Host of the Live Great Lifestyle Podcast[ii] where he’s interviewed former Navy Seals, Mixed Martial Arts world champions, New York Times best-selling authors, personal development speakers, Olympic athletes, adventure athletes, Doctors, Nutrition experts, and inspirational leaders carving unique paths in the world to inspire and empower you to level up your health, fitness, mindset, and lifestyle. Exactly the type of person I look for as a speaker on this podcast.
I love that Luke is a believer that stepping out of your comfort zone leads to growth, and he’s always aiming high, routinely practicing Jiu-Jitsu, was a participant on the History Channels show The Selection: a mock special forces selection process led by Navy Seals, was a contributing writer for Huffington post, hosted the La Jolla International Fashion Film Festival, has performed as an actor in local San Diego films, and even worked as a runway model once.
Welcome Luke, what a diverse background.  I’m so grateful for our connection on Linkedin, and really do appreciate you referring our last interview with Dr. Erik Won that I just did yesterday.
I know that you are the host ofThe Live Great Lifestyle podcast with a mission to inspire and empower men to live their life to its greatest potential.  Can you give an overview of your past, (that’s full of achievement as much as I know you don’t like to boast about it) and how your past brought you to where you are now?
I loved your interview with Dr. Erik Won and the Wave Neuroscience team. I learned so much from your interview. I did stop your podcast often to take notes, as learning Dr. Won’s method of measuring the brain is much different than my experience with a SPECT scan. What made you see the importance of understanding neuroscience as it relates to health/wellness?
Diving Deeper- when studying and learning about the brain, there is a learning curve. I remember the first time my good friend, Mark Waldman, a neuroscience researcher sat down with me on Skype in my first attempts at learning “how the brain works” and I can honestly say, I had no idea what he was talking about. I had never studied the brain. I might as well have been learning Spanish. When I listened to your interview with Dr. Won, you had a solid understanding of how his EEG brain mapping technology worked with the rhythm of the brain. You mentioned to me later that you actually went into their offices and had your brain scanned at Wave Neuro. Can you explain what you learned from Dr. Won’s EEG and how did you learn enough about his technology to dive deeper with your questions with him as it relates to athletes and training?
Who has inspired you the most as it relates to applying brain science to your work?
What is your vision for your podcast and fitness training? I don’t see you as the average trainer. What are you doing differently than others?
For those who want to learn more about you, and follow your Live Great Lifestyle podcast podcast, I will put a link in the show notes, and what’s the best way to learn more about you? Is it LiveGreatLifestyle.com?
 
Thank you, Luke, first of all for all you have done to support the work I’m doing here. I really wouldn’t have anyone to interview without people like you connecting me to other people who are a fit. I do wish you the best with your work, and know that you will continue to make an impact on the lives of those who are looking to improve their health, whether it’s from your personal training, or your podcast. Thanks for everything.
RESOURCES:
LeBron James Partners with the Calm App to Promote Mental Fitness. https://www.thesportofphilanthropy.com/shining-star/lebron-james-partners-with-calm-app-to-promote-mental-fitness
3 Ways to Reverse Your Biological Age by Dave Asprey https://blog.daveasprey.com/reverse-biological-age/
Dave Asprey Blog on Anti-Aging  https://blog.daveasprey.com/?s=ANTI+AGING
Huberman Lab, Stanford University  http://www.hubermanlab.com/huberman-lab-team.html
Box Breathing https://www.healthline.com/health/box-breathing
James Nester Breath (May 26, 2020).  https://www.amazon.com/Breath-New-Science-Lost-Art/dp/0735213615
REFERENCES:
[i] http://www.livegreatlifestyle.com/
[ii] Live Great Lifestyle Podcast with Luke DePron http://www.livegreatlifestyle.com/podcast/
 

President of Wave Neuroscience Dr. Erik Won on "Ground-Breaking Technology That is Changing the Future of Mental Health"

Welcome back to the Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning podcast, episode #89 with Dr. Erik Won, a Harvard trained doc turned Navy flight surgeon before becoming CTO of Boeing Aerospace. Now he is the President and CMO of Wave Neuroscience, a company dedicated to creating a world where every individual—regardless of socioeconomic status, can improve their mind. Erik and the team at Wave Neuroscience are the world leading experts in Brain Health, Brain Injuries, PTSD, Depression/Anxiety among others. The tech they’ve pioneered involves using computational analytics to solve problems that have never been tackled before in the mental health space and they are doing it non-evasively, with no medications of any kind.
Watch the interview with Dr. Won on YouTube here. 
I feel so lucky to have been introduced to Dr. Won, from another podcaster, Luke DePron,[i] a former actor, turned lifestyle and fitness entrepreneur who told me that I needed to take a look at the WaveNeuro[ii] Science Team.   Luke sent me a link to the podcast he did with Dr. Erik Won and Navy Seal Ned Mason[iii],  (if you want to listen to it, you can access it in the show notes). I was blown away with what Erik and his team are doing. If you have been interested in our past few episodes where we talk about the importance of looking at the brain, to improve performance, you will know that this is not just something that is for those involved in Special Operations in the military, elite athletes, or for people who are struggling with a brain disorder. The WaveNeuro Science Team is dealing more and more with mainstream people, like you and me, who are looking to improve their performance.
Welcome Dr. Won, thank you so much for agreeing to come on the podcast to share what you are doing to help the world to improve their brains and minds with this groundbreaking technology.
Before we get to the questions, I wanted to let you know that I watched your interview with Dhru Purohit (Proit) on his Broken Brain Podcast, and I’m so glad I watched that interview, prior to this one. My last podcast episode was with Dr. Andrew Newberg, the Director of Research at the Marcus Institute of Integrative Health at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, who has dedicated his research to a topic he calls neurotheology, or connecting our brain to our spiritual and religious nature, so when I heard that you actually considered becoming a priest, early in your career, I didn’t think it was an accident that I have this opportunity to interview you after Dr. Newberg, and learn how you chose your current career path, driving you with your mission and purpose to help people with their mental health, which we need more than ever these days.
Dr. Won, to get straight into the questions, I was drawn to your work after listening to your interview with Luke DePron because my husband and I recently had a SPECT image brain scan, to see if we could learn anything about ways to improve our health. I was taking tons of notes and had to rewind the interview a few times to learn how you are measuring the activity in the brain and diagnosing ways to optimize brain health with your ground breaking technology.
What is the difference between a SPECT image brain scan, and how you are scanning brains at WaveNeuro.com using EEG?
Can you explain exactly how the EEG scans work? Let’s say, if I’m an athlete with a traumatic brain injury, and I come in to get an EEG scan, what would your technology and treatment program look like after the scan?
From the brain scans that you have done, what are seeing in the brains of regular people vs elite athletes? Is a faster processing brain better?  Can you look at someone and guess, oh they are healthy, I bet their brain is processing on the higher side? What has surprised you the most from the research you have been doing the past 10 years, and over 10,000 brain scans?
I know that brain scans seem to be something that elite athletes do, to improve performance, and they have the reputation of being expensive. What do you think the future holds for people who want to “look” at their brain to optimize performance? Will it eventually be something everyone could do for a low cost, or even free, do you think?
We are seeing loud and clear that there are some staples for brain health that we should all be aware of. (Improving sleep, Diet, Exercise, Optimizing Our Microbiome, and Intermittent Fasting). What are the most important health staples that you are seeing, with your work in this field?
What about memory? I’ve mentioned that I scored low on my brain scan with memory recall. Is this something that you think we should just work on (to improve memory muscle?) What about processing speed. I also scored low on my ability to hit a key on a keyboard over and over again. What is processing speed important for with everyday life, and of all the people you come to see, what are most people worried about the most?
Can you spot diseases like Alzheimer’s in the brain from your EEG scans?
I was speaking with Sean Bartlett, your public relations manager, preparing for this interview, to capture your vision for the future with these questions, and he let me know that something that’s important to you is to find a more functional way of diagnosing mental health issues in the future.  He shared with me an article by the former NIMH Director, Thomas Insel,[iv] that talks of the new direction for the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders (DSM-5). How is your work with the brain helping to take the subjectivity out of mental health and aiming for a new functional way of diagnosing mental health in the future?
To bring this podcast to a close, is there anything important that we have missed, that you think is important to cover, to end on a positive note for those listening around the world?
Thank you so much Dr. Won for your time today, to explain this mind-blowing technology to us. To learn more about about WaveNeuro Science, I will post the links in the show notes, and anyone can go to www.waveneuro.com, find LinkedIn @wave-neuroscience, Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @Waveneuro.
https://waveneuro.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WaveNeuro/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/WaveNeuro/
Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/WaveNeuro/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/wave-neuroscience
 
RESOURCES:
EEG vs MRI vs FMRI “What’s the Difference” by Bryn Farmsworth, Ph.D July 12, 2019 https://imotions.com/blog/eeg-vs-mri-vs-fmri-differences/
Dr. David Perlmutter’s “Alzheimer’s: The Science of Prevention” EPISODE 10 on Sleep  https://scienceofprevention.com/
About Blue Light and Your Health  https://rhythmoptics.com/pages/how-blue-light-effects-health
Health Benefits of Transcendental Meditation https://www.webmd.com/balance/guide/transcendental-meditation-benefits-technique
If You Feel Thankful, Write it Down. It’s Good for Your Health (Dec. 24th, 2018). https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2018/12/24/678232331/if-you-feel-thankful-write-it-down-its-good-for-your-health
WOOP Device for Measuring Sleep https://www.whoop.com/thelocker/how-well-whoop-measures-sleep/
Oura Ring for Sleep Tracking https://ouraring.com/
Apple Watch Series 6 for Sleep Tracking https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=088iZo3grgM
Matthew Walker Why We Sleep (Oct. 3, 2017)  https://www.amazon.com/Why-We-Sleep-Matthew-Walker-audiobook/dp/B0752XRB5F/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=why+we+sleep&qid=1602444165&sr=8-1
Ketones Improves Apolipoprotein E4-related memory deficiency via sirtuin 3
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31280254/
2-Photon Excitation Microscopy https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4004770/
How Sleep Cleans the Brain https://www.nih.gov/news-events/nih-research-matters/how-sleep-clears-brain
11 Ways Your Life Can Disrupt the Gut Microbiome https://atlasbiomed.com/blog/11-ways-your-life-can-disrupt-the-gut-microbiome/
REFERENCES:
[i] Luke Depron, former actor, turned lifestyle and fitness expert and host of The Live Great Lifestyle Podcast https://lukedepron.com/
[ii] WaveNeuro.com Team Understanding and Improving Your Cognitive Health https://www.waveneuro.com/
[iii] Luke Depron, host of Live Great Lifestyle on Understanding Your Brain Function and Performance https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/neuroscience-brain-health-optimize-your-brain-function/id1375402072
[iv] Post by former NIMH Director Thomas Insel on Transforming Diagnosis. https://www.nimh.nih.gov/about/directors/thomas-insel/blog/2013/transforming-diagnosis.shtml
 

Neuroscientist Andrew Newberg M.D. on Demystifying the Human Brain with "Neurotheology, Spect Scans and Strategies for the Aging Brain."

Welcome back to the Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning podcast, episode #88 with Dr. Andrew Newberg, M.D[i]. an American neuroscientist who is the Director of Research at the Marcus Institute of Integrative Health at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital,[1]  and the author of ten books (translated into 6 languages), and over 200 articles on neuroimaging in neuropsychiatric disorders and also on neuroscience and religion.
Watch the interview on YouTube here. 
I’m thrilled to have this opportunity to speak with Andrew, as he has been exploring the topic of neurotheology, which addresses the relationship between the brain and religious experiences, since his teenage years.
Andrew is the co-author of the bestselling book, How God Changes Your Brain[ii] (2009) which was chosen by Oprah for her book club that same year[iii] and Why God Won’t Go Away: Brain Science and the Biology of Belief (2001)[iv] which both explore the relationship between neuroscience and spiritual experience. He has also co-authored Words Can Change Your Brain (2013)[v] Why We Believe What We Believe: Uncovering our Biological Need for Meaning, Spirituality and Truth (2008)[vi] and The Mystical Mind: Probing the Biology of Belief (1999). The latter book received the 2000 award for Outstanding Books in Theology and the Natural Sciences presented by the Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences[vii] which is an organization that focuses on building bridges between theology and science.
I’ve got some powerful, insightful, thought provoking questions for Andy, and I know you will find this topic interesting, especially with his ability to share his insights and years of research, from the point of view of pure science.
My name is Andrea Samadi,  and if you are new here, I’m a former educator who created this podcast to bring the most current neuroscience research, along with high performing experts who have risen to the top of their field, with specific strategies or ideas that you can implement immediately, whether you are an educator, or in the corporate space, to take your results to the next level. If we want to improve our social, emotional and cognitive abilities, it all starts with an understanding of our brain.
Welcome Andy and thank you so much for sharing your knowledge of this fascinating topic on the podcast today.
For anyone who knows your schedule, this is a rare opportunity, and I’m grateful for Mark Waldman[viii] for connecting us after the webinar you did last week where you addressed many powerful and mind-boggling questions that connect theology and neuroscience that I know will benefit those who listen to this podcast in different part of the world.
Q1: Andy, I have had so much interest in this podcast, even before we had booked our time to speak today. I just put up a graphic with your book cover “How God Changes Your Brain” and the messages started coming in on all social media accounts. Then I quoted something you say in the book “the more you think about God, the more you alter the neural circuitry of in specific parts of the brain”...and then you say with the utmost confidence that “God can change your brain.” (Andrew Newberg M.D. and Mark Robert Waldman, How God Changes Your Brain).
Can we begin here?  Where did your interest in religion and the human brain begin? What is Neurotheology? What does neuroscience say about whether there is a God or not?
Q2: I have to ask it. I grew up going to church every Sunday, (Presbyterian), read and studied the Bible, and really do believe in the 10 Commandments but I still don’t really know how I would explain God, other than the fact that I just believe he exists and I do feel more connected to God/spirit when I’m in nature. I know that you have scanned the brains of Franciscan nuns and charted the neurological changes that happen in the brain.  What is God? Is God the same as consciousness? What does your research show about religion and the human brain? Is there a certain area you would look at that connects my religious beliefs to my brain?
Q3: You covered this on the training you did for Mark Waldman’s group last week, but I think it’s so important to talk about today. It’s about the power of intercessory prayer (praying on behalf of others).  It’s a component of the Dr. Daniel Siegel’s “Wheel of Awareness[ix]” Meditation where we are asked to focus on those who we are close to and send loving/kindness to those in our communities, cities, state, country and expanding to the world. What does your research say about praying for someone far away? Is it possible to measure one person who might not put the focused attention towards the person they are praying for verses someone else who focuses with intent, loving, and kindness? Can prayer really impact those close or far from us?
Q4: You mentioned on that call you did last week, that you did a brain scan, an MRI, where they measured your brain, and your memory, by asking you to remember 10 words. This caught my attention, because I just had my brain scanned using a SPECT SCAN and, the results showed I scored low (1/10) on recall memory which I feel was accurate. For the life I me, I couldn’t remember random words during the test.  But I can remember things word for word, from over 30 years ago (conversations with people, or speeches from 12 years ago). From the brain scans that you have done, what are some strategies that you have seen for people like me, looking to improve memory recall? How did YOU do on that MRI test?  What other techniques have you seen people use to improve their memory?
Q5: I just finished watching Dr. David Perlmutter’s Alzheimer’s, the Science of Prevention Series[x] that focuses on the staple things we should all be doing to prevent this debilitating disease that has he mentions no known or meaningful cure. We all know that sleep, diet and exercise and important for protecting the aging brain, but what else have you found to be an important practice to preserve our brain health? What do you do?
Q6: We’ve covered belief or paradigms on this podcast, with different episodes and speakers. What do you think from your experience working with the brain? What are beliefs, how do they form, where are they stored, and how can we change old/outdated beliefs?
Q7: In closing, is there anything that’s important to this topic, that we haven’t discussed today?
RESOURCES:
The Principles of Neurotheology by Andrew Newberg, M.D.  http://www.andrewnewberg.com/books/principles-of-neurotheology
Kirtan Kriya Meditation https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfKEAiwrgeY
 
REFERENCES:
[i] www.andrewnewberg.com
[ii] How God Changes Your Brain: Breakthrough Findings from a Leading Neuroscientist, Andrew Newberg, M.D. and Mark Robert Waldman (March 20, 2009) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B001Y35GDS/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1
[iii] Oprah’s Book Club http://www.oprah.com/book/How-God-Changes-Your-Brain-by-Andrew-Newberg-MD-and-Mark-Waldman?editors_pick_id=35314
[iv] Why God Won’t Go Away: Brain Science and the Biology of Belief by Andrew Newberg M.D., Eugene D’Aquili, and Vince Rause (2001) https://www.amazon.com/Why-God-Wont-Go-Away-ebook/dp/B001NJUP7U/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=why+god+wont+go+away&qid=1601599952&sr=8-1
[v] Words Can Change Your Brain: 12 Conversation Strategies to Build Trust, Resolve Conflict, and Increase Intimacy by Andrew Newberg M.D. and Mark Robert Waldman  https://www.amazon.com/Words-Can-Change-Your-Brain-ebook/dp/B0074VTHMA/ref=sr_1_1?crid=21MDUEAMV1M7U&dchild=1&keywords=words+can+change+your+brain&qid=1601600126&s=digital-text&sprefix=words+can+chan%2Cdigital-text%2C191&sr=1-1
[vi] Why We Believe What We Believe: Uncovering Our Biological Need for Meaning, Spirituality and Truth by Andrew Newberg M.D. https://www.amazon.com/Why-Believe-What-Uncovering-Spirituality/dp/0743274970/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=why+we+believe+what+we+believe+newberg&qid=1601600285&s=digital-text&sr=1-1-catcorr
[vii] Center for Theology and Natural Sciences https://www.ctns.org/
[viii] Neuroscience Meets SEL Podcast EPISODE #30 with Mark Robert Waldman on “12 Brain-Based Experiential Learning and Living Practices” https://www.achieveit360.com/neuroscience-researcher-mark-robert-waldman-on-12-brain-based-experiential-learning-and-living-principles/
[ix] Dan Siegel’s Wheel of Awareness Meditation https://www.drdansiegel.com/resources/wheel_of_awareness/
[x] Alzheimer’s: The Science of Prevention Series with Dr. David Perlmutter https://scienceofprevention.com/
 

"The Top 5 Brain Health and Alzheimer's Prevention Strategies" with Andrea Samadi

Welcome back to the Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning podcast, episode #87 on “5 Important Brain Health and Alzheimer’s Prevention Strategies That Everyone Should Know”
My name is Andrea Samadi,  and if you are new here, I’m a former educator who created this podcast to bring the most current neuroscience research, along with high performing experts who have risen to the top of their field, with specific strategies or ideas that you can implement immediately, whether you are an educator, or in the corporate space, to take your results to the next level. If we want to improve our social, emotional and cognitive abilities, it all starts with an understanding of our brain. 
If you have been following this podcast, you will know that my husband and I had a SPECT image brain scan completed at Dr. Amen’s Clinics, to see if there was anything that we needed to be aware of, to make targeted improvements to our brain health and life, with the idea of preventing cognitive decline, and looking to see if we showed signs of Alzheimer’s that can be seen in the brain years before signs and symptoms show up. If you missed episode #84[i] where I revealed my results of the brain scan, go back and listen to this episode before you listen to this one.
If we want to take our results the next level, the best way to do this is by getting a clear picture of what is going on with the organ, your brain, that controls pretty much everything that you do. You might be like me and don’t have any signs or symptoms that you notice, that are giving you problems, but you want to be as healthy as you can to tackle life’s everyday challenges, with more ease. Or, you might be like my friend Doug Sutton, who shared on episode #82[ii] that he was experiencing brain fog and low energy.  You can do what we did and get a SPECT image brain scan and follow the treatment plan based on what your scans show. Our plan begins with taking brain health supplements, hyperbaric oxygen therapy, improving our sleep and looking closer at our current health with blood tests. We are working closely with Dr. Creado, from Dr. Amen’s Chicago Clinic as we implement these new strategies for improvement. Many people begin to feel better subjectively and can feel mentally sharper from these strategies. I can say that some of the supplements that we began taking from Dr. Amen’s Brain  MD[iii], like their Brain and Body Power Max, I felt an immediate difference with clarity and the ability to focus. After a year or more, many people choose to rescan their brain to see what changes occur physically from their treatment plan.
There is also another option for looking at your brain that I have recently learned about. I was contacted on LinkedIn, by one of my connections, another podcaster, Luke DePron,[iv] a former actor, turned lifestyle and fitness entrepreneur who told me that I needed to take a look at the WaveNeuro[v] Science Team.   He sent me a link to the podcast he did with Dr. Erik Won and Navy Seal Ned Mason[vi], and when I listened to it, I was blown away with what they are doing. If you have been interested in our past few episodes where we talk about the importance of looking at the brain, to improve performance, you will know that this is not just something that is for those involved in Special Operations in the military, elite athletes, or for people who are struggling with a brain disorder. The WaveNeuro team is dealing more and more with mainstream people, like you and me, who are looking to improve their performance. Stay tuned, as I have on the radar, to interview Dr. Erik Won and Ned Mason, to dive deeper into how they are measuring the brain with EEG (electroencephalogram) that is designed to measure the electrical activity of the brain) to see what parts of the brain are cycling too fast or too slow, and then optimizing these parts from this data. To put it plain and simple, I was speaking with WaveNeuro’s Head of PR, Sean Bartlett, and he reminded me that “what gets measured, gets managed” or you may have heard it another way with measuring data “what we measure, we improve.” Before getting a SPECT scan, and looking at my brain, I had no idea what I was doing for my brain health. I was eating well, exercising, taking supplements, but still when I had my scan evaluation, Dr. Creado, from Amen’s Clinics, told me that “for someone doing a lot of things right, I don’t like how your brain looks” and now we can target certain areas to improve. But I wouldn’t know what to do, if I didn’t look.  After speaking with Sean, over at WaveNeuro, I now have another angle or solution, for how we can look at and measure our brain health. I can’t wait to share what they are doing over there with their groundbreaking technology.
The case is clear that in order to move the needle the most with our health, there are some important areas that we can come to a consensus that are crucial to pay attention to. I decided to write this episode on the TOP 5 brain health strategies that we should all know, and why they are important for Alzheimer’s prevention after I watched Dr. David Perlmutter’s “Alzheimer’s: The Science of Prevention[vii]” program last week that dove deep into the strategies involved in preventing Alzheimer’s. I am working on getting Dr. Perlmutter on as a guest here, to dive deeper into these strategies, because I think this topic is of high importance for everyone to understand. We know that Alzheimer’s disease now affects “more than 5 million Americans and is the most common form of dementia, a term that describes a variety of diseases and conditions that develop when nerve cells in the brain die or no longer function normally.”[viii]
I was interested in learning more on this topic, since it was one of the reasons, we did scan our brain in the first place. The pattern of Alzheimer’s can be seen in the brain years before signs and symptoms show up, so when I saw Dr. Perlmutter’s Alzheimer’s Prevention series, I watched every episode to learn what brain experts across the country are saying about the top ways to prevent this disease, that currently has no know or meaningful treatment but I was given some hope when I learned that “you can change the direction of your cognitive destiny” (From Max Lugavere,[ix] Health and Science Journalist and NYT Bestselling Author, Genius Foods). Here is how we can take control of our health and future, with the TOP 5 health staples that I think we should all know and how they play a role in Alzheimer’s prevention.
 
Health Staple 1: Daily Exercise: This seems to be the solution for every single brain problem, so I think that this is the most important strategy, and the reason why I block out exercise time on my schedule as non-negotiable. If we can incorporate 30 minutes of brisk walking every day, we will be miles ahead with our brain health. It wasn’t until I started to measure my activity, that I started to see that 30 minutes of walking really did make a difference. I didn’t need to be running or working really hard (like I used to think I had to do) to notice a difference, but I did need to put in some effort to move the needle.  The benefits  of daily, consistent exercise “come directly from its ability to reduce insulin resistance, reduce inflammation, and stimulate the release of growth factors—chemicals in the brain that affect the health of brain cells, the growth of new blood vessels in the brain, and even the abundance and survival of new brain cells.”[x]  If for some reason, this whole idea of exercising still doesn’t sound the least bit interesting to you, you might be surprised like I was, that household activities like vacuuming, or raking leaves, or anything that gets your heart rate up, like shoveling snow (something I haven’t done in years since I moved from Toronto)—but these activities can also fall into the category of moderate exercise. The idea is whatever you choose, that it remains consistent, so it eventually becomes something you do habitually.
 
ALZHEIMER’S PREVENTION THOUGHT FOR DAILY EXERCISE:
If exercise reduces insulin resistance and inflammation, it would make sense that it also reduces the risk of Alzheimer’s. Studies show that “people who are physically active, have a lower risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease, and possibly have improved thinking.”[xi]
 
Health Staple 2: Getting Good Quality Sleep: Making sure we are getting at least 7- 8 hours each night. I think that we have seen the importance of sleep with our interview with sleep expert Dr. Shane Creado, on episode #72[xii] and with Dr. Sarah McKay on episode #85.[xiii] It is clear that sleep deprivation causes poor health and performance because it’s not allowing enough time for the brain to wash and clean itself. With less than 7 hours of sleep each night, the “trash”[xiv] builds up in our brain, that leads us farther away from health.  I learned from health expert Darin Olien from the Darin Olien Show[xv] --he’s the one who did the Netflix Docuseries with Zac Efron called “Down to Earth with Zac Efron[xvi]” that studies show that “almost all neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer’s disease, are created when protein waste accumulates in the brain, which in turn slowly suffocates and kills the brain’s neurons.”[xvii]  We also know that the brain shows lower functioning to important areas when it’s sleep deprived.
ALZHEIMER’S PREVENTION THOUGHT FOR THE IMPORTANCE OF SLEEP:
Dr. David Perlmutter, on his Alzheimer’s Science of Prevention Series, made a clear case for the fact that “sleep deprivation is directly linked to developing Alzheimer’s disease” and that “sleep plays an important role…impacting our risk for developing this condition.” He went on to remind us that “from a medical perspective, we cannot afford a bad night’s sleep” and that “sleep is essential if we want to retain optimal function of our body and our brains.”[xviii]
Health Staple 3: Eating a Healthy Diet: Eliminating sugar and processed foods. We hear this all the time and know intuitively what feels good when we eat it, and what makes our body feel tired, lethargic and just plain bad. The goal is to eliminate “the brain robbers that steal our energy and do what helps it, not hurts it.”[xix]  There are two specific moments that I remember were life-changing when it came to my diet.
The first was around 2005 when I was seeing a foot doctor, Dr. Richard Jacoby, for foot numbness after exercise, and he asked me to eliminate sugar completely from my diet.  I was looking for solutions to why I couldn’t feel the top of my foot during exercise, and I didn’t show any signs of diabetes, but this doctor was writing a book, that is now released called Sugar Crush: How to Reduce Inflammation, Reverse Nerve Damage and Reclaim Good Health[xx]  and he was convinced that sugar intake was at the root of most health problems. He suggested that I take fish oil, and learn to avoid higher glycemic foods, and the results that occurred were so impactful, that I wished I had done this sooner. The benefits of cutting out sugar from my diet only snowballed my health for the better down the road. When I was ready to have children, I was a bit worried that I would have some challenges here, as I was diagnosed with PCOS (polycystic ovarian syndrome) in my late 20s and told that I might need to take fertility drugs to conceive,  but surprisingly, after some tests, my doctor told me that I no longer had this condition, that it appears to have reversed, and she asked me what I had done. The only thing I did was exercise, take fish oil and cut out sugar.
The second life-changing Aha Moment around diet was focused around intermittent fasting, that I talk about in point #5, but it was also eye opening when I started to follow Dave Asprey, the author of the NYT bestseller The Bulletproof Diet: Lose Up to a Pound a Day, Reclaim Focus, Upgrade Your Life[xxi] and creator of Bulletproof Coffee[xxii].  Who would ever have thought that putting butter, coconut oil or MCT oil in your coffee would help you to increase your energy and stay lean? I heard this idea first from bodybuilder and fitness expert Jason Wittrock[xxiii] from watching his YouTube channel where he explains exactly what goes into a keto coffee, and why it’s good for your energy levels. He explains the science behind the keto diet and was a great resource for me when I was learning that eating fats, won’t make me fat. Thomas DeLauer[xxiv] is also a great resource for anyone looking to learn more about intermittent fasting, or the ketogenic diet.
ALZHEIMER’S PREVENTION THOUGHT FOR EATING A HEALTY DIET:
Did you know that sugar in the brain “looks like Alzheimer’s” in the brain,  and that “60% of cognitive decline is related to how you handle blood sugar?”[xxv] There was a study that followed “5,189 people over 10 years and found that people with high blood sugar had a faster rate of cognitive decline than those with normal blood sugar—whether or not their blood-sugar level technically made them diabetic. In other words, the higher the blood sugar, the faster the cognitive decline.”[xxvi]
Did you know that with Type 2 Diabetes, you have almost double the risk for Alzheimer’s Disease, that has no known treatment? If you have type 2 diabetes, your goal would be to do everything that you can to manage your blood sugar, by eating good carbs[xxvii] (complex carbs with fiber),  eat lower glycemic foods[xxviii] that balance your blood sugar levels, instead of throwing them off balance with high levels of sugar.
 
 
Above is an image of a healthy brain, from Dr. Amen’s Clinics, showing even, symmetrical and smooth blood flow to all areas in the healthy brain, and the Alzheimer’s brain shows a drop of blood flow to the important parts of the brain
Health Staple 4: Optimizing our Microbiome: Did you know that your gut is made up of trillions of bacteria, fungi and other microbes. This microbiome plays an important role in your health by helping to control digestion and benefitting your immune system. Taking a probiotic daily, remaining active, eating a healthy diet and avoiding foods that disrupt our microbiome[xxix] (processed fried foods, sugar and high-fructose corn syrup, and artificial sweeteners, are important for our gut/brain health.
ALZHEIMER’S PREVENTION THOUGHT FOR OPTIMIZING YOUR MICROBIOME:
There does appear to be a hidden relationship between Alzheimer’s disease and the microbiome in our gut and that “an imbalanced gut microbiome (dysbiosis) could lead to Alzheimer’s disease and wider neuroinflammation through the gut-brain-axis. Promoting ‘good bacteria’ relative to ‘bad bacteria’ in the gut may be important in maintaining good digestive, immune and neurological health.”[xxx] This is still a developing field but taking prebiotics and probiotics[xxxi] are the best way to promote a healthy gut/brain balance.
Health Staple 5: Intermittent Fasting: Has many health benefits[xxxii] that you might have heard of, like the fact it reduces belly fat. I started intermittent fasting around 3 years ago when I was looking to take my health to the next level, and was following some of the well-known body builders, to see what they were doing for their health and fitness. I started the 16-8 program where you fast for 16 hours, and only eat foods in an 8-hour window. I just picked 4 days a week (Sunday to Wednesday) to do this, to see what happened, and the results were obvious. I was able to quickly get down to my goal weight, where I was stuck, and not able to move the needle with exercise alone.
ALZHEIMER’S PREVENTION THOUGHT FOR INTERMITTENT FASTING :
Intermittent fasting has so many other health benefits tied to this practice, like the fact it “fights insulin resistance, lowering your risk of type-2 diabetes, reduces inflammation in the body, is beneficial for heart health, and may prevent cancer.”[xxxiii] If it is fighting insulin resistance, then it is also fighting your risk of Alzheimer’s.
REVIEW AND ACTION STEPS:
Health Staple 1: Daily Exercise
Health Staple 2: Getting Good Quality Sleep
Health Staple 3: Eating a Healthy Diet
Health Staple 4: Optimizing our Microbiome
Health Staple 5: Intermittent Fasting
Wherever you are with your current health, there is always a way to take your results to the next level. You also don’t need to get bogged down with implementing these ideas in a rush and stressing yourself out in the process.
To get started, pick one area that you want to improve, and work on that one area for the next 90 days.
1. WHERE TO BEGIN WITH DAILY EXERCISE:
If you want to improve your daily exercise, but have no idea where to begin, I would start with walking.
Beginners: I remember after a surgery I had that I could barely walk to the bottom of my driveway and remember thinking how frustrating that was. Listen to your body and start with short distances.  I would wake up early, at 4am (since I didn’t want the whole world watching me struggle to walk short distances) and I could walk from the bottom of my driveway to the end of the street. I did that every day for a week and then added a longer distance that lasted 15 minutes. After a few weeks, I was walking longer distances and longer amounts of time, showing me that progress is possible, with regular, consistent activity.
Moderate to Advanced: If you have plateaued with your current exercise routine, have you tried working with a trainer? Many are available for zoom/video calls during this time if your gym is still closed, or if you don’t have one. The key is to do something that you have not done before, to get new and different results.
2. WHERE TO BEGIN WITH GETTING A GOOD QUALITY SLEEP
Have you watched our interview with sleep expert Dr. Shane Creado, on episode #72[xxxiv] and with Dr. Sarah McKay on episode #85?[xxxv]
If you are waking up and feel tired, or not rested, have you considered getting a sleep study to test the quality and quantity of your sleep?
Take inventory of your sleep. Are you getting at least 7-8.5 hours/each night?
Have you ever used an app to measure your sleep?
3. WHERE TO BEGIN WITH EATING A HEALTHY DIET
Do you avoid processed foods?
Have you ever thought about cutting out sugar?
Do you choose healthy carbs and fats?
Do you choose whole foods vs processed foods?
4. WHERE TO BEGIN WITH OPTIMIZING YOUR MICROBIOME
Do you take a probiotic?
Do you know what foods help/hurt or damage your microbiome?
5. WHERE TO BEGIN WITH INTERMITTENT FASTING
If fasting for 16 hours with an 8 hour eating window seems too much, try 12 hours fasting and 12 hours eating to begin. Try it for a few days a week, and just see if you feel better fasting than when you eat like you normally would. If you feel better, you can always experiment with different fasting methods, and see where you feel best.
 
I hope you have found this episode helpful, and I that you did learn something new. Please do send me a message on social media and let me know what you think.  I really do believe that if we want to improve our social, emotional and cognitive abilities, it all starts with an understanding of our brain, and these TOP 5 strategies seem to move the needle the most, especially when it comes to preventing Alzheimer’s and other diseases that I know we all want to avoid.
See you next week.
 
RESOURCES:
How Dallas Stars Executive. Tom Holy, used COVID-19 to Lose 100 pounds.https://www.star-telegram.com/sports/spt-columns-blogs/mac-engel/article245434890.html
 
REFERENCES:
[i] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast Episode #84 “How a SPECT Image Brain Scan Can Change Your Life” PART 3 with Andrea Samadi https://www.achieveit360.com/how-a-spect-scan-can-change-your-life-part-3-with-andrea-samadi/
 
[ii] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast Episode #82 “How a SPECT Image Brain Scan Can Change Your Brain and Life” PART 1 with Doug Sutton https://www.achieveit360.com/how-a-brain-scan-changed-my-brain-and-life-with-doug-sutton/
 
[iii] Dr. Amen’s Brain M.D. https://brainmd.com/supplements
 
[iv] Luc Depron, former actor, turned lifestyle and fitness expert and host of The Live Great Lifestyle Podcast https://lukedepron.com/
 
[v] WaveNeuro.com Team Understanding and Improving Your Cognitive Health https://www.waveneuro.com/
 
[vi] Luc Depron, host of Live Great Lifestyle on Understanding Your Brain Function and Performance https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/neuroscience-brain-health-optimize-your-brain-function/id1375402072
 
[vii] Dr. David Perlmutter’s “Alzheimer’s: The Science of Prevention” https://scienceofprevention.com/
 
[viii] 10 Early Alzheimer’s Symptoms That You Should Know https://www.amenclinics.com/blog/10-early-alzheimers-symptoms-that-you-should-know/
 
 
[ix] Max Lugavere, Health and Science Journalist and NYT Bestselling Author, Genius Foods. https://www.maxlugavere.com/
 
[x] Regular exercise changes the brain to improve memory, thinking skills by Heidi Goodman, April 2014  https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/regular-exercise-changes-brain-improve-memory-thinking-skills-201404097110
 
[xi] Alzheimer’s Disease: Can Exercise Prevent Memory Loss April 2019  https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/alzheimers-disease/expert-answers/alzheimers-disease/faq-20057881
 
[xii] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast Episode #72 with Shane Creado on “Peak Sleep Performance for Athletes” https://www.achieveit360.com/self-regulation-and-sleep-with-a-deep-dive-into-dr-shane-creados-peak-sleep-performance-for-athletes/
 
[xiii] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast Episode #85 with Neuroscientist Dr. Sarah McKay on “High Performing Brain Health Strategies That We Should All Know About.” https://www.achieveit360.com/neuroscientist-dr-sarah-mckay-on-high-performing-brain-health-strategies-that-we-should-all-know-about-and-implement/
 
[xiv] Darin Olien “The Sleep Position to Detoxify Your Brain”  https://darinolien.com/detoxify-your-brain/
 
[xv] The Darin Olien Show https://darinolien.com/podcasts/
 
[xvi] Down to Earth with Zac Efron (co-host Darin Olien)  https://www.netflix.com/title/80230601
 
[xvii] Darin Olien “The Sleep Position to Detoxify Your Brain”  https://darinolien.com/detoxify-your-brain/
 
[xviii] Dr. David Perlmutter’s “Alzheimer’s: The Science of Prevention” EPISODE 10 on Sleep  https://scienceofprevention.com/
 
[xix] Dr. Daniel Amen “7 Simple Brain-Promoting Nutritonal Tips” https://www.creativityatwork.com/2011/01/10/dr-amen-seven-simple-brain-promoting-nutrition-tips/
 
[xx] Sugar Crush: How to Reduce Inflammation, Reverse Nerve Damage and Reclaim Good Health by Dr. Richard Jacoby (April 2014)  https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00KPVB4OA/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1
 
[xxi] Dave Asprey The Bulletproof Diet https://www.amazon.com/Bulletproof-Diet-Reclaim-Energy-Upgrade-ebook/dp/B00K8DSTWU/ref=sr_1_2?crid=3EQ3XAEBNVQKS&dchild=1&keywords=dave+asprey&qid=1600893573&s=digital-text&sprefix=dave+asprey+the+%2Cdigital-text%2C210&sr=1-2
 
[xxii] Bulletproof Coffee https://www.bulletproof.com/recipes/bulletproof-diet-recipes/bulletproof-coffee-recipe/
 
[xxiii] Fitness expert Jason Wittrock on “What goes into Keto Coffee”   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IzLwqBDMgGc
 
[xxiv] Fitness and Health Expert Thomas DeLauer https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC70SrI3VkT1MXALRtf0pcHg
 
[xxv] Dr. David Perlmutter’s “Alzheimer’s: The Science of Prevention” EPISODE 5  https://scienceofprevention.com/
[xxvi] The Startling Link Between Sugar and Alzheimer’s by Olga Khazan Jan. 26, 2018 https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2018/01/the-startling-link-between-sugar-and-alzheimers/551528/
 
[xxvii] Good Carbs vs Bad Carbs https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/good-carbs-bad-carbs
 
[xxviii] Lower Glycemic Foods https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/low-glycemic-diet
 
[xxix] 11 Ways Your Life Can Disrupt the Gut Microbiome https://atlasbiomed.com/blog/11-ways-your-life-can-disrupt-the-gut-microbiome/
 
[xxx] Alzheimer’s Disease and the Microbiome by Oman Shabir  https://www.news-medical.net/health/Alzheimers-Disease-and-the-Microbiome.aspx
 
[xxxi] What is the Difference Between a Prebiotic and a Probiotic https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/323490
 
[xxxii] 11 Health Benefits of Intermittent Fasting  https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/10-health-benefits-of-intermittent-fasting#TOC_TITLE_HDR_2
 
[xxxiii] 11 Health Benefits of Intermittent Fasting  https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/10-health-benefits-of-intermittent-fasting#TOC_TITLE_HDR_2
 
[xxxiv] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast Episode #72 with Shane Creado on “Peak Sleep Performance for Athletes” https://www.achieveit360.com/self-regulation-and-sleep-with-a-deep-dive-into-dr-shane-creados-peak-sleep-performance-for-athletes/
 
[xxxv] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast Episode #85 with Neuroscientist Dr. Sarah McKay on “High Performing Brain Health Strategies That We Should All Know About.” https://www.achieveit360.com/neuroscientist-dr-sarah-mckay-on-high-performing-brain-health-strategies-that-we-should-all-know-about-and-implement/
 

University of Phoenix President Peter Cohen on "A Positive Vision for K-12 and Higher Ed Campuses"

Welcome back to the Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning podcast, episode #86 with Peter Cohen, who was appointed the eighth president of University of Phoenix in April, 2017[i], bringing more than 20 years of leadership in the education and learning science sectors. Watch the YouTube interview here. 
My name is Andrea Samadi,  I’m a former educator who created this podcast to bring the most current neuroscience research, along with high performing experts who have risen to the top of their field, with specific strategies or ideas that you can implement immediately, whether you are an educator, or is the corporate space, to take your results to the next level.
I am thrilled to have the opportunity to speak with Peter Cohen today.
As the 8th President of the University of Phoenix, Peter has been focused on further accelerating the University-wide transformation in service of its vision to be recognized as the most trusted provider of career-relevant higher education for working adults. After 20 years of leadership in the field of education, he brings a deep understanding of the potential for technology to improve the quality of education—an understanding he has developed through a career focused on innovation in service of students and improved learning outcomes.
Prior to his work at the University of Phoenix, many of us from the Educational Publishing world, would know Peter when he was the CEO of Pearson Education’s School Group, (where I first met him) or Group President of U.S. Education at McGraw-Hill, overseeing the company's U.S. K-12 and higher education businesses where he helped the organization reimagine learning in the digital world. Peter was on the forefront of change in the education industry, driving the both company’s roll out of multiple technology tools, which is why I reached out to him, at a time when technology has never been so important in our lives.
Welcome Peter!
 
