Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning

Brain Fact Friday on ”The Neuroscience of Communication: Why Our Brain Doesn‘t Like the Word, NO!”

Welcome back to the Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast for Brain Fact Friday and EPISODE #175 that was inspired by our recent interview with Dr. Francis Lee Stevens whose book that was just released this week on Amazon, Affective Neuroscience in Psychotherapy[i] that reminded us that we can accelerate our results, experience less stress and psychopathology (like depression and anxiety) when we can understand the emotional science (affect is the scientific word for emotion) that can be mapped and understood within the depths of the human brain.   To access the images in the show notes, click here.  There were many AHA Moments during our interview with psychologist Dr. Stevens this week, but with mental health at the forefront of this podcast, and the fact that we are now into the last quarter of 2021, I wanted to provide something that we could all use to give us clarity and focus to finish this year on a strong, high note.  When I thought about what Dr. Stevens taught us, and why an application of affective neuroscience could help patients with psychological disorders, I thought about that for a while and wondered how this week’s Brain Fact Friday could bring us to a heightened sense of clarity, focus and direction that would give us a razor’s edge advantage in our life, with whatever it is we are working on or moving towards, and set us up with the right footing for a solid Q1 in 2022. In Today’s Brain Fact Friday, You Will Learn: ✔︎ Why a calm brain is important to achieve ANY level of success. ✔︎ Strategies to calm our brain/regulate ourselves before we can access the thinking/decision-making parts of our brain. ✔Why a calm, regulated brain, precedes mental clarity, needed for high performance. ✔︎ How to calm or regulate ourselves before we can access knowledge, well-being and high-performance. From Focus to Calmness Dr. Stevens taught us some great strategies that can help us to understand our emotions, and even reconsolidate past traumatic memories, but there was something I knew I was missing that comes before we can access those higher, thinking parts of the brain that we need when thinking or making decisions. Today’s topic is not just about how we can use the understanding of our brain to focus, so we can accomplish more, Friederike Fabritius dove deep into the neuroscience behind the focused brain on episode #27.[ii] She reminded us of the recipe needed for achieving peak performance as a mix of fun, and fear along with focus”[iii]  but that’s not where I wanted to go with this episode. Then I saw it and it was as clear as ice as I thought about some of our past speakers. I mentioned to Dr. Stevens that in order to apply any of the lessons he uses with his patients for accelerated results, and improved well-being, we had to get to a place of calmness, where we could step back from the busyness of our world and allow our thinking brain (or our Central Executive Network) to come back online. We have to be able to switch from our Thinking (Central Executive) Network to our Imagination (Default Mode Network) for this calmness to occur. I did talk about the importance of switching between our brain networks to allow for these flashes of creativity and insight to flow in episode #48 which is a good episode to review.[iv] For this week’s brain fact Friday, I want to add a sense of calmness behind our clarity to push us forward. I remember my mentor Bob Proctor always saying to accelerate your results you need to “Speed Up and Calm Down” and he would give us examples of how he stayed focused by saying no to what’s unimportant and direct 100% of his energy and focus to what is. If you want to accelerate your results, it begins with a calm brain, that’s focused and ready for speed.   From Calmness to Clarity Then we can take this calmness and laser focus to clarity. Clarity is one of the six habits that Brendon Burchard found that research shows pointed the needle towards high-performance vs those who underperform in his book, High Performance Habits: How Extraordinary People Become That Way[v]  and it’s something I think about every morning before I begin my day. Then I thought of you, the listener, wherever you might be in the world. Maybe you are like Bryon Carpenter[vi] from the Fresh Air at Five Podcast[vii] who listens to our episodes in the dark, in the fresh air, while exercising on his morning walks in beautiful Abbotsford, British Columbia and then posts what he learns from the episode on Twitter, along with Josh Tovar[viii], from El Paso, Texas, who does the same.  Or Leadership Coach Tivo Rojas-Cheatham[ix] who listens to the episodes and sends me his thoughts, ideas, and encouragement through LinkedIn. I can’t forget about Chris Gargano, from the New York Jets Organization, who listens to the podcast for ideas for his Leadership Class at NYU. Wherever you are listening from, my hopes are that this episode opens you up to all of the possibilities that come from a calm mind, providing clarity, an improved sense of self, maybe ideas for where else you can improve, with a longer-term vision of whatever it is that you are working on, or the legacy that you want to leave in this world. It all begins at the brain level. So, for this week’s Brain Fact Friday: I want to remind us of the importance of a calm brain. Dr. Perry’s NeuroSequential Theory is centered around the fact that we must learn to regulate ourselves first, before we can regulate others. There is power in calmness as you can see with Dr. Perry’s image that shows how “A regulated, calm adult can regulate a dysregulated, anxious child.” Think back to Dr. Perry’s upside-down triangle of the brain, where we had to learn to regulate (or calm ourselves down) first, before we could access our thinking or reasoning brain, and remember that in order to regulate our brain, we must go from the reptilian brain, though the limbic or emotional brain, to get to the thinking/decision-making brain with the image of The Three Brains I’ve put in the show notes. I saw a book written called Calm Clarity: How to Use Science to Rewire Your Brain for Greater Wisdom, Fulfillment and Joy[x] where the author explains her journey through each of these parts of the brain, calling them Brain 1.0 (Brainstem) to Brain 2.0 (Limbic Emotional Brain) to Brain 3.0 (Thinking/Reasoning Brain).   She created the Calm Clarity Program[xi]  where she teaches participants how to reach the wisdom within Brain 3.0 with what she calls a “Mind-Hacker” toolkit to help people in a way that “physiologically supports greater physical, emotional, mental and spiritual well-being, alignment and integration.” (Preface, Calm Clarity-Due Quach) Only then can we take what we learned from Dr. Stevens about the importance of understanding our emotions to reduce those things in our life that cause us increased stress and anxiety and access the clarity we will need to end our year as a high performer. As we are closing out 2021, why not kick things up a notch and see how we can increase our calmness, focus and clarity, to end the year on a high note. It will make life easier when 2022 rolls around as you will have a head start. Two Thoughts for Improving Focus and Clarity Improving Focus and Clarity Through Our Physical Well-Being What areas can you work on to increase your physical well-being that will in turn give you more focus, clarity and energy? We have covered the top 5 health staples[xii] and talk often of the importance of clean eating, exercise, nutrition and sleep, and will continue to research new areas that tip the needle forward for high performance, but it seems to always come back to these basic staples as well as continuing to find ways to improve our mental health. Improving Focus and Clarity Through Our Mental Well-Being  If I was to ask you the following questions, could you give me a quick and accurate answer? Do you know what you want, and where you are going? Do you know your daily direction? Do you integrate your wins every week? Do you face things that you are afraid of or do something that makes you uncomfortable daily? Do you feel your emotions instead of shutting them off? I know there’s a lot involved with these two questions, but if we could look at what we can do every day to improve these two areas so that we are better than we were yesterday, we will be well on our way to heightened levels of focus and clarity to end our year intentionally and on a high note. But remember, it begins when we step back, take some deep breaths from our work, and access whatever it is for us that brings us a sense of peace and calmness in our thinking brain. I hope you have found this week’s Brain Fact Friday as helpful as I have—and that we can all take some time to live and experience this sense of calmness that must come before we can break through to new levels of achievement. I’ll see you next week, and the following week, I’m beyond excited for our FIRST Panel Interview and welcoming back Dr. Howard Rankin, Dr. Jon Lieff, Horacio Sanchez and Tom Beakbane who will discuss how new advancements in neuroscience can help and advance our educational system. We will also be speaking with my good friend Brian Stenzler[xiii], with his NEW book that helps parents address mental health with their children as we continue to search for new ideas and strategies to keep our next generation stay physically and mentally well. Final Thoughts:  Before I close out this episode, I wanted to mention it’s hard to not notice the feedback from those listening around the world and the fact that our downloads have reached an all-time high, surpassing where we were last month, with over 11,000 downloads monthly. I want to thank all of you who tune in, and download an episode, share what you are learning on social media and send me messages.   As new listeners come on board, I wanted to let you know that we do have a community that you can join and gain access to others around the world who are also listening, learning, and applying what they are learning. To join us, click on the link in the show notes, so that we can all stay connected in the Neuroscience Meets SEL Facebook Group and continue to learn from each other in between episodes. I do look forward to seeing you there. Have an incredible weekend. Neuroscience Meets SEL Facebook Group  FOLLOW ANDREA SAMADI:  YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/AndreaSamadi   Website https://www.achieveit360.com/  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/samadi/  Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/Achieveit360com   Neuroscience Meets SEL Facebook Group https://www.facebook.com/groups/2975814899101697   Twitter: https://twitter.com/andreasamadi   Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/andreasamadi/  REFERENCES: [i] https://www.drfrancisstevens.com/book [ii]Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #27 with Friederike Fabritius on “The Recipe for Achieving Peak Performace”  https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/pioneer-in-the-field-of-neuroleadership-friederike-fabritius-on-the-recipe-for-achieving-peak-performance/ [iii] Friederike Fabritius: "Fun, Fear, and Focus: The Neurochemical Recipe for Achieving Peak Performance" | Talks at Google Published Jan.15, 2019  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWi-oCySuFA [iv]Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #48 “Brain Network Theory” https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/brain-network-theory-using-neuroscience-to-stay-productive-during-times-of-change-and-chaos/ [v] https://brendon.com/blog/high-performancehabits/ [vi] www.BryonCarpenter.com    [vii] https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fresh-air-at-five/id1547552441 [viii] https://twitter.com/MPA_GOJAGUARS [ix] https://www.linkedin.com/in/tivorc/ [x] Calm Clarity: How to Use Science to Rewire Your Brain by Due Quach Published May 15, 2018 https://www.amazon.com/Calm-Clarity-Science-Greater-Fulfillment-ebook/dp/B074YLY11S/ref=sr_1_1?crid=353KXYF7OXIIB&dchild=1&keywords=calm+clarity&qid=1635443224&s=digital-text&sprefix=calm+clar%2Cdigital-text%2C138&sr=1-1 [xi] https://www.calmclarity.org/ [xii]Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast BONUS EPISODE “Top 5 Health Staples” https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/bonus-episode-a-deep-dive-into-the-top-5-health-staples-and-review-of-seasons-1-4/ [xiii] Brian Stenzler on San Diego’s Morning Extra News https://www.cbs8.com/video/news/local/morning-extra/new-book-aims-to-help-parents-with-teens-address-their-kids-mental-health/509-00b0fbc9-a0fb-491f-97e7-34405db70377?jwsource=cl&fbclid=IwAR1hEoasamvrDVPixPzdLbFyggPpwfRX4kh19odkvuSr88YyIIVYt_RqDbs

Brain Fact Friday on ”The Neuroscience of High Performance: Improving Focus and Clarity”

