Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning

“With change comes uncertainty, fear, and anxiety, and the tendency to cling to the status quo—perhaps the last thing we want to do in a fast-changing world.” Watch this episode on YouTube here https://youtu.be/Bru26OZnlmI Chris Marshall, from his book, Decoding Change, Understanding what the heck is going on, and why we should be optimistic about our future. We will cover: ✔ Do we ALL feel intuitively that the world is going through radical change? ✔ What happens to our creative and decision-making ability during times of change? ✔ Strategies and mechanisms to help us to prepare for a better future. ✔ Current trends and mega-trends. ✔ The mindset needed to achieve quantum leaps with our results. Welcome back to Season 10 of The Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast, where we connect the science-based evidence behind social and emotional learning (that’s finally being taught in our schools today) and emotional intelligence training (used in our modern workplaces) for improved well-being, achievement, productivity and results—using what I saw as the missing link (since we weren’t taught this when we were growing up in school), the application of practical neuroscience. I’m Andrea Samadi, an author, and an educator with a passion for learning and launched this podcast 5 years ago with the goal of bringing ALL the leading experts together (in one place) to uncover the most current research that would back up how the brain learns best, taking us ALL to new, and often unimaginable heights. For today’s EPISODE #296, we meet up with Chris Marshall[i], a Professional Futurist, Behavioral Scientist, and author of "Decoding Change: Understanding what the heck is going on, and why we should be optimistic about our future.”[ii] The title of his book should give you an idea of the direction of this conversation. A bit about Chris. He’s the Head of Investment Strategy at Dragon Investment Managers where he leads global market insights across all asset classes including equities, real estate and credit markets Founder & Chief Storyteller of Snowdonia Distillery (first copper distillery in Wales) Masters in Psychology and MSc in Behavioural Economics Host of the Transitional Matters Podcast[iii] where he covers trends, mega-trends and transitions going on in the world around us and how they impact our life. Let’s get right to this conversation, where I’m looking forward to what we can learn together about the world from Chris’s point of view: the point of view of a behavioral scientist, and futurist, who looks at “how the world is changing, not just from the visible elements, but the things below the surface.”[iv] Let’s meet Chris Marshall and look at the trends and mega-trends, that he says are the drivers of change around us. INTRO: Welcome Chris!! Thank you for joining me today, all the way from Wales (is this right?) Now, you’ll understand this as a fellow podcast host, but what I enjoy the most about this medium is how far a reach we can have with our content. While we are now in 182 countries/193 I like looking to see where people are tuning into the podcast from around the world, and I noticed we’ve only had 3 downloads in Wales this month. Maybe after today’s episode we can get this number higher, especially since I was born in the UK (Worthing, Sussex). Our numbers in England are much higher. Tell me something I might not know about Wales[v] (other than what I can see on my map here—it’s a country in Southwest Great Britain known for its rugged coastline and mountainous national parks” Do you look at your podcast stats? What do you notice as you look at your work around the world? Q1: So Chris, I watched your keynote introduction on YouTube[vi], and I think your book Decoding Change[vii] should be required reading for anyone who wants to plan for the future, which is pretty much everyone on the planet. You ask your audiences all around the world one question, and I was captivated to learn mo

“Teaching our next generation the drive, desire, work ethic and character, that will take them to new heights, using neuroscience.” Watch this interview on YouTube here https://youtu.be/oXfQPEJWwbM On this episode you will learn: ✔ How Former MLB Player is taking the mental and physical skills he learned over his 14 year MLB career, connected to neuroscience to help our next generation of youth. ✔ The leadership ingredients that Mike Bordick thinks made some players stand out over the rest with their results. ✔ Why Mike Piazza (NY Mets) was such an outstanding and unique team player. ✔ How Mike Bordick's childhood contributed to his success in MLB and beyond, and why he thinks it's important to give these skills back to our next generation. ✔ What sport Mike chose to unwind after a busy season, to enjoy the "solitude of nature." ✔ His vision for League of Dreams www.leagueofdreams.org (that's just celebrated it's 20th year). Welcome back to Season 10 of The Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast, where we connect the science-based evidence behind social and emotional learning (that’s finally being taught in our schools today) and emotional intelligence training (used in our modern workplaces) for improved well-being, achievement, productivity and results—using what I saw as the missing link (since we weren’t taught this when we were growing up in school), the application of practical neuroscience. I’m Andrea Samadi, an author, and an educator with a passion for learning and launched this podcast 5 years ago with the goal of bringing ALL the leading experts together (in one place) to uncover the most current research that would back up how the brain learns best, taking us ALL to new, and often unimaginable heights. For today’s EPISODE #295 we are going to speak with someone who I feel connected to with where he is going, but for many others, like my husband, he’s formed a huge connection to where he has come from. We will be speaking with Mike Bordick, a former MLB player, whose 14 year career included time with the A’s, Orioles, Blue Jays and Mets. I came to meet him when he contacted me, brainstorming ideas for ways he can continue to give back to youth in his retirement, with the organization he has formed www.leagueofdreams.org, that is celebrating their 20th year and is now looking at including content that links neuroscience to learning and physical education. When I saw his email to me, I wondered “what is a former baseball player emailing me about” and then when I got to what he was looking for, I thought that he definitively found the right person, as this is what the podcast Neuroscience Meets SEL is all about. I wrote back to him with ideas, and resources from the podcast, with episodes that tied back to PE and the brain, and connected him to everyone I knew that’s focused on PE and neuroscience. I can’t wait to meet with Mike and learn more about his vision for neuroscience, (that stems from his college degree in PE and kinesiology) and see what he does with this new program that he’s working on, that links brain health, physical activity and nutrition. I also knew I couldn’t ignore the path the led him to where he is today with his vision, so we will dive a bit into his past on today’s interview. If you know me well, you’ll know that I’m not really a sports fan, (while I love being physically active myself, I haven’t spent much time watching sports, since I was around twelve, and my Dad took me to hockey games in Toronto. I think I’ve been to one baseball game, but never went back because it just wasn’t my thing sitting in the stands and watching the fans spitting on the ground. So, when Mike’s email came in, I asked my husband, Majid Samadi, who is a huge baseball fan, “Have you ever heard of Mike Bordick” and the answer was a definite “Yes, and why do you ask?” Before learning more about Mike’s vision, you can go to his About Us page on his website and see where his path that l

Welcome back to Season 10 of The Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast, where we connect the science-based evidence behind social and emotional learning (that’s finally being taught in our schools today) and emotional intelligence training (used in our modern workplaces) for improved well-being, achievement, productivity and results—using what I saw as the missing link (since we weren’t taught this when we were growing up in school), the application of practical neuroscience. I’m Andrea Samadi, an author, and an educator with a passion for learning and launched this podcast 5 years ago with the goal of bringing ALL the leading experts together (in one place) to uncover the most current research that would back up how the brain learns best, taking us ALL to new, and often unimaginable heights. For today’s episode #294, we are going back to the basics, with the Fundamentals of Understanding How Our Mind Works, that started for me with Bob Proctor’s Youth Mentor Program, that I was the Executive Director with, until the program dissolved with the Sept 11th, 2001 tragedy. This weekend I reviewed ALL of these cassette tapes, and when I got to the last one, the tape broke. I didn’t want to miss anything that might be important that I could share with you here, so I watched a YouTube video on “how to fix a broken cassette tape” and what do you know, it worked! Times really are different than the days we used to carry these cassette tapes around, with our Sony Walkmans, but what came through loud and clear to me, was that the messages and lessons we were teaching those teens were timeless, and it all began with an understanding of our mind, how it works, and how to use it. The program consisted of 6 SERIES: SERIES 1, The Fundamentals (you can see these tapes in the image in the show notes). SERIES 2 went into the importance of your attitude, SERIES 3, Your Self-Image, SERIES 4- How to Set and Achieve Goals, SERIES 5- The Laws of the Universe and how to use these laws for your health and relationships and SERIES 6 reviewed all lessons, with the goal that the teens would experience PRAXIS, or they integrated their beliefs with their behaviors. It was strange for me to hear some of these tapes that were recorded back in early 2001, using conference calls, but what was interesting to me, was hearing the teens explaining exactly HOW these timeless principles were helping them. Teens would call into a conference call line, from around the world, and meet with Bob Proctor monthly, to review these lessons, and how they were applying them. Nothing made him happier than to hear someone applying what he had dedicated his life teaching, and I know it surprised him that the teens seemed to pick these concepts up quickly. This makes sense to me now that we know how neuroplasticity works, as it’s much easier for a young person to learn something new, because their brains are more plastic, and they also have less habits to overcome. I listened to one call, and there was a young guy named Greg who shared how he used visualization to go from the last place on his golf team to be the 3rd highest on his team. I wondered why he picked the 3rd highest, and not first on his team, but anyway, that was his goal, and he achieved it. We asked him “what exactly did you do when you were visualizing?” and he said “he put himself at the 5th hole on the golf course, then pictured himself hitting the club, feeling the wind on his face, and imagined where the ball would land.” His vision was clear and specific, and listening to him talking was something else. He was confidently telling the others how he achieved his goal. Greg had mastered TAPE 2 of the Fundamentals thinking in pictures, TAPE 3, using his conscious mind and his senses (to set his goal, he even showed us how he felt it), he used TAPE 4 when he threw his goal into his subconscious mind, and TAPE 6, Greg was able to review exactly what he had done, inspiring others o

Welcome back to Season 10 of The Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast, where we connect the science-based evidence behind social and emotional learning (that’s finally being taught in our schools today) and emotional intelligence training (used in our modern workplaces) for improved well-being, achievement, productivity and results—using what I saw as the missing link (since we weren’t taught this when we were growing up in school), the application of practical neuroscience. I’m Andrea Samadi, an author, and an educator with a passion for learning and launched this podcast 5 years ago with the goal of bringing ALL the leading experts together (in one place) to uncover the most current research that would back up how the brain learns best, taking us ALL to new, and often unimaginable heights. Today we’re going to go back to where we left off with EPISODE #291 “Unleashing the Power of Our Subconscious Mind” where we covered: ✔ A review of where our podcast began, and where we are going. Each episode we create, it becomes clearer to me that social and emotional skills are important for understanding who we are, and are crucial for propelling us forward. Social and emotional competencies form the backbone of who we are (our identity), along with our character, and I’d like to continue to uncover how science can strengthen this understanding, (with the topics I chosen listed in the diagram in the show notes) expanding our awareness as we move towards our goals, or whatever it is we are working on. I remember professor of psychology, Maurice Elias summed it up well when he spoke about where SEL began for him in the mid 1970s. He saw a need for these SEL skills back then, (decades before they were infused into our classrooms) saying these skills “could propel someone forward” but he mentioned the importance of “character to steer our direction.” I’ve not forgotten about Character, it’s an important topic that I’ve been writing about in my spare time. We’ll cover the basic character traits in the future, showing were character fits into this equation. I know there’s a lot to the formula for success, and I don’t want to leave any stones unturned. For today’s episode #293, we are going back to the basics, with the Fundamentals that started for me with those 12 teenagers all those years ago. When I was speaking with Brian Proctor, on our last episode, #292,[i] it hit me that some concepts we had both heard over and over again (like the hour glass that Brian put on the cover of his book that represented staying in the present moment- I had forgotten that’s what it meant. I would have told a story about it representing the fact we only have a certain amount of time to live our life, and to live each moment to the fullest) reminding me of the importance of reviewing these lessons. Or some of the phrases we used to hear over and over again like “you don’t need to know HOW you are going to do something, just figure out what it is that you want, and the how will show up.” All of the concepts that we heard, that yielded results for anyone who studied and applied them, were ideas that were simple enough to understand, yet most people never followed through with them. This is what Brian Proctor wrote about in his book, and there were many lessons he learned that went much deeper than the usual topics like goal-setting, or confidence building, but there was a foundational level that everyone started with, and I’d say it was with those Fundamental lessons that we taught to the teens. We recently covered “Diving Deeper into Our Subconscious Mind”[ii] (which was the 4th tape the teens learned). Today we will cover some of the important concepts of “Using the Conscious Mind and Our Senses” and in a couple of days (when I’ve written the next episode, we’ll cover) “Going Beyond Our Senses: Using the Faculties of Our Mind.” This will provide us all with the solid background of these success principles that I s

YOU are about to discover The Secret, like no else on earth before. If you’ve read Napoleon Hill’s, Think and Grow Rich book, looking for The Secret in those pages, or watched the movie The Secret, you’ll want to take out a notebook for today’s interview, and put away all distractions. The lessons you’ll take away from this next episode, I guarantee, from personal experience, that what you will learn today, has the potential to change the course of your life forever. Watch this interview on YouTube here https://youtu.be/ndhyRKFMrFQ On today’s episode #292 with Brian Proctor on ”My Father Knew The Secret: Growing Up With Bob Proctor" we will cover: ✔ The Power Behind "The Secret" found in the pages of Think and Grow Rich, or the Movie The Secret and how this "Secret" has the ability to change your life forever. ✔ Lessons Learned from Brian Proctor after 30 years of working side by side with the legendary speaker, and 60 years being taught these timeless success principles. ✔ Lesson include: How to Create Your Best Life Ever, Why It's Important to Follow your Heart, What Exactly is The Impression of Increase, How to See the Best in Everyone You Meet, How to Visualize Your Goals, How to Be at Peace with Death, How to Attract our Best Mate, How to Embrace Our Feelings and Never Be Afraid to Share Them, and Why it's Important to Be Our Best at All Times. ✔ Andrea reflects on these lessons, with her TOP 3 Take-Aways, with tips for the listener to apply each take-away to their life. Welcome back to Season 10 of The Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast, where we connect the science-based evidence behind social and emotional learning (that’s finally being taught in our schools today) and emotional intelligence training (used in our modern workplaces) for improved well-being, achievement, productivity and results—using what I saw as the missing link (since we weren’t taught this when we were growing up in school), the application of practical neuroscience. I’m Andrea Samadi, an author, and an educator with a passion for learning and launched this podcast 5 years ago with the goal of bringing ALL the leading experts together (in one place) to uncover the most current research that would back up how the brain learns best, taking us ALL to new, and often unimaginable heights. For today’s EPISODE #292, we have a surprise guest, who I didn’t know we’d have on the interview schedule until this past weekend. After receiving his new book in the mail, I sent out an interview invite, and when the answer back, was “you pick the day” I knew I had to make a decision quickly and firmly. It was our next guest’s father who taught me to never waver on a decision. We’ve all been there, though, wondering, “should I do this now—or later, leave this till tomorrow—or don’t leave it, do it—or don’t do it, say it—or don’t say it.” There’s nothing worse than being stuck with that feeling of ambivalence that comes with indecision, and if my path hadn’t of crossed with motivational speaker, Bob Proctor, in the late 1990s, I wouldn’t have learned the importance of eliminating conflict in the mind by learning to become proficient at making decisions. I picked the interview date 2 days away, and knew it was the right answer, because that’s another skill we were taught. Learn to listen to that quiet voice within, and always go with your heart. It will never lead you in the wrong direction. Today’s guest, is Bob Proctor’s son, who worked by his side for 30 years, Brian Proctor. And for 60 years, he was schooled with the experiences and wisdom learned by being the son of the legendary speaker who impacted my life, and millions of others around the world with his teachings based on the principles of success. I've known Brian Proctor since the late 1990s, when I was first creating the goals and dreams for my future on notepads, using his Father's material as my guide. Brian was right there, encouraging me along the way. I high

“Every day we are influenced in countless ways by the world around us, and most of this flies completely under the radar of our conscious awareness” From Neuroscientist and Stanford Professor, David Eagleman’s, The Brain: The Story of You. On today’s episode #291 on “Unleashing the Power of Our Subconscious Mind” we will cover: ✔ A review of where our podcast began, and where we are going. ✔ The importance of understanding our subconscious mind as it relates to our results. ✔ A look back at the history of this understanding, that goes back to visionaries in science and the arts (Francis Bacon, Descartes, etc). ✔ The unusual results Andrea saw with 12 teenagers who studied this concept, catching her attention, in the late 1990s. ✔ 6 STEPS you can use today, to expand your awareness, and help you to tap into the power of your subconscious mind. Welcome back to Season 10 of The Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast, where we connect the science-based evidence behind social and emotional learning (that’s finally being taught in our schools today) and emotional intelligence training (used in our modern workplaces) for improved well-being, achievement, productivity and results—using what I saw as the missing link (since we weren’t taught this when we were growing up in school), the application of practical neuroscience. I’m Andrea Samadi, an author, and an educator with a passion for learning and launched this podcast 5 years ago with the goal of bringing ALL the leading experts together (in one place) to uncover the most current research that would back up how the brain learns best, taking us ALL to new, and often unimaginable heights. Welcome back! For those who tune in each week, you might have noticed this was the FIRST time we’ve taken a break with this podcast since we launched. It’s always been important for me to produce content every week, but this past month, we travelled to some places where there wasn’t always internet, so I decided it would be a good time to take a break, and think about where we began with this podcast, and where we are going, creating a clear vision moving forward, and putting our season theme of Part 2 of Going Back to the Basics into practice. If you look at the image in the show notes, you can see where the vision for this podcast began by making a connection with the six social and emotional learning competencies[i] that you’ll be familiar with if you are in the field of education, or paying attention to the research. These competencies include Growth Mindset, Responsible Decision-Making, Self-Awareness, Social-Awareness, Self-Regulation and Developing Relationships, and hundreds of research studies[ii] have confirmed positive outcomes for our next generation of students, adults and communities who implement these competencies. Instead of covering social and emotional learning topics only for this podcast, (that I saw publishers begin to cover more thoroughly than I ever could on my own, using their research to prove efficacy), I decided to connect what I saw as “the missing link” for health, well-being, productivity and achievement on this podcast—an understanding of our brain, that I call Neuroscience 101. Reflecting back on almost 300 episodes written, recorded and produced from June 2019 to today, it’s easy to notice the growth that has unfolded along the way, that I share on EPISODE #279[iii] on “Lessons Learned After Hitting the 300,000 Download Mile Marker,” or “The Top 10 ALL Time Most Listened to Episodes on Podcast.” I can’t miss out on EPISODE #233[iv] where we covered the “Top 12 YouTube Interviews” as chosen by YOU! These are all good ones to review. In addition to the growth noticed over the years from feedback that YOU, the listener would send me, I also noticed a shift with the content in our interviews over the seasons. In our early interviews, we were introduced to books, ideas and strategies that would orient us to the understanding of the

