Live Talk: Our Brain: Unlocking Our True Selves

This is a recording of a live talk for Insight Timer. We all have unique potential. Still, at times we feel blocked and do not behave in line with the truest expression of who we are. Karolien explains to you how this works in the brain and what we all can do to make a better version of humankind.

Transcript

Hi,

This is a recording of one of my live talks for Insight Timer,

Namely the one on how to unlock your true self and this from a neuroscientific point of view.

Given this is a recording of a live talk here,

I apologize that the quality of the sound is not always superb and also there might be interactions that are not so relevant for the talk itself,

But still I really hope you will enjoy the recording.

So hi to all of you and a very nice welcome to this live session about absolutely my favorite topic here,

A topic that I've already brought a few times on Insight Timer,

But it's such a fantastic community and I also know that this is a topic that is usually quite well received by the community and I'm very happy to have planned it again for today.

All a very warm welcome.

I can see people joining in from all over the world.

And for those who know me,

My name is Caroline.

I am from Belgium,

Even though I live in Frankfurt and I'm a neuroscientist.

I come from the field of neurosciences and today the TEDx talk is going to be about how to hack your brain.

You know that for most of my talks,

I like to invite an imaginary special guest because you are all my real guests,

My real special guests,

But I also like to invite always an imaginary special guest.

And today I have invited a person who already was here,

Who already was here once as an imaginary special guest,

But I decided to invite two today.

And the first one,

I'll show you a picture and for those who've already seen him here as a guest will recognize him straight away.

So look at the picture and if you recognize this person,

Then let me know in the chat.

Indeed,

Thank you so much for answering this question.

Indeed,

We have Gandhi.

Gandhi said,

I believe many wise things,

But there is one particular wise thing that he said,

Which is of major importance to understand how to hack your brain to increase your own life quality.

And I'm not going to mention it yet what it is he said.

I'm going to mention this at the end of our live session.

So here Gandhi,

Our dear friend Gandhi,

Our wise dear friend Gandhi is our first imaginary special guest of today.

And the second one is somebody that you probably don't know.

But when I was searching for a special guest for today,

An imaginary special guest,

This person came to my mind because he said something which is so true for the session of today.

And this person,

This is actually my GP.

Some time ago,

A few weeks ago,

I was at my GP and he asked me,

How are you?

And I like it that he asked me,

How are you?

Not just what's wrong,

But just in general,

How are you?

And when I was talking about my job and about mindfulness,

For example,

He really felt a need to contribute by saying something.

And he said something very wise.

But also this I'm going to tell you at the end of the live session when I believe it's going to be even more meaningful.

So let us have a look at how to hack your brain.

Well,

Some people ask me,

Why did you start looking into this topic?

Why did you choose this particular topic?

And in fact,

This is something that goes quite some time back.

Actually it goes back to the moment where I was a teenager.

I've come from a very large family.

I have in total,

I have four sisters and I have one brother who's quite chaotic at home at times around the age of 16.

This is the moment that I decide to leave my parents place.

And my mother,

Who I believe is quite a quiet person,

She's more into the background,

She's not constantly talking and giving advice.

But the day that I left my parents place,

My mother,

She came to me and she decided to give me one piece of advice for life.

And she came to me and she said,

You know,

I know that you have potential,

But keep in the back of your minds that one of the nicest things that you can reach in life is that you use your unique potential so you can become the best version of yourself.

So in other words,

What she said was use your unique potential because it's unique to you.

And if you can access that,

You can become the best version of who you are.

And this is not about becoming somebody else.

Because when I was a teenager,

I'm not sure how it was for you.

But when I was a teenager,

It was very fantastic to have the idols and I was trying to become somebody else.

But in fact,

The beautiful advice she gave me was become yourself and the most beautiful version of who you naturally are.

So with this advice in my pocket,

I left home into the world.

And about 10 years after I left my home,

I came across the love of my life.

And the love of my life is neuroscience.

And it is at the moment that I was studying and doing research in the field of neuroscience that I had to think back of the advice of my mother.

And this is for me the moments that I asked myself the question,

How can I unlock my unique potential?

How do I do that?

What does it mean to unlock the potential in your brain and to become the best version of who you are?

And asking myself this question from a neuroscientific perspective,

This was for me the start of a fascinating journey.

A fascinating journey scientifically as a scientist,

I loved it,

But also as a person.

And it's exactly those fascinating insights that I have summarized for you today.

So if it comes to potential,

Let us first have a look at what potential means or the way we looked at it and how you can unlock it.

But first,

What is potential and how does it relate to your natural performance?

So the performance that we bring stands for the potential that we have minus our internal interferences.

And what's the potential that you have?

All of you,

We have Tonda,

Lisa,

Rosa,

Christian,

Adorama,

You all have potential,

Your unique potential.

These are your skills,

Your talents,

Your expertise,

Your know-how,

Your interests,

Your passion.

This is the potential that you have at this very moment.

But you know,

In certain situations,

We have the feeling that we can't really fully access our potential because we are dealing with so-called internal interferences.