Welcome back to the Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #174 with Dr. Francis Lee Stevens who works as a psychologist in Worcester, MA. He has taught a variety of classes in psychology and neuroscience and his research focuses on affective neuroscience applications to psychotherapy. Today we will dive deep into his new book, coming out on November 27th,  Affective Neuroscience in Psychotherapy: A Clinician’s Guide for Working with Emotions and will explore how Dr. Stevens has taken the latest developments in affective neuroscience and applies these science-based interventions with a sequential approach for helping patients with psychological disorders. Learn more about Dr. Stevens https://www.drfrancisstevens.com/  Watch this interview on YouTube here https://youtu.be/2H-g1xg6FRY In this episode you will learn: ✔︎ What Dr. Stevens saw was missing from previous forms of psychotherapy. ✔︎ Why changing our thinking doesn't change how we feel, and what he suggests instead. ✔︎ What Affect Reconsolidation is--that changes difficult emotions and feelings. ✔︎ How an understanding of the science of the brain works together with the practice needed for a new model of intervention. ✔︎ What we should all know about our emotions, how to dig deeper into our past to unlock memories, and deal with the feelings that keep us stuck. I'm Andrea Samadi, author, and educator from Toronto, Canada, now in Arizona, and like many of our listeners, have been fascinated with learning and understanding the science behind high performance strategies that we can use to improve our own productivity in our schools, our sports, and workplace environments. My vision is to bring the experts to you, share their books, resources, and ideas to help you to implement their proven strategies, whether you are a teacher working in the classroom, a parent, or in the corporate environment. The purpose of this podcast is to take the fear out of this new discipline that backs our learning with simple neuroscience to make it applicable for us all to use right away, for immediate results. What I think is fascinating as we are exploring this topic together, is that education is not the only field that can benefit from the understanding of simple neuroscience and “there are equivalent fields that seek to translate neuroscience findings to law (e.g. Royal Society, 2011a)[i] economics (e.g. Glimcher & Fehr, 2013)[ii] and social policy (e.g. Royal 2011b)[iii] bringing in research in behavior regulation, decision-making, reward, empathy and moral reasoning.” (Thomas, Ansari, Knowland, 2019).  When I received an email from Dr. Stevens about his new book that he wrote to help patients with psychological disorders with science-based interventions, I was very interested in learning more. If American psychologist Dr. Daniel Amen, whose book The End of Mental Illness we reviewed on episode #128[iv] believes that “normal” is a myth and that 51%[v] of us will have a mental health issue in our lifetime (like post-traumatic stress, depression, anxiety, addiction, or an eating disorder—to name a few) then it’s clear that it’s more normal than not, to have a mental health problem and we must all pay attention to the first sign of any mental health issue, for ourselves, but especially our younger generations, since it’s critical for children’s success in school and life. Research shows that “students who receive social-emotional and mental health support achieve better academically”[vi] and “mental health is not simply the absence of mental illness but also encompasses wellness promotion; social, emotional, and behavioral health; and the ability to cope with life’s challenges. Left unmet, mental health problems are linked to costly negative outcomes such as academic and behavior problems, dropping out, and delinquency. Mental and behavioral health problems not only affect students’ short-term classroom engagement, but also interfere with long-term development of positive relationships and work-related skills.”[vii] I’ve designed my questions for Dr. Stevens so that we can all think of how we could apply his research in our lives if we are working with students/children who might have experienced trauma to see how we can use our emotional awareness, emotional validation, self-compassion, and gain a deeper understanding of specific emotions, specifically anger, abandonment, and jealousy. Let’s meet Dr. Stevens and learn the emotional science behind the brain. Welcome Dr. Stevens, thank you very much for meeting with me today to dive deeper into your new book coming out this fall, Affective Neuroscience in Psychotherapy: A Clinician’s Guide for Working with Emotions I’m thrilled to have this opportunity to speak with you. INTRO Q: Before we get to the questions, I want to ask about your background and what led you to working in the field of psychotherapy, but I’ve got to mention something I heard while I was researching your work this weekend on the Science of Psychotherapy Podcast[viii] you did last month, and I had to stop the podcast and listen a few times to be sure I heard this right. What did you learn from your time working as an Improv Comedian that you have taken to your work as a psychologist?  Q1: Dr. Stevens, getting to the questions that tie into your book, I saw that you mention “Research supports the idea that for many people, psychotherapy remains ineffective (Driessen, Hollon, Bockting, Cuijpers, & Turner, 2015; Dragioti, Karathanos, Gerdle, & Evangelou, 2017), with little explanation as to why” and I’ve always wondered about how “talking about problems solves them” without changing your thinking (because we can still have negative ruminating thoughts about something) unless we change the emotion attached to it, so I like the idea of CBT for helping people eliminate negative thought patterns. Can you explain where previous forms of psychotherapy have failed, what you found to be “missing” and how your book offers a new way forward through your research in affective neuroscience? Q2:  My husband does some work with our local sheriff’s office here in AZ in his spare time, while I’m at my desk researching for interviews, and I’m always curious to hear what he sees in the field as it relates to mental health and what he shares when he gets back is always eye-opening especially if we have never dealt with someone who is struggling with mental health in a serious way. I just shake my head and really do wonder, for someone who works directly with people who struggle with mental health, what have you seen with the outcome of treatment for someone getting better vs staying on the same path that will just lead to problems later in their life? Q3:  Looking at the Table of Contents, I see PART 1 containing the science with your argument for a new approach to therapy, and PART 2 as the practice where you walk us through how we must cope with and understand our emotions. Can you explain both parts of the book and how you’ve been intentional with how you introduce topics for the reader to learn and use. Q4: I know how important emotions are for learning. One of our early episodes was with Marc Brackett, who wrote the book Permission to Feel[ix] which was important when many of us were raised to hide our emotions, then I wrote an episode on “How Our Emotions Impact Learning and the Brain”[x] and mention Jaak Panksepp and the fact that humans have seven networks of emotion in the brain. (Curiosity, Caring, Playfulness, Sadness, Fear, Anger, Lust). What should we all know about with our emotions, how our brain processes them, why we feel the way we do, so we can better manage/control those emotions that get us stuck in life? Q5: When we are dealing with something that gives us an emotional charge (whatever it is for us) could be when someone cuts us off on the highway, or when someone says or does something that just pushes our buttons, and we feel that surge of “I’m so angry right now”  can you explain how we should look to understand the problem behind what we are feeling, and work on reconsolidating it (Joseph LeDoux’s work)?  (I’ve only see this with Neuro-Emotional Therapy where you look back at your childhood to see what happened back then that triggers the anger you might be feeling in the present, uncovering the root cause of the emotion and feelings, to clean it up (Dr. Carolyn Leaf).   Q6: This next question covers Brain Network Theory that we cover on episode #48[xi] with the idea of learning how to be aware of the importance of switching between our networks to experience creativity instead of working hard and burning out. I mentioned listening to a recent podcast you did on The Science of Psychotherapy[xii] and you were talking about our thinking brain vs our feeling brain, do you remember that podcast? I tried to bring some humor to this question with your improv background,  something (let’s say you are working on something, and someone famous shows up at your door and wants to take you out for coffee—I was trying to think of someone famous that could possibly sway me to step away from my desk, and came up with Phillip Seymour Hoffman—whose no longer with us, but you get the idea) you really want to go (your feeling brain—Emotional Network) but your thinking brain (Central Executive Network) tells you to stay back and keep working, creating cognitive dissonance. We’ve all felt this and many of us could easily make the right decision for us, but what happens when our feeling brain overtakes our thinking brain? How can we learn to integrate our entire brain so that we can make better decisions? What else can you tell us about the networks in our brain (if you look at the image created by Mark Waldman, who is teaching me how to understand the basics of neuroscience)?   IMAGE: created by Mark Waldman on Brain Network Theory. Q7: We have also covered Joseph LeDoux’s concept of memory reconsolidation[xiii] on this podcast, that you address in your book as Affect Reconsolidation. Can you share what you have learned with your research and what strategies you offer with this idea to help people to overcome negative emotions associated with past trauma that could be impacting/damaging their life? Q8: Is there anything important that we have missed about your book? Dr. Stephens, I want to thank you so much for your time, research and strategies to help us to all better manage our emotions, with science-based strategies. If anyone wants to get a copy of your book, I have put your website link in the show notes, but when does it go live on Amazon? Follow Dr. Stevens on Twitter https://twitter.com/DrLeeStevens   Get a copy of Affective Neuroscience on Amazon  Thank you! BIO: Dr. Stevens graduated with a Ph.D. in psychology from Tennessee State University and completed his internship in Clinical Psychology at the University of Rochester Counseling Center. Dr. Stevens research focuses on the anterior cingulate cortex, a unique region of the brain located between the prefrontal cortex and limbic system brain areas.   Dr. Stevens has taught at several colleges and universities in the Boston, MA area including Wheelock College, Boston College, and Harvard University. Dr. Stevens has a long scholarship record in clinical affective neuroscience, publishing widely in journals such as Journal of Psychotherapy Integration, Journal of Neuropsychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences, and International Journal of Group Psychotherapy. Additionally, Dr. Stevens has presented his work on emotion in therapy at multiple conferences. Dr. Stevens is on the executive committee of the Boston Neuropsychoanalysis Workshop, which develops models of empirically supported psychotherapy based on neuroscience. Dr. Stevens has a private practice and is a psychologist in Worcester, MA. His practice focuses on utilizing emotion for therapeutic change. FOLLOW DR. STEVENS: https://www.drfrancisstevens.com/ https://twitter.com/DrLeeStevens FOLLOW ANDREA SAMADI:  YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/AndreaSamadi   Website https://www.achieveit360.com/  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/samadi/  Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/Achieveit360com   Neuroscience Meets SEL Facebook Group https://www.facebook.com/groups/2975814899101697   Twitter: https://twitter.com/andreasamadi   Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/andreasamadi/    RESOURCES: What Oprah Learned from Jim Carrey Published Oct. 13, 2011  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPU5bjzLZX0 Leslie Greenberg’s Master Lecture on Emotion Focused Therapy by Lynn Mollick https://nj-act.org/greenberg.html Inside Out, the Movie https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2096673/ Elizabeth Loftus “How our Memories Can Be Manipulated” https://www.npr.org/transcripts/557424726   REFERENCES:   [i] Royal Society (2011a). Brain Waves Module 4: Neuroscience and the law. London: Royal Society. [Google Scholar] [ii] Glimcher, P.W. , & Fehr, E. (2013). Neuroeconomics: Decision making and the brain (2nd edn). London: Elsevier. [Google Scholar] [iii] Royal Society (2011b). Brain Waves Module 1: Neuroscience, society and policy. London: Royal Society. [Google Scholar] [iv] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE # 128 with “ A Review of Dr. Daniel Amen’s End of Mental Illness Book” https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/review-of-dr-daniel-amens-the-end-of-mental-illness-6-steps-for-improved-brain-and-mental-health/ [v] Dr. Amen, Brain Thrive by 25 Online Course http://brainthriveby25.com/ [vi] Comprehensive School-Based Mental and Behavioral Health Services and School Psychologists https://www.nasponline.org/resources-and-publications/resources-and-podcasts/mental-health/school-psychology-and-mental-health/comprehensive-school-based-mental-and-behavioral-health-services-and-school-psychologists#:~:text=Research%20demonstrates%20that%20students%20who,being%20all%20improve%20as%20well. [vii] IBID [viii] Dr. Stevens Talks Affective Neuroscience in Psychotherapy Sept. 6, 2021  https://www.thescienceofpsychotherapy.com/francis-lee-stevens-talks-affective-neuroscience-in-psychotherapy/ [ix] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #22 Marc Brackett on his book “Permission to Feel” https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/founding-director-of-the-yale-center-of-emotional-intelligence-on-his-new-book-permission-to-feel/ [x]Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE # 127 on “How Emotions Impact Learning, Memory and the Brain” https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/brain-fact-friday-how-emotions-impact-learning-memory-and-the-brain/ [xi]Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #48 on “Brain Network Theory”  https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/brain-network-theory-using-neuroscience-to-stay-productive-during-times-of-change-and-chaos/ [xii]Dr. Stevens Talks Affective Neuroscience in Psychotherapy Sept. 6, 2021  https://www.thescienceofpsychotherapy.com/francis-lee-stevens-talks-affective-neuroscience-in-psychotherapy/ [xiii] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE # 127 on “How Emotions Impact Learning, Memory and the Brain” https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/brain-fact-friday-how-emotions-impact-learning-memory-and-the-brain/

Psychologist Dr. Francis Lee Stevens on ”Affective Neuroscience in Psychotherapy: Science-Based Interventions for Our Emotions”