 Thank you so much for being available with your time to share your knowledge and vision for the state of education, at a time where we really need a positive angle. Just to give our listeners some background, I first met you when you came on board as the CEO of Pearson Education’s School Group, when I was working for Pearson Digital Learning, (for the K-12 School Market) in the Chandler, Arizona offices. This was back in 2008, and I can still remember your introductory speech to our group, like it was yesterday. We were all packed into a tiny room, full of sales reps, and our managers, all with the hopes of making an impact on student learning in the classroom.  I remember as you stool at the front, that your passion for education and making a difference with student learning was evident back then.
Q1: Can you give us a snapshot of your background, and why you have always been so passionate about education, specifically with the power of technology, making education accessible and engaging for everyone?
Q2: Fast forward 12 years, from that day we first met at Pearson, I don’t think any of us in that room would have predicted the surge and importance of online learning, as we see it today. I say this with some disappointment with the group that you spoke to back then, Pearson’s Digital Division, that no longer exists.  From your point of view, what is the state of education as you see it today with the power of bringing online learning to the forefront in our K-12 schools as well as your vision for higher ed campuses?
Q3: I saw an article you shared on social media that highlighted a positive point of view of the power of connection that higher ed plays an important role with[ii]. I thoroughly enjoyed my University years, and then had the opportunity to work with Higher Ed campuses in the southwest here, with Pearson’s Longman division before I was with the Digital Team, and I know you have a birds-eye view of what’s happening in Higher Education across the country. I wonder what you are seeing with the first few weeks back to school on many campuses. Can you share what you think can help students to stay connected so they don’t feel so isolated these days?
Q4: Peter, the whole reason I launched this podcast a year ago, was to bring awareness to the fact that “Success in life, and in college and career specifically, relies on student’s cognitive, social, and emotional development.” I wanted to not only focus on the importance of these skills in our K-12 schools, but with the fact that students must continue this learning after high school, into college and then take these skills into their career. What skills do you think are important for students to learn immediately that they can take into the workplace, to guarantee future success?
Q5: I didn’t mention that I did work at University of Phoenix prior to Pearson, in the International Division, and my husband got his MBA from U of P so we are a U of P family. I remember that back then, the biggest hurdle students had to overcome with their decision to study online was whether an online degree held the same weight as an in-person degree. I saw how quickly students could transfer credits they had already earned from other institutions and put them towards their degree to save time and money. What initiatives has U of P been focused on, knowing that many students may consider traditional online learning to earn their degree?
Q6: Is there anything that is important, that you think we have missed?
Thank you so much for your time today, Peter. It’s been wonderful to see you again and connect in person. It really is a testament that none of us know who we are impacting in the room, when we are standing at the front, as a leader, paving the path. Thanks for all you do for your employees and for the future of eduction.
If anyone is considering an online degree at U o P[iii], is the best way to go to www.phoenix.edu and search for their degree of interest for traditional campuses across the US and online courses available for students around the world? I did also see you have COVID-19 response initiatives that I’ve posted in the show notes, for students and staff at U of P, in addition to your Twitter, YouTube and Facebook pages.  Thanks so much Peter.
RESOURCES:
Peter Cohen’s Response to COVID-19 YouTube Uploaded March 27,2020 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ItfSFgxGTY
University of Phoenix’s COVID-19 Response Initiatives https://www.phoenix.edu/news/covid19.html
University of Phoenix YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDF_b2O1L_z9YG8_PnCv0yg
University of Phoenix Twitter
https://twitter.com/uopx
University of Phoenix Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/universityofphoenix
Awarding up to $1 million in scholarships https://www.phoenix.edu/
Social and Racial Inequities Webinar:
October 1-8th University of Phoenix is co-hosting a webinar series with the National Diversity Council called “Conversations in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion” https://news.phoenix.edu/ REGISTER.
REFERENCES:
[i] University of Phoenix hires new President (April 26, 2017) https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2017/04/26/university-phoenix-hires-new-president
[ii] Believing in our Students by Austin Sarat (Posted Sept. 3, 2020) https://www.insidehighered.com/views/2020/09/03/some-positive-reflections-students-return-campuses-opinion
[iii] www.phoenix.edu

Neuroscientist Dr. Sarah McKay on "High-Performing Brain Health Strategies That We Should All Know About and Implement"

Welcome back to the Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning podcast, episode #85 with Dr. Sarah McKay, an Australian neuroscientist, speaker, author, media personality and founder and director of Think Brain and the Neuroscience Academy suite of training programs whose purpose is to explain the brain so you can apply neurobiology to your life and work, which is exactly what we are focused on with this podcast. You can watch the YouTube interview here. 
My name is Andrea Samadi, and if you are new here, I’m a former educator who created this podcast to bring the most current neuroscience research, along with high performing experts who have risen to the top of their field with specific strategies or ideas that you can implement immediately, to take your results to the next level.
I encourage everyone who wants to learn more about the brain to go to Dr. McKay’s website www.drsarahmckay.com[i] and learn more about her books, online courses, workshops, writing, teaching and online training programs that she has created so you can easily access, understand and implement evidence-based neuroscience strategies into your everyday life and work. 
But here is where things get exciting. You’ve GOT to watch Dr. Sarah McKay’s TEDx on “Indulging Your Neurobiology[ii]” that has over 27,000 views. I’ve seen Sarah speak many times over the years, and most recently just last week, as she was a speaker in Helen Maffini’s Preschool Neuroscience Summit[iii] where I also spoke, so I watched her session to get some ideas for how I would connect her knowledge, to the topics of the podcast, to help those listening understand her knowledge and insight as she is an expert on “explaining the brain” and then applying brain strategies to your life. You’ll learn more about Dr. McKay’s TEDx, her most recent book, The Women’s Brain Book, and some important brain strategies that I have picked out that I think we all should be aware of.
Welcome Sarah, it’s wonderful to speak with you in person after following your work since I first heard you speak on John Assaraf’s Brain-a-Thon in 2017. I just had no idea until I was preparing my questions for you, that your work would tie directly into what I am working on right now.
Before we get to the questions, I’ve got to tell you that the first minute of your TEDx Talk, I almost dropped my pen as I was taking notes, as it is all about the importance of sleep, or taking naps, and our brain health. The last 3 podcast episodes I’ve done, were about the importance of getting a spect image brain scan, if you want to optimize your results by looking at your brain, and in EPISODE #84, I share the results of my brain scan from Dr. Amen’s Clinics that revealed my brain might be showing areas of cognitive weakness due to not enough sleep. We can hear strategies to improve our brain over and over again, but unless we actually begin to implement them, we will not have the opportunities that comes along with enhancing the brain.
Intro question: I know we’ve heard it over and over again, but coming from an expert on explaining the brain, can you explain, why is sleep so important for our neurobiology?
Q1: Sarah, I just love your work, but I also love the story behind you that you can see on your website “about[iv]” section.  I relate to it, partly because I would love to live on the beaches of Australia, but also, it was a book that changed the direction of my life. How exactly did Oliver Sack’s book impact you so profoundly that you became fascinated with the human brain that launched you into the work you do today “explaining the brain” with your books, presentations and courses?
Q2: I was reading your book this weekend, The Women’s Brain Book: The Neuroscience of Health, Hormones, and Happiness[v] and it caught my eye in chapter 2 on childhood, the question “Are resilient children born or made?” especially since resiliency was a part of my spect image brain scan results (Dr Amen measures resiliency as a part of brain-health) and t’s a topic we have covered on a few different episodes, specifically with resiliency expert Horatio Sanchez on episode 74[vi] who talks about the risks facts that predict resiliency. I know that we all want to raise resilient children who can bounce back after challenge and adversity, and we want it for ourselves as well. So what is the secret to raising adaptable, resilient children, who don’t get easily stressed who you say “are like dandelions: (where) they’ll grow and thrive anywhere.”  (Page 56 of The Women’s Brain Book).
Q3: Since depression and anxiety are at an all-time high these days, with a rise in cases since the coronavirus pandemic, I wonder if you can share what you know about this topic. Can depression be seen in the brain? What does it look like, and how does the depressed brain work? How is it different from an otherwise healthy brain?
 
Q4: The whole reason why my husband and I went to Dr. Amen’s Clinics and got our brains scanned was to optimize our health by looking at our brain. What do you think are some of the most important things we should ALL be doing to optimize our brain health? What are some practices that you are focused on to keep your brain healthy? I know you are going to talk about the staple strategies like eat healthy, exercise, and getting more sleep, but I wonder specifically as an expert on “explaining the brain” what are you doing?
Q5: Is there anything I have missed that you think is important?
Thank you so much Sarah, for your time today. If someone wants to learn more about you, they can go to www.dr.sarahmkay.com/toolkit (to apply Ns to your life)  and learn  how they can access your TEDx, books, and online courses.
 
RESOURCES:
The Orchid and the Dandelion | Thomas Boyce | TEDxPaloAlto YouTube uploaded May 24, 2019 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_vcWB43W7Y
ENIGMA: Enhancing Neuroimaging Genetics Through Meta Analysis http://enigma.ini.usc.edu/
FREE TOOL KIT www.drsarahmckay.com/toolkit  to gain access to the FREE applied brain science tool kit where you can discover how to use neuroscience wisely.
REFERENCES:
[i] https://drsarahmckay.com/
[ii] Dr. Sarah McKay “Indulging Your Neurobiology” YouTube uploaded May 29, 2015 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xiXZVDKRe00
[iii] Helen Maffini’s Preschool Neuroscience Summit https://www.preschoolneurosciencesummit.com/summit202027901274?affiliate_id=1059757
[iv] https://drsarahmckay.com/about/
[v] The Women’s Brain Book by Dr. Sarah McKay (March 2018) https://www.amazon.com/Womens-Brain-Book-neuroscience-happiness-ebook/dp/B078LXBJSX/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=
[vi] Neuroscience Meets SEL Podcast episode #74 with Horatio Sanchez https://www.achieveit360.com/leading-brain-science-and-resiliency-expert-horatio-sanchez-on-how-to-apply-brain-science-to-improve-instruction-and-school-climate/
 

BRAIN SCAN RESULTS "How a Spect Scan Can Change Your Life" with Andrea Samadi PART 3

Welcome back to the Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning podcast, episode #84. This is PART 3 of our past 2 episodes on “How Looking at Your Brain Can Change Your Life” with a deeper dive into What We Learned from Getting a SPECT Image Brain Scan at Dr. Amen’s Clinic in Costa Mesa, CA. The results are in (or at least mine are). My husband’s results won’t be in until next week. The reason I’m sharing my findings is so that you can see how important it is to look at your brain. It’s not important to know my results specifically, but  how someone can be doing all the right things, and still have the ability to take their results to the next level with what they learn from looking at their brain. I hope that you can take away some new insights that open your eyes to why brain-health is so important, and consider looking at your brain, if you can.
Read this episode here for larger images:https://www.achieveit360.com/how-a-spect-scan-can-change-your-life-part-3-with-andrea-samadi/
Just a quick update for those who are new here, my name is Andrea Samadi,  I’m a former educator who created this podcast to bring awareness, ideas and strategies to our most pressing issues facing educators in their workplace, or parents working from home or in the corporate space, to keep us all working at our highest levels of productivity. The goal is to bring the most current brain research and practical neuroscience, connected to our social and emotional skills, to take our results to the next level. We can do this when we do everything with our brain in mind, since our brain controls pretty much everything that we do.
This episode, we are looking at How a Brain Scan can change your life. I mentioned the results of my brain scan are here, but first, just to review, PART 1 of this Brain Scan Series, we spoke with my friend Doug Sutton[i], who had a SPECT image brain scan a few years ago when he was noticing low energy and brain fog. He went to Dr. Amen’s Clinics, one of the most respected psychiatrists in the country, who began looking at the brain, taking his practice to a whole new level. Dr. Amen believes that “when your brain works right, you work right” and his work is focused on helping people improve their lives by improving their brains. The decision to get a brain scan completely changed Doug’s life and gave him an entirely new perspective of this organ that controls pretty much everything that he does. His scan showed him that he had been exposed to toxic mold that might have been contributing to some of the health issues he was having, and he learned about things that could have harmed his brain (competitive kickboxing that he did in his early 20s) that gave him a new perspective of this organ he had not thought twice about in the past. He kept up with his treatment plan and has never been happier, and sharper, mentioning the experience to be life changing.
PART 2, was about my husband and I’s visit to Amen Clinics[ii] in CA. We made the decision to get a brain scan after interviewing Dr. Shane Creado from EPISODE #72[iii] on sleep strategies. It was Dr. Creado who suggested “why don’t you just go and get your brain scanned” when I asked him specific questions to help optimize my brain after our interview. In PART 2, I did review what a SPECT image brain scan is, what it can detect, and the main thing that we are looking for, is to see what type of brain we have based on the amount of blood flow going to the Prefrontal Cortex that controls our Executive Functions, as well as anything that he could see that would be important for us to know now, (Dementia and Alzheimer’s can be seen years before symptoms show up) so we could work on optimizing our brain for improved results.
The scan could tell us that we have the perfect amount of blood flow to our brain (which I don’t think is the case or we probably wouldn’t have gone), too little—that Dr. Amen calls hypofrontality) since “hypo” is a prefix that means “less” like hypothermia means being too cold, and frontality meaning the frontal lobes of our brain (the prefrontal cortex where all of our thinking and planning takes place) or too much blood flow, that he would say is hyperfrontality. I made a prediction that I think my husband has a lower blood flow, or a sleepier brain, and that I have more blood flow activity to the PFC, or what he calls a busy brain. I made this guess by following Dr. Amen’s courses, Brain Warrior’s Way Podcast and from reading his most recent books.  I’m curious to see how accurate my prediction is.
If you remember from the last episode, I mentioned actress Laura Clery getting a SPECT scan, and she had cameras follow her from start to finish. Her results are also in[iv], and you can watch her meeting with Dr. Amen to see what she learned.  There were some incredible Aha! Moments for me watching Laura’s results prior to hearing mine, starting with the fact that the X test we had to take was designed to identify whether someone has ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder) or not. If you watched Laura’s test, she swore a lot and found it very difficult. My husband said the exact same thing—that the test drove him crazy.  Another interesting fact—this test that drove my husband and Laura crazy, is sold by Pearson Assessments[v], the sister company where my husband and I both worked, 15 years ago. Back then we didn’t know anything about the importance of looking at our brain, and it never crossed our minds to take an assessment ourselves to test our own cognitive abilities.
Dr. Amen also went over with Laura a second test that was designed to measure attention span, and he does think from her results that she has ADD and Laura agrees that it makes sense to her, so they created a treatment plan that can take her results to a whole new level once her brain is working at it’s best.  
Here are my results:
BRAIN HEALTH SCORES: Thinking (3.3/10), Emotion (7.3/10) Feeling (6.7/10) and Self-Regulation (9.3/10)
 
If I didn’t score so high on the emotional part of my brain, (emotion, feeling and self-regulation) I probably would have cried when I saw the results. I’m fully aware of the fact that a brain with holes shows an increase of at least 45% drop in blood flow and I saw a bunch of holes at first glance.  But my overall score showed I can control my emotions, so I didn’t, especially not in front of Dr. Creado.  He said my resilience levels were higher than many of the elite athletes that he’s tested, explaining to me that backbone of persistence I know I have of never giving up and pushing forward when things are difficult.  I can handle pretty stressful situations and can bounce back. We did cover resilience with brain-science and resiliency expert Horatio Sanchez on episode 74[vi] where he dove really deep into what exactly resilience is, how we can develop it in ourselves and our children and why it’s such an important life skill. This was a powerful episode to revisit because resiliency is one of those life skills we want for ourselves and our children. 
What Needs Help:
The difficult part to see was my thinking brain, where all my executive functions occur. These scores were low, specifically recall memory (we were asked to recall a list of words, and after remembering 5 or 6 words, I just gave up). I think I did this because I know that the brain can only hold a certain amount of information. Dr. Creado reminded me that my belief is important here and I agree. Where does this skill show up in my life? There have been times my husband has asked me to pick him up somewhere, and instead of just telling me the address, he’s given me a list of directions and I know I’ve lost what he’s saying after the 7th turn and stop listening, saying “just send me the address.” So we have all learned life hacks to compensate for areas of cognitive weakness, but now that I am aware of it, I can strengthen this skill. I am reminded again, how would I have known, if I didn’t look.
Processing speed (the amount of times I could hit a key on the keyboard) was also low. I’m still learning about where this skill shows up in my life but will take Dr. Creado’s suggestions seriously. Motor Coordination, controlled attention, flexibility, inhibition, and working memory were all at the expected range.
He could see a lot about my personality and how I work by looking at these scores. Doug Sutton mentioned in his interview #82 that he thinks getting a SPECT image brain scan should be a mandatory part of the hiring process in the corporate world since it reveals so much about a person. There’s no way you can hide with this snapshot of your brain. Dr. Creado saw that “I like things done my way, and that I don’t like a sudden change of plans” and having a high degree of structure in my life (which is what I need) helps me to achieve what I’m doing and is indicative of the high scores of the emotional brain. I wouldn’t operate at the level I am without these high scores.
The X Test
For the X test or the Connor’s Continuous Performance Test scores, a lower score is better and Dr. Creado let me know that my scores showed that when I wanted to perform on this test, I had the ability to focus and do well. After doing many of these brain scans, he has noticed that people who have weaker executive functions in their brain can develop life hacks to help them to focus and concentrate when they need to. But the problem is, that with time, and not working on brain health, it will just be more difficult to keep up with these life hacks. Eventually, the brain will not be able to keep up with the hack which is why it’s so important to look and see what’s happening in your brain. You won’t know any of this, without looking.
Surface Area of My Brain
Now let’s go to the surface area of the brain. Dr. Creado is looking for smoothness, symmetry and shape.
There are a lot of areas that are functioning well, and other areas that are not. The holes show at least 45% drop in blood flow to that area, not meaning there are physical holes, but that neurons are not firing in those areas. The temporal lobes, frontal lobes, top part and bottom part all show a hole, or reduced blood flow to that area.
 
Traumatic Brain Injury, Toxic Chemicals and Sleep
I do have the pattern of a traumatic brain injury and I described that I hit my head on a pool deck in the late 1990s while competing in a triathlon.  Head injuries typically have this pattern, but other things (my brain looks similar to my friend Doug’s who had toxic mold exposure which got me thinking about the cleaning products I use to clean my house with) can also affect these areas. This area can be affected by lack of regular exercise (not an issue for me), lack of meditation (not an issue for me), or inadequate sleep or sleep apnea (aha—not sure if this is it, but we will do a sleep study and see if I am getting enough oxygen to the brain at night). Dr. Creado thinks I am doing a lot of things right, but he doesn’t like how my brain looks, so we will be doing a bit more investigation around what is happening to this part of the brain.
 
He also suggests sleeping longer than 6.5 hours, that I might need 7.5 hours (to get 5 sleep cycles), so I will take his advice and work on a change in schedule to see if I notice any improvements. With someone doing a lot of things right, he didn’t expect to see this pattern in my PFC.  The good news is that he didn’t see the pattern of Alzheimer’s or dementia that can show up years before symptoms occur.
Dr. Creado showed me that this is the typical pattern of a traumatic brain injury.
 
The Emotional Brain
My emotional brain showed to be really underactive. He wonders if it’s from the TBI, or from chronic neck pain I’ve always had, or sleep apnea (that we will check). He wants me to do balance exercises to stimulate activity in the cerebellum. I do hike and jump often from rock to rock without any difficulty, so have not noticed any issue with balance or coordination. He sees a lack of dopamine to the frontal lobes, and would prescribe medicine for this, but I prefer going the natural route, which makes sense why I know I need daily intensive exercise before I can sit at my desk and work.  It’s like I know the neurotransmitter that my body needs (dopamine) and I’ve learned to find ways to create it naturally.
The deep limbic system is the brightest part of my emotional brain, which explains why I can easily control my mood. He sees this area overactive in people who hold themselves to high standards and can see the work I am doing that I need this area to work this way, or be a bit of a perfectionist, so this area is working as it should. He just cautions me to watch that if this area is too overactive, that I could go down the path of self-doubt, shame and guilt. There are great supplements that I had started taking about a year ago that can help balance this area of the brain (5HTP that boosts serotonin) can help with this, so I will see if he recommends me taking more than I was taking before.
Brain Scan Conclusion:
Dr.Creado thought that this evaluation was going to be smooth sailing for him when he saw the work I am doing, and the fact that I am doing a lot of things right, but he thinks that my brain still needs some work. I will get to work now on what he suggests I do to optimize my brain health to improve blood flow to the executive functions of my brain. After thinking about some of Dr. Creado’s questions and comments (that my brain looks similar to someone with a sleep deprived brain) I’ll take his advice seriously and work on an extra hour of sleep. I also thought about how much my brain looks like my friend Doug’s, (with toxic mold/chemical exposure)  and I do spend a lot of time cleaning my house, so I will re-think how I am cleaning and the products I am using.
If you want to learn more about your own brain type, or want to optimize your brain like we did, just look up the number and call Amen Clinics. If a SPECT scan is not for you, you can take Dr. Amen’s Thrive by 25 Course[vii] that dives deeper into different parts of the brain where you can see if you recognize yourself and your own behaviors, which is what I did before we actually looked at our brain. I was accurate with the fact that I have a busy brain, and my we will find out my husband’s results next week. You can also read Dr. Amen’s most recent book The End of Mental Illness[viii] where he takes a deeper dive into different brain types, along with their SPECT scans, with strategies he recommends for each type.
Why is Optimizing the Prefrontal Cortex So Important?
I learned that there are strategies that create more brain reserve, or energy, and the more brain reserve we have, the more resilient we are and the better our brain can handle the aging process to keep “mental health” disorders at bay. There are many different factors for how one person can have more brain reserve than another, but it stems from family history, or what types of injuries or trauma you’ve experienced in your past. After looking at my results, you can see there were many different factors that contributed to what Dr. Creado saw, and we still have some work to do on pinpointing ways to further optimize my prefrontal cortex or thinking brain.
The decisions we make and the habits we engage in on a daily basis are either boosting or stealing our brain’s reserve and are either accelerating the aging process or rejuvenating our brain. When we can grasp this concept, we realize that we have a lot of influence on the health and age of our brain, as well as on our own mental and physical health.
Especially during this time where we don’t yet know exactly how the coronavirus can impact the brain, and our future, I think it is important to learn more about our brain, protect it better, and take our seriousness towards our health to a new level.
Improving the Prefrontal Cortex or Executive Functions of the Brain:
Keep in mind that we want to protect the most important part of our brain, the prefrontal cortex, since it is that part of the brain that controls our focus, forethought, judgement, impulse control, organization, planning, and empathy.  It’s this part of our brain that we want to strengthen to improve our future and the part of my brain that I know I need to work on.
Dr. Amen was the principal investigator on the first and largest brain imaging study on active and retired NFL players who showed high levels of damage but who also had a high chance of recovery using the strategies he suggests after a brain scan. He did notice that many football players had a similar pattern on their brain after years of damage. Their brains were all flattened on the top, right where their executive functions were housed due to the consistent and repetitive motion of hitting the athletes head in a forward motion. We did cover tips to strengthen your brain and cognition in EPISODE #23 on “Understanding the Difference Between our Mind and Our Brain”[ix] but here’s a review.
Let’s say you are ready to make some changes with your brain health. When you are curious and interested, you will be ready to put in the effort needed to work hard and concentrate on new information. You must also be relaxed in order to consolidate this new information that you will be learning. In his book Words Can Change Your Brain[x]  Mark Robert Waldman outlines his brain-scan research suggesting that “the strategies incorporated in mindfulness could strengthen the neural circuits associated with empathy, compassion and moral decision making.” This demonstrates just how powerful it can be to stop and think and incorporate a daily meditation practice. Exercise and meditation did help my emotional response scores. Take some time to stop and think about these tips of how to improve your brain and life.
We all want to have a better brain and life and getting a SPECT scan was a first step towards this. After the results, I was able to look at the what Dr. Amen calls the 4 Circles of Brain Health[xi] where he reminds us that 51% of the population will struggle with a mental health challenge at some point in their life. He suggests you think about these four areas when looking at making changes to improve our life.
Biological: How your brain and body works. Are you eating right, exercising and taking the right supplements? What genetic vulnerabilities do you have? Do you know what they are?
Spiritual: Why are you here? Do you know your purpose and vision beyond yourself, how can you can contribute to the community or world?
Psychological: How Your Mind Works. What makes you who you are (self-talk, body image, sense of self-worth, hope, and power over your own life).
Social: Who Else is in Your Life? What is the quality of your life, relationships, and how do you give back to the world with your talents/skills?
This experience really did open my eyes to what Dr. Amen says all the time.  “We don’t know know, unless we look” and I’m glad I looked at my brain. I wasn’t expecting to see it looking like it did, but it did answer some questions for me. I know now why meditation and exercise are so important, because my brain works best with this boost in dopamine. I can either create it myself, and also find other natural, healthy ways to keep my dopamine levels higher, including working on sleep, taking the right balance of supplements, and keeping up with the activities that have been working for me in the past. I will keep you posted as how the work begins when I receive some strategies to improve and optimize my brain. I know they will involve some sessions of hyperbaric oxygen therapy, (many of NHL and NFL players have been treated successfully for head injuries at Amen Clinics with this type of therapy), supplements, a sleep study, and interactive metronome activities to increase blood flow to my cerebellum.
The older we get, the more serious we need to be about the health of our brain. This experience showed me the reality of looking at this organ that controls everything that I do, and in order to optimize it, I need to know exactly what is happening with it.
 
I hope you found this 3-part brain scan series helpful, and that it has lit a fire for you to take your brain health to the next level. I know it lit a fire under me to make some changes, and scared me enough to be grateful that we did take the time to look at our brains, so that we can focus on brain optimization and health with true understanding of what’s really happening at the brain level. How would you ever know, unless you look.
See you next week!
REFERENCES:
[i] Neuroscience Meets SEL Podcast EPISODE #82 with Doug Sutton on “How a Brain Scan Changed my Life.” PART 1 https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/how-a-brain-scan-changed-my-brain-and-life-with-doug-sutton/
[ii] Neuroscience Meets SEL Podcast EPSIODE #83 with Andrea Samadi on “What is a SPECT Brain Scan and How Can it Change Your Life?” https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/how-exactly-can-a-spect-imaging-brain-scan-change-your-life-with-andrea-samadi-part-2/
[iii] Neuroscience Meets SEL Podcast EPISODE #72 with Dr. Shane Creado on “Sleep Strategies that Will Guarantee a Competitive Advantage.” https://www.achieveit360.com/dr-shane-creado-on-sleep-strategies-that-will-guarantee-a-competitive-advantage/
[iv] Actress Laura Clery SPECT Scan Results with Dr. Amen https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=3472842882747938 (start video at 4 minutes where she arrives at Dr. Amen’s Clinic).
[v] Conners Continuous Performance Test https://www.pearsonclinical.co.uk/Psychology/ChildMentalHealth/ChildADDADHDBehaviour/ConnersContinuousPerformanceTestIIVersion5forWindows(CPTIIV5)/ConnersContinuousPerformanceTestIIVersion5forWindows(CPTIIV5).aspx
[vi] Neuroscience Meets SEL Podcast EPISODE #74 with brain-science and resiliency expert Horatio Sanchez https://www.achieveit360.com/leading-brain-science-and-resiliency-expert-horatio-sanchez-on-how-to-apply-brain-science-to-improve-instruction-and-school-climate/
[vii] Thrive by 25 Online Course https://brainmd.com/brain-thrive-by-25
[viii] Dr. Daniel Amen, The End of Mental Illness (March 2020) https://www.amazon.com/End-Mental-Illness-Neuroscience-Transforming-ebook/dp/B07T6C3CWH/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=
[ix] Neuroscience Meets SEL Podcast Episode #23 “Understanding the Difference Between Your Mind and Brain” https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/understanding-your-brain-and-mind-for-increased-results/
[x] Andrew Newburg M .D and Mark Robert Waldman, “Words Can Change Your Brain,” (The Penguin Group, New York, New York) Page 12
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0074VTHMA/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1
[xi] Dr. Daniel Amen, The End of Mental Illness (March 2020) https://www.amazon.com/End-Mental-Illness-Neuroscience-Transforming-ebook/dp/B07T6C3CWH/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=
 

What is a SPECT Brain Scan and How Exactly Can it Change Your Life? with Andrea Samadi PART 2

Welcome back to the Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning podcast, episode #83. This is PART 2 of our last episode on “How Looking at Your Brain Can Change Your Life” with a deeper dive into what we learned from getting a SPECT Image Brain Scan at Dr. Amen’s Clinic in Costa Mesa, CA.
For those who are new here, my name is Andrea Samadi,  I’m a former educator who created this podcast to bring awareness, ideas and strategies to our most pressing issues facing educators in the workplace, or parents working from home or in the corporate space, to keep us all working at our highest levels of productivity. The goal is to bring the most current brain research and practical neuroscience, connected to our social and emotional skills, to take our results to the next level.
Last episode we did a case study of my friend Doug Sutton, whose whole life changed when he made the decision to get a SPECT image brain scan from Dr. Amen’s Clinics. While Doug was having some noticeable issues with his health, like brain fog and his energy levels, I made the decision to get the scan just to improve and optimize what we are already doing, as well as to see if there is anything they notice that we should be aware of now.  When I was interviewing Dr. Shane Creado, episode 72 on “Sleep Strategies that Will Guarantee a Competitive  Advantage” I wanted to know specific strategies that I could use to optimize my performance and results, and he suggested “why don’t you just go and get your brain scanned. This way, we can look at the results, and see exactly what type of brain you have, and he could make more targeted suggestions from there. Stay tuned for PART 3 of this Brain Scan Series where I will share my results, after I have had the chance to speak with Dr. Creado later next week.
This is where the process began for my husband and I. Since I had posted about the fact we were going, I have received so many messages from friends asking “What did you learn? Why exactly did you go? How much did it cost? What was the test like? Does the test reveal a snapshot of your brain as it is today, or in general?” All of these are great questions, and the reason I figured I would break up the experience into parts.
If you have considered getting a brain scan, and you are either like Doug, you’ve been noticing some symptoms (brain fog, maybe memory problems, low energy) and you want to look at the organ that controls pretty much everything that you do, and everything that you are, then this podcast episode series is for you. Or maybe you are like me, you don’t have any symptoms, but you just want to get an accurate snapshot of what is happening in your brain, so you can optimize your results, and at least know what’s going on with the most important organ in your body.
So, here’s what I would recommend you do if you are thinking about it. Start with doing as much research as you can about Dr. Amen,[i] Amen Clinics[ii] and The Brain Warrior’s Way Podcast that he and his wife host, to hear from the many guests he interviews, showcasing different ways to put your brain health first.[iii] Dr. Amen, one of the most famous psychiatrists in the country, found that looking at the brain could tell you a lot about someone when treating them. Adding SPECT Imaging Brain Scans to psychiatry, took his practice to the next level.  On his website, you will find all of the locations he has offices (east coast, west coast, and central locations like their Chicago office where Dr. Creado works out of).  There’s a lot of free resources you can access, as you learn more about what issues you might be facing, thinking of solutions that he recommends. Once you have trust in his work, the decision to call and learn more about moving ahead with a brain scan is much easier. He has a wonderful overview of the process on how to read the scans called “Brain SPECT Imaging Made Ridiculously Simple”[iv] on his blog. In this overview you will learn:
Why Dr. Amen started doing SPECT brain imaging in the first place.
What a SPECT Scan (Single, Photon, Emission, Computed Tomography) looks like.
What a healthy brain looks like (full, even, symmetrical activity) from even blood flow.
 
(AMEN CLINICS photo of a healthy brain-even blood flow)
What an unhealthy brain looks like, spotting signs of Alzheimer’s Disease ahead of time, so you can work on optimizing the brain.
Alzheimer’s can be seen in the brain years before symptoms occur. Both sides of the brain are affected with decreases in the Parietal Lobe (top back part of your brain) and Temporal Lobes.
What drugs or alcohol do to the brain? They damage the brain.
Photo of a healthy brain, next to an addict's brain.
6. What even a mild traumatic brain injury can do to the brain.
7. How SPECT scans show evidence of trauma, toxins like mold or chemotherapy, or infections like Lyme disease. My friend Doug Sutton spoke about mold exposure that gave him brain fog, and he also mentioned that BulletProof Radio Dave Asprey also had mold exposure, and it was Dr. Amen who inspired him to create his BulletProof line of products.
8. How SPECT scans can help people with mental health disorders and addictions.
This drug education poster hangs in 100,000 schools.  It’s a more realistic image of what drugs do to your brain than the image that I remember growing up of an egg cracking into a pan to represent a brain on drugs. It just doesn’t have the same impact as this poster does, or real brains that were damaged by drugs/alcohol use.
What the scan tells us? Good activity, (blood flow) Too little activity, Too much activity. Then Dr. Amen and his team can balance the brain with supplements, and strategies.
The difference between a surface view of the brain, and active view (inside) the brain.
If you want to see a more humorous overview of the SPECT scan, actress and comedian Laura Clery covers her SPECT scan from start to finish.[v]  I’m usually a pretty serious person, especially when it comes to getting my brain scanned, so this overview of a very serious topic, was hilarious to watch. Actress Laura Clery was having some problems with her memory and wanted to look and see if there was anything they would find out with this scan. She admits that she is a former drug user and hoping that the damage she did in her early years is reversible, which we have heard Dr. Amen say when he says “You’re not stuck with the brain you have.” It is possible to improve brain structure and function. She walks you through the experience from start to finish, not missing a detail, of finding the clinic, to the IV injection of Saratech that maps out your brain, to the test where you have to click the space bar when you see a letter, and not click the bar when you see an “x” which was more difficult than it sounds, (my husband said this test drove him crazy and it looks like Laura had a similar experience). She also takes you through the actual brain scan where she was told to lay still, but she moved, and had to do the entire scan over again.  
 
The Brain Scan Process
It’s interesting that everyone asks the brain scan technician “what did you see” after the scan, and he/she will tell you “wait until you speak with the doctor.” Once your scan is complete, you will have the opportunity to discuss the results with a doctor. I chose Dr. Creado from the Chicago offices to do my evaluation, since he was the one who recommended I take the test in the first place, so I won’t be able to record PART 3 of this episode with the results until the end of next week.
 
Brain Scan Predictions Based on My Understanding of the Brain
I do have some predictions of what I think we will see, based on studying Dr. Amen’s work for the past year, and applying what I am learning to my own life. You can do the same, especially if you take his Thrive by 25 Online[vi] course. It will be interesting to see if my predictions are correct, but this is what I think we are going to see.
With my brain scan, I think that I have what he considers a busy brain, or hyperfrontality where we can be over focused. He suggests that a way to improve this would be to prevent serotonin from going too low, or I will have problems, which I kind of figured out on my own over the years. He suggests to naturally increase serotonin through exercise, high protein foods and supplements. I already know that without exercise, I just don’t work well, because I need this boost in serotonin to work at my best. I also eat a high protein/higher fat diet which also works well for me. He also suggests taking supplements to calm the busy brain like 5 HTP or saffron, and I have been doing this for the past year.
For my husband’s brain scan, I think that he will show hypofrontality, or lower frontal lobe activity, which is the opposite of mine. He talks all the time about having a shorter attention span, and wonders if he has ADHD. He did have a mild traumatic brain injury years ago, and he works best with scheduled exercise and a higher protein diet. It will be interesting to see if these predictions are correct after our evaluations.
Until then, if this episode has made you think about your own brain, take some time to go to www.amenclinics.com and call the number on their website to learn more about how you could begin your pathway to a better brain and life. Spend some time doing some research, watch the video series listed in the show notes on Spect Imaging Made Simple and Tune into the Brain Warrior’s Way Podcast to dive deeper into learning new strategies to improve your brain and life, or take the Thrive by 25 online course and see if you can make connections between your brain, and behavior. We can always improve our brain, which will in turn improve our life, it’s just up to us to do this.
 
See you next week with the results of my brain scan.
RESOURCES:
Neuroscience Meets SEL Podcast Episode #72 on "Sleep Strategies that will Guarantee a Competitive Advantage." with Dr. Shane Creado https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/dr-shane-creado-on-sleep-strategies-that-will-guarantee-a-competitive-advantage/
 
REFERENCES:
[i] Dr. Daniel Amen and Tana Amen and The Brain Warrior’s Way Podcast
[ii] Amen Clinics www.amenclinics.com
[iii] The Brain Warrior’s Way Podcast https://brainwarriorswaypodcast.com/
[iv] Brain Spect Imaging Made Simple by Dr. Daniel Amen https://www.amenclinics.com/blog/brain-spect-made-ridiculously-simple-part-1/
[v] Actress Laura Clery’s SPECT Scan Experience https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=755883174955398
[vi] Thrive by 25 Online Course by Dr. Daniel Amen https://brainmd.com/brain-thrive-by-25
 

"How a Brain Scan Changed My Brain and Life" with Doug Sutton: PART 1

Welcome back to the Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning podcast, episode #82 on “How Looking at Your Brain Can Change Your Life” with a case study from one of my friends, business growth expert,  Doug Sutton, who had a SPECT brain imaging scan a few years ago through Dr. Daniel Amen’s Clinics, when he was noticing some mental fog and lower energy levels. I remember seeing the testimonial from Amen clinics come through social media and the headline I read was powerful! It said, “When Doug made the decision to look at his brain, it changed his life.”[i]  You can watch the interview on YouTube here.
I know that this episode will help all of us, including myself, to really think about the fact that “if our brain is working right, we will work right.” (Dr. Daniel Amen, from Amen Clinics).
For those who are new here, my name is Andrea Samadi,  I’m a former educator who created this podcast to bring awareness, ideas and strategies to our most pressing issues facing educators in the workplace, or parents working from home or in the corporate space, to keep us all working at our highest levels of productivity. The goal is to bring the most current brain research and practical neuroscience, connected to our social and emotional skills, to take our results to the next level.
After quoting Dr. Daniel Amen, (one of the most well-known psychiatrists and brain disorder specialists) from Amen Clinics, for most of the episodes I have done on this podcast, and after interviewing Dr. Shane Creado, episode #72 on “Peak Sleep Performance for Athletes”[ii] one of the sleep doctors who works out of his Chicago clinic, and his daughter, Chloe Amen on episode #11 on the book that she helped Daniel to revise called “Change Your Brain, Change Your Grades.”[iii] I wondered what I would learn about my current and future health, by doing a brain imaging scan from Daniel’s  Clinics. I took the online course Dr. Amen and Tana (his wife) did this Spring called “The End of Mental Illness”[iv] to continue learning more about brain health, and the prize they were offering was a FREE brain scan. This was the first time I even thought about getting my own brain scanned, so I took the class, completed all of the work required for the contest, but didn’t win. I forgot about it until I interviewed Dr. Shane Creado, on episode #72 and I started to see how important sleep was for our brain health. It was Dr. Creado who suggested I contact Amen Clinics and set up a SPECT scan to take a look and see what is going on and he could offer more targeted tips for me based on what he sees.
Dr. Amen always says, “How do you know, if you don’t look?” So of course, I’m schedule to get a SPECT image scan of my brain next week, and my husband is coming along with me so we can both learn ways that we can look at the current state of our brain health, with the goal of optimizing our brain and future. I’m not sure what we will learn, but I thought a good first step would be to speak with Doug Sutton and learn first-hand from his brain scan experience what he learned, and how it not only impacted, but changed his life. Sit back, take some notes, and if you have ever thought about getting a brain scan, I’m sure you will be convinced after this episode.
Welcome Doug! Thank you so much for writing back so quickly about this. I know it’s been quite some time since we hung out through the seminars, but thank goodness for social media, we can reach out and connect as if no time has passed. Before we get into the questions, I’d love to know how everything is going for you these days. When we were speaking, you told me that you had a client that would be a great match for this podcast [v] and they were. I am definitely going to reach out to them for an interview. What work do you do?
Q1: Doug, can you share what brought you to even consider going to get a brain scan? I know that you mention in your testimonial video that you were experiencing brain fog, and lower energy levels, but how did “contact Amen clinics for a SPECT scan” even enter your mind?
Q2: I know that you had symptoms that led you to wanting to “look at your brain” but many people can use this opportunity to optimize their health since I know there is so much they can see about a person just from looking at their brain. I know Dr. Amen scanned Tana Amen’s brain when they were in the early stages of dating and he could see that a car accident she walked away from had an impact on her brain. Were you afraid of what they would find?
Q3: What was the most noticeable thing they found out about your brain?
Q4: What did you do differently AFTER you saw your results?
Q5: What brain health habits did you keep after this experience and was there anything you stopped doing that you think you should go back to doing now we are talking about it?
 
Q6: Is there anything important that you want to add that you think we might have missed?
Thank you so much Doug, for sharing your SPECT imaging story. I know that there are many people out there who are thinking about doing this, but don’t know where to begin, whether they are like you are have symptoms, or like me, and just want to take their health to another level.  I’m excited to learn more ways to optimize my brain, but also nervous about what they will find. If anyone wants to learn more about a brain scan at Amen Clinics, they can go to https://www.amenclinics.com/
If anyone wants to learn more about you, and the work you are doing, they can go to www.consciousgrowth.com Thanks Doug.
 