“Who you are depends on where you’ve been. Your brain is a relentless shape-shifter, constantly rewriting its own circuitry—and because your experiences are unique, so are the vast, detailed patterns in your neural networks. Because they continue to change your whole life, your identity is a moving target: it never reaches an endpoint. That’s From Neuroscientist and Stanford Professor, David Eagleman’s, The Brain: The Story of You. Now that REALLY made me STOP and THINK as I am about to write this next episode. I wonder: What’s my identity-or what makes me-me, especially if it’s a moving target. I’m not just Andrea, the host of the Neuroscience Meets SEL Podcast (imagining my brain, and all its neural networks that consist of ALL the years of experience that make me, who I am today) and each day, my experiences change who I am right down to the books I’m reading, what I’m studying and learning, the people around the world I interact with, making me the person I am today. Then I wonder, who are YOU listening to this podcast? What’s YOUR identity, wherever you are tuning in from around the world (and I imagine YOUR brain, and the neural networks you’ve created with YOUR own specific and unique life experiences. And if our identity (who we are at this point in time) is a moving target that never reaches an endpoint, can we then, create our own reality and future by continuing to re-wire our own circuitry with NEW information, and NEW ideas, that create NEW experiences that change who we could be in the future? Thus, changing our conditions, our circumstances, and our environment? That is the goal of this podcast, (to help all of us to re-wire our brains (with new information) that we’ll put into action (using the most current, evidence based research) taking our results to new heights. This is what keeps ME coming back time and time again to write new episodes. I’ve put an image in the show notes that came from my study with Mark Waldman on the Default Mode Network, showing exactly what our brain looks like when we are using our imagination network to take this information we are learning, and use it in a creative way. Our whole brain lights up, connecting all of our brain regions in this process. With that thought, I want to welcome you back to our final episode of Season 9 of The Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast, where we cover the science-based evidence behind social and emotional learning (for schools) and emotional intelligence training (in the workplace) with tools, ideas and strategies that we can all use for immediate results, with our brain in mind. I’m Andrea Samadi, (and while we know I’m not just) an author, or an educator with a passion for learning (I think after today’s episode, we will see that we are much more than our work and life experiences) and it’s this understanding that will encourage us all to continue re-wiring our brains, taking us to new, and often unimaginable heights. I’m recording this episode the end of May 2023, and plan to take some time away from the recording studio (my office) this summer. We’ll be back with the start of Season 10 the end of June, as we move into the 5th year of this podcast, and our second half of “Going Back the Basics” where we’ll continue through our past episodes, to see what we can add to them, with new research and ideas to take our personal and professional results to these new heights. As I started writing this episode that tied back into some of our Brain Fact Fridays on Learning, I couldn’t think of what to cover specifically, because learning is behind EVERY episode we produce. I wonder, as we move towards our 5th year, and a new season when we return, what else can we uncover when it comes to “learning” with our brain in mind. Or in other words, how can we take our “learning” to new heights, or look at learning through a new lens? I glanced through some of the episodes we covered on how we learn (procedural vs declarat

“I think I have always been a healer first. It feels like my life’s assignment… my purpose. Each day, I endeavor to bring healing to everyone with whom I come in contact. I believe everyone has this capacity to bring healing for themselves and others. I’m here to wake them up to that capacity.” ~Dr. Maiysha Watch this interview on YouTube here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMv2HK7sxos From Dr. Maiysha Clairborne’s TEDX.[i] On this episode #289 we will cover: ✔ How hypnosis and timeline therapy can help us to eliminate blocks in our subconscious mind. ✔ What's a more effective way for changing our beliefs than repeating an affirmation. ✔ A simple and easy to use strategy to resolve conflict in the workplace. ✔ The three views of "perception" for improving relationships (home and workplace). ✔ How to uncover the root of our doubts and fears to blast through to new heights in our personal and professional lives. ✔ Why challenges our beliefs is important for growth. ✔ What to think about when "resistance" comes up in our life. ✔ The importance of celebrating our wins, but keeping our eye on our end-goal. I want to welcome you back to Season 9 of The Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast, where we cover the science-based evidence behind social and emotional learning (for schools) and emotional intelligence training (in the workplace) with tools, ideas and strategies that we can all use for immediate results, with our brain in mind. I’m Andrea Samadi, an author, and an educator with a passion for learning and launched this podcast to share how the understanding of our complex brain transfers into our everyday life and results. Each concept we cover here I’m hoping will help you, wherever you might be listening to this podcast in the world, just as much as these ideas are helping me personally and professionally. For today’s episode #289, we are meeting with Dr. Maiysha Clairborne, an author, TEDx Speaker, Podcast Host of the Black Mind Garden Podcast, a Master Practitioner of NLP and Hypnosis and Time Line Therapy. I don’t think I need to explain why I wanted to speak with Dr. Clairborne when you click to the first page of her website, and she has the words EDUCATE, EMPOWER, ENRICH and ELEVATE in bold letters on the first page. She lives what she teaches, as these words come to my mind when I looked at her picture on the front of her press kit as I wondered where I would even begin with the questions I want to ask her. It was funny because she had some suggested topics included and I read through them, and thought “I want to know ALL of these topics!” So that’s where we will begin. Let’s welcome Dr. Maiysha Clairborne, and see what we will learn together to elevate and empower us to new heights and leadership. INTRO Q: Welcome Dr. Maiysha Clairborne! Thank you for making my life so much easier as a podcast host. Preparing for this interview was easy with all of the information you’ve got out in the world. I wasn’t kidding when I said in the backstory that I want to know EVERYTHING you’ve suggested as questions for me. Welcome! Can you give us a bit of your background that takes us to where you are today? What inspired you to want to educate, empower, enrich and elevate others? This says a lot about who you are. What about hypnosis and timeline therapy? I’m a full believer in hypnosis, but what is timeline therapy? Q1: It’s been a few years since I’ve used them, but I did use an affirmation in my early 20s to help me to change my identity as a young woman, in business. Is there a better way? Tell me there is, because I didn’t like saying the same thing over and over again in front of the mirror until I finally believed it. Q2: I love that you have some tips for improving our relationships in the workplace. What would you say would be some common workplace problems that you typically see, and how would you suggest solving them? Q3: Can you explain your perception activity that you expla

“Reading is not for play. It is to gain knowledge” Stella Adler The Art of Acting[i] and she adds that “I, for instance, am very strict about what I eat and I’m equally strict about what I read.” In keeping with our season theme of going back to the basics, and building the strongest 2.0 version of ourselves, I’m skipping to episode #199[ii] on “The Neuroscience of Self-Belief and Our Identity”[iii] from Feb 2022. For those who are returning guests, welcome back to The Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast, where we cover the science-based evidence behind social and emotional learning (for schools) and emotional intelligence training (in the workplace) with tools, ideas and strategies that we can all use for immediate results, with our brain in mind. For those who haven’t met me yet, I’m Andrea Samadi, an author, and an educator with a passion for learning and launched this podcast to share how the understanding of our complex brain transfers into our everyday life and results. On this episode #288 we will cover: ✔ A review of The Neuroscience of Self-Belief and Our Identity ✔ How Belief in Ourselves Develops and Changes Over Time ✔ Top 5 Lessons Learned from Stella Adler’s “The Art of Acting” ✔ Why Continual Study is Important When I looked back to EP 199 on “The Neuroscience of Self-Belief and Our Identity” I noticed that we opened with a quote from the late Bob Proctor, and a meeting with my friend Patti, who worked closely with Bob’s seminars over the years. Patti and I met a few weeks after Bob moved from what he would say was the physical plane, to the spiritual, and we talked about some of the important lesson learned, and knowledge gained from those days working in the seminar industry, and how they’ve impacted our daily life since then. Concepts based on our beliefs like: “All things are possible if you believe. “Our results are all based on our beliefs” “If we don’t like what’s going on outside, we’ve got to go inside, and change our beliefs.”[ii] --Bob Proctor These ideas were at the core of every seminar Proctor conducted, and he would travel the globe presenting these ideas in a way that would captivate and change the lives of his listeners globally. Now I sold seminars for Bob from 1999 to 2002 and every time he would come up with a new seminar, people would say the same thing. What’s new with this one? I’d explain that this new seminar had a different angle but some people would challenge this new angle and say, “that’s kind of what we learned in the last seminar” (belief in ourselves) to do xyz and the answer was yes… belief is behind everything we want to do… it’s at the heart of every seminar. It’s also something that takes time to develop. I’ve heard it described in different ways. It’s like pouring a drop of red food coloring into a glass of water, and you stir it once, and the red coloring disappears. We’ve got to keep putting the red drops into the water, to notice the change in color. It’s not easy to notice at what point the color goes from clear to red, as this change takes time. Just like the belief we must have in ourselves that develops over time. It’s difficult to put belief into words, or know when we’ve got it, or not, but it can be seen easily by others. I saw it while interviewing Ryan O’Neill on EPISODE #203[iv] on “Making Your Vision a Reality” because I knew Ryan BEFORE he achieved the goals he had set for himself, and remember when they were just ideas, written down. Watching his success over the years has been nothing short of incredible, and the change shows up for Ryan on the outside. His knowledge, confidence, and success in his daily life, shows up clearly with his demeanor, as his work now is being showcased globally, on the Discovery Channel[v], and he himself agreed with me when I pointed this out to him. Over time, he could see it himself, but like the food color in the water, it is difficult to pinpoint the change as it’s occurring. How do w

“There is no separation of mind and emotions: emotions, thinking and learning are all linked.” Eric Jensen[i] But what about our feelings? What’s the difference between our emotions and feelings? Have you ever thought about this? And with that introduction, I want to welcome you back to Season 9 of The Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast, where we cover the science-based evidence behind social and emotional learning (for schools) and emotional intelligence training (in the workplace) with tools, ideas and strategies that we can all use for immediate results, with our brain in mind. I’m Andrea Samadi, an author, and an educator with a passion for learning and launched this podcast to share how the understanding of our complex brain transfers into our everyday life and results. Each concept we cover here I’m hoping will help you, wherever you might be listening to this podcast in the world, just as much as these ideas are helping me personally and professionally. In keeping with our Season theme of “Going Back to the Basics” we look back to EP #127 on “How Emotions Impact Learning, Memory and the Brain.”[ii] It was on this episode, exactly 2 years ago where we first looked at the impact of our emotions on our daily life with the work of neuroscientist Mary Helen Immordino Yang from the University of Southern California. We first met Mary Helen on our 100th EPISODE[iii] and she shared with us that “it is literally neurologically impossible to build memories, engage complex thoughts, or make meaningful decision without emotion.” She further explained 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). Before writing this episode, I had to stop, and think deeply about something I’ve often quoted. I learned this back in my days working in the speaking industry (in the late 1990s) to be careful what you think about because “it’s our thoughts that determine our feelings, that cause us to take certain actions that in turn cause our conditions, circumstances and our environment.” If we are going to look at our emotions today, we need to understand the difference between our emotions, our feelings, and the actions that we end up taking because of them. Let’s Start with How Emotions Are Different Than Feelings. I found a clear explanation of “Emotions vs Feelings”[iv] from Dr. David Matsumoto, the founder of Humintell, who explains that emotions “are quick reactions to certain events that may impact our survival. They are unconscious, immediate, involuntary, automatic reactions to things that are important to us” which is right in line with what we learned from Jaak Panksepp’s 7 primal emotions that he mapped out in our brain, and taught us they aren’t something that we can control. They are automatic responses. Dr. Matsumoto further explains that “these reactions include cognitive and physiological changes that help prime our body in a certain way and create sensations in us that we can perceive” which he calls feelings. You can see a diagram of these differences in the show notes that outlines emotions as “quick reactions to certain events that are automatic and unconscious” and feelings “are perceptions in the body that aren’t necessarily related to the emotion.”[v] IMAGE SOURCE www.humintell.com Dr. David Matsumoto Since I’m always looking to connect the most current neuroscience research to improve our best practices, I wonder what can I add to this understanding of our feelings vs our emotions, to see if we can gain a deeper self-awareness into why we feel the way we do, and what this might mean for us, individually, in pursuit of our goals. Or to put this simply, what should we all understand about our emotions, our feelings, and how they translate into our lif

Enthusiasm is common. Endurance is rare.” ― Angela Duckworth On today’s Episode #286 we will cover: ✔ A review of EP126 on building resilience (what we covered back in April 2021). ✔ A deeper look at what resilience is, with an evidence-based strategy we can all use TODAY if we are ready, to build up our own reservoirs of resiliency to better handle our life and work stressors. ✔ Tools for Measuring Resiliency. ✔ Checks for Resiliency. ✔ A Resiliency Challenge at the End to See if We Can All Push Ourselves to Try Something New to Build Resilience, Grit, Mental Toughness, and Our Ability to Use Our Head When We Need it the Most. I needed to write this episode this week because it was just in time for me to try something new to build up my own levels of resiliency!! I hope you enjoy these ideas. And with that introduction, I want to welcome you back to Season 9 of The Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast, where we cover the science-based evidence behind social and emotional learning (for schools) and emotional intelligence training (in the workplace) with tools, ideas and strategies that we can all use for immediate results, with our brain in mind. I’m Andrea Samadi, an author, and an educator with a passion for learning and launched this podcast to share how the understanding of our complex brain transfers into our everyday life and results. Each concept we cover here I’m hoping will help you, wherever you might be listening to this podcast in the world, just as much as these ideas are helping me personally and professionally. For today’s episode #286, we’re staying in line with our season theme of “Going Back to the Basics to Build a Stronger, More Resilient 2.0 Version of Ourselves” which was an intention I set at the very start of the year on EP268[i] where we talked about prioritizing mental health in 2023 with a focus on self-awareness and resiliency. A Review of Horacio Sanchez’s Definition of Resiliency: This topic goes back with our interview with Horacio Sanchez who I was just speaking about this week because he was presenting at a Science of Reading Event, and many of us were talking about where our understanding of the brain and learning first began, with Horacio’s work at the center. He was introduced to me in our very FIRST interview EP3[ii] with Ron Hall from Valley Day School who shared that his connection of the brain and learning first began with Horacio years ago, while attending a conference where he was conducting a training session. When we spoke with Horacio on EP74[iii] he explained resiliency as “a collection of protective risk factors that you have in your life” and that there are some factors we are born with, and others come in through childhood, family, school, life events and social experiences. Horacio reminds us 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, dusts themselves off, and recovers quickly, (they had more reservoirs of resilience to tap into) while the other has a completely different outcome, and needs more assistance to get back on track. 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” and his work focuses on instilling this trait in those who are not naturally resilient due to the number of risk factors associated to them. To this day, he continues with this work, flying around the country, helping our next generation of students to become more resilient. While researching for this episode, I wondered what I could add to help us to all become more resilient in ad

Have you ever heard of Senolytics?[i] It’s the latest breakthrough in aging and longevity science that I honestly had not heard about until I had an email about our next guest, whose work I’m very familiar with. Watch this interview on YouTube here https://youtu.be/poThU96sslU I’m a huge fan of Neurohacker Collective (that was founded in 2015 with a mission of creating best-in-class well-being products) and I’ve been following their work for years to learn anything and everything possible about bio-hacking. We even quoted Heather Sandison (a medical advisor and podcast host with Neurohacker Collective) on our HRV EPISODE. [ii] One quick look at their ABOUT US[iii] section on their website, and I saw many of the leaders, innovators in health, longevity and wellness around the world, and quite a few who we have interviewed, like Dr. Anna Lembke from EPISODE #162[iv], Dr. Stickler from EPISODE #96[v] and Dr. Vuyisich from EPISODE #93[vi] and in their Collective Insight Section you’ll see many names we quote often, like Dr. Andrew Huberman, Deepak Chopra, Dale Bredesen, David Rabin, Bruce Lipton, Michael Gelb, Jim Kwik…I could go on and on here. These are the leaders and innovators in the field of health, wellness and bio-hacking. This is going to be a phenomenal episode! And with that, I want to welcome you back to The Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast, where we cover the science-based evidence behind social and emotional learning (for schools) and emotional intelligence training (in the workplace) with tools, ideas and strategies that we can all use for immediate results, with our brain in mind. I’m Andrea Samadi, an author, and educator with a passion for learning specifically on the topics of health, wellbeing and productivity, and launched this podcast to share how important an understanding of our brain is to our everyday life and results using the most current brain research. If there’s a tool, strategy or resource that I find, that could be helpful to improve productivity and results, whether we are a teacher in the classroom, a coach or in the modern workplace, I will share it here. On today’s episode #285, we will be speaking with Dr. Gregory Kelly, the Director of Product Development at Neurohacker Collective[vii], a naturopathic physician (N.D.), and the author of the book Shape Shift: The Shape Intelligence Solution[viii] that’s all about getting healthy while creating your ideal shape. As I was researching for this episode, I couldn’t help thinking “how on the earth did I miss this topic of senolytics?” since I’m always looking for anything new when it comes to productivity, health and wellness hacks. While preparing for this episode, the Neurohacker Collective Team was extremely helpful. Tina Gammon, their Marketing Manager, sent me the trio package of Qualia Senolytic for (Vision, Night and Mind) and I’ll be sharing the IMMEDIATE results I felt with the Night and Mind products, with a level of clarity I’ve never felt before. I haven’t tried the VISION one yet but have lots of questions to ask Dr. Kelly about today. So, hang tight, because on today’s science-packed episode, we’ll dive deep into this cutting edge topic, with the latest anti-aging research where we will cover: What is cellular senescence? What are the "Hallmarks of Aging" and why is cellular senescence an important hallmark? The difference between cellular senescence and autophagy (with a quick review of 9th grade science mitosis). Classical places where senescent cells take hold in the body. The science to support senolytics from Mayo Clinic and Scripps Institute. How do senolytics work? The correct way to dose senolytics. What makes Qualia Senolytic a groundbreaking supplement in the longevity space? A bit first about Dr. Kelly. He has extensive experience in both natural medicine and nutrition, and has been an influential figure in this field. He has served as the editor of the journal Alternative Medicin

“MMD (or mirror movement development) is the missing pillar of longevity along side nutrition and exercise” Watch this interview on YouTube here https://youtu.be/g03RUDCz7kk On this episode #284 we will cover: ✔︎ What is Mirror Movement Development (MMD) ✔︎ How does MMD improve body realignment, spatial awareness, balance and peak performance? ✔︎ Famous people who have embraced dual-dominance. ✔︎ How to begin using this practice for improved resilience, body re-alignment, health and brain benefits. Today’s episode #284, we will be speaking with Jim Houliston, a Philadelphia-based, dual dominant artist, athlete, educator, and author of the world’s first biscriptal book—BIG3MMD: History’s Ambidextrous and the Benefits of Mirror Movement Development. Welcome back to The Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast, where we cover the science-based evidence behind social and emotional learning (for schools) and emotional intelligence training (in the workplace) with tools, ideas and strategies that we can all use for immediate results. I’m Andrea Samadi, an author, and educator with a passion for learning specifically on the topics of health, wellbeing and productivity. When Jim first reached out to me, he let me know about the neurological, longevity, body realignment, spatial awareness, balance, and peak performance benefits that come from practicing mirror movement development (MMD) and I stopped and wondered what is MMD and was intrigued to learn more. I don’t know anything about this topic, but after years of working out (mostly hiking and trail running) I have certain aches and pains that never go away. I also want to keep the high level of balance that I have now, into the next 20 years, so I can keep doing the activities I love, as I’m getting older. I wonder: How does what Jim has discovered improve body realignment, spatial awareness, balance and peak performance? How could I implement this idea? How soon would I notice a benefit? How exactly did he discover this idea? Let’s meet Jim Houliston, and learn about MMD and how this idea that he has discovered could take our productivity to new heights. Welcome Jim! Thanks so much for coming on the podcast. This is a FIRST for me today as I know absolutely nothing about what you will be sharing with us today, so I hope as we go through the questions that we can tie your work with our Season Theme of “Going Back to the Basics” or the Foundational Skills in order to accelerate our results. 1. For our listeners right now they very well could be hearing about MMD (Mirror Movement Development) for the first time, what is MMD? 2. What is the layman's Science behind MMD and how you discovered this? 2B: Why don’t most people practice this, and why does it feel so weird? 2C: How do you begin practicing MMD? 3. What are some of the Benefits of MMD, specifically, how does this practice impact your brain, and what specific region of your brain have you seen improvements with? 4. You list a bunch of famous MMD practitioners in your book, who are some of your favorites and why? 4B: How did you come up with this concept? 5. What criticism have your received? 6. Where do you see this going? What are your dreams with promoting MMD? 7. Final Thoughts? Thank you Jim for coming on the podcast to open my eyes to something I’ve never even thought about. CONNECT WITH JIM HOULISTON Website https://ambilife.org/ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/jim.houliston Instagram https://www.instagram.com/urban_rail_walker/ Short Video on Mirror Movement Development https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1b0KuqI4VvY 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