Welcome back to the Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast for Brain Fact Friday and EPISODE #173 on “The Neuroscience of our Beliefs” where we will take a deeper dive into what are beliefs are, how they impact our day-to-day life, habits, successes, and failures, and how we must pay attention to them “because they can make the difference between life and death, health and illness” (Larry Dossey, MD)[i] and increased clarity in our life. In Today’s Brain Fact Friday, You Will Learn: ✔︎ What are beliefs from the perspective of neuroscience? ✔︎ What's the problem with what we believe? ✔︎ Understanding our Cognitive Biases. ✔︎ Becoming a Better Believer in 3 Steps. For those who are new here, I'm Andrea Samadi, author, and educator from Toronto, Canada, now in Arizona, and like many of you listening, have been fascinated with learning and understanding the science behind high performance strategies that we can use to improve our own productivity in our schools, our sports, and workplace environments. The purpose of this podcast is to take the fear out of this new discipline that backs our learning with simple neuroscience to make it applicable for us all to use right away, for immediate results. This week’s Brain Fact Friday comes to you as I am in the final stages of writing a research paper, or an abstract to complete a year-long neuroscience certification course I have been taking with Mark Robert Waldman, who began teaching me how to understand the impacts of neuroscience on the brain and learning, back in 2014. I know that I was one of his very first students who began working with him years before he launched his training program that is rigorous, and not everyone who joins, completes it. Learning anything new requires consistent focus and effort, and my hopes are to continue to translate the most current and accurate neuroscience research, to be useful in your daily life through this podcast. Once this abstract is graded, I will share it with you for a more in depth look at the future of educational neuroscience, with a look back at where it began, some of the criticism it’s faced, while sharing the impact I see it having on our future generations of teachers and learners. Stay tuned for this, and for more interviews coming next week, but until then, for this week’s Brain Fact Friday, we will examine how beliefs show up in our brain and what we should all know about what we believe and how to sharpen and even challenge our beliefs, for improved results. If I asked you right now to define what a belief is, I am sure we would all come up with a different definition. But did you know that from the perspective of neuroscience that all beliefs (factual beliefs, self-beliefs, social beliefs, monetary beliefs, health beliefs) just to name a few- are “incomplete predictions, formed in the Default Mode Network (Imagination Network—the yellow and orange areas in the brain in the image below). These predictions (whatever it is that we believe) combine subjective feelings (that are mostly imaginary and a product of the DMN-our Imagination Center) with factual observations, forming an emotional cognitive bias which is embedded into our long-term memory.   IMAGE SOURCE: Mark Waldman “Beliefs and the Brain” showing what our beliefs look like in our brain in the Default Mode (Imagination) Network. Remember that “all beliefs have limitations, and every one of them contains assumptions and inaccuracies concerning the true nature of the world.”   (Born to Believe, Mark Waldman and Dr. Andrew Newberg)[ii] SUMMARY: “Our beliefs are incomplete predictions about the future, formed as a part of our imagination network, combining current feelings with factual observations, with bits and pieces of old memories, forming a cognitive bias (whether you are right or wrong—this is how your brain sees the world). Your brain doesn’t care if it’s true or false, right, or wrong.  It will create what you need to help you to go after the rewards that are important to you in your life.” (Waldman) Wait a minute, I’m thinking, and I know YOU are thinking, stop for a minute! You mean our deepest beliefs, or what we strongly believe, are false, or imaginary, or have inaccuracies? Simon Sinek launched his career with his first book, Starts with Why that’s all about how great leaders inspire action[iii] by saying what they believe, and I know that when I worked for Pearson Education in the publishing field, I believed in their mission statement of “Doing the Right Thing Every Day” that was behind the high level of work ethic that governed what I did from the minute I woke up, until I went to sleep at night.  So how on the earth can what we believe be inaccurate? Tom Beakbane got us started on this train of thought on EPISODE #144[iv] with his topic “Consilience: A New Way to Look at the World” and expert in psychology, Dr. Howard Rankin kept our thinking going on episode #146[v] with “How Not to Think” when he reminded us that “our thinking is illogical.” Then this week, I joined a discussion with my neuroscience class where we looked at how our beliefs can be irrational, and how important it is to recognize that “the memories and beliefs we have about ourselves are the most untrustworthy of all.” (p127, Born to Believe).  I know that these past episodes resonated with you, the listener, as they remain in the top performing list of this podcast the past couple of months, so I think that you, like me, are willing to challenge some of our beliefs, and in turn, increase our self-awareness. John Harmon reminded us of the importance of believing in our students, or the self-belief we must have while doing math on episode #170 and I know that my Mom’s personal story of how she thinks she beat uterine cancer in the late 1990s, stemmed from her belief in her wellness, so I’m not ready to cross all beliefs off our list yet, but am open-minded enough to take a closer look at what I believe and why. ANDREW NEWBERG, MD, AND MARK ROBERT WALDMAN remind us in their book Born to Believe that “The human brain is really a believing machine, and every experience we have affects the depth and quality of those beliefs. The beliefs may hold only a glimmer of truth, but they always guide us toward our ideals. Without them, we cannot live, let alone change the world. They are our creed, they give us faith, and they make us who we are. Descartes said, “I think, therefore I am.” But viewed through the lens of neuroscience, it might be better stated as “I believe, therefore I am.” Cognitive Bias: So what is the problem with our beliefs when it comes to looking at them through the lens of neuroscience? There is no such thing as “truth” from a neuroscientific perspective. Just look at the list of cognitive biases, reminding us that our beliefs are an illusion. We have beliefs that help us to avoid mistakes, beliefs for staying focused and beliefs for confirming our existing beliefs. Looking at this list, can you pick out what you believe, and then look at the cognitive biases associated with your belief?   What Exactly Are Beliefs? We listed a few of them at the start of this episode, like factual beliefs, or self-beliefs, and we’ve talked about beliefs on other episodes, specifically #66 where I did a deep dive into the lessons learned when I worked with Bob Proctor in the motivational speaking industry. Proctor’s work was centered around changing people’s self-limiting beliefs (that we should know never to trust) specifically with regards to someone’s ability to earn money. If you go back and listen to episode #66 you’ll see where I had an AHA moment around my original belief of earning money, changing the belief that we have to trade our time to earn income, when I saw how many people earned money through multiple sources. Some sold products and services online, others earned commission through sales, but this changed my belief and opened up the keyhole and level of awareness. Changing our beliefs can be known as changing our paradigms which are a multitude of habits that guide every move we make. I learned so much from those early days working with self-limiting beliefs when Proctor said to me “Andrea, what do you really want?” and I remember quietly answering him, not at all believing what I was saying, stating something about wanting to make an impact with the education and youth. I knew I had a lot to learn before I experienced what he called praxis, which is when we integrate our beliefs with our behaviors. What I believed and the actions I was taking hadn’t yet lined up. With time and experience, I began to integrate my beliefs with my behavior and actions. The stronger our belief, the more steadfast you will be with your actions, changing your thoughts and feelings, and eventually your conditions, circumstances, and environment. This is when the true magic associated with belief occurs. This is the magic that Waldman and Newberg talked about when they said that our belief “gave us our faith and made us who we are.”   IMAGE SOURCE: Mark Waldman “Beliefs and the Brain” showing what our beliefs look like in our brain in the Default Mode (Imagination) Network. How Do We Become Better Believers in 3 STEPS? BELIEVE WITH YOUR BRAIN IN MIND: The belief system that you have that feels the most true or important to you “is a combination of the salience network that puts a value on what you think is the most important and meaningful in your life, from your DMN or Imagination Center.” (Waldman). Think about what you value. What is true to you? This will help you to get closer to seeing how you believe with your brain in mind. For example—have you ever changed an old belief based on something new you have learned? How did this happen? It happened when you changed what you valued, and your brain (your Salience Network) was involved in this process. I think about the fact I would NEVER grab a stick of butter, and even consider eating it, let alone put in my coffee, when I was in my late 20s. Butter was full of fat, and something I believed we should avoid. Fast forward to 2016 when I found Jason Whittrock from EPSIODE #94[vi] on YouTube and along with the Availability Heuristic Bias (since I saw it on YouTube, and this trainer was in good shape, so I believed him) and changed my belief that eating fats won’t make me fat and this belief changed the way that I eat. Think about the beliefs that you used to hold that might have changed, and then look at the list of cognitive biases to see why they might have changed, based on the value that your brain put on this belief. INTEGRATE YOUR BELIEFS WITH YOUR BEHAVIOR WITH PRAXIS: by Celebrating Small Wins with Your Goals. Brendon Burchard, the author of High Performance Habits[vii], talks about the importance of “celebrating small wins into your weekly schedule so that you integrate these wins into your identity.”[viii] He often coaches people who forget to do this, as they are so focused in pursuit of a large goal, that in the process of being laser focused on the end result, they forget to integrate or even feel the small wins along the way. This is much like what Proctor was talking about with the concept of Praxis where someone never does integrate their beliefs with their behavior. Without Praxis, or integrating/feeling small wins, you never gain the belief needed for the realization of the end goal. To do this, make sure you carve out time in your schedule to look at, and celebrate your small wins. CHALLENGE YOUR BELIEFS: If our beliefs really are inaccurate, why not be open to the fact that “We think, therefore we are wrong?” and look at the world with a scientific lens where we see our beliefs as cognitive biases and challenge them. The more we can challenge what we believe, think about how our thinking is flawed, the happier we can be, the less conflict we will have in our personal and professional lives, and we will in turn become better believers. I hope these ideas have added clarity to your perception of beliefs, not confusion, and of course, this is because I operate with the need to please everyone bias! Would love to hear your thoughts on this episode, as it still has me thinking. In the meantime, I will see you next week with an interview with Dr. Lee Stevens on his new book that’s coming out this fall, Affective Neuroscience in Psychotherapy that will take us deeper into understanding our emotions at the brain level, and their influence on our behavior, memory, and judgements. Have a good weekend!   REFERENCES: [i] Larry Dossey, MD testimonial on the book “Born to Believe” [ii] Born to Believe: God, Science, and the Origin of Ordinary and Extraordinary Beliefs  by Andrew Newberg, MD and Mark Robert Waldman Published October 2, 2007  https://www.amazon.com/Born-Believe-Science-Ordinary-Extraordinary/dp/0743274989 [iii] Simon Sinek “How Great Leaders Inspire Action” TEDx Puget Sound   https://www.ted.com/talks/simon_sinek_how_great_leaders_inspire_action/up-next?language=en [iv]Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #144 with Tom Beakbane on “How to Understand Everything”  https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/author-and-marketer-tom-beakbane-on-how-to-understand-everything-consilience-a-new-way-to-look-at-the-world/ [v] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #146 with Dr. Howard Rankin on “How Not to Think” https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/expert-in-psychology-cognitive-neuroscience-and-neurotechnology-howard-rankin-phd-on-how-not-to-think/ [vi] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #94 with Jason Wittrock on “Health, Nutrition, Intermittent Fasting and the Ketogenic Diet” https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/personal-trainer-and-fitness-model-jason-wittrock-on-health-nutrition-intermittent-fasting-and-the-ketogenic-diet/ [vii] High Performance Habits by Brendon Burchard Published Sept. 19, 2017  https://www.amazon.com/High-Performance-Habits-Extraordinary-People/dp/1401952852 [viii] Celebrate the Small Wins with Brendon Burchard https://brendon.com/blog/celebrate-wins/

Brain Fact Friday on ”The Neuroscience of Belief”

Welcome back to the Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #172 with a veteran principal from New Jersey, USA, who has actively been writing about highly relevant solutions to problems in educational leadership since 2018, Michael Gaskell.  Michael’s second book, Leading Schools Through Trauma[i], was just published this September, and his first book, Microstrategy Magic[ii], last fall. Watch this interview on YouTube here https://youtu.be/V7sJTeFi-1c Learn more about Dr. Gaskell here https://www.facebook.com/Mikesmicrominute/  See past Neuroscience Meets SEL Podcast Episodes here https://www.achieveit360.com/episodes/  On Today's Episode You Will Learn: ✔︎  Why we must NEVER give up on a struggling student. ✔︎  What we should ALL know about being trauma-informed in today's schools. ✔︎ What Dr. Gaskell's 3-STEP Process says about the importance of educator well-being. ✔︎ How to recognize trauma, and next steps for working with our students in the classroom. ✔︎ The Pygmalion Effect and why our belief in our students matters. ✔︎ What Dr. Gaskell would say to a new, first year teacher, who is struggling in the classroom. ✔︎ Putting Together a Trauma-Informed Plan in your school. ✔︎ The importance of surveys for Teacher Training and Implementation. ✔︎ Actionable Ideas That You Can Implement Immediately. I'm Andrea Samadi, author, and educator from Toronto, Canada, now in Arizona, and like many of our listeners, have been fascinated with learning and understanding the science behind high performance strategies that we can use to improve our own productivity in our schools, our sports, and workplace environments. My vision is to bring the experts to you, share their books, resources, and ideas to help you to implement their proven strategies, whether you are a teacher working in the classroom or online, a student, or in the corporate environment. When I first began presenting on the topic of stress, learning and the brain in 2016, in those early days of learning about how the brain works and responds to stress, I started to receive messages from teachers around the country (and the world) with questions about how to handle students suffering from the damaging effects of trauma. Educators would attend the webinar presentations I was offering, and their emails requesting help at the end of these presentations were urgent. Since starting this work, I have always replied personally to every single email that comes in, but the ones about trauma I know I didn’t have the best answers for, and I remember not knowing exactly how to answer these questions. I only knew from my viewpoint or experience working with behavioral students in my first-year teaching what worked for me back then, but I definitely lacked the strategies that are needed more than ever in our schools today, and understand now why being trauma-informed is so important. I’m grateful that this podcast has not only given us a platform to what’s new and relevant, timely and important as it relates to educational neuroscience and leadership, but where else would we all gain access to the leaders around the world, working directly with the most innovative ideas in educational reform, productivity, and results. I want to thank you again, for all who tune in, and offer interview ideas and suggestions. The reach goes beyond those early days when we would host those webinars, now into over 154 countries, and we remain in the TOP 100 charts for iTunes in the category of education/how-to) in many of these countries around the world. This is only the beginning of our vision for this work so we can answer the questions that I know we all have, with the leading experts in this field. Which brings us to our next guest, Michael Gaskell, who has a unique story, because he’s not only writing from his experience working in schools, and offering trauma-informed solutions from what he has seen working in his day to day world,  but Michael takes it a step deeper, BEING a former student who was labelled himself as “anxious, low-performing, hostile and other terms that pointed to the characteristics of trauma.” (xi, Leading Schools Through Trauma). We spoke in episode #170 with John Harmon[iii] just how important belief was for students learning their academics, (like math) and for someone who failed math not once, but twice in high school, this belief was not there. Something helped Michael to overcome his early academic challenges,  helping him to reach levels that most educators envision in their mind, but few attain—when he was presented with his dissertation for his educational doctorate. Let’s meet Dr. Michael Gaskell and learn from his vast experience about how to be trauma-informed in today’s schools. Welcome Dr. Gaskell, I really enjoyed getting to know you through email before this interview and know that we are all just one person away from knowing someone in this small world with you being from the town where my husband grew up in New Jersey. So good to meet you in this very small world. INTRO Q: Dr. Gaskell, the story you tell at the beginning of your most recent book about your personal experience of struggle that many children are dealing with today, especially the past few years. What was it, do you think, that made a difference for you? Was there something that sticks out in your mind as a turning point where you did something, anything different, putting you on a new trajectory? You mention maybe accidental fortune, but was there anything that you think helped you to make a shift? The shift we know our students are capable of, but they just don’t know how? INTRODUCTION TO TRAUMA: Q1: Since many of us who were trained to work in today’s classroom were not trained in the importance of understanding simple neuroscience, many of us also don’t have a background in abnormal psychology, yet alone trauma. I like how you have taken the important research, and tied it into your book, right from the beginning with the study from Werner and Smith (2001) where they tracked individuals from childhood to middle age demonstrating how they responded to trauma in their life, and the finding that stuck out to be important was that among the high risk group (who we would expect to have challenges later in life) about “1/3 of the high-risk individuals displayed resilience and beat the odds.” (Page 2) We talked in depth with Horacio Sanchez about protective factors in episode #74[iv] but what do you think would be something we should all know about, if we have a student who appears to be going nowhere, what would you tell the teachers you are working with about the importance of understanding these protective factors to make an impact that we might not see right away? 1B) What change can really be expected in a year? Q2: What is different with your 3-step approach than some of the earlier books written to help save our students, like Ross Green’s Lost at School[v] where they look they say that “kids with social, emotional, and behavior challenges lack important thinking skills” (Page 329 Lost at School) or Onward: Cultivating Emotional Resilience in Educators by Elena Aguilar[vi] that I think builds the character of an educator from the inside out, beginning with “self-awareness, knowing your emotions, social identities, core values and personality” ((page 816) to help you to see your purpose in life, or why you get out of bed every day. What comes first, the student’s well-being, or the educators’ well-being? RECOGNIZING TRAUMA: Q3: In the training I’m receiving now, we just covered some sessions to help us to understand how trauma impacts people in different ways and that strategies that might help one student, might push another’s buttons and set them off. Where do we even begin to be “trauma-informed” in today’s classrooms? Q3B) How do you assess a student’s progress? Q4: I know how important our mindset is, or what we believe about those we are teaching, or coaching, but you have a study that backs this up with science. Can you explain the Pygmalion effect, and why what we think about our students matters so much? TREATING THE TRAUMA: RESOURCES/TOOLS/TEACHER SENSITIVITY: Q4B) I think back to my first year of teaching, with an assignment of 30 behavioral students, and not know how to control them (without any training in behavior management, and Dr. Bruce Perry hadn’t released his Tree of Regulation where we learn that we need to be regulated ourselves, before we can regulate our students, but if I came to you after school and told you that my class was “out of control” what kind of plan would you put in place to  help me as a new or experienced teacher to recognize what’s behind the behavior and help me to better connect with these students? Q5) What should we keep in mind when teaching children who’ve been exposed to trauma? Q6) Can you tell me about the “I Am More Than That Program?” I have seen similar programs within education, but reading it in the book, was different, especially when it comes from a student, uncovering their identity, increasing their self-awareness. Can you explain this progam, and why it’s important for all of us to know who we are, to our very core? Q7) How can curiosity be used as a success tool in a school? IMPLEMENTATION and TRAINING: Q8) In a world that’s forever changing, it’s crucial to not overlook trauma like you identify at the macro level (everything we all went through during the Pandemic) to micro (like the unexpected death of a family member). How do you use surveys to identify your faculties concerns, while also giving them a voice for what training they will be receiving? Q9) How are you using EdCamps for your faculty meetings? ACTIONABLE IDEAS TO IMPLEMENT RIGHT NOW! Q10) What are some important takeaways that we can use right away? John Gottman’s research/other ideas? Michael, I want to thank you very much for taking this deep dive with me into your most recent book, Leading Schools Through Trauma. For those who want to get a copy to further explore the tools, resources and ideas that we haven’t had time to discuss, I will put a link in the show notes. Are there any other places people can follow you? FOLLOW MICHAEL GASKELL, EdD Neuroscience and the Brain Conference coming this NOVEMBER https://www.learningandthebrain.com/education-speakers/Michael-Gaskell https://twitter.com/GaskellMgaskell https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-gaskell-922711100/ https://www.facebook.com/Mikesmicrominute/ www.mikesmicrominute.com FOLLOW ANDREA SAMADI:  YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/AndreaSamadi   Website https://www.achieveit360.com/  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/samadi/  Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/Achieveit360com   Neuroscience Meets SEL Facebook Group https://www.facebook.com/groups/2975814899101697   Twitter: https://twitter.com/andreasamadi   Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/andreasamadi/  RESOURCES: Anxiety vs Relaxation: Relabeling Anxiety as Excitement by Svetlana Whitener April 7, 2021 https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbescoachescouncil/2021/04/07/anxiety-vs-relaxationrelabeling-anxiety-as-excitement/?sh=4cd2f56d7afd https://educationpost.org/network/michael-gaskell/  REFERENCES: [i] Leading Schools Through Trauma, by Michael Gaskell, Published September 15, 2021 https://www.amazon.com/dp/0367755629/ref=cm_sw_r_sms_api_glt_fabc_F6D3RBYCYKP8F9QW5JPW_nodl#immersive-view_1628594830538 [ii] Microstrategy Magic by Dr. Michael Gaskell Sept.23, 2020 https://www.amazon.com/Microstrategy-Magic-Confronting-Classroom-Challenges/dp/1475855311 [iii] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #170 with John Harmon on “Our Brain and Mind Under Pressure” https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/cognitive-neuroscience-researcher-john-harmon-on-our-brain-and-mind-under-pressure/ [iv]Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #74 with Horacio Sanchez on “How to Apply Brain Science to Improve Instruction and School Climate”  https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/leading-brain-science-and-resiliency-expert-horatio-sanchez-on-how-to-apply-brain-science-to-improve-instruction-and-school-climate/ [v] Lost at School by Ross W Greene, Ph.D. Published October 14, 2008  https://www.amazon.com/Lost-School-Behavioral-Challenges-Falling-ebook/dp/B001FA0IN8 [vi]Onward: Cultivating Emotional Resilience in Educators by Elena Aguilar Published May 8, 2018  https://www.amazon.com/Onward-Cultivating-Emotional-Resilience-Educators/dp/1119364892