RESOURCES:
Dave Asprey’s Bulletproof Radio Podcast https://blog.daveasprey.com/category/podcasts/
 
Amen Clinics Locations https://www.amenclinics.com/locations/
 
REFERENCES:
[i] Doug Sutton Testimonial from Amen Clinics 
[ii] Neuroscience Meets SEL Podcast Episode #72 with Dr. Shane Creado on “Sleep Peak Performance for Athletes.” https://www.achieveit360.com/dr-shane-creado-on-sleep-strategies-that-will-guarantee-a-competitive-advantage/
[iii] Neuroscience Meets SEL Podcast Episode #11 with Chloe Amen on “
[iv] Dr. Daniel and Tana Amen’s End of Mental Illness 6 Week Brain Challenge Class https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-8CiGDWYXQ
[v][v] www.fuelingbrains.com

Critical Thinking and the Brain with Andrea Samadi

Welcome back to the Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning podcast, episode #81. This episode was inspired by someone I grew up with, Alex, who sent me a DM on social media this week asking me “do you have anything I can use to help my team to learn, develop and improve their critical thinking skills?”  Since “thinking” is such an important skill, originating in the cortex, or top layer of the brain, I thought it would be a good topic to cover this week. Alex, this one is for you.
For those who are new here, my name is Andrea Samadi,  a former educator who created this podcast to bring awareness, ideas and strategies to our most pressing issues  facing educators in the workplace, or parents working from home or in the corporate space, to keep us all working at our highest levels of productivity. Each episode we provide you with specific tools, resources and ideas to implement proven strategies backed by the most current neuroscience research to help you to help improve daily productivity, achievement and results.
This week we are looking at thinking, specifically what we can do to improve our thinking skills. Have you recently heard yourself or someone else, say “I’m so busy, I can barely think?” or have you ever told your kids to be quiet so you can “think?” I’ve heard it and said it myself more so these days than usual, as our schedules just seem to be getting busier and busier each month with the new events unfolding in the world, with the fact that many children are going back to school “distance learning” at home, while parents are working, (and we all remember how that went in the Spring) so many of us are finding it difficult to “think, focus and concentrate” under these new conditions that require us to put in a bit more effort than we might have been used to in the past. I hope you find these strategies on thinking as helpful as I have and find ways to implement just one or two of them, to make life flow easier all of us as we move into the final half of 2020.
Thinking and the Brain
Before we look at strategies to improve our thinking skills, I want to dive deeper into what exactly thinking is as it happens in the brain. When you are thinking, your neurons (86 billion of them) are shooting messages back and forth. This firing of neurons uses “2/3 of your brain’s energy”[i]  and “is powered by a molecule called ATP (Adenosine Triphosphate if you can remember that from 9th grade Science class) which is generated by the mitochondria (the powerhouse of the cell) which burns glucose” that gives us the energy we need to think.
This means that our brain runs on this simple sugar, and if we are low on this fuel, it’s harder for the brain to work.  So, we must remember to eat, to provide the fuel our brain needs to think, and rest. But eating and rest are only a part of the solution. There’s much more that we can do to optimize the power of our thinking brain.
We have mentioned in previous episodes (#23 Understanding the Difference Between Your Mind and Your Brain)[ii] about ways we can strengthen our brain and thinking with the power of “the unfocused” mind.  In previous episodes, we did hear this point mentioned by some of the top thinkers in the world. Bob Proctor, on episode #66[iii] mentioned this fact when he pointed out that at the beginning of Earl Nightingale’s “The Strangest Secret” program, Earl talks about the famous Nobel Prize Winner Dr. Albert Schweitzer who recalled being asked by a reporter “what’s wrong with man today?” and Dr. Schweitzer thought about it for a minute, and then answered “They simply don’t think” which makes sense to me, because I know that life runs smoother when I can take the time I need to think.
Eric Jensen also talked about the power of taking breaks in relation to learning in episode #79 when he said he asked Dr. Terry Sejnowskji, a leading scientist from the Salk Institute who co-authored the book called Learning How to Learn.[iv]  Eric asked Dr. Sejnowski about the best way to help students form long term memories with what they are learning, and he replied “10 minutes of instruction, and then go take a walk and stop your brain from processing.” The brain requires time to consolidate the information that comes into it, or we will get into what we all know to be information overload, where nothing that we are learning, or taking in, will be retained.
I mentioned that we have covered tips to strengthen our brain and cognition (the mental action of acquiring knowledge and understanding through thought, experience and the senses) in episode #23, but let’s review them.
How to Strengthen Your Brain and Cognition:
Take brief relaxation breaks to maintain focus and improve your ability to think and problem solve. We must find a way to relax our brain and body. It’s during these “resting states” that remarkable activity takes place, allowing the brain to creatively solve problems. Dr. Srini Pillay, an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, (who I am working really hard to get on as a guest) wrote a book about the importance of this resting period in his book, Tinker, Dabble, Doodle, Try: that is about unlocking the power of the unfocused mind[v]. In this book Pillay explains that too much focus depletes your brain of glucose and depletes you. We just spoke about the importance of glucose as energy to keep our brain running optimally, so we must think of ways to conserve our energy. Pillay believes in the fact that it is as equally important to have strategies for purposeful focusing, in addition to unfocusing our minds to improve resourcefulness, creativity, optimism and well-being. When you can build unfocused time into your day, it will allow you to make better decisions, and will give you more energy.
Be mindful of ways to eliminate decision fatigue, allowing those times for your mind to become unfocused. Remember that Einstein discovered his Theory of Relativity by using his intuition, and then used logic to explain it. This unfocused time can take you to places and insights where focus cannot. We’ve all heard of strategies used by the most successful thinkers in the world, designed around eliminating decision fatigue. Steve Jobs became famous for cutting down the number of decisions he had to make every day by wearing the same clothes each day. Since we typically make 35,000 decisions[vi] every day, so a simple way to conserve brain power is to cut down on the number of decisions you need to make. You can do this by choosing the same foods to eat at breakfast and lunch, or by getting the same outfit that you like to wear, in different colors. When you create routines like this for yourself, it will prevent life’s daily distractions (they are always going to be there) from zapping the energy that you can use somewhere else.
Improve the circuits of your brain by learning to look within for answers. In his book, Mindsight: The New Science of Personal Transformation[vii] Dan Siegel (episode #28) [viii]shares that teachers introduced to a concept called “mindsight or the ability to focus on the inner life of their student or child” teach with the brain in mind and are reaching students in deeper and more lasting ways.” The research shows that developing the ability to make sense of your own life and past experiences, translates into the development of your students and children. This self-awareness also creates a sense of peace and understanding with your own life, allowing more energy to be funneled towards what’s important for you in the present and future, instead of spending time worrying about what we cannot change from our past.
 Once you learn to implement these energy saving strategies as habits, you will have more space available to think. You can then take your thinking to the next level. When I received the message on social media last week from my friend asking “What do you have on improving someone’s critical thinking skills” I immediately thought of episode #12 on Responsible Decision-Making, but when I looked at it, there was something missing. It was missing the fact that it’s really difficult to think or make decisions the way the world is today, without some serious introspection. Once we can take the time to step away, and give our brain some time to rest, thinking and decision-making will be much easier.
Improve Your Decision-Making Muscles in the Workplace:
Even though adults have a fully developed prefrontal cortex, the part of our brain that makes decisions, we still need a process to follow to ensure we are making effective and smart decisions that yield the results we are looking for. Go back to EPISODE #12 on Responsible Decision-Making for review.[ix] Remember that to make an effective decision, you must first learn how to think, and we have covered tips on how to relax and save energy to maximize our ability to think.  The process of thinking is carried out by the executive functions in your brain (in your prefrontal cortex): functions like planning, implementing, monitoring, and making adjustments to overcome problems are all involved with our ability to think. 
When working on a goal, or solving a problem, here are four simple steps you can use that eventually will become habitual and will increase your performance for decision-making.[x]
Start your decision-making process with these 4 Steps:
Evaluate the Problem You Want to Solve:This process begins in your frontal lobes. What’s the problem? What outcomes are you looking for? Is your outcome achievable? Is it meaningful? Attach meaning and emotion to help increase your motivation. Make sure everyone on the team is on board with the “why” or motivation behind the goal.
Then Plan Your Strategy:Next, your frontal lobe maps out the strategies needed as you ask yourself “where am I now, where do I want to go, how will I get there and what strategies and tactics do I need?” Your strategy is your game plan. I’ve seen this plan mapped out many different ways but knowing where you are starting from, what your end goal is, and identifying what’s missing (your gap) is crucial to this step. This is where skill development takes place and the gaps are filled. Become clear on what’s missing and what must be learned to achieve the goal? Who can we consult with to fill in our gaps? Identify the experts you will need.
Next, Break Down Your Strategy: into Tactics:Once you have listed the strategies that you will use, then you must break down the strategy into smaller chunks or tasks. Tactics help you to carry out your overall strategy one day at a time as your frontal lobe works with your body to put these ideas into action. This is where the hard work comes into play.  
Finally, Monitor, Adjust and Track Progress:When you take action, your frontal lobe is ready to make changes as obstacles come up. Be ready to pivot when needed as you monitor what’s working and what isn’t. Effective decision-making requires ongoing evaluation of these four steps. Who can you bring on your team to help you to overcome obstacles that you are facing? What else do you need?
When you are able to implement the energy saving strategies of taking unfocused breaks to allow for more creativity to flow, or adding in some new strategies to eliminate decision-fatigue, or becoming confident in your abilities as you search for answers from within, your ability to make quick and certain decisions will improve. You will create reservoirs of energy that you can access on a daily basis, so that when decision-making, or problem solving comes up, you will be prepared mentally and physically to go quickly through the 4-step process, making sounder and more steadfast decisions while solving problems.
But it all began with the understanding of what the brain needs to run efficiently. If you do not allow for the rest it needs, or the proper fuel, you will notice that “thinking” is the hardest work in the world. Remember—the brain is involved in everything that we do, and everything that we are, so we must tie this into our daily decision-making process to optimize our future behavior and results.
See you next week.
REFERENCES:
[i] This is How Your Brain Powers Your Thoughts YouTube Published April 9, 2017 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yxUkUaV2VPs&feature=youtu.be
 
[ii] Neuroscience Meets SEL Podcast Episode #23 “Understanding the Difference Between the Mind and the Brain” https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/understanding-your-brain-and-mind-for-increased-results/
 
[iii] Neuroscience Meets SEL Podcast EPISODE #66 with the Legendary Bob Proctor https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHWMCzfODU4&list=PLb5Z3cA_mnKhiYc5glhacO9k9WTrSgjzW&index=51&t=1171s (41:00)
 
[iv] Learning How to Learn by Barbara Oakley and Terrence Sejnowski (August 2018) https://barbaraoakley.com/books/learning-how-to-learn/
 
[v] Dr. Srini Pillay Tinker, Dabble, Doodle, Try: Unlock the Power of the Unfocused Mind https://www.amazon.com/Tinker-Dabble-Doodle-Try-Unfocused-ebook/dp/B01JWDZ7SK/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=pillay+tinker&qid=1570042219&s=digital-text&sr=1-1
 
[vi] Why Successful People Wear the Same Thing Every Day by Craig Bloem Feb. 20, 2018 https://www.inc.com/craig-bloem/this-1-unusual-habit-helped-make-mark-zuckerberg-steve-jobs-dr-dre-successful.html
 
[vii] Mindsight: The New Science of Transformation Dr. Dan Siegel https://www.drdansiegel.com/about/mindsight/
 
[viii] Neuroscience Meets SEL EPISODE #28 with Dr. Daniel Siegel on “Mindsight” https://www.achieveit360.com/clinical-professor-of-psychiatry-at-the-ucla-school-of-medicine-dr-daniel-siegel-on-mindsight-the-basis-for-social-and-emotional-intelligence/
 
[ix] Neuroscience Meets SEL Podcast EPISODE #12 “Responsible Decision-Making Begins with Understanding Your Brain Health” with Andrea Samadi https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/responsible-decision-making-begins-with-brain-health/
 
[x] Mark Robert Waldman and Chris Manning, Neurowisdom: The New Brain Science of Money, Happiness and Success (Diversion Books, January 31, 2017) https://www.amazon.com/NeuroWisdom-Brain-Science-Happiness-Success-ebook/dp/B01N9BLBDH/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=neurowisdom&qid=1565268860&s=gateway&sr=8-1
 

Harvard's Samantha Wettje on "Mitigating the Negative Effects of ACES" with her 16 Strong Project.

Welcome back, we have reached episode #80 on the Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning podcast. You can watch this interview on YouTube here. 
 
My name is Andrea Samadi,  I’m a former educator who created this podcast to bring the most current neuroscience and educational research, matched with social and emotional skills, with interviews from experts from all different fields, to bring awareness, ideas and strategies to our most pressing issues that we are facing, as educators, or parents, to keep all of us working at our highest levels of productivity. I’ve been interested in understanding why some people reach such high levels of achievement, and others don’t…since the late 1990s, and recent discoveries in neuroscience has accelerated our understanding of this.  I do appreciate the feedback I’ve received through social media. It helps me to know that these topics are helping to bring some new thoughts, ideas and hope when times have never been so uncertain.
 
Today we have Samantha Wettje, the Founder of the 16Strong Project[i], created in 2018 at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.  If you are in the field of education, you will have heard of the importance of understanding ACES (Adverse Childhood Experiences that we did touch on with our last episode) and our next guest is on a serious mission to help our next generation of learners recognize and navigate the challenges they might be facing as a result of ACES in their life.
 
When I received an email from one of Samantha’s colleagues about her 16Strong Project, I remember exactly where I was, because it really is true that when you attach emotion to a memory, it’s something you don’t ever forget. When I read that Samantha had created this project in response to her experience of living with a mentally ill and addicted parent, I literally stopped what I was doing to read more. Is all I needed to see in the email was ACES[ii], (that we just spoke about with Eric Jensen on Episode #79[iii],  Harvard and Project…and I was writing an email back to find a time that we could speak so I could learn more about the 16Strong Project, and here we are.
 
Welcome Samantha, it truly is an honor to speak with you today. I do hope that we can use this platform to help more people learn about this incredible initiative you have created in response to one of the largest problems facing young people today.
 
Q1: Can you give some background as to why you started the 16Strong Project, and what does 16 Strong mean to you?
 
Q2: I felt connected to this project BEFORE we spoke on the phone because I had been thinking for quite some time that I needed to find someone that I could speak to on this podcast who had defied the odds that we hear associated with ACES. It’s not an easy topic to bring up with someone, so it was just an idea circled on chart paper on my wall. Find someone to talk about ACES. Eric Jensen opened the conversation in EPISODE #79, giving a brief overview of what ACES are, and the fact that a higher score predicts later life adversity. I know when you are launching a project, it might seem like the project is important to you but will the rest of the world agree. How did my response to your email give you more awareness about the importance and urgency of the 16Strong Project?
 
Q3: I follow the work of Dr. Daniel Amen[iv], probably one of the most famous psychiatrists and brain disorder specialists in the country. He has been working with Justin Bieber on his brain health, (he likes to call mental health brain health since when our brain works right, we work right—so his work is all around keeping our brain healthy). Something I found interesting from his work is that it is being “normal” is a myth. He says that “51% of us will have a mental health issue in our lifetime”[v] (post traumatic stress, depression, anxiety, addiction, eating disorder) just to name a few that are the most common issues he sees young people for. I know how important this topic is to him, so I do want to share your project with him (he dedicated his End of Mental Illness[vi] book to his nieces Alize and Amelie who had a difficult upbringing and within the dedication to his book he says “Your history is not your destiny. Let’s end mental illness with your generation.”  What is different about your program from other youth mental health programs you have seen so I can continue to share your work with others who might also like to help bring more awareness to what you are doing? 
  
Q4: I had a chance to read through your website 16strongproject.com and some of the stories written by students about their personal experience growing with these ACES in their life. I only had ONE ACE growing up, and that was painful enough as a kid. They do say that “to name it, is to tame it” so I can see why these stories would help young people to not just bury the emotions they have connected to what they are feeling. As an adult, these stories were eye openers for me to see how some of these ACES impact young people, especially when you put 2 or more ACES together (like the impacts of drug and alcohol use on a child) it was one of the most painful things I’ve read. Can you explain more about your Every Voice Heard School Initiative[vii] and the awareness you are looking to create with this? How can teachers contact you about this to share a student’s story?
 
 
Q5: For anyone listening who is familiar with Harvard’s Graduate School of Education, they would know of Professor Stephanie Jones[viii] and her EASEL Lab.[ix] I was sent her “Navigating SEL from the Inside Out[x]” report from a respected colleague who wanted to be sure I had read it. (all 349 pages of it). Can you give an overview of Professor Stephanie Jones’ EASEL Lab, and the work you are currently doing with her now?
 
Q6: Tell me about your Youth Advisory Board[xi] and who you are looking for with this?
 
Q7: What do your workshops look like?
 
Q8: What is your vision for the 16 Strong Project and the legacy that you would like to create with our next generation of students?
 
Thank you so much for taking the time to share this incredible, timely and important project. For those who want to learn more about your workshops, they can go to your programs page at https://www.16strongproject.com/programs to learn more.  Wishing you the best of luck with this project that I know is important and needed, especially in our world today.  
 
RESOURCES:
 
What’s Your ACE SCORE? https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2015/03/02/387007941/take-the-ace-quiz-and-learn-what-it-does-and-doesnt-mean
 
REFERENCES:
 
[i] https://www.16strongproject.com/
 
[ii] Preventing Adverse Childhood Experiences https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/acestudy/fastfact.html
 
[iii] Neuroscience Meets SEL Podcast Episode #79 with Author Eric Jensen on “”Strategies for Reversing the Impact of Poverty and Stress on Student Learning” https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/brain-based-leaning-author-eric-jensen-on-strategies-or-reversing-the-impact-of-poverty-and-stress-on-student-learning/
 
[iv] Dr Daniel Amen https://www.amenclinics.com/
 
[v] Dr. Daniel Amen, Thrive by 25 Online Course https://brainmd.com/brain-thrive-by-25
 
[vi] Dr. Daniel Amen, The End of Mental Illness https://brainmd.com/the-end-of-mental-illness
 
[vii] Every Voice Heard Schools Initiative https://www.16strongproject.com/evh-schools
 
[viii] Stephanie Jones, Harvard Graduate School of Education. https://www.gse.harvard.edu/faculty/stephanie-jones
 
[ix] EASEL Lab https://easel.gse.harvard.edu/people/stephanie-m-jones
 
[x] Navigating SEL from the Inside Out: Looking Inside and Across 25 Leading SEL Programs. https://www.wallacefoundation.org/knowledge-center/pages/navigating-social-and-emotional-learning-from-the-inside-out.aspx
 
[xi] Learn more about 16 Strong Youth Advisory Board https://www.16strongproject.com/programs

Brain-Based Learning Author Eric Jensen on "Strategies for Reversing the Impact of Poverty and Stress on Student Learning"

Welcome back to the Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning podcast, episode #79 with Eric Jensen, a leading authority on the science and applications of brain research in education for more than 20 years. Watch the interview on YouTube here. 
 
For those who are new here, my name is Andrea Samadi,  I’m a former educator who created this podcast to bring the most current neuroscience and educational research, matched with social and emotional skills, with interviews from experts who have risen to the top of their field with specific strategies or ideas that you can implement immediately, to take your results to the next level.
Thank you so much Eric, for coming on this podcast today.  Where have I reached you?
Just to give some background of Eric Jensen and his work:
Dr. Eric Jensen is a former teacher and Top 30 Global Guru. He co-founded an academic enrichment program, held in 16 countries with over 85,000 graduates. Jensen has authored over 30 books[i] including 3 bestsellers with his 2 most recent being Brain-Based Learning (in its 3rd edition)[ii] and Poor Students Rich Teaching[iii]. He is also member of the invitation-only Society for Neuroscience.[iv]
Eric, I know that your background has been focused around students and poverty, and how poverty impacts the brain and learning, specifically as it relates to trauma and stress. While our stress levels seem to keep jumping up to new levels each month as new stressors arise, we’ve got it handled here, as we have both parents working together with our children. I can’t help but think of those families who don’t have the resources or support that they need and would like to hear your thoughts of solutions that teachers and families could be looking at to better support students at this critical time in our world.
Q1: Can we start off with a brief overview of what stress does to the brain, specifically when we are trying to learn (if we are a student) or complete our work (if we are in the corporate space) as well as to think about the dangers of emotion contagion. What can we do these days to prevent stress from wreaking havoc on our lives, and improve our resiliency with a mind/body integration?
Q2: Right now, it’s such an odd time in the world with this global pandemic, but this podcast audience reaches into over 110 countries, and I know that the tips you have for us in the US, will be relevant to those around the world. Can we talk about the topic that I know you focused on with your doctoral dissertation, the fact that 1/5 children grow up in poverty? How does poverty impact a child’s brain?
Q3: I mentioned in the beginning, that many children are preparing to go back to school (at least virtually in my State) this week, and I did just interview authors Doug Fisher and Nancy Frey on their book about Distance Learning which provided some great suggestions for transitioning to 100% online learning. I still can’t help thinking of low-income families, and how they are coping. Our stress levels are high here as we are adapting to our new schedules, creating new workspaces, (suddenly we realized I need to buy 2 new desks with chairs) new routines, and expectations. What support or words of encouragement would you have for teachers serving low income students who might not have everything they need and their parents as we transition back to school virtually?
Q4: How does exposure to stressors in the home (that we’ve heard of from children with ACES—Adverse Childhood Experiences) influence a child’s working memory? What strategies do you have to teach students with poverty in mind to help students with impulse regulation, visual/spatial skills, language skills, cognitive skills, social and emotional skills and conflict resolution?
Q5: I heard you say that “our DNA is not our destiny” and I just loved hearing this because we don’t choose our parents.  Next week I’m speaking with the Founder of the 16 Strong Project, created out of Harvard’s Grad School of Education to show other young people that ACES can be mitigated. In your 20 years of working with schools, and students, with a focus on low income students, what success stories have you seen where students were able to change their brains for the better? How do you think they did this?
Q6: What are your final thoughts, or advice to teachers who are looking for new strategies to engage students in effective teaching this fall and upcoming year?
Thank you so much Eric, for taking the time to speak with me. If anyone wants to learn more about your books, and programs/workshops for schools, they can go to https://www.jensenlearning.com/ or find you @EricJensenBrain on Twitter. Thanks so much.
RESOURCES:
Eric’s Books
His books include, Teaching with Poverty in Mind[v], Tools for Engagement,[vi] Engaging Students with Poverty in Mind[vii], Turnaround Tools for the Teenage Brain[viii], Poor Students, Rich Teaching[ix] and Different Brains, Different Learners.[x]
REFERENCES:
Kaiser Permanente ACE Study https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/acestudy/about.html
Dr. Lionel Allen, Urban Prep Academy in Chicago, IL https://www.sesp.northwestern.edu/news-center/inquiry/2011-fall/where-are-they-now.html
Dr. Terrence Sejnowski https://www.salk.edu/scientist/terrence-sejnowski/
Learning How to Learn by Barbara Oakley, Terrence Sejnowski and Alistair McConville (August 2018) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B077CRLW9Q/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1
 
[i] https://www.jensenlearning.com/about-eric-jensen/
[ii] Brain-Based Learning by Eric Jensen https://www.jensenlearning.com/what-is-brain-based-research/
[iii] Poor Students, Rich Teaching by Eric Jensen https://www.amazon.com/Poor-Students-Rich-Teaching-Mindsets-ebook/dp/B01BGAK7ZK
[iv] Society for Neuroscience https://www.sfn.org/
[v] Teaching with Poverty in Mind by Eric Jensen http://www.ascd.org/publications/books/109074.aspx
[vi] Tools for Engagement by Eric Jensen http://www.toolsforengagement.com/
[vii] Engaging Students with Poverty in Mind http://www.ascd.org/Publications/Books/Overview/Engaging-Students-with-Poverty-in-Mind.aspx
[viii] Turnaround Tools for the Teenage Brain by Eric Jensen https://www.jensenlearning.com/turnaround-tools-for-the-teenage-brain/
[ix] Poor Students, Rich Teaching by Eric Jensen https://www.amazon.com/Poor-Students-Rich-Teaching-Mindsets-ebook/dp/B01BGAK7ZK
[x] Different Brains, Different Learners by Eric Jensen https://us.corwin.com/en-us/nam/different-brains-different-learners/book232340
 

Award Winning Author David A. Sousa on "How the Brain Learns"

Welcome back to the Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning podcast, episode #78 with David A. Sousa, an international educational consultant and author of more than 16 books that suggest ways that educators and parents can translate current brain research into strategies to improve learning. Watch the interview on YouTube here. 
It was David Sousa’s How the Brain Learns book Series[i]  that is now in its 4th Edition (that includes How the Brain Learns, How the Brain Learns to Read, How the Gifted Brain Learns, and How the Special Needs Brain Learns) that I was given by an educator when I was urged to add the most current brain research to my programs. When reading this series, I was told from other respected colleagues that this book series is one that every educator should read. It also helped me as a parent of a struggling reader to understand how my own child learns to read and gave me more understanding and patience to help put into practice some of the secrets for accelerating literacy that I will share throughout this interview.
I also discovered How the ELL Brain Learns[ii]  that helped me to create a webinar for an educational publisher called “Nine Brain-Based Strategies to Skyrocket Literacy and Achievement”[iii] and there’s also Differentiation and the Brain and How the Brain Learns Mathematics. The Leadership Brain suggests ways for educators to lead more effectively in today’s schools.
He also has a book for educators, Engaging the Rewired Brain that examines how technology changes the way students' brains function and how educators can adapt instruction to keep students motivated and The Power of Student Teams[iv]: Achieving Social, Emotional and Cognitive Learning in Every Classroom Through Academic Teaming[v] that describes a path to predictable success for every student, in every classroom, in every school—all backed by student data, neuroscience research, and experiences from superintendents, school leaders, teachers, and students who have made the shift, teaching through the power of student teams. 
David is a member of the Cognitive Neuroscience Society[vi], has conducted workshops in hundreds of school districts on brain research, instructional skills and science education at the K-12 to University levels.
Welcome David, thank you so much for taking the time to speak with me today. It feels surreal after studying your books for the past 6 years.
Q1: David, I really don’t think that I would have understood how the brain learns, enough to teach it to others without your How the Brain Learns Series that I was given 6 years ago, but at first, it wasn’t like I read the books and understood the workings of the brain instantly. I was a bit intimidated by the memory charts and thought that understanding this topic might a bit over my head without a degree in neuroscience. I was lucky to have a neuroscience researcher to help me with my questions, and with time, I really started to understand this fascinating organ that I had never really thought of before.  Can you go back a bit to BEFORE you wrote these books and share where this series originated from, in addition, how did you take into consideration that many people, like me, at first glance, might be afraid of the complexity of this topic?
Q2: I love how each book starts with a practitioner’s corner, assessing your current knowledge of reading, or myths about giftedness, or the special needs brain, to bring out some important differences with how the brain learns to read. Can you explain what happens (in the brain) when a child is learning how to read, and perhaps some of the secrets that we can look for to accelerate reading, like “how quickly and successfully the brain learns to read is greatly influenced by the student’s ability to speak?” and how is the Gifted Brain Different than the Special Needs Brain, or the ELL Brain when it’s learning to read?
Q3: We’ve all heard the statistics about the importance of reading proficiency by 3rd grade.
2/3 of students who cannot read proficiently by the end of 4th grade will end up in jail or on welfare.
Over 70% of America’s inmates cannot read above a 4th grade level.
1 in 4 children in America grow up without learning how to read.
Students who don't read proficiently by the 3rd grade are 4 times likelier to drop out of school.
I’ve got a struggling reader, going into 4th grade this year, and we’ve been on top of her reading, but can you explain how a child can get behind with reading (what happens that one child can read easily and another child finds it really difficult) and what do you suggest parents, teachers do to stay on top of a child who is struggling to read, so they don’t become one of these statistics?
Q4: Can you explain how we can build a child’s vocabulary or “mental lexicon of spoken vocabulary” and how the brain “stores clusters of closely associated words in tightly packed networks?”  This idea really helped me when working with my daughter and her reading, as I could see words that she didn’t have in her mental lexicon giving her trouble, (I was picturing the word cluster map that you had in your book, with the new word not connecting to the words she knew) until it was eventually added and she could read the new word fluently.
Q5: Can you share the concept that you and Michael Toth write about in The Power of Student Teams,[vii] where you show how student-led academic teaming elevates core instruction to a level of rigor far beyond that of traditional classrooms and familiar grouping strategies? What is the main idea of this book, and how is it empowering students and teachers in the classroom?
Q6: How can a student improve their learning and increase their confidence levels with an understanding of how their brain works? Why do you think it is so important for teachers, parents, and anyone else to understand how their brain works?
Q7: What are some myths that you think are still out there that we should all be aware of?
Q8: Is there anything important that I might have missed? Maybe from your books that we haven’t mentioned?
Thank you so much for taking to time to speak with me today. If anyone wants to find your books, I have put links to them in the show notes. Thank you for creating these books to help parents, like me, educators and students all over the world to understand how their brains work, to improve our results at school, home or the workplace.
Q9: David surprises Andrea with a question: What would you like to know about the brain that I can help you with? Andrea asks, “Why are some habits more difficult to break than others?”
RESOURCES:
Dr. Madelaine Hunter https://education.stateuniversity.com/pages/2074/Hunter-Madeline-Cheek-1916-1994.html
Brain Tools Podcast with Samuel Holston “Your everyday addictions and neuroscience.” https://braintools.podbean.com/e/your-everyday-addictions-and-neuroscience-braintools/
REFERENCES:
[i] How the Brain Learns by David A. Sousa https://us.corwin.com/en-us/nam/how-the-brain-learns/book252012
[ii] How the ELL Brain Learns by David A Sousa https://us.corwin.com/en-us/nam/how-the-ell-brain-learns/book235077
[iii]“Nine Brain-Based Strategies to Skyrocket Literacy and Achievement” by Andrea Samadi for Voyager Sopris Learning https://www.voyagersopris.com/webinar-series/andrea-samadi-webinar-form
[iv] RECENT AWARD from the Florida Authors and Publishers Association https://myfapa.org/book-awards/
[v]The Power of Student Teams: Achieving Social, Emotional and Cognitive Learning in Every Classroom Through Academic Teaming https://www.learningsciences.com/authors/michael-toth/the-power-of-student-teams
[vi] Cognitive Neuroscience Society https://www.cogneurosociety.org/
[vii] The Power of Student Led Teams: Achieving Social, Emotional and Cognitive Learning in Every Classroom Through Academic Teaming  https://www.learningsciences.com/authors/michael-toth/the-power-of-student-teams
 

University Professors and Authors Doug Fisher and Nancy Frey on "Developing and Delivering High Quality Distance Learning for Students."

Welcome back to the Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning podcast, episode #77 with Doug Fisher and Nancy Frey, who are both professors at San Diego State University in Educational Leadership where they focus on policies and practices in literacy and school leadership. Watch the interview on YouTube here.
 
For those who are new here, my name is Andrea Samadi,  I’m a former educator who created this podcast to bring the most current neuroscience and educational research, matched with social and emotional skills, with interviews from experts who have risen to the top of their field with specific strategies or ideas that you can implement immediately, to take your results to the next level. My vision is to bring the experts to you, share their books, resources and ideas to help you to implement their proven strategies, whether you are a teacher working in the classroom or online, a student, or parent working in the corporate space.
 
Welcome Doug and Nancy, it’s wonderful to meet you after enjoying your books for the past few days.
 
Doug and Nancy are also both teacher leaders at Health Sciences High & Middle College, an award-winning open-enrollment public school in the City Heights neighborhood of San Diego that they co-founded in 2007. For over 2 decades, they have dedicated their work to the knowledge and skills teachers and school leaders need to help students attain their goals. Their shared interests include instructional design, curriculum development, and professional learning. Doug and Nancy have co-authored numerous articles and books on literacy, and leadership that I’ve included links to in the show notes, including: This is Balanced Literacy,[i] The Teacher Clarity Playbook, PLC+,[ii] All Learning is Social & Emotional[iii], The Teacher Credibility and Collective Efficacy Playbook,[iv] and most recently The Distance Learning Playbook[v] with co-author John Hattie[vi]. 
I couldn’t start this podcast, without acknowledging John Hattie’s Visible Learning Research[vii] and the fact that he is the co-author of your Distance Learning Playbook. I 100% agree with the write-up I saw in your book that says “The pandemic teaching of mid 2020 was not distance learning but rather crisis teaching.” But starting now, teachers have the opportunity to prepare for distance learning with purpose and intent.”[viii] I’d love to learn how the idea of The Distance Learning Playbook came about and why it was important for you to include John Hattie as your co-author. (Discuss the playbook style of PD book and about John’s Visible Learning research).
My next question for you ties into our last podcast, episode #76 with Michael Horn on “Using a Positive Lens to Explore Change and the Future of Education”[ix] where he spoke about the importance of embracing technology as an important component of our future, and the article you wrote for SmartBrief.com on “4 Steps for Powerful Distance Learning Experiences”[x]  ties right into this topic. This morning I had both my girls go “back to school” online and I was grateful that I felt a bit more prepared for this after getting ready for this interview and reading that article. Could you outline these 4 steps as many schools and families are like me, in the beginning stages of going back to school, with distance learning being the platform to launch the school year, before students transition to in person learning?
Because this podcast focuses on social emotional learning, I’d love to dig a little deeper into the concept of the all-important teacher-student relationship. I know that building relationships is one of John Hattie’s teaching effects from one of our earlier episodes, #7 with Assistant Superintendent Greg Wolcott, who wrote his book Significant 72 based on the importance of student-teacher relationships.[xi]  What type of impact do those relationships have on student learning and how do teachers build those relationships from a distance?
Tying in closely with the teacher-student relationship is a concept you call Teacher Credibility. In fact, one of your other playbooks is titled Teacher Credibility and Collective Efficacy.[xii] However, in the distance learning playbook, you focus on how to build that credibility at a distance. Can teachers really do that when they’re not in the same room with their students?
I noticed Module 1 of your Distance Learning book is titled “Take Care of Yourself” referring to teachers/educators taking care of themselves first. I really appreciate that you put this as Module 1. Can you tell me about why self-care is at the front and center in your playbook and tie in the fact that All Learning is Social and Emotional and that as parents, and educators, the need to take care of ourselves before we reach out and help our children or students?[xiii]
I know you’re both big proponents of Teacher Clarity and how that clarity has the potential to accelerate student learning.  You’ve identified 3 questions that contribute to teacher clarity. Can you briefly cover those and how they apply to distance learning?
Lastly, and tying back to social emotional learning, in your playbook you discuss the socioemotional links to feedback. Tell us about the importance of a classroom climate (be it physical or virtual) where errors are celebrated and expected and how that plays into feedback.
What are your final thoughts to tie everything in together on the future of education?
 
Thank you so much for taking the time to share your work and powerful vision for education. If someone wants to learn more about you, is the best way  https://www.fisherandfrey.com/ and they can find you both on twitter Nancy is @NancyFrey and Douglas is @DFisherSDSU
 
Also, Corwin Press is also offering a 30% discount plus free shipping through the end of August on all books and I will have the link for your Distance Learning Playbook[xiv] in the show notes.
 
REFERENCES:
[i] https://us.corwin.com/en-us/nam/this-is-balanced-literacy-grades-k-6/book266872
 
[ii] https://us.corwin.com/en-us/nam/plc/book266974
 
[iii] All Learning is Social and Emotional http://www.ascd.org/Publications/Books/Overview/All-Learning-Is-Social-and-Emotional.aspx
 
[iv] https://us.corwin.com/en-us/nam/the-teacher-credibility-and-collective-efficacy-playbook-grades-k-12/book271561
 
[v] 30% off all books at Corwin Press though the month of August 2020 https://us.corwin.com/en-us/nam/thedistancelearningplaybook
 
[vi] John Hattie https://visible-learning.org/
 
[vii] John Hattie https://visible-learning.org/
 
[viii] The Distance Learning Playbook https://us.corwin.com/en-us/nam/thedistancelearningplaybook
 
[ix]Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast Episode #76 with Michael Horn on “Using a Positive Lens to Explore Change and the Future of Education” https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/speaker-and-writer-michael-b-horn-on-using-a-positive-lens-to-explore-change-and-the-future-of-education/
 
[x] “4 Steps for Powerful Distance Learning Experiences.” For Smartbrief by Douglas Fisher and Nancy Frey, July 16, 2020. https://smartbrief.com/original/2020/07/4-steps-powerful-distance-learning-experiences
 
 
[xi] Neuroscience Meets SEL Podcast EPISODE #7 with Greg Wolcott https://www.achieveit360.com/assistant-superintendent-greg-wolcott-on-building-relationships-in-todays-classrooms/
 
[xii]Teacher Credibility and Collective Efficacy  https://us.corwin.com/en-us/nam/the-teacher-credibility-and-collective-efficacy-playbook-grades-k-12/book271561
 
[xiii] All Learning is Social and Emotional http://www.ascd.org/Publications/Books/Overview/All-Learning-Is-Social-and-Emotional.aspx
 
[xiv] 30% off all books at Corwin Press though the month of August 2020 https://us.corwin.com/en-us/nam/thedistancelearningplaybook

Speaker and Writer Michael B. Horn on "Using a Positive Lens to Explore Change and the Future of Education."

Welcome back to the Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning podcast, episode #76 with Michael Horn, the author and coauthor of multiple books, white papers, and articles on education, including the award-winning book Disrupting Class: How Disruptive Innovation Will Change the Way the World Learns [i], (a book I think that everyone should read as it describes how disruptive technologies  will personalize and revolutionize learning) making complete sense with what’s happening with online learning in the world today. He also wrote the Amazon-bestseller Blended: Using Disruptive Innovation to Improve Schools [ii]and his most recent book,  Choosing College: How to Make Better Learning Decisions Throughout Your Life.[iii] that was written to help students and parents stay ahead of the curve as they make important college decisions.
 
Watch this interview on YouTube here.
 
Podcast Intro and Background on Michael
 
Welcome Michael! It was fun to hear your reaction to some of my questions yesterday, that dig back a few years.  
 
I first saw you speak, Michael, at the ASU/GSV Summit in San Diego in 2016[iv] when our company was nominated for the McGraw Hill Innovation Award[v] in K-12 Education and wanted to watch this event, learn from the speakers, through streaming video. The title of my notes this year was “Aha Moments from the Eyes of a Disruptor” so I must have been reading your book Disrupting Class at that time. It was from this event that I learned about disruptive ed tech companies like Class Dojo, Clever and Remind who were all skyrocketing their online services  within the school market  (and now most people have these apps on their phones) and I knew this conference was one that I needed to stay connected to, and learn from these speakers, with you being one of them, if I wanted to stay at the forefront of innovation in education. Things really have changed since 2016, haven’t they?
 
Thank you so much for meeting up with me, to share your vision of education with those who are listening. I’ve been on your email list, ever since that 2016 summit, and felt that it was time I reach out to you when your email subject matter read “Why Developing Character in Schools Matters” as I have been focused on a Character Manual for Educators to put these of these concepts into practice.
 
Q1: Michael, I have so many questions that range from the K12 market, into higher education, and then I found your podcast Class Disrupted[vi] that you started when the coronavirus pandemic disrupted education and changed everything we as parents, teachers, or workers know about what it means to go to school.  I listened to a few episodes, and loved them with my favorite being the one about “Why can’t Sal Khan just teach everyone?” Can you give an overview of your podcast, and what your vision is so our listeners can check it out and stay with your content?
 
Q2: Let’s go back to 2016 to that ASU GSV Summit (this was the one that Bill Gates was a keynote speaker), these were the good old days in education. I was watching some of these ed tech companies talking about their growth. It’s crazy for me to look back and see that Class Dojo was only founded 9 years ago, and Coursera 8 years ago or that the Remind app back then was only in 50% of public schools (I am sure they are in 100% by now). We can all see that online education and technology has disrupted education.  Remember Moore’s Law[vii] that shocked Gordon Moore, Intel’s co-founder and author of Moore’s Law that states that “computing power will double every two years.” What advice would you have for schools/teachers/parents that were not ready or set up for this wave of online education that we are all now getting used to?
 
Q3: As a parent of 5-year-old twins, what are you focused on at home with their learning? I know routines are important, but what does a typical day look like for you? I’m asking mainly because I’m hoping to hear that someone whose written all these books in education with access to all of the tools under the sun, finds working from home, AND homeschooling to be challenging…like I am!
 
 
Q4: What about higher ed. I saw your article “Changes Ahead in Higher Ed: The Experts Weigh in”[viii] and wonder what other changes do you see for the 2020-2021 school year that go beyond COVID-19 testing, online learning challenges, the sports team you mentioned were being eliminated and whether campuses will reopen?
 
Q5: On this podcast, we do focus on the 5 social and emotional competencies, with self-awareness being one of them. Why do you think a gap year is so important for students these days to consider learning more about themselves before going to their next steps after high school?
 
 
Q6: Is there anything that you think is important that we have missed, to close out our conversation?
 
Thank you very much Michael, for the time you have taken to be on this podcast and share your vision for education in the next year. For those who would like to learn more about you, they can go to https://michaelbhorn.com/ and find all of your books there and follow you on Twitter @michaelbhorn or Michael Horn on LinkedIn.
 
Michael’s BIO
 
Michael is a senior strategist at Guild Education, and founder of the Clayton Christensen Institute, a nonprofit think tank. He's an expert on disruptive innovation, online learning, blended learning, competency-based learning, and how to transform the education system into a student-centered one. He serves on the board and advisory boards of a range of education organizations, including the Clayton Christensen Institute, the Robin Hood Learning+Tech Fund, and the LearnLaunch Institute. He also serves as an executive editor at Education Next and is a venture partner at NextGen Venture Partners.
 
RESOURCES:
 
ASU GSV SUMMIT https://www.asugsvsummit.com/
 
SEPT. 2020 Agenda with Michael Horn speaking https://www.asugsvsummit.com/speakers/michaelhorn
 
Class Disrupted Podcast https://www.the74million.org/class-disrupted-podcast/
 
Khan Academy Kids for ages 5 and under teaches early literacy, math and social and emotional skills through 1,000 games, videos and stories. https://khankids.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/360004559231-Welcome-to-Khan-Academy-Kids
 
Resource for Colleges https://www.edmit.me/
 
Measuring Colleges’ Financial Strength https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2020/05/08/public-and-private-measures-colleges-financial-strength-spark-more-discussion
 
Kaplan’s Boost Year https://boostbykaplan.com/
 
 
 
REFERENCES:
Remind, a company that reaches parents and students wherever they are, increased to 35M users, with 50% of public schools using their services.
ClassDojo, a simple, safe classroom management app that helps teachers encourage students in class, and easily communicate with parents was founded in 2011 and now has 50M users.
Clever, founded in 2012, a program that keeps educational applications (anything that needs a user name and password) up to date so that students log into their applications in one place, with a simple process, now has 20M users across the country.
Stanford AI Lab, had 160,000 students in 2011, and has now grown to over 4M users.
Coursera had 18M students in 2012, now has over 35M.
 
 
Moe continues to explain why these companies have experienced exponential growth with Moore’s Law, that states that “computing power will double every two years.”  These numbers have shocked Gordon Moore (Intel co-founder and author of Moore’s Law) himself, as shown in this image.
 