Our next guest became the first legally blind D1 athlete to play in a game when he played football at Tulane University. He was named team captain and went on to become an NFL free agent. Now he helps organizations and teams create leadership strategies that overcome adversity through speeches, workshops, and strategic partnerships. Watch this inspiring interview on YouTube here https://youtu.be/sPFQCn3VvJw On today’s Episode #283 we will cover ✔ How Aaron Golub became the first legally blind D1 athlete to play in a game when he played football at Tulane University. ✔ The key take-aways from Aaron's TEDx, on “Finding Diamonds with Your Disadvantages” that led him to uncovering his true potential. ✔ When Aaron knew he needed to step up and do a bit more than the person next to him, to reach those higher levels of success. ✔ The actions Aaron took with football, that have now transferred into his personal and business life. ✔ How you can reach Aaron to speak or work with your organization. I am honored to have this chance to speak with someone who has learned many of the concepts we talk about on the podcast, like building a vision, and carving out a happy, fulfilled life, all without the use of his eye-sight. Welcome back to The Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast, where we cover the science-based evidence behind social and emotional learning (for schools) and emotional intelligence training (in the workplace) with tools, ideas and strategies that we can all use for immediate results, with our brain in mind. I’m Andrea Samadi, an author, and educator with a passion for learning specifically on the topics of health, wellbeing and productivity, and launched this podcast to share how important an understanding of our brain is to our everyday life and results using the most current brain research. If there’s a tool, strategy or resource that I find, that could be helpful to improve productivity and results, whether we are a teacher in the classroom, a coach or in the modern workplace, I will share it here. He started his journey as a speaker in high school. Aaron was asked to go on Good Morning America when he committed to play football at Tulane, he knew immediately that he had a message that would impact millions. This experience threw him in the deep end at 17 years old. Since then he has traveled the world sharing his message. Aaron leaves organizations and teams with both strategies to create true change but also with impactful insights that will allow them to rethink their past beliefs. Aaron is never one and done, he is there by your side to help you implement and act accordingly. He works in a speaking, workshop, and consulting manor. Whether you want Aaron to come in for a keynote, breakout sessions, day-long workshop, or longer-term consulting, he has a structure for all. Aaron’s biggest accomplishment and what he is most proud of is when he was named a team captain of the Tulane Football Team and went on to become an NFL free agent. Successful organizations and companies like Pinterest, Deloitte, PlayFly Sports, Evolution Mining, and many other events and teams invest in him regularly. He has appeared on Good Morning America, as well has been in CBS, NBC, Sports Illustrated, The New York Times, Entrepreneur, NPR and many others. When I first came across Aaron’s work, I think it was by accident, as I might have been on an email list for the work that he does. It didn’t take me a minute to read what he’s accomplished in his life to write back to him that I was hoping I could have him on our podcast. Then I listened to his TEDx, on “Finding Diamonds with Your Disadvantages” and saw that this young man was LIVING many of the practices and principles that we write about on this podcast. He even quoted the quote I opened the last episode with that “we must be willing to do things that others aren't willing to do.” We set up a call to speak, so I could learn more about him, and see if he w

“Each emotional system is hierarchically arranged throughout much of the brain, interacting with more evolved cognitive structures in the higher reaches, and specific physiological and motor outputs at lower levels.” Jaak Panksepp Watch our interview on YouTube here https://youtu.be/siJ1FUeUD40 On today’s Episode #282 we will cover ✔ How Gabrielle Usatynski's NEW book The Power Couple Formula, Applies Jaak Panksepp's 7 Core Emotions to Transform Your Relationships, Family, Career and Life. ✔ What We Should All Know About The Attachment Theory. ✔ A Deep Dive into Each of the 7 Core Emotions and How They Map in the Brain. Welcome back to The Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast, where we cover the science-based evidence behind social and emotional learning (for schools) and emotional intelligence training (in the workplace) with tools, ideas and strategies that we can all use for immediate results, with our brain in mind. I’m Andrea Samadi, an author, and educator with a passion for learning specifically on the topics of health, wellbeing and productivity, and launched this podcast to share how important an understanding of our brain is to our everyday life and results using the most current brain research. If there’s a tool, strategy or resource that I find, that could be helpful to improve productivity and results, whether we are a teacher in the classroom, a coach or in the modern workplace, I will share it here. On today’s episode #282, we will be speaking with an important guest, who reached out to me shortly after we released EPISODE #270 with Lucy Biven[i] who co-authored The Archeology of Mind, with Jaak Panksepp. She let me know she was a couple’s therapist, educator and an author, with a new book coming out next month and was amazed to see our episode with Lucy Biven, as she cites The Archeology of Mind on nearly every page of her new book, The Power Couple Formula: Unlock the Power of Your Instincts and Transform Your Relationship. She even mentioned that a colleague of Dr. Panksepp, Dr. Doug Watt, was currently reviewing her manuscript to offer his guidance on the subject. When this email came through, I was taking a short break from interviews, gathering my bearings with a tight schedule, but when I saw this email, I knew I had to learn more about our next guest, Gabrielle Usatynski, and her new book, the Power Couple Formula. We met briefly to chat, and I’ve got to say that we could have recorded that conversation. She spoke eloquently about her background as a therapist, and the history of our emotions. I couldn’t take notes fast enough, but saw that not only does Gabrielle understand Jaak Panksepp’s work (that many find to be difficult) but she could explain it in a way that made sense to me, with examples of how to each of the core emotions. A bit about Gabrielle: BIO: Gabrielle Usatynski, MA LPC is the founder and director of Power Couples Education. An internationally renowned therapist, speaker and educator, she is the author of the forthcoming book, The Power Couple Formula, scheduled for release this year. She is the originator of ground-breaking online programs that help couples build relationships based on safety and trust and offers professional training programs for therapists in the Power Couple Method. Her work is regularly featured in such publications as CNN, USA Today, Cosmopolitan, Parents Magazine, Counseling Today, and Women’s Health. For over a decade, Gabrielle has helped thousands of couples. Her clinical work has earned her numerous awards, including: the USA Prestige Award for Couples Counseling Service of the Year, the Best of Boulder Award for Couple and Marriage Counseling, and the Top 10 Best Marriage Counselors of Boulder, CO Award. Gabrielle is a graduate of McGill University and also specializes in the treatment of traumatized children and their families. So today, we will meet Gabrielle Usatynski, and learn how Jaak Panksepp’s work plays out in o

A Gallup Research Poll Says: “Unhappiness spiked for a decade, costing over $2 Trillion annually” Watch this interview on YouTube here https://youtu.be/R8aAFFQeDKY On today’s episode #281 with Dr. Sullivan will cover: ✔ How to SHIFT our mindset, in 10 minutes, anytime, with Dr. Sean Sullivan's NEW App www.oneperfect.com ✔ How Dr. Sullivan noticed a need for an app to forge a pathway to health and well-being for all of us. ✔ How Dr. Sullivan took his background as a clinical psychologist, and merged it with his work with the Father of Mindfulness, Jon Kabat-Zinn. ✔ Why mental health is not only a part of overall health, it’s the most important part. ✔ How to achieve and maintain a high level of personal performance, happiness and fulfillment in our fast-paced modern world ✔ What we can each do to address the mental health challenges and opportunities we see globally, together ✔ He’ll guide us through shifting into our chosen state of mind on demand during our interview. I’m looking forward to this as prior to recording, I’ve got to say, I could use a mental shift. ✔ Discuss how ‘shifting’ can address mental health issues at scale. ✔ Share how anyone can accelerate a mental fitness revolution so we can all get back to feeling our best. Today’s guest, Dr. Sean Sullivan, a licensed clinical psychologist and founder and CEO of OnePerfect[i], a mental health and wellness platform that delivers personalized mindset ’shifting’ experiences called Shifts. I’m sure we all know of times when we could use a shift with our mental mindset, whether it’s to reclaim a day that’s gone off track, soothe some stress, boost motivation, or sleep, and shift into a productive mindset with more confidence, or purpose, or even shift our sleep. Dr. Sullivan began his formal psychology education at Harvard University and completed it with a psychology residency at the University of Texas Health Sciences Center and postdoctoral training based at the University of California, San Francisco. He has since been featured extensively in national and international publications including The New York Times, Forbes, and Huffington Post, to name a few. Today Dr. Sean Sullivan will teach us how to shift into a better state of mind, anytime, with something he has developed to solve this Global Unhappiness Problem. Welcome back to The Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast where we bridge the gap between theory and practice, with strategies, tools and ideas we can all use immediately, applied to the most current brain research to heighten productivity in our schools, sports environments and modern workplaces. For returning guests, welcome back, and for those who are new listeners, I’m Andrea Samadi and launched this podcast almost 4 years ago, to share how important an understanding of our brain is for our everyday life and results. Let’s welcome Dr. Sean Sullivan, and see what we can do to build a future where we can manage our stress, and get the SHIFT we need, when we need it. Welcome Dr. Sullivan! Thank you for coming on the podcast today. INTRO Q: Dr. Sullivan, can you give us some of your background, and share what made you think up this idea for a tool that “shifts you to a better state of mind in under 10 minutes, anytime?” Q1: We launched 2023 and our 9th season of the podcast with an episode that focuses on “Prioritizing our Mental Health in 2023”[ii] Why do you think that mental health is the most important part of our health? Q1B: If you know that mental health issues run in your family, what do you think we should know? Q1C: What did you develop and where did your vision for technology come into play? Q1D: How can we recognize our past triggers, then shift, so we can be free of these blocks? Q2: What is OnePerfect.com? Q3: Guide us through shifting into our chosen state of mind on demand during the segment/podcast. Q4: How important is self-regulation with the work you’ve been doing helping us to “shift quickly?” Q5:

For today’s EPISODE #280, we will be speaking with a pioneer in the field of educational neuroscience. The book she wrote, Multiple Pathways to the Student Brain covers the years of work she spent speaking to teachers all over the world about how the brain learns and what this means in the classroom. At the time she graduated, she was the ONLY person, so far as she knew, using the term educational neuroscience. Watch this interview on YouTube here https://youtu.be/mU6eGZi6Rng On today’s Episode #280 we will cover ✔ How Andrea was referred to study Janet Zadina's work back in 2014. ✔ The Impact of Dr. Zadina's Significant Contribution in Academics and Education Over the Years. ✔Janet Zadina's Arduous Pathway Bridging Education and the Brain since the 1980s. ✔ How Dr. Zadina Saw How Neuroimaging Could Help Change the Way We Teach Our Future Generations. ✔ Janet Zadina's Thoughts on Where Educational Neuroscience Began, and Where It's Going. ✔ Tools and Resources for Educators on her website www.brainresearch.us Welcome back to The Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast, where we cover the science-based evidence behind social and emotional learning (for schools) and emotional intelligence training (in the workplace) with tools, ideas and strategies that we can all use for immediate results, with our brain in mind. I’m Andrea Samadi, an author, and educator with a passion for learning specifically on the topics of health, wellbeing and productivity, and launched this podcast to share how important an understanding of our brain is to our everyday life and results, using the most current brain research. If there’s a tool, strategy or resource that I find, that could be helpful to improve productivity and results, whether we are a teacher in the classroom, a coach or in the modern workplace, I will share it here. On today’s episode #280 we will be speaking with someone I was referred to back in 2014, from Jeff Kleck, from EP #246[i]. He was the educator who handed me a bunch of books off his book shelf and urged me to move in the direction of educational neuroscience, to make a bigger impact with my work. He didn’t give me our next guest’s book, (so I figured it must be important to him) but he told me to write down “Dr. Janet Zadina[ii]” and study her. Now, I don’t ignore anything someone tells me to do, especially if there is learning involved, so I wrote down Dr. Zadina’s name, and immediately followed her work back in 2014. I had no idea at the time that Dr. Zadina was one of THE leaders, spearheading educational neuroscience in the country, before it was even called this, and now fast forward to last September, when Jeff Kleck and I finished our interview, he asked me “Did you ever interview Dr. Janet Zadina?” I just looked at him thinking “How did I miss that?” remembering it was important. I remembered standing in his office, holding a bunch of books he asked me to read, and then we went to his computer and he pulled up all the FREE resources and most up to date research on Janet Zadina’s website[iii] that he told me to review. It was Dr. Zadina’s work that helped me to begin in this field of educational neuroscience, making the connections to the brain and learning. Today’s guest, Dr. Janet Zadina, we will soon discover, a former high school and college teacher and cognitive neuroscientist whose background, expertise, energy, and humor all took her to international acclaim. Before we meet Dr. Zadina, I want to share a bit about how she is changing lives with science and strategies. ​She’s been said to be "Powerful!" "Engaging!" "Innovative!" "Life Changing!" These are just a few of the words audiences use to describe concepts and presentations by Janet Zadina, Ph.D. who is known for her extraordinary ability to inform, educate, and empower audiences with the scholarly and credible brain research. She has made such an impact on the academic and education communities that Society for Neuro

“You must do what others won’t, commit and stay the course.” ― Bob Proctor On today’s Episode #279 we will cover ✔ Top 6 Strategies Involved on Our End That Took Us to 300k Downloads of the Podcast. ✔ 6 Life-Changing Lessons I've Learned as a Byproduct of this Milestone. ✔ A Huge Thank You to ALL of You Who Listen to This Podcast! And for this special episode today, that I’m dedicating to YOU, the listener, I’ve got to add a quote that has stuck in my head for years that I heard in one of Bob Proctor’s first cassette training programs, called You Were Born Rich[i] that you can find today on Audible.com. It was from his colleague John Kanary who joined him on stage for the recording of this live seminar that was the FIRST seminar I listened to back in the late 1990s, when my life path crossed with the personal development and seminar industry. John Kanary said “Excellence is a commitment to completion” and I wrote that down, and with time, started to integrate this concept into my daily life by making a pact to always finish what I start. I started thinking about excellence a bit before writing this episode, and how I always want to put forth my best effort with these podcast episodes, making sure they reflect my best work, with the hopes that the strategies outlined are as useful to you as they have been for me. I know I’ve mentioned this a few times, referencing Brendon Burchard whose version of excellence he calls “prolific quality output.”[ii] Brendon, in his book, High Performance Habits says that “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). I could reflect on this for a whole month and see something new, useful and important with this idea. This led me next to civilian astronaut and extreme adventurer, Nik Halik who we featured on an early interview #31[iii] who said: Who doesn’t want to “personify excellence” on a daily basis? Who doesn’t want to produce more high quality work over the long-term? I’m sure we can all agree that’s why we keep studying, learning and looking to build a stronger, more resilient and improved version of ourselves who is truly capable of consistently producing high quality, excellent work. But the late John Wooden, an American College Basketball coach and player said it best. He said: With that thought, I want to welcome you back to a special episode of The Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast, where we cover the science-based evidence behind social and emotional learning (for schools) and emotional intelligence training (in the workplace) with tools, ideas and strategies that we can all use immediately, with our brain in mind. I’m Andrea Samadi, an author, and educator with a passion for learning specifically on the topics of health, wellbeing and productivity, and launched this podcast almost 4 years ago, to share how important an understanding of our brain is, for our everyday life and results. For today’s episode #279, I want to take a break from our usual Brain Fact Fridays to pause a minute, and reflect back on where we are in this process, and where we are going, after hitting a recent milestone in the podcasting world. As we are approaching our 4th year of the podcast, our 300th episode, (just 19 episodes away) and just hit the 300,000-download marker, I had to step back and take a deep breath to think about what this all means. I know it was Brendon Burchard who talks about the importance of “integrating your wins”[iv] or the important things that happen in your life, and while I remind others to do this all the time, with this milestone, I knew I wasn’t doing it myself. I was getting ready to write

“Everything is theoretically impossible, until it is done.” – Robert A. Heinlein And I want to add a quote I heard often over years, that "To believe in the things you can see and touch is no belief at all. But to believe in the unseen is both a triumph and a blessing.” On today’s Episode #278 we will cover: ✔ How to Be A Neuroscience Researcher in 4 Simple Steps ✔ Why Creativity and Innovation are Important to Move You Towards Your Goals ✔ How to Navigate Through Pubmed When Looking for Answers to Questions You Might Have. ✔ How to Use Science and Evidence-Based Studies in Your Daily Life and Work Welcome back to The Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast, where we cover the science-based evidence behind social and emotional learning (for schools) and emotional intelligence training (in the workplace) with tools, ideas and strategies that we can all use immediately, with our brain in mind. I’m Andrea Samadi, an author, and educator with a passion for learning specifically on the topics of health, wellbeing and productivity, and launched this podcast almost 4 years ago, to share how important an understanding of our brain is, for our everyday life and results. For today’s episode #278, keeping in line with our Season Theme of Going Back to the Basics to Build a Stronger, More Resilient 2.0 version of ourselves, we look back at EPISODE #124 on “How to be a Neuroscience Researcher in 4 Simple Steps”[i] I knew even before writing this one, that I had to spend some time getting creative. Science and research can be so very boring, especially if I were to just read through Pubmed.gov with some steps for all of us to navigate through the research, for our daily use. I can’t imagine getting excited about that, and that’s not what I wanted this episode to be about, so of course, I’m jolted out of sleep, in the early hours of a busy workday, to jot down some ideas that could bring the science into our daily lives, in a way that we can find evidence-based, science-backed answers to inform whatever questions might be keeping YOU up at night, or at least crossing your mind in the day, and make this episode a bit more memorable, interesting and useful for you. To do this, I went back to EPISODE #265 where we covered “Improving Creativity in Our Schools, Sports and Modern Workplaces”[ii] to revisit what makes something truly “creative” according to science, using the work of Dr. Andrew Huberman. He said “To Show Creativity—It must Reveal something new to us (entertaining, thrilling or useful) and it changes the way we access the world—acting as portals into the world and ourselves.” On this past episode that I wrote just before Christmas of last year, I gave three examples of past guests who’ve come on this podcast who have done just that, and have shown their creativity to change the world in our schools, sports environments and workplaces of the future. You can review this episode and these examples, but for today’s episode, I’m hoping that I can show you how to use this research portal, Pubmed.gov to change the way YOU access the world, and take some things that you might be wondering about, and see how science can inform how you see the world, revealing something NEW, entertaining, thrilling or useful. Now this is an episode worth waking up at 1am to write. Before we dive in here, I’ve got to go back a bit in time, because I did name this podcast Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning, knowing full well that this link to science could help all of us to improve our results not only in our schools (where most of my work has been spent the past 3 decades) but also in our corporate workplaces, and sports environments. I remember in those early days planning this podcast, I was told to keep my message simple and focus on one area (schools) as you will be confusing your end listener. I remember thinking I don’t want my end listener to only be working in our schools. I was hoping these ideas would app