Dr. Michael Gaskell on ”Leading Schools Through Trauma: A Data-Driven Approach to Helping Children Heal”

Welcome back to the Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #172 with a veteran principal from New Jersey, USA, who has actively been writing about highly relevant solutions to problems in educational leadership since 2018, Michael Gaskell.  Michael’s second book, Leading Schools Through Trauma[i], was just published this September, and his first book, Microstrategy Magic[ii], last fall. Watch this interview on YouTube here https://youtu.be/V7sJTeFi-1c Learn more about Dr. Gaskell here https://www.facebook.com/Mikesmicrominute/  See past Neuroscience Meets SEL Podcast Episodes here https://www.achieveit360.com/episodes/  On Today's Episode You Will Learn: ✔︎  Why we must NEVER give up on a struggling student. ✔︎  What we should ALL know about being trauma-informed in today's schools. ✔︎ What Dr. Gaskell's 3-STEP Process says about the importance of educator well-being. ✔︎ How to recognize trauma, and next steps for working with our students in the classroom. ✔︎ The Pygmalion Effect and why our belief in our students matters. ✔︎ What Dr. Gaskell would say to a new, first year teacher, who is struggling in the classroom. ✔︎ Putting Together a Trauma-Informed Plan in your school. ✔︎ The importance of surveys for Teacher Training and Implementation. ✔︎ Actionable Ideas That You Can Implement Immediately. I'm Andrea Samadi, author, and educator from Toronto, Canada, now in Arizona, and like many of our listeners, have been fascinated with learning and understanding the science behind high performance strategies that we can use to improve our own productivity in our schools, our sports, and workplace environments. My vision is to bring the experts to you, share their books, resources, and ideas to help you to implement their proven strategies, whether you are a teacher working in the classroom or online, a student, or in the corporate environment. When I first began presenting on the topic of stress, learning and the brain in 2016, in those early days of learning about how the brain works and responds to stress, I started to receive messages from teachers around the country (and the world) with questions about how to handle students suffering from the damaging effects of trauma. Educators would attend the webinar presentations I was offering, and their emails requesting help at the end of these presentations were urgent. Since starting this work, I have always replied personally to every single email that comes in, but the ones about trauma I know I didn’t have the best answers for, and I remember not knowing exactly how to answer these questions. I only knew from my viewpoint or experience working with behavioral students in my first-year teaching what worked for me back then, but I definitely lacked the strategies that are needed more than ever in our schools today, and understand now why being trauma-informed is so important. I’m grateful that this podcast has not only given us a platform to what’s new and relevant, timely and important as it relates to educational neuroscience and leadership, but where else would we all gain access to the leaders around the world, working directly with the most innovative ideas in educational reform, productivity, and results. I want to thank you again, for all who tune in, and offer interview ideas and suggestions. The reach goes beyond those early days when we would host those webinars, now into over 154 countries, and we remain in the TOP 100 charts for iTunes in the category of education/how-to) in many of these countries around the world. This is only the beginning of our vision for this work so we can answer the questions that I know we all have, with the leading experts in this field. Which brings us to our next guest, Michael Gaskell, who has a unique story, because he’s not only writing from his experience working in schools, and offering trauma-informed solutions from what he has seen working in his day to day world,  but Michael takes it a step deeper, BEING a former student who was labelled himself as “anxious, low-performing, hostile and other terms that pointed to the characteristics of trauma.” (xi, Leading Schools Through Trauma). We spoke in episode #170 with John Harmon[iii] just how important belief was for students learning their academics, (like math) and for someone who failed math not once, but twice in high school, this belief was not there. Something helped Michael to overcome his early academic challenges,  helping him to reach levels that most educators envision in their mind, but few attain—when he was presented with his dissertation for his educational doctorate. Let’s meet Dr. Michael Gaskell and learn from his vast experience about how to be trauma-informed in today’s schools. Welcome Dr. Gaskell, I really enjoyed getting to know you through email before this interview and know that we are all just one person away from knowing someone in this small world with you being from the town where my husband grew up in New Jersey. So good to meet you in this very small world. INTRO Q: Dr. Gaskell, the story you tell at the beginning of your most recent book about your personal experience of struggle that many children are dealing with today, especially the past few years. What was it, do you think, that made a difference for you? Was there something that sticks out in your mind as a turning point where you did something, anything different, putting you on a new trajectory? You mention maybe accidental fortune, but was there anything that you think helped you to make a shift? The shift we know our students are capable of, but they just don’t know how? INTRODUCTION TO TRAUMA: Q1: Since many of us who were trained to work in today’s classroom were not trained in the importance of understanding simple neuroscience, many of us also don’t have a background in abnormal psychology, yet alone trauma. I like how you have taken the important research, and tied it into your book, right from the beginning with the study from Werner and Smith (2001) where they tracked individuals from childhood to middle age demonstrating how they responded to trauma in their life, and the finding that stuck out to be important was that among the high risk group (who we would expect to have challenges later in life) about “1/3 of the high-risk individuals displayed resilience and beat the odds.” (Page 2) We talked in depth with Horacio Sanchez about protective factors in episode #74[iv] but what do you think would be something we should all know about, if we have a student who appears to be going nowhere, what would you tell the teachers you are working with about the importance of understanding these protective factors to make an impact that we might not see right away? 1B) What change can really be expected in a year? Q2: What is different with your 3-step approach than some of the earlier books written to help save our students, like Ross Green’s Lost at School[v] where they look they say that “kids with social, emotional, and behavior challenges lack important thinking skills” (Page 329 Lost at School) or Onward: Cultivating Emotional Resilience in Educators by Elena Aguilar[vi] that I think builds the character of an educator from the inside out, beginning with “self-awareness, knowing your emotions, social identities, core values and personality” ((page 816) to help you to see your purpose in life, or why you get out of bed every day. What comes first, the student’s well-being, or the educators’ well-being? RECOGNIZING TRAUMA: Q3: In the training I’m receiving now, we just covered some sessions to help us to understand how trauma impacts people in different ways and that strategies that might help one student, might push another’s buttons and set them off. Where do we even begin to be “trauma-informed” in today’s classrooms? Q3B) How do you assess a student’s progress? Q4: I know how important our mindset is, or what we believe about those we are teaching, or coaching, but you have a study that backs this up with science. Can you explain the Pygmalion effect, and why what we think about our students matters so much? TREATING THE TRAUMA: RESOURCES/TOOLS/TEACHER SENSITIVITY: Q4B) I think back to my first year of teaching, with an assignment of 30 behavioral students, and not know how to control them (without any training in behavior management, and Dr. Bruce Perry hadn’t released his Tree of Regulation where we learn that we need to be regulated ourselves, before we can regulate our students, but if I came to you after school and told you that my class was “out of control” what kind of plan would you put in place to  help me as a new or experienced teacher to recognize what’s behind the behavior and help me to better connect with these students? Q5) What should we keep in mind when teaching children who’ve been exposed to trauma? Q6) Can you tell me about the “I Am More Than That Program?” I have seen similar programs within education, but reading it in the book, was different, especially when it comes from a student, uncovering their identity, increasing their self-awareness. Can you explain this progam, and why it’s important for all of us to know who we are, to our very core? Q7) How can curiosity be used as a success tool in a school? IMPLEMENTATION and TRAINING: Q8) In a world that’s forever changing, it’s crucial to not overlook trauma like you identify at the macro level (everything we all went through during the Pandemic) to micro (like the unexpected death of a family member). How do you use surveys to identify your faculties concerns, while also giving them a voice for what training they will be receiving? Q9) How are you using EdCamps for your faculty meetings? ACTIONABLE IDEAS TO IMPLEMENT RIGHT NOW! Q10) What are some important takeaways that we can use right away? John Gottman’s research/other ideas? Michael, I want to thank you very much for taking this deep dive with me into your most recent book, Leading Schools Through Trauma. For those who want to get a copy to further explore the tools, resources and ideas that we haven’t had time to discuss, I will put a link in the show notes. Are there any other places people can follow you? FOLLOW MICHAEL GASKELL, EdD Neuroscience and the Brain Conference coming this NOVEMBER https://www.learningandthebrain.com/education-speakers/Michael-Gaskell https://twitter.com/GaskellMgaskell https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-gaskell-922711100/ https://www.facebook.com/Mikesmicrominute/ www.mikesmicrominute.com RESOURCES: Anxiety vs Relaxation: Relabeling Anxiety as Excitement by Svetlana Whitener April 7, 2021 https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbescoachescouncil/2021/04/07/anxiety-vs-relaxationrelabeling-anxiety-as-excitement/?sh=4cd2f56d7afd https://educationpost.org/network/michael-gaskell/  REFERENCES: [i] Leading Schools Through Trauma, by Michael Gaskell, Published September 15, 2021 https://www.amazon.com/dp/0367755629/ref=cm_sw_r_sms_api_glt_fabc_F6D3RBYCYKP8F9QW5JPW_nodl#immersive-view_1628594830538 [ii] Microstrategy Magic by Dr. Michael Gaskell Sept.23, 2020 https://www.amazon.com/Microstrategy-Magic-Confronting-Classroom-Challenges/dp/1475855311 [iii] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #170 with John Harmon on “Our Brain and Mind Under Pressure” https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/cognitive-neuroscience-researcher-john-harmon-on-our-brain-and-mind-under-pressure/ [iv]Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #74 with Horacio Sanchez on “How to Apply Brain Science to Improve Instruction and School Climate”  https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/leading-brain-science-and-resiliency-expert-horatio-sanchez-on-how-to-apply-brain-science-to-improve-instruction-and-school-climate/ [v] Lost at School by Ross W Greene, Ph.D. Published October 14, 2008  https://www.amazon.com/Lost-School-Behavioral-Challenges-Falling-ebook/dp/B001FA0IN8 [vi]Onward: Cultivating Emotional Resilience in Educators by Elena Aguilar Published May 8, 2018  https://www.amazon.com/Onward-Cultivating-Emotional-Resilience-Educators/dp/1119364892