 
So what’s next for this next generation of students with these current trends? We do know that 50% of the jobs that currently exist will be replaced in the next 20 years, bringing up new challenges. How are we preparing our students for jobs that don’t yet exist? How do we ensure that “every person has an equal opportunity to participate in the future?” Moe asks and replies with some solutions to consider. Think of ways to “apply imagination to come up with ideas to solve big problems” with these companies as examples.
Facebook re-imagined communication
Airbnb re-imagined travel
Uber re-imagined how to hail a cab
 
REFERENCES:
[i] https://michaelbhorn.com/2017/08/disrupting-class/
[ii] https://michaelbhorn.com/portfolio/blended-using-disruptive-innovation-to-improve-schools/
[iii] https://michaelbhorn.com/portfolio/choosing-college/
[iv]ASU GSV Summit 2016 Keynote hosted by Michael Horn “Mind the Gap: How Do Universities, Employers, Students and Government Get in Sync.”  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3y2u_5URWQM&t=258s and summit keynote slides https://www.slideshare.net/gsvmedia/brain-waves-2016-asu-gsv-summit-keynote
[v] McGraw Hill Jr. Prize in Education  https://www.mcgrawprize.com/winners/
[vi] Class Disrupted Podcast https://www.the74million.org/article/listen-introducing-the-class-disrupted-podcast-a-weekly-pandemic-education-conversation-hosted-by-author-michael-horn-summit-public-schools-diane-tavenner/
[vii] Moore’s Law https://ourworldindata.org/technological-progress
[viii] Changes Ahead in Higher Ed by Michael B Horn July 18th, 2020  https://michaelbhorn.com/2020/07/changes-ahead-in-the-world-of-higher-ed-the-experts-weigh-in/
 

Director of Rutgers SEL and Character Development Lab, Maurice J. Elias on "Boosting Emotional Intelligence Through Sports, Academics and Character."

Welcome back to the Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning podcast, episode #75 with Maurice Elias, a Professor of Psychology at Rutgers University[i], Director of the Rutgers Social-Emotional Learning Lab[ii], Academic Director of The Collaborative Center for Community-Based Research and Service at Rutgers and he is one of the members of CASEL (Collaborative  for Social and Emotional Learning) which our listeners will know as a trusted source for knowledge about high-quality, evidence-based social and emotional learning programs.[iii] Prof. Elias lectures nationally and internationally to educators and parents about students’ emotional intelligence, school success, and social-emotional and character development. Among Dr. Elias’ numerous books are ASCD’s Promoting Social and Emotional Learning: Guidelines for Educators, the Social Decision Making/Social Problem-Solving curricula for grades k-8, Emotionally Intelligent Parenting, and many others that I will reference in this interview.
 
Watch the interview on YouTube here. 
 
Podcast Introduction and Backstory of Maurice Elias
 
My name is Andrea Samadi,  I’m a former educator who created this podcast to bring the most current neuroscience research, matched with social and emotional skills, with interviews from experts who have risen to the top of their field with specific strategies or ideas that you can implement immediately, to take your results to the next level. My vision is to bring the experts to you, and help you to implement their proven strategies, whether you are a teacher working in the classroom or online, a student, or parent working in the corporate space, for immediate results.
 
When I was first introduced to Maurice Elias, it was from Corwin Press’s Marketing Department, who explained to me that his work fit directly into what we are doing with this podcast. When I looked at his website, and the Rutgers Social and Emotional Learning lab, it looked familiar—I know I have been on his page before, while researching leaders in this field, and within a minute of watching a YouTube video of his work from back in 2010[iv] that describes Emotion in Education, I wish I had been introduced to him 10 years ago.
 
Welcome Maurice, it’s wonderful to meet you.
 
Thank you so much for agreeing so quickly to share all the work you have been doing to transform education. After reading a couple of your books, I couldn’t stop thinking about what would have happened, if I had met you 10 years ago when I worked at Pearson Education...
 
At that time, I was working as a sales rep, selling programs and services to the school market and someone reminded me recently of how hard I tried to put social and emotional learning content into one of the products we were selling. For those who have been following this podcast, you will know that I have had this vision for teaching these skills in the classroom for the past 20 years, and finally decided to approach Pearson’s Product Development team with this vision and was told “let’s take it slow, and poll some educators, and see how they respond.” It just wasn’t the right time. If only I had met you back then, Maurice, I would have just played the video I saw of you in 2010 called Emotions in Education to help them catch the vision that you explained in be “the foundation of what learning is all about.”[v]  I would have had the right person, with the right sense of the urgency for this vision but so glad to be meeting you now!
 
Q1: Maurice, as a Professor of Psychology at Rutgers University and the Director of the Social-Emotional and Character Development Lab that guides school-based efforts on SEL and character development, I wonder how and when your vision for SEL and Character began and what’s the vision that you hold now for your SECD lab[vi] and SEL in schools? 
 
Q2: I’ve always thought that character was an integral component to SEL and I can see that you agree calling your lab social and emotional and character lab. Can you explain the idea that Character has two essential parts: moral character and performance character that you talk about in your book The Other Side of the Report Card[vii]? 
 
Q3: I know that many educators want to improve their students’ social and emotional intelligence, but don’t know where to begin. In your book The Educators Guide to Emotional Intelligence and Academic Achievement[viii], you mention some first steps that educators should consider when implementing these ideas into the classroom (in person or virtual classroom)? I read your article about creating buy in for educators[ix], but what else should they consider? How can they best prepare for their vision of integrating these skills into the classroom?
 
Q4: What about parents who want to raise emotionally intelligent children, (which is all of us) and especially children who have the ability to think and make decisions. In your book, Emotionally Intelligent Parenting,[x] you take some of the principles from Daniel Goldman’s bestseller, Emotional Intelligence[xi] and explain how they can be applied to successful parenting. Can you explain a couple of these principles and why we its crucial to be teaching them at home to our children? 
 
Q5: I loved the article you published for Parent Toolkit (I saw it on LinkedIn about how watching sports with your children can boost their SEL/Emotional Intelligence skills).[xii] I absolutely loved this idea, as I never thought about this connection but there was this one time, we were at a baseball game with my 2 girls, ages 10 and 8 and we watched Wilson Ramos[xiii] (Ra-Mos) meditate away from some other players who were warming up, before a game. We did talk about it, but I never thought about going deeper with this like you did with this article. (Talking about focus, the athlete’s preparation and practice, emotion regulation, goal setting, problem solving, planning, teamwork, building resiliency and overcoming obstacles). I know it’s going to be awhile since we are all watching a game like this live, but can you recap these ideas so we can think of creative ways to talk about discussing these skills so we can learn from these athletes? 
 
Q6: It’s definitely been different times the past few months, but I know there is always a positive side to every challenging situation. What do you think are some challenges that educators/parents/families are going to face in the next year, and how can we think of these challenges as learning opportunities to build resilience?
 
Q7 Final thoughts. Is there anything that we’ve missed that you think is important? 
 
Thank you so much Maurice, for your time today. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed learning more about the work you are doing at Rutgers’s Social and Emotional Learning Lab. My brother in law went to the New Brunswick Campus, and he’s now a Professor at SMU in Texas, and I’ve only heard great things about Rutgers over the years. For those who want to reach you directly, they can go to www.secdlab.org and contact you from there.
 
RESOURCES:
www.casel.org
www.character.org
Committee for Children https://www.cfchildren.org/
https://sel4us.org/
 
REFERENCES:
[i] https://psych.rutgers.edu/faculty-profiles-a-contacts/93-maurice-elias
 
[ii] https://www.secdlab.org/
 
[iii] https://casel.org/founders/
 
[iv] Emotion in Education YouTube with Maurice J Elias Published Aug. 4, 2010 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7K2uSg-_KlI
 
[v] Emotions in Education, Maurice J. Elias, YouTube Published August 4, 2010
[vi] Social and Emotional and Character Development Lab https://www.secdlab.org/
 
[vii] The Other Side of the Report Card by Maurice J. Elias, Joseph Ferrito, and Dominic Moceri. (2015) https://us.corwin.com/en-us/nam/the-other-side-of-the-report-card/book245000
 
[viii]The Educators Guide to Emotional Intelligence and Academic Achievement by Maurice J. Elias and Harriett Arnold (2006)  https://us.corwin.com/en-us/nam/the-educators-guide-to-emotional-intelligence-and-academic-achievement/book226781
 
[ix] Creating Buy-in for SEL at Your School by Maurice J. Elias Published October 10, 2017 https://www.edutopia.org/article/creating-buy-sel-your-school
 
[x] Emotionally Intelligent Parenting: How to Raise a Self-Disciplined, Responsible, Socially Skilled Child by Maurice J. Elias, Steven Tobias and Brian S. Friedlander  (May 18, 2011) https://www.amazon.com/Emotionally-Intelligent-Parenting-Self-Disciplined-Responsible-ebook/dp/B004G5ZY92
 
[xi] Emotional Intelligence: Why it Can Matter More than IQ by Daniel Goleman (2009) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B002ROKQNS/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1
 
[xii] Watch Sports with Your Kid and Build Their SEL/Emotional Intelligence Skills by Maurice J. Elias (Nov. 2018) https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/watch-sports-your-kids-build-selemotional-skills-maurice-elias/
 
[xiii] Wilson Ramos https://www.mlb.com/player/wilson-ramos-467092
 

Brain Science Author, Horacio Sanchez Addresses Race, Culture and "How to Apply Brain Science to Improve Instruction and School Climate"

Welcome back to the Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning podcast, episode #74 with Horacio Sanchez, the President and CEO of Resiliency Inc.,[i] an agency leader in helping schools improve climate, instruction, and discipline with tools and resources that include his most recent book The Education Revolution.[ii]
Watch the interview on YouTube here. 
 
My name is Andrea Samadi,  a former educator who created this podcast to bring the most current neuroscience research, along with high performing experts with specific strategies or ideas that you can implement immediately, to take your results to the next level.
 
Welcome Horatio, it’s an honor to have you on today, especially knowing that one of our early interviews, EPISODE #3 with Ron Hall, from Valley Day School, Pennsylvania on “Launching Your Neuroeducational Program”[iii] features you in the show notes and YouTube video (2:51)[iv] I highly recommend listeners go back to the video interview, and hear Ron Hall’s story of meeting Horatio by chance at an educational conference, where he says that “in 10 minutes (of his presentation) he saw his future in education change right in front of his eyes.”
 
I want to give a bit more information on your background, since your background is vast in the field of neuroeducation, which is what we focus on here on this podcast. Horacio Sanchez is recognized as one of the nation’s prominent experts on promoting student resiliency and applying brain science to improve school outcomes. Horacio has been a teacher, administrator, clinician, mental health director, and consultant to the Department of Education in North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and other states. His diverse education and background have helped him to merge research, science, and practice which is why he has been so successful in the field of neuro education. His best-selling book, The Education Revolution published by Corwin Press, addresses the decline in empathy, increase in obesity, and the impact of implicit bias on minority students.
 
Welcome Horacio, I have so many questions to ask you, and hope that we can get them all in!
 
Q1: I like how you named your company Resiliency Inc as the word resiliency is important these days in education. Can you tell the story that I heard you tell on a podcast with John Williams, where you talk about how resiliency is built? (early days were hard, every day was a struggle, then they progress with hard work, effort, and now you have only good days and better days).
 
Q2: As a former publishing rep, I have visited thousands of schools in the US (mostly in the Southwest region) and know that you can “feel” a school’s climate within minutes of walking into a school, sometimes even from the parking lot. We’ve all felt this feeling—and you know that our students feel it also. How do you improve school climate and what outcomes does a school typically see with your school climate improvement plan?
 
Q3: One of the motivators for me doing the work that I’m doing with SEL/neuroscience began in the late 1990s with the Columbine tragedy being a huge motivator to take action. With all of your knowledge with students with emotional disorders, why do you think we have these incidents in the US? (My friends in Australia say they have not had one school shooting ever). What types of programs, or things should parents and educators be aware of to prevent these incidents from happening in the future? (connecting with the shy/anxious type)
 
Q4: These days, it’s very clear that students are not learning as much as they could be or should be learning. Parents are just not equipped to be teachers, and I’m talking from the heart, as a parent with a teaching degree, with more resources for my 2 kids at home to learn while schools have not been in session. With a sense of urgency, I’m thinking about students in poverty who will be struggling more these days with less instruction, especially if parents are working. How does culture and poverty impact an individual's perceptions, behaviors, and how they learn? What solutions do you see here?
 
In the next 2 weeks, I have been blessed to interview authors from Corwin Press, and while researching over the weekend, I can see that all authors for the school market are focusing on instilling character in addition to a student’s social and emotional skills. Why do you think there has been a decline in empathy and what do your programs do to build this skill back up again?
 
Q5: You have such a vast choice of training topics[v] on your website for educators.  One of the topics that stood out to me was Overcoming Issues of Diversity. Can you explain the impact of implicit biases, and how they are formed? What can we do to reduce or eliminate bias in the human brain in order to experience immediate progress?
 
Q6: What obstacles do you see that hold schools back from making progress with your programs, or any other programs they might be using? What are some key areas that schools should focus on for the most noticeable improvement?
 
Q7: Is there anything important that we have missed? Final thoughts.
 
Thank you so much Horatio, for meeting with me today to share more about your programs for schools. Are you conducting these programs I saw at https://www.resiliencyinc.com/ online? For anyone who wants to learn more about Horatio Sanchez’s programs, go to https://www.resiliencyinc.com/   
Follow Horatio on Twitter @resiliencyinc or Facebook and LinkedIn with Horatio Sanchez.
 
RESOURCES:
Cultural influences on neural systems (Feb.2020) https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0028393218303610
 
Kimberly Noble, Associate Professor of Neuroscience, Columbia University. https://www.irp.wisc.edu/staff/noble-kimberly/
 
REFERENCES:
[i] https://www.resiliencyinc.com/
 
[ii] The Education Revolution: How to Apply Brain Science to Improve Instruction and School Climate by Horatio Sanchez (August 5, 2016)   https://www.amazon.com/Education-Revolution-Science-Improve-Instruction/dp/1506332064/ref=sr_1_2?crid=1GQ398GD9TR7I&dchild=1&keywords=education+revolution&qid=1595640400&sprefix=eduaction+revol%2Caps%2C198&sr=8-2
 
[iii] https://www.achieveit360.com/ron-hall-of-valley-day-school-pa-on-launching-your-neuroeducational-program/
 
[iv] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1O0EWWYewQ&feature=youtu.be (2:51) where Ron Hall speaks about his introduction to educational neuroscience.
 
[v] https://www.resiliencyinc.com/training
 

Chris Manning, Ph.D. on "Using Neurowisdom to Improve Your Learning and Success in Life"

Welcome back to the Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning podcast, episode #73 with Chris Manning, Ph.D., who is a distinguished clinical professor of finance, real estate and entrepreneurship at Loyola Marymount University. He has authored and co-authored more than 30 articles published in both academic and professional journals (including the Harvard Business Review), and he continues to serve on the editorial board of the Journal of Real Estate Research. Watch the interview on YouTube here. 
 
My name is Andrea Samadi, and if you are new here, I’m a former educator who created this podcast to bring the most current neuroscience research, along with high performing experts who have risen to the top of their field with specific strategies or ideas that you can implement immediately, to take your results to the next level.
 
Today we have Chris Manning, who co-authored the book Neurowisdom: The New Brain Science of Money, Happiness and Success[1], with my mentor Mark Robert Waldman, and he is the only business professor I know who applies contemplative values and empathetic dialog when working with his Executive MBA students and corporate leaders. It is, in many ways, the psychology of business and work under one umbrella.
 
Thank you so much for agreeing to come on the podcast and sharing with our audience your knowledge on the brain as it relates to business success.
 
Chris, I just met you last week on Mark Waldman’s webinar, but I’ve known about you for years, through Mark Waldman. I didn’t know about your interest and vision to bring this concept you call Neurowisdom to your Executive MBA students.
 
 
Q1:  As simple as possible for our podcast listeners, please tells us What is NeuroWisdom all about?   Answer: 
NeuroWisdom is about learning to use your brain better to be more self- aware and self-directed to better achieve your goals and enjoy your life more;
Several years ago, Mark Waldman and I published our research findings learned from teaching our Loyola Marymount University Executive MBA NeuroLeadership course in a popular book (that we could also use as a textbook for our graduate level NeuroLeadership course):
This book, NeuroWisdom: The New Brain Science of Money, Happiness and Success, has now been turned into an online interactive course[2] complete with audios and videos to help people learn how to use their own brains better. (I recommend your listeners go MarkRobertWaldman.com[3] to check out our new and improved NeuroWisdom interactive online flipbook course complete with audios and videos and also look over our 10 free ebooks on related topics while there.)
In essence, our book discusses the practical application of recent Neuroscience discoveries about our brains that can enable a person to learn more efficiently, with less stress and more joy and become more successful (at whatever that means to them whether it be their career, relationships, an advanced graduate professional degree, or merely making more money).
 
Q2: What are the practical useful applications of recent Neuroscience discoveries that your book explains that our listeners can use every day in their life pursuits?  Answer:
We call them the “Four Pillars of Wealth” in our book (referring to a person’s search for both “inner and outer wealth”) and they are really more about “How to take advantage of your brain’s natural patterns and tendencies to better learn and achieve things in life”
 
While we all often “get in the way” (or “block”) our natural healthy motivations, and our natural abilities to learn and get ahead in the world, our book explains how to accept and take advantage of four natural brain circuits in everyone’s brain that supports our learning and how get what we want in life.
 
Q3. What are the actual “Four Pillars of Wealth” you talk about in NeuroWisdom and how does each of them help people learn better (faster, easier, and with less stress and more joy) to overcome whatever obstacles get in the way of their success in life?  Answer:
Pillar #1: Motivation (Desire, Curiosity and Pleasure)
Desire and curiosity are what gets us all out of bed in the morning to do anything! When people get stuck living by only this first pillar, and pursuing desire to the extreme (while ignoring what else their brains can enjoy), people become overly selfish and greedy.
Educators and business leaders need to encourage and support their students/employee’s natural desire and curiosity to further people’s energy and good health, not block, discourage, or get in the way of this extremely important natural brain function that even releases a dopamine into a person’s body (which is very pleasurable and even a euphoric experience even when only contemplating achieving whatever it is you desire to achieve or acquire). 
 
Pillar #2: Decision-Making (Goals, Consciousness and Inner Speech)
While most educators and employers appreciate the importance of learning and thinking better to make better decisions, few realize the importance of noticing when they are thinking “Positively” vs. when they are thinking Negatively,” and to learn how to control their negative thinking when it creaps in.  Certainly, worry and anxiety over something is natural for everyone, but we not only don’t have to dwell on negative things in our lives, it actually turns out to be unproductive to do so!!!
What happens is that when your brain gets caught up on worry, anxiety and other forms of negativity thinking, your higher brain functions (which we are about to talk about) merely shut down (and most people don’t realize that they can’t think well using negative thoughts.
We will come back to this at the end after I tell you about the two higher brain functions: Pillars #3 &4 . . .
 
 
Pillar #3: Creativity (Imagination, Intuition and Daydreaming)
This is where your brain enjoys “taking a break” from consciously learning, memorizing or working hard. People don’t realize that their best thinking happens subconsciously when you are not concentrating hard on solving a specific problem, but rather when you are relaxed, thinking of something else, asleep, and maybe even daydreaming.  Neuroscientists can now observe using brain scans that a person’s brain is actually more active and working harder when they are relaxed and daydreaming that when you are trying hard to concentrate on something!!  This relaxed brain state is when your intuition and creativity provides a person with their best answers – and it is a very pleasurable experience.  (Thus, daydreaming is an important use of your time to further learning and success!)
Think of all the times that people are trying to think harder for longer periods of time attempting to learn something or come up with “the answer.” Forcing yourself or others to do this is really counter-productive.  
Resting your brain’s decision-making efforts is not only more productive (and even necessary at times), but it is also enjoyable, reduces stress, builds self-confidence, brings more joy and satisfaction into one’s life as they get to enjoy using their creativity and intuition to easily know “the answer” to something.
 
Pillar #4: Social Awareness (Fairness, Empathy, and Generosity)
This higher level of brain function that makes learning easier and more pleasurable builds upon our first learning how to, and becoming comfortable with, using the other three pillars of wealth just mentioned.
Thus, we should teach people to not fight their natural desire and curiosity about things (Pillar #1), while encouraging people not to dwell on “negative stuff in their life,” but rather use their infinite creativity to look for positive solutions to whatever is causing them to “worry” or “be anxious” (Pillar #2), all while taking frequent pleasure breaks and relaxing from “working hard” on their “decision making” (Pillar #3), so that their awareness (Pillar #4) can enable their intuition to “come to the rescue” to provide the answer sought;
By using our self-awareness, our brains are able to “be present” with whatever is going on in our lives and intuitively know the answer to things through a higher brain function called “contemplation.” Being relaxed helps a lot to make this all happen for us.
 
In addition, using our self-awareness, our brains can naturally integrate our desires and thoughts so that we realize automatically how important other people are to us (e.g. family, friends, etc.) such that self-awareness naturally evolves within all of us as social awareness (that includes wanting to be fair to others, having empathy for what others are experiencing in life, and even being generous toward others);
Just as social awareness naturally evolves from one’s self-awareness, “Enlightened Hedonism” and even spiritual awareness naturally evolves from self-awareness and social awareness (which NeuroWisdom discusses at the end).
 
Q4: Was there any resistance to these concepts when you first started teaching them to your Executive MBA students?
 
Q5. Does NeuroWisdom contain any practical exercises that people hearing our Podcast today might be able to practice in order to learn how to use their brains better?   Answer:
Yes, we have more that 50 specific exercises contained in NeuroWisdom that people can practice – most of which take less that 1-2 minutes for someone to do so they can immediately access the the personal benefit of doing it.
Our Executive MBA students at LMU were far to busy to waste their time on meditation or anything that would take them 10-15 minutes to do! Thus, we wrote NeuroWisdom to seduce “busy skeptical people” into using their brains better to accomplish more in life, with much less stress, which enjoying each day.
 
Q6. Can you give us an example of one of your NeuroWisdom exercises that your Executive MBA students found particularly helpful?  Answer:
Yes, that would be our “Inner Values” exercise
Do we have time for me to briefly describe for your listeners how to do this exercise themselves and well as the benefits that they will notice right away in their own lives within a week? It will take less than 2 minutes?
 
Q7. Go ahead and briefly describe for our listeners how they can do your NeuroWisdom “Inner Values” exercise on their own and experience the benefits within a week.   Answer:
This is what I want your listeners to do each morning when they wake up before they get out of bed to start their day. . . .
Relax, take a deep breath, and ask themselves over the next 60 seconds first think in the morning before they get out of bed: What are my deepest inner most values?
By merely doing this first thing every morning, our Executive MBA students discover two very important things that improve their lives within a week:
      First, that they are subconsciously reminded throughout their normal workday (after they do this exercise) when some rote habit, behavior, or repetitive social interaction is not consistent with the deepest inner most values and they are inspired to change whatever that is to improve their life.
Second, when our students get in the habit of doing this exercise over a 10-day period, they begin to notice that their “deepest innermost values” gradually evolve into being even more important values that they want to live their lives by.
 
I do often get asked “how do I know if I’m thinking of a value” and I found it helps to remind people values are like our north stars, and when we are living them, happiness, success, and high performance shows up, and when we are not living them, conflicts and unhappiness shows up. That’s one way to identify values that you want in your life. What would you say to someone who is having a hard time uncovering their innermost values or their north stars?
 
Chris, I want to thank you very much for your time and all the work you did to prepare for this interview. If people want to learn more about the Neurowisdom book and online version that has the experiential exercises that you spoke about,  they can go to Mark Waldman’s website www.markrobertwaldman.com [4]where there’s a ton of FREE ebooks, tools and resources that take these evidence-based concepts and help us to bring them into our everyday experiences. Thanks so much for your time today.
 
RESOURCES:
 
EPISODE 30 of the “Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast” with Mark Robert Waldman on “12 Brain-Based Experiential Learning and Living Principles” https://www.achieveit360.com/neuroscience-researcher-mark-robert-waldman-on-12-brain-based-experiential-learning-and-living-principles/
 
EPISODE 48 of the “Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast” on Brain Network Theory: Using Neuroscience to Stay Productive During Times of Change and Chaos https://www.achieveit360.com/brain-network-theory-using-neuroscience-to-stay-productive-during-times-of-change-and-chaos/
 
FREE EBOOKS that relate to Neurowisdom http://markrobertwaldman.com/neurocoach-press/
 
 REFERENCES:
[1]Neurowisdom: The New Brain Science of Money, Happiness and Success  https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01N9BLBDH/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1
[2] Interactive Version of Neurowisdom http://markrobertwaldman.com/neurowisdom-enhanced-edition/
[3] Mark Robert Waldman’s Website www.markrobertwaldman.com
[4] Mark Robert Waldman’s Website www.markrobertwaldman.com

Dr. Shane Creado on "Sleep Strategies That Will Guarantee a Competitive Advantage"

Welcome back to the Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning podcast, episode #72 with sleep medicine physician, sports psychiatrist and author of the NEW book that I couldn’t put down, “Peak Sleep Performance for Athletes: The Cutting-Edge Sleep Science That Will Guarantee a Competitive Advantage”[i] Dr. Shane Creado. I highly recommend watching this interview here on YouTube with the visual images. 
My name is Andrea Samadi, and if you are new here, I’m a former educator who created this podcast to bring the most current neuroscience research, along with high performing experts who have risen to the top of their field with specific strategies or ideas that you can implement immediately, to take your results to the next level.
I am beyond excited to have Shane Creado[ii] here today. He is a double board-certified sleep medicine doctor and psychiatrist who practices functional sleep medicine, integrative psychiatry, and sports psychiatry, putting all those skills together to uncover underlying factors that sabotage the patients, comprehensively treats them, and helps them to achieve their goals. That shows dedication.
I want to give you just a bit about Dr. Creado’s background that shows where this dedication to helping others improve their lives began: He completed an undergraduate degree in physical therapy, went on to do an MD. He then went on to a fellowship in Sleep Medicine at the University of Wisconsin because of the huge overlap between sleep and psychiatric issues. As he believed in optimization, not normalization, he devoted his time to optimizing brain health in professional athletes, executives and anybody who is interested in peak performance. If you have not yet listened to episode #71 from last week, I did a deep dive into his book to prepare for this interview so we could maximize our time together.
Welcome Shane, thank you so much for writing back so quickly and agreeing to come on the podcast.  I know how busy medical professionals are--these days especially, and I know that you are working with patients in between this podcast. I didn’t expect that I would be able to get this time with you, so thank you so much!
After reading your book and recording episode #71 about the most important concepts from your book, I had so many questions.
INTRO/PRE QUESTIONS: Shane, I first heard you on Tana Amen and Dr. Amen’s Brain Warrior’s Way Podcast[iii], and then watched your YouTube Live with Tana Amen this week to be sure that the questions I ask you, don’t overlap with questions you have recently answered, but before we dive into the questions, can you explain what  you do with Amen Clinics in Chicago? Why would someone come and see you?
Can anyone come into Amen Clinics for a SPECT SCAN[iv], or do you need to be referred with a specific issue?
Q1: I love how you named your book Peak Sleep Performance for Athletes, as I know you are talking about concepts that EVERYONE can apply. I always look at elite athletes, or friends I see in exceptional shape and always ask them the same question “What foods do you eat and how do you train” to see if I can learn something. When you wrote this book, what message did you want to get across to those who work with elite athletes, as well as the regular person reading it, who may not be an elite athlete, but wants to train, live, eat and act like one?
Q2: I came across something you said in your book that I thought was so profound, I instantly created a graphic and shared it as many places as I could. You mention “your brain health and sports performance cannot be optimized unless your sleep is optimized. Once this is achieved, your quality of life will skyrocket. When you sleep well, the fabric of your life will change. When this happens, it will have a ripple effect.”  This podcast is all about improving our results with the understanding of neuroscience that I think is relatively new. 20 years ago, no one was asking me “what are you doing to improve your brain health, or what are you doing with your brain in mind.” Can you explain what research says now about the importance of our brain health and sleep as it correlates to our results (whether it’s athletic or just our day to day lives)?
Q3: One of the most powerful statistics I read in the first part of your book was that “60% of people with a traumatic brain injury (TBI) experience long-term difficulties with sleep” (p54) and that concussions cause sleep problems. Most people I know involved in athletics, have hit their head in some way, and I never would have made this connection between brain health and sleep, especially the fact that “sleep optimization is important before an athlete has a concussion, to reduce the risk of concussion.” (p58) Can you take us through the importance of sleep on the parts of the brain that are critical in sports and how sleep deprivation puts the athlete AND anyone else in significant danger of injury?
The parietal lobes, associated with spatial awareness (critical in sports with visual processing, sense of direction) are impaired with lack of sleep putting you at risk of poor form, positioning, footwork and performance. (p29)
Q4: When I was watching you with Tana Amen on her YouTube[v] live this week, she was asking you about nutritional supplements and you had mentioned of the importance of not just hearing that a supplement is good, and taking it, but to know your brain type. I know that Dr. Amen has assessments[vi] you can take online (I have done this one) but is the only way to know exactly what type of brain you have (busy or sleepy etc) to get a SPECT SCAN[vii]? Do you think that this type of scan is important to see what’s happening in the brain even if there are no problems showing to get a better understanding of how to improve our overall health and life?
Q5: In the deep dive episode to your book, I suggested 3 sleep improvement strategies.  What do think is important to add to this list to help prepare ANYONE for improved sleep and results in their life? I know that you listened to this episode. What else could we add to this list to improve our sleep right away?
Adopting the Mindset of an Elite Athlete: We can all learn from the lifestyle and work ethic of an elite athlete to take our results to the next level.
Empower Change with Fear: Understanding Exactly How Sleep Impacts the Brain: I’m not sure which one of the many statistics would make enough of an impact on you to change with your sleep habits, but once you find it, here’s your answer to sticking to the change you want to create.
Your Sleep Routine: Pick one or two new strategies to implement to improve your sleep and log your results. With time, you should notice an improvement in areas that go far beyond your health and daily results.
Q6: I saw your course Overcoming Insomnia[viii] that you have on Dr. Amen’s Online University Classes. I’ve taken his Thrive by 25 Course which I loved, so I highly recommend these classes. Can you give an overview of this course?  What if someone doesn’t have insomnia but just wants to improve their sleep? What types of supplements do you recommend for someone to improve sleep? What would I learn from this course?
21 exclusive evidence-based lessons
A comprehensive sleep evaluation + easy to implement protocol for better sleep
Cognitive behavioral strategies & recommended supplements for overcoming insomnia
Q7: My final question…I know you get asked this one EVERY time, but what’s the magic number? Is it really 7-9 hours of sleep that you want people to get? What about if we are getting 6.5 hours? I heard Dr. Satchin Panda[ix] (circadian rhythm researcher and sleep expert) speaking on Dave Asprey’s Bulletproof podcast and he mentioned that it’s 7 hours in bed meaning you can wake up and meditate or read at 6 hours… as long as you are resting in bed. Is this accurate, or would you still say, 7-9 hours asleep? (I get 6.5 hours and meditate for one hour…main reason I’m asking) 
Q8: Any final thoughts?
Thank you so much Shane for carving out this time to come on the podcast to share your knowledge about this powerful book Peak Sleep Performance for Athletes and online course Overcoming Insomnia. I think this is a crucial time for us all to be proactive with our health, and sleep is one of the facts we can change. If someone wants to dive deeper into all of the ways that a deficit of sleep impacts health and longevity, I highly recommend buying Dr. Creado’s book, looking into his online course and following his work. You can find him on Instagram or YouTube @peaksleepperformance or his website www.shanecreado.com. 
The good news is that we can all modify, optimize and improve our sleep routines for improvements that can have an immediate impact on our overall health, results and future.
RESOURCES:
Samuel Holston, Melbourne Australia, explains John Medina’s Sleep chronotypes (lark, owl, hummingbird sleep patterns) and more about sleep is his new podcast BRAIN TOOLS. https://braintools.podbean.com/e/brain-tools-ep-1-sleep-full/
Put Me to Sleep Brain Supplement https://brainmd.com/put-me-to-sleep
Overcoming Insomnia Online Course https://brainmd.com/overcoming-insomnia-course
Dr. Shane Creado’s Peak Sleep Performance for Athletes: The Cutting-Edge Sleep Science That Will Guarantee a Competitive Advantage (March 15, 2020) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B085YFP9YW/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1
Dr. Creado’s YouTube Channel Peak Sleep Performance https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChZEFjjDIjO3QqYHBZkWSmA
 REFERENCES:
[i] Dr. Shane Creado’s Peak Sleep Performance for Athletes: The Cutting-Edge Sleep Science That Will Guarantee a Competitive Advantage (March 15, 2020) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B085YFP9YW/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1
[ii] www.shanecreado.com
[iii] Dr. Shane Creado The Link Between Sleep and Daytime Performance https://brainwarriorswaypodcast.com/the-link-between-sleep-daytime-performance-with-dr-shane-creado/
[iv] https://www.amenclinics.com/services/
 
[v] Building Resilience: Sleep Tips with Dr. Shane Creado https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ty4kZFWYbJQ&pp=wgIECgIIAQ%3D%3D
 
[vi] https://brainhealthassessment.com/assessment
 
[vii] https://www.amenclinics.com/faq/
 
[viii] https://brainmd.com/overcoming-insomnia-course
 
[ix] Bulletproof Radio Podcast with Dave Asprey https://blog.daveasprey.com/light-dark-your-sleep-satchin-panda-part-1-466/
 

Self-Regulation and Sleep with a Deep Dive into Dr. Shane Creado's "Peak Sleep Performance for Athletes"

Welcome back to the Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning podcast, I’m so grateful that you are here, listening with me at this time when there’s a lot of chaos and uncertainty in the world. I’m sure you are feeling it—I most certainly am—but I do know that this chaos that we are feeling will always be here. There’s always going to be something happening in the world, and we must be prepared and stay in control, without letting outside influences impact our results. This is one of the key strategies used by the most successful people in the world. They have all have developed sound systems, with a clear plan to follow, and they don’t ever veer of their path. This uncertainty surely has the ability to knock the best of us, even the most productive, off course, without a clearly defined plan in place.
My name is Andrea Samadi, and if you are new here, I’m a former educator who created this podcast to bring the most current neuroscience research, along with high performing experts who have risen to the top of their field with specific strategies or ideas that you can implement immediately, to take your results to the next level.
First of all, I want to thank everyone who has followed, supported and shared this content. With this episode, we are now at over 20,000 downloads, reaching over 110 countries. I’m so thankful for the opportunity to create and share these ideas with such a wide audience. This has been the most powerful learning opportunity I have ever been involved with, and with each expert that we bring on here, we are learning the most current success strategies, to help us to all stay on track.  Here’s what we have covered so far on this podcast, so you can see where we started and where we are going. 
Season 1 EPISODES 1-33 introduced the social, emotional and interpersonal competencies to help parents, educators and those in the workplace to bridge the noticeable gap with SEL Competencies like growth mindset, responsible decision-making, self-awareness, social awareness, self-regulation and relationship building. We know that interventions that address these competencies increased students’ academic performance by 11 percentile points[i], compared to students who did not participate in such programs. Students learning these competencies also showed improved classroom behavior, an increased ability to manage stress and depression, and better attitudes about themselves, others, and school. The case is clear that these competencies are important for us to practice whether we are a teacher working in the classroom, a parent working with our children at home, or even how we interact with each other in the workplace.  Implementing these SEL competencies are the first step towards bridging the gap that employers have noticed exists in the workplace today.
Season 2  EPISODES 34-67 introduced more high-level experts with cognitive strategies from many different fields, with a focus on improving learning, focus, attention, goal setting, planning, perseverance and problem solving.  These are the core skills that our brain uses to think, read, remember, reason and pay attention and each guest explained how they use these skills for improved, consistent, predictable results in their field.
Moving into Season 3 now, with EPISODES 68 and onwards we are diving deeper into these 5 competencies by connecting them to well-known authors and experts and bringing in a cognitive connection. The more ideas, thoughts, and strategies that we can implement in our day to day lives, with our brain in mind, the more productive we will be. If we can learn to do everything with our brain in mind, the results will not only show up in our personal or academic/work lives, but we will be increasing our emotional intelligence at the same time—a skill that will prepare us for future life success.
This week, episode #71 focuses on applying self-regulation (everything that we do to feel better) with a close look at Dr. Shane Creado’s Peak Sleep Performance for Athletes: The Cutting-Edge Sleep Science That Will Guarantee a Competitive Advantage. [ii] 
If you have been listening to these episodes, and studying brain strategies, you will know that sleep is not only important for sports performance, or for elite athletes, but work and brain performance as well.  This episode we will continue to make connections for how we can pinpoint an area of our life to improve our results with these new ideas.
I first heard Dr. Shane Creado[iii] speak on Dr. Amen’s Brain Warrior’s Way Podcast, and he caught my undivided attention when he said that “your brain health and sports performance cannot be optimized unless your sleep is optimized. Once this is achieved, your quality of life will skyrocket.” Dr. Amen mentioned that he thinks this is one of the reasons why there’s an increase in mental health issues in the country, because if we don’t get a good night’s sleep, all areas of our life will suffer. If this sentence didn’t catch my attention, I’m not sure what would. 
I quickly bought Dr. Creado’s book and have reached out to him personally to see if I could dive even deeper into his work in person. Stay tuned, he will be our next interview, but in the meantime, I will break down the most important concepts from his book, that are not just important for me to share with you, but for me to practice as well. All of us will be at different stages of learning and implementation, depending on how long we have been working on these ideas. Sleep has been a topic that I have been learning, measuring and looking to improve for only the past year and a half and it’s not an area I would say I have mastered, yet, so join me in learning these tips, and I would love to know what  you think, if you learn anything new, and if you were able to implement any new ideas for new results. I would love to know. Send me a message on Linkedin, Twitter or Instagram.
Some quick facts that build a case for our need to put sleep first:
Sleep debt adds up and is non-recoverable, and “getting six, four, two or zero hours of sleep resulted in impairments equivalent to consuming 2/3, 5/6, 7/8 or 10/11 beers respectively.”[iv]
Even a single all-nighter can reduce your reaction time by more than 300%. (p21)
Reducing your nighttime sleep by 1.5 hours for just one night could result in a reduction of daytime alertness by as much as 32%.
Athletes who slept less than 8 hours/night had 1.7 times greater risk of being injured (p22)
72% of sleepy MBA players are no longer in major leagues two years later. (p24)
Sleep loss impacts the frontal lobes, temporal lobes, parietal lobes, and the amygdala “impairing judgement, decision-making, and worsens impulsivity (risk taking and moral reasoning), motivation, focus, memory, and learning. (p25)
Not getting enough sleep causes people to react more emotionally to negative stimuli because their amygdala overreacts. (p26)
Students with better sleep report higher GPAs and insufficient or poor-quality sleep predict a student’s academic performance. (p27)
We need sleep not just after we learn something (to back it up on your hard drive so you don’t forget it) but before learning as well to make sure there is enough space on our hard drive to store it. (p28)
The parietal lobes, associated with spatial awareness (critical in sports with visual processing, sense of direction) are impaired with lack of sleep putting you at risk of poor form, positioning, footwork and performance. (p29)
The most shocking statistic I learned from Dr. Creado is that “60% of people with a traumatic brain injury (TBI) experience long-term difficulties with sleep” (p54) and that concussions cause sleep problems. Most people I know involved in athletics, have hit their head in some way, and I never would have made this connection between brain health and sleep, especially the fact that “sleep optimization is important before an athlete has a concussion, to reduce the risk of concussion.” (p58)
Larry Fitzgerald (an NFL player) who I ran into often as our kids attended the same daycare when they were little has said that “on game days, that night I will for sure get 10 or 11 hours. I always get my rest and I think that’s one of the things that people don’t talk often about.” (p30)
I could go on and on and make a case for why sleep is so important for athletes, which easily transfers into our everyday life.  Sam Ramsden, the Director of Player Health and Performance of the Seattle Seahawks says that “sleep is a weapon” (p33) and that there are the countless ways that sleep impacts our health. Todd Woodcroft, former Assistant Coach to the Winnipeg Jets, currently the Head Coach Coach of the Vermont Catamounts from episode 38[v] was right in line with Ramsden’s emphasis of the importance of sleep with his players in ice hockey, saying that “rest is the single most powerful weapon” and that they schedule sleep for their players all the time. It was interesting for me to speak this morning with Rick Miller, from the Oakland A's Organization, as he told me that it’s been 30 years since he has played, but there was a stark difference from his experience with training. He told me that there was not a push to eat right or sleep well at all. It was the survival of the fittest where they would fit in meals when they could, and sleep when their crazy travel schedule allowed them to.  He compared it to the way athletes train today and said that he had zero access to the coaches that these young athletes have now. Athletes today are bigger, stronger, faster and are like machines, and they have to be because the competition is fierce. There are 20 people who can do exactly the same things as these athletes, so they need a competitive advantage, a way to step out and set themselves apart from the rest. Athletes today need to work at insanely higher levels than he was used to and live their sport every single day. Sleep is one of the many tools they use to do this.
If you want to dive deeper into all of the ways that a deficit of sleep impacts health and longevity, I highly recommend buying Dr. Creado’s book and following his work. You can find him on Instagram or YouTube @peaksleepperformance or his website www.shanecreado.com  The good news is that we can all modify and improve our sleep routines for improvements that can have an immediate impact on our overall health, results and future.
THOUGHT PROVOKING STRATEGIES THAT WE CAN IMPLEMENT to IMPROVE OUR SLEEP:
TIP 1: Adopting the Mindset of an Elite Athlete
An elite athlete, who has made significant sacrifices with their training schedules, and life, would most likely never choose sugar, alcohol or foods they know are bad for their body, the night before a big game. They just know better, and we can all learn from the lifestyle and work ethic of an elite athlete to take our results to the next level.  Rick Miller reminded me that athletes today are taking this to the next level, and often doing it on their own. They know what they must do, and they are sticking to their plan.
Not at all the way things were 20 years ago, where athletes often flew by the seat of their pants.  Jeremy Roenick, a former professional ice hockey player said that he once “played 36 holes of golf with basketball legend Michael Jordan, who drank maybe 10 beers, and then went on to play for the Chicago Bulls that night…against the Cleveland Cavaliers, where Jordan put up 44 points to help the Bulls win by 24 points.”[vi] There’s always the exception to the rule, but the research is clear that over the long term, alcohol will impact your sleep, not help it, since it’s a depressant to the nervous system, and will more likely cause fragmented sleep. It might have worked out ok for Michael Jordan back in those days, but not today, with the high level of competition in pro sports.
Dr. Creado talked about the fact that reaction time is reduced by 300%[vii] with one night of sleep deprivation, that not only translates over to the impact on the athlete,  but think about the impact on sleep deprived medical professionals, or the facts that there are over 38,000 fatal auto accidents/year in this country[viii]  where Dr. Creado ties in the fact that “with one night of sleep deprivation of less that 4 hours of sleep, it’s like drinking 4-5 alcoholic beverages and is literally the same as if you were drunk.”[ix]
Implement this tip into your daily life: and think how could you improve your results by watching what you put into your body the night or even few days before an important presentation?  Think about how a good night’s sleep a week before something important (modeling the way athletes treat a big sports game) and notice how it can impact our results. We all know this. If we haven’t slept well, and we get into the car and drive, we know we are not as focused. When we work on our sleep, all areas of our life improve.
TIP 2: Empower Change with Fear: Understand Exactly How Sleep Impacts the Brain
By now, we’ve all heard that it’s bad for our brain to read our phones before we go to sleep because it disrupts our natural circadian rhythm (a 24-hour internal clock that runs in the background of your brain defining our sleep/wake cycle)[x] and keeps us awake. I even heard this go a step further when I heard Dr. Satchin Panda (a researcher in circadian rhythm) talk about the fact that even going to a brightly lit store a few hours before bedtime is a bad idea, since that bright blue light from LED lighting can negatively impact your sleep.[xi]  Your circadian rhythm works best when you have developed regular sleep habits, like going to sleep and waking up the same time every day (including weekends) and limiting your exposure to these bright blue LED lights that can disrupt our biological clock by suppressing the production of melatonin (the hormone that regulates our sleep cycle).
Dr. Creado found a trick to encouraging his younger patients to turn off their devices at night by teaching them how their brains work. He taught one young patient that “if he was sleep deprived, the hippocampus, (the area of the brain responsible for new memories and learning) functioning drops by 40% and that kind of impact could have a detrimental impact on his choice of his career and sport. It could also limit his ability to become physically fit.”[xii] The young man didn’t want his phone use to ruin his future dreams and plans, so he made the habit change needed.  But what about you?
Implement this tip into your daily life: and think about your use of the phone before you sleep. I can see how this strategy could help students who need to maximize new learning and their ability to remember what they are studying), especially if they are trying to get into a certain school, and their entire future is on the line, but would it motivate you to make a change here? 
When I first started to learn more about brain health, I remember reading about the importance of shutting my phone off at night, to limit the amount of radiation coming from the phone, especially if it was next to my bed, and the importance of using the “night shift” feature that produces a dimmer light at night. While the research remains elusive if cell phones are really bad for us, and that “public health data shows no exposure to radio frequency energy from cell phones and health problems”[xiii] I still take notice when health experts I am studying talk about the fact that they do not sleep with electronic devices in their room at all.  It really made me think when I heard Dave Asprey, the founder of Bulletproof.com talking about the fact he wears blue light blocking glasses when he is using technology at night.[xiv]
TIP 3: Your Sleep Routine: Create regular “wake and out of bed times” that are consistent on a daily basis.
Create a bed time routine that takes into consideration a good bed (mattresses replaced every 7-10 years), with a room temperature in the mid-60s (F) or 16-19 degrees (C) and keeping lifestyle choices in mind like avoiding strenuous exercise four hours before bed time, and being aware of foods can disrupt sleep
Chapters 9, 10 and 11 of Dr. Creado’s book are dedicated to sleep performance habits and tips and I could spend the next couple of days writing about. Pick one or two new habits that you would like to implement like
Choose your going to sleep/wake up time and stick to it.
Decide how you will calm your mind before sleep (read/meditation).
Block out lights in your room that might be keeping you awake or use a sleep mask so lights are blocked.
Creado dedicates Ch 12 to sleep disorder supplements and it’s worthwhile reading up on his sleep promoting strategies and supplements.
When I speak with Dr. Creado for our next episode, I will go much deeper into the science behind sleep, the supplements he recommends, and more details on sleep strategies.
Just to review, there is a clear case that improving our sleep is not only important for sports performance, or for elite athletes, but work and brain performance as well.  There were 12 powerful statistics that caught my attention when reading Dr. Creado’s Peak Sleep Performance for Athletes, and that “60% of people with a traumatic brain injury (TBI) experience long-term difficulties with sleep” (p54) and that concussions cause sleep problems. Knowing how important sleep is for athletes, why wouldn’t we all want to optimize our sleep for improved performance? With the brain in mind, there are 3 thought provoking strategies to think about: 
Adopting the Mindset of an Elite Athlete: We can all learn from the lifestyle and work ethic of an elite athlete to take our results to the next level.
Empower Change with Fear: Understanding Exactly How Sleep Impacts the Brain: I’m not sure which one of the many statistics would make enough of an impact on you to change with your sleep habits, but once you find it, here’s your answer to sticking to the change you want to create.
Your Sleep Routine: Pick one or two new strategies to implement to improve your sleep and log your results. With time, you should notice an improvement in areas that go far beyond your health and daily results.
Let me know if you learned anything new with this episode that dives deep into self-regulation and sleep. I hope that you have found something helpful here to help you to create some sort of routine in these times of chaos and uncertainty. I know that we all create energy that goes out into the world, and my hopes are that these ideas help you to keep moving with positivity. Everything that we are all doing now, matters in the larger scheme of things. If we can create a solid framework now, then when more challenge or uncertainty comes our way, we will be prepared for it. Using these strategies will help you to keep those energy reservoirs high, so that when challenges hit you, you will be able to get back on track, with more resilience.
Stay well and see you with our next episode.
REFERENCES:
[i] https://casel.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/meta-analysis-child-development-1.pdf
[ii] Dr. Shane Creado’s Peak Sleep Performance for Athletes: The Cutting-Edge Sleep Science That Will Guarantee a Competitive Advantage (March 15, 2020) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B085YFP9YW/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1
 
