NOTE: The seminar manual, CE information, and CE test are contained on disc #1 in PDF format. To access these documents, play disc #1 in your computer. For the video presentation, begin playing disc #1 in your DVD player. Today’s unprecedented meeting of modern brain science and ancient contemplative wisdom offers you powerful new tools for changing the neural wiring and neurochemistry of the brain. In this seminar recording, learn how to use contemplative neuroscience in down-to-earth ways to:
Weave positive experiences into the fabric of the brain and self
Stimulate and strengthen the neural circuits of empathy
Help clients become more mindful
Describe major mechanisms of neuroplasticity
Explain how to build self-compassion into the brain
Describe the evolutionary basis of the brain’s negativity bias
Summarize the three basic steps of “taking in the good” (TIG)
Integrate the fourth step of TIG to heal painful experiences
Explain how to activate contentment, belonging and peace
The Promise of Self-Directed Neuroplasticity
How the mind changes the brain
Lessons from 2,500 years of meditative practice
Neural circuits of self-compassion
Getting on your own side
Virtue, mindfulness, and wisdom—resting on the neural functions of regulating, learning and selecting The Challenge of Evolution
Chasing carrots and dodging sticks
The negativity bias of the brain
How that bias undermines psychotherapy The Power of Implicit Memory
Memory systems, explicit and implicit
The importance of inner resources
Factors of neuroplasticity Taking in the Good
Turning good facts into good experiences
Savoring positive emotions and perspectives
Priming implicit memory systems
Working with children
Why it’s good to feel good
Living gratefully Clearing Old Pain
Exploiting the “weak link” in memory consolidation
Pairing positive experiences with old pain
Special considerations for trauma Natural Happiness
The resting state of the brain: Calm, contented, caring
The brain’s three motivational systems: Approach, Attach, Avoid
The reactive mode of greed, heartache and hatred (broadly defined)
How to build up the neural circuits of the responsive mode of gladness, love and peace
Rick Hanson, Ph.D. is a neuropsychologist with 25 years of experience in outpatient mental health. A summa cum laude graduate of UCLA, he founded the Wellspring Institute for Neuroscience and Contemplative Wisdom and teaches at universities and meditation centers in Europe, Australia and North America. His work has been featured on the BBC and in Consumer Reports Health, U.S. News and World Report and other major magazines. Rick’s book is Buddha’s Brain: The Practical Neuroscience of Happiness, Love, and Wisdom (with Rick Mendius, M.D.; foreword by Daniel Siegel, M.D. and preface by Jack Kornfield, Ph.D.), which has been praised by numerous therapists and teachers, including Tara Brach, Ph.D.; Roger Walsh, Ph.D.; Sharon Salzberg and Fred Luskin, Ph.D. Considered an expert on self-directed neuroplasticity, his articles have appeared in Tricycle Magazine, Insight Journal and Inquiring Mind, and his Your Wise Brain blog is on PsychologyToday.com and other major websites. He has a chapter—”7 Facts about the Brain That Incline the Mind to Joy”—in Measuring the Immeasurable, as well as several audio programs with Sounds True. His first book is Mother Nurture: A Mother’s Guide to Health in Body, Mind, and Intimate Relationships (Penguin, 2002). Rick is currently a trustee of Saybrook University, after serving on the board of Spirit Rock Meditation Center for nine years; he was also president of the Board of FamilyWorks, a community agency.
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