“What makes aerobic exercise so powerful is that it’s our evolutionary method of generating that spark. It lights on fire on every level of your brain, from stoking up the neurons’ metabolic furnaces to forgiving the very structures that transmit information from one synapse to the next.” John Ratey, author of Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain On today’s Episode #277 we will cover ✔ A review of EP 177 on "Transforming the Mind Using Athletics and Neuroscience" to see what's new. ✔ A look at Dr. Wendy Suzuki's Brain-Changing Protocol to strengthen our hippocampus and prefrontal cortex. ✔ How to Create Your Own "Spark" to Take Your Results to New Heights. And in today’s episode, I want us to all dive a bit deeper, beyond what I’ll uncover with the research, and look at this spark in our own lives. I want us to learn how to access this spark that John Ratey talks about, how to generate energy with this spark through exercise, and then figure out what we will do with this spark, or energy, once we’ve learned to create it, to go take ourselves to higher levels of achievement, all by using exercise and science, to take us there. I want to welcome you back to The Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast, where we cover the science-based evidence behind social and emotional learning (for schools) and emotional intelligence training (in the workplace) with tools, ideas and strategies that we can all use immediately, with our brain in mind. I’m Andrea Samadi, an author, and educator with a passion for learning specifically on the topics of health, wellbeing and productivity, and launched this podcast almost 4 years ago, to share how important an understanding of our brain is, for our everyday life and results. For today’s episode #277, we are going back to another favorite episode of mine, #122 on “Transforming the Mind Using Athletics and Neuroscience”[i] that we released April 9, 2021, after we interviewed Paul Zientarksi, the former PE teacher from Naperville Central High School, who reinvented physical education using the understanding of simple neuroscience. In this previous episode, we combined what we learned from Paul Zientarski,[ii] with our interview with Dr. John Ratey[iii], and his book Spark, that cemented the idea of the profound impact that exercise has on our cognitive and mental health. For today’s episode, #277, we will go back to episode #122 on “Transforming the Mind Using Athletics and Neuroscience” and see what’s new with the research that might be able to take our understanding a bit deeper. I know that we all are clear on the fact that exercise creates that glorious protein called BDNF that we just reviewed thoroughly on EPISODE #274[iv] and even how this protein that is released when we exercise, is reduced in the brain of someone who has developed Alzheimer’s Disease, showing us that exercise is an imminent solution for the prevention of cognitive decline, or at least delaying this from happening for as long as we can. Which leads me look deeper into the research on this topic, and I went straight to the work of neuroscientist and author, Dr. Wendy Suzuki, whose TED TALK on “The Brain-Changing Effects of Exercise”[v] has over 15 million views. I remember when her TED TALK came out (in 2017) and someone in my network sent it over to me and I immediately asked Dr. Suzuki to come on the podcast. After hearing what her schedule is like over the years, and the research she is involved with as the incoming Dean of Arts and Sciences at NYU[vi], I do understand now why I never did hear back from her on this request. Her TED TALK impacted me in a way where I knew I would need to focus on what she has discovered about the powerful effects of physical activity on the brain and that “by simply moving your body, this has lasting protective, benefits to the brain.” (Dr. Suzuki). Dr. Suzuki’s TED TALK, that came out years before we had looked at this topic on the

“The brain has a capacity for learning that is virtually limitless, which makes every human being a potential genius.” Michael J. Golb I want to welcome you back to The Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast where we bridge the gap between theory and practice, with strategies, tools and ideas we can all use immediately, applied to the most current brain research to heighten productivity in our schools, sports environments and modern workplaces. I’m Andrea Samadi and launched this podcast almost 4 years ago, to share how important an understanding of our brain is for our everyday life and results. For today’s episode #276, we will go back to one of our early episodes, #119[i] on “The Key Ingredients of Learning with the Brain in Mind” and take a look at what I picked out as the key ingredients for learning back then, to see how NEW research has informed this area today. When I went back to review this episode, there were some ingredients in this “learning” equation that we’ve talked about often on this podcast, and the new research I found was eye-opening. The new research took what we covered so beautifully on those early episodes, to a whole new level, showing me why it’s important to go back to the basics and see what strategies are effective, and why. Before we get to what’s NEW, let’s look back at where our podcast began, and what we were focused on, with learning with our brain in mind. Learning with the Brain in Mind We can go right back to our very first interview EPISODE #3[ii] with Ron Hall, from Valley Day School, who mentioned how things changed for him when he met Horacio Sanchez and began teaching with brain science in mind. This is the whole reason why we are going back to the basics this season, as we connect the new research to our past episodes, to strengthen where we all are in our process of building a stronger, more resilient 2.0 version of ourselves in 2023 and beyond. It’s always easy to look back, and connect the dots[iii] like Steve Jobs’ famous quote, and trust that these dots will connect again in the future, with new meaning that’s evolved with time, knowledge and understanding. John Hattie’s Research: As I glanced at our earlier interviews, Greg Wolcott from EPISODE #7 on “Building Relationships in Today’s Classrooms” was our next guest in this learning equation, as he was the first guest to mention that his work and book, Significant 72[iv], was inspired by New Zealand Professor John Hattie. John Hattie became known for his two books Visible Learning and Visible Learning for Educators that focused on teaching strategies that have a high probability of being effective. You can read directly from John Hattie himself, as he connects his dots looking backwards, where he says he believes he got some parts wrong with his approach to learning in the classroom. He shares he’d like to stop looking at the strategies teachers are using and look closer at the impact we have on our students and how they learn best when he reflects that “we need to switch from saying (I care about how you teach), to saying (I care about the impact of your teaching).”[v] Hattie goes on to talk about the criticism he faced with the term “visible learning” because learning isn’t visible at all. As John Hattie now prepares to release Visible Learning: The Sequel[vi] this March, 15 years after his first book that sold out in days of its release and was described as “teaching’s Holy Grail” he’s returning to his ground-breaking work, with a new angle. Like the direction we are taking with this podcast, going back to the basics, this is what Professor John Hattie is doing with his next book where he not only looks at WHAT works best with learning, as he shares the research is his new that is now informed by more than 2,100 meta-analyses (more than double that appeared in his first book, drawn from more than 130,000 studies, and has involved more than 400 million students from all around the world. He t

“It’s well understood that this chronic disease (type 2 diabetes) is linked to lifestyle. Combine a diet high in sugar (including fruits, honey, and starch, all of which turn into varying amounts of sugar when digested) with a lack of exercise and the results will be type 2 diabetes with the miserable complications that come with it.” (An excerpt from Dr. Richard Jacoby, co-author of Sugar Crush: How to Reduce Inflammation, Reverse Nerve Damage, and Reclaim Good Health.” I want to welcome you back to The Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast where we bridge the gap between theory and practice, with strategies, tools and ideas we can all use immediately, applied to the most current brain research to heighten productivity in our schools, sports environments and modern workplaces. I’m Andrea Samadi and launched this podcast almost 4 years ago, to share how important an understanding of our brain is for our everyday life and results. For today’s episode #275, we will revisit one of my favorite episodes #117[i] on “The Damaging Impact of Sugar on the Brain and Body” to review what we covered, and see if there’s anything else important that the research has revealed. There’s a lot that’s NEW with this topic, but as I reviewed this past episode, I had completely forgotten some of the details we covered a few years ago, that are very important. Today we will cover: ✔What sugar does to the brain, cognition and well-being.✔How sugar contributes to cognitive decline and Alzheimer's Disease. ✔That we all have individual journeys on our pathway towards optimal health and well-being. ✔Where my health took a turn towards wellness in 2005 and again in 2014 with the hope that my health story will give you some thoughts with your health story. ✔We looked at 2 people’s blood glucose results to see what each person learned from using a glucose monitor. ✔3 Tips You Can Implement Immediately for Improved Health, Clarity and Well-Being. You can review this past episode by clicking on the link in the show notes but for today’s episode, we are going to dive a bit deeper with what sugar does to the brain, body, cognition and our health by tying in what has emerged since that first episode. We will look at the results of two people who’ve been tracking their blood glucose levels with the Freestyle Libre Glucose Monitor[ii] to see what patterns emerge eating certain foods. The first individual we will look at, had A1C levels that have recently gone into the danger zone, signaling type-2 diabetes, showing an A1C level of over 8.5 on a recent blood test. I’m the second chart, and am not insulin resistant, but know that sugar doesn’t work for me at all. I don’t need a blood test to know that it makes me feel horrendous. My A1C levels sit around 5.8, which is in line with someone on a lower carbohydrate, and higher fat diet.[iii] This episode is not about the best diet to choose and when I sat down to write this, I quickly saw that this topic of health, especially as it relates to nutrition is such a challenging and difficult one to cover, as not one size fits all. I do want to acknowledge that there are many different diet plans out there, and that I’m not here to say one is better than another. I recognize that it’s downright frustrating when you are doing everything the right way, (eating clean and exercising) and you are seeing zero results. This seems to be especially true in the area of weight loss, where I recently saw a post from Chris Cornell, who shares his weight loss strategies on Twitter, and asked what ended up being a highly controversial question “why are most people unable to achieve significant and sustainable weight (fat) loss through lifestyle modifications?” He added “I’m guessing some people have something amiss with their regulatory mechanism. For many, I believe it’s that they are unable to regulate the crap foods they’ve been eating.” I’ll share what I learned over the past few weeks that might sh

“It is impossible to escape the drumbeat of grim news about Alzheimer’s Disease: this it is incurable and largely untreatable, that there is no reliable way to prevent it, and that the disease has for decades beaten the world’s best neuroscientists.” This is an excerpt from Dr. Dale Bredesen’s book, The End of Alzheimer’s: The First Program to Prevent and Reverse Cognitive Decline. On today’s Episode #274 we will cover ✔ A review of EPISODE #114 where we covered a thorough overview of BDNF (Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor) and what we should all understand about this protein and its benefits to the brain. ✔How BDNF is reduced in the brain of someone who has developed Alzheimer's Disease. ✔A look at an internationally recognized expert in the mechanisms of degenerative disease, Dr. Dale Bredesen and his book The End of Alzheimer's to take the "fear" out of this disease. ✔ A look back to the Top 5 Health Staples we created after watching Dr. David Perlmutter's Alzheimer's The Science of Prevention Documentary. ✔ An overview of Dr. Dale Bredesen's Protocol where he is seeing significant results with his patients who shows signs of cognitive impairment. ✔A plan for us to think about the prevention of this debilitating disease. If American Psychiatrist and brain disorder specialist, Dr. Daniel Amen says that “Alzheimer’s is a lifestyle disease”[i] and innovator in medicine, Dr. Dale Bredesen, with over 30 patents in his name, comes up with a protocol to prevent and reverse cognitive decline, you’d better believe I’m going to feature these important findings in the field of neuroscience on this podcast. If I see anything that could possibly change the course of our lives, improving it in any way, I’ll share what I’m learning with you here on The Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast. It’s here where we bridge the gap between theory and practice, with strategies, tools and ideas we can all use immediately, applied to the most current brain research with the goal of heightening productivity in our schools, sports environments and modern workplaces. For returning guests, welcome back, and for those who are new listeners, I’m Andrea Samadi and launched this podcast almost 4 years ago, to share how important an understanding of our brain is for our everyday life and results. This season (Season 9) we will be focused on Neuroscience: Going Back to the Basics as we revisit our past Brain Fact Fridays, narrowing in on how anything new from the field of neuroscience (that I’ve seen since releasing those earlier episodes) can be tied to improving our productivity, our results, or our mental and physical health. My hopes are that this review will help us to become better prepared to move forward, with a healthier, stronger version of ourselves, as we move towards our goals, or whatever it is that we are working on this year, with this strong foundation and understanding of our brain in place. This week, we will look back to our third Brain Fact Friday and episode #114 [ii] on “Building a Faster, Stronger, More Resilient Brain by Understanding Brain Derived Neurotrophic Factor or BDNF.” My goal with this episode is that if anyone asks you “what do you know about Brain Derived Neurotrophic Factor” that you would have a clear answer with what we covered on this past episode, (what it is, why it’s important for us to know about) and anything new that we will uncover today that will act as a check for us to see if we really are building a faster, stronger and more resilient brain. On our last episode we covered: ✔What BDNF (brain-derived neurotrophic factor) is and what are its benefits to the brain. ✔What we should all understand about BDNF with Alzheimer's Disease, Parkinson's Disease and how our brain learns. ✔The Connection Between Exercise, Nutrition and BDNF ✔ Why Putting the Body Under Stress is a Good Thing. ✔Sleep, Stress and the BDNF Factor. If you want to revisit this past episode, you can click on

"Self-regulation will always be a challenge, but if somebody's going to be in charge, it might as well be me." Daniel Akst On today’s Episode #273 we will cover ✔ A review of Brain Fact Friday #112, where we introduced Self-Regulation, and why it's important for our overall mental health and wellbeing. ✔ One strategy from the work of Dr. Daniel Amen for Self-Regulating Automatic Negative Thoughts. ✔ Two strategies from the work of Dr. Andrew Huberman--One on using self-regulation to calm ourselves down in less than a minute, and the other to strengthen the NO-GO Circuits in our brain to help with impulse control. Welcome back to The Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast where we bridge the gap between theory and practice, with strategies, tools and ideas we can all use immediately, applied to the most current brain research to heighten productivity in our schools, sports environments and modern workplaces. For returning guests, welcome back, and for those who are new listeners, I’m Andrea Samadi and launched this podcast almost 4 years ago, to share how important an understanding of our brain is for our everyday life and results. This season (Season 9) we will be focused on Neuroscience: Going Back to the Basics as we revisit our past Brain Fact Fridays, narrowing in on how anything new from the field of neuroscience can be tied to improving our productivity, our results, our mental and physical health. Why are we going back to the basics? When we are building something worthwhile, something that we want to last, going back to the foundations will help us to strengthen our understanding of our brain, and our mind, to our results, providing us with the extra strength we will need to overcome the obstacles and challenges that will come our way. My hopes are that this step backwards will help us to become better prepared to move forward, towards our goals, or whatever it is that we are working on this year, with this strong foundation in place. Today’s EPISODE #273, we are going back to our second Brain Fact Friday, EPISODE #112, released in March of 2021 on “Training Your Brain to Self-Regulate Automatic Negative Thoughts and Emotions”[i] where we looked at our recent interview with my good friend Horacio Sanchez, from EPISODE #111 on “Finding Solutions to the Poverty Problem.”[ii] Horacio Sanchez said, “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] This 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, to set the foundation for what I envisioned with the content we would be covering here. It’s these 6 pillars that I saw as the foundation for us to build upon, and improve and is the heart of The Neuroscience Meets SEL Podcast. What is Self-Regulation and Why is it So Important to Be Able to Manage Those Negative Thoughts, Our Emotions and Even Our Behavior? 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”[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. On EPISODE #111, I gave some examples of how we could teach self-regulation to our children and students, and

“If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost: this is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.” --Henry David Thoreau from Walden Welcome back to The Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast where we bridge the gap between theory and practice, with strategies, tools and ideas we can all use immediately, applied to the most current brain research to heighten productivity in our schools, sports environments and modern workplaces. For returning guests, welcome back, and for those who are new listeners, I’m Andrea Samadi and launched this podcast almost 4 years ago, to share how important an understanding of our brain is for our everyday life and results. On today’s Episode #272 we will cover ✔ An Introduction to Season 9: Going Back to the Basics by revisiting our past Brain Fact Fridays. ✔ A reminder: What is the Reticular Activating System and How Can It Help Us to Achieve Our Goals. ✔ A Review of The Creative Process or Turning a Fantasy into a Fact. ✔ Priming Our Brain to Set Worthy Goals ✔ What the Most Current Brain Research Says to Help Us to Improve Our Goal-Setting Process ✔ Research-Based Tips to Prime Your Brain to Achieve Your Goals in 2023 This season (Season 9) we will be focused on Neuroscience: Going Back to the Basics as we revisit our past Brain Fact Fridays, narrowing in on how anything new from the field of neuroscience can be tied to improving our productivity, our results, mental and physical health. Why are we going back to the basics? When we are building something worthwhile, something that we want to last, going back to the foundations will help us to strengthen our understanding of our brain, and our mind, to our results, providing us with the extra strength we will need to overcome the obstacles and challenges that will come our way. My hopes are that this step backwards will help us to become better prepared to move forward, towards our goals, or whatever it is that we are working on this year, with this strong foundation in place. Today’s EPISODE #272, we will go back to our very first Brain Fact Friday, that we released as a BONUS EPISODE on March 5, 2021[i], called “Using the Reticular Activating System to Set Your Intent and Achieve It” and we will dive a bit deeper into how this system in the brain (our RAS) can actually help us with whatever it is that we want in 2023. But before we get to the science behind our goals, I want to take you on a trip, that goes back to my early days of working in the seminar industry, with motivational speaker Bob Proctor, who taught me how to dream. You can watch our interview on EPISODE #66[ii] where he marvels at how he watched the dream I envisioned all those years ago reveal itself over the years, as I took his work, and created a book for teens to improve their grades, their results with sports, or sharpen their skills, that eventually was made into an online course. I remember talking with Bob about this first book, The Secret for Teens Revealed[iii], (that was really just my notes that I’d gathered over the years listening to him in the seminars helping adults to achieve their goals, written so that a teenager could apply it), and I remember telling him that I thought there was something missing that was preventing kids from embracing the concepts written within the pages. We all know how learning works, and how important it is for a student to be engaged and motivated with whatever it is they are learning. He picked up on what I was getting at, and affirmed that “it is missing something very important” and went onto a lesson for me, standing in this hallway at this seminar he was speaking at, about the Creative Process. He said “you’ll want to think about how the creative process works” and then he got on the phone and called someone and put me in contact with someone who would take the words in this book, and help them to come alive, visually, with video, he suggested. I never did end