[iii] www.shanecreado.com
[iv] Dr. Shane Creado’s Peak Sleep Performance for Athletes: Page 21
[v] Neuroscience Meets SEL Podcast EPISODE #38 with Todd Woodcroft on “The Daily Grind in the NHL” https://www.achieveit360.com/assistant-coach-to-the-winnipeg-jets-todd-woodcroft-on-the-daily-grind-in-the-nhl/
 
[vi] Dr. Shane Creado’s Peak Sleep Performance for Athletes: The Cutting-Edge Sleep Science That Will Guarantee a Competitive Advantage (March 15, 2020) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B085YFP9YW/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1 Page 7
[vii]Dr. Shane Creado The Link Between Sleep and Daytime Performance https://brainwarriorswaypodcast.com/the-link-between-sleep-daytime-performance-with-dr-shane-creado/
 
[viii] https://www.nsc.org/road-safety/safety-topics/fatality-estimates
 
[ix] Dr. Shane Creado The Link Between Sleep and Daytime Performance https://brainwarriorswaypodcast.com/the-link-between-sleep-daytime-performance-with-dr-shane-creado/
 
[x] What is Circadian Rhythm? https://www.sleepfoundation.org/articles/what-circadian-rhythm
 
[xi] Bulletproof Radio Podcast with Dave Asprey https://blog.daveasprey.com/light-dark-your-sleep-satchin-panda-part-1-466/
 
[xii] Dr. Shane Creado’s Peak Sleep Performance for Athletes: Page 9
[xiii] https://www.fda.gov/radiation-emitting-products/cell-phones/do-cell-phones-pose-health-hazard
 
[xiv] Dave Asprey on Blue Light Glasses https://www.bulletproof.com/sleep/tech/blue-light-glasses-sleep/
 

Self-Regulation and Behavior Change for Leaders with David R. Hawkins’ "Power vs Force"

Welcome back to the Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning podcast, episode #70 Applying Self-Regulation to Move to Higher Levels of Consciousness and Results with David R. Hawkins’ Power vs Force book to analyze the hidden determinants of human behavior. 
My name is Andrea Samadi, and if you are new here, I’m a former educator who created this podcast to bring the most current neuroscience research, along with high performing experts who have risen to the top of their field with specific strategies or ideas that you can implement immediately, to take your results to the next level.   
Today we are going to take a closer look at Human Behavior. The past 4 episodes have touched on identifying paradigms or habits that we want to change, with some ideas on how to change them with episode #67 with a Deep Dive into the Most Important Lessons I Learned from Bob Proctor’s Seminars[i] and episode #68 The Neuroscience of Personal Change, with a Deep Dive into Dr. Stephen Covey’s 7 Habits of Highly Effective People[ii]. I have received the most feedback about these 2 episodes, out of all the episodes we’ve done in the past year, so thank you for everyone who listened sent me messages about what you learned from the awareness and application of these 2 episodes. When writing these lessons, they often take many different turns and directions and you never know how they will turn out. I’m so glad to hear they have been helpful.  
I know that we can still go a bit deeper into looking at human behavior, with some serious introspection, that will improve our self-awareness, as we take serious inventory of what’s working in our life, and what’s not working. When I first heard the term “paradigm” when I worked with Bob Proctor in the late 1990s, it took me a few years to understand what he was talking about. Then it took me many more years to figure out what paradigms weren’t serving me. Then, after writing them down, and staring at them, it took me a few more years to decide I was going to change a couple of them at a time. We all have paradigms that are working for us—so we will want to keep those and be aware of the ones that are preventing us from reaching those higher levels of achievement.
If you want to identify your paradigms (positive and negative ones): take out a piece of paper and write out all of the behaviors that you do habitually. You will be able to identify your habits that are working for you (they’ll be the ones helping you to produce better results in your life) and the ones that are not working for you (the ones that hold you back). Circle the habits that are NOT working for you and pick one or two that you want to change. I suggest reviewing episode #35 How to Use Your Brain to Break Bad Habits[iii] as I go into detail here on how to substitute bad habits for more productive ones, with brain science in mind. For the next 90 days, you focus on changing just one habit, and this will take discipline. It will take the ability for you to give yourself a command and follow it.  For example: I am going to switch this habit for a new one—like maybe you want to stop drinking coffee, so you substitute coffee for hot lemon water in the morning instead. If you really want to stop the old habit, you will be ready to make this switch. I want to give a shout out here to Mandy Krueckeberg, a social worker who follows this podcast. I recently saw her post on her FB that she was on day 1 of cutting out coffee in her diet, and she did it by replacing the habit she wanted to change (coffee) with something that made her feel better (by drinking cinnamon tea). When I was writing this episode, she was on day 3 of this habit change and the longer she keeps this up, the more likely it will be that this habit change will be a success as her brain will lock into the new neural pathway she’s creating. She applied discipline to achieve the results she was looking for.  Awesome work Mandy! There are also tools that you can use to log the days that you are successful with your habit change. I use the 100 days to habit worksheet[iv] to cross off my successful days, and notice when I go off track, so that I can get myself back on track. 
But what happens if you really want to change a behavior, and you try, and just can’t? If you have put all of your effort into change, and are still struggling, I suggest reading John Norcross’s book Changeology: 5 Steps to Realizing Your Goals and Resolutions[v] because millions of people around the world have met with success through his plan. If you are still not having success with changing a behavior, and just can’t stop the habit for 2 weeks on your own (after 2 weeks you should lose interest in the habit) then we are crossing into the field of addiction, where I’m not an expert, but there are entire podcasts based on this topic that you can tune into. Since human behavior is predictable, and addiction is not difficult to miss, it’s just difficult to acknowledge and take the steps to change.  This current Corona Virus time will magnify something like this as there is nowhere to hide while we are all on quarantine. People with addiction can be extremely high functioning like we have seen with celebrities who have to go through their challenges in the public eye. It is very clear that the first lesson here is that we can’t change other people’s behaviors since all of our brains are wired differently. We can only change our own habits, but we can gain understanding and awareness that can help point others and ourselves towards finding our own way.
But how do we know if we have an addiction and need more specialized help? This will be apparent if you cannot stop the habit that you want to stop on your own and the habit is preventing you from reaching your highest levels of achievement. If there is something you are doing that is giving you poor results and you keep doing it anyway, you will know what it is. There will be no question in your mind, but the key will be when you decide to do something about it.
On July 4th, I was fortunate to be near my favorite mountain in the Phoenix area and hiking this mountain is always at the top of my agenda. When I was starting out, it was still dark, around 4am, and I noticed a large group of men in a circle, prepping for their hike. I couldn’t really see anything except for their silhouettes against the rocks, but I could tell these guys all looked like they were in shape, and I was guessing they were a sports team, meeting for some sort of training, the way they were interacting. They said some sort of prayer or something before they started, and then they all took off like a rocket. For this hike, the starting stretch is the most difficult. These guys left me in the dust, and I asked 2 guys near me “Are you all a part of sports team?” and they replied, “kind of, we are all recently out of a rehab program.” This made sense to me now, as this mountain will open your eyes to how you are showing up in life. If you aren’t sleeping well, you will fade at the beginning. If you haven’t been treating your body well, it will be a rough hike. After the first few hills, you see it all the time, the ones who are being good to their bodies will keep their pace, and the rest will fall behind. On my way down, I passed the guys who I spoke with at the start—they started out strong, and now they looked like they were about to die. I asked “hey, what happened?” I had already seen the rest of their team celebrating at the top and these guys were nowhere near the finish line. They both looked at me, then looked down to the ground  and said “well, smoking a pack and a half of cigarettes a day is going to need to stop.” The mountain never lies. Either do the stairs when the elevator is broken. We all know the bad habits that interfere with our daily life, just like these 2 guys knew that it was smoking that prevented them from staying with the rest of their team. Self-awareness is the key, but sometimes it takes something like this to kick us into a higher gear to do something about this awareness.
Another helpful tool is David R. Hawkins’s book Power vs Force: The Hidden Determinants of Human Behavior.[vi] This book taught me more about human behavior and why people do what they do, than anything I had ever heard before, that it wasn’t surprising that Dr. Wayne Dyer said this book was “perhaps the most important and significant book (he had ever) read.”
This book has helped many people with addiction to get to the root cause of it. If you ask any addict about their behavior, and they are at the point where they are not hiding it anymore, they will talk about the shame and guilt they feel about it. They want to break the cycle. So, this is their work, to heal their past, and move upwards on the map of consciousness. I’ve provided this map in the show notes that David Hawkins created to show that different emotions we have are like radio stations or frequencies and when we are tuned into a certain emotion, or level, we are thinking thoughts at this level, and operating from this level. Any emotion at the level of 200 and above (Courage, Willingness, Acceptance) are constructive expressions of power, showing us that true power comes from within, while the lower frequencies, anything under 200, he explains are destructive for the individual and society. Think about people in a position of leadership. True leaders know they cannot apply force to get their team to do the things they want them to do. True leaders inspire loyalty, not fear, using the higher levels of the map of consciousness.
It’s interesting to look at where anger sits on this chart since we might think that anger is a destructive emotion, but it’s quite a way up from guilt or shame. If you are in a place of leadership, you can use this map to predict human behavior and this can be very helpful. You can use these ideas to walk into a room and assess where the people you are leading are operating from, without being judgmental. If someone is angry about something, there’s no need for you to react to this person and get upset about their anger, you just need to find a way to encourage them to move them up the scale perhaps by talking to them, and looking for a solution to what they might be angry about. This map can really help you to become more self-aware, have more belief in yourself and your own abilities, to help you to understand others and you will want to inspire people with your example, which is to by using power, never force.
Take a look at where you sit on this map and strive for higher levels of consciousness with self-regulation techniques.
Neuroscientist, Stefanie Faye, from episode #39 Using Neuroscience to Improve our Mindset, Self-Regulation and Awareness[vii] just recorded a podcast called Mindset, Micro Movements and Super Regulators[viii] where she talks about how we can become better at self-regulating to move up this map of consciousness intentionally. Regulation, Stefanie explains is “everything that we do to feel better” and this is relative to each person. She explains that “there are two types of self-regulation: conditional self-regulation (bottom up) where we use television or our phones or something from the outside to regulate, or top down, unconditional, where we use our mind and body to access a sense of inner well-being like through meditation, focused awareness or visualization.
We can also co-regulate with our connection to others—conditional, which would happen when we are physically present, or unconditional, by using visualization where we can draw people up in our mind for a regulating effect. We are not born with this ability, so we must learn how to do this.
Some people, she calls super regulators, have become really good at this skill and can help others to climb up the scale to “self-regulate, co-regulate and access a higher awareness of their own possibility for well-being, growth and evolution.”  People in leadership roles should develop the skill of a super regulator as they can model the way for other people to improve this use of their Prefrontal Cortex (thinking, decision-making part of their brain) but they will need to be aware of what they are doing. Since humans are the only species who have this ability, we must model for others to keep building a better brain and life and help others to reach up the scale of human consciousness. Stefanie does have a Masterclass on developing the skills to be a Super Regulator[ix] where you can learn specific strategies to gain a sense of power with your well-being by using biological signals in your body to help you to solve problems you might be facing.
A fascinating part of her podcast, she talks about habit breaking, to improve our results and takes it a step deeper when you add in her knowledge of the brain to this practice. Think back to where I had you write out all of your habits on a piece of paper and circle the negative habits you want to break. Now, go back to the habits you want to break and write out the micro movement that you take BEFORE doing the habit. For someone who wants to break the habit of drinking coffee, the micromovement would be grabbing the hot cup of coffee and smelling the coffee beans before you take a sip. Take a minute to identify the micromovements involved in each of the habits you want to change. There is muscle memory involved here, so to break the habit, we will need to be aware of and break the micromovement by doing something different. Instead of reaching for whatever it is that you reach for to feel better, break it up and go for a walk instead. Take a brain pause, think, slow things down and be intentional about the new habit that you want to create. The more we can slow things down, the better we will become at breaking our habit loops.
We’ll meet with success when we are able to practice giving the brain what it wants. Our brains seek novelty, and this new level of awareness will propel us forward and up the scale of consciousness where our results will be heightened. When looking for solutions to feel better, Stefanie Faye suggests to “find the answers from within your own body” with this new sense of awareness. Learn to tune into yourself, build up your self-awareness, and practice listening to what you might be thinking or feeling to break the habit loop of mindlessly staring at your phone, or whatever strategy of escape you are using. With practice, we can all take the steps to connect with ourselves mindfully, take a pause, and rise up the levels of David Hawkin’s Map of Consciousness where our results will soar. 
Just a quick review:
To identify your habits or paradigms, whether positive, or negative, take out a piece of paper and write out all of the things you do habitually.
Circle the habits that hold you back from accomplishing your goals.
Write out the micro-movement that you take before you do this habit.
Pause the next time you want to repeat the bad habit.
To change this habit, you will want to replace the bad habit with something new, something positive, that doesn’t hold you back from the results you want to attain.
Watch yourself rise up David Hawkin’s map of consciousness when you are able to practice self-regulation.
If you want to help others to regulate, you can learn more about begin a super regulator from Stefanie Faye’s Masterclass.
Practice being “kind and forgiving to everything and everyone, including yourself, at all times, without exception” and strive for the power emotions that are at 200 and above (Courage) vs the destructive emotions (below 200). (Power vs Force)
I hope you have enjoyed this episode and that these episodes are helping you to think differently about yourself (the social and emotional side of you) with your brain in mind (the cognitive side). Once you have these new insights and have opened up your awareness, you'll want to take action on the ideas that come to your mind. It's the action, integrating these ideas into your behavior, that will change the results in your life. 
RESOURCES:
Purchase David Hawkins' Map of Consciousnesshttps://veritaspub.com/product/map-of-consciousness-dr-david-hawkins/
Learn more about David Hawkins here http://www.veritaspub.com/ 
REFERENCES:
[i] EPISODE #67 of the Neuroscience Meets SEL Podcast “Expanding Your Awareness with a Deep Dive into Bob Proctor’s Most Powerful Seminars” https://www.achieveit360.com/expanding-your-awareness-with-a-deep-dive-into-bob-proctors-most-powerful-seminars/
 
[ii] EPISODE #68 The Neuroscience of Personal Change with a Deep Dive in Dr. Stephen Covey’s 7 Habits of Highly Effective People https://www.achieveit360.com/the-neuroscience-of-personal-change/
 
[iii] EPISODE #35 How to Use Your Brain to Break Bad Habits https://www.achieveit360.com/how-to-use-your-brain-to-break-bad-habits-in-2020/
 
[iv] 100 Days to Habit Worksheet https://www.bsuperb.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/100_days_habit-1.jpg
 
[v] John C Norcross Changeology http://www.changeologybook.com/
 
[vi] David R. Hawkins, M.D. Ph.D. Power vs Force: The Hidden Determinants of Human Behavior. https://www.amazon.com/Power-Force-David-Hawkins-M-D/dp/1401945074
 
[vii] EPISODE #39 Stefanie Faye on “Using Neuroscience to Improve Our Mindset, Self-Regulation and Self-Awareness” https://www.achieveit360.com/neuroscience-researcher-stefanie-faye-on-using-neuroscience-to-improve-our-mindset-self-regulation-and-self-awareness/
 
[viii] Mindset, Micro Movements and Super Regulators Stefanie Faye on the Girl on Fire Podcast http://stefaniefayefrank.com/articles/mindset-micro-movements-and-super-regulators-my-interview-with-girl-on-fire-host-kirsten-franklin/
 
[ix] Super Regulator Masterclass http://stefaniefayefrank.com/master-class/
 

Certified Neurocoach Ben Ampil on "Using Your Brain to Manage Your Behavior and Results"

Welcome back to the Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning podcast, episode #69 with Ben Ampil,  a US-Certified Neuroscience Coach and Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) Trainer who I have watched all over the news this weekend, even though he is located in the Philippines, his positive message about using your brain to manage your behavior is having a global impact and following. Watch the interview with visuals here on YouTube. 
My name is Andrea Samadi, and if you are new here, I’m a former educator who created this podcast to bring the most current neuroscience research, along with high performing experts who have risen to the top of their field with specific strategies or ideas that you can implement immediately, to take your results to the next level.    
I’m beyond excited to speak with Ben Ampil today and we’ve been chatting about our topic the past week or so, adding new thoughts and ideas to his message as things in the world are changing on a daily basis, but Ben’s message remains consistent. He has had extensive corporate experience in the various cross-functional disciplines of General Management, in a variety of Industries and has also been a Keynote Speaker in Conferences in Neuroscience in London and in Bangkok. His background and speaking history is top notch, and I know that he will share some insights to make us all think differently after this interview about the best ways for us to manage our behavior with our brain in mind.
Welcome Ben! All the way from Manila, Philippines! This was fun setting up this interview and making sure we had the time zone correct. You are so right, nothing is going to stop us from finding the right time to speak together and from now on, I will be mindful about what it means for me to say “see you tomorrow” because my tomorrow and your tomorrow are 15 hours apart. 
Q1: Since connecting with you on LinkedIn, I noticed many similarities with how much we are both passionate about the topic of neuroscience. It’s an area I lose track of time when I’m learning and studying and spend all of my spare time with. What got you interested and passionate about the field of Neuroscience? 
Q2: I’ll never forget the first person who introduced me to this topic. He was a school administrator and he urged me to take my work in this direction. He handed me a bunch of books off his bookshelf, one of them was a series from David Souza on How the Brain Learns[i] (to Read, the Special Needs Brain, the Gifted Brain, the ELL Brain etc) and at first glance of this book series, without any knowledge of how the brain works, it can be an intimidating topic. You’ve created some acronyms to help demystify an otherwise intimidating topic like “Neuroscience”
Can we break this down a bit?
2 A) CHANGE OUR PARADIGMS vs BEHAVIOR: The past few podcasts I’ve taken a deep look at the fact that in order to make significant change in our life, we need to change our paradigms vs our behavior….Can you explain how our brains work with your acronym BATMAN and keep in mind that we don’t want to just change our behavior, but change some of our old ways of thinking or beliefs that might be keeping us stuck?
2 B) WHAT ARE SOME STRATEGIES FOR OVERCOMING THE FEAR WE MIGHT BE FEELING IN THE WORLD TODAY? (Real fears like you’ve lost your job, or someone you know is really struggling with something or even a perceived or imagined fear?) SCORE
2  C) Over the weekend, I created a graphic based on Dr. Bruce Perry’s concept of the Power Differential that describes the fact that there is this power differential that puts one person at a cognitive disadvantage and can cause significant issues with leadership and communication (it describes what happens to a young child’s brain when dealing with an adult, or when anyone gets pulled over by a policeman for speeding etc. What are triggers the fear we feel coming from the amygdala and what are some solutions we can keep in mind to offset this instinctive fear? SCARF as a solution
Q3: I know that we all know that when our brain works right, everything else works right. What other strategies do you suggest to better manage our brain/minds and behavior during these times, so that we can continue to move forward and make progress in our lives?
Q4: From all of the work you have been doing all over the world with Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) and Neuro-Coaching with Business Executives, what do you see as some of the most common reasons that people become stuck with their results? What do you think we should all know and practice daily to improve our personal and professional results, with the brain in mind?
Q5: What strategies that you teach about, have you found to be the most useful for you, in your own personal and professional life?
Q6: To sum this all up, what’s a simple way for us to all remember these strategies to Manage our Minds and Behavior? BATMAN/SCORE /SCARFand SELFISH?
Thank you for this interview, Ben, for the insightful conversations we’ve had as weve been preparing for this interview and for doing this after hours in Manila. If people want to learn more about you, they can go to www.benampil.com and follow you @Ben Ampil on LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook.  You’re definitely all over the media, so it’s not difficult to find you! Thank you for everything you are doing to help the world to take some deep breaths, and continue to move forward.
 
 REFERENCES:
[i] David A Sousa, How the Brain Learns https://www.amazon.com/How-Brain-Learns-David-Sousa/dp/1412997976
 

The Neuroscience of Personal Change with Stephen R. Covey‘s ”The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People”

Today’s episode #68 started out with me wanting to take a look the most important concepts from Dr. Amen’s “Thrive by 25”[i] online course that dives deep into understanding brain basics that we should all understand for ourselves as well as to better understand others, since brain health strategies will lead to a better brain and life. But—while writing this episode, I was sitting in an empty lobby of what used to be a busy local resort, looking around at what was once the hustle and bustle of business people, hurrying off to their events, or families rushing off to the pool to spend time together and the fact that the world has literally STOPPED STILL really made me think. 
This place looked like a Ghost Town, almost like in a movie where the scene freezes. It made me freeze and think. Things around the world have changed like night and day over the past few months starting with the COVID-19 Pandemic, with the danger of infection and death, and the change continues as the world now faces racism, riots, and global economic upheaval.  I thought that this episode needs to go a bit deeper than I was planning at first, and really needs to address the Neuroscience of Change. Since we usually reject anything that we aren’t familiar with, I thought this episode could look at how to consider a change with our thinking or perspective, resulting in a change in behavior around some of the critical issues our world is facing, to see where we can take individual responsibility. If we can add the understanding of how our brain works optimally and how we can improve ourselves by really thinking about some of these issues our world is facing, we can become more empathetic towards others, and set the stage for the much needed change our world needs. If nothing is done at this time, we will look back and there will be no change, but if we can all do some self-reflection, and make our own personal and individual change, 20 years from now, we will know if our actions made a difference. 
While still thinking about the new direction of this episode, I read a social media post from my mentor, Greg Link[ii], who I’ve mentioned in past episodes. As co-founder of the Covey Leadership Center, Greg was the one who orchestrated the strategy that led Dr. Stephen R. Covey's book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change, (1989) to become one of the two best-selling business books of the 20th century according to CEO Magazine, selling over 20 million copies in 38 languages. He created the marketing momentum that helped propel Covey Leadership Center from a start-up company to a $110-plus million-dollar enterprise with offices in 40 countries. When he writes something, I always pay attention and what he has to say is always insightful and profound. This time, what he wrote was full of his own personal insight on what was happening in the world today, tied to the 7 Habits book, and he was talking about Habit #5. For such a popular business book, that sold so many copies, you would think I would know the habits off by heart. If you were to ask a room of 100 people “who knows about the 7 Habits Book?” most people should raise their hand, but few people (including myself) can actually name the habits.  
Did you know the habits were divided up into 3 segments? Habits 1-3 are focused on how we manage ourselves, habits 4-6, how we lead others, and habit 7 how we unleash our potential. The 8th Habit[iii] is a whole new book, published years later in 2004 and it focuses on “Finding your voice and inspiring others to find theirs.” There’s never been a time like this in our world, and more than ever right now, we need to think about how we are managing ourselves, how we lead others, and how we can unleash our potential, and find our voice, in a way that inspires others to do the same. If we can do these 4 things, I am sure that when we look back to this time period, 20 years later, there’ll be some change.
If it’s been awhile since you’ve read this book, go back to the habits (I’m doing this as well) and I’ve included them in the show notes so we can all begin to implement some of the most powerful principles of the 20th Century into action, in our life.  
I challenge you, just like I’m challenging myself, to learn more about yourself here. Sit down somewhere quiet and think about some of the issues our world is facing. None of us can escape them, so we might as well begin here. Do you know what implicit biases are?[iv] Do you know the biases you hold? We all have them. Greg Link’s post reminded me that “We don’t see the world as it is, but as we are”[v] and that “if we want small incremental changes, work on your behavior. If you want quantum-leap change, (like we all do) work on your paradigms.”
Here’s that word paradigm again. We talked about it in EPSIODE 67 with “A Deep Dive into the Most Important Concepts I learned from working directly with Bob Proctor and his Seminars”[vi] where we cover paradigms so you can go back and take a closer look at what might be holding you back. We all want quantum leap change, and Greg Link went on to explain that the secret to this change lies in changing our paradigms. I also suggest reading Price Pritchett’s You Squared[vii] book for the best description of how to experience quantum leap results in your own life, especially if you are ready for significant change to occur. I’ve had a copy of this book since the late 1990s and it’s always on my desk. It’s only 38 pages, but the concepts are ground-breaking as they teach you HOW TO change your personal effectiveness. Price Pritchett[viii], a business advisor, speaker and author who specializes in mergers, culture and organizational change, states in this book, that “if you want to accelerate your rate of achievement rapidly, you must search out and vigorously employ new behaviors.” Quantum Leaps will knock you out of your comfort zone, but where do they begin? They begin with shifting your Paradigms—that could be controlling virtually every move that you make.
Remember: “To ignore the power of paradigms to influence your judgment is to put yourself at significant risk when exploring the future. To be able to shape your future, you have to be ready and able to change your paradigm.” –Joel Barker, a technology and business futurist who published the book Paradigms in 1993.
The more understanding we have of ourselves and others, the better we can communicate, work with and thrive, not just survive with our current and future results. If we want significant change to occur in the world, we must begin with some self-reflection. We did cover some of these concepts in episode 29 “How to Rewire Your Brain for Happiness and Well-Being”[ix] but this episode will focus as a review of the most important brain basics that we should all understand and apply to our life, so we can stay strong and focused and challenge ourselves to think in ways that we have never thought before, tied to Stephen Covey’s powerful habits. If the brain is involved in everything that we do and everything that we are, then we must tie in brain health to optimize our future behavior, actions and the state of the world.
Let’s take a look at Stephen R. Covey’s 7 Habits of Highly Effective People (and the 8th Habit) as they relate to the 8 Most Important Concepts I learned from studying from Dr. Daniel Amen’s Thrive by 25 Course, with an action plan in place to implement these habits, and brain tips, into our daily life.
STEPHEN COVEY’s 8 HABITS TIED TO A BRAIN TIP TO ENCOURAGE CHANGE
HABITS 1-3: How We Manage Ourselves
HABIT #1 Be Proactive, The Habit of Choice. We want to look for alternatives, not roadblocks to help us to see that there are choices. What areas of your life right now, can you be proactive with? During this COVID 19 Pandemic time, think about reframing “I am stuck inside” to “Now I can Finally Work on Myself[x]” or my home and complete some of those projects you’ve always wanted to complete.  Write out a list and see how good it feels with each item that you complete. Focus on the things that you can influence, and let the others go. I know this can be difficult because people do not resist change, when it’s their choice, but many of us are now dealing with change that is NOT our choice, and it’s frustrating, annoying and just darned difficult. Just keep the momentum moving.
BRAIN TIP #1: BE PROACTIVE: WITH YOUR BRAIN HEALTH: Normal is a myth. 51% of us will have a mental health issue (post-traumatic stress, depression, anxiety, or addiction) and cases have increased since the COVID-19 Pandemic. It’s more normal to have a problem than not have a problem, so being prepared and aware of how to help yourself and others is more important than ever these days. “If you struggle with attention, focus, sadness, anxiety, worry, flexibility, stubbornness, or impulsivity—welcome to the club, this is normal.” (Dr. Daniel Amen). Then add to it the fact that many of us, globally, are still quarantined, and in lockdown, and it’s understandable why there has been a rise in mental health issues. Whatever you might be dealing with, take action towards finding a solution.
PUT HABIT AND BRAIN TIP #1 INTO ACTION:
Be proactive and ask for help if you just don’t feel right.  Do you know where you would begin to learn more about your brain health? Dr. Amen has a whole website dedicated to this at https://mybrainfitlife.com/. Visit his site, and also access his FREE 6-week challenge called The End of Mental Illness: Brain Health Revolution[xi] that he launched January 2020. This free YouTube course goes back to the basics and has tons of worksheets, tools, strategies and ideas that we all should be implementing to put our brain health at the forefront of our minds.  This course will keep you busy and give you the most current information you will need to know about being PROACTIVE with your brain health.
HABIT #2 Begin with the End in Mind: The Habit of Vision. Isn’t it true that we can see things clearly in hindsight? “Where there is no vision, the people will perish.”[xii] Looking back at my life and choices as a young teenager (I’m sure we could all could do the same) the things we know today with all of the advancements in neuroscience, would have changed some of the actions I took back then but we don’t know what we don’t know and no one was preaching about brain health back then, so we can only focus on the change we want to see for ourselves moving forward, (yes, we can change our brain health if we change our habits) for our next generations with the new knowledge we are uncovering every day. If we truly want ourselves, and our next generation to reach the highest level of potential, then this habit, tied to brain health is the key. We just need to have a clear vision of what we want, and then infuse this vision into our homes, schools and workplaces.
BRAIN TIP #2: BEGIN WITH THE END IN MIND: CREATE A VISION FOR YOUR BRAIN HEALTH: Your brain is involved in everything that you do, and everything that you are. It’s involved with how you think, feel, act and interact with other people. It’s the origin of your intelligence, character, decisions, dreams, thoughts, creativity and actions.  If you think about it, your brain is the organ that’s behind how well you will do in school, in your career and your relationships. I’m sure if we were taught about brain health in high school, we would be mindful about doing anything to not harm this powerful organ that has complete control of our future success. Everything a young person does either HELPS or HURTS their brain development and when your brain is working right, you will work right. Everything in our life stems from the functioning of our brain.
PUT HABIT AND BRAIN TIP #2 INTO ACTION
What change do we want to see in the world? What vision do you have for the world in the next 20 years? As parents, teachers, coaches, managers and leaders, “teaching civil responsibility, respect and character” should be at the forefront of our minds if we expect change in the next 20 years. These themes should be reinforced in our homes, schools and workplaces, and infused into our day to day lives. If our brain health determines the actions that we will all take towards these themes, then brain health should also be emphasized in order to carry out this vision, starting at an early age, to protect our brain, and future, but we must begin with the End in Mind, with a Clear Vision.
HABIT #3 Put First Things First: Plan Weekly and Act Daily.
Stephen Covey built his whole career around the 4-quadrant chart called the Urgent and Important Matrix[xiii] where our attention goes to Quadrant 1 with Urgent and Important Tasks completed first and Quadrant 4, Distractions last. I’ve put the chart in the show notes for anyone who wants to see all of the quadrants.
Quadrant 1 - Crises - URGENT and IMPORTANT
Quadrant 2 - Goals and Planning - NON-URGENT and IMPORTANT
Quadrant 3 - Interruptions - URGENT and NOT IMPORTANT
Quadrant 4 - Distractions - NOT URGENT and NOT IMPORTANT 
BRAIN TIP #3: PUT YOUR BRAIN HEALTH FIRST: What You Do Today, Impacts Tomorrow
Just as our daily habits impact our future results in our professional world, the same goes for our brain health. Make brain health a priority; put it first, as urgent and important. We must know what things are bad for our brain (I’ve included the link to Dr. Amen’s 6 week course in the show notes resource section—this course has a resource of 100 foods that are bad for us in week 3 of this 6 Week course).[xiv]It’s helpful to know the food we should learn to avoid—the things that are bad for us and our brains so we can begin to eliminate them.           
PUT HABIT AND BRAIN TIP #3 INTO ACTION
If you can plan ahead, the night before, write out the top 3 urgent and important things you need to do for your work, this will eliminate time wasting. If you can follow the same idea with healthy eating, and plan ahead, making sure that your fridge is full of healthy food vs the items we know are bad for us we will be miles ahead with our health.
HABITS 4-6: How We Lead Others
HABIT #4 Think Win/Win: The Habit of Mutual Benefit.
Win/Win “is based on the paradigm that there is plenty for everybody, that one person’s success is not achieved at the expense of or exclusion of the success of others.”[xv]  When a situation is Win/Win, both parties feel good about the decision, and this builds trusts.
BRAIN TIP #4  WIN/WIN: Strengthen Your Body and You Strengthen Your Brain. This is a Win/Win situation as everyone wins when they are building a stronger brain, and body. The benefits do spill into other areas of your life when you put a focus on brain/body health as your relationships and career will also improve.  You will also role model the way for others to follow your example.
PUT HABIT AND BRAIN TIP #4 INTO ACTION
Put this habit to test and see what happens if you take 90 days to focus on your health. Have you ever done this? When you make your health priority, you will watch all other areas of your life improve. This is truly a WIN/WIN situation. You will feel sharper, have more energy, and something happens to someone who is on track. People are drawn to them, creating more opportunity. Try it—I would love to hear what happens when you take control of your health.
HABIT #5 Seek First to Understand, then to be Understood
This was the habit that Greg Link mentioned he was working on, and is centered around practicing empathetic listening, and effective communication. We listen first to understand, to really understand the situation, without putting our own beliefs, thoughts, feelings, or motives inside someone else’s head. Only then can we seek to be understood, which takes courage.
BRAIN TIP #5  Understand Your Brain First: Discover Your Brain Type
If we want to deepen our understanding of ourselves, get to know more about your brain, since it controls everything that you do.  Look up and take Dr. Amen’s Brain Type Assessment[xvi] to get an idea of what type of brain you have. You will receive an email with a video explaining your brain type, characteristics of this type of brain, dietary suggestions for your specific brain type and a full report with your brain fit score. 
PUT HABIT AND BRAIN TIP #5 INTO ACTION
Take the time to understand where you are right now with your brain health. Once you have this baseline, you can take the 6 week course, and begin to make changes, one step at a time.  Be kind to yourself, and know that you can make significant change to your brain and health, by learning and implementing some new ideas.
HABIT #6 Synergize: The Habit of Creative Cooperation
The whole is greater than the sum of its parts, and when we can learn to work in synergy   with others, we create something powerful. One plus one equals three or more. My mentor, New York Times Best Selling author and Presidential Historian, Doug Wead[xvii] used to call this concept “the triple braided cord” where we accelerate our results with the synergy that comes from the creative cooperation when two or more minds come together. Call it a brain trust or mastermind, but be prepared for the great power that comes from this union. 
TIPS #6 Create Synergy by Understanding Other People’s Brain Types
If you want to reach the highest level of potential and experience the magic of synergy whether it’s in the workplace, or in your personal life, it’s important to keep in mind that not all brains are the same. This was John Medina’s Brain Rule #3 that “Every Brain is Wired Differently.”[xviii]  Since we have all had different experiences in life, our brains are all different. What we do and experience in our life, literally re-wire what our brains look like.
PUT HABIT AND BRAIN TIP #6 INTO ACTION
If you really want to understand another person, Dr. Amen’s Thrive by 25 Online Course covers the main parts of the brain, with characteristics that we can all use to recognize our own brain vulnerabilities, along with ways we can improve and strengthen different parts of the brain. Also, week 2 of his Brain Health Challenge has a PDF document for strengthening each part of the brain.[xix] When we can use habit #5 (using empathy with others) with habit #6, we really can create a new level of communication with others.
Habit 7 and 8: Unleashing Our Potential
HABIT #7 Sharpen the Saw: The Habit of Renewal
How do you sharpen your saw to increase your personal and professional effectiveness? Is it through continual learning, or renewal from exercise, meditation or prayer? Whatever method you choose, know that we must renew ourselves in body, heart, mind and soul to unleash our full potential.
BRAIN TIP #7 Keep Learning About Brain Health, Nutrition and Exercise
The older we get, the more serious we need to get about our brain health. When we stop learning, our brain starts dying. We must keep learning to stay sharp and focused and to prevent our brain from aging. We can even measure our genetic age by measuring the telomeres which hold our genetic material together like the end caps of shoe laces. We know there are specific strategies that prevent our brain from aging, and the more we take this seriously, the stronger and healthier we will be.
PUT HABIT AND BRAIN TIP  #7 INTO ACTION
Pick one new strategy to implement and write it down. If you want to begin a daily meditation program, begin here. Or perhaps you are looking to improve your eating, then pick one area, and focus on this area for 30 days. What we measure improves, so if you can log how many days you were successful with your new strategy, you will have a gauge at the end of the 30 days how well you have implemented this new habit.
HABIT #8 “Finding your voice and inspiring others to find theirs”
This habit is so important that Stephen Covey wrote a whole book about it. In this book, he talks about 5 behaviors that inhibit our greatness: criticism, complaining, comparing, competing and contending. Then he goes on to say that we all have the ability to impact the world by taking our mental energy and creating a vision, channeling our physical energy with discipline, unleashing our emotional energy towards what we are passionate about  and tapping into our spiritual energy to share your truth, or what life has to offer others for a better life. When we do this, we are role modelling the way for others to do the same.
BRAIN TIP #8 Role Model the Way
Since we can only change ourselves, it’s important to think about role modelling the way, whether it’s with our health, or ways that we can inspire change in others.  When I worked with Bob Proctor in the seminars, I remember he was always asked the question “how do I change my (spouse, parents, sister, etc) so they can stop xyz (being negative, complaining, criticizing).  The answer was always “You can’t. Just focus on yourself, and role model the way.”
PUT HABIT AND BRAIN TIP  #8 INTO ACTION
You will NEVER change another person, as people resist change, unless it’s their choice, so the best way to inspire others to take action, is to focus on developing your voice, and encourage others to do the same.
I remember the first time I put my voice and ideas out into the world, with my first book in 2008, just 12 years ago, and it wasn’t an easy step. Finding your voice takes courage and initiative, and with that comes the chance that you will face criticism, but when you can move forward, regardless of what comes along with putting your voice out into the world, there is a chance for great opportunity.  It will start off small, but with time, momentum will take your ideas from one person, to the next, to the next, and with each person you are helping, you create a ripple effect of goodness in the world. Not everyone will resonate with your message, but the ones who do, will propel you forward. Before you know it, others will begin telling you the actions that they have taken and you realize that finding your voice has made a bigger difference than you could have ever imagined.
To Review the 8 HABITS:
HABIT 1:
BE PROACTIVE: WITH YOUR BRAIN HEALTH and ASK FOR HELP IF YOU NEED IT.
HABIT 2:
BEGIN WITH THE END IN MIND: CREATE A VISION FOR YOUR BRAIN HEALTH: Your brain is involved in everything that you do, and everything that you are, so create plan and vision to improve it.
HABIT 3:
PUT YOUR BRAIN HEALTH FIRST: What You Do Today, Impacts Tomorrow so make your Brain Health Urgent and Important.
HABIT 4:
WIN/WIN: Strengthen Your Body and You Strengthen Your Brain.
HABIT 5:
Seek to Understand Your Brain First: Discover Your Brain Type
HABIT 6:
Create Synergy by Understanding Other People’s Brain Types
HABIT 7:
Sharpen Your Saw: Keep Learning About Brain Health, Nutrition and Exercise
HABIT 8:
Find Your Voice and Role Model the Way
I’m grateful that I saw my good friend Greg Link’s post on social media, reminding me of the importance of Stephen Covey’s powerful 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, tied to our brain health makes us all think of ways that we can improve our own personal effectiveness in the world. If each of us can, like Greg did in his post, take personal responsibility for our thoughts, feelings and actions, we can begin the ripple effect of change we all want to see in the world. If we want quantum leap results, we must focus on changing our paradigms. I hope you have gained some insight from these ideas.
Episode #69 (being recorded next week) will feature speaker Ben Ampil, a US Certified Neuroscience Coach from the Philippines, to cover the neuroscience behind the fear that the world is facing, with some ideas for us to further implement the change in our behavior that could impact the world if we can all expand our own awareness, think, and accept the challenge to take new actions. My hope is that our next episode will allow us build of this one and discover that there is great possibility in front of us, and that with this great challenge (of self-reflection and change) there is also great opportunity as we begin to put each brain tip into action in our daily life, reflect on the 8 Habits and make the necessary changes so that we can look back on our world in 20 years’ time and see the impact of this change.  
See you next week.
RESOURCES: 
Dr. Daniel Amen’s Thrive by 25 Online Course.
If you have a teenager, or a young adult, or just want to optimize your own brain, this course is important because it will open your eyes to the vital importance of taking care of your brain at an early age. “Thrive by 25” was designed to educate students in high school to prepare them for success in life so they thrive by the time they are 25, (there is a section where high school students debrief each lesson) but this information can help us at any age. If you purchase this course, you can gain access to 3 undergraduate units, transferrable to ANY college or university. Access Dr. Amen’s online courses by clicking on the link in the show notes, or just listen to this podcast where I break down the most important concepts from this 12-module course. 
https://endofmentalillness.com/brainhealthchallenge/resources/
What I liked the most about this 6-week course were the resources. In week 1 for example, there was a worksheet all about knowing our important numbers. Just as our numbers are important with our business, we should all know our health numbers as well. You can print off these resources and take notes week, highlighting the most important ideas learned. You will never be the same. Your brain will love you. Week 2 was powerful as they outlined their BRIGHT MINDS Brain Risk Factors and Interventions. This is the backbone of the course, with tips for staying on track with your brain health, with each risk factor, like for example, what to do if you have someone in your family who has dementia, or other mental health issues. Week 3 the resources included 100 foods that love you (or are good for you) and 100 foods that are bad for you. If you follow Dr. Amen’s work, and his Brain Warrior’s Way Podcast[xx], you will get to see that he is on a mission to change the Standard American Diet, (that he calls SAD) and I’m his #1 fan! Be sure to check out his podcast and this 6-week course and you will learn the most up to date information on building a better brain.
FOLLOW ANDREA SAMADI: 
YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/AndreaSamadi  
Website https://www.achieveit360.com/  
Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/Achieveit360com  
Neuroscience Meets SEL Facebook Group https://www.facebook.com/groups/2975814899101697  
Twitter: https://twitter.com/andreasamadi  
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/andreasamadi/ 
REFERENCES:
[i] https://brainmd.com/brain-thrive-by-25
[ii] Greg Link Speaker’s Bio https://premierespeakers.com/greg-link/bio
[iii] The 8th Habit by Stephen R Covey https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0006J23YQ/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1
[iv] Understanding Implicit Bias http://kirwaninstitute.osu.edu/research/understanding-implicit-bias/
[v] Greg Link on Stephen R Covey
[vi] Neuroscience Meets SEL Podcast EPSIODE #67 on “ Expanding Your Awareness with a Deep Dive into the Most Important Concepts from Bob Proctor’s Seminars” https://www.achieveit360.com/expanding-your-awareness-with-a-deep-dive-into-bob-proctors-most-powerful-seminars/
[vii] Price Pritchard You Squared: A High Velocity Formula for Multiplying Your Personal Effectiveness in Quantum Leaps (Feb 2012)  https://www.amazon.com/You-Velocity-Multiplying-Personal-Effectiveness/dp/0944002048
[viii] Price Pritchett Bio https://www.pritchettnet.com/biography/price-pritchett
[ix] Neuroscience Meets SEL Podcast Episode #29 “How to Re-Wire Your Brain for Happiness and Well-Being to Optimize Learning” https://www.achieveit360.com/how-to-re-wire-your-brain-for-happiness-and-well-being-to-optimize-learning/
[x] Covid-19 Lockdown Guide: How to Manage Anxiety and Isolation During Quarantine by Aarti Gupta https://adaa.org/learn-from-us/from-the-experts/blog-posts/consumer/covid-19-lockdown-guide-how-manage-anxiety-and
[xi] Dr. Amen’s 6 Week Brain Health Revolution Challenge https://endofmentalillness.com/brainhealthchallenge/resources/
[xii] Proverbs 29:18 King James Version of The Bible.
[xiii] The Urgent and Important Matrix https://www.thecoachingtoolscompany.com/coaching-tools-101-what-is-the-urgent-important-matrix/
[xiv] https://endofmentalillness.com/brainhealthchallenge/resources/ 
[xv] 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey https://www.amazon.com/Habits-Highly-Effective-People-Powerful/dp/1451639619/ref=sr_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=7+habits+of+highly+effective+people&qid=1592600926&s=books&sr=1-3
[xvi] What’s Your Brain Type Quiz by Dr. Daniel Amen https://brainhealthassessment.com/
[xvii] Doug Wead  https://www.dougwead.com/
[xviii] John Medina’s Brain Rules http://www.brainrules.net/the-rules
[xix] Dr. Amen’s PDF for Strengthening Different Regions of the Brain https://eomi-endpoint.azureedge.net/wk2/6-Wk-Challenge-wk2-New-Learning-by-Brain-Region-List.pdf
[xx] Dr. Amen and Tana Amen’s Brain Warrior’s Way Podcast https://brainwarriorswaypodcast.com/episodes/
 

