Welcome back to The Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast where we bridge the gap between theory and practice, with strategies, tools and ideas we can all use immediately, applied to the most current brain research to heighten productivity in our schools, sports environments and modern workplaces. I’m Andrea Samadi and launched this podcast to share how important an understanding of our brain is for our everyday life and results. Like you, I’m interested in learning and applying the research, to our everyday life.

On this episode we will cover:

How can being “mindfully aware in the present moment” benefit us? An overview of the Levels of Consciousness that take us from coma, unaware, to full wakefulness and awareness. How to expand our level of awareness through effective study (using the most current neuroscience research). Break down this complex idea of consciousness, so we can all improve an area on the map, moving us towards full awareness. Use this understanding to better understand ourselves and others.

This week’s Brain Fact Friday came to me this week while on a training call with Mark Waldman, in his neurocoaching program, that consists of all of the students he has worked with over the years[i] all over the world. Some students have been certified, and share their knowledge with others, like Michael Kirton, an Australian clinical psychologist and author who specializes in child development, mental health issues and trauma, and he often joins the calls to share how he is making an impact in his community with the understanding of mindfulness based coaching, training or therapy. I tune into these calls as I’m always looking for something new to share on the podcast, that we could all use to improve our results.

This week, were talking about what it means to be “mindfully aware in the present moment” that Jon Kabat-Zinn coined in his definition of mindfulness to be the “awareness that arises through paying attention, on purpose, in the present moment, non-judgmentally”[ii] which Waldman says is a key secret for experiencing optimal health and wellbeing.  We covered an overview of Brain Network theory on EP #48 and the importance of being able to mindfully shift between our imagination, (DMN) awareness (SN) and thinking (EN) to increase our creativity and results, while reducing stress.  The funny thing I’ve noticed with writing these episodes, and implementing what I’m writing, I’ve got to say that when I’m in a high stress situation, the last thing I’m thinking about is being “mindfully aware” in the present moment. But with time, small things like learning to breathe properly while experiencing stress, that we learned from Rohan Dixit, on EP #228[iii] is putting me miles ahead of where I used to be without a mindfulness-based stress reduction strategy. While I wish I had the opportunity to study and learn directly with monks deep in the Himalayas, like Rohan Dixit did before he founded Lief Therapeutics, and invented a wearable device that tracks HRV in real-time to help us to learn how to breathe when we are stressed, interviewing those who’ve taken the time to do the research, and then sharing this research on the podcast, is my next best option.

We’ve all heard of the research that backs up how important these brief moments of mindfulness can be, whether it’s in our everyday life, or even in the classroom, during learning, as Professor Kimberly Shonert-Reichl’s research (from The University of British Columbia) shows that these brief moments “promote curiosity, creativity and pro social behavior.”[iv] The key to being mindfully aware is to focus on the present moment, instead of what’s happened in the past, or what we think might happen in the future, and learn to breathe, or focus on our breath, which brings our mind into this present moment.

While on this training call with Mark Waldman, a new student asked “what about when I’m dreaming” where’s my level of awareness here?” and we could go down many rabbit holes for hours, on this topic and while Waldman refocused the new student on this complex question, I glanced at the September issue of National Geographic on my desk,  on “The Brain” that covers “the complex neural networks that make the brain so unique” and Chapter 4 of this series, covers “The Easy Problems of Consciousness” which was obvious from our call, that many of us, including this new student, finds this topic anything BUT easy, as we wonder how our conscious awareness works, what it is, and how an understanding of this awareness can benefit us in some way.

Which brings us to this week’s Brain Fact Friday.

DID YOU KNOW THAT “consciousness is the most astonishing act our big, complex, interconnected brains pull off when working properly and scientists are only just beginning to understand it?”[v] (National Geographic, The Brain).

I thought about the new student in our group asking about our awareness level when we are dreaming, and of what we have been covering on this podcast, and it became clear to me that this was a very important question and topic. It didn’t take me long to find some research that covered this question with an article called “Are There Levels of Consciousness”[vi] published by Tim Bayne in 2016 that are in line with what I was reading in the most recent National Geographic publication from September 2022.

What Are the Different Levels of Consciousness?

To bring light to this complex question, (what are the different levels of conscious awareness that our brain experiences) the only way I know how to break it down, is by mapping it out. Drawing something out helps me to see the bigger picture, especially when ideas are complex, or even noted to be “a mystery that some of the greatest minds have been unable to solve.”[vii]

This idea of being consciously aware, or thinking in the present moment, is complex, (because consciousness studies are still trying to find answers to the hard problems, like “where does my inner experience come from” (Page 74, National Geographic) but I’m hoping that this visual will give us all a new perspective of the different levels of consciousness we can experience, and provide us all with a frame of reference to “think” about.