Forbes Magazine said they are “one of four technologies innovating mental health” and Elle Magazine was quoted saying they “couldn’t stop talking about their good mood and hyper charged focus.” They’ve been proven in multiple published studies, treated over 100,000 patients and are prescribed by more than 14,000 doctors and providers. Watch this interview on YouTube here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ArUif2kyo9w On today’s Episode #271 we will cover ✔ A reminder of our first interview with Kelly Roman, CEO of Fisher Wallace Laboratories from 2021, that remains on our TOP 12 most watched YouTube Interviews on the podcast. ✔ My Personal Review of The Fisher Wallace Device, that remains our MOST downloaded episode of ALL-TIME! ✔ Our One Year Later Episode, where I answer the MOST ASKED QUESTION about our podcast. ✔ Kelly Roman updates us on The Next Generation of Wearable Devices: Where They are Now, and Where They are Going. ✔ We discuss Best Practices for Using Their First Generation Device, and HOW it provides a calming effect. ✔ The Importance of Staying on Top of Our Mental and Physical Health. ✔ How Fisher Wallace is Positioned to Support the Workplaces of the Future. ✔ First responder study, and ways that we can support Kelly's mission of building health, well-being and resilience in the future. You can see countless reviews on their website[i] where people all over the globe share the relief the device provides for them, and I personally understand the impact that this specific technology can have on our mental and physical health. Our first interview with today’s returning guest, Kelly Roman[ii], CEO of Fisher Wallace Laboratories[iii], on their wearable medical device that’s cleared by the FDA to treat depression, anxiety and insomnia, came in at #11 of our all-time most watched YouTube interviews[iv]. Then, EPISODE #120[v] from last April 2021, where I posted “My Personal Review of the Fisher Wallace Wearable Medical Device”[i] remains our most listened to episode of all time with over 6,000 downloads. You can watch our first interview here https://youtu.be/jCtbngfXoYg that Kelly Roman says is his all-time favorite interview. I think it’s neat to look back now, to when I had no idea that a device like this even existed, to see how it improved my sleep by much more the gold standard of 20 minutes each night. I’m sure as the CEO of this company, Kelly has heard it all. I remember having a deer in the headlights look while first learning about this device, as I didn’t even know there was something I could use at home that could help me to improve my sleep, levels of anxiety, that also supports those people suffering from depression. I’m pretty open on this podcast that depression runs in my family, and is one of the reasons I left Toronto, for AZ where I could find most days where we have sunshine, and I could exercise outside Year-round. This change of location has helped me to find the balance I needed, but not everyone can just pick up and move to a new location for a better climate. Kelly Roman himself was open with his past history with depression, and how the device has helped him as well, so after I released our interview, and then my review of the device, I was surprised at how many emails and correspondence I received from people around the world, with questions. I think most people just wanted to make sure I was a real person, and if you’ve ever emailed me, I answer EVERY email within 24 hours. Most people wanted to know “do you still use the Fisher Wallace Device?” and the answer is “yes, every morning, as a part of my daily routine.” I couldn’t imagine life without it. In fact, I’ve had this question come through so many times that I did a “Review One Year Later: My Personal Review of the Fisher Wallace Device[vi]” last summer, that I could point people to who asked me this question to. I’ve said it often on this podcast that most of us will struggle with a mental health issue in our

"Jaak Panksepp was the first and only neuroscientist who focused squarely on the emotional brain. There followed a lengthy and instructive series of emails between Jack and Lucy that ultimately resulted in the publication of this book" Jaak Panksepp and Lucy Biven, authors of the famous book that is often required reading for those studying an Introduction to the Field of Neuroscience, The Archeology of Mind. Watch our interview on YouTube here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wH3j5WDXvEk On today’s Episode #270 we will cover ✔ An introduction to Lucy Biven, who co-authored the well-known book, The Archeology of Mind, with Jaak Panksepp. ✔ How Lucy went from being the Head of Psychotherapy at the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service in England, to writing a leading resource in the field of Neuroscience, with Jaak Panksepp. ✔ How neuroscience gave her answers to a court case she was asked to advise, that 19 experts in the field of child development couldn't solve, without an understanding of how our brain works. ✔ How an understanding of our brain can help us to be better parents, teachers, coaches and managers. ✔ Where Jaak Panksepp's work filled in the missing gaps for Lucy, opening doors with this new understanding of our brain, and emotions. ✔ 3 often discussed Theories about Emotions and Affect (Feedback Theory, Brainstem Theory and Conceptual Act Theory, or Theory of Constructed Emotion and which one Lucy believes in today. ✔ Lucy makes a case for Panksepp's Brainstem Theory, as well as Damasio's work. ✔ Lucy and Andrea discuss the hard question of consciousness and why all traditional attempts to answer this complex question, has failed. ✔ Lucy shares how she uses Panksepp's Brainstem Theory to help 2 boys knowing when to take the role of a coach, versus a traditional therapist, to help them to overcome mental blocks that were holding them back from living a successful life. I’m so grateful to have this opportunity today to speak with Lucy Biven, who co-authored The Archeology of Mind, with the one and only, Jaak Panksepp. Those who study the field of neuroscience will know his name, and if you haven’t heard of him, I hope this episode sheds some light on his work, combined with Lucy’s as pioneer researchers in the field of Affective Neuroscience. Welcome back to The Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast where we bridge the gap between theory and practice, with strategies, tools and ideas we can all use immediately, applied to the most current brain research to heighten productivity in our schools, sports environments and modern workplaces. I’m Andrea Samadi and launched this podcast almost 4 years ago, to share how important an understanding of our brain is for our everyday life and results. This season (Season 9) we will be focused on Neuroscience: Going Back to the Basics for the next few months, as we welcome some phenomenal pioneers in the field of Neuroscience, paving a pathway for all of us to navigate our lives with more understanding with our brain in mind. My goal with this next season (that will run until the end of June) is that going back to the basics will help us to strengthen our understanding of the brain, and our mind, to our results, and provide us with a springboard to propel us forward in 2023, with this solid backbone of science. With some new and exciting responsibilities on my end, we will be doing one episode a week, going back to the basics each week, that I know will be helpful for all of us. For today’s guest and EPISODE #270, we will be speaking with someone who many of you who study in the field of neuroscience will recognize. There are those who I would call “rockstar” researchers, whose work has revolutionized the field. If you take a neuroscience course, or like I did, a Neuroscience Certification Program, you are a clinician, a psychotherapist, you will have come across her first book as required reading. Metapsychology Online Review thinks this

WHAT IS THE POTENTIAL OF EDUCATIONAL NEUROSCIENCE? British Physician, Ben Goldacre, 2013 says “I think there is a huge prize waiting to be claimed by teachers. By collecting better evidence about what works best and establishing a culture where this evidence is used as a matter of routine, we can improve outcomes for children, and increase professional independence.” Watch this interview on YouTube here https://youtu.be/Uh1BZOTGZQc On today’s Episode #269 we will cover ✔ Professor Michael S.C. Thomas' new book Educational Neuroscience: The Basics ✔ Where is educational neuroscience NOW? Where it began, and where it's going. ✔ How this book can help students improve how they learn. ✔ How this look at Educational Neuroscience can help us to become better teachers. ✔ The difference between evidence-based and neuroscience-based. ✔ Where we should ALL begin. What IS the BASICS of Neuroscience? ✔ What makes something forgettable and another thing memorable? ✔ Ways to make learning easier. Welcome back to The Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast where we bridge the gap between theory and practice, with strategies, tools and ideas we can all use immediately, applied to the most current brain research to heighten productivity in our schools, sports environments and modern workplaces. I’m Andrea Samadi and launched this podcast almost 4 years ago, to share how important an understanding of our brain is for our everyday life and results. This season (Season 9) we will be focused on Neuroscience: Going Back to the Basics for the next few months, as we welcome some phenomenal pioneers in the field of Neuroscience, paving a pathway for all of us to navigate our lives with more understanding with our brain in mind. My goal with this next season (that will run until the end of June) is that going back to the basics will help us to strengthen our understanding of the brain, and our mind, to our results, and provide us with a springboard to propel us forward in 2023, with this solid backbone of science. Today’s guest and EPISODE #269, I’ve been wanting to have on this podcast since I came across his work in the field of educational neuroscience around the time we interviewed Dr. Daniel Ansari, back in June 2021 for EPISODE #138.[i] I saw their Annual Research Review: (called) Educational Neuroscience progress from April 2019, written by Michael S.C. Thomas, Daniel Ansari and Victoria C.P. Rowland that provided a thorough overview of the origins of educational neuroscience, outlining where it began, the challenges it faces as a “translational field” and addressed it’s major criticisms. I immediately wrote down Michael S.C. Thomas’ name, along with his email address, to reach out to him to learn more of his perspective in this field. Since I was interviewing Dr. Daniel Ansari, it brought something to light for me that the people who write these research reports that we find on Pubmed.gov, are working hard somewhere, and not completely out of reach if you really want to find them, and ask them some questions about their work. When I finally emailed him, I was thrilled to hear he had a NEW book Educational Neuroscience: The Basics[ii] and am grateful to have this opportunity to speak with him about this new book. Before we meet our next guest, Michael S.C. Thomas, let me orient you to his work. Michael S. C. Thomas is a Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience at Birkbeck University of London. Since 2010, he has been Director of the Centre for Educational Neuroscience, a cross-institutional research centre which aims to further translational research between neuroscience and education, and establish new transdisciplinary accounts in the learning sciences. In 2003, Michael established the Developmental Neurocognition Laboratory within Birkbeck’s world-leading Centre for Brain and Cognitive Development. The focus of his laboratory is to use multi-disciplinary methods to understand the brain, including behavioural,

Happy New Year, and welcome back to our 9th Season, approaching our 4th year of The Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast. For those returning, welcome back and for new listeners, I’m Andrea Samadi an author and educator, who launched this podcast in June 2019, for many reasons, but the one that stands out the most today, is to amplify the best practices, tools, strategies and ideas, from authors, experts and leaders who’ve risen the top of their field, to improve productivity in our schools, sports environments and modern workplaces, by connecting an understanding of our brain to their proven strategies. On today’s Episode #268 we will cover ✔ An Introduction to Season 9 of our Podcast: Neuroscience: Going Back to the Basics ✔ Intro to “Prioritizing Our Mental Health in 2023: Building Self-Awareness and Resilience in the New Year.” ✔ 4 TIPS for Putting our Mental and Physical Health First in 2023 with our Brain in Mind. This season we will be focused on Neuroscience: Going Back to the Basics for the next few months, as we welcome some phenomenal pioneers in the field of Neuroscience, paving a pathway for all of us to navigate our lives with more understanding with our brain in mind. My goal with this next season (that will run until the end of June) is that going back to the basics will help us to strengthen our understanding of the brain, and our mind, to our results, and provide us with a springboard to propel us forward in 2023, with this solid backbone of science. Going back to the basics is something we do without thought while teaching a lesson in the classroom, or with skill-building in sports, and it’s at the root of our performance improvement plans in the workplace, so before moving forward, I wanted to take some steps back a bit, to intentionally strengthen our direction with this podcast. Before moving forward, I do want to thank our listeners who have taken the time to post a review of the podcast on Apple iTunes. This helps us a lot, so other listeners can learn about the content, and your take-aways, so thank you to Joseue Diaz from Panama for letting me know you enjoyed the episode with Adele Spraggon, about how habits are formed in the brain, and from a review from a faithful listener who let me know you’ve enjoyed our Deep Dives of Napoleon Hill’s Think and Grow Rich book, and Jose Silva’s Program. Reviews like this make my day, and are extremely motivating to me, especially as I am sitting at my desk, working on finalizing an episode. Thank you for sending the motivation back my way. For today’s episode, #268, and our FIRST episode of 2023, BEFORE we dive deeper into the Basics of Neuroscience, I want to begin our year on solid footing, going back to the basics of health by “Prioritizing Our Mental Health in 2023: Building Self-Awareness and Resilience in the New Year.” My good friend, and 2-time returning guest Assistant Superintendent for Teaching and Learning, and author of the book, Significant 72: Unleashing the Power of Relationships in Today’s Schools[i] Greg Wolcott, who was on our 7th episode, as well as our #64th[ii] sent me an email this week that got me thinking of how to launch our year. I already had written out “back to the basics” all over my office, but his email gave me some more direction. He sent me the cover of Dr. Julie Smith’s book Why Has Nobody Told Me This Before[iii] and I immediately downloaded her book, and began to connect the dots for this episode. In the beginning of her book, Dr. Julie Smith says, It was the last line that she wrote “only more recently has it become acceptable to openly and visibly work on your mental health” that got me. She’s 200% right. How many photos have I seen of people working out at the gym at the start of the year, compared to those working on their mindset or mental health? You know, what goes on inside, shows up loud and clear on the outside. We can exercise our body till our legs shake, but if we ignore o

“Before you look at your future, reflect on your past.” (Sam Ade, author of the book Wisdom Untold[i]). Welcome back to The Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast for a special EPISODE #267, where we will look back over the past year and review the TOP 10 most listened to episodes of 2022, as chosen by you, the listener. For those of you returning, welcome back, and for those new here, I’m Andrea Samadi, an author and educator who launched this podcast 3.5 years ago, to share how important an understanding of our brain (and mind) is for our everyday life and results. We’ve pulled in some of the world’s leading experts, authors, and researchers in the field of education, sports and workplace productivity, and while I knew we had hit the Top 20 Best Neuroscience Podcasts over the years, I had no idea until recently that we’ve now been included on the 35 Best Neuroscience Podcasts to Follow in 2023[ii], or that we’ve been rated in the top 1.5% of all podcasts, globally,[iii] out of 3 million. As I’m reflecting back at the end of this year, I have to say that I couldn’t have hit these accomplishments with the brilliant guests who come on the podcast, or without you, the listener, tuning in, so a huge thank you to our past guests, and listeners for making our show a success as we move into a New Year, and approach our 4th year anniversary of this podcast. To reflect on this past year, I first pulled this report in December, and 4 episodes made the TOP 10 list in the past year, that were recorded in December 2021, so I ‘ll be mentioning these important episodes that came in at the end of last year after at the end of this countdown. As we are approaching a New Year, many of us have our first few quarters (or beyond) of 2023 planned out already, but before we leap into the freshness of a New Year, if you haven’t reflected on the wins you’ve attained in the past year, this is probably the most important step of closing out an old year, and moving into a new one. I learned this year-end ritual from Jim Bunch[iv], who has been walking me through this year-end wrap up for the past 8 years at least, preparing those who tune in all over the world, for a fresh mind moving into the New Year. I put the REPLAY of his event from earlier this month, in the show notes, and did cover his process of creating energy from your 9 environments on EPISODE #103[v] that launched our year back in 2021, with “The Neuroscience of Leadership: 3 Ways to Reset, Recharge and Refuel Your Brain.” On this episode, we review the process of self-reflection, and evaluate the areas of your life (your 9 environments) to notice where energy might be leaking, that you could direct somewhere else in the New Year. This self-reflection activity is a good way to close out an old year, and move into a new one, as it allows you to put some thought into your WINS, and what worked well for you in the past year. He has a printable download that goes with this activity, and what’s interesting, is that without looking at your calendar, just by going off the top of your head, see if you can write out some of your wins. Without some deep reflection, you will notice that it’s EASY to see the things that went wrong last year (the losses) but to see the WINS, it takes serious thought, because of our built-in negativity bias, that Dr. Rick Hanson tells us to remember---“our brain is like Velcro for negative experiences (we are attracted to the negative experiences) but our positive experiences, slide off like Teflon.” We must be intentional about reflecting on the positives that we incurred, and integrate these wins into our identity, before moving into a New Year. This practice will guarantee that you are building a stronger, better, more improved version of you, each year. Now for the TOP 10 most listened to episodes of 2022-as voted by you, the listener! #1: We have our review of Napoleon Hill’s bestselling Think and Grow Rich book, “How to Make 2

"Life gives you exactly what you need to awaken." Watch this interview on YouTube here: https://youtu.be/wpxogphAQqw On today’s Episode #266 we will cover ✔ Tips from Darshan Pindoria, who spent 9 months as a monk, for those beginning their meditation practice. ✔ How open-minded meditation vs focused meditation can help us to become more creative and innovative in 2023. ✔ How to "think like a monk" and ask questions of others, to learn and grow. ✔ How to teach mindfulness, focus and meditation to our younger generations. ✔ How to use our mind to change habits, and improve our levels of anxiety, happiness and emotional stability. Welcome back to The Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast where we bridge the gap between theory and practice, with strategies, tools and ideas we can all use immediately, applied to the most current brain research to heighten productivity in our schools, ports environments and modern workplaces. I’m Andrea Samadi and launched this podcast to share how important an understanding of our brain is for our everyday life and results. For today’s episode #266, we will be speaking with Psychologist Darshan Pindoria[i], who contacted me around the time I was working on PART 4 of The Silva Method[ii] book review. While writing this final part of this review, I mentioned that I had no idea just how deep the Silva Method would take me. This final part of Jose Silva’s book review sat opened on my computer, unfinished, for more than a week, as I knew there was a lot to this book that I was still learning myself. My hopes were that this review would help all of us to improve our meditation practice, and give us more capacity, especially around how we approach stress, problem solve, or use our mind for creativity and innovation in the New Year, and in Darshan’s introduction email, he let me know that he had trained 9 months as a monk. Darshan’s email came at the perfect time, allowing me to ask him the questions I had after completing this book review. Thank you for all the feedback I received on this 4 PART review of The Silva Method, from around the world. I know this is just the beginning, and there will be another episode in the future, covering his online program. For now, I want to welcome Darshan Pindoria to our podcast, where we can dive deeper into ways that we can use our mind, in NEW ways, in the New Year, for improved health, productivity, creativity and innovation. Welcome Darshan. Thank you for reaching out to me, with perfect timing. Where have we reached you today? INTRO QUESTION: Darshan, many of our listeners resonated with this 4 PART review of a Jose Silva’s popular book The Silva Method[iii], where he says “Once we learn to use our minds to train it, it will do some astounding things. Then I watched your travel VLOG[iv] of your trip to the Himalaya Mountains, and as someone who spends every day in the mountains, I wondered how did it feel to sit in those mountains, and why do you think it would be different for you there, over sitting and thinking in any other mountain? What tips would you have for someone beginning this practice? INTRO: Can you tell me what you learned from being a monk for 9 months? Or even what you felt just sitting in the Himalayas for 2 hours? You said so much…time went really fast there, you were lost for words. What did you discover/learn from your time sitting and thinking here? Q1: We just covered a book review that was based on the work of Jose Silva, and his program that really is based on what the research today would call “open monitoring meditation” where we close our eyes, and pay attention to our thoughts without judgement. Dr. Andrew Huberman recently did a podcast episode on how this type of mediation can help us to improve our divergent thinking, to help us with creativity and innovative ideas. Why does this “open-minded” meditation help us to become more creative? Q2: I noticed that the monk in your video was sitting a cer