Expanding Your Awareness with a Deep Dive into the Most Important Concepts from Bob Proctor’s Seminars

Today we are going to take a deep dive into the most powerful and important concepts from Bob Proctor’s seminars. If you have not yet heard episode #66[i], be sure to check out this episode first, to get some context behind how I met Bob Proctor, and how he influenced the work we are doing here today. I do suggest going to the show notes and writing down some of the ideas you learn from this episode, since these are some extremely powerful ideas that really can make an impact on your life. These concepts were learned from 6 years of working directly with Bob’s seminars, taking his courses over and over again, and then repeating them periodically over the past 24 years. These ideas changed the trajectory of my life, and I want to share them with you so you can have access them, and see if their application can impact your world, as much as it did for mine.
I first met Bob when I was a teacher in Toronto, because his director of sales, Mark Low, lived next door to me at the time, and when I asked him what he did for a living, my whole world changed when he handed me Bob’s You Were Born Rich[ii]  book. Be sure to look in the show notes for the links, as Bob gives this book away for FREE on his website under his tips and tools section. Go there, download his book, and this lesson will make more sense once you have had a chance to look at the book first.
Before I go into a deep dive of this book, which was also the first seminar I ever attended live (in May 1998), I want to give a backstory that you could relate to, if you’ve ever invested hours of your time creating something. Here’s how I remember this story (and remember from EPSIODE #44 “12 Mind-Boggling Facts About the Brain”[iii] that memories are not 100% accurate, so I’m telling you a story that I remember hearing many years ago and some of the details might be inaccurate, with the way that I’m remembering the events, but you will get the main idea of this story.
So, when Bob was first writing this book, (my copy of the book shows a copyright date of 1997 which was just a year before my first seminar with him) and it was years before everyone carried their own personal laptop around. When I think back to writing reports or essays in school at this time, I used a typewriter, so I think that’s how Bob wrote his first book—the manuscript was a physical copy that he had typed, and he would carry it around with him to add more ideas to it, before he sending it off to the publisher.  On his way to the publisher, he took a taxi, again, years before we went everywhere via Uber, and he left the only copy of the book in the taxi. This story made me think of all those times I had written something, and then the computer crashed, and the document was not saved, or the times that I just lost something another way, and the only solution was to recreate what you’d lost, and that’s exactly what Bob did with this book. When you are reading it, think of the years of work that went into the stories in each chapter, and these are all true stories—I knew many of the people he wrote about—and then imagine that one day, these ideas were completely lost, and he had to recreate them again, for the world to gain access to them. It will give you an entirely new perspective when you are reading this book.
Bob mentions in episode #66 that “he always believed he would reach the goals that he set and believed in the material and that goals are set not to GET—but to GROW.” It’s who we become that’s important in this process, not the things that we accumulate along the way, but the knowledge we acquire and how we use it to help others. When Bob first met me, he asked me “What do you really want?” and it took me back a bit because no one had ever asked me this before. I had to really think about it. I remember not being sure, but in the Born Rich Workbook we had the chance to revisit this and write out our heart’s desire. I still have the workbook from 1998 and what I wrote back then, isn’t far off from what I am doing today.  So, think about it, “What do YOU really want?” Have you written it out on a card like Bob still does and like I’ve been doing ever since?  Once you know what you want, then you will want to look at your beliefs and see if they integrate with your behavior. Then you will know what changes you need to make.
Let’s Take a Deep Dive into Bob Proctor’s You Were Born Rich Book
BIG IDEA #1 Paradigms: Something is Holding You Back. When You Become Aware of it, You Can Move Forward.
Paradigms—what are they?  Paradigms could be controlling virtually every move that you make.
“To ignore the power of paradigms to influence your judgment is to put yourself at significant risk when exploring the future. To be able to shape your future, you have to be ready and able to change your paradigm.” –Joel Barker, a technology and business futurist who published the book Paradigms in 1993.
What’s interesting is that Bob Proctor is known for helping people to increase their life in the area of wealth, but that’s not what drew me to him. Even though his book was called You Were Born Rich, and his seminars focused on helping the attendees to build wealth, I was drawn to his work not just for the idea that I could make more money, but that I could increase the potential we had. This is where I started to see my own paradigms showing up.
Let’s look at Paradigms. We used to sell the You Were Born Rich book for $20/copy and I remember having a box full of books at one of my first events, and within minutes, they sold out, and I was left with a few hundred dollars in one hand and an empty box in the other. This was the first time I thought, “I really need to write a book” as my awareness shifted as I identified a paradigm that I was ready to change—I was only used to earning money by trading my time, you know, go to work from 8am till 5pm kind of thinking and  you earn a paycheck this way. This was the way I was raised, but I was seeing now that there were other ways. With this book, I learned that we can create a product or service and if people want it, they would gratefully pay for it, giving anyone the opportunity to earn multiple sources of income. You could still work 8-5 but could also earn money from all over the world when you sell your programs and services online. I had only just started to interact with this book, hadn’t even taken the seminar yet, and my beliefs about earning money were beginning to change rapidly, without expecting it.
Once you can change your belief, it opens up a whole new world. I began to see that we could earn money many different ways than how I was raised to believe.  When I started to sell for Bob, we would earn a certain amount of commission on each sale. Suddenly, we could sell a seminar seat and earn a few thousand dollars in a few minutes. This really changed my money paradigm quickly. The more you become aware, the more your mind opens up to new opportunities. Think about it like you are looking through a keyhole, and with more awareness, the keyhole opens up until eventually the door is wide open. Years later, when I worked in the corporate world, and had the chance to earn commission each year, it was not uncommon for the most successful sales reps to earn $50K-$300K in commission (on top of their yearly salary) but if your mind can’t grasp this, then you probably won’t be the one reaching this level.  Over the years I met many people working in the seminars, doing all different types of work. Some were truck drivers, some were business executives, some were educators like me. All of them had grasped this idea that we could earn income from multiple sources. This was a huge paradigm shift for me. 
How Do We Change Our Beliefs or Paradigms?
Bob’s running a seminar this month on this very topic called the Paradigm Shift Seminar.[iv] I suggest going to the link in the show notes and watch the video at the top of the page.
We first of all need to know what these paradigms are, before we can change them. I know it wasn’t until after a few years of working with Bob and he was always talking about these paradigms that we needed to change, that I finally asked, what exactly IS a paradigm? I had no idea what mine were. It’s easy to connect the dots looking back and see what they were now—I had all these notes from all these seminars, and could quote them word for word, but I still didn’t have the understanding of how all these pieces fit together. Do you know what your paradigms are? This takes time as we learn to integrate the information into our behavior and daily practice.
Here are some steps that I found useful for changing our paradigms:
IMAGE SOURCE :http://herzette-records.com/paradigm-shift 
a) Start by Identifying what paradigms are, then figure out what ones we want to change. We must understand what paradigms are controlling our behavior in order to make these changes. This starts with self-awareness[v] (that we dove deep into in EPISODE 2) and keep in mind that these habits have been passed down from your parents, and past generations (the ideas, thoughts, and beliefs of those who surrounded you when you were growing up, in addition to your environment) so it’s not our fault that we have these paradigms in the first place, and they aren’t bad, it’s just how we were raised and they might be preventing us from reaching our highest levels of potential. I’m pretty sure that I heard my Dad say “money doesn’t grow on trees” a few hundred times when I was growing up, so this was ingrained into my way of thinking—until I learned how to change it.
b) Begin to study yourself and learn at the very core “who are you?” “Are you really doing the things you want to do?” “How do you approach change and challenge?” “How do you see yourself in the world?” Start here to identify who you are, and you will begin to see patterns that come up that keep you stuck where you are, preventing growth. You will discover what paradigms are controlling your actions, and in turn controlling your behavior and results. You can begin to identify your patterns, beliefs and behaviors the things that you need to change to reach these new results or levels of achievement.
A Paradigm is a mental program that has almost exclusive control over our habitual behavior…and almost all of our behavior is habitual.
Paradigms are a multitude of habits passed down from generation to generation.
Paradigms are the way you view yourself, the world and opportunity.
Paradigms are how you approach change and challenges.
c) Once you’ve identified a couple of your paradigms, the work begins. Pick one habit or belief that you want to change and take new actions—while integrating your behavior and your beliefs with the new idea. You will change the paradigm when your beliefs and behavior line up by repeatedly taking new actions towards the new idea. The same way the paradigm was formed (repetition of action from those who raised you, or who you were surrounded by in your early years). You can do this with affirmations, by repeating the new belief over and over again, until one day it changes. You’ll need to repeat this over and over again (1,000 times at least) for 90 days until you actually believe it. An example of a paradigm that might hold you back from opportunity could be something like “no one at my age has ever done this or that” (I’m sure they have, so this is a limiting belief—find someone who has done what you want to do and ask them to mentor you) or another example “every time we’ve tried to reach this goal, we have failed, so I’m sure we will fail again this year” (if you think you will fail, I’m sure you will also, unless you try something new, a new angle). Another paradigm that might be passed down from generation to generation could be “no one in our family has ever done xyz…written a book, graduated from College, etc. I’m sure you are getting the point. We all have paradigms that hold us back, and until we change them, we will never reach the levels of achievement that we are capable of.
d) Watch your whole world change when you identify and change your paradigms. Think of how mine changed when I saw that I could earn commission from sales or write a book and sell it to earn money all over the world. It opens up your thinking to a whole new level. If you are thinking “there’s no way that I could do any of these things, I work a job 8-5 and have no idea how this is possible” well, that’s a paradigm. I wrote my first book by waking up at 5am when I worked a corporate job. I would write 5 days a week 2 hours each morning before work, which was 10 hours a week and 40 hours a month. You really can accomplish anything that you really want to, if you have the will and desire to do it. I would love to hear from anyone who has identified and changed a paradigm that was holding them back. What was it, and how did you change it?
BIG IDEA #2 Prosperity Thinking: The More We Give, The More We Stretch our Minds to Receive and Keep Giving More.
This book starts off with a chapter that outlines our ways of thinking. We either think in lack and limitation, and that there’s not enough, or we can have abundant thinking. We even know from Mark Robert Waldman’s research from his recent book Neurowisdom: The New Brain Science of Money, Happiness and Success, that money does predict your happiness and that “those who make more money are happier, and those who are happier, live longer.”[vi] So, having a prosperity consciousness is vitally important for your future success as well as your health and longevity.
Prosperity Thinking in Action:  How to Think into Abundance
But how can this way of thinking be possible if we’ve just lost our job and are not sure where we will end up?  This is a timely question with unemployment being high at this time, all over the world. How can we create a prosperity consciousness when our bank accounts don’t have a paycheck being deposited every few weeks, or we can’t see what’s going to happen next? If you are thinking this right now, I highly suggest reading this book, and learning all you can on this topic. Changing your thinking from poverty consciousness (I don’t have enough) to prosperity consciousness (I have more than enough and want to share with others) was probably the most important lesson I learned after Sept 11th turned the US upside down.  
Mindset and taking action is important in these transitional and uncertain times. I recently listened to Mark Cuban on LinkedIn being interviewed[vii] with tips for large or small businesses on how to navigate times like we are experiencing now, and his ideas all have to do with staying positive, being creative and pivoting your business which is what many of us did after Sept 11th. Before we can create new ideas, we must have our basic needs like food and shelter covered. When times change, and we need to find work, he suggests searching within an industry that’s doing well. Do some research and then see what areas match the skills that you have, so that you can pivot to something new, where you will find some success with your current skillset.  Once you find something, keep working, and don’t give up on any ideas that you might have had before this whole pandemic hit. Write them down, keep working and when times shift, like they always do, you can begin to put your focus on what you what to create. 
BIG IDEA #3 The Law of Vibration and Attraction: You Attract What You Are
The movie The Secret talks about this Law, and the book The Science of Getting Rich[viii] outlines this law, along with others, but my first introduction to these levels of vibration that Bob talks about often, was in Chapter 6 of the Born Rich book.  Bob mentions this law in our interview and also the quote from Andrew Carnegie at the top of Chapter 6, that says “Any idea that is held in the mind, that is either feared or revered will, begin at once to clothe itself in the most convenient and appropriate physical forms available.” This means that we draw to us what we think about—a person thinking positive thoughts will emanate positive energy and draw other positive personalities and situations to them, and a person with negative thoughts, will of course be in a negative vibration, or give off bad “vibes” that will repel positive personalities, drawing negativity towards them. What type of person do you want to be?  
How does this work?
There’s lots of different places to gain this understanding, ranging from a powerful book that I keep on my bookshelf, David Hawkin’s Power vs Force[ix] where he talks about low-energy frequency people vs high energy and the ranges of emotions that either drain us or fuel us.
Our thoughts have a certain frequency, and the things that we draw to ourselves have the same frequencies as the thoughts that we have created—let’s say what’s on the same wavelength as we are. We cannot be thinking negative thoughts and be in line with positive thoughts at the same time. Since like attracts like, you will notice that when you are tuned into positive thinking, you will attract more positive things to yourself. In the interview with Bob, I asked him why we meet certain people at certain times in our careers who accelerate us? He answered “You attract them, and they attract you.” He drew Sandy Gallagher to his company when he had a need for someone who understood finances, and here was Sandy, sitting in a seminar, writing out that she really wanted to work with Bob, but it took her a bit of time until they were both in harmony with this idea. Once they were, the partnership was a success.
The same goes with negative thinking. If you start off on the wrong side of the bed in the morning and do not change your thinking, you will attract more and more negative things to you as the day progresses. It can snowball either way for you, so why not let it snowball in a positive direction?
Our goal is to raise our vibration level and be a positive, high vibrating person if we want to achieve our highest level of results.
TIPS for RAISING YOUR LEVEL OF VIBRATION or FREQUENCY
 
Positive thinking will help you increase your thought waves to that higher level of vibration. Just think of how great it feels when you are doing something that you enjoy, like listening to your favorite song, or enjoying the beauty of the landscape and nature around you. Practice recognizing how good you feel when you doing something that makes you happy. When you are feeling good, you are on the right track to raising your vibration, and when you are feeling bad, you are not on the right track. Do whatever it takes to stay in that good feeling, and your vibration will continue to rise.
Limit your activities with people, places or situations that are on a lower level frequency. If you are operating on a higher level, you won’t be able to do this for long anyway, because it will drain your energy. Be mindful of who you are spending time with so that you can keep your level of vibration up.
Spend more time with like-minded people who are positive like you. This will only allow you to keep increasing your level of vibration. Join a club or a group in which you can meet people with interests similar to yours and keep improving yourself.
Be polite and mindful of others at all times. Over time and with practice, this will become a habit. If you are always thinking about ways to help others, it will be inevitable that your level of vibration will rise.
Find ways that you can quiet your mind, and just spend time in this quiet to rejuvenate. Some people use meditation, and others find great benefits from yoga. Find what works best for you to relax, and then practice quieting your mind. Be open to what might happen here, as powerful thoughts can occur to you when you quiet your mind.
Once you begin to increase your vibration, you will notice that your life will become more easier and more peaceful.
BIG IDEA #4 Learn to Live Beyond the 5 Senses with the 6 Higher Faculties of the Mind
We’ve all been raised to live through our five senses: what we see, touch, taste, hear and smell, but our 5 senses can be limiting. We can access new information, deeper flashes of insight, higher levels of creativity, if we learn to live with our 6 intellectual faculties that operate beyond our 5 senses for a competitive advantage. These intellectual faculties tap into the non-physical or spiritual world and help us to build new ideas.  How does this work?  Let’s see how we can learn to use the faculties of our mind to gain a deeper understanding, perspective or ideas.
Perception is your point of view. This factor can be altered at will which means that you can always see two sides to a situation, but it takes the will and some effort to switch your way of thinking to see another side of something. Sometimes when I’m hiking, I can look at the trail when I’m going up, and the exact same spot, going down, looks completely different. What we see with our eyes can be viewed an entirely different way from someone else’s point of view, standing at a different viewpoint. PUT IT INTO ACTION: How can you use this concept to gain new ideas or perspective? If you are having a problem or disagreement with someone, try to look at the issue through their eyes to see a different point of view, not just your own.  You’ll notice with practice, this skill becomes easier, and it will open up your mind and you will become more flexible, improving your relationships with others.
 
Reasoning is the ability to think. Having this faculty makes us different from other members of the animal kingdom; they do not have the ability to reason. In the book, The Strangest Secret[x], Nobel Prize-winner Dr. Albert Schweitzer was being interviewed and he was asked “What’s wrong with men today?” The great doctor answered, “Men simply don’t think.” Wallace D. Wattles, in his book The Science of Getting Rich[xi] agreed with this back in 1910 when he said, “There is no labor from which most people shrink as they do from that of sustained and consecutive thought; it’s the hardest work in the world.” PUT IT INTO ACTION: Use your will to stay focused when you need to think and create new ideas. Critical thinking and reasoning is an important skill that we should be teaching to our children at an early age, so they can learn to think for themselves, rather than follow the crowd. Be sure you are always challenging young children to think for themselves by letting them make decisions. Ask them questions and see what answers they come up with.  I have a 10-year-old who often thinks of new ideas or angles that I might have missed, so I’m grateful to have more thinking minds in our home.
 
The will is the understanding that each idea has a certain pattern and with focused attention, we have the ability to concentrate on what we are thinking about and increase the amplitude (the height of the wave) or thought wave and make them very powerful. PUT IT INTO ACTION: Use the will to lock into an idea and block out all other distractions. Using the will allows you to focus your mind on the things you want and lose focus on what you don’t want.
 
Memory is something you can develop with practice. There is no such thing as a bad memory. However, just like your muscles, if your memory is not used, it can become weak. When you do not exercise the muscles in your body, they lose strength. This is exactly what happens when you are not practicing your memory. PUT IT INTO ACTION: Treat your mind with as much care and consideration as you would your body, as they are very much connected. The more practice you give this faculty, the stronger it will become. We have heard of some research-based strategies that are known to improve your memory, such as avoiding cramming and study what you want to remember used spaced repetition, relate new information to things you already know, be sure that you are sleeping well as sleeping consolidates memories, and adding visual images to what you want to remember.
 
Imagination is Everything[xii] according to Earl Nightingale. All great inventions are created in two separate places: the mind of the inventor and the physical world when the inventor creates it. Our lives reflect how well we use our imagination, because when we hit one plateau of success, it will be our imagination that will take us to what’s next. PUT IT INTO ACTION: Write out where you see yourself in the next 3, 5 and 10 years. If you can do this in detail it will activate cells of recognition in your brain that when you imagine what you write, eventually your brain will accept and recognize what you are telling it, and it will go from feeling like a crazy pipe dream, to eventually something that you can see yourself actually doing, since you have thought about it so often.  One day you can make what you imagined, your reality.
 
Intuition is a mental tool that gives us answers, by picking up the energy or feeling from another person or situation. We can even read a person’s energy over the telephone or the internet as I experienced in EPISODE 65 with Dr. Barbara Schwarck[xiii]. Sometimes we feel we just know the answer, or we have a gut feeling. That is our intuition at work, and we must learn to develop it. With practice, we can learn to trust our intuition and become confident with that which we feel or know. Then, we can move confidently toward that which we want. PUT IT INTO ACTION: The best book I have ever read on developing intuition was called Developing Intuition from Shatki Gawain[xiv].  This was probably one of the most valuable skills I learned to help guide my personal and professional life. I never needed to ask anyone else for advice, as I had my own built in guidance system that helped me to stay in a productive state of mind.
 
BIG IDEA #5 Spirit is Everywhere. We are all Connected, Like a Rainbow (SIP)
This next idea, I put an image of what I’m describing in the show notes. When I asked Bob about the quantum world that Dr. Dan Seigel talks about, where there is this plane of possibility where we can create anything, Bob answered with “I believe the physical realm that we live in and the spiritual world, are all connected, like the colors of the rainbow.” When we take an idea, it comes in from spirit, hits our intellectual mind, and it’s up to us whether we move it into form. 
Have you ever had an idea that you thought was brilliant, and you never did anything with it, and then suddenly you see someone else has created it? That’s because there is only one mind, and that we can all tap into these ideas.  
Think of the three levels
Spirit
Intellect/Mind
Physical/Body 
What you can see (physical world) and what you cannot see (non-physical world) are all connected.  The physical is a manifestation of the non-physical. Another way to look at this, is to think about WATER in the physical world. We can see it. We add heat to water and it turns to STEAM (intellectual level) and add more heat to it and it turns to AIR (spiritual level). Just because we have changed the state of water from its physical form to AIR in the spiritual level, it doesn’t mean that the water doesn’t exist. It exists and when cooled down and goes right back to water.
So, what we see in the physical world and what we cannot see, are all connected.
Since spirit is for fuller expression and expansion, ideas (like I want to write a book) come in through the spiritual level and are looking to be expressed (from a higher to a lower potential). Think of when you ask for help from God through prayer, you are in the physical realm, reaching the spiritual realm with your thoughts for help or ideas. Ideas that come to your mind (your intellect) from the spiritual realm and it’s up to you if you will bring them to physical form. This is called the Creative Process.
PUT THIS INTO PRACTICE: THE CREATIVE PROCESS
Do you pray? Do you meditate? Do you believe in a higher power, or something bigger than yourself?  If you do, you will find this process fascinating, it you learn to use your FAITH through understanding. You will get new insights, and ideas through this practice that will keep you busy. Write out what comes to your mind here and see if the ideas match what you really want to BE/DO or HAVE or CREATE.  When you get an idea that’s congruent to what you want, you will want to take action with this idea.
 
BIG IDEA #6 Thomas Troward- Fuller Expression, Increasing Life Always Aim for Bigger and Better Things
There really are no limits to the heights that we all can reach and a reminder that it’s not what you’ve got that’s important, it’s who we become in the process of reaching our goals.
“Nothing is impossible to the mind.
All its guidance and power are available to you.
When you have fully realized that THOUGHT CAUSES ALL,
You will know that there are no limits
That you yourself do not impose.” –US Andersen, author of The Magic in Your Mind
Thomas Troward: Dore Lectures on Mental Science
Right now if you ask Bob Proctor what he’s studying, he’d say he’s reading Troward’s The Dore and Edinburgh Lectures on Mental Science[xv] and I’ve had this book and a couple of others from Thomas Troward in my Kindle iPhone library for the past 6 years and haven’t read them. I just looked through them and saw a section on Intuition, healing, the will, the body, soul and spirit—everything that we talked about in these 6 BIG IDEAS except healing. I can see why he would be reading this book, sharpening his higher faculties, deepening his connection with spirit and doing all that he can to deliver his message to help as many people as he can. 
Bob always read a section of Troward’s Dore Lectures on Mental Science in the Science of Getting Rich Seminar. One day, while he was running a seminar, I asked him if I could read the passage from the stage, because I was just dying to practice my public speaking and had memorized the quote. So, I read this by memory, and if there’s any passage of information I recommend anyone memorize, it’s this one.
 
“My mind is a center of Divine operation. The Divine operation is always for expansion and fuller expression and this means the production of something beyond what has gone before, something entirely new, not included in past experience, though proceeding out of it by an orderly sequence of growth. Therefore, since the Divine cannot change its inherent nature, it must operate in the same manner in me; consequently in my special world, of which I am the center, it will move forward to produce new conditions, always in advance of any that have gone before.”
What does this mean? It means that my mind/your mind is a center (there’s more than one center) but we are all connected, and there are no limits. If I was to stop there, I think that’s enough to motivate any of us to reach higher than we might have reached in the past. We are Limitless.
This Divine operation is always expanding (there’s as much power above it as below it) and this means the production of something that has gone before, something entirely new, not included in past experience, through proceeding out of it, in an orderly sequence of growth. This means that what you are capable of will not be a repeat performance of something you have done before, although your past experience prepares you, but it will move you BEYOND where you have ever been, to GROW and EXPAND in an orderly way.
Therefore, since the Divine cannot change its inherent nature, it must operate in the same manner in me; (so trust in the way your life unfolds—it’s all going the way it’s supposed to go) consequently in my special world, of which I am the center, it will move forward to produce new conditions, always in advance of any that have gone before. Meaning that when we keep working diligently towards our goals in life, we will keep producing NEW results that go beyond where you were before. We are always expanding and growing when we are taking action—so keep aiming for bigger and better things, and never stop learning/growing.
 
REVIEW OF THE 6 BIG IDEAS:
BIG IDEA #1 Paradigms: Something is Holding You Back. When You Become Aware of it, You Can Move Forward. Take some time to figure out what paradigms are holding you back, and start to work on changing just one paradigm at a time. This will require some work, as the paradigm is ingrained in your non-conscious mind, but with time, one day, you will look back and notice the growth that occurred because you took the time and put in the effort to make this change.
BIG IDEA #2 Prosperity Thinking: The More We Give, The More We Stretch our Minds to Receive and Keep Giving More. Where is your thinking right now? I know that these are difficult times, but if you notice your mind leaning towards lack and limitation instead of abundant thinking, it’s time to take immediate action. Go somewhere where you feel energized and begin to work on changing your thinking. Volunteering or helping others can also help shift your mindset here, as you begin to see that your situation is much better than many other people in the world, and this can help shift your mindset.
BIG IDEA #3 The Law of Vibration and Attraction: You Attract What You Are.
If you have had trouble achieving your goals, this is the first place I would look. Do you know yourself well enough to know whether you are operating at a high or low frequency? When you are feeling good, and life is flowing, you are definitely on the right track. If things are difficult, and you feel unhappy, something needs to change, and the change starts with changing your energy or frequency by thinking new thoughts, that will stimulate new feelings and motivate you to take new actions, that in turn will change your conditions, circumstances and environment. The change begins with you.
BIG IDEA #4 Learn to Live Beyond the 5 Senses with the 6 Higher Faculties of the Mind. You don’t need to master all 6 of these at once, but if you just picked ONE to work on and sharpen for the next year, you will notice the results in your life change. Pick one factor, and really dive deep into studying it in your spare time. Writing this episode has been a powerful review for me as well. I’m always working on improving my intuition, because I think it’s just fun to see how often you can guess something ahead of time, but I also see the importance of working on some of the other faculties, like the imagination, which is a key ingredient for creating something new. This is where inventors of the past went to figure out how to make the airplane take flight, where the iPhone was created and where the inventions of the future will come from. Also, just a reminder to not let what we see (with our senses-which are limiting) going on in the world limit or control us. We can’t change it, but we can keep studying, learning and growing, so that we change and improve ourselves when times are difficult. 
BIG IDEA #5 Spirit is Everywhere. We are all Connected, Like a Rainbow. This idea has come up with Dr. Daniel Siegel’s work where he talks about the fact that quantum physics proves that there are 2 realms: one where we operate through our senses, and the other, the plane of possibility that is timeless. We could spend a considerable amount of time thinking about this idea, but I’m just going to trust that my understanding will continue to grow here as I continue a daily meditation, prayer, and gratitude practice. The faith that comes from this practice is based on understanding and when new ideas come, I know it’s important to act on these ideas and do the work with the talents and skills that God has given me. Each of us will have our own meaning with this idea, based on our individual beliefs. Whatever you believe, find the practice that works for you to feel this connection.
 
 
BIG IDEA #6 Thomas Troward:  Life is for Fuller Expression, Increasing Life Always Aim for Bigger and Better Things. Keep studying, learning, growing and reach for more in life. You won’t be able to do this alone, so be sure that you find mentors to help you reach your new levels of achievement. Just keep learning, increasing your awareness, and growing. And answer the question “What do you REALLY want?” There is great opportunity for the person who understands themselves. 
I hope that you have found these ideas as powerful as I have. Remember, these are just a few of the most powerful concepts I learned from working 6 years directly with Bob Proctor, attending his seminars live, and then continuing to study and apply these ideas.  These concepts do take time before the results become apparent, but if you really want something, you will do the work and one day, you will look back, and realize that you have achieved the goals you’ve always wanted, so that you can then help others do the same.
If you found this episode helpful, please share it on social media, and tag me. I would love to hear your take-aways of what you liked or learned. Until next episode, have a great week. See you next time.
REFERENCES:
[i] Neuroscience Meets SEL Podcast Episode #66 with Bob Proctor on “Social and Emotional Learning: Where it All Started.” June 3, 2020 https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/the-legendary-bob-proctor-on/
 
[ii] Tips and Tools Go to Download a FREE Copy of You Were Born Rich https://www.proctorgallagherinstitute.com/tips-and-tools
[iii] Neuroscience Meets SEL Podcast Episode #44 with Andrea Samadi on “12 Mind-Boggling Facts About the Brain” https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/andrea-samadis-12-mind-boggling-discoveries-about-the-brain/
 
[iv] Paradigm Shift Seminar https://www.proctorgallagherinstitute.com/events/paradigm-shift?utm_source=1-Events-Page&utm_medium=1-PG.I-Site&utm_campaign=PS-Event
[v] Neuroscience Meets SEL EPISODE 2 “Self-Awareness: Know Thyself” https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/self-awareness-know-thyself/
 
[vi] Mark Robert Waldman and Chris Manning Neurowisdom: The New Brain Science of Money, Happiness and Success page 13 (January, 2017) https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01N9BLBDH/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_tkin_p1_i3
 
[vii] Mark Cuban on Tips for Small and Large Businesses on Navigating Today’s World https://www.linkedin.com/video/live/urn:li:ugcPost:6650799192853753856/
 
[viii] The Science of Getting Rich Seminar based on the book by Wallace D Wattles https://www.proctorgallagherinstitute.com/programs/science-of-getting-rich?utm_source=Programs%20Page&utm_medium=PGI%20Site&utm_campaign=SGR
[ix] David Hawkins, M.D., Ph.D Power vs Force: The Hidden Determinants of Human Behavior https://www.amazon.com/Power-Force-David-Hawkins-M-D/dp/1401945074
 
[x] The Strangest Secret by Earl Nightingale (2005) https://www.amazon.com/dp/1640951083/ref=sspa_dk_detail_0?psc=1&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUEyM0RHNzJCT1I3QTA4JmVuY3J5cHRlZElkPUEwNzg3NzMzMU9ETzhJWUU2MU82RyZlbmNyeXB0ZWRBZElkPUEwMDA2NjYwMTBWMldKMzdVRlZVOCZ3aWRnZXROYW1lPXNwX2RldGFpbCZhY3Rpb249Y2xpY2tSZWRpcmVjdCZkb05vdExvZ0NsaWNrPXRydWU=
 
[xi] The Science of Getting Rich Seminar based on the book by Wallace D Wattles https://www.proctorgallagherinstitute.com/programs/science-of-getting-rich?utm_source=Programs%20Page&utm_medium=PGI%20Site&utm_campaign=SGR
[xii] Imagination is Everything YouTube by Earl Nightingale https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e25hRhKPm4M
 
[xiii] Neuroscience Meets SEL EPISODE 65 Dr. Barbara Schwarck on “Using Energy Psychology and Emotional Intelligence to Improve Leadership in the Workplace” https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/dr-barbara-schwarck-on-using-energy-psychology-and-emotional-intelligence-to-improve-leadership-in-the-workplace/
 
[xiv] Developing Intuition by Shakti Gawain (March 30, 2010)  https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000054737/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1
 
[xv] Thomas Troward The Dore and Edinbugh Lectures on Mental Science https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0036FTEX0/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_tkin_p1_i0
 

The Legendary Bob Proctor on ”Social and Emotional Learning: Where it All Started”