And let me give you two examples.

We just assume here for a moment that we all here,

We're like quite a good few people,

We all have a potential to sing,

Right?

We all have a potential to sing.

It's not about whether this is a lot or whether this is very little.

I particularly don't have a lot of potential to sing,

But I have some potential to sing right here,

Right now.

And let's just assume for a moment that this morning you were in the shower and you were singing.

Nobody was listening.

You felt totally relaxed.

The water was warm.

You felt fantastic.

And you were singing.

And what happened is you brought your best performance to sing,

Your personal best performance.

But then here in the classroom,

I would unmute yourself if I was possible and also have an image of you.

And I would ask you just right on the spot,

Sing a song for us.

You know you have potential to sing.

Just show us.

What is going to happen with your performance?

Is it going to be the same performance as when you had the performance in the shower?

Well,

Probably you're not going to bring the same performance.

You're not going to bring the same performance because all of a sudden your brain is producing those internal interferences.

And the sad thing is you still have that potential right here and right now,

But somehow you can't access it because the brain decides to produce those internal interferences and is blocking you in your potential.

And this is a shame.

That's the first example.

And the second example is also something that we know quite well.

At least I know that quite well.

And this is saying no.

We all can say no.

This is just like a two letter word,

Right?

But you know,

In certain situations,

It's very difficult to say no because all of a sudden in that situation,

The brain starts producing those internal interferences and is blocking us in our potential to say no.

Perhaps we're afraid to hurt somebody.

Perhaps we're afraid to disappoint somebody or we're afraid to missing a career step.

And all of a sudden it becomes very difficult to say no,

Even sometimes to such an extent that it would even do harm to us.

So also here,

The same example right here and right now,

You have the potential to say no,

But all of a sudden the brain produces these internal interferences and blocks us in our potential.

So what do we need?

Well,

What we need is a very,

Very important skill.

The skill that we need is called self-regulation.

Self-regulation is your skill,

Is your capacity to recognize these internal interferences so you can then regulate your interferences so you can better access your full potential.

This is what self-regulation does to us.

So we have the performance stands for the potential minus the interferences and to reduce those interferences so we can naturally access our unique potential,

We need a skill called self-regulation.

And how can we improve that?

Because eventually self-regulation increases our freedom to decide.

Our freedom to decide is our conscious decision making to choose a certain reaction.

That means that something happens,

This is the first step.

What does the brain?

It might react with internal interferences,

But it is self-regulation that allows you to reduce those interferences so you can show the reaction that you want to display.

This is your freedom to decide.

And in this context,

I like to also quote Viktor Frankl.

Viktor Frankl is a psychiatrist from Austria.

He was captured and was in concentration camps during the Second World War for four years.

Needless to say,

He really had terrible experiences.

And after these experiences,

Viktor Frankl decided to research on the sense of life.

So how can we find the sense of life?

And in this context,

Also in his experiences,

He said something very,

Very important.

And I really like to give that message to you as well.

People can take everything away from you.

They can take everything away from you.

But one thing they can never take away from you.

And this is your freedom to decide.

This is your decision on how you're going to react to a situation.

Indeed,

Jen,

Self-regulation is your freedom,

Your freedom to decide.

So what can we do then to reduce those interferences or what can we do to increase our self-regulation capacity?

This is the message I'd like to give.

But before I do that,

I'd like to explain to you from a brain perspective,

Where those internal interferences,

Where they come from.

Many of these internal interferences that will block us in our potential are the result of too much activation in one particular brain structure.

And this brain structure is called the amygdala.

Amygdala is the Latin word for almond.

They're actually almond shaped.

They look like an almond.

And the amygdala,

They're very deep inside the brain and play a very,

Very important role in our survival.

We need them,

No doubt.

We need them in general for our emotions.

We need them for the five flight freeze response.

You know,

When there's a real danger outside,

The amygdala is very quickly going to be active and it's going to trigger a five flight freeze response.

Without the amygdala,

You would not survive.

There is a downside.

If the amygdala becomes too active in situations where there is no real danger,

Then they can lead to your so-called internal interferences.

Think about standing on stage.

There is no real danger,

But somehow the amygdala becomes active.

We start sweating and all of a sudden we start babbling.

We don't really know what to say anymore.

This is the amygdala at work.

It's the same with saying no.

I know that at times when I was working for a particular person I was not enjoying working with and I had convinced myself,

I know tomorrow I'm going to get this extra assignment and I don't want it.

I practiced and practiced in front of the mirror and I was so confident that I was going to go to her office the next day and say no because I didn't want to do it.

But you know what happened?

I went to her office and two minutes later I was standing outside with the extra assignment on my desk.

So what happened to me?

My amygdala.

This is what happened to me.

I got scared.

I got insecure.

I didn't have the self-confidence.

This is why amygdala was spiking and was blocking me my potential to say no.

So this you can remember that one large source of our interferences is the amygdala.

What do I need for my potential?

I need a completely different brain structure.