Welcome back to the Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #170 with Robin Hills,[i] the director of Ei4Change, a company specializing in educational training, coaching and personal development, focused around emotional intelligence, positive psychology and neuroscience. Watch this interview on YouTube here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2xBhcVYj7No  Learn more about Robin Hills here https://ei4change.com/  See past Neuroscience Meets SEL Podcast Episodes here https://www.achieveit360.com/episodes/  On Today's Episode You Will Learn: ✔︎  What is Emotional Intelligence and Why is it Critical for Future Workplace Success? ✔︎  How can we Learn, Measure, Practice and Assess Emotional Intelligence in the Workplace? ✔︎ What is Resilience and how can we strengthen this skill in ourselves and others? ✔︎ During Difficult Times, What Should We Keep in Mind That Guarantees Happiness and Future Success? I'm Andrea Samadi, author, and educator from Toronto, Canada, now in Arizona, and like many of our listeners, have been fascinated with learning and understanding the science behind high performance strategies that we can use to improve our own productivity in our schools, our sports, and workplace environments. My vision is to bring the experts to you, share their books, resources, and ideas to help you to implement their proven strategies, whether you are a teacher working in the classroom or online, a student, or in the corporate environment This week’s guest, Robin Hills, who I found out is well connected with some of our past guests, Dan Hill from EPISODE #163[ii], who taught us how to “Read the Emotions in Others” and the author of The Leading Brain, Friederike Fabritius from EPISODE #27[iii] joining us all the way England this week. Robin has taught over 250,000 people in 185 countries how to build resilience, increase their self-awareness and understanding of others. After my interview with Dr. Perry this week, I have been thinking about the upside-down triangle, or Dr. Perry’s “Sequence of Engagement” where he mentioned that ALL information comes in through the brainstem, and we have been programmed to REACT to what we take in from our 5 senses, instead of take a few minutes to PAUSE, and RESPOND. I’m hoping that our conversation with Robin will give us some practical ideas that we can all take away, to make ourselves better teachers, leaders, and parents, looking at emotional intelligence through his lens, and make us better supervisor/leaders in our workplaces, parents, teachers, and coaches.   If you want to learn more about Robin’s programs, you can see books, courses, and audio programs through his website[iv] that cover the most comprehensive and detailed education of any emotional intelligence organization and are today used in educational establishments in different parts of the world. Let’s meet Robin Hills and see if we can Sharpen Our Saw with our EI skills. Welcome Robin! Q1: Robin, thank you for joining me today, all the way from the UK, where I was born (Worthing, Sussex). Welcome! Intro Story: Robin, I was watching another podcast you did[v] recently to learn more about you as I was thinking up some questions on your work and saw some of the English Countryside behind you. I haven’t been back to England since 8th grade when I went on this school exchange program. Seeing the trees behind you, and thinking of my questions, I remember this experience I had that is relevant to what we are going to talk about today. Can I share this story with you, with the idea that you give me some EI insight into what you see? So, I was back in 8th grade and there was a school exchange program where I would go to England for 3 weeks, and someone would come stay with me for 3 weeks. Since I came into the program late, I was partnered up with a boy for this exchange, and we were very different personality wise. I arrived from the big city of Toronto to this small town in Bristol, called Hallatrow, and it was a cottage-type house that they had made up beautifully for me coming. I was comfortable in this home with a neat loft to sleep in, but I just didn’t connect with my exchange partner, James, socially, at all. I remember looking at him and feeling this awkward silence, not knowing what to say, so said nothing at all. I’m sure we can all think of times when we were younger, and lacked these important social skills, but this memory stuck out to me, because now I look for people who are different from me, to learn from. I just didn’t have the social skills back then to try to make things work or find a common ground (I’m sure there was one) so I spent my evenings doing what I enjoyed and would go running in the forest till the sun went down, mostly so I could avoid having to get to know my exchange partner. INTRO QUESTION: I know that a lot of these Emotional Intelligence Skills we develop with life experience. And if I was to see James today, I would work hard to find some sort of common ground that we could have a conversation and how we could have learned something from each other to make us better, stronger people in the future, which is behind why I began doing this work with young people in the first place. Can you share what drew you to choosing this field for your work, and if you could go back to when I was a guest at James’ house, what would you have done to help us to connect better? Q1: Since these skills are so important for success in life and the workplace, after we leave school, but we know that learning is ongoing, and these skills must be practiced. Can you share how you would first pinpoint areas of improvement for someone (what assessment you use/what you look for) and then how do you create an action plan for that person to practice these skills? 1B) Have you ever wondered why some people appear to remain calm in the face of disaster or some sort of difficult situation, while others fail to cope? I took this from your book on resilience in the workplace where you say-- People that are able to handle themselves well and remain calm in a crisis have, what psychologists call, resilience – an ability to cope with problems and setbacks. I know there is a lot behind this question, since we all have different life experiences that shape us, but what makes someone more resilient to setbacks than another person and how could we strengthen resilience in ourselves? Q2: What are some strategies for managing stress in the workplace, especially these days when there is already so much turmoil that came along with the Pandemic and I was talking with some friends this morning on the hiking trails, before our day began. There seems to be an unsettling feeling in the air, still so much uncertainty in the world. What have you seen working well? Q3: What about leading others, especially when they might be emerging from a setback to a comeback? Q4: Since we know that emotional intelligence are skills that need to be practiced, what are some ways to advance these skills to have more impact on your future results? Thank you, Robin, for speaking with me today. I know that if we revisit Dr. Perry’s Sequence of Engagement, and look at the ways that REGULATE ourselves before we can “get to the CORTEX” or our decision-making, thinking brain, we now have many new ideas and strategies that can make us more creative and effective in the workplace. If we think back to my story with James, I think it’s clear that I have always used exercise as a way to regulate, and calm down my brain when under stress. If only I had learned the importance of learning how to form diverse friendships when I was younger, with my story with James, there was more to that story, with tons of adventure that I uncovered running in the forests in this small town in Bristol that would have been fun to have shared with someone else. While deep in these woods, I came across a clearing, and within these trees, I discovered a movie set, with cameras, lights, and people running around yelling directions to each other. I had run into the filming of Robin Hood, and they had used the forest I had discovered to recreate Sherwood Forest, and I ran into this guy, obviously dressed as Robin, played by Jason Connery, Sean Connery’s son, after watching some of the filming, was given a signed copy of his photo to remember him by. It was something I’ve never forgotten, but looking back with an EI lens, the sad point of my story is that I missed the chance to connect with James if we had discovered this movie set together. It would have been much more fun to have discovered a movie set in the woods with someone else, but everything looks different in hindsight. Q6: To close out James, what’s next in this field of emotional intelligence? What do you know, immersed in this field, what we might not know? Thank you for your time today. For people who want to learn more about your books, courses and speaking topics, is the best place your website? FOLLOW ANDREA SAMADI:  YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/AndreaSamadi   Website https://www.achieveit360.com/  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/samadi/  Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/Achieveit360com   Neuroscience Meets SEL Facebook Group https://www.facebook.com/groups/2975814899101697   Twitter: https://twitter.com/andreasamadi   Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/andreasamadi/  RESOURCES: The Myers Briggs Type Indicator Assessment https://www.myersbriggs.org/my-mbti-personality-type/mbti-basics/ DiSC https://www.discprofile.com/what-is-disc REFERENCES: [i] https://ei4change.com/about/ [ii]Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #163 with Dan Hill on “How to Read the Emotions in Others”  https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/dan-hill-phd-the-faces-guy-on-how-to-read-the-emotions-in-others-for-schools-sports-and-the-workplace/ [iii] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #27 with Friederike Fabritius on “The Recipe for Peak Performance” https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/pioneer-in-the-field-of-neuroleadership-friederike-fabritius-on-the-recipe-for-achieving-peak-performance/ [iv] https://ei4change.com/ [v]Emotional Intelligence with Robin Hill Published on YouTube  Sept. 7, 2021 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8wQ9Q3VeRA

Robin Hills on ”Practicing Emotional Intelligence and Resilience for Business: During Times of Change”

Welcome back to the Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #170 with Robin Hills,[i] the director of Ei4Change, a company specializing in educational training, coaching and personal development, focused around emotional intelligence, positive psychology and neuroscience. Watch this interview on YouTube here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2xBhcVYj7No  Learn more about Robin Hills here https://ei4change.com/  See past Neuroscience Meets SEL Podcast Episodes here https://www.achieveit360.com/episodes/  On Today's Episode You Will Learn: ✔︎  What is Emotional Intelligence and Why is it Critical for Future Workplace Success? ✔︎  How can we Learn, Measure, Practice and Assess Emotional Intelligence in the Workplace? ✔︎ What is Resilience and how can we strengthen this skill in ourselves and others? ✔︎ During Difficult Times, What Should We Keep in Mind That Guarantees Happiness and Future Success? I'm Andrea Samadi, author, and educator from Toronto, Canada, now in Arizona, and like many of our listeners, have been fascinated with learning and understanding the science behind high performance strategies that we can use to improve our own productivity in our schools, our sports, and workplace environments. My vision is to bring the experts to you, share their books, resources, and ideas to help you to implement their proven strategies, whether you are a teacher working in the classroom or online, a student, or in the corporate environment This week’s guest, Robin Hills, who I found out is well connected with some of our past guests, Dan Hill from EPISODE #163[ii], who taught us how to “Read the Emotions in Others” and the author of The Leading Brain, Friederike Fabritius from EPISODE #27[iii] joining us all the way England this week. Robin has taught over 250,000 people in 185 countries how to build resilience, increase their self-awareness and understanding of others. After my interview with Dr. Perry this week, I have been thinking about the upside-down triangle, or Dr. Perry’s “Sequence of Engagement” where he mentioned that ALL information comes in through the brainstem, and we have been programmed to REACT to what we take in from our 5 senses, instead of take a few minutes to PAUSE, and RESPOND. I’m hoping that our conversation with Robin will give us some practical ideas that we can all take away, to make ourselves better teachers, leaders, and parents, looking at emotional intelligence through his lens, and make us better supervisor/leaders in our workplaces, parents, teachers, and coaches.   If you want to learn more about Robin’s programs, you can see books, courses, and audio programs through his website[iv] that cover the most comprehensive and detailed education of any emotional intelligence organization and are today used in educational establishments in different parts of the world. Let’s meet Robin Hills and see if we can Sharpen Our Saw with our EI skills. Welcome Robin! Q1: Robin, thank you for joining me today, all the way from the UK, where I was born (Worthing, Sussex). Welcome! Intro Story: Robin, I was watching another podcast you did[v] recently to learn more about you as I was thinking up some questions on your work and saw some of the English Countryside behind you. I haven’t been back to England since 8th grade when I went on this school exchange program. Seeing the trees behind you, and thinking of my questions, I remember this experience I had that is relevant to what we are going to talk about today. Can I share this story with you, with the idea that you give me some EI insight into what you see? So, I was back in 8th grade and there was a school exchange program where I would go to England for 3 weeks, and someone would come stay with me for 3 weeks. Since I came into the program late, I was partnered up with a boy for this exchange, and we were very different personality wise. I arrived from the big city of Toronto to this small town in Bristol, called Hallatrow, and it was a cottage-type house that they had made up beautifully for me coming. I was comfortable in this home with a neat loft to sleep in, but I just didn’t connect with my exchange partner, James, socially, at all. I remember looking at him and feeling this awkward silence, not knowing what to say, so said nothing at all. I’m sure we can all think of times when we were younger, and lacked these important social skills, but this memory stuck out to me, because now I look for people who are different from me, to learn from. I just didn’t have the social skills back then to try to make things work or find a common ground (I’m sure there was one) so I spent my evenings doing what I enjoyed and would go running in the forest till the sun went down, mostly so I could avoid having to get to know my exchange partner. INTRO QUESTION: I know that a lot of these Emotional Intelligence Skills we develop with life experience. And if I was to see James today, I would work hard to find some sort of common ground that we could have a conversation and how we could have learned something from each other to make us better, stronger people in the future, which is behind why I began doing this work with young people in the first place. Can you share what drew you to choosing this field for your work, and if you could go back to when I was a guest at James’ house, what would you have done to help us to connect better? Q1: Since these skills are so important for success in life and the workplace, after we leave school, but we know that learning is ongoing, and these skills must be practiced. Can you share how you would first pinpoint areas of improvement for someone (what assessment you use/what you look for) and then how do you create an action plan for that person to practice these skills? 1B) Have you ever wondered why some people appear to remain calm in the face of disaster or some sort of difficult situation, while others fail to cope? I took this from your book on resilience in the workplace where you say-- People that are able to handle themselves well and remain calm in a crisis have, what psychologists call, resilience – an ability to cope with problems and setbacks. I know there is a lot behind this question, since we all have different life experiences that shape us, but what makes someone more resilient to setbacks than another person and how could we strengthen resilience in ourselves? Q2: What are some strategies for managing stress in the workplace, especially these days when there is already so much turmoil that came along with the Pandemic and I was talking with some friends this morning on the hiking trails, before our day began. There seems to be an unsettling feeling in the air, still so much uncertainty in the world. What have you seen working well? Q3: What about leading others, especially when they might be emerging from a setback to a comeback? Q4: Since we know that emotional intelligence are skills that need to be practiced, what are some ways to advance these skills to have more impact on your future results? Thank you, Robin, for speaking with me today. I know that if we revisit Dr. Perry’s Sequence of Engagement, and look at the ways that REGULATE ourselves before we can “get to the CORTEX” or our decision-making, thinking brain, we now have many new ideas and strategies that can make us more creative and effective in the workplace. If we think back to my story with James, I think it’s clear that I have always used exercise as a way to regulate, and calm down my brain when under stress. If only I had learned the importance of learning how to form diverse friendships when I was younger, with my story with James, there was more to that story, with tons of adventure that I uncovered running in the forests in this small town in Bristol that would have been fun to have shared with someone else. While deep in these woods, I came across a clearing, and within these trees, I discovered a movie set, with cameras, lights, and people running around yelling directions to each other. I had run into the filming of Robin Hood, and they had used the forest I had discovered to recreate Sherwood Forest, and I ran into this guy, obviously dressed as Robin, played by Jason Connery, Sean Connery’s son, after watching some of the filming, was given a signed copy of his photo to remember him by. It was something I’ve never forgotten, but looking back with an EI lens, the sad point of my story is that I missed the chance to connect with James if we had discovered this movie set together. It would have been much more fun to have discovered a movie set in the woods with someone else, but everything looks different in hindsight. Q6: To close out James, what’s next in this field of emotional intelligence? What do you know, immersed in this field, what we might not know? Thank you for your time today. For people who want to learn more about your books, courses and speaking topics, is the best place your website? RESOURCES: The Myers Briggs Type Indicator Assessment https://www.myersbriggs.org/my-mbti-personality-type/mbti-basics/ DiSC https://www.discprofile.com/what-is-disc REFERENCES: [i] https://ei4change.com/about/ [ii]Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #163 with Dan Hill on “How to Read the Emotions in Others”  https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/dan-hill-phd-the-faces-guy-on-how-to-read-the-emotions-in-others-for-schools-sports-and-the-workplace/ [iii] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #27 with Friederike Fabritius on “The Recipe for Peak Performance” https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/pioneer-in-the-field-of-neuroleadership-friederike-fabritius-on-the-recipe-for-achieving-peak-performance/ [iv] https://ei4change.com/ [v]Emotional Intelligence with Robin Hill Published on YouTube  Sept. 7, 2021 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8wQ9Q3VeRA