If you look at the diagram in the show notes, that came from my interpretation of “The Easy Problems of Consciousness” from National Geographic’s article on the Brain, you can see how our levels of consciousness can go from low awareness, like when we are in a coma, under general anesthesia, that we have not investigated at all on this podcast. (YET). This is a fascinating area to explore, and I will on a later episode, since I do wonder how on the earth can we stay awake for brain surgery.

The next level of consciousness, is that time just before sleep, where we experience drowsiness, called a hypnagogic state of consciousness.[viii] We’ve covered sleep paralysis and lucid dreaming on the podcast with our interview with Dr. Baland Jalal[ix], bringing us into the next level of consciousness: sleep, that is one of the top 5 health staples we’ve covered often, beginning with Dr. Shane Creado, from EP #72[x] on “Sleep Strategies That Will Guarantee Us a Competitive Advantage.” We’ve also quoted English scientist and professor of neuroscience and psychology, Matt Walker and his research from his best selling book, Why We Sleep, on a Brain Fact Friday earlier this year on “Science Based Tricks to Improve Productivity.”[xi]   The final stage of consciousness is full wakefulness or awareness, that Chantel Pratt’s book, The Neuroscience of You dives into, as well as this whole idea of Mindful Awareness that we opened this episode with. I think you can see from the topics that we cover on this podcast, that besides understanding our sleep, or messages in our dreams, or health tips to improve our productivity, I’m most interested in ways we can all expand our conscious awareness, and become a better version of ourselves, with an understanding of our brain and how it works.

How about you? Have you ever wondered,

Who am I? Why am I here? What’s my purpose?

These are all deep questions but Jon Kabat-Zinn, the father of mindfulness would say that these questions (like who are you) are “more important than the answer.”[xii]

The key here, is that expanding our level of awareness is a crucial component of our work in this thing we call life, so that we can better understand ourselves, and others, and provide the best service we can in our lifetime. It’s the message in Chantel Pratt’s recent book, The Neuroscience of You: How Every Brain is Different and How to Understand Yours[xiii], where she says that even after writing this book, she’s still trying to expand her awareness of who she is.

Even my mentor, the late Bob Proctor, would say that “awareness is everything” and he could talk for hours about the importance of our conscious awareness or our ability to sit, think and expand our awareness even a dot, saying that this small shift could change the world—or at least your world to start with. He’d often say that our “results are an expression of our awareness” reminding us to open up the keyhole, and expand our level of awareness when we are stuck, or to keep “thinking” to move us forward. Never stop thinking, learning and expanding. Invest the time to develop YOU, (your awareness) and this could take our entire lifetime.

So, the question (“Who am I?”)  is more important than the answer. It requires our conscious thought and thinking is the highest function we are capable of, and it’s very difficult. Most people think the same thoughts over and over again, which isn’t thinking at all, but like a hamster spinning on a wheel, or playing old movies in our head.

How to Expand our Awareness and Break Through to New Levels:

Have you ever been stuck and you can’t seem to find the answer to your problem? I know we all have. The fastest way to expand our thinking, and find new solutions, is to ask someone who has achieved what you want to do, (because it’s easy for them to connect the dots looking backwards) as they can give you thousands of ideas, showing you that there’s not just one way to get to where you are going. Thinking new thoughts, opens up our awareness (even if it’s just a dot) to new ideas, and possibilities, but how do we do this?

How Do We Expand Our Level of Awareness?

On Today’s episode, I have just one strategy, and that’s to expand our awareness through study. If you look at the diagram I drew, look and see where your area of interest is.  You can see where mine is from the episodes we are covering.

STUDY: Find the podcasts that you connect with (for those listening, thank you for choosing mine), read books, study people who are winning, and glean whatever you can from what you are learning to expand your conscious awareness.

What I love seeing is people who break through what seems to be impossible, or where most people would give up.  

For a minute, let’s review this week’s Brain Fact Friday. On today’s episode we covered:

How being “mindfully aware in the present moment” can benefit us? An overview of the Levels of Consciousness that take us from coma, unaware, to full wakefulness and awareness. How to expand our level of awareness through effective study (using the most current neuroscience research). Break down this complex idea of consciousness, so we can all improve an area on the map, moving us towards full awareness. Use this understanding to better understand ourselves and others.