Welcome back to The Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast and PART 4, our FINAL part, of our Review of Jose Silva’s Mind Control Program. I’m Andrea Samadi an author and an educator, who like many of you listening, have been fascinated with learning and understanding the science behind ANY high-performance strategy proven to increase our results in our schools, sports, or modern workplaces. If there’s something NEW that I come across that can help us in any way, I’ll investigate it, connect it with the most current research, and then share what I learn with you here. My goal with this 4 PART review of the popular program from the 1980s and 1990s, The Silva Method[i], is to help all of us to learn something new to refine our current meditation practice whether we are working in our schools to improve learning, in our sports environments for improved results towards a specific goal, or in the corporate workplace to generate new ideas. I wouldn’t have picked this book to review if it hadn’t made such an impact on the world, like Napoleon Hills’ Think and Grow Rich book that currently sits as our most downloaded episode of 2022 after we reviewed it last January to kick off our New Year. Before starting this review, that I hoped would give us a running start to 2023, I had no idea the concepts I would learn each week, would be so powerful, deep, and life-changing requiring more thought than usual while writing each episode. I began this 4 PART book review the end of November, around Thanksgiving in the United States, and shortly after releasing the first episode, I began receiving emails from around the world from people who were interested to learn more about The Silva Method. Some were remembering it from the 80s/90s when Jose Silva ran this program globally, and others were asking me where they could find a live seminar. It was Dr. Hasan Ibne Akram, EPISODE #260[ii] who held up an old copy of The Silva Mind Control Method book, sharing how it had impacted his life, jogging my memory of Jose Silva, who I had heard of years ago, while selling seminars in the motivational speaking industry. Then my good friend Hans Ajay from the UK, urged me to sign up for the full program through MindValley[iii], where the course sits today after Vishen Lakhiani (the founder) revised and improved it in this current version. Hans wrote “It’ll be transformative” and little did I know just how transformative it would be. As I’m writing this episode now, and the final part of this review, I’m nearing the end of Vishen Lakhiani’s Silva UltraMind Course[iv] through the MindValley website. I can now see that this is a program that you never really complete, like I noticed with Napoleon Hill’s Think and Grow Rich[v] book, for Hill intended the book to be read more than one time for the concepts to be mastered in one’s lifetime. Jose Silva’s book is exactly the same way, and his online UltraMind Course, the experiential side of the program (that consists of the lessons from his book, mixed with meditations) bring the pages of The Silva Method to life in a way I never imagined just by reading the book. I’ve got to say, this course has really blown my mind, and expanded my thinking in a way I hadn’t imagined at the start of this review. REMEMBER: “When a person learns to function mentally at this deeper level, creativity is enhanced. Memory is improved and a person is better able to solve problems.” (Jose Silva). Today I plan finish the review of The Silva Method, and while I won’t be going into every chapter, I’ve picked the ones that I think are relevant to help all of us with “The Basics” of what Jose Silva intended us to learn. Then we will take these basic concepts that Jose Silva found to be transformative, (like my friend Hans Ajay noticed) and APPLY them to our daily life, connecting the science to our creativity and innovation, using Dr. Andrew Huberman’s most recent podcast episode on “The Science of Creativity: Ho

“Any new beginning is forged from the shards of the past, not from the abandonment of the past.” Craig Lounsbrough Watch this interview on YouTube here https://youtu.be/M45pacbfyqA On this episode we will cover: ✔ Soren Kaplan's background, and how he became interested in helping high level businesses breakthrough to new heights. ✔ How he has met and worked with some of the world's most well known experts in leadership and innovation. ✔ Where his innate strengths, talents and skills emerged from, skyrocketing his career and personal success. ✔ How we can ALL tap into the missing ingredient he discovered that leads to high levels of success and breakthroughs. ✔ How we can use this missing ingredient that he calls EXPERIENTIAL INTELLIGENCE (XQ) to become better leaders, increase collaboration, innovation and results at home or in the workplace. ✔ How EXPERIENTIAL INTELLIGENCE (XQ) compliments IQ and EQ. ✔ A simple formula for decoding our own EXPERIENTIAL INTELLIGENCE (XQ). ✔ How to use EXPERIENTIAL INTELLIGENCE (XQ) with teams, or individuals. ✔ The research behind EXPERIENTIAL INTELLIGENCE (XQ). ✔ How companies like Google, Apple, IBM and Tesla are embracing EXPERIENTIAL INTELLIGENCE (XQ). When it comes to closing out an old year, and moving into a new one, goal-setting and mindset is at the top of mind for all of us, to jumpstart our New Year on the right foot. This week, I’m in the middle of writing out our TOP 10 episodes of 2022, and getting my head around the final PART of our book review of the Silva Method and I’m thinking about how I can personally improve where we are now with the podcast, to keep moving us all forward with engaging content and speakers that can us to reach new heights with our brain in mind in 2023 and beyond. I wondered, “what am I missing that I haven’t covered yet, that could help move all of us to greater heights?” We have gone deep on this podcast in the past year with using an understanding of our brain to improve our mental and physical health and wellbeing, especially as this all relates to our learning, and we’re now slowing down the year for the holidays, uncovering some new ways to meditate with The Silva Method,[i] and other episodes that we’ll be releasing over the last few weeks of this year to help us to improve creativity, our intuition and focus, but before we close out this year, I wonder, what else is there that can help drive transformation in our schools, sports environments and workplaces? I’ve been thinking about this for the past few weeks, and then I met our next guest, Soren Kaplan, Ph.D., a bestselling and award-winning author, a Columnist for Inc. Magazine, and an affiliate at the Center for Effective Organizations at USC’s Marshall School of Business. Business Insider and the Thinkers50 have recognized him as one of the world’s top management thought leaders and consultants. I was introduced to Soren Kaplan via email letting me know about his NEW book called Experiential Intelligence: (that’s about how to) Harness the Power for Personal and Business Breakthroughs[ii] that follows his other successful books Leapfrogging: The Power of Surprise for Business Breakthroughs[iii] and The Invisible Advantage[iv]. I immediately thought, “This is it! This is what I’ve been looking for. Something else that we can tap into that can be used to transform ourselves, our teams, and our organizations” and something entirely NEW, giving us that “breakthrough” advantage, or quantum leap that I’ve been mentioning all year with Price Pritchett’s You2 book. When I began reading Soren’s book, I noticed from the praise and testimonials at the start, that his supporters were all high levels leaders, sharing what they had learned from Soren’s book, and how “the ability to understand your inherent capabilities as a product of life experiences is the essence of (what Soren has called) experiential intelligence” and how “leaders can harness XQ to unlock their own hidden strengths and

“A genius is a man who has discovered how to increase the intensity of thought to a point when he can freely communicate with sources of knowledge not available through the ordinary rate of thought.” –Napoleon Hill, author of the Best Selling Classic Book, Think and Grow Rich. In PART 3 we cover: ✔ A look at Speed Learning with 2 strategies we can all use right away to learn faster, and remember what we have learned longer. ✔ Creative Sleep, and how to use our sleep to solve problems, improve creativity and intuition in our waking hours, with 4 steps to improving your ability to use and remember your dreams. Welcome back to The Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast and PART 3 of our Review of Jose Silva’s Mind Control Program. I’m Andrea Samadi an author and an educator, who like many of you listening, have been fascinated with learning and understanding the science behind ANY high-performance strategy proven to increase our results in our schools, sports, or modern workplaces. If there’s something NEW that I come across that can help us in any way, I’ll investigate it, connect it with the most current research, and then share what I learn with you here. If you’ve been following the past few episodes, you’ll know that I came across Jose Silva’s work with Dr. Hasan Ibne Akram, from EPISODE #260[i], who has launched 7 successful companies, and mentioned that this book completely changed his world. I had heard of this book and Silva’s Program over the years, and many of the concepts that Jose Silva mentions in his book, but had not read it cover to cover, or practiced the audio training that goes along with the book, so I decided to do a complete review of the program, like we did with Napoleon Hill’s book at the start of this year, and see how this book, that was popular in the 80s and 90s could connect to the interviews we’ve done previously on this podcast. Especially when Friederike Fabritius mentioned on EPISODE #258[ii] that our mind can be trained to produce flashes of insight, that can help us in business and our personal lives and what Jose Silva would say could reveal “some astounding things” with a trained mind. I wondered how exactly could our mind be trained... Was daily meditation not enough? If it was, how do I even know if I’m meditating the right way? What was I missing from my current practice? What can we learn from the years of research behind Jose Silva’s popular program that could help all of us to refine our current meditation practice? Then I thought back to a class I took with Jon Kabat-Zinn, the father of mindfulness, who reminded us in this class that we are already perfect, (as we are) and that mindfulness is not about “attaining a certain state, (that brings us to this new level of perfection) but that we are already whole and perfect.” Whatever program we are doing now, the idea of this book review is not to say that Jose Silva’s method is better, or that we might be missing something from what we are already doing, but to see if there’s anything NEW that we cover here, that interests us to dive deeper into, to further enhance our current practice. Jim Kwik, the founder of Kwik Learning[iii], has said that “we’ve discovered more in the past 20 years about our brain than we’ve known in the previous 2,000 years combined” and I think it’s so exciting to share new strategies to help us all, which is the purpose of this podcast. When I learn something new, something that can help me to improve in any way, this energizes me, this gets me all jazzed up, and I know I can’t be the only one like this. I’m sure for those of you who tune into this podcast, can relate to what I’m saying and I’m honored that you’ve chosen me to study with, wherever you might be tuning into this podcast around the world. I love looking at the statistics to see where listeners are tuning in from in over 168 countries, which is a Geography lesson for me when I look at the map of the world. NOTE TO LIST

“Once we learn to use our mind to train it, it will do some astounding things for us, as you will soon see.” Jose Silva (August 11, 1914-February 7, 1999) author of The Silva Mind Control Method. On today’s Episode #262 we will cover ✔ A Review of PART 1 of this series (How to access the ALPHA BRAIN STATE, Creating A Mental Screen for Visualization and Problem Solving). ✔ Ch 4- Dynamic Meditation ✔ The 4 Laws that must be in place BEFORE we visualize a goal. ✔ How these 4 Laws mirror Napoleon Hill's Think and Grow Rich book. ✔ 3 STEPS to SOLVE ANY PROBLEM Using the Silva Method. ✔ Ch 5- Improving Memory ✔ Where Silva's Memory Hacks have been seen on previous episodes and in the motivational speaking industry. Welcome back to The Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast and PART 2 of our Review of Jose Silva’s Mind Control Program. I’m Andrea Samadi an author and an educator, who like many of you listening, have been fascinated with learning and understanding the science behind ANY high performance strategy proven to increase our results in our schools, sports, and modern workplaces. If there’s something NEW that I come across that can help us in any way, I’ll investigate it, connect it with the most current research, and then share what I learn with you here. At the start of this year, I reviewed Napoleon Hill’s Best-Selling Think and Grow Rich[i] book, with a deep dive into many of the concepts that have been put to a practical test by millions of people around the world over the years. This is THE book that my mentor Bob Proctor spent his lifetime studying, and it remains on my desk as a resource to visit when I need some inspiration, or some wise words of wisdom to push me forward. Then I came across Jose Silva’s work on our resent EPISODE #260, a fascinating program that I had heard about when I worked in the seminar industry, and I knew it was time to slow down the podcast, and see what Jose Silva’s program covered, and if his work could help us all with whatever it is that we are working on. My goal with this review of The Silva Method[ii], is to help all of us to learn something new to refine our current meditation practice whether we are working in our schools to improve learning, in our sports environments for improved results towards a specific goal, or in the corporate workplace to generate new ideas. I wouldn’t have picked this book to review if it hadn’t made such an impact on the world, like Napoleon Hills’ book. In PART 1[iii] of our review, on our last episode, we covered: ✔ CH 1- Using More of Our Mind in Special Ways: An Introduction to the Silva Mind Control Method ✔ What this program has done for others. ✔ Ch 2- Meet Jose ✔ Ch 3- How to Meditate: A review of the brain states (BETA, ALPHA, THETA, DELTA). ✔ How to quickly access the ALPHA STATE to improve creativity, and intuition. ✔ Using A Mental Screen in Your Mind for Heightened Visualization ✔ How to Help Yourself and Others Using a Mental Screen in Our Mind After recording this episode, there were some important parts that I forgot to add in, but since each of these episodes is cumulative, building off the last episode, I’ll be sure to add in anything important along the way. As I’m writing these episodes, as I’m also learning along with you. ***If you are listening to this episode, and have not yet listened to PART 1, please do begin with PART 1 of this series, to maximize each concept we will be learning, and practicing. Each lesson builds off the next, in The Silva Method, which to me could be described as a combination between meditation, and self-hypnosis all in one. I’ll be sharing Silva’s Method, chapter by chapter, with clear examples of how to put it into practice, and how his method can help all of us to train our brain to do some astounding things. I wanted to cover The Silva Method on this podcast, as years ago, no one spoke about the power of hypnosis, or meditation, in our corporate workplaces, or in our school

“Once we learn to use our mind to train it, it will do some astounding things for us, as you will soon see.” Jose Silva (August 11, 1914-February 7, 1999) author of The Silva Mind Control Method. Welcome back to The Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast I’m Andrea Samadi and like many of you listening, have been fascinated with learning and understanding the science behind high performance strategies to increase our results in our schools, sports, and modern workplaces. As we are in the midst of holiday season here with Thanksgiving this past week in the US, and Christmas fast approaching, we will be narrowing our focus here on the podcast and resuming interviews in the New Year. Until then, this episode will launch a series where I’ll be taking us on a deep dive into the benefits of developing a meditation practice. While I’m sure those who tune into this podcast already have a practice in place, I wanted to cover a meditation method that I came across years ago, that our last interview, with Dr. Hasan Ibne Akram reminded me about. The goal of this series is to help all of us to reduce stress with this practice, but also to see if we can learn something new, and refine our practice for those who work in our schools to improve learning, in our sports environments for improved focus and concentration towards a specific goal, and in the corporate workplace for ideas to improve creativity and focus. We will begin this series reviewing Jose Silva and Philip Miele’s The Silva Mind Control Method[i] that’s based on the Revolutionary Program by the Founder of the World’s Most Famous Mind Control Course. Ch 1: Using Our Mind in Special Ways This course is something I came across while working in the seminar industry, and while interviewing Dr. Hasan Ibne Akram, on our last EPISODE #260[ii], he reminded me of Jose Silva’s program, that helped him with his self-esteem as a teenager, in addition to his studies, and a few other areas of his life, and this reminded me that I had come across Jose Silva’s work years ago. I’d actually forgotten about this book, and many of the techniques we learned that were adaptations of Silva’s work, and I thought that since meditation is helping so many people around the world, and it’s now mainstream in our schools, with athletes, and in the corporate world, it would be fascinating to look closer at Jose Silva’s Method, to see if it could help all of us to enhance our current meditation practice, myself included. Then I dove into The Silva Method, and realized his work is going to need to be broken up over a few episodes, like we did with The Think and Grow Rich[iii] book review, just to make it applicable for all of us, and give each chapter careful consideration as we look to see what parts of The Silva Method, could help us to improve our own lives. I wanted to release this episode last Friday, but in order to cover this topic properly, I knew I had to review the Silva Method thoroughly myself, do exactly what he instructs us to do, and not cut any corners. So this weekend, instead of recording, I reviewed and practiced the strategies in the first three chapters of this book, making more connections to past episodes, and increasing my learning and understanding before sharing these ideas with you. If you listened to our episode #258 with Friederike Fabritius, on her new book, The Brain-Friendly Workplace, I asked her what science has to say about those flashes of insight that we ALL have access to for improved creativity and performance, and she explained that “when you are relaxed, your brain waves slow down to the alpha state.” Friederike further explained that we can measure these brain waves with EEG scans and that at moments of insight, or those AHA Moments, the brain has “gamma oscillations” that can be trained and measured that she called “The Gamma Insight Effect.” After speaking with Friederike, I wondered HOW we could ALL train our brain to reach these le

“If you’re going to live, leave a legacy. Make a mark on the world that can’t be erased.” Maya Angelou Watch this interview on YouTube here https://youtu.be/oxdz07FUMOc On this episode we will cover: ✔ How Dr. Hasan Ibne Akram found The Neuroscience Meets SEL Podcast, and what resonated with him, with our content. ✔ Why after building 7 companies, Dr. Hasan is looking at leaving a legacy that lasts far beyond this lifetime. ✔ Where Dr. Hasan has been focused in the business world (Brainvincible and Matrickz) and why he wants to help others to achieve financial freedom. ✔ For the man known to be "The Most Disciplined Man in Germany" what discipline means to him. ✔ What he thinks discipline can do for someone over long periods of time. ✔ What he cautions us about with being tied to the outcomes of our daily results. ✔ How this book he came across when he was 16 (that I also read) completely changed who he was, increased his self-esteem and skyrocketed his success in business and life. ✔ How he thinks people like Edison, Einstein and Michael Jackson used the principles in this book, to reach breakthrough levels in their life and work. ✔ About the strangest longevity strategy he's ever heard! Welcome back to The Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast where we bridge the gap between theory and practice, with strategies, tools and ideas we can all use immediately. I’m Andrea Samadi and launched this podcast to share how important an understanding of our brain is for our everyday life and results. It’s probably taken me 3 and a half years of hosting this podcast, (looking back now) to see how much these weekly interviews have expanded my own self-awareness by picking the brains of some of the most brilliant minds on the planet in high performance, connecting their strategies to the most current brain research, and then sharing what I’m learning with you here on the podcast. If our results really are tied back to our level of awareness, then it makes sense to me that we keep sharing the success secrets, used by those who have risen to the top, with the goal that we can ALL do the same, and take our results to those higher levels of achievement. For today’s EPISODE #260, we will be speaking with a serial entrepreneur from Munich, Germany, Dr. Hasan Ibne Akram[i], someone who has been obsessed with high performance and biohacking for years. Since 2005, he’s created disruptive companies in multiple industries (automotive with his company Matrickz[ii], brain and performance, with his company Brainvincible[iii], and real estate to name a few) that are changing the way we live, think, and work. Dr. Hasan reached out to me as he had been enjoying our podcast, and wanted to share his perspective and journey, that he thought could bring value to our audience and I agreed. I watched a few of his other interviews, and one that he did a year ago, with Craig Ballantyne[iv] (who’s a well-known business coach and entrepreneur from my hometown, Toronto, Canada) called “The Millionaire Monk’s Abundance Formula[v]” stuck out to me, so I listened to it. It was here that I learned Dr. Hasan and I have a lot of our influencers in common that he mentioned opened his mind to the possibilities that exist when you fully optimize the power of your brain and mind. The program he created, Brainvincible helps those in schools, sports or the workplace to improve their communication and creativity skills, helps athletes to optimize their skills and abilities to achieve precision and regeneration, as well as helping students to improve their study habits to achieve higher grades. I had to look at who Dr. Hasan studied, and what motivated him to create a course like this, and low and behold, Dr. Hasan, from Munich, Germany, took the same course that I took many years ago, where we both learned how to use the power of visualization to create what we wanted in our life, and use our imagination to solve problems. Dr. Hasan learned