Welcome back to the Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast for EPISODE #170 with John Harmon, an independent researcher who's developed a new way to define the mind and map it to the brain, called the MA (Memory Activation) Method. This cognitive neuroscience tool enhances CNS (Central Nervous System) medicine, natural language processing, cognitive computing and most of applied neuroscience.  John’s goal aligns directly with ours on the podcast—to enhance humanity’s understanding, appreciation and use of the human mind, and its manifestation in the brain. Watch this interview on YouTube here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FCjPIikAISU  Learn more about John Harmon here https://www.neuralnetworkbiomarkers.com/  See past Neuroscience Meets SEL Podcast Episodes here https://www.achieveit360.com/episodes/  On Today's Episode You Will Learn: ✔︎ How to get comfortable with not knowing everything when it comes to neuroscience, the brain, and learning. ✔︎ John's Core Research translated so we can all understand how our brain maps to learning something new. ✔︎ The importance of belief with our goals, and with anything we want to accomplish, like health, or eliminating pain. ✔︎ What we need to know about how our brain works under pressure (throwing a football in a game) or taking a test. For those who are new here, I'm Andrea Samadi, author, and educator from Toronto, Canada, now in Arizona, and like many of our listeners, have been fascinated with learning and understanding the science behind high performance strategies in our schools, our sports, and workplace environments. My vision for this podcast is to bring the experts to you, share their books, resources and ideas to help you to implement their proven strategies, and take the fear out of this new field of educational neuroscience. My hope is that this podcast will bridge the gap between the science, theory and application. I picked the perfect guest to do this today, because he will agree with me that this topic is not easy to explain conceptually. This is the reason why I record these podcasts using video so that I can add images to explain the concepts discussed that we might at first glance think of as difficult and dismiss them. But they are important and I hope that we can learn them together. It’s been a few years that I have followed John Harmon’s research through LinkedIn, where we connected, and I noticed that he often comments and what I call “plusses” an idea or takes it to the next level with his understanding. I started to read his comments in my early days of learning this field, because it helped me to see things through a new lens, from someone more immersed in the field than me, but when learning anything new, it takes effort. This is when you know that true learning is taking place. Whatever John would write, I would have to stop and really think about what he was saying. Here’s an Example: Neuroscience News Posted an article recently called Single Neurons Might Behave as Networks[i] and someone commented on their LinkedIn post[ii] “Why wouldn’t they behave as networks?” and I could agree with his train of thought as I have done a few episodes talking about Brain Network Theory[iii] and how we need to now think of the neural networks in the brain versus single parts of the brain, or neurons operating individually. Someone else chimed in to give their thoughts saying “isn’t the discovery here that a single neuron can function as its own self-contained network?” and John Harmon plussed this comment by providing his thoughts of his take-away of the article where he offers “the article as I read it talks about individual neurons and their function in the context of a larger network activity” and that “if a neuron doesn’t function as part of a network, then it’s a noisy neuron—ie. It doesn’t contribute, or is a part of, any stored mental process (perception, recognition, meaning, executive control, goals, language, attention, intention etc.) and he guessed that “99% of neurons are part of at least one network” bringing the article into perspective for me because with each new idea we learn, “it helps us to better understand our brain and ourselves”[iv]  but it also opens up the door for more questions that I will get to in the interview. This is where it really helps to have experts in this field to bounce ideas with. I was drawn to John’s posts as he helped me to understand this new area of educational neuroscience right from those beginning days when I was first learning this topic, and finally after years of interacting on social media, I asked if he would come on the podcast to share the research he has uncovered in this field. Let’s meet John Harmon and learn more about how he is using this understanding of neuroscience in his consulting business, as an independent researcher and to enhance humanity’s understanding, appreciation and use of the human mind, and its manifestation in the brain. Welcome John. It’s great to meet you after following your work for so long. Thank you for coming on the podcast. Intro Q: Before we get into your work, I was reading your website, and thought your story is important to share since many people I have interviewed have talked about how they began in this field and met with some controversy or had to go back and refine their ideas. This was certainly the case for how I began in this field. Where did the idea to start your company Mind Brian Insights[v] begin for you and what exactly do you do? Q1: I mention in the back story how I love that you often add insight into posts on LinkedIn, which is how I first found your work.  I call it “plussing” someone’s idea where you take the neuroscience understanding one step deeper. I’m not sure if I have this right, but I’m also not afraid of being wrong either, so we can learn together. Can you explain what your core idea is-active mind (perception, meaning, belief, attitude, state of emotion, intention etc.)  which creates a set of active general memories (which we know can be inaccurate since memories change each time we remember them) and this third part I think I’m off with and could use your direction, but this all creates a set of active FNN (functional neural network) ranges which I imagine is the activity in the brain that increases or decreases depending on the cognitive task while our mind is at work? How did I do there? Q1B) Can you give an example of how this core idea relates to learning something new? Q2: What is the functional neural networks, structural neural networks, the FNN[vi]/SNN[vii] and the relationship between the two of them? Q3: What about the placebo effect (that drives home the point thoughts/belief states/emotions are manifested PHYSICALLY in the brain). Can you give some examples of this? 3 B) How can we use our mind to rid ourselves of pain, like with hypnotherapy? 3C) How important is what we believe in our schools/workplaces? Q4: What about the mind's role in relation to the brain: mind as "captain" not brain (is it our higher self that’s in charge of the mind, at least some of the time? If our mind is in charge, not our brain, what are some ways that you think we can better manage our mind and not lose it, or improve self-regulation skills? Q5: For those looking to apply this understanding to playing sports in these high pressure, high stakes time, what are some common sources of mind/brain signal noise when throwing a football in a stressful situation? What kind of errors happen while playing sports under stress? How can we train someone to overcome these errors at the brain level? Q6: Since many of our listeners are educators in the classroom, or people looking to apply neuroscience to their work/daily life, can you give some practical examples of mapping learning in the brain. What is the mechanism of learning something new, for all of us listening so that can we use this understanding to improve or accelerate learning? Q7: Final thoughts? Thank you very much John, for taking the time to speak with me today on a topic that is not the easiest to explain.  For people who want to learn more about your work, and services, is the best place your website? Follow John Harmon: https://www.neuralnetworkbiomarkers.com/ Website https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-harmon-75523384/ LinkedIn Profile FOLLOW ANDREA SAMADI:  YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/AndreaSamadi   Website https://www.achieveit360.com/  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/samadi/  Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/Achieveit360com   Neuroscience Meets SEL Facebook Group https://www.facebook.com/groups/2975814899101697   Twitter: https://twitter.com/andreasamadi   Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/andreasamadi/  RESOURCES: Mapping the Human Brain to Understand the Human Mind by Jaimie Oh January 8, 2014 http://thinktank.uchicago.edu/blog/2014/1/8/mapping-the-human-brain-to-understand-the-human-mind The Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #37 with Dr. John Dunlosky on “Improving Student Success with Some Principles from Cognitive Science” https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/kent-states-dr-john-dunlosky-on-improving-student-success-some-principles-from-cognitive-science/ The Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #100 with Dr. Mary Helen Immordino-Yang on “The Neuroscience of Social and Emotional Learning” https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/professor-mary-helen-immordino-yang-on-the-neuroscience-of-social-and-emotional-learning/ Functional Neural Networks by Barinder Thind May 25, 2020 https://b-thi.github.io/Posts/FNNs.html The Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #138 with Dr. Daniel Ansari on “The Future of Educational Neuroscience” https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/professor-and-canada-research-chair-in-developmental-cognitive-neuroscience-and-learning-on-the-future-of-educational-neuroscience/ The Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #48 on Brain Network Theory “Using Neuroscience to Stay Productive During Times of Change” https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/brain-network-theory-using-neuroscience-to-stay-productive-during-times-of-change-and-chaos/ REFERENCES: [i] Neuroscience News Single Neurons Might Respond as Networks Sept. 6th, 2021 https://neurosciencenews.com/single-neuron-deep-learning-19264/ [ii] https://www.linkedin.com/posts/neuroscience-news_single-neurons-might-behave-as-networks-activity-6840757071160446976-Ktb- [iii]The Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #48 on “Brain Network Theory: Using Neuroscience to Stay Productive During Times of Chaos and Change”  https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/brain-network-theory-using-neuroscience-to-stay-productive-during-times-of-change-and-chaos/ [iv] Neuroscience News Single Neurons Might Respond as Networks Sept. 6th, 2021 https://neurosciencenews.com/single-neuron-deep-learning-19264/ [v] https://www.neuralnetworkbiomarkers.com/my-story/ [vi] Understanding Functional Neural Networks https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-26921-0_3 [vii] Understanding the Structure of Neural Networks by Savannah Logan Nov. 27, 2017  https://becominghuman.ai/understanding-the-structure-of-neural-networks-1fa5bd17fef0

Cognitive Neuroscience Researcher John Harmon on ”Our Brain and Mind Under Pressure”

Welcome back to the Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast for Brain Fact Friday and EPISODE #169 on “Improving Your Self and Social-Awareness” through Dr. Perry’s What Happened to You[i] book and our insightful interview with Dr. Perry and Steve Graner on EPISODE #168. In Today’s Brain Fact Friday, You Will Learn: ✔︎ How to improve your self and social-awareness after reading this book by thinking about the areas that hit you on an emotional level. ✔︎ Tips for cleaning up your emotions, so that we can be more resilient in the face of adversity. ✔︎ Strategies that you can use right away to apply The Neurosequential Model in your classroom, sports, or other work environments. After speaking with Dr. Perry and Steve Graner this week on a deep dive of the book he wrote with Oprah Winfrey What Happened to You, I could pick out many important lessons to focus on for this week’s brain fact Friday, and will revisit this interview in future episodes, but if I had to pick just one, it would be to see if you can use the lessons in his book to improve your self and social awareness. Dr. Perry reminded us that “there’s motor, cognitive, social and emotional capabilities that remain unexpressed in many people” and the purpose of this podcast is to help us as parents, teachers and coaches to understand these SEL competencies in ourselves, and others, with strategies that we can all use to further develop these skills that are not automatic. They require practice. I picked out 6 SEL competencies to focus on in this podcast, and you can go back and listen to the Lessons Learned from our TOP 100 Episodes[ii] that ties in these 6 SEL Competencies as a review. HOW TO IMPROVE YOUR SELF-AWARENESS: As you’re reading Dr. Perry’s book, whether it’s your first read, or 21st read, I encourage you to think about what parts give you an emotional charge. Dr. Perry mentioned that he went back and forth from Oprah’s difficult emotional stories, to challenging neuroscientific topics on purpose, to provide a regulating back and forth pace, just like we do with athletics, and high intensity interval training,  There was an intentionality to the way the book was written to help us to not become overwhelmed with the content and they do remind us in the beginning, that if we do, to just put the book down, and come back to it. The end of the book powerfully ties in Oprah’s story where she makes sense of her life and relationship with her mother. With this lesson in mind, can you make sense of your own life by looking for themes of what happened you? What themes came up for you while reading the book? If you haven’t read the book yet, it’s not difficult to think about things that push your buttons, whether at home or in the workplace. Think about your interactions with others and whether these themes show up in your life. Dr. Dan Siegel[iii] talks about being able to “Name it to Tame it” and Marc Brackett from the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence reminds us that we can unlock the power of our emotions with the “Permission to Feel.”[iv] Write them down and when you are ready, you can pick the one that stands out the most to you and clean it up. Self-awareness goes a long way here. Go back and listen to Dr. Carolyn Leaf’s BONUS EPISODE[v] on Cleaning Up Your Mental Mess to help you to make sense of whatever it is that comes up for you when reading this book.  She has a simple 5-step process that can be used to help you to unpack and make sense of these emotions that we all have, (Dr. Leaf herself uses this process to keep her mind operating optimally) so that emotions are expressed and healed, instead of turned inwards into toxic thoughts that will impact our mental health and well-being. This does take some time to first of all identify emotions that are bothering us, and then making sense of where they came from, to clean them up, but there’s nothing like the feeling of having a clear mind when we are able to do this. HOW TO IMPROVE YOUR AWARENESS OF OTHERS? You can also understand others better with this new awareness. Whether you are a teacher in the classroom, a parent, or a coach, being able to have conversations around trauma, and being trauma informed will help you to handle these types of situations, leading to healing and resiliency. I came across an article the day after we recorded this interview with Dr. Perry, written by Allison Cooke Douglas, called “Meeting Children Where They Are”[vi] that will help you with specific ideas to apply the Neurosequential Model if you work with children and youth. Click on the link in the show notes and you can access a 10 Page PDF that will walk you step by step through Dr. Perry’s Model with tips for healing trauma that you can apply to improve the well-being of those children, students or even athletes in your life. Can you make sense of what happened to you with this new understanding of our brain to bring you clarity for yourself, or how you parent, or teach your students to bring you some peace, like Oprah found at the of the book? I hope this new understanding that Dr Perry’s Neurosequential model offers can help you to better understand yourself and others, bringing you to higher levels of communication, resilience and peace.  The next time you are working, and stress comes your way, think of Dr. Perry’s Neurosequential Model and remember: STEP 1: All information comes into the brain through the brainstem through our 5 senses, as well as through interoception or “your brain’s perception of your body state.”[vii] STEP 2: We must remember that our brain was designed to react to the information that comes into our body first, and we must find ways to REGULATE ourselves, or we won’t be able to “reach the cortex” or our REASONING decision-making part of our brain. STEP 3: Do you have strategies to REGULATE yourself when under stress or pressure at work? If you don’t have time to get outside for a walk when the pressure is too high, can you take some deep breaths and stretch for a minute at your desk? STEP 4: Only then can we REASON and access the SMART part of our brain. Dr. Perry also reminded us that creative insights are just not possible when we are under pressure and stressed on a day-to-day basis like when Oprah was recording her television shows. She came up with the idea to write this book when she was not under so much pressure, and her creative mind opened up. Nothing beats being able to step away from your work, and finding a peaceful place to clear your mind, and access those higher parts of your brain, where we can experience those flashes of creativity and insight that are squashed while under pressure. I hope you’ve had some AHA Moments with this Brain Fact Friday, improving the way you see yourself and others with a new way of looking a life, through the lens of our powerful brain, where we have the ability to reach incredible heights, and help others to do the same. I’ll see you next week, with 2 interviews that will tie in our recent learning. John Harmon will show us how we can map our experiences in the brain (like learning, or playing sports) and how to use this understanding to improve performance while under pressure, and Robin Hills will give us some ideas on how to lead and encourage others to be their best, with strategies for improving our emotional intelligence, with our brain in mind. See you next week! FOLLOW ANDREA SAMADI:  YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/AndreaSamadi   Website https://www.achieveit360.com/  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/samadi/  Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/Achieveit360com   Neuroscience Meets SEL Facebook Group https://www.facebook.com/groups/2975814899101697   Twitter: https://twitter.com/andreasamadi   Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/andreasamadi/  REFERENCES: [i] What Happened to You: Conversations on Trauma, Resilience and Healing https://www.amazon.com/What-Happened-You-Understanding-Resilience/dp/1250223180 [ii] Top Lessons Learned from our FIRST 100 Episodes https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/lessons-learned-from-our-first-100-episodes/ [iii] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #28 Dr. Daniel Siegel on “Mindsight: The Basis of Social and Emotional Intelligence” https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/clinical-professor-of-psychiatry-at-the-ucla-school-of-medicine-dr-daniel-siegel-on-mindsight-the-basis-for-social-and-emotional-intelligence/ [iv] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #22 Mark Brackett on his book “permission to Feel” https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/founding-director-of-the-yale-center-of-emotional-intelligence-on-his-new-book-permission-to-feel/ [v]Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning BONUS EPISODE with Dr. Carolyn Leaf on “Cleaning Up your Mental Mess”  https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/worldrenownedneuroscientistdr-caroline-leaf-oncleaningup-your-mentalmess5-simplescientifically-proven-stepsto-reduceanxiety-and-toxic-thinking/ [vi] Meeting Children Where They Are: The Neuroseqential Model of Therapeutics October 1, 2021 by Allison Cooke Douglas, MS https://adoptioncouncil.org/publications/meeting-children-where-they-are-the-neurosequential-model-of-therapeutics/ [vii] Interoception: the hidden sense that shapes well-being Sunday August 15, 2021 by David Robson https://amp.theguardian.com/science/2021/aug/15/the-hidden-sense-shaping-your-wellbeing-interoception

Brain Fact Friday on ”Improving Self and Social-Awareness” After Reading Dr. Perry‘s ”What Happened to You”