Reminder—for this week’s brain fact Friday

DID YOU KNOW THAT “consciousness is the most astonishing act our big, complex, interconnected brains pull off and scientists are only just beginning to understand it?”[xiv] (National Geographic, The Brain).

After looking into this a bit, I learned that “some scholars reckon the puzzle of consciousness is something the human mind is incapable of solving” but Daniel Dennett, Philospher and Cognitive Scientist from Tufts University (MA) says that this line of thinking is “culpably wrong. It isn’t impossible at all. It’s just that we have to buckle down and do it.”[xv]

Imagine going back to 1973 (I was only 2) but let’s go back in time and I’m going to explain to you that there’s this thing called the internet, that’s in the ether. I send you something, and you get it pretty much at the same time as I sent it to you. You’d think I was crazy.

But not now that our level of awareness has been expanded, and we use the internet every day to function in this society.

While we might never understand why we have consciousness, we can continue to study, learn and expand our conscious awareness, (on this topic and others)  and like Cognitive Scientist Daniel Dennett suggests, “buckle down” and do whatever it is we are working on. Whether it’s something as difficult as breaking down something so complex as our consciousness, or something less complex, it just takes our effort, and continual study to blast through to new levels of awareness, and results.

Wishing you success in whatever it is you are working on. Like that new student in our neuroscience course, keep asking questions, and searching for answers, and I’ll see you next week.

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REFERENCES:

[i] Certified Neurocoaches with Mark Robert Waldman https://www.markrobertwaldman.com/students-2/

[ii] Jon Kabat-Zinn defining Mindfulness by Mindful Staff Jan 11, 2017 https://www.mindful.org/jon-kabat-zinn-defining-mindfulness/

[iii] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #228 with Rohan Dixit, Founder of Lief Therapeutics on “Meaasuring HRV in Real-Time for Stress Releif From the Inside Out.” https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/rohan-dixit-founder-of-lief-therapeutics-on-measuring-hrv-in-real-time-for-stress-relief-from-the-inside-out/

[iv] Enhancing cognitive and social-emotional development through a simple to administer mindfulness-based school program for elementary school children by Kimberly Schonert-Reichl Published 2015 https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2014-56463-002

[v] Page 74, Chapter 4, The Brain by Julia Sklar, National Geographic https://www.amazon.com/National-Geographic-Brain-Editors/dp/1547859121/ref=asc_df_1547859121/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=598244665656&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=9016464077537371621&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9030091&hvtargid=pla-1672909059785&psc=1

[vi] Are There Levels of Consciousness? Published by Tim Bayne June 2016 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S136466131630002X

[vii] What is Consciousness Published on YouTube Sept. 10, 2015 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ir8XITVmeY4

[viii] What is Hypnagogia, the State Between Wakefulness and Sleep? By Raj Dasgupta,MD Published Oct. 26, 2020 https://www.healthline.com/health/hypnagogia

[ix]Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #224 with Dr. Baland Jalal on “Sleep Paralysis, Lucid Dreaming, and Premonitions: Expanding our Awareness into the Mysteries of the Brain”  https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/harvard-neuroscientist-drbaland-jalalexplainssleepparalysislucid-dreaming-andpremonitionsexpandingour-awareness-into-the-mysteries-ofourbrainduring-sl/

[x] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #72 with Dr. Shane Creado on “Sleep Strategies That Will Guarantee a Competitive Advantage”  https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/dr-shane-creado-on-sleep-strategies-that-will-guarantee-a-competitive-advantage/

[xi] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #217 on “Science-Based Tricks to Improve Productivity and Never Forget Anything” https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/brain-fact-friday-on-science-based-tricks-to-improve-productivity-and-never-forget-anything/

[xii] Jon Kabat-Zinn defining Mindfulness by Mindful Staff Jan 11, 2017 https://www.mindful.org/jon-kabat-zinn-defining-mindfulness/

[xiii] https://www.amazon.com/Neuroscience-You-Every-Different-Understand/dp/1524746606

[xiv] Page 74, Chapter 4, The Brain by Julia Sklar, National Geographic https://www.amazon.com/National-Geographic-Brain-Editors/dp/1547859121/ref=asc_df_1547859121/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=598244665656&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=9016464077537371621&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9030091&hvtargid=pla-1672909059785&psc=1

[xv] What is Consciousness Published on YouTube Sept. 10, 2015 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ir8XITVmeY4 TIME STAMP 1:31/12:42