“One can only perform at maximum potential when in optimal health. Optimal health can easily be obtained and maintained.” --Dr. Mike Van Thielen, whose mission is to help those who really and truly want to regain their health and live longer. Dr. Mike, has written many books[i], in the field of health, wellness, productivity, and biohacking, that all cover important topics that I know we are all interested in on this podcast. Watch this interview on YouTube here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yY0nOaiQVFc On this episode we will learn: ✔ Some of the secrets to Dr. Mike's success as a World Record Holder (swimming). ✔ How he learned to optimize his productivity and focus to achieve higher levels of success/laser focus in school/sports/work. ✔ Why he believes "failure is not an option" and why he doesn't practice one of Michael Phelp's training secrets. ✔ Advice he would offer to anyone looking to make an explosive leap with their results. ✔ How to develop discipline. ✔ The importance of knowing your purpose, and discovering what you are passionate about in life. ✔ The role of dopamine as it relates to focus and concentration. ✔ Forward thinking preventative health and why it's important for everyone to put their health first. Welcome back to The Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast where we bridge the gap between theory and practice, with strategies, tools and ideas we can all use immediately, applied to the most current brain research to heighten productivity in our schools, sports environments and modern workplaces. I’m Andrea Samadi and launched this podcast to share how important an understanding of our brain is for our everyday life and results. My vision is to bring the experts to you, share their research, books, ideas and resources to help you to implement their proven strategies, whether you are a teacher working in the classroom or in the corporate environment. As a podcast host, I do come across many people, in different areas of the world, and to stay focused, I do stick to a certain theme each season, or I’d be all over the place with researching guests and questions. For this season, we are focused on brain health as it relates to learning, and I’m looking to show how important an understanding of our brain is, for our results and productivity. When I came across Dr. Mike’s work, I didn’t even read all of his credentials, as I saw two things that caught my eye. He was the assistant coach and therapist for the Belgian Olympic swim team for the Olympic Games in Atlanta in 1996. Dr. Mike himself is a current World Record Holder in swimming[ii]. He also holds 28 U.S. National Titles and 2 YMCA National records. He is a proud member of the exclusive WSA – World Sports Alumni, holds a PhD in Holistic Nutrition and is also the Founder of Health Freedom movement. He’s a sought-after speaker who has often shared the stage with celebrities who I’ve met during my time in the motivational speaking industry, like Les Brown, Brian Tracy, and Darren Hardy, owner of Success Magazine. He’s also an entrepreneur with vast business experience and a proven track record of establishing and developing successful business operations. Dr. Mike owned several anti-aging clinics in central and northeast Florida and was the CEO of an innovative stem cell clinic, treating top athletes including NFL players and heavyweight boxing champions.Along with his successful career he has managed to be a philanthropist by raising money through many charity events to those who need it most. While I speak often about my time in the motivational speaking industry on this podcast, I haven’t mentioned that I spent many of my high school years teaching swimming lessons to pay for my University degree, and would watch these two Belgium swim coaches who would come in every Saturday morning, at the crack of dawn, and run the most incredible swim practices that I’ve ever seen. They had these kids zipping up and down the lanes. I

"The old corporate paradigm of extreme hours, little sleep, endless meetings, and nonstop travel is dead. No one wants to go back to that. It's bad for performance and for everyone's mental and physical health. The future of business is hybrid and requires a flexible new paradigm that helps everyone reach peak performance: the brain-friendly workplace." (Friederike Fabritius) Watch this interview on YouTube here https://youtu.be/Mmv9PmuioFs On this episode we will learn: ✔ How to create a workplace of the future. A Brain-Friendly Workplace. ✔ How an understanding our brain-type, can help us to be happier and more productive in the workplace. ✔ What is causing the "Neuro-Gap" and why is it important to have different brain-types represented at the higher levels of corporations or organizations. ✔ How can someone with ambition and persistence, move forward into a management position? What should they be prepared to show if their brain-type isn't often represented in these higher level positions? ✔ What is lateral or creative thinking, versus linear thinking, and why are both important in the workplace? ✔ Where do those "flashes of insight" come from, that creative people can see? Can science prove this type of thinking to be useful? ✔ What are the 4 brain types, or neurosignatures, and how can we be sure we understand them for ourselves, and for others? ✔ Why is understanding our optimal level of stress important for our workplace productivity and happiness? ✔ An example of when Friederike used her neurosignature under pressure. ✔ What to expect from some of the interviews in The Brain-Friendly Workplace ✔ An important tip from John Medina on the "power problem" that happens at the brain level, for people in positions of leadership. FOLLOW FRIEDERIKE FABRITIUS Website https://friederikefabritius.com/ LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/friederikefabritius/ Twitter https://twitter.com/FriederikeFab YouTube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8wD4PRM2RablIfUVDzT2WA Facebook https://www.facebook.com/FriederikeFabritius Amazon: www.amazon.com/author/friederikefabritius SEE PAST NEUROSCIENCE MEETS SOCIAL AND EMOTIONAL LEARNING PODCAST EPISODES https://www.achieveit360.com/episodes/ There’s much more to this new workplace, overriding old, outdated paradigms, than meets the eye, and Friederike Fabritius’s NEW book, The Brain-Friendly Workplace is FULL of ideas to help all of us adapt our workplace, so that our brains will work at their best. Welcome back to The Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast where we bridge the gap between theory and practice, with strategies, tools and ideas we can all use immediately, applied to the most current brain research to heighten productivity in our schools, sports environments and modern workplaces. I’m Andrea Samadi and launched this podcast to share how important an understanding of our brain is for our everyday life and results. My vision is to bring the experts to you, share their research, books, ideas and resources to help you to implement their proven strategies, whether you are a teacher working in the classroom or in the corporate environment. Be sure to listen to the EPISODE prior to this one, #257, as I do cover a DEEP DIVE to put us all in the right mind-set, or should I say, brain-set, for today’s interview. I’m so very excited for today’s interview, EPISODE #258, as we have a returning guest, from one of our early episodes, #27[i], Friederike Fabritius, all the way from Germany, who dove deep into her book, The Leading Brain: Neuroscience Hacks to Work Smarter, Better, Happier when we first launched our podcast back in 2019. What was crazy about finding Friederike back then, is that I found her on YouTube, from a presentation she did on Leadership and the Brain, and it really helped me to understand the chemicals involved in the brain during peak performance, and what it looks like when the brain is involved in FLOW, which is something I thi

Welcome back to The Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast where we bridge the gap between theory and practice, with strategies, tools and ideas we can all use immediately, applied to the most current brain research to heighten productivity in our schools, sports environments and modern workplaces. I’m Andrea Samadi and launched this podcast to share how important an understanding of our brain is for our everyday life and results. On this episode we will cover: ✔ What are the 4 neurosignatures that Friederike Fabritius identifies in her NEW book, The Brain-Friendly Workplace. ✔ How to use these neurosignatures to improve workplace productivity, happiness and flow. ✔ 3 TIPS for using neurosignatures in YOUR workplace. ✔ Preparing for EPISODE #258 with Friederike Fabritius. ALL IMAGES FROM THE BRAIN-FRIENDLY WORKPLACE ARE CREDITED TO CAROLIN NISCHWITZ For this week’s Brain Fact Friday, and Episode #257, I want to cover Friederike Fabritius’s new book The Brain-Friendly Workplace: Why Talented People Quit and How to Get Them to Stay[i] as I’ve been reading her book, preparing for our interview Friday morning, and our NEXT episode, and I know I won’t be able to cover everything in one interview. This book is beyond comprehensive and has enough science within it to cover our Brain Fact Fridays for the rest of this year. Friederike has been carefully writing this book since our last interview EPISODE #27[ii] back in 2019, when we first launched this podcast, and there are many Aha moments, and connections I’ll highlight on the next episode, when we speak with her, but for today’s Brain Fact Friday, I want to cover something important that her book taught me. It’s the title of her book, The Brain Friendly Workplace, that explains what we all need to happy at work. My goal with this episode is to share Friederike’s science-backed brain discovery of the “neurosignature” that she introduces in the introduction of this book, and how we can all use it to increase our awareness, the meaning we create throughout our day, and add a sense of autonomy with our work. Then I’ll share an example that shows how her discovery of the “neurosignature” will highlight what we all need to be successful and happy in the modern workplace, with our brain in mind, and that it’s not about changing the people (with more training) but it’s about changing the workplace. With this paradigm shift in mind, I’ll get straight to the point here—- For this week’s Brain Fact Friday, Did YOU KNOW THAT: We all have our own “neurosignature,” a unique mix of four key brain chemicals that strongly affects our personality and how we process stress and information?” Once we understand our unique “neurosignature” we can learn how to hit our “optimal stress point” and manipulate our “fun, fear, and focus” which is the recipe for reaching peak performance in the workplace. In this place of peak performance, Ideas will flow. You’ll feel energized, inspired, and alive. You’ll also gain a valuable framework for understanding colleagues and those you interact with their different “neurosignatures.” You’ll get more done in less time You’ll see why changing the workplace is needed, over expecting employees to change with more training. Understanding our unique “neurosignature” is a technique that provides a competitive advantage allowing you work with the flow, rather than against it. This is the whole premise of Friederike Fabritius’s NEW book, The Brain Friendly Workplace where she’s created a new vision for the future of our modern workplaces. What are the 4 Neurosignatures? Friederike says there are 4 brain systems that we can fall into. Can you recognize yourself? Others you work with? What about those you live with? THE DOPAMINE NEUROSIGNATURE: Friederike says that “people high in dopamine are curious, energetic, and future-oriented. Inventors and entrepreneurs tend to have this neurosignature. They get bored easily and are always lookin

“What interests me in life is curiosity, challenges, the good fight with its victories and defeats.”--Paulo Coelho Welcome back to The Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast where we bridge the gap between theory and practice, with strategies, tools and ideas we can all use immediately, applied to the most current brain research to heighten productivity in our schools, sports environments and modern workplaces. I’m Andrea Samadi and launched this podcast to share how important an understanding of our brain is for our everyday life and results. Like you, I’m interested in learning and applying the research, to our everyday life. On today’s episode #256 and this week’s Brain Fact Friday, I wanted to take what we learned from Dr. Chantel Prat earlier this week on EP#255[i], and her book The Neuroscience of You[ii], and dive a bit deeper to increase our learning with whatever it is we are interested or curious about. At the end of our interview with Dr. Prat, I shared how much I learned about myself from reading her book, and how learning inspires me (which is why I am motivated to keep producing podcast episodes that can help all of us take our results to new heights—with what we are learning and applying here, and why I’m always looking to fill in the gaps in with my knowledge). Do you know what I mean here? Have you ever found someone who knows something that you don’t know, (you notice the knowledge gap) and then you were motivated, or even energized to glean their knowledge to enhance your life? I know that each of us will be curious about something in the world and I’m so grateful that you’ve chosen this podcast to learn from, along with me. I’m always looking to answer the question “What is it that YOU’RE curious about?” so I can create episodes that are helpful, and Chapter 7 of Dr. Prat’s book dives much deeper into the research behind curiosity and the brain, that I know will help you with whatever it is you are working on, or those you hope to motivate around you, but today, my goal to inspire you, even energize you a bit, when I show you WHAT happens in our brain when we are curious, WHY being curious prepares our brain for learning, and how we can use this to inspire those around us to naturally want to learn more. On this episode we will learn: ✔ What happens to our brain when we are curious. ✔ Why being curious prepares our brain for learning. ✔ How we can inspire OURSELVES and OTHERS to naturally want to learn more and make learning unforgettable. Now, just before writing this episode, something caught my eye, and my curiosity was piqued, pulling my attention towards something I found to be interesting. NOTE—this is why it’s important to turn off your phone (or put it away) when you need to focus. I didn’t do this, and my eye was caught by an ad that was right in line with my area of interest (which is a whole other story how we are all targeted daily to buy things based on what we search for on the internet, or even what we are talking about) but this ad drew me to a class from Former Special FBI Agent John Douglas (where the Netflix series MindHunter[iii] was created based on his work, and his book MindHunter[iv]). This class, called How to Think Like an FBI Profiler[v] changed how I saw this week’s Brain Fact Friday and I’m grateful that I had a chance to learn something new from being curious. On today’s episode I not only want to cover the psychology and neuroscience of curiosity, and how we can use this trait to improve our learning, but I want to do this through the eyes of an FBI Profiler and what my curiosity helped me to learn. Former Special Agent John Douglas (and his masterclass) taught me many tips for becoming a MindHunter and recognize the signs of bad people, or ways to avoid violent criminals, but for this week’s Brain Fact Friday, I want to focus on how to use our curious mind to understand ourselves better, with our brain in mind, by profiling OURSELVES fi

“As human beings, our job in life to help people realize how rare and valuable each of us really is, that each of us has something that no one else has—or ever will have.” Chantel Prat, PhD who quotes Fred Rogers, in her new book, The Neuroscience of You. Watch this interview on YouTube here https://youtu.be/JCpD9vGe4As On this episode we will learn: ✔ How to understand ourselves better, before understanding others, with our brain in mind. ✔ Why Dr. Anna Lembke said "The Neuroscience of You" is "smart, funny, and irreverent" and a "must read for any budding neuroscientists out there." ✔ What happens at our brain level when we are out of synch with someone else? ✔ A review of Theory of Mind and why it's crucial for our success and "predicts the way a team will perform." ✔ How to improve our Theory of Mind and learn how to "Read the Mind" in others. Welcome back to The Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast where we bridge the gap between theory and practice, with strategies, tools and ideas we can all use immediately, applied to the most current brain research to heighten productivity in our schools, sports environments and modern workplaces. I’m Andrea Samadi and launched this podcast to share how important an understanding of our brain is for our everyday life and results. My vision is to bring the experts to you, share their research, books, ideas and resources to help you to implement their proven strategies, whether you are a teacher working in the classroom or in the corporate environment. For today’s EPISODE #255, we will be speaking with Dr. Chantel Prat, Ph.D.,[i] who I’ve mentioned a few times on this podcast. I came across Dr. Prat’s NEW book, The Neuroscience of You[ii] that she just released this August while researching for EP #245 back in September, on “Using Neuroscience to Recognize Individuality and Uniqueness”[iii] because her name kept coming up when I was searching for “using neuroscience to understand diversity.” When I started reading her book, it was clear to me that Dr. Prat is heavily invested in the research that helps all of us to first of all understand ourselves on a deeper level, which will help us to understand others. If you look at the Levels of Consciousness Model that I drew out from EP 151, you can see that I have listed Dr. Prat’s work in the fully aware column, as I think this is what her work prepares us for. While you can see our podcast has touched on different levels of consciousness, and since this is such a difficult concept that many scientists still cannot explain, I think it makes things easier if we can map concepts out so we can see what we are talking about visually. I know that after today’s episode, Dr. Prat will open our eyes and awareness a bit more to see who we are, in relation to those around us, with some new ideas for creating synergy with those we are no in synch with. Here’s a bit about Dr. Prat. Chantel Prat is a Professor at the University of Washington in the Departments of Psychology, Neuroscience, and Linguistics, and at the Institute for Learning and Brain Sciences, the Center for Neurotechnology, and the Institute for Neuroengineering. A cognitive neuroscientist by training, her interdisciplinary research investigates the biological basis of individual differences in cognition, with an emphasis on understanding the shared neural mechanisms underpinning language and higher-level executive functions. In English…I would translate that to “Dr. Prat helps us to understand ourselves and others” which is why she kept coming up when I was search for understanding unique differences, or that all brain are not alike. Dr. Chantel Prat was the first neuroscientist to directly link two human brains through technology. Her research has explored virtual reality, neural linking, and the diversity of our brains throughout development. Learning about the science of our brains and nervous systems empowers us with greater ability to build the

“The best way to predict your future, is to create it!” Abraham Lincoln Watch this inspiring interview on YouTube here https://youtu.be/aG_B3aLSLEc Welcome back to The Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast where we bridge the gap between theory and practice, with strategies, tools and ideas we can all use immediately, applied to the most current brain research to heighten productivity in our schools, sports environments and modern workplaces. I’m Andrea Samadi and launched this podcast to share how important an understanding of our brain is for our everyday life and results. My vision is to bring the experts to you, share their research, books, ideas and resources to help you to implement their proven strategies, whether you are a teacher working in the classroom or in the corporate environment. For today’s EPISODE #254, we’ll be speaking with Ryan Brady[i], an avid public speaker who has put into practice many of the concepts that we’ve covered on this podcast. Ryan went from having a traumatic brain injury when he was a teen, to re-learning how to walk and talk. What caught my eye with Ryan’s story is that as a young man, he was able to see the positive side of his brain injury, that occurred when his car went over an 80-foot cliff, flipped 6 times, breaking his neck, back, wrist and collar bone. This resulted in a Traumatic Brain Injury, that listeners to this podcast will understand the horrific impacts of this injury to his brain on learning, memory and his ability to function in the world. But what he did while recovering is mind-blowing! He studied, learned, and then created a company, Digital Prodigee (that creates mobile apps for businesses) and took his company to 7 figures of revenue in 7 months. His story is a true story of resilience in the business world and you can hear it for yourself with his TED Talk[ii], that I think everyone on the planet should listen to. I’m personally excited to speak with Ryan, as I began interviewing young entrepreneurs back in 2012, years before launching this podcast when I ran The Teen Performance Magazine, and hearing Ryan’s story took me back to many of the young leaders I interviewed when I was first launching this magazine, hoping to inspire our next generation of entrepreneurs with these interviews. This idea didn’t take off as well as I had hoped, but it was a valuable experience to learn from some of the youngest leaders and most brilliant minds I’ve ever come across, many who I’ve kept in touch with, or watched their results skyrocket over the years. Let’s meet Ryan Brady, and see what we can learn from this entrepreneur about mindset, vision, and brain health, for a refreshing new perspective on life. Something I think we could all use today. Welcome Ryan Brady, thank you for joining me on the podcast today. What part of the world are you in today? Ryan, I’m always looking for new perspectives on this podcast, and hadn’t even listened to your TED Talk when I replied to your team that I wanted to speak with you as I saw something unique about your ability to help others start their own business…then I saw the whole TBI story, that took your story to a whole new level. INTRO Q: Can you begin with what type of kid you were BEFORE your car flew off an 80 foot cliff? I’m curious if your positive/forward-thinking mindset was there BEFORE the accident, or do you that the accident changed your perspective? Q1: I couldn’t tell your story even close to how you tell it. Can you give us a quick synopsis, and I’ll put your TED Talk in the show notes for those who want to hear the whole story? What’s the short version of your accident and how it helped you to see things in a different light? Q1B: Did you have a positive mindset BEFORE the accident, or do you think it came as a result of it? Q2: Like I just said, I’m always looking for a unique story to share on this podcast, to help all of us to improve our mindset, with an understanding of our brain at th

“Radical approaches are the sorts that are crazy the day before they are brilliant. The payoff is enormous, especially for children who are disadvantaged. Students are the real winners of fearlessly Radical Principals” Dr. Michael Gaskell And I will add that “our world needs radical thinking, creative ideas and imagination.” On this episode we will cover: ✔ How "radical approaches" are beneficial for those in a position in leadership for building creativity, and breaking through to new heights. ✔ How timing, idea stacking and mentoring can be used to conserve time and energy needed for leaders to generate new ideas by freeing up time/resources. ✔ What are some strategies for handing negative misinformation, or managing the negative forces of online exchanges? ✔ How are you using support networks (mastermind groups) to empower Radical Principals to create safe zones, leading to more innovation? ✔ What is Radical Loyalty and how can you build this to breed more success in your school or organization? ✔ How to tackle difficult topics like countering the effects of institutionalized inequities. ✔ How to help our next generation to recognize the consequences of their online presence. Welcome back to The Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast where we bridge the gap between theory and practice, with strategies, tools and ideas we can all use immediately, applied to the most current brain research to heighten productivity in our schools, sports environments and modern workplaces. I’m Andrea Samadi and launched this podcast to share how important an understanding of our brain is for our everyday life and results. My vision is to bring the experts to you, share their research, books, ideas and resources to help you to implement their proven strategies, whether you are a teacher working in the classroom or in the corporate environment. Today’s EPISODE #253, we have returning guest, Michael Gaskell, a veteran principal from NJ, USA, whose episode #172 on “Leading Schools Through Trauma”[i] sits in our TOP 10 most downloaded episodes at #6, with over 1500 downloads. Dr. Michael Gaskell is Principal in East Brunswick, NJ., and he models the pursuit of lifelong learning as he serves to mentor new principals through the New Jersey Leaders to Leaders program. An NJPSA Stars recipient, he has been published in over 3 dozen articles in education journals and blogs, including Education Post, eSchoolNews, NASSP, Edtech and ASCD Smartbrief, and has made the most-read section of ASCD Smartbrief numerous times, which coincides the fact his last episode remains in our TOP 10 all time most listened to episodes. Mike presents at national conferences, and started his own podcast in January of this year, where he interviews successful adults like Diamond Dallas Page, how he conquered his dyslexia and anxiety associated with it. Mike has published two books: Leading Schools Through Trauma and Microstrategy Magic. Dr. Gaskell works tirelessly to support instructional excellence and student success, for his school community, and most importantly, for the wellness and equity of all children. He’ll be joining us today to share his new book, Radical Principals[ii]: A Blueprint for Long-term Equity and Stability at School, that will be released November 2022, but is currently available for pre-order through the link in the show notes. Dr. Gaskell obviously loves writing and intends to continue offering his contributions to support learners and educators in written and presentation format. Let’s welcome back Dr. Michael Gaskell for a second time, and learn together about his new book, Radical Principals, and how we can all inspire change in our schools and workplaces, with radical thinking, creative ideas and imagination. Intro Q: it’s so good to have you back here, Michael/Dr. Gaskell, especially after your first interview made such an impact on our audience, sitting in the top 10 all time most listened to episodes. I’ve