Welcome back to the Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast for Brain Fact Friday and EPISODE #169 on “Improving Your Self and Social-Awareness” through Dr. Perry’s What Happened to You[i] book and our insightful interview with Dr. Perry and Steve Graner on EPISODE #168. In Today’s Brain Fact Friday, You Will Learn: ✔︎ How to improve your self and social-awareness after reading this book by thinking about the areas that hit you on an emotional level. ✔︎ Tips for cleaning up your emotions, so that we can be more resilient in the face of adversity. ✔︎ Strategies that you can use right away to apply The Neurosequential Model in your classroom, sports, or other work environments. After speaking with Dr. Perry and Steve Graner this week on a deep dive of the book he wrote with Oprah Winfrey What Happened to You, I could pick out many important lessons to focus on for this week’s brain fact Friday, and will revisit this interview in future episodes, but if I had to pick just one, it would be to see if you can use the lessons in his book to improve your self and social awareness. Dr. Perry reminded us that “there’s motor, cognitive, social and emotional capabilities that remain unexpressed in many people” and the purpose of this podcast is to help us as parents, teachers and coaches to understand these SEL competencies in ourselves, and others, with strategies that we can all use to further develop these skills that are not automatic. They require practice. I picked out 6 SEL competencies to focus on in this podcast, and you can go back and listen to the Lessons Learned from our TOP 100 Episodes[ii] that ties in these 6 SEL Competencies as a review. HOW TO IMPROVE YOUR SELF-AWARENESS: As you’re reading Dr. Perry’s book, whether it’s your first read, or 21st read, I encourage you to think about what parts give you an emotional charge. Dr. Perry mentioned that he went back and forth from Oprah’s difficult emotional stories, to challenging neuroscientific topics on purpose, to provide a regulating back and forth pace, just like we do with athletics, and high intensity interval training,  There was an intentionality to the way the book was written to help us to not become overwhelmed with the content and they do remind us in the beginning, that if we do, to just put the book down, and come back to it. The end of the book powerfully ties in Oprah’s story where she makes sense of her life and relationship with her mother. With this lesson in mind, can you make sense of your own life by looking for themes of what happened you? What themes came up for you while reading the book? If you haven’t read the book yet, it’s not difficult to think about things that push your buttons, whether at home or in the workplace. Think about your interactions with others and whether these themes show up in your life. Dr. Dan Siegel[iii] talks about being able to “Name it to Tame it” and Marc Brackett from the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence reminds us that we can unlock the power of our emotions with the “Permission to Feel.”[iv] Write them down and when you are ready, you can pick the one that stands out the most to you and clean it up. Self-awareness goes a long way here. Go back and listen to Dr. Carolyn Leaf’s BONUS EPISODE[v] on Cleaning Up Your Mental Mess to help you to make sense of whatever it is that comes up for you when reading this book.  She has a simple 5-step process that can be used to help you to unpack and make sense of these emotions that we all have, (Dr. Leaf herself uses this process to keep her mind operating optimally) so that emotions are expressed and healed, instead of turned inwards into toxic thoughts that will impact our mental health and well-being. This does take some time to first of all identify emotions that are bothering us, and then making sense of where they came from, to clean them up, but there’s nothing like the feeling of having a clear mind when we are able to do this. HOW TO IMPROVE YOUR AWARENESS OF OTHERS? You can also understand others better with this new awareness. Whether you are a teacher in the classroom, a parent, or a coach, being able to have conversations around trauma, and being trauma informed will help you to handle these types of situations, leading to healing and resiliency. I came across an article the day after we recorded this interview with Dr. Perry, written by Allison Cooke Douglas, called “Meeting Children Where They Are”[vi] that will help you with specific ideas to apply the Neurosequential Model if you work with children and youth. Click on the link in the show notes and you can access a 10 Page PDF that will walk you step by step through Dr. Perry’s Model with tips for healing trauma that you can apply to improve the well-being of those children, students or even athletes in your life. Can you make sense of what happened to you with this new understanding of our brain to bring you clarity for yourself, or how you parent, or teach your students to bring you some peace, like Oprah found at the of the book? I hope this new understanding that Dr Perry’s Neurosequential model offers can help you to better understand yourself and others, bringing you to higher levels of communication, resilience and peace.  The next time you are working, and stress comes your way, think of Dr. Perry’s Neurosequential Model and remember: STEP 1: All information comes into the brain through the brainstem through our 5 senses, as well as through interoception or “your brain’s perception of your body state.”[vii] STEP 2: We must remember that our brain was designed to react to the information that comes into our body first, and we must find ways to REGULATE ourselves, or we won’t be able to “reach the cortex” or our REASONING decision-making part of our brain. STEP 3: Do you have strategies to REGULATE yourself when under stress or pressure at work? If you don’t have time to get outside for a walk when the pressure is too high, can you take some deep breaths and stretch for a minute at your desk? STEP 4: Only then can we REASON and access the SMART part of our brain. Dr. Perry also reminded us that creative insights are just not possible when we are under pressure and stressed on a day-to-day basis like when Oprah was recording her television shows. She came up with the idea to write this book when she was not under so much pressure, and her creative mind opened up. Nothing beats being able to step away from your work, and finding a peaceful place to clear your mind, and access those higher parts of your brain, where we can experience those flashes of creativity and insight that are squashed while under pressure. I hope you’ve had some AHA Moments with this Brain Fact Friday, improving the way you see yourself and others with a new way of looking a life, through the lens of our powerful brain, where we have the ability to reach incredible heights, and help others to do the same. I’ll see you next week, with 2 interviews that will tie in our recent learning. John Harmon will show us how we can map our experiences in the brain (like learning, or playing sports) and how to use this understanding to improve performance while under pressure, and Robin Hills will give us some ideas on how to lead and encourage others to be their best, with strategies for improving our emotional intelligence, with our brain in mind. See you next week! REFERENCES: [i] What Happened to You: Conversations on Trauma, Resilience and Healing https://www.amazon.com/What-Happened-You-Understanding-Resilience/dp/1250223180 [ii] Top Lessons Learned from our FIRST 100 Episodes https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/lessons-learned-from-our-first-100-episodes/ [iii] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #28 Dr. Daniel Siegel on “Mindsight: The Basis of Social and Emotional Intelligence” https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/clinical-professor-of-psychiatry-at-the-ucla-school-of-medicine-dr-daniel-siegel-on-mindsight-the-basis-for-social-and-emotional-intelligence/ [iv] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #22 Mark Brackett on his book “permission to Feel” https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/founding-director-of-the-yale-center-of-emotional-intelligence-on-his-new-book-permission-to-feel/ [v]Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning BONUS EPISODE with Dr. Carolyn Leaf on “Cleaning Up your Mental Mess”  https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/worldrenownedneuroscientistdr-caroline-leaf-oncleaningup-your-mentalmess5-simplescientifically-proven-stepsto-reduceanxiety-and-toxic-thinking/ [vi] Meeting Children Where They Are: The Neuroseqential Model of Therapeutics October 1, 2021 by Allison Cooke Douglas, MS https://adoptioncouncil.org/publications/meeting-children-where-they-are-the-neurosequential-model-of-therapeutics/ [vii] Interoception: the hidden sense that shapes well-being Sunday August 15, 2021 by David Robson https://amp.theguardian.com/science/2021/aug/15/the-hidden-sense-shaping-your-wellbeing-interoception

Welcome back to the Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #168 with a much-awaited conversation with someone I have been quoting since we launched this podcast, after getting to know his work on a deeper level when I tuned into a video training series[i] he conducted during the beginning of the Pandemic to help people around the world to better understand how the brain works while under stress. I learned specific ideas on how to reach those who were most affected during and after those very difficult days from this video series that he created for educational purposes for people to view and share.  I learned so much from this series that connected the dots for me with trauma and the brain, while inspiring our episode #52[ii] on "Igniting Your Personal Leadership to Build Resiliency.” Watch this interview on YouTube here https://youtu.be/ixOZFwTAtCQ Learn more about The Neurosequential Network here https://www.neurosequential.com/  See past Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast Episodes here. https://www.achieveit360.com/episodes/  On This Episode You Will Learn: ✔︎ What drew Steve Graner to work with The Neurosequential Network, and how he used his background in sports to create the Neurosequential Model for Education.  ✔︎ What Dr. Perry learned from writing a book with his good friend, Oprah Winfrey. ✔︎ Why we must all understand our genes and past to understand why we behave the way that we do. ✔︎ Dr. Perry's vision to help others in many sectors like sports, education, caregiving, and supervision to become "brain-aware" ✔︎ What we should all know about the brain and how to regulate, relate and reason with others at home and in our workplaces. ✔︎ What is the power differential and why it is so important for our students in the classroom and our workplaces--especially if you are in a position of leadership.  Last summer, I reached out to American psychiatrist, Dr. Bruce Perry, who is currently the senior fellow of the Child Trauma Academy in Houston, Texas and an adjunct professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago, with the hopes he could come on the podcast and help us to dive deeper with an understanding of how traumatic events impact the brain. I was specifically concerned with the impacts of the Pandemic generationally, because one of his trainings explained the research from families from the Katrina Disaster in 2005 showed how the offspring of those families exposed to this level of stress response had an increase of substance abuse issues. I thought about the Pandemic and how I was hearing about the increase in depression, anxiety and substance use increasing, and wondered if Dr. Perry could provide some ideas on how to reduce the impact that the Pandemic was having on the world, our future generations, educational systems and he let me know that he would come on the podcast, as soon as his next book that he was writing was complete. I understood, as writing a book takes intense focus, so I went back to work, and knew we would have a conversation in the future. This spring, I watched the release of that book he was writing and realized it was with Oprah Winfrey called What Happened to You: Conversations on Trauma, Resilience and Healing[iii], and knew that when the timing felt right, I would reach out, to have that discussion on this new book that I knew would answer all of the questions I had. I'm Andrea Samadi, author, and educator from Toronto, Canada, now in Arizona, and like many of our listeners, have been fascinated with learning and understanding the science behind high performance strategies that we can use to improve our own productivity in our schools, our sports, and workplace environments. My vision is to bring the experts to you, share their books, resources, and ideas to help you to implement their proven strategies, whether you are a teacher working in the classroom or online, a student, or in the corporate environment Sometimes there is no such thing as timely, as the minute this book came out, the buzz hit social media, and everyone was posting about how important and timely the content was and I couldn’t miss the impact it was having on people from all different sectors, around the world. I knew it! I had so many questions after that video series and thank goodness Dr. Perry wrote this book that I knew would take that deeper dive into understanding the impact of trauma on the brain.  I finally knew it was time to reach out to Dr. Perry when my good friend Ruthie, an educator, held up her phone as she passed me on the hiking trails, and showed me she was listening to his audiobook, shouting back to me as she ran by “You had better interview Dr. Perry because EVERY educator must read, understand and implement this book!” It was the right time, so I reached out to Dr. Perry’s office that morning and booked the interview and knew Dr. Perry would keep his word, and he did. I just didn’t realize how difficult this topic was going to be as I dove into the book. I know that the Pandemic has shown us that we need change moving forward in our schools, raising our own children at home and for our future generations we are leading to thrive in their workplaces. So with this interview, I will take many deep breaths, as the stories that illuminate this needed change are difficult, from the first few pages, right to the very end of the book. This book is for “anyone with a mother, father, partner, or child who may have experienced trauma. And, if you’ve ever had labels like “people pleaser,” “self-sabotager,” “disruptive,” “argumentative,” “checked out,” “can’t hold a job,” or “bad at relationships” used to describe you or your loved ones, this book is for you. Or if you simply want to better understand yourself and others, this book is for you, too.” (What Happened to You) Let’s meet Dr. Bruce Perry and Steve Graner, Project Director from the Neurosequential Network, and uncover the power of asking “What Happened to You?” instead of “What’s Wrong with You?” Welcome Dr. Perry and Steve Graner! Thank you so very much for taking the time to speak with me and help others to learn more about the work you are both focused on at the Neurosequential Network your most recent book, Dr. Perry,  that you wrote with Oprah Winfrey, What Happened to You, that gave me what I was looking for—a deep dive into understanding the impact that trauma has on our brain, specifically, for our future generations. Before we get to the questions (and I had to narrow them down) there were many, but I would like to orient our listeners to how you both began this work, if I could begin with Steve because your background with sports resonated with a lot of the posts I see connected to Dr. Perry/ Megan Bartlett and her work at the Center For Healing and Justice Through Sport. With all we hear in the media with regards to abuse/trauma in the field of sport these days, I wonder what drew you to your work with the Neurosequential Network as a Project Director with Dr. Perry? Dr. Perry, the first thing I wondered has to do with your friendship with Oprah that began when she reached out to you in 1989 while you were working in your lab and when someone said “Oprah’s calling” you said “Yeah right, take a message” thinking he was joking. You say that back when you began this work, you were always trying to make connections with how trauma impacts the brain and behavior, and never quite getting it right.  I wondered what have you learned from your time with Oprah, her reflections back to you, and the impact that her point of view had on this connection between trauma and the brain that you’ve been focused on for your whole career? MAKING SENSE OF THE WORLD (Q1-4) I picked the beginning of the book as the main focus of interview today, because many of us reading your book have not had any training on the brain/neuroscience and trauma, with one question to help us to connect the dots to help us make sense of how our brain works, and some final thoughts on what we should all know to heal and make change moving forward.  Does that sound like a good plan if each of you can chime in with your thoughts? Q1: Steve and Dr. Perry, Oprah opens up the book with saying that she believes that “the acorn contains the oak. And through her work with you she says that “If we want to understand the oak, it’s back to the acorn we must go.” This question we could spend the whole interview with, I heard my mentor, speaker Bob Proctor[iv] talking a about how an oak tree develops from the gene that lies within the acorn when I was in my late 20s and I could think about what that meant for a lifetime.  Why is it so important for us to think back to our genes, and maybe even generations of our genes to understand why people behave the way that they do and understand “this patterned plan” in each acorn or ourselves?   Q2: 20 years ago, trauma was never considered a factor in a person’s health, let alone something we should consider as an educator in the classroom, a coach on the field, or a parent looking to break generational habits/beliefs.  When writing this book, what was your vision to help others become “brain-aware” something that is important for all of us to understand in EVERY sector of work? (In medicine, like with your example of Tyra/diabetic), and especially in the classroom with our students as teachers must deal with behavior before they can get to “teaching” the curriculum and Steve, with your thoughts of why this is so important in the sports world? Q3: To understand why people behave the way they do, with the brain in mind, you start put with Mike trying to help his wife understand his PTSD and why he acts the way he does. You explain it with (your famous upside down triangle) with the brain in mind, or the example in the classroom with the student, Sam, who connected the smell of Old Spice of his teacher to his alcoholic father, or Tyra later in the book with her connection to the sirens and her friend’s death. Or your co-worker Mike, who jumped when the door slammed. There are many examples throughout the book, all teaching us “what happened to you?” For those of us who want to be “brain-aware” and have not taken a course in neuroscience, can you explain what we should all know about the brain, stress and trauma and the 4 interconnected parts of the brain (brain stem, diencephalon, limbic and cortex)? Q4: I first came across your work through Dr Lori Desautels who would often quote you, and when the pandemic began, you began doing trainings to help those working with people with trauma and I joined many of those meetings[v], learning so much that I shared on the podcast to help others who might be struggling. I always wondered what is the meaning behind the name of your company that’s on all of your slides, and the link I clicked on to access your trainings? What is neuro sequential? Then Oprah asked why it’s so important to understand the sequence of our brain in chapter 5—and I had an Aha Moment! “Everything sequential happens in a sequence and the way our brain processes experiences is sequential” and in order to get to the reasoning part of the brain, or the cortex, we must get through the lower parts of the brain. I think this is the most important concept to understand in the book since “effective communication, teaching, coaching, parenting—all require awareness of this sequence of engagement” Can you explain what gets in the way of “getting to the cortex” or the challenges we have with reasoning with someone when they are dysregulated, and how we can recognize this dysregulation to do something about it? This will give us an understanding of The Neurosequential Network and how it applies to our everyday life. Q5: As we are all learning this new information, and becoming “brain-aware” for those in positions of leadership, can you explain the importance of the “Power Differential” on how to be aware of this cognitive disadvantage that is felt by our students in the classroom, or those we are leading in our work environments so we can truly be leading with our brain in mind? Q6: I know that we have only scratched the surface of this topic with these questions, but I know that I can’t have you for an entire day, so could you give us what would be your final thoughts that we should know about when connecting the dots on “What Happened to You” that we haven’t talked about today to help us to be better leaders, educators, parents, and members in our communities? Dr. Perry, and Steve Graner, I wish we could stay on the line all day, but know that with each time we read your book and make connections to the training you have at the Neurosequential Network, and other leaders in this new field of educational neuroscience, that we will gain more clarity to make sense of the world, become more “brain-aware” and connect the dots, helping ourselves and others to heal. Thank you both for the time you have taken to help me to share this information for those listening around the world to make shifts in their own life, that will have generational shifts for the future that my children and their children will benefit from. You’ve given us hope and a new vision at a time when we all needed it the most. Thank you! BIO DR. PERRY Dr. Perry is the Principal of the Neurosequential Network, Senior Fellow of The ChildTrauma Academy and a Professor (Adjunct) in the Departments of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University in Chicago and the School of Allied Health, College of Science, Health and Engineering, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Victoria  Australia. Over the last thirty years, Dr. Perry has been an active teacher, clinician and researcher in children’s mental health and the neurosciences holding a variety of academic positions. His work on the impact of abuse, neglect and trauma on the developing brain has impacted clinical practice, programs and policy across the world. Dr. Perry is the author, with Maia Szalavitz, of The Boy Who Was Raised As A Dog, a bestselling book based on his work with maltreated children and Born For Love: Why Empathy is Essential and Endangered. Dr. Perry's most recent book, What Happened to You? Conversations on Trauma, Resilience, and Healing, co-authored with Oprah Winfrey, was released in 2021. BIO STEVE GRANER: Steve Graner is the Neurosequential Networks' NME Project Director as well as a ChildTrauma Academy Fellow.  Mr. Graner grew up in Bismarck, ND, received his Bachelors Degree from the University of Sioux Falls, and completed his Masters Degree in Curriculum and Instruction at Minnesota State University Mankato. With thirty-three years teaching English at Erik Ramstad Middle School in Minot, North Dakota, Mr. Graner has also coached cross country and track and field, receiving Coach of the Year honors in ND for both high school and middle school cross country. Mr. Graner is best known for his creative approaches to teaching and coaching and combines a love of the arts and sports with the passion for pedagogy. FOLLOW THE NEUROSEQUENTIAL NETWORK: https://twitter.com/NeuroSequential Neurosequential Model in Education https://www.neurosequential.com/nme Neurosequential Model in Sport https://www.neurosequential.com/nm-sport FOLLOW DR. BRUCE PERRY https://twitter.com/BDPerry  FOLLOW ANDREA SAMADI:  YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/AndreaSamadi   Website https://www.achieveit360.com/  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/samadi/  Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/Achieveit360com   Neuroscience Meets SEL Facebook Group https://www.facebook.com/groups/2975814899101697   Twitter: https://twitter.com/andreasamadi   Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/andreasamadi/    RESOURCES: 30 Quotes from What Happened to You by Bruce D. Perry and Oprah Winfrey by Kenneth Wong May 30th, 2021 https://millennial-grind.com/30-quotes-from-what-happened-to-you-by-bruce-d-perry-and-oprah-winfrey/   What Happened to You Visual Synopsis by Dani Saveker https://www.visualsynopsis.com/full-collection/what-happened-to-you-oprah-winfrey-amp-bruce-perry-visual-synopsis-by-dani-saveker   Meeting Children Where They Are: The Neuroseqential Model of Therapeutics October 1, 2021 by Allison Cooke Douglas, MS https://adoptioncouncil.org/publications/meeting-children-where-they-are-the-neurosequential-model-of-therapeutics/   Neurosequential Model in Education https://www.neurosequential.com/nme   Neurosequential Model in Sport https://www.neurosequential.com/nm-sport   Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #53 Inspired by Dr. Bruce Perry on “Self-Regulation and Your Brain: How to Bounce Back Towards Resiliency” https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/self-regulation-and-your-brain-how-to-bounce-back-towards-resilience/   Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #56 with Educational Neuroscience Pioneer Dr. Lori Desautels on her NEW Book “Connections Over Compliance: Rewiring Our Perceptions of Discipline” https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/educational-neuroscience-pioneer-dr-lori-desautels-on-her-new-book-about-connections-over-compliance-rewiring-our-perceptions-of-discipline/   REFERENCES: [i] COVID 19 Stress, Distress and Trauma Series https://www.neurosequential.com/covid-19-resources [ii] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #52 inspired by Dr. Bruce Perry on “Igniting Your Personal Leadership That Builds Resiliency” https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/igniting-your-personal-leadership-that-builds-resiliency-inspired-by-dr-bruce-perry/ [iii] What Happened to You: Conversations on Trauma, Resilience and Healing https://www.amazon.com/What-Happened-You-Understanding-Resilience/dp/1250223180 [iv] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #66 on The Legendary Bob Proctor on “Social and Emotional Learning: Where it All Started” https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/the-legendary-bob-proctor-on/ [v] COVID 19 Stress, Distress and Trauma Series https://www.neurosequential.com/covid-19-resources