Welcome back to the Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast. If you’ve been listening to our podcast and wonder what exactly we do at Achieveit360.com, go to our website and take a look.[i] We provide courses, books and tools for teachers to implement Character and SEL programs in the classroom along with other consulting services that can be used in the corporate workplace. You can watch this interview on YouTube, but you won't be able to hear the backstory, unless you listen through your favorite podcast channel. Listen to all past episodes here. 
Here’s the Back Story behind the programs and services that were inspired by our guest today, Bob Proctor. You can go to our website’s About Us[ii] section to see an outline of the last 20 years, and you will see a picture of him at the top of the page, but first let me explain who he is. 
In 1961, Bob Proctor started studying the book, Think and Grow Rich[iii] (right now it’s showing as #1 in Entrepreneurship Books on Amazon) and this book transformed his life. If you’ve been lucky enough to see Bob Proctor speak live, you’ll see this book and one look at it, you’ll know he’s been reading it every day.
He listened to Earl Nightingale’s condensed recording of the book thousands of times, he said he would put this record player in his car and listen to it (back in the days that I can still remember when we had vinyl records before music and audio recordings became available online). He then created his own position that allowed him to work shoulder-to-shoulder with Earl Nightingale at Nightingale-Conant (that at the time was the largest distribution house for personal development programs). He worked there until 1973, before leaving to start his own personal development company where he’s been training people around the world ever since. Today, Bob has studied thousands of books, continues to read Think and Grow Rich every day, and is considered the world’s foremost expert on the human mind.
I can personally say that Bob Proctor is one of the rare speakers out there who truly lives and breathes what he teaches, with full integrity—he walks his talk and inspires those around him to do the same. I was fortunate enough to cross paths with Bob in the late 1990s when I was a school teacher in Toronto, when I asked my neighbor, Mark Low, what he did for a living, and he didn’t say much, but he handed me Bob’s You Were Born Rich[iv] book that I read the next day in a staff meeting (hiding it behind my binder as I pretended I was listening to the meeting) and my life was never the same after that day. The book was not just about being rich financially, but was about being rich in potential, saying that we all have deep reservoirs of talent within ourselves, and that we have greatness locked up inside ourselves...everyone has reservoirs of great talent and ability within us and if we can bring it to the surface we can accomplish anything we want. I really liked that idea.
That was 24 years ago, and it’s definitely been a journey that started when I quit my job as a teacher and went to work in his offices selling seminars. I want to share some of the top lessons learned from Bob, before we go into the interview. I will definitely do a deep dive into his content after this episode, as it’s so valuable, but looking back to the day I met him, here are my biggest take-aways. If you have some that you want to share, please tag me on social media when I post this interview and share some of yours.
Lesson 1: I learned how to set huge goals that most people would say were crazy when Bob asked me “what do you really want?” When I told him, he told me that there were certain steps I needed to follow, that started with writing my goals down on this card he gave me, and if I did all the things he suggested, and believed in what I was doing, I could have what I wanted. I really believed him and followed what he told me to do. 
Lesson 2: I learned how to be resourceful and make money based on my natural talents and skills. When Sept 11th happened, I had just moved to the US and had big plans of what I was doing...all of them halted just like many peoples plans halted or changed during the pandemic, but I knew I was great with children, and ended up getting a job as a nanny through one of the local resorts, eventually being the most requested nanny’s there. I also always valued keeping a clean and tidy house, so when I needed to make more money, I found work cleaning houses that was great money, and also very humbling, and not far from the work that Bob did in his early days...he would talk about it all the time, how he made great money cleaning offices, and it kept me on track with my goals. 
Lesson 3: I learned the basics of sales, which came in handy when I worked in the publishing industry. It was this skill, along with persistence, that allowed me to earn enough money to buy my first home in AZ and start living the life that I described when he first met me, and asked me “what do you really want?”
Lesson 4: Was on how to generate energy so that I could accomplish more in less time. There was this one time that I was going to an event at 5am and this was years before I was an early riser. I was not like this when I lived in Toronto. When the car arrived at my house one morning to take me to an event, Bob was in it, and when I jumped in...he asked me how I was. And this at 5am it was pitch black, and I was probably still sleeping...and I said I was tired...and Bob said...pardon? I thought he was losing his hearing so I leaned forward and told him again, I’m tired Bob...and then he said something I never forget to this day.
He said, “I thought you knew that we can create our own energy.”
I was quiet for a minute and realized that he was expected me to integrate what he was teaching at these seminars...into my daily life.
"Ahhh"...I said...and I never told him I was tired again. And when anyone ever asked me how I was, and I was tired, I never admitted that…ever again.
I learned how to generate my own energy through diet and exercise that ensures I can accomplish more, but it started that early morning, when bob asked me “how are you?”
Bob has always surpassed me with energy. He’s got more energy than anyone I’ve ever seen. He starts his seminars on a Thursday or Friday night, and runs straight through till late Sunday night, never sitting down, taking a break, or saying, phew, I’m tired. 
Lesson 5: Is about the impression of increase or to put in more effort than you expect back. Well, that came from the SGR seminar and is a concept that has stuck with me to always do my best, without expecting any gain.
Lesson 6: is about integrating your beliefs with your behavior. If you look at your goals, and what you believe, then look at whether the actions you are taking line up and ask “is by behavior consistent to what I want?”  I learned that Bob really does do ALL of the things he says he does.
There was one day about a month after Sept 11th happened and I was in the same place he was staying at for a few days, and I knew things were up in the air with his company as no one was getting on airplanes to travel to the seminars. Things had changed overnight just like that. When I looked over at where he was sitting, I saw that he was reading Wayne Dyer’s There’s a Spiritual Solution to Every Problem[v] and I knew right then and there that Bob was looking for answers on where to pivot to next. He’s always reading something to gather new ideas and strategies and of course I bought that book immediately not wanting to miss out on some important knowledge.
Lesson 7: To live every day like it’s your last. He’s the one who told me the idea that when you really want something, you are trading your life for that goal. That didn’t make sense until recently, I see the work that went into where I am today, and yes, I traded my life for that. The daily repetitive work towards the goal I always wanted, until I got to one level, then to next, and I can see how I traded each day for that goal I wanted and am grateful that I picked a worthy goal to trade my life for.
Lesson 8: Excellence is a commitment to completion. I learned to complete what I start early on, not that I’ve always done this, but I know how important it is to see a project through until it’s completed. Whether it’s a project, or something as simple as saying, I’m going to the gym and actually taking the action to go, when we say we are going to do something, I believe in the importance of doing it.
Lesson 9: when stuck with your direction, I learned how to write out on a piece of paper on the left side what I don’t want, let’s say you are not happy with your work, you’ll want to get a clear picture of what will make you happy, and seeing it on paper will open your eyes. Once you know what you don’t want, it’s easy to go to the right side and write the polar opposite on the paper....so you know what you can work towards. This is a huge lesson in self-awareness. You’ll get to know yourself better after you do this and then you need to honor the things that make you happy.
Lesson 10: I learned that success really is possible if you really want it, but there will be work involved. If I am willing to do that work that involves daily reading, studying and then taking action on the ideas I want to create, that “strange and marvelous things will happen with constant regularity as you alter your life.”
I would love to hear any thoughts or take-aways as you listen to the interview. 
Let’s get straight to the interview…and hear directly from Bob Proctor himself.
This is episode #66 with world renowned speaker, motivation and success coach, author of best-selling books, and my mentor, Bob Proctor[vi].
Welcome Bob, thank you so much for taking the time to come on this podcast that really is here because of you, for inspiring me 24 years ago to take action with these ideas. You asked me “what do you really want?” and I told you. Then you showed me how to get it and here we are today. Thank you so much for helping me to create the life that I saw all those years ago. 
I’ve had a chance to thank pretty much everyone who’s helped me along the way, kept in touch with Greg Link from the Covey Organization and he always asks how you are doing, so along with thanking you, I wanted to be sure to pass on a few of the people along the way who have always asked about you because you’ve made such an impact on their world as well. Another person was Joe Gray, from Sunlife’s Scarborough Branch. My Mom worked there, and she still keeps in touch with him, and he’s always asking about you because of the impact you made with those guys selling life insurance back in the day. The last time I was there, they all still carried their goal cards in their shirt pockets. Thanks for all you’ve done to wake so many of us up to take action and create a life that we wouldn’t have thought was possible without you pushing us to think of the limitless possibilities.
INTRO: Bob, the reason I wanted to reach out to you, and have you on this podcast is because I discovered social and emotional learning skills that are making inroads in our schools today, with plenty of research to back up the results that occur with students who study these skills—I discovered them, by chance through you and we are a year into this podcast now, and are experiencing incredible results, showing me that people are looking for ways to learn new strategies and tools to improve their results, using the most current neuroscience, while also tapping into their own social and emotional skills…and you knew this YEARS AGO…Can I take you back to when I had this HUGE AHA moment?
It was one of those unforgettable moments, you know, one of those moments in our life when we know things will never be the same again—a clear moment of truth. Like when I think back to it, there could have fancy orchestra music playing as if to say, “Pay Attention Andrea!”  You were working with a group of teens we called them YMI or Youth Mentor International (I think we were in New Orleans at the Superdome) with skills that developed their attitude, mindset, confidence and goal-setting abilities, (what we used to call soft skills) and it skyrocketed their results.
I know you’ll remember Brian Johnson, but not sure if you would know that at the time you were showcasing these students, I was in the audience of at least 8,000 people, and Brian had just started to speak his part and share what he was learning from you, and he started to stutter, and we’ve all been there, public speaking at any age is stressful, let alone at the Louisiana Superdome and you stood behind this teen and rubbed his back in such a way that he calmed down and was able to speak without any problems, and I was blown away, on so many levels.  As a teacher, I had really struggled to make an impact on the students in my classroom, and then here were these 12 teens talking about their unusual results after only a few months of working with lessons that mirrored what we now know to be called growth mindset, self-awareness and self-regulated learning that are now evidence-based strategies being implemented in schools (and workplaces) around the world.  I just remember it felt like a brick hit me in stomach, and I seriously couldn’t breathe, I just started crying, my face went all red and blotchy, because I knew at that moment that this was it—this is what I was meant to be doing for the rest of my life, and then I had to go and help Gina with back of the room sales and then Milt Campbell who was up on stage that day, was there and came over to introduce himself to me—and I knew I needed to learn what you were teaching these kids more than anyone.
Q1: Thinking back to those 12 YMI teens you started working with (and then the hundreds of them who followed working with the tape program) Why do you think these teens had such incredible results after just a few months of working with you and these lessons?  What were they missing? 
Q2: You’ve been studying for almost 60 years now—if we count back to when you started reading Napoleon Hill’s Think and Grow Rich book and I wonder what you think are some common reasons that people don’t reach their full potential? I think it’s something that I learned from your You Were Born Rich Book, to recognize the potential in ourselves and other people (and I know that we all have this potential) I see it especially with young people—some of them shine like a bright light—but only the rare few actually develop their talents and abilities to their fullest. I wrote down this quote in 1999 (I think from the SGR Seminar). You said “the person who is certain to advance is one who is too big for his place and has a clear concept of what he wants to be—who knows that he can become what he wants to be and is determined to be what he wants to be.” It makes sense to me that schools are now teaching self-awareness to students to help them to uncover their strengths but what do you think is the formula that we should all know on how to develop an unwavering belief in our abilities so we don’t default back to doubt/worry/ anxiety and fear that sabotages our results?
Q3: Back when I worked with your offices, I was always looking for something to study and I found this old video program, called “The Journey of the Mind” where you were walking through this set that has large stones, and you covered topics like responsibility, paradigms, goals, attitude, persistence, and decision. This program became the outline of my first book, The Secret for Teens Revealed[vii] and you wrote the foreword and it became the backbone for the courses that I’ve created for the school market. I don’t know what ever happened to that course you created, but I think it’s crazy to think that years later, Carol Dweck published her book Mindset: The Psychology of Success[viii] (that changed millions of lives with its insights into growth mindset). You didn’t call it growth mindset but were teaching this all along with your programs when you were teaching about changing results by changing our beliefs. What about YOUR belief Bob? When you were creating some of these programs that didn’t take off (I think the one I saw was never produced into a film like it was supposed to) did you ever lose belief in what you were doing? How did you stay on track until your programs took off the way you envisioned?
Q4: I know when things really changed for your organization, and it was when Rhonda Byrne contacted you about appearing in this movie, The Secret,[ix] that accelerated your work around the world, along with many others. For those who have never heard this story, can you share how you just happened to be in the right place, at the right time, to meet her? Why do you think we meet certain people at certain times in our life who accelerate us/take us to our next level and what can we do to prepare ourselves to be ready when this happens?
Q5: This is the only science-based question, but I have to ask it because it ties directly to your work.  I’ve been studying Dr. Daniel Siegel[x] (do you know Dan?) He’s a clinical professor of psychiatry from UCLA’s School of Medicine and executive director of The Mindsight Institute[xi] who did episode 28 on “Mindsight: The Basis for Social and Emotional Intelligence”[xii] and he has spent years showing the scientific connection between the mind and the brain. Dan talks about that “science clearly demonstrates that we have 2 realms in our physical universe—and this is not commonly known.”  He asked 3,000 tech experts and 3,000 therapists and only 5% had ever heard of this. That reminded me of when you asked all those schoolteachers if they knew what the faculties of their mind were, and none of them could tell you. Well, Dan shows how there is one world where time/space exist, and the other world, the quantum world, is timeless and full of possibilities.
To me, this is what Wallace D. Wattles speaks about in The Science of Getting Rich[xiii] book that inspired half a billion people since the movie The Secret was inspired by this book and all the possibilities that exist in this other realm. Can you talk a bit about what you know about this second realm as it pertains to not only making money, but the place we go in our mind when we pray, or say our affirmations, or reach during meditation, because science shows that there is this plane of possibility or the “formless source” where anything is possible.
Q6: I listened to the podcast you did with Lewis Howe’s[xiv] this weekend. I love that guy and his podcast and learning from those who are doing well within industry, and it made me think of something else I wanted to ask you. Do you have time to cover one last Q? If so, what do you think is important for all of us to be thinking and doing during these strange times?
 Thank you, Bob, I want to let people know about your upcoming programs, and how they can learn more about you. Just go to https://www.proctorgallagherinstitute.com/ and you can see your next virtual seminar coming up called Paradigm Shift[xv]  they can easily download the book that inspired me, You Were Born Rich,[xvi] for free on your site and find you on social media @bobproctorlive on Twitter, and search for you on Facebook.
FOLLOW ANDREA SAMADI: 
YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/AndreaSamadi  
Website https://www.achieveit360.com/  
Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/Achieveit360com  
Neuroscience Meets SEL Facebook Group https://www.facebook.com/groups/2975814899101697  
Twitter: https://twitter.com/andreasamadi  
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/andreasamadi/ 
RESOURCES:
How to Develop of Growth Mindset https://lifengoal.com/growth-mindset/ 
 REFERENCES:
[i] https://www.achieveit360.com
[ii] https://www.achieveit360.com/about-us-history-and-mission/
[iii] Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill TarcherPerigee; Revised & enlarged edition (August 18, 2005) https://www.amazon.com/Think-Grow-Rich-Landmark-Bestseller/dp/1585424331
[iv] You Were Born Rich by Bob Proctor https://www.proctorgallagherinstitute.com/programs
[v] There’s a Spiritual Solution to Every Problem by Wayne Dyer (Reprint Oct. 2009) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000FC144O/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1
[vi] https://www.proctorgallagherinstitute.com/our-story
[vii] The Secret for Teens Revealed by Andrea Samadi (2008, Wheatmark Publishing Tucson, AZ).  https://www.amazon.com/Secret-Teens-Revealed-Teenagers-Leadership-ebook/dp/B078TQ4NF5/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=andrea+samadi+secret+for+teens&qid=1590796709&s=books&sr=1-1
[viii] Mindset: The Psychology of Success by Carol Dweck (Dec. 2007) https://www.amazon.com/Mindset-Psychology-Carol-S-Dweck/dp/0345472322
[ix] The Secret by Rhonda Byrne https://www.thesecret.tv/products/the-secret-book/
[x] https://www.drdansiegel.com/
[xi] https://www.mindsightinstitute.com/
[xii] Neuroscience Meets SEL Podcast EPISODE #28 Dr. Daniel Siegel on “Mindsight: The Basis for Social and Emotional Learning” https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/clinical-professor-psychiatry-at-ucla-school-medicine/id1469683141?i=1000456048761
[xiii] The Science of Getting Rich Seminar based on the book by Wallace D Wattles https://www.proctorgallagherinstitute.com/programs/science-of-getting-rich?utm_source=Programs%20Page&utm_medium=PGI%20Site&utm_campaign=SGR
[xiv] Lewis Howe’s School of Greatness Podcast Episode with Bob Proctor https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKBtPesxp1M
[xv] Paradigm Shift Seminar https://www.proctorgallagherinstitute.com/events/paradigm-shift?utm_source=1-Events-Page&utm_medium=1-PG.I-Site&utm_campaign=PS-Event
[xvi] Tips and Tools Go to Download a FREE Copy of You Were Born Rich https://www.proctorgallagherinstitute.com/tips-and-tools
 

Dr. Barbara Schwarck on "Using Energy Psychology and Emotional Intelligence to Improve Leadership in the Workplace"

This is episode #65 with Dr. Barbara Schwarck, CEO of Clear Intentions International, who has been helping people get unstuck and make powerful, lasting life changes for over twenty years. Dr. Schwarck is an award-winning, dual-certified coach with extensive academic training in Psychology, Management, Spirituality and Kinesiology. Through her extensive training, she created her unique Neuro Emotional Coaching, a cutting-edge coaching tool rooted in neuroscience, emotional intelligence, with their implications for leadership, and the Muscle Testing 101 app, a tool for people who want to learn how to use kinesiology. Watch the interview on YouTube here. 
What’s interesting is that Dr. Schwark and I share some of the same influencers. We have Bob Proctor, my mentor and inspiration behind the work I started with youth, coming on our next episode #66 and Dr. Shwarck, like me, has studied his work along with many others. She has used her technique to successfully coach more than 1000 CEOs, professionals, family business owners and thought-leaders who want to be effective leaders, strong performers, clear communicators and difference-makers.  In her private coaching practice, clients work with her on anxiety/depression, self-esteem, relationships and personal growth. 
Last week, Dr. Schwarck and I spoke on a video conference, and she is located right now in Israel, and she wanted to demonstrate her work before we did this interview. I’m a firm believer in reading energy even if you are not in the same room with someone, you can feel it and Dr. Schwarck is the most advanced person at this skill, that I have ever seen. Through a zoom video, she was able to tap into my energy field and find an area where my subconscious or non-conscious mind was holding me back.  Once we identified these 2 areas of work, and we named them, we tamed them (like we just talked about on our last episode with Greg Wolcott) showing me that no matter how much work we are doing on ourselves, there is always something we can do to improve. 
Welcome Barbara, it’s great to see you again. I feel like we know each other well now, after our last session together and even moreso to hear that you are working with one of my closest friends from high school who is living in Cyprus, Greece right now. What a small world this is! She saw that you were coming up on the podcast this week and sent me a message raving about the results she has created with you.
Q1: Barbara, what do you think is at the root of becoming a stronger performer, leader, and be able to communicate with clarity and effectiveness?
Q2: How do you use Neuro Emotional Coaching to uncover what is holding you back and when we were speaking, is it always this simple to identify people’s blocks? You picked up where I was incongruent in a few minutes and fixed it just as quickly. 
Q3: How does someone integrate their beliefs with who they become, especially when they experience quantum leaps with their results?
Q4: How exactly would you suggest leaders engage their employees, create stronger teams or become a champion of positive change?
Q5: What is emotional intelligence, and can you give some context as to why it’s so important these days and how do you motivate the individual employee? 
Q6: What are some strategies that people can take away right now to improve their emotional intelligence? Are there strategies to uncover where you have blocks or do you need to work with someone on this one? How are they received in the corporate world today? 
Thank you so much Dr. Schwarck for your time to share your years of coaching and training to help improve people’s lives and results. If someone wants to reach you, what is the best way for them to find out more about your programs and services?
 
For more information, visit www.clearintentions.net or contact Dr. Barbara Schwarck at barbara@clearintentions.net, or USA: +1.412.656.8841 / Israel: +972.54.2178550. 
REFERENCES:
https://clearintentions.net/whats-next/
 
https://clearintentions.net/clear-intentions-tools/book/
 
https://clearintentions.net/clear-intentions-tools/muscle-testing-app/
 
 
 

Assistant Superintendent Greg Wolcott on "Making Connections with Neuroscience and SEL"

This is episode #64, with a returning guest from our 7th episode, Greg Wolcott, Assistant Superintendent for Teaching and Learning in a suburb of Chicago as well as an adjunct professor and author of the phenomenal book Significant 72: Unleashing the Power of Relationships in Today’s Schools.[i] I first saw Greg on an EdWeek Social and Emotional Learning Webinar back in 2016, where he was talking about this concept that he was using in schools that he called “Significant 72” and this concept wasn’t even a book yet. I thought his idea was powerful—so I wrote it down and began telling his story when I was presenting to educators who could use this idea. It’s really a powerful concept, and I’ll let Greg tell you more about it. When I launched this podcast, a year ago, I was looking for high quality experts to provide tools and resources that we could all apply to take our results to the next level, and I immediately thought of Greg. Watch the interview on YouTube here.
We’ve kept in touch over the entire year since we started and he’s reached out to me with thoughts and ideas for how he sees each episode being applied within his schools, and brainstorming new ideas, or applications of how the content can help the education and corporate sectors. He makes connections between speakers that I might not have seen and has been an invaluable resource for me to keep moving forward with new speakers and ideas. Welcome back Greg and thank you so much for all you’ve done to support and cheer me on over here, your help means a lot. 
Before I get to the questions, can you give an overview of what you do over there, where the concept of “Significant 72” came from and also, what’s your outlook with where things are right now in our schools as we prepare to transition to the summer and into a new year, still living in the midst of a pandemic?
Q1: Greg, you sent me a recent presentation that you did called “Creating Connections During a Crisis”[ii] and I loved everything that you presented so I wanted to ask you some questions that would dive a bit deeper into what you covered. We can share you screen here if that helps with the visuals.  Can you explain why you think it’s so important right now to prioritize social and emotional learning in today’s educational space?
Q2: I saw something that you shared on social media on Twitter, (I think it’s your pinned tweet @GregJWolcott)and it was about how important it is for educators to reach out personally to every student in their class to remain connected, and that tweet you sent had almost 9K likes, and over 2K retweets! I’ve never seen numbers this high. Can you share what stories you are hearing from educators/students who have been keeping in touch during the pandemic and also maybe some students who you’ve heard have been having a tough time with not being in an academic environment so we can keep in mind how important keeping these connections are for our students?
Q3: What about the how behind an SEL Implementation? Can you go over the concept of STORY, which is an acronym from your book where you talk about how every student has their own STORY or strengths, tendencies, opportunities, resources and yearnings (which is how you break down this acronym and how SEL and the most current neuroscience research is infused into each of these areas? Starting off the S in STORY, why is it so important for our students, and ourselves to understand our unique strengths?
Q4: What about the T in STORY, for tendencies. Why is it important that we understand our tendencies as it ties into the 3 parts of our brain with strategies to overcome those times we become overwhelmed? 
Q5: What about the O in STORY, opportunity? How do we recognize the opportunities for growth (which is actually one of my top 5 values)—like you talk about understanding our emotions, categorizing them, and then coming up with a strategy to move beyond where we are right now when we are stuck. Can you explain this 3-step process to slow down and make a change with our emotions in mind so we can experience growth?
Q6: For the R in STORY, or the resources, I found this part the most interesting, mainly because most of what you mention, we’ve been talking about here on the podcast and some of these concepts have taken some time to become known and accepted. It really does help to have the point of view of an assistant superintendent to bring some credibility to some of the resources that  you are using.  Can you share some of the resources that have used in your local schools to help students with their learning, and how these resources are being received by the students themselves as well as the teachers? (Vagus Nerve and some of the ways it can be activated to calm someone down)
Q7: For the Y in STORY, for yearnings, what’s the best way to remind ourselves of what students want, need and desire to produce their best work?
Q8: Greg, our family loves eagles, and we always seem to notice them when we are driving in the car, and your son made a pretty powerful statement about the eagle—I always think it’s important to listen to what our kids are saying as they can say some pretty impactful things, if we can take the time to listen.  Can you tell your son, Jack’s Eagle Story?
Q9: Is there anything that you think is important that we might have missed?
Thank you Greg, for taking the time out of your day to speak with us and share your Significant 72 book, ideas and resources for making the Neuroscience/SEL Connection. If someone wants to learn more, they can go to www.significant72.com  to get your book and find you on Twitter @GregJWolcott to reach you. Thank you so much again for all of your ideas that are impacting the success of this podcast.
 RESOURCES:
[i] www.significant72.com
[ii] Creating Connections During a Crisis with Greg Wolcott Published on May 6, 2020 on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=WwcbXDIknVE&app=desktop
 

Author Hans Appel on "Building an Award Winning Culture in Your School or Organization"

This is episode #63 with Hans Appel, who has been a school counselor from Richland SD, WA for the past 19 years and is the author of the NEW book, Award Winning Culture: Building School-Wide Intentionality Through Character, Excellence and Community[i]  that you can find RIGHT NOW on Amazon. My husband has worked closely with this District when he was a Regional VP of Sales with Scholastic and he agrees that they go above and beyond with everything they do, and it’s not surprising to hear that they emerged as International Thought Leaders over there but there’s much more to this story than meets the eye. I look forward to sharing Hans’ background and story for those who would like to replicate Award Winning Culture in their school, workplace or organization. Click here to watch the YouTube interview. 
Welcome back to the Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning podcast, my name is Andrea Samadi, I’m a former educator who created this podcast to bring the most current neuroscience research, along with high performing experts who have risen to the top of their field with specific strategies or ideas that you can implement immediately, whether you are a teacher in the classroom, a parent trying to figure out homeschooling and working from home,  or someone working in the corporate world, to take your results to the next level.    
Today we are speaking with Hans Appel, has worked as a counselor in the Richland School District for the past 19 years at Enterprise Middle School since it opened.  He’s passionate about school culture, servant leadership, and kindness.  In 2018, EMS was awarded the ASCD Whole Child Award for the State of Washington and the Global “Class Act Award” for creating a culture of excellence through kindness, service, and empathy.  Additionally, the were selected as a finalist in the 2019 PBIS Film Festival and took top prize in the Community, Parents, and Staff category.  
When I first spoke with Hans, just last week, to learn more about his background and new book, his humble nature came through. It wasn’t until last night, when I started to read his book “Award Winning Culture” that just became available last Friday, that I got to know and truly understand where Hans’ passion for building school-wide culture emerged from. I could go on with Hans’ bio, but will include more details in the show notes, and urge you to read his book yourself, and his website[ii] where you can learn more about Hans’s story, and about his wife Jen, who is an educator at Enterprise MS. Welcome Hans!
Q1: Hans, when we were speaking last week, you were telling me how all of this started but we didn’t speak at all about your personal story that you share in the beginning of your book.  For anyone looking to understand how change takes place, I do highly suggest reading this book to get a deeper understanding with someone who has grown up firsthand with ACES (Adverse Childhood Experiences). Before we get to the questions, can you share how you used your difficult upbringing to fuel your passion for change within your local school District?
Q2: Can you explain how this all began at Enterprise Middle School that caused you to write your book, Award Winning Culture and create the framework around what you did to cause such an international interest?
Q3: Hans, I’m familiar with how important it is to infuse SEL skills into a school, home and emotional intelligence training in our workplaces, with what we’ve been doing here, but many schools or workplaces are not sure how to begin, where to even get started with a program. Can you give some ideas of where someone can start to implement award winning culture within their school or organization to reap the benefits that will follow with a program like yours?
Q4: Imagine a school or an organization that has not yet implemented a program, and they are well aware that change needs to occur. The part in your book about the reporter crying when she “felt” the energy of your school and asked “why aren’t all schools like yours?” made me think of the fact that I have walked into thousands of schools in the US/Canada over my 20 year career working with schools and that reporter was right. When you see or get that “feeling” that’s hard to explain, but it’s there…usually right when you walk in the front doors (sometimes it can be felt before you walk in) but it’s hard to forget a school like this. What’s involved in changing a school or organization from where they are now, and get them to where they want to be to experience what we know can be felt? I’m sure this change takes time, so what is the process?
Q5: Most of us by now are aware of Simon Sinek’s book or TED TALK “Starts with Why” where an organization must have a clear understanding of their “why” before they can make a larger impact with their goals. Once they know WHY they are there, the HOW and WHAT they do becomes simple. What is YOUR “Why” and how do you identify, and tie in a school’s purpose (the foundation) and ensure that all stakeholders are on board with this purpose for existing?  
Q6: Is there anything that’s important to mention that you think we have missed? 
Thank you so much for taking the time to speak with us and share your powerful story of creating Award Winning Culture in a school or workplace. Your story could have gone 2 ways as we are all well aware of the effects of ACES on a child’s future, but you used your experience to fuel for something that has, I think only just begun for you. I want to recognize you for doing the work to get to where you are today,  (because I know work was involved) and thank you for the impact you are having not just locally in your state, but across the country and internationally. If someone wants to reach you directly, I will put all of the links in show notes and be sure to find the book, Award Winning Culture on Amazon and contact you to learn more about your programs and services for implementing Award Winning Culture. Thank you!
Hans can be contacted at hansappel094@gmail.com.  Follow Hans on twitter @HansNAppel. Follow AWC on twitter at @awculture @awcpodcasting or Instagram @awardwinningculture.Wildcat Nation on Instagram @emscounseling #WildcatNation #AwardWinningCulture
HANS’ BIO:
In 2018, Hans launched his own blog about School Culture and rolled out a student-led leadership podcast called Award Winning Culture: Hosted by Wildcat Nation, which can be subscribed, listened or reviewed on iTunes Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Google Play, Spotify, PodBean, and Libsyn.   Hans’ blogs have appeared on DisruptED TV magazine, CharacterStrong, and PBIS Rewards.  He’s written social-emotional lessons for CharacterStrong.  He has also been featured on numerous educational podcasts speaking his brand of school culture into existence.   He’s been a contributing writer on three upcoming educational books: “ Define Your WHY: Own Your Story So You Can Live and Learn On Purpose,” “Reflective Impact Journal,” and “ALL IN: Taking a Gamble in Education.”  Hans’ own book about school culture was just released on Amazon on May 22nd. Hans is the Director of Culture for the Teach Better Team and a member of the coveted Teach Better Speakers Network.  He presents at conferences, schools, and districts all over the country.  Topics include: Creating an Award Winning Culture, Amplifying Student Voice, Student-Led Podcasting, and Infusing Servant Leadership through PBIS. He can be contacted at hansappel094@gmail.com.  Follow Hans on twitter @HansNAppel. Follow AWC on twitter at @awculture @awcpodcasting or Instagram @awardwinningculture.Wildcat Nation on Instagram @emscounseling #WildcatNation #AwardWinningCulture
REFERENCES:
[i] Award  Winning Culture: Building School-Wide Intentionality and Action Through Character, Excellence and Community by Hans Appel (May 22, 2020)  https://www.amazon.com/Award-Winning-Culture-School-Wide-Intentionality-ebook/dp/B088JCRRYR/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=
[ii] http://www.awardwinningculture.com/#/
 

CEO and President of Casel, Karen Niemi on "Tools and Strategies to Enhance and Expand SEL in our Schools and Communities"

This is episode #62: with the President and CEO of CASEL (Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning, which is the trusted source for knowledge about high-quality, evidence-based social and emotional learning) Karen Niemi. You can watch the interview on YouTube here. 
Welcome back to the Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning podcast, my name is Andrea Samadi, I’m a former educator who created this podcast to bring the most current neuroscience research, along with high performing experts who have risen to the top of their field with specific strategies or ideas that you can implement immediately, whether you are a teacher in the classroom, a parent trying to figure out homeschooling and working from home,  or someone working in the corporate world, to take your results to the next level.  
Today our podcast comes full circle, as anyone who follows our work, will know that we launched this idea almost a year ago, when I saw a huge need for a platform for social and emotional learning when Casel’s first SEL Exchange in 2019,[i] drew an interest from over 850 speakers around the country to present their ideas to help improve our schools, homes and communities with SEL and this inaugural SEL conference drew over 1,500 attendees from 48 states and 30 countries. 
I am thrilled to have the Karen Niemi, the President and CEO of CASEL here today. Karen oversees and directs all of CASEL’s activities to enhance and expand evidence-based social and emotional learning, including practice, research, communications, policy, and development. This is no small feat, but as an accomplished business leader with a long track record of success in the education sector she blends a deep understanding of school systems and pedagogy with solid business practice and has successfully led educational companies through all stages of growth.  She has also helped schools advance their educational mission by making research and best practices accessible and actionable by teachers and administrators and has brought learning tools and strategies to school systems and students nationwide.
Welcome Karen, it’s such an honor to have you here today. I must give David Adams from episode #54[ii] a shout out and thanks for introducing us and let you know that we have had a few leaders from Casel, like Clark McKown, the President and Founder of xSEL labs[iii] who is on the advisory board for Casel’s Measuring SEL Initiative[iv] as well as Yale’s Center for Emotional Intelligence Founder Marc Brackett with his important book “Permission to Feel.”[v]  Thank you for coming on today to share your thoughts, experiences tools and resources for SEL at such an important time for parents, educators and everyone for that matter.  
Question 1: I was speaking with the President of a large publishing company to potentially develop an SEL program, and many people in this company, were still unclear of the years of research and data behind implementing SEL in our schools. So, even though there’s this huge interest in SEL, not everyone has caught up yet to the benefits behind implementing an SEL program (in our schools) or even an Emotional Intelligence Training program in our workplaces for those who are in the workforce and are missing these important skills. I pointed them to your research page https://casel.org/research/ and explained about the 11 percentile point academic gain. How can we spread the word of all of the resources that Casel offers, that’s really been the Hallmark of your work since its founding? Can you give an overview of all of the resources that Casel offers?
Question 2: There’s a lot of people who work at Casel with your board, staff, consultants, funders and collaborators. I know Linda Dusenbury from following her Collaborating States Initiative[vi] since 2016 as I watched with amazement when SEL standards slowly but surely started being implemented in schools across the country, and I know of some of the people in your research department, but can you give an overview of “Who Works” with Casel in addition to some of the new initiatives that have been formed like your Assessment Work Group[vii]?
Question 3: With the research in mind, why should every student be exposed to SEL? What gains do they see? For schools listening, what would you say would be the main reason behind why should schools invest in SEL, the importance of parents implementing these skills at home and corporations continuing to reinforce these skills in the workplace? (How is Casel currently conducting research?[viii])
Question 4: What are the social and emotional competencies, and out of all of them, what ones do you think have been missing in our schools? Why do you think this is the case? What’s different now, from 20 years ago?
Question 5: As more and more schools are looking for SEL programs, highlighting evidence-based programs and how to access them would be helpful. On CASEL’s Recommended Program Guides: What are they, how can people access them?[ix]
Question 6: As a vendor of an SEL program I created and launched with a partnership with AZ schools and AZ Dept of Education in 2014 a few years before this buzz for SEL began,  I’m speaking on behalf of all the great programs out there that have not a) even thought of what they must to do to show efficacy and to appear in your program guide b) are not even sure of where to begin this process.
Back in 2014 there just wasn’t all the valuable resources available as there are now. Panorama Education was just emerging with their SEL measurement tools and I didn’t have the understanding of how to properly measure students who I was working with (that I know better now from Clark McKown) and I know that many other vendors are not clear on how to properly measure students before, during and after program results. After a few years of measuring and submitting data to earn the “evidence-based” criteria and being unsuccessful, I just gave up.
Would there ever be a step by step training program on the requirements to have a program reviewed to be considered evidence-based so it would be clear on exactly how a program qualifies to appear in your program guides, especially for the middle and high school ages where there could be more options for schools? How would NEW vendors be able to qualify for the program guide review process? Do you recommend partnering with your local University for this?
Question 7: Where do you envision SEL going in the next 5 years? Do you think it will ever be as important as the core subjects?
Karen, I want to thank you very much for the time you have taken to meet with me today, and share a deeper dive into everything that you offer at Casel. For people who want to learn more about Casel, they can go to casel.org and I have included everything we are speaking about in the show notes. Can you explain your CASEL CARES[x] Initiative, and your Weekly Webinar Series[xi], and anything else that I might have missed that you think would be important for people to know about?
REFERENCES:
[i] 2019 CASEL Exchange Conference https://www.collaborativeclassroom.org/casel-sel-exchange-2019-conference-chicago-il/
[ii] Neuroscience Meets SEL Podcast Episode #54 David Adams on “ A New Vision for Education: Living Up to the Values We Want for Our Next Generation” https://www.achieveit360.com/director-of-sel-david-adams-on-a-new-vision-of-education-living-up-to-the-values-we-want-for-our-next-generation/
[iii] xSEL Labs: Helping Educators Understand Children’s Social and Emotional Strengths and Needs  https://xsel-labs.com/about/about-us/
[iv] Measuring SEL Initiative https://measuringsel.casel.org/our-initiative/
[v] Neuroscience Meets SEL Podcast Episode #22 with Yale’s Center for Emotional Intelligence Founder, Marc Brackett with his book, “Permission to Feel.” https://www.achieveit360.com/founding-director-of-the-yale-center-for-emotional-intelligence-on-his-new-book-permission-to-feel/
[vi] https://casel.org/collaborative-state-initiative/
[vii] https://casel.org/assessment-work-group/
[viii] https://casel.org/from-casel/
[ix] https://casel.org/guide/
[x] https://casel.org/resources-covid/
[xi] https://casel.org/weekly-webinars/
 

Maria Natapov on "Building Autonomy, Self-Confidence, Connection and Resiliency Within Our Children"

This is episode #61: Welcome back to the Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning podcast, my name is Andrea Samadi, I’m a former educator who created this podcast to bring the most current neuroscience research, along with high performing experts who have risen to the top of their field with specific strategies or ideas that you can implement immediately, whether you are a teacher in the classroom, a parent trying to figure out homeschooling and working from home,  or someone working in the corporate world, to take your results to the next level.  We’re just a month away from our one year anniversary of when we launched this podcast that is now being listened to in over 95 countries, and we’re thrilled to see that we’ve hit the top 100 charts for Apple iTunes Education How-To Category for multiple countries (Canada, USA, Great Britain, Australia, Sweden and just hit #1 in Switzerland this week) so thank you listeners. I’ve actually lived in 3 of the countries that keep showing up on these charts and am grateful to all our supporters around the world.
 
Today we have someone who I know will share some valuable and timely tips for all of us--Maria Natapov[i], a Certified Parent and Caregiver Coach with a specialty in trauma and neuroscience and its application. Maria teaches practical and actionable parenting techniques to caregivers that bring out the best in their child, with a specialty in healing trauma and breaking its cycles. She partners with parents, teachers, and childcare professionals through individualized, targeted sessions that empower caregivers to curb their child's challenging behaviors and deeply connect while taking care of their own needs. In addition to parent coaching, she has worked as an applied behavioral analysis therapist in home and school settings.  Maria moved to the United States from Russia at age 8 and is deeply sensitive to the role that cultural differences play in behavior and parenting. If you were to take the time to hear Maria’s story and background, you would understand where her passion to help other parents navigate through difficult times originated, especially when trauma is involved.[ii] I’ve included a podcast she did on this topic that  you can access this in the show notes to learn more about her background. Maria founded Restorative Parent Coaching to help caregivers create nurturing environments in which adults and children can thrive. To watch this interview on YouTube, click here. 
 
 
I first met Maria when she connected with me through social media and saw instantly that we had common ground with our work. The interview questions I’ll be asking today came directly from an article she wrote called “5 Strategies to Mitigate Covid-19 Related Anxiety and Trauma for Children.”[iii] When we connected, I knew immediately that Maria’s work tied into some of our past speakers. I could see her influence from Dr. Daniel Siegel’s work when she mentioned that our children really need to be “seen and heard” during these stressful Pandemic times, and also Dr. Bruce Perry’s work when she speaks about the importance of adults learning how to regulate themselves in order to calm a stressed or anxious child.
 
Welcome Maria, thank you so much for speaking with me today, and sharing your work and ideas with the community.
 
I think that speaking with you is timely and important right now, as many of us are now 2.5 months into working from home (and many people I know now are working a hybrid of home/office hours) while still trying to figure out this new schedule with the addition of home-schooling. How are things going for you right now over there in Massachusetts on the East Coast?
 
I am sure that the timelines are different for some people listening, but here in the US, my 2 girls have been home from school since the beginning of March, and school starts back up again for us here the end of July, and we still aren’t sure of what that is going to look like. I’ve recently spoken to one of my friends from Toronto who is a Superintendent at one of the large Districts there and he mentioned that schools there aren’t going back until September, so that’s 2 countries right there, where school ended abruptly and it’s the parents (with support from the schools) who are now working with our children to be sure they are on track.
 
 
 
Q1:  We know how important it is that parents and caregivers stay calm and regulated especially these days, since a dysregulated or stressed adult can NEVER regulate a child. I know that my kids are “watching my every move, and how they see me responding to situations that come up will be strategies and habits that they will learn to develop for themselves.” (Maria Natapov). For example, as we are going through our day and something happens (like it always does) I try to still keep the pace and keep moving no matter what. There’s lots of little incidents: A dish breaks, we clean it up and don’t cry or freak out about it, putting it all into perspective. It’s just a dish. How can we use structure or blocks of time to set up a daily routine or rhythm in our lives so that we can sail through these summer months until our children go back school and use this routine to keep our lives calm and peaceful, while helping us to respond (peacefully) to the situations that come up instead of react that can happen while we are under stress? What ideas do you have to create routine?  (Around mealtimes, educational activities, play times, family time, and virtual time with friends while learning to handle the challenges that come up with more grace)?
 
Q2: I love learning from other people with this next question. We all know how perceptive our kids are and how they “easily can pick up on negative or anxious energy of those around them, so it’s important to be intentional with creating a peaceful atmosphere.” (Maria Natapov) I’m phenatic with cleaning, keeping order in my house, and when I wake up, I play the Pandora Spa Music channel so that I can set the stage for the peace I expect for the rest of the day. Of course there are still stressful moments, it’s not all peaches and cream no matter how much we prepare ahead of time, but what suggestions do you have that you have seen that are easy to implement, to be sure that we are fostering a calm environment in our home?
 
Q3: One of the most powerful discoveries of Michael McKnight and Dr. Lori Desautels’ work[iv] (EPISODE #16) centers around the impact that stress has on children and their learning. We’ve heard that when kids are stressed, overwhelmed, worried or anxious, it might come out as a “power struggle, an argument, not listening, being emotional or other forms of challenging behavior” (Maria Natapov). We also have seen that when an educator is stressed, it will raise the cortisol of the student, causing a never-ending cycle that is the cause behind educator burn-out. I can see this burn-out happening in our homes as parents are now being overloaded with homeschooling activities. What are some techniques that you have seen working well for parents/educators to calm themselves, and in turn create a peaceful learning atmosphere that doesn’t just work to get us by this summer, but that we can use moving forward to improve our home life?
 
Q4: When we were speaking, you mentioned the importance of our children feeling “seen and heard” and how when they are younger, they look to us as their superhero. Can you explain the need that our children have with their parents, and how this need changes when they become teenagers?
 
Q5: Is there anything that you think is important for us to understand, that I might have missed? Maybe something that taps into the fact that anxiety is at an all-time high for our students. Do you have thoughts on the best way to bridge the communication gap with our children so they feel comfortable enough to talk to us about the things they are thinking and feeling?
 
Thank you so much Maria for taking the time to share your work on this much needed topic. If someone wants to contact you, and learn more about your services, is the best place to go to your website https://www.restorativeparentcoaching.com/ where you offer a free consultation for anyone who would like to learn more about your programs and services?
  
RESOURCES:
https://www.renniecenter.org/research/back-school-blueprint/helping-students-heal-trauma
REFERENCES:
[i] https://www.restorativeparentcoaching.com/
[ii]https://open.spotify.com/episode/1DrKNB3WVIUyEegca938HZ?fbclid=IwAR1DrX7DfEExU4fPJoFLf6hcMy3Cr1G00lkw_QfJuaik2VuSKLWAF-3zWuw&nd=1 
[iii] 5 Strategies to Mitigate Covid-19 Related Anxiety and Trauma for Children by Maria Natapov Published April 14, 2020 https://thriveglobal.com/stories/5-strategies-to-mitigate-covid-19-related-anxiety-and-trauma-for-children/?utm_source=Newsletter_Transaction&utm_medium=Thrive&utm_campaign=Published
[iv] Neuroscience Meets SEL Podcast Episode #16 on “The Future of Educational Neuroscience in our Schools and Workplaces.” https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/lori-desautels-and-michael-mcknight-on-the-future-of-educational-neuroscience-in-our-schools-and-communities/
 

The Science and Benefits Behind a Meditation Practice with Dr. Dan Siegel’s Wheel of Awareness.