It’s one of the Top 5 health staples that we’ve covered often on this podcast, but Dr. Peter Attia[i], Canadian-American physician, known for his medical practice that focuses on the science of longevity, says that “exercise might be the most potent “drug” we have for extending the quality and perhaps quantity of our years of life.” On this episode we will cover: ✔ What the current research says for improving fitness, longevity and overall health. ✔ Look at the workouts from Dr. Peter Attia and Dr. Andrew Huberman, who dive deep into this topic on their recent podcast episodes. ✔ Compare their workouts to mine, and look for gaps using the most current research to see if we can all improve our workout routines with longevity in mind. ✔ Use Attia's Rule in this process. Welcome back to The Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast where we bridge the gap between theory and practice, with strategies, tools and ideas we can all use immediately, applied to the most current brain research to heighten productivity in our schools, sports environments and modern workplaces. I’m Andrea Samadi and launched this podcast to share how important an understanding of our brain is for our everyday life and results. Like you, I’m interested in learning and applying the research, to our everyday life. On today’s episode, I want to share the research I saw recently to improve fitness, longevity and overall health, with Dr. Peter Attia’s work who was recently featured on Dr. Andrew Huberman’s podcast. Dr. Attia, has a fascinating origin story, as he started his career as a cardiac surgeon, and then found he had a heart condition, so he began to dive into the research to see how he could improve the quality of his own life. On today’s episode #252, and this week’s Brain Fact Friday, we will take Dr. Attia’s advice, look at what he does himself, and what he recommends for others he trains, compare it to how others, like Dr. Huberman are training, and then how I’ve been training. I’m hoping we will find areas to tweak or improve, with Dr. Attia’s research in mind, that focuses on longevity and overall improvements in health and fitness. The overall goal with this episode is to have all of us use the research to inform our current exercise program, uncover our gaps, and see if there are any ways that we can improve what we are doing, with longevity research in mind. I wanted to cover this topic, as I’m always looking to improve what I’m doing, but find that when there’s so much to do, or so many different exercise or nutrition plans to follow, I notice I don’t do anything new at all, and just do the same thing, which changes nothing. The point of this episode is to look at moving our needle even just a little bit, and see if there is something we can all do, even if it’s a small tweak, to build a better 2.0 version of ourselves, to make this year our best year ever, or at least give us a running start at 2023. Biohack Tip Advice For this episode, I plan on following Attia’s Rule[ii] which Dr. Huberman coined that basically addresses the ton of exercise and nutrition advice flying around out in the world. This rule says “don’t quibble about nutrition or supplementation until you’ve dialed in your own exercise/strength protocol,” and I wouldn’t even consider writing this episode, if I wasn’t putting my own health first, using Attia’s Rule as a guide. Dr. Attia says that nutrition and health arguments are a waste of your time until you’ve completed a certain set of criteria. He says don’t bother unless you can: Dead hang for a minute Wall sit for two minutes Have a VO2 max of at least 75th percentile for your age group. Before writing this episode, I wanted to be sure that I qualified for Attia’s Rule. Here’s how I fared with his criteria. Dead Hang[iii]: I had to find a park down the street from my house to try a dead hang, as I’ve never done one before. In Canada, I remember doing fitness testing for running in school, b

Welcome back to The Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast where we bridge the gap between theory and practice, with strategies, tools and ideas we can all use immediately, applied to the most current brain research to heighten productivity in our schools, sports environments and modern workplaces. I’m Andrea Samadi and launched this podcast to share how important an understanding of our brain is for our everyday life and results. Like you, I’m interested in learning and applying the research, to our everyday life. On this episode we will cover: How can being “mindfully aware in the present moment” benefit us? An overview of the Levels of Consciousness that take us from coma, unaware, to full wakefulness and awareness. How to expand our level of awareness through effective study (using the most current neuroscience research). Break down this complex idea of consciousness, so we can all improve an area on the map, moving us towards full awareness. Use this understanding to better understand ourselves and others. This week’s Brain Fact Friday came to me this week while on a training call with Mark Waldman, in his neurocoaching program, that consists of all of the students he has worked with over the years[i] all over the world. Some students have been certified, and share their knowledge with others, like Michael Kirton, an Australian clinical psychologist and author who specializes in child development, mental health issues and trauma, and he often joins the calls to share how he is making an impact in his community with the understanding of mindfulness based coaching, training or therapy. I tune into these calls as I’m always looking for something new to share on the podcast, that we could all use to improve our results. This week, were talking about what it means to be “mindfully aware in the present moment” that Jon Kabat-Zinn coined in his definition of mindfulness to be the “awareness that arises through paying attention, on purpose, in the present moment, non-judgmentally”[ii] which Waldman says is a key secret for experiencing optimal health and wellbeing. We covered an overview of Brain Network theory on EP #48 and the importance of being able to mindfully shift between our imagination, (DMN) awareness (SN) and thinking (EN) to increase our creativity and results, while reducing stress. The funny thing I’ve noticed with writing these episodes, and implementing what I’m writing, I’ve got to say that when I’m in a high stress situation, the last thing I’m thinking about is being “mindfully aware” in the present moment. But with time, small things like learning to breathe properly while experiencing stress, that we learned from Rohan Dixit, on EP #228[iii] is putting me miles ahead of where I used to be without a mindfulness-based stress reduction strategy. While I wish I had the opportunity to study and learn directly with monks deep in the Himalayas, like Rohan Dixit did before he founded Lief Therapeutics, and invented a wearable device that tracks HRV in real-time to help us to learn how to breathe when we are stressed, interviewing those who’ve taken the time to do the research, and then sharing this research on the podcast, is my next best option. We’ve all heard of the research that backs up how important these brief moments of mindfulness can be, whether it’s in our everyday life, or even in the classroom, during learning, as Professor Kimberly Shonert-Reichl’s research (from The University of British Columbia) shows that these brief moments “promote curiosity, creativity and pro social behavior.”[iv] The key to being mindfully aware is to focus on the present moment, instead of what’s happened in the past, or what we think might happen in the future, and learn to breathe, or focus on our breath, which brings our mind into this present moment. While on this training call with Mark Waldman, a new student asked “what about when I’m dreaming” where’s my level of awareness here?” and w

Welcome back to The Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast where we bridge the gap between theory and practice, with strategies, tools and ideas we can all use immediately, applied to the most current brain research to heighten productivity in our schools, sports environments and modern workplaces. I’m Andrea Samadi and launched this podcast to share how important an understanding of our brain is for our everyday life and results. Like you, I’m interested in learning and applying the research, to our everyday life. For this week’s Brain Fact Friday, I want to look at the Japanese term “Kaizen” that means “change for the better” or “continuous improvement” as we enter the last quarter of 2022. If you follow this podcast, we launched our year with a 6 PART study of the bestselling book, Think and Grow Rich, that ended with EPISODE #196[i] on “The Neuroscience Behind the 15 Success Principles of Napoleon Hill’s Classic Book, Think and Grow Rich” ensuring that we all make 2022 our best year ever with this detailed study. I’ve been studying this book chapter by chapter, at the start of every year, since 2019, which doesn’t seem like a long time, but if you go back to this book study, you’ll see that it’s quite intensive. The notes I share came from 2 of my mentors who have studied this book for their entire life. It took me to the beginning of February to properly cover these 15 success principles, with enough content in this series to continue to study this book, every year, for the rest of OUR lives, and we will still pick up something new. We will cover this on today’s episode, but success with these principles doesn’t happen immediately. But it will happen, with time, which is why I think it’s crucial to revisit this book (and success principles) throughout the year, to be sure the concepts are being applied, not just in January, when we are starting our year, but every month of the year, right through to end of Q4. There are 6 STEPS in this book, that I’ve written on my wall, that when read aloud every day, causes an increase in the amplitude of our thinking, until eventually, our goals become so engrained in our mind, that they become on autosuggestion in our thoughts throughout our day. Napoleon Hill intended this book to be studied over and over again, not just once, but multiple times, for results to occur. We opened this 6 PART series at the start of the year with a quote from Undercover Billionaire Grant Cardone, who said, “In order to get to the next level of whatever we’re doing, we must think and act in a wildly different way than we previously have been” and I know I’ve repeated this quote often throughout the year, (on various episodes) but I’m doing it on purpose, since making any sort of change takes time. It doesn’t happen overnight, or immediately, or how our brain wants to see things unravel, because success is nonlinear[ii]. I heard this concept the other day, and it made me stop and think for a minute. When you hear “success in nonlinear” what do you think about? I thought about that image of the person riding their bike with their plan in mind, towards their goal, but in reality, there are many obstacles along the way. We all will have our ups and downs, but what I’m hoping to show with this episode, is that our results will happen predictably, by taking certain actions, day in and day out, with our desired outcomes in our mind, that eventually become on autosuggestion, as we move towards our goals, overcoming the obstacles along the way. This will encourage all of us, that no matter what results we see today, in front of our eyes, that we must never give up, as you might just be giving up 3 feet before gold,[iii] (which is a concept from Chapter 1 of Napoleon Hill’s Think and Grow Rich book) that says “one of the most common causes of failure is the habit of quitting when one is overtaken by temporary defeat.” (Napoleon Hill, Chapter 1, Think and Grow Rich). Which brings to

Today we have a special BONUS episode on the Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast with a very insightful backstory for how we came to meet our next guest. But first, 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 this interview on YouTube here. ----------------BACKSTORY----------------- I first heard our next guest on Dr. Daniel and Tana Amen’s Brain Warrior’s Way Podcast[i] right at the start of the Pandemic last May 2020 where I learned about a “Step 5 Process to Managing Trauma.” At the time of this interview, many people around me were just beginning to feel the stressors and pressure that this global pandemic was having on the world, and I began to pay attention to what this speaker was saying. I usually listen to my podcasts early morning and takes notes on my phone, and I began quickly writing what I was learning on this podcast. This speaker caught my attention because she mentioned that she had spent 25 years in the in South Africa in the worst areas—working with local schools, and community centers where she would teach them about their brain and their mind, and her work had such an incredible impact on those around her, they would fill these rooms, with standing room only. I know what it takes to fill a room, coming from my work in the speaking industry, working closely with Bob Proctor Seminars, so I knew she had to be doing something outstanding to draw this much interest. This podcast episode ended and I went back to my usual work life and interviewing new speakers. At that time, I was referred to a publisher and was working with many of authors connected to this polisher (Corwin Press), and my interview schedule filled up through the summer, and I wasn’t looking for new guests, I was just trying to keep up with the demand to interview the ones I had in cue. Then I had an email from one of my LinkedIn contacts, John Prucha[ii], from Atlanta, GA, who I heard from occasionally as he was enjoying the podcast episodes and often would send me his thoughts and feedback. One day he sent me a private message asking if I had considered reaching out to Dr. Carolyn Leaf[iii] for the podcast. At the time he sent me the message, I was swamped with the line-up of guests, but I do take all referrals seriously, and wrote down Dr. Leaf’s name on my desk. And went back to work as usual. A couple of weeks later I was working on a Character Book that I am creating, and this time, I am doing the interior design of the book, instead of sending it to a publisher, and I was looking for some headings to go along with the lessons I was creating. For each Character Trait, like Attentiveness, I have created ways to learn this attribute, and had the heading THINK (with some tips on what to think about before studying how to become more attentive), LEARN (the actual lesson on attentiveness), TAKE ACTION (with an activity to implement attentiveness into your daily life) and I was searching for the last heading. What happens to people after they learn a new skill? When I don’t know the answer to something, I usually type it into Google and see what comes up. I typed in THINK, LEARN, and the FIRST thing to come up was a book called Think, Learn, Succeed: Understanding and Using Your Mind to Thrive at School, the Workplace and Life[iv] by Dr. Caroline Leaf! If you had been in my office, you would have seen me glance at the note on my desk as my brain processed, “Hey, wasn’t that the same person who John Prucha from LinkedIn asked me to contact

“When I look at narcissism through the vulnerability lens, I see the shame-based fear of being ordinary. I see the fear of never feeling extraordinary enough to be noticed, to be loveable, to belong, or to cultivate a sense of purpose.” Brené Brown. And when I look at narcissism through the vulnerability lens, I see the spirit in that person, desperately trying to be seen for their talents, skills and abilities, but something keeps this person’s spirit in the shadows and I wonder what that is. On today’s episode we will examine: ✔ Narcissism through the vulnerability lens ✔ What is narcissism and how is it diagnosed. ✔ What the narcissistic brain looks like. ✔ 3 STEPS to move you forward if you think you are a narcissist, if you live with one, or if you work with one. Welcome back to The Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast where we bridge the gap between theory and practice, with strategies, tools and ideas we can all use immediately, applied to the most current brain research to heighten productivity in our schools, sports environments and modern workplaces. I’m Andrea Samadi and launched this podcast to share how important an understanding of our brain is for our everyday life and results. For this week’s Brain Fact Friday, I want to look at something I saw this past week about the narcissistic brain. We hear this word so often these days, thrown around when describing someone who is self-centered, someone who is unlikeable when they exclaim, “That person is such a narcissist!” Narcissistic personality disorder (NPD) is “a condition where people have an inflated sense of self-importance and a deep-seated need for attention and admiration. Those living with NPD show a distinct lack of empathy for the feelings and needs of others.”[i] In writing this episode, I want to come from the “vulnerable” angle (like Brené Brown mentioned in her quote) and look at what we can learn about the brain of someone who meets at least 5 of the criteria for what we call narcissistic personality disorder.[ii] My goal with this episode is to help all of us to understand the “why” behind narcissism, a personality disorder that is not difficult to miss when you either work with, or live with someone who shows even a few of the criteria that’s needed for a clinical diagnosis. American psychologist, and brain disorder specialist, Dr. Daniel Amen, from Amen Clinics, says that “6.2% of the American population has a narcissistic personality disorder” that often begins in early adulthood. What’s interesting, is that “Psychologically speaking, narcissism is a personality trait that every person possesses to some degree. Like any characteristic, it exists on a spectrum. We all fall somewhere along the narcissistic continuum” and a certain amount of self-centeredness is healthy.”[iii] While writing this episode, I remembered something sleep medicine physician, and sports psychiatrist Dr. Shane Creado from EP #72[iv] said to me when he analyzed my brain scan from Amen Clinics, and I went back to that episode #84[v] to look at what he saw. I remember he said something about my deep limbic system being the brightest part of my emotional brain and that he saw this area overactive in people who hold themselves to high standards. I wondered for a minute. Oh no, does this make me a narcissist? Curious, I sent him a text late last night to double check what he meant by that and he sent me a wonderful explanation this morning, affirming that narcissism is complex, and operates on a spectrum. He explained why we all need a certain amount of it, to be focused on our goals, or things that we want to achieve, which explained why he saw this area light up brightly with people who are perfectionists, like I tend to be with this podcast. When releasing content out to the world, I have to be careful of what I say, and how I say it, especially when I’m interviewing someone, and what I create goes into the world for anyone to watch, and will

"Heart rate variability has really come to the forefront in the last 40 years as being the most important biomarker for tracking health and recovery on a regular basis, and not just health and recovery, but resilience." (Neurohacker Collective) Watch this interview here on YouTube: https://youtu.be/8wbt2o-lO1I It’s something we’ve covered on past episodes[i] including our most recent EP #228 where we reviewed Heart Rate Variability, what it is, why it’s important to track, with tips to increase it, for increased capacity throughout our day. On this episode we will learn: ✔ How Rohan Dixit created a wearable device for stress relief, based on his own personal struggles. ✔ The ONE THING that most of us are missing when it comes to improving our mental health and well-being. ✔ How Rohan came across HRV in his research and why as a neuroscientist he looked outside of the brain for a solution for our mental health and well-being. ✔ REVIEW: What is HRV and why it is an important biomarker to measure. ✔ Why tracking HRV in real-time helpful for our mental well-being. ✔ How we can all improve our stress levels by looking at our data. ✔ What is biofeedback and how does it work? ✔ The most common ways to decrease our HRV, that we should all be aware of. ✔ The research behind HRV as a drug-free solution to stress and anxiety reduction. ✔ How to get started and receive 15% off your first month using the code ANDREA. NOW IMAGINE THIS! What if you could see your HRV in real time throughout the day, so you know what’s helping this important score, or hurting it? We will cover this on today’s episode as we meet with Rohan Dixit, the founder of Lief Therapeutics (a wearable stress relief device) that’s designed to help us to overcome stress and worry from the inside out. Stay tuned and we’ll explain how this ground-breaking device can help ALL OF US to improve our health, as we learn self-regulation strategies using the device, that will eventually become a habit, showing us how to break free of anything that might be holding us back. Welcome back to The Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast, where we cover the science-based evidence behind social and emotional learning (for schools) and emotional intelligence training (in the workplace) with tools, ideas and strategies that we can all use for immediate results, with our brain in mind. I’m Andrea Samadi, an author, and educator with a passion for learning specifically on the topics of health, wellbeing and productivity, and launched this podcast to share how important an understanding of our brain is to our everyday life and results using the most current brain research. If there’s a tool, strategy or resource that I find, that could be helpful to improve productivity and results, whether we are a teacher in the classroom, a coach or in the modern workplace, I will share it here. On today’s episode #248, we will be speaking with Rohan Dixit, the founder of Lief Therapeutics, to see if we can sharpen our saw with our understanding of HRV, a biomarker that’s known for tracking health and recovery as well as resilience. What I think is absolutely incredible with this wearable stress relief device, is that you’ll see that the point of wearing this device, is to train us to breathe in a certain way to relieve our stress, anxiety and worry (that it will pick up) and then help to calm us down, so we won’t need to rely of the device. Rohan’s mission is not about the money he could make with the device, but truly about helping people to be able to manage their own problems, without the use of medicine, or pills, or those things we do that we know relieve stress in the short term, but are bad for our overall health in the long term. I can’t wait to speak with Rohan Dixit, and explore the technology he created in his garage, (he’s a real Steve Jobs story) and the idea was based on his own personal struggles with anxiety and depression when he was younger, that h