Dr. Bruce Perry and Steve Graner on What We Should ALL Know About ”What Happened to You” and Writing a Book with Oprah Winfrey

Welcome back to the Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #166 with Chris Gargano, who is now in his sixth year with the New York Jets as vice president, executive producer where he oversees JETS 360, which is responsible for all Jets produced content – including video production, social media and editorial – with a goal of providing football fans an all-access pass to unique, engaging, quality content over a variety of platforms. Chris has also just started his fourth year teaching leading leadership at NYU, which is what led him to this podcast. Watch this interview on YouTube here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NM1i-YEAIzA   Follow the New York Jets here https://www.newyorkjets.com/video/jets360-live  Follow Chris Gargano: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-gargano/  On This Episode You Will Learn: ✔︎ How Chris knew that a career in sports broadcasting was the right path for him, right from childhood.  ✔︎ How an injury caused him to pivot towards broadcasting, and then later, pivoted towards lifelong learning again. ✔︎ What led Chris to our podcast for his leadership students at NYU. ✔︎ The characteristics of a championship head coach, and team. ✔︎ How he prioritizes a work/life balance with a busy schedule. ✔︎ The future of leadership--building self-awareness in our future generations.  I'm Andrea Samadi, author, and educator from Toronto, Canada, now in Arizona, and like many of our listeners, have been fascinated with learning and understanding the science behind high performance strategies that we can use to improve our own productivity in our schools, our sports, and workplace environments. My vision is to bring the experts to you, share their books, resources, and ideas to help you to implement their proven strategies, whether you are a teacher working in the classroom or online, a student, or in the corporate environment. I first met Chris Gargano just a couple of weeks ago when we connected on LinkedIn and his background immediately caught my attention aside from the fact he works for the New York Jets. I will let Chris tell you his story, with the hopes that it will inspire you to reach new heights and I can tell you that from someone who has led some of the best “teams behind the teams” that he will empower you to take a closer look at how he sees top performers reach those high ranks, and it all begins with the topic of leadership. Let’s meet Chris Gargano, and see if we can leverage his life story, to push us closer to where we are all going. Welcome Chris Gargano! Thank you for taking the time out of your busy season that has just begun, and I know there is never a slow time with your work, so thank you for taking the time to be here today. Chris, before I get to the questions I have for you, I mention in the show notes that you run JETS 360 that’s responsible for all JETS related content, and as someone who also produces content, without a production team like you have over there, I wonder if you can give us any tips for what you do to catch people’s attention with the graphics/videos/content that you create to connect you’re your fans? I was sorry to see the results of your game on Sunday but know that mindset is a huge part of the game here, and I know you are going to give us some new ways of looking at life and how you deal with wins/losses through the lens of someone behind the scenes of the top performers you get to work with every day. I’m looking forward to what we can all learn from your experiences. Q1: Chris, can you take us back to where your vision for your career began, when you were a student in the classroom, before your college days, before you had this incredible opportunity to work in broadcasting and media production with teams like the NY Jets and the previous teams you worked with (Oakland Raiders and San Francisco Giants) was there any defining moment that you can recall when you thought “aha” this is what I am meant to do? Q2: What happened to that vision/dream in your college years that led you to your career in Broadcasting/Sports? 2B) I think this is what caught my attention the most when we connected on LinkedIn. What made you decide to go back to school to continue your education with your MA in Leadership Studies? Q3: When we first spoke on the phone, you mentioned that you found our podcast through our episode #68[i] “The Neuroscience of Personal Change with Stephen R. Covey’s 7 Habits of Highly Effective People” that was the most downloaded episode until I checked and realized it was beat out significantly (with 3x the downloads) earlier this year with a Personal Review of the Fisher Wallace Wearable Medical Device[ii] Can you explain what your vision is for your leadership students you are teaching at NYU, what you liked about that episode? Q4: I have to ask a question about Head Coach Saleh because I think it ties into your story.  I mentioned him at the start of this year on EPISODE #103 The Neuroscience of Leadership[iii]  when I found an article talking about his powerful story that launched his coaching career when he traded his “cubicle for his coaching dream after his brother’s 9/11 close call”[iv]   and I am certain that his passion for the sport is the foundation for the success he will experience as a head coach, in addition to the emotional intelligence that he has developed. What have you learned from your interaction with phenomenal HC that you think sets him apart from other coaches you have seen? Q5: Using your experience with the Jets (and other pro level teams/organizations, what do you think is the best mindset for championship teams, that we can take away from your experience and apply towards our own ingredients for success? Q6: Our podcast took a turn towards health and wellness in the past year, so I always want to emphasize the importance of the top health staples (sleep/exercise/nutrition). With an extremely busy work schedule, how do you create the balance that you need for your own mental health and well-being? Q7: What are your final thoughts on the future of leadership, how you see yourself fitting into this vision and how do you want to encourage leaders (like those you are teaching at NYU) to step up, find their passion, true talent, voice, confidence, to attain their own individual and team success? Chris, I want to thank you so very much for connecting with me  and first of all for validating the work I am doing here. It really did make me feel good to know that someone at your level was looking at the work that was created months ago, showing me that we can all have a significant impact on the world with whatever it is we want to do and for those listening to hear this example, to not be afraid to put their voice out into the world. Secondly, thank you for adding to this vision, and sharing with our listeners your valuable experience working with some of the best players in the industry. Finally, thank you for all you have shared with us here on the podcast that are all transferable skills that can be used across all industries, not just in sports. I will put a link to the NY JETS in the show notes for those who want to follow the team and your content, and I’m confident that with the talent, strong culture/community and leadership you have behind your team, that these are all the winning ingredients for success. Follow JETS360 and the NY JETS https://www.newyorkjets.com/video/jets360-live FOLLOW ANDREA SAMADI:  YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/AndreaSamadi   Website https://www.achieveit360.com/  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/samadi/  Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/Achieveit360com   Neuroscience Meets SEL Facebook Group https://www.facebook.com/groups/2975814899101697   Twitter: https://twitter.com/andreasamadi   Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/andreasamadi/  RESOURCES: Robert Saleh Becomes Jets’ 20th Head Coach in Franchise History by Randy Lange and Eric Allen January 19, 2021 https://www.newyorkjets.com/news/robert-saleh-named-head-coach-of-the-jets Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don’t Know by Adam Grant, Published Feb. 2, 2021 https://www.amazon.com/Think-Again-Power-Knowing-What/dp/1984878107 REFERENCES: [i] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #68 “The Neuroscience of Personal Change with Stephen R. Covey’s The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People” https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/the-neuroscience-of-personal-change/ [ii]Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #130 “Personal Review of the Fisher Wallace Wearable Medical Device for Anxiety, Depression and Sleep Management” https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/personal-review-of-the-fisher-wallace-wearable-medical-device-for-anxiety-depression-and-sleepstress-management/ [iii] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #103 “ The Neuroscience of Leadership: 3 Ways to Reset, Recharge and Refuel Your Brain for Your Best Year Ever” https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/the-neuroscience-of-leadership-3-ways-to-reset-recharge-and-refuel-your-brain-for-your-best-year-ever/ [iv]  Robert Saleh traded cubicle for coaching dream after brother’s 9/11 close call by Ryan Dunleavy Jan. 12, 2021 https://nypost.com/2021/01/15/robert-saleh-wouldnt-be-jets-coach-without-brothers-9-11-close-call/?utm_campaign=iphone_nyp&utm_source=mail_app

Vice President, Executive Producer, The New York Jets, Chris Gargano on ”Accelerating Leadership for Maximum Impact and Results”

In this podcast, we provide you with the tools, resources and ideas to implement proven strategies backed by the most current neuroscience research to help you to achieve the long-term gains of implementing a social and emotional learning program in your school, or emotional intelligence program in your workplace for improved productivity, achievement and results.

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Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning

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