This is episode #60 on The Science Behind a Meditation Practice with a Deep Dive into Dr. Dan Siegel’s Wheel of Awareness. 
Welcome to the Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning podcast, my name is Andrea Samadi, I’m a former educator whose been fascinated with understanding the science behind high performance strategies in schools, sports and the workplace and created this podcast to bring the most current neuroscience research, along with high performing experts who have risen to the top of their field with specific strategies or ideas that you can implement immediately, whether you are a teacher in the classroom, a parent trying to figure out homeschooling and working from home,  or someone working in the corporate world, to take your results to the next level.  After watching Dr. Daniel Siegel the past few weeks on his “Pep Me Up Talks”[i]  where he shares with an audience around the world about his books, tools and resources like the “Wheel of Awareness Meditation”[ii] that I’ve been using every day since preparing for his interview last year, I thought it was important to cover a deep dive into this topic to bring in the science behind meditation, to increase belief and credibility behind these practices that are now commonly seen in our schools, homes and workplaces.  We did cover the topic of meditation for beginners with Mindfulness and Meditation Expert Mick Neustadt in episode #25 with “How Meditation and Mindfulness Changes Your Life”[iii] if you want to review that episode. 
I have been following Dr. Dan Siegel since 2015, reading his books, and learning from his resources, and on the interview I had with him for episode #28 on “Mindsight: The Basis for Social and Emotional Intelligence”[iv] (close to the end of the interview) we talk about what I have been learning from doing the meditation tool that he created. At the time—in October 2019, I had been doing his meditation every morning for 2 months. You can see this part of the interview here at (42:52)[v] where he asks me what I have learned from this practice, and although I downloaded this activity, and explored the Wheel in 2015, I didn’t start doing it daily until I was preparing for his interview, because I knew he would ask me what I had learned from this practice, and when I first tried it, and in the beginning, I honestly found it a bit advanced and confusing and didn’t want to tell him that so I put in some extra effort to understand it. If you have not yet tried “The Wheel of Awareness”[vi] Meditation, please do go to the link and download it, so you can see the image of the wheel, and try it out. This episode might make more sense once you do that and if you feel like I did in the beginning, don’t worry, it’s now been 8 months of practicing this daily and I’m just starting to figure out how to explain it now, so just try it and see what benefits you notice.
I wanted to share Dan’s findings of asking thousands of people around the world, over the years first.  If you have ever heard him talking about the Wheel of Awareness, you will know that the idea came to him when he bought a custom-made round table for his office so that his patients didn’t have to sit at a regular table. His mediation has evolved over the years as he has shared it with experts, and those who hold scientific evidence of the benefits of incorporating a daily meditation into your routine and life. If you are listening to this podcast, you will want to look at the image of the wheel in the show notes so you can physically see each of the segments I’m going to describe. In his book, Aware: The Science and Practice of Presence, Dr. Siegel explains that there are research-based elements of mind training that should include 3 pillars: focused attention, open awareness and kind intentions towards others.[vii] This practice involves all 3 of these pillars and profound changes happen with the body when you do mind training. He also explains that a 3-pillar meditation practice (like his Wheel) changes the structure and function of the brain in these fascinating ways:
There’s an integration of structure and function of the brain (integration means well-being).
There’s a reduction of the stress hormone cortisol.
There’s an enhancement of immune function.
Improvement in cardiovascular risk factors.
Reduction in inflammation via epigenetic changes.
An optimization of telomerase—which is fascinating as it repairs and maintains the ends of chromosomes and slows aging.
Who wouldn’t want these benefits? The science is clear and proves that implementing a daily meditation practice improves your physical and mental health with many more benefits we will explore further.
 
Here's How Dr. Dan Siegel Breaks Down Each Segment of The Wheel of Awareness
 
Segment 1: The 5 Senses: Dan explains that we must send the “spoke of awareness” which is just another way of saying to focus on one of the senses at a time, to each of the 5 senses of hearing, sight, smell, taste and touch. With each sense, we move the spoke, so we are actively thinking and feeling about the data we are bringing from the outside world into our awareness, with each sense.
Segment 2: The 6th Sense/Bodily Sensations/Neuroception/Interoception: With this part, Dan takes us from head to toe, giving us access to the wisdom from within our body. This part helps us to become more aware of our organs, bones and muscles, and are probably parts of our body that we have rarely ever put our focused attention towards.
Segment 3: The 7th Sense or our Mental Activities
I’ve divided this segment into 3 parts to make this easier to understand.
PART A: This is where Dan asks us to bring any thought or memory into our awareness and see what happens. He reassures us that many things may come, or nothing at all. For me, this segment took some time, and when a thought finally did come, I just used this part of the meditation to solve problems I might be having, to see what kinds of solutions I might be able to think of on my own.
PART B: Now Dan asks us to examine the thought that comes in and pay attention to how it presents itself. Was it sudden? Did it vibrate or slide in? And how does this thought leave our awareness? Is it replaced by another mental activity or thought, and if not, what does the space feel like? To me, this part was really deep, and I could think of a thought, and strong thoughts would vibrate, but I don’t think I’m advanced enough yet to describe this any further.
PART C: Now he asks us to bend the spoke in the hub and just rest in pure awareness. This is where we feel fully alive, present and focused. I never really understood why he was asking us to bend the spoke, until I heard him explain it another way recently.[viii] If you have access to the show notes, look at the 3-P Diagram of State of Mind and see the shaded area under the x axis with a new axis called the z-axis. This shaded area represents awareness and it made more sense to me imagining the bended spoke, to create this shaded area. This part of the meditation many people talk about a feeling of peace, calmness and energy. This is where Dan explains that physics comes in to explain that “energy is movement from possibility to actuality” (the definition he got from asking quantum physicists what exactly energy is).  So, when we are in this part of the meditation, we can gain access to energy, peace, calmness, ideas and possibility.  This is what I have heard many people say is the reason why they meditate in the first place.
Segment 4: Our sense of connection to others. This is the final segment of the meditation where Dan asks us to focus on those who are physically close to us, friends or family, those in our community, city, state, country and around the world. This part of the practice allows us to feel a connection to others as we sent wishes of well-being towards other people in the world. This part is powerful as it really does help us to focus outside of ourselves and put some energy towards others. It’s just like sending prayers to everyone in the world you can think of.
I had some thoughts about this practice, specifically with the first segment where we strengthen our five senses. It made me think of the work I learned in the late 1990s through the speaker Bob Proctor, who taught me to live beyond my 5 senses, using the Higher Faculties of the Mind which are the will, intuition, reason, perception, memory and our imagination. This would be an episode on its own, but as we are strengthening parts of our mind, I think it’s important to include these higher faculties.
Andrea's Findings From the Wheel of Awareness Meditation
So, here’s what I learned after just 2 months of actively listening to this 30-minute meditation. I’m going on 8 months now of doing this practice daily, and the findings are more noticeable now than when he first asked me and I’m sure that another year from now, I will have a deeper understanding. I noticed:
An Increase of Focused Attention with the 5 Senses: and that my awareness expanded with an increase in focused attention (which really helped to focus while working from home). Where your focus goes, energy flows, and what we are putting our attention on, grows, so you can imagine that doing this every day will increase awareness, and sensations within our 5 senses of hearing, sight, smell, taste and touch.
An Increase of Awareness and Sensations Within the Body: I noticed with the focus on bodily sensations that I was developing or improving this 6th sense that I’ve mentioned in prior episodes that Dr. Stephen Porges calls “neuroception”[ix] where he suggests we must get better at sensing what’s happening within the body. When you get to this part of the meditation, Dan takes you through each body part, (starting with the face and going throughout the entire body) and it reminded me of an activity that my Mom told me she did that she believes helped her to beat Uterine Cancer in the late 1990s. She told me that during her treatment, she would go through each body part with her mind and pretend to chop up each cancer cell she saw with an axe--it sounds crazy, but she did this daily during her chemotherapy treatments and she was the only one in her group who recovered 100%. Her surgeons were so amazed at her results that they asked her to come in and speak to other patients while they were going through treatment with an explanation of what she did. As you focus on each part of the body, (just like we focused on our senses) you’ll notice with time that your awareness of the sensations you feel within your body, will increase as well, there will be insights that you can learn from these sensations like your “gut feelings” become clearer and easier to read.
An Increase in Connection to People Around the World: With this part of the meditation, Dan asks you to send kind intentions to those close to you, and other people in your community, city, state, country, continent, and world. I noticed an immediate connection to others all around the world when I was thinking of them, and it had to be sincere, sending thoughts of kindness and well-being towards them. The attention was taken off me and what I want in this world, and directed towards other people, which really is a powerful experience. It made me see that even though I’m working alone, in an office, in Arizona, USA, that I am a part of a larger whole around the world and Dan believes that these words when said out loud, can make an impact on our body and the world.
There is much more that we can say on this topic, and I know that with time, practice and as my own awareness increases, I will have a deeper understanding the 4 segments of the Wheel of Awareness.
I would love to know what you think. What insights do you see at each segment?
I look forward to your thoughts and will see you on episode 61.
RESOURCES:
[i] Dr. Dan Seigel “Pep Me Up Talks” https://www.crowdcast.io/e/PEPPTalk/5?utm_source=Mindsight%20Institute%20Master%20List&utm_campaign=8ccdbf6436-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2020_02_28_01_08_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_562796b3c8-8ccdbf6436-300769001
 
[ii] https://www.drdansiegel.com/resources/wheel_of_awareness/
 
[iii] Neuroscience Meets SEL Podcast #25 with Mindfulness and Meditation Expert Mick Neustadt on “How Meditation and Mindfulness Changes Your Life” https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/mindfulness-meditation-expert-mick-neustadt-on-how/id1469683141?i=1000453919865
 
[iv] Neuroscience Meets SEL Podcast #28 with Dr. Daniel Siegel on “Mindsight: The Basis for Social and Emotional Intelligence”  https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/clinical-professor-psychiatry-at-ucla-school-medicine/id1469683141?i=1000456048761
 
[v] YouTube interview of Andrea Samadi with Dr. Dan Siegel on The Wheel of Awareness Meditation Findings (42:52) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7pnea2Vbzc&list=PLb5Z3cA_mnKhiYc5glhacO9k9WTrSgjzW&index=21&t=0s
 
[vi] https://www.drdansiegel.com/resources/wheel_of_awareness/
[vii] Aware: The Science and Practice of Presence by Daniel J Siegel, MD Published August 21, 2018 Tarcher Perigee 
https://www.amazon.com/Aware-Practice-Presence-Groundbreaking-Meditation/dp/1101993049
 
[viii] Dr. Dan Seigel “Pep Me Up Talks” https://www.crowdcast.io/e/PEPPTalk/5?utm_source=Mindsight%20Institute%20Master%20List&utm_campaign=8ccdbf6436-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2020_02_28_01_08_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_562796b3c8-8ccdbf6436-300769001
 
[ix] Neuroscience Meets SEL Podcast EPISODE #59 with Suzanne Gundersen on “Putting The Polyvagal Theory into Practice” https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/suzanne-gundersen-on-putting-polyvagal-theory-into/id1469683141?i=1000473826604
 

Suzanne Gundersen on "Putting The Polyvagal Theory into Practice"

This is episode #59 with Suzanne Gundersen. You can watch the interview with graphics here on YouTube. 
Thanks for tuning into the podcast today! I’m always excited about the guests we bring on here, as each person has achieved high levels of success in their field and I know they can help others by sharing their knowledge. Our next guest is an expert in a topic that has been on my reading list the past year. When I was speaking with Suzanne Gundersen and she mentioned her life’s work has been based on putting Dr. Stephen Porges’[i], Polyvagal Theory into practice, I stopped what I was doing and asked if she could tell me more about this.  
For the past year, I’ve been watching trainings from Deb Dana[ii] (whose mentor was Dr. Porges) and just bought her book The Polyvagal Theory in Therapy[iii] and had written down that I wanted to interview an expert on the Polyvagal Theory. Plus, I have heard Dr. Lori Desautels mention Dr. Porges’ work the past year, and so  I wasn’t surprised when an expert showed up. If you are new this work, like me, you would know why I would be looking for an expert to explain this theory. Someone who could in simple terms explain what we must all understand about our Central Nervous System when it comes to managing our stress response. These days this understanding is more important than ever before and this is exactly what Suzanne does with two tracks, first is stress education (the science of stress) and secondly, she speaks about nervous system with regulation techniques.
Welcome Suzanne, thank you so much for coming on the podcast today to share your knowledge, and programs on such an important topic. Like we spoke about, there are many layers to this theory, and at first glance of all the notes I have taken on it, I still can’t explain it very well. Thanks for helping us break down this theory so we can think about how it can apply for our teachers in the classroom, for us as parents working from home, as well as for those who want to apply this idea in the workplace.
Q1: What is “Polyvagal?" and why is this theory so important for us to understand these days?  Answer is that it's the science of safety and connection, a map for living our most modern survival strategy, social engagement.  Porges theory shows how our evolution has delivered us to human form where our unique communication abilities offers us possibilities for secure and deeply meaningful connections to survive and thrive. 
Q2: I actually have 2 version of the polyvagal chart (one you sent to me) and what we must know to remap our nervous system as dysregulation occurs. I got the first chart from Dr. Lori Desautels last October when I attended one of her live trainings. Can you give an overview of the Polyvagal chart and what’s happening at each level with the Ventral Vegal (safety), Sympathetic (danger) and Dorsal Vegal (Life Threat) stages so we can recognize these stages in ourselves and others? 
Crash course on neuroscience three branches most modern VV, then SNS, then PNS, and in order to understand it we have to go way back to when we were fish, strategy to freeze, then amphibians with legs to fight/flight, then humans to communicate.   We automatically respond to stress, hierarchically, start with most modern first then use more ancient strategies to keep us alive.  When we sense threat, our first reaction is to is to look to another for safe connection to help us know we are safe, we look for facial cues, tone of voice, regulated heart beat, if we don’t receive what we need to know safety and connection, we revert to SNS (mobilization), if doesn’t satisfy, then to PNS freeze.  Each stage has a co-relating stress symptoms and body system status (SNS- charged system- increase heart, breath, blood to limbs), SNS- systems release/go limp (drop bowls). 
 
Q3: We have been talking on past episodes on the responsibility we have as parents and professionals to keep ourselves regulated (or in the green zone of your chart) but how do we do this? What are some suggestions/strategies that you offer when day to day stress hits us—strategies we could do at work, home or in the classroom? – get ourselves regulated, to be able to offer /hold presence space for children to be in their moment.  Vagal toning…. Quick inhale/long exhale, hold breath, hum, ommm, squeeze/release, shake and twist body, pound thymus, drum.== what really doing is restoring natural rhythm to vagus nerve.  When we’re stressed ,it’s like a hiccup to the body systems, these techniques restore rhythm.
 
Q4: I heard the term “neuroception” from Stefanie Faye[iv], who did EPISODE #39 with us on “Using Neuroscience to Improve Mindset, Self-Regulation and Self-Awareness.” She explained this term means that we must get better at sensing what’s happening in the body, the environment and between two people in relationship with each other. Can you explain how neuroception can help us to understand ourselves and others better with the polyvagal theory in mind?
Neuroception is a word Porges made up to deepen the word ‘perception’ to include more of an intuitive sensing component to it.  Our ANS responds automatically and if responded through perception could infer a mental awareness, when our response is faster than our mind.  So, neuroception is about our intuitive sensing of our surroundings so we know if we need to react to threat or if we can be immobile without fear.  To understand this let’s chat about animals.  Animals attack each other for food or control.  As humans, we too are animals and while some humans fight each other for blood our dominant evolution is to connect. Neuroception helps us know/intuit who is safe to connect and be immobile without fear.  And that if we’re threatened, to use language to communicate to resolve threat.  It’s our evolution potential ,however you can imagine we’re still working on it.  
Q5: What are some of the healing modalities that you have seen used to help with stress relief? Top down (talk therapy) vs bottom up (integrating the mind and body). What popular strategies are you seeing today?
Traditionally we’ve been so focused on the mind, talk therapy, mindset work, as the western way of managing stress.  While that top down approaches are still valid, so many are opening up to whole mind/body solutions. 
Let’s visual a brain…. Stem – instinct (body) , then limbic- memory, emotions then pre-frontal cortext – thinking mind.  Top down would be to start with the pre-frontal cortex, like CBT, Talk Therapy, Mindfulness, Mindset, Hypnosis, Meditation.  Bottom up would be to start with the body/NS patterns – TRE, myofascial release, yoga, breath work, SE.    Then there are some that meet in the Limbic middle, Tapping, EMDR.  Every modality works, however some need to start with more body work / brain stem & NS to be regulated enough to relate within the limbic system and then rationally access the reasoning of the pre-frontal cortex thinking mind.  This is why some people can’t meditate, they just aren’t regulated enough to sit with their dysregulated systems and distracting emotional habits to be present and calm.  
STORY: When I was preparing my questions for you, I did see that you mention Energy Tapping as one of your bottom up models for stress reduction. I have to tell a quick story, because I learned energy tapping back in 2001 when I met a doctor from Singapore (Dr Joseph Guan)[v] who came to the US and was doing some teaching on what they were doing Internationally. Of course, I attended his seminar, and learned all about the meridian points, and how it worked, and began using it right away--mostly to build up my resilience and mental strength. This doctor was well-known, respected and at the time was working with Dr. Bruce Lipton[vi], an American developmental biologist who is well-known in this field today. So here’s my story-back when I worked in the corporate world, in educational publishing, a sales manager heard about energy tapping from a TV show and she approached me to see what I thought. She wanted to know “Did I know what it was, could this concept help the sales team, was I using this idea myself, and could I present this idea to the sales team in our next weekly meeting?” All of the answers were yes. Of course, if there was a strange, new productivity strategy, people would ask me first if I had heard about it.
So, here I am, in the front of my sales team (a mix of males and females) and introducing the success strategy of the week as energy tapping, and I will never forget the look on their faces. They seriously were not ready for a strategy like this. I knew they all thought I was crazy, and they did. It really didn’t matter if the strategy was making the news, would improve their results in sales and increase the company’s revenue, the sales team wouldn’t do it. That was definitely one of many ideas that I tried to introduce to the corporate world that I would say I was ahead of the time for. How have things changed as you see it? How does the Corporate World now embrace these new stress reduction modalities like energy tapping? I know this modality has received criticism and some people have felt it lacked scientific evidence, but there are clearly many studies now showing its effectiveness[vii]. 
Great story, I can relate.  When I started sharing Tapping with others around that time, they thought I was crazy, however I think the collective consciousness is waking up, physically, emotionally and mentally and realizing they want to move from coping to thriving which is opening the door more and more to tapping.  More common these days for companies to have wellness programs that include mindbody programs full of yoga, breathwork/meditation.  Tapping is slowly making its way in the US, thanks to Ortner’s great marketing work on the technique however many still don’t understand it or how to easily put it to use.  My ACE system solves that problem and I’ve been sharing it with my corporate peers who are open minded and willing.  
Q6: Can you provide some other example of bottom up models for stress relief?
There are many traditional and holistic modalities out there and they all work, the question is to find what will work for you.   I like to start with the body because it makes sense in terms of the brain’s evolution.  Massage, Yoga, Vagal Toning exercises or practitioner led TRE, SE to discharge the tension and overwhelm.  It’s not a one size fits all, but start trying them and see what fits and once you found it, work it with persistency. 
Q7: Is there anything else that you think is important that we might have missed?
We’re living in very transformative times, with the world as we know it dismantling in front of us, threatening our ‘normal’ lives.  That threat has us living in stress, which is to live in survival energy.  The evolution of our mind has taken it away from the body and we are dis-integrated.    Our integrated evolution has been stunted and why the Earth has hit a reset button for us to come back to the body, back to basics.  We need to retrain our nervous system from the value we put on busyness to the value of restoration.  We have a huge opportunity now to deeply connect within to know ourselves and share that authentic version with the village we choose to surround ourselves, that makes us feel safe and that we belong, for who we truly are.  Polyvagal Theory helps us understand our evolution and our potential for living with genuine aliveness.
 
RESOURCES:
If someone wants to learn more about Suzanne’s programs and services, go to www.transformedconnections.com to learn more and gain access to a FREE 30 minute consultation.
REFERENCES:
[i] https://www.stephenporges.com/
 
[ii] Deb Dana https://www.rhythmofregulation.com/
 
[iii] The Polyvagal Theory in Therapy by Deb Dana Foreword by Stephen Porges (Norton and Company, 2018)  https://www.amazon.com/Polyvagal-Theory-Therapy-Interpersonal-Neurobiology/dp/0393712370/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1585756602&sr=1-2
 
[iv] Neuroscience Meets SEL Podcast EPISODE #39 with Stefanie Faye on “Using Neuroscience to Improve Mindset, Self-Regulation and Self-Awareness”  https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/neuroscience-researcher-stefanie-faye-on-using-neuroscience-to-improve-our-mindset-self-regulation-and-self-awareness/
 
[v] https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-joseph-guan-5156a23/
 
[vi] https://www.brucelipton.com/
 
[vii] https://www.thetappingsolution.com/science-research/
 

"The Wise Emotional Fitness Program" Delivered via Virtual Reality with James MacDiarmid and Natasha Davis

This is episode #58 with James MacDiarmid and Natasha Davis. Thanks for tuning into the podcast today! I’m always excited about the guests we bring on here, as each person has achieved high levels of success in their field and I know they can help others by sharing their knowledge. Our guests today hit a chord with me when I saw their work because their vision, and my vision are 100% aligned. You can watch the interview on YouTube here. 
A few years ago, I couldn’t stop thinking about a thought I had of teaching social and emotional learning skills via virtual reality.  I had some prominent virtual reality companies that I had been following and put up on my wall, with the vision that maybe someday, we would see students learning SEL via these new modes of learning that were highly engaging.  I had an image of what the lessons would look like (I could see a forest with students choosing different paths and learning new skills with each pathway that they took). For example, if they made a life decision, it would give them the opportunity to see the effects of this decision and see the reality of “if I do this, this will happen” showing them the consequences of their actions. After my interview with David Adams[i], (episode #54) I received a message on LinkedIn from James MacDiarmid (who had heard David’s podcast) about a potential next guest for the show with a video link for me to learn more about what our next guest had created. When I finally had a chance to watch the video, I have to say, I was blown away. This was the vision I had for SEL brought to life. I watched a walkthrough of a virtual reality lesson from the Wise: Emotional Fitness program and there was even a forest in the video. I wrote back to James with tears in my eyes, that yes, I want to learn more and before I know it, I’m speaking with James from Curiious[ii] - that’s with two ii’s- in Australia via video conference about the Wise program. 
And here we are today.  Let me give you more background on James and Natasha.
James has extensive experience in education, learning design and consultancy, with a passion for new technologies and enacting transformational change across whole-school systems.
He is a published author, contributing writer for TEDx and was a co-creator for PlayFutures, with the LEGO Foundation[iii] where they focus on bringing learning through play to children around the world. After a few minutes of speaking with James, his passion for building authentic learning opportunities and inspiring future generations came through loud and clear.
Natasha[iv], who James explained was the heart and sole of the program, is a clinical psychologist with over 15 years experience designing, researching and implementing emotion regulation and relationship building programs for adolescents and adults. She is the Director of a community-based clinic and has held many leadership positions in private and non-profit sectors. Natasha was the lead subject-matter expert during the development of this truly innovative program.
Welcome James and Natasha.  
Thank you so much for being here, and sharing what you have created, all the way from Australia where it’s already Monday morning over there for you. 
I wanted to learn more about the Wise Program and have some questions for you.
Q1: The first question is for Natasha. First of all, congratulations on what you have created. I think it is purely brilliant. Can you explain where this vision began for you?
Q2: What is the methodology behind this program?
'Designed for impact, Wise uses an Inside-Out methodology which equips participants with the practical skills to build strong connections from themselves (Inside) to others and the world around them (Outside). This is enhanced by the blended learning context whereby learning within virtual reality (Inside) is reinforced through the verbal and written self-reflective process, and teaching others the techniques (Outside). By using the principles of behavior change, and reinforcing the development of self- awareness and the empowerment to make change within ourselves, we are then guided to be able to change how we interact with others and the world around us. 
With our emotions being like the engine of the car, individuals are shown how to adjust and “steer” their reactions by understanding how to “tune into” their emotions, better understand the “mechanics” of their emotional system and know how to “rev up” or “slow down” their emotional responses where needed, or even “brake” if they are about to do something dangerous or damaging. These skills are practiced and reinforced to build confidence in managing more complex emotional and relational situations. 
Students are further supported through the Wise adult programs and resources which provide skills and resources to the adults in their lives. Educators, coaches, mentors, parents, guardians or other caring adults can learn skills and strategies through the program. Educators have additional training through professional development programs which assist them to learn the skills and facilitate student learning. Adults can take these skills and strategies into the home, workplace and broader community activities. 
This whole system approach ensures that each individual’s learning is supported by and contributes to the systems that they live in. This is the Wise Learning Ecosystem.'
Q3: James, I know you are the educational advisor to the program, can you give some background of all that you are doing to ensure that Wise is evidence-based, aligned to Casel.org’s SEL competencies, and universal curriculum requirements?
Q4: Who are some of the influencers of this program that you have spoken with? How have they influenced your work?
Q5: What has been the feedback you are receiving from educators/students using the program?
Research with FM Labs at ICA. Preliminary results/study with students during the initial development phase have indicated that there is a great amount that can be taken from this not just this approach but also the material covered throughout the program itself.
Q6: What is your vision for the Wise program?
All kids, parents, teachers, coaches have access to these emotional regulation skills to improve the emotional fitness of each individual and those who support them.  Whole school systemic change. 
Q7: Can you give us some more background on the company Curiious? If someone wants to learn more, what’s the best way?
'Curiious is a creative communication company. For more than 20 years, we have used creativity & technology to solve problems, grow businesses and challenge traditional methods of communication. With offices in Sydney, Hong Kong, Los Angeles and New York, we create story-driven immersive experiences, backed by the latest technology, innovative design and strategic thinking to captivate, inspire and educate audiences.'
To contact James you can email him at james.m@curiious.com and Natasha is natasha.d@curriious.com
Thank you both so much for taking the time to speak with me today, and for creating such an innovative program to help young people develop into the responsible citizens that we all hope for our next generation. We do look forward to following your progress and hope this interview will lead as an introduction to connect you with schools and educators who want to learn more about this innovative VR emotional fitness program. Thanks so much.
 
RESOURCES:
The Wise SEL/ Emotional Fitness Program Walk-Through 
REFERENCES:
[i] Neuroscience Meets SEL Podcast EPISODE #54 David Adams on “A New Vision of Education: Living Up to the Values We Want for Our Next Generation” https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/director-sel-david-adams-on-new-vision-education-living/id1469683141?i=1000471762331
 
[ii] https://curiious.com/about-us/
 
[iii] https://www.legofoundation.com/en/what-we-do/playfutures/
 
[iv] https://clinpsychcentre.com.au/profile/natasha-davis/
 

"Taking Initiative, Your Brain and Change, and Your Mentors"

This is episode #57 on “Taking Initiative, Your Brain and Change and Leveraging Mentors”
Welcome back to the Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning podcast, my name is Andrea Samadi, I’m a former educator whose been fascinated with understanding the science behind high performance strategies in schools, sports and the workplace for the past 20 years. Since you are listening to this podcast, I’m sure you are like me, and love to learn, grow, challenge yourself and always are looking for that competitive edge, these days more so than usual, I’m sure. This weekend I had a phone call from Marissa Leinert from Parent Led Academy[i] an organization helping parents to improve their skills at being better parents using social and emotional learning resources. She contacted me via LinkedIn and asked if she could brainstorm some ideas with me on the direction of her business, since she is just starting out this field. I told her to call me and sent her my number because when people take the initiative to reach out, asking for help, I think it’s important to lend a hand, share ideas, contacts and resources if you have them, and collaborate.
When we finally connected, we chatted about where she was with her company and I thought back to 20 years ago when I first wrote down the idea that turned into Achieveit360’s programs and services for schools and the workplace, and eventually this podcast. I remembered all of the people who helped me to get to where I am today and thought of a quote by Robin Sharma who said that “Everything is created twice, first in the mind and then in reality.”  
If you are like Marissa, and have been thinking about an idea that you want to pursue, maybe a new direction for your career, a new product that you want to create, or something and you just aren’t sure of even where to begin, this episode is for you.  This episode will focus on some key starting points so you can follow the steps and get moving with something new. Whatever idea you have, that you might be thinking about, start with writing it out, and then expand on your vision by writing down some ideas and see where you can begin to take action. I was lucky enough to have met some of the top leaders in the country who shared their secrets with me over 20 years ago when I first started and I felt that since I had this opportunity, that I had an obligation to take action with the strategies and tips they shared with me. Now that I am being asked more often, how did you get started with this idea, I thought I would share with you the process that I used and hope you find these ideas helpful.
Step 1: “Know Your Why” Which Also Can Be Seen as “Know Your Values”
Simon Sinek[ii] built his career from this idea and before starting anything new, I always suggest revisiting Simon’s “Golden Circle”[iii] where he talks about the importance of knowing your “Why, Your Purpose, What You Believe.” If everyone in your organization knows this for themselves, then it will be easy to motivate each person towards the common organizational goal.  Before any pivot you make, go back and look at your purpose and make sure the new direction aligns to this your why, purpose or values.  The “How” or your process will come easy once you’ve identified your “Why” and the “What” you do, or end result will naturally follow. 
What you believe can also be seen as your values. Once you know the values that are important to you and your organization, everything else becomes crystal clear.
For me, I know that we believe that well-being equals achievement and productivity, (with physical and mental health being my #1 value).  Everything we create/market/sell/produce must help improve well-being that will lead to an increase of productivity, achievement and results.  What are your highest values? Go back and listen to episode 2 “Self-Awareness: Know Thyself”[iv] where we dive deeper into uncovering your values or what’s important in your personal and professional life to ensure happiness.  
Remember: To “know thyself” is the most substantial achievement we can have in our lifetime.” Jim Rohn, an American author, speaker and entrepreneur reminds us that “The major value in life is not what you get. It’s what you become.” 
Step 2: Recognize the “Change Barrier” and the Need for Safety in Your Brain
This topic is something that we aren’t taught in school so many of us when faced with trying something new, or pivoting to a new direction, are hit with what I write about in the Level Up[v] book (lesson 7) called “The Change Barrier.” It’s the fear that hits us from a subconscious level when we begin a new idea. Whenever there is a major shift in your life, you will find yourself face-to-face with this “Change Barrier” that’s like a brick wall and wants to keep you safe, in your old world. When you are making a decision and you start to feel that sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach, recognize this as hitting the “Change Barrier.” Your entire central nervous system goes off as you think about the new thought or idea in your conscious mind, that challenges you to do something you have never done before.  You might have some automatic negative thoughts that cross your mind that say things like “who are you to try something new, don’t waste your time, this idea didn’t work the last time you tried it” or something like that. You will need to have strategies in place to help you to move past this stage in the direction of your goals, instead of quitting, that will happen if you don’t properly prepare.
Remember that the panic you feel is real. What’s actually happening, is the amygdala (in your limbic/emotional brain) begins to fire when it’s recognizing that something is an actual or perceived threat. The amygdala acts like a thermostat and fires as stress and anxiety rise. High levels of stress hormone cortisol flood your body and it tries to get you to stop taking the actions that are causing the anxiety and go back to safety or your old world.  You can either keep going and move beyond the fear or go back to safety and comfort. That feeling doesn’t go away until with time and practice we have infused the new idea into our brain, creating the new neural pathway of this new idea, and we finally get to that place of freedom, where we no longer feel uncomfortable with the new idea. We have bypassed fear and anxiety and stepped forward, to growth.
This one takes some self-awareness as well, as years into your new role, it is common to have doubts and fears around this new position. I remember speaking to a very successful CEO of a large company, and he shared with me that there are many days he sits at his desk and marvels at how someone with his background could have reached the heights of success that he was living on a daily basis. It’s important to remember to integrate your success into your new life. Celebrate your small and large wins, so that they sink in at the non-conscious level in your brain. On those few days that you experience self-doubt, take a break and do something that you enjoy. Be kind to yourself and remember that you do deserve everything that you have earned.
Step 3: Find Your Mentors
I was lucky enough to have crossed paths with some powerful thinkers in my late 20s who got me started on this journey of creating, developing and launching new ideas.  Speaking with Marissa this weekend, reminded me that at this point in many of our lives, we are thinking of new ways of conducting business. If we were used to doing live trainings in the past, many of us have adapted to online training.  If we have never done this before, we will want to look for mentors to help us to gain the confidence we need with our new business models. With confidence, we build competence with our new skills and eventually they become second nature.
If you say “well, I don’t know any powerful leaders to ask for their advice” don’t quit just yet. Keep looking and as you might have heard before, “when the student is ready, the teacher will appear.”
Stay 4: Keep an Open Mind In 2014 when I was looking to take my programs and services online, like many people are doing now, I found a mentor to show me everything I needed to know and he was unlike anyone I had ever worked with in the past. His name is Austin Walsh[vi], and at the time, he was a high school student living in Chicago. I had to wait for him to finish classes to return my calls, as he worked with me over Skype on creating the membership area of my website where all of our content is hosted. He had worked with some of the speakers I knew (Les Brown and Mark Victor Hansen from the Chicken Soup for the Soul books) so he came highly recommended and I’m still amazed at how this then-16-year-old knew so much about the online world. I learned so much from him and would still say he’s one of my most memorable mentors.
Step 5: Manage Your Relationships In my late 20s, I was fortunate to have met many world leaders when I worked in the motivational speaking industry. Always stay in contact with people you meet as you never know who will continue to impact you in your future.
One powerful influencer I met in 2001 was Greg Link, who partnered with Stephen Covey to form CoveyLink.org and co-author “Smart Trust: The Defining Skill That Transforms Managers into Leaders.”[vii] He saw my interest in youth development while he was very busy building the Covey empire and taking the “7 Habits of Highly Effective People[viii]” book to impact millions of people worldwide, but I kept in touch with him over the years. He always was there with ideas, business model suggestions for my programs for the school market, and just plain inspiration to keep going. It’s been a few years since I have seen Greg, but as I was writing the outline for this episode this past weekend, I heard from Greg via Linkedin and it made me realize the importance of keeping in touch with your connections and then helping others (like Marissa) who need your help. See Greg’s testimonial of our work 7 years ago.[ix]
Step 6: Be Open to Ongoing Learning When you surround yourself with others who put value on learning/growth, you will inherit new ideas that you can implement for your own business growth. There is always someone who has done what you are looking to do, and with success, so keep learning, attending conferences (when they are back up and running) and networking with those people you see leading in your field.
Before I launched the Level Up [x]program for the school market, I attended a class called the “Make, Market and Launch It[xi]” based on the book by Pam Hendrickson and Mike Koenigs.  If you are looking to launch a product, I highly recommend this book that you can get right away on Amazon. You will learn the 7 most important steps to making or creating your product, and then launching it to the market of your choice.
Always think about the problem that you are looking to solve which is Shark Tank’s Robert Herjavec’s #1 tip for entrepreneurs.[xii] He suggests that the best businesses are ones that “find a problem and then solve it.”
Once you have created your product (whether it’s a book, online course) or whatever it might be, then get feedback from your audience. Don’t ask your sister or your Mom for their feedback—they will lie. Be prepared for someone to tell you it’s awful, ugly, the worst idea ever, and listen to what they say. Take that feedback to improve what you have created 
I hope you have found these 6 tips useful. I would love to hear what you think. Send me a message through LinkedIn, or Twitter, and I look forward to seeing you on the next episode with an exciting new guest from Australia. See you soon.
REFERENCES:
[i] Parent Led Academy an SEL  Resource to Help Parents Improve Their Skills https://parentledacademy.org/
[ii] Simon Sinek https://simonsinek.com/commit/start-with-why/
[iii] https://www.freshworks.com/freshsales-crm/resources/summary-of-start-with-why-blog/
[iv] Neuroscience Meets SEL Podcast EPISODE #2 “Self-Awareness: Know Thyself” https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/self-awareness-know-thyself/id1469683141?i=1000443474075
[v] Level Up: A Brain-Based Strategy to Skyrocket Student Success and Achievement by Andrea Samadi (Wheatmark, 2015) https://www.amazon.com/Level-Up-Brain-Based-Skyrocket-Achievement/dp/1627872647
[vi] Austin William Walsh  https://www.facebook.com/pg/walsh.austin/posts/
[vii] Smart Trust: The Defining Skill That Transforms Managers into Leaders by Stephen Covey and Greg Link https://www.amazon.com/Smart-Trust-Defining-Transforms-Managers/dp/1451652178
[viii] 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_7_Habits_of_Highly_Effective_People
[ix] Greg Link Testimonial of Achieveit360 and Andrea Samadi https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_z_d6iBdfw
[x]  Level Up Online by Andrea Samadi https://www.achieveit360.com/level-up-online/
[xi] Make, Market Launch It by Pam Hendrickson and Mike Koenigs (2013) https://www.amazon.com/Make-Market-Launch-Ultimate-Creation-ebook/dp/B00B9JKODO
[xii] Shark Tank’s Robert Herjavec’s Top 5 Business Tips for Entrepreneurs (May 16, 2019) by Abby Narishkin and Jack Houston  https://www.businessinsider.com/shark-tank-robert-herjavec-top-business-tips-entrepreneurs-2019-5
 

Educational Neuroscience Pioneer Dr. Lori Desautels on her NEW book About “Connections Over Compliance, Rewiring Our Perceptions of Discipline”

This is episode #56 with Dr. Lori Desautels, a returning guest who I know everyone loves as much as I do. If you want to hear our first interview with Lori, go back and listen to episode 16[i] with Lori and Michael McKnight on “The Future of Educational Neuroscience in our Schools and Communities.” To watch this interview on YouTube, click here. 
Welcome to the Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning podcast, my name is Andrea Samadi, I’m a former educator whose been fascinated with understanding the science behind high performance strategies in schools, sports and the workplace and created this podcast to bring the most current neuroscience research, along with high performing experts who have risen to the top of their field with specific strategies or ideas that you can implement immediately, whether you are a teacher or student in the classroom, or working in the corporate world, to take your results to the next level.  
Thanks for tuning into the podcast today! If this is your first time here, I am so grateful that you have taken the time to listen. Today I am thrilled at the opportunity to speak with Dr. Lori Desautels for the second time.
I first found Lori from her TEDx Talk from Indianapolisi when I was searching for anything in the field on educational neuroscience back in 2014 and watched her videos to understand how parts of the brain worked, how they are interconnected and impact learning. In Lori’s Ted Talk, she mentioned that “neuroscience and education have come together” and it’s a huge connection because every day experiences change the brain structurally and functionally—and I thought, this is incredible that we can finally explain how we can accelerate learning with this understanding of the brain.  Over the years as I’ve continue my research in this field, each person I speak with points me back to Lori Desaultel as a pioneer in this field. Her work is groundbreaking as she ties the research into these practices that we must all learn to stay at the height of our productivity and achievement. 
Welcome Lori, thank you so much for coming back on as a returning guest. 
I feel like we are old friends now that I had the chance to see you speak live this past October, and with the fact you are sharing your new book with me in real time as you are writing it. I’ve been reading it as you are sending the chapters and emotions really are contagious. Before we dive into the questions, can you tell me more about why this book is so timely, and maybe a bit about the work you are doing on a day to day basis for the field of education. 
1- Your new book “Connections Over Compliance, Rewiring Our Perceptions of Discipline” begins with exploring this new perception of discipline with educator and parent brain state. I wish I knew this when I stood in front of my first class as a new teacher (in Toronto in the late 1990s) wondering why no one was listening, and watched their behavior escalate to where I started to count down the days till the school year was over. I had no idea where to even begin...and never would have thought of—with myself. Can you explain why we must “look under the hood at our own brain state” when we are teaching or relating to others?
Q2-Im so grateful that brain research is helping us to gain a deeper understanding of how to improve our results, achievement and learning and that leaders like you are spear heading the way with this understanding. How can we better understand a regulated vs dysregulated brain state? These are not terms I was taught in my teacher training classes over 20 years ago. In a perfect world, everyone would be able to recognize when they are becoming dysregulated with strategies to get themselves back on course. What work still needs to happen for this awareness? 
Q3- I learned about Dr. Bruce Perry from you, and a couple of our most recent podcasts focus on his research. You quote him in the beginning of your book when he states that “The key to the success of any educational experience is the capacity to ‘get to the cortex.’ Yet, each year, nearly one-third of all children attending U.S. public schools will have significantly impaired cortical functioning and behavioral challenges due to abuse, neglect, domestic violence, poverty, and other adversities.”2 How are teachers expected to teach if this is the case? How can we bring more awareness to your work so that teachers can better prepare themselves for these experiences, so they come in with self-regulation strategies that they use like clockwork? 
What about these strategies for parents? I can pick out a handful of times that I’ve written a lesson on self-regulation and then in seconds have become dysregulated when my own kids have pushed my buttons. I know these strategies, and with practice (meditation has helped my ability to respond instead of react) but some of these strategies have taken me years of practice. What can we do now immediately to help families in these times of increased stress to bring in the idea that we can be fully regulated, but become dysregulated quickly if we aren’t trained. 
According to Nickolas Long, “If the adult is neither trained nor prepared to accept their own counter-aggressive feelings, the adult will act on them, in effect mirroring the student’s behavior.” (Ch 2)
Q4- I was shocked when I heard Dr. Perry[ii] talking about the vulnerability in the population that can occur when we are exposed to prolonged stress response. I first learned about the impact of stress on the brain and learning from you. Dr. Perry brought in the research from families from the Katrina Disaster in 2005 and how the research shows that the offspring of those families exposed to this level of stress response had an increase of substance abuse issues. That made me stop and think of how important and timely your work is right now, not only before we had the COVID-19 outbreak, but what about AFTER this time, for those marginalized families? Can you dive deeper into why an understanding of our brain is so important right now?  Do you have thoughts or plans on how to reach families in need of these strategies?  
Thank you so much for all you have done to support us here at Achieveit360 to learn about educational neuroscience. If anyone wants to reach Dr. Lori Desautels, please do reach out to via email to ldesaute@butler.edu and via her website at http://revelationsineducation.com/ 
REFERENCES:
[i] Neuroscience Meets SEL Podcast EPISODE #16 with Dr. Lori Desautels and Michael McKnight on “The Future of Educational Neuroscience in our Schools and Communities.” https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/lori-desautels-and-michael-mcknight-on-the-future-of-educational-neuroscience-in-our-schools-and-communities/
[ii] https://www.neurosequential.com/covid-19-resources