I need a brain structure that is fully in the front of my brain and this part of the brain is called the prefrontal cortex.

And the prefrontal cortex plays a significant role in all our executive functions such as planning,

Organizing,

Making decisions,

Cognitive performance,

Creativity as well,

Being kind to others or listening to others,

Active listening skills.

So I would say that most of the tasks that we do to a normal working day,

They need somehow our prefrontal cortex.

Now I have some bad news and I'm quite sure you've noticed already but the prefrontal cortex has a limited capacity.

The amygdala,

They will not leave you.

They're always there because they're so important for our survival.

But the prefrontal cortex has a limited capacity and this is why sometimes I compare that with a mental battery.

I have this mental battery in my mind,

In my brain,

This is how I picture it.

And when this mental battery is fully charged,

I can do anything.

Any task that lands on my desk,

Any person comes to me for advice or listening,

All goes well.

I have full patience also with small children,

All goes well.

But the more that I use this mental battery,

The more difficult the exact same tasks become.

And this has nothing to do with the task.

This has everything to do with the mental battery that is used.

So the performance that you can bring or the way you can use your potential very much depends on the balance between the amygdala and your prefrontal cortex.

To give you an understanding of how the amygdala works throughout the normal working day and also how the prefrontal cortex works throughout the normal working day,

I'd like to tell you a story.

It is a story,

I would say,

From all of us.

Let me just picture to you a very challenging day.

And what I'm going to describe to you is how the amygdala reacts to this day and how the prefrontal cortex reacts to the day.

And keep in the back of your mind,

We want to have the amygdala not so active and we want to have the prefrontal cortex fully charged.

This is really the moment where we can relax,

Absolutely bring our own unique best self.

So let us have a look at how this day could run.

Let's say we start the day and we wake up and we haven't slept enough.

And you know if you haven't slept enough,

The prefrontal cortex is already not fully charged.

This is your mental battery not fully charged.

It's raining outside and if it's raining outside,

The amygdala already gets a bit active because you don't like bad weather.

You know,

For you this brings a bit of bad mood.

So your prefrontal cortex starts to use its resources to deal with your negative mood.

You have two children,

Two girls,

The youngest one,

She's two years old and even though it's raining outside,

She's put on a summer dress,

She's put on sandals and what do you do?

You negotiate with your child and this takes quite a bit of your prefrontal cortex.

Finally you're in the car,

At least the children are allowed to go back to school.

You bring your kids to school,

There's traffic jam,

Amygdala is already getting more active.

You use your prefrontal cortex and then you come in the office or home office and what you do,

Especially on days where things don't go the way we want them to go,

We use our prefrontal cortex.

Absolutely like crazy.

And at the end of the day where things didn't go the way we want them to go,

Our mental state looks as follows.

The amygdala is having a lot of free play and the prefrontal cortex or the mental battery is pretty much empty.

Differently put,

You are not the best version of yourself.

This is the moment where at times we behave like the worst versions of ourselves.

And let me tell you a secret.

This is not just happening to you.

This is happening to your partner,

This is happening to your kids because your kids they also have a mental battery but it's very tiny and very quickly empty.

So if you put all those peoples in the evening time in one house in this mental state,

This is the moment that people start fighting and it's exactly the moment that you believe things can't get any worse that you walk bare feet onto a Lego brick.

And this really hurts.

This is the Lego brick.

And I love Lego.

I would be the first one to understand this is the moment where people lose their patience.

It has nothing to do with Lego.

I love Lego.

But at those moments,

This is just that little bit that makes us lose control.

You know we have the amygdala getting free play and the prefrontal cortex is losing its energy or it has already reached its limit capacities.

And you know what I was thinking?

This is happening.

The time of the day where it's expected that we have the best times of our lives with our family,

With our friends,

With our projects,

With our hobbies and you know the brain is not even capable at that moment to appreciate that anymore.

So we need a solution.

This is I thought when I was looking into that as a neuroscientist I said we need a solution to that.

So what I was looking for was a solution or strategy with which we can down regulate this amygdala activation and at the same time give a boost to the prefrontal cortex.

And thank you so much,

Eli,

For donating.

So let us have a look at the solution.

But before we do that,

Let me also just bring it all together.

So we have the performance that stands for the own potential minus our internal interferences.

Sometimes I'm really blocked in my potential.

And what do I need to get a better access to my unique potential so I can become the best version of myself?

I need a capacity that is called self-regulation.

And this is what we're looking at,

Self-regulation on how to improve that.

Also Lisa,

Thank you so much for your donation.

So the strategy that I was looking for is one that if we regularly practice it,

We can see two major developments in the brain.

The first one is that if we regularly practice it,

We can see that the prefrontal cortex,

The mental battery,

Along with all its functions,

Receives a significant boost.

This means that if you look into the science and into the significant improvements,

We have a significant improvement in creativity,

Decision-making,

Setting priorities,

Self-confidence,

Cognitive performance,

Concentration focus,

And the list goes on.

This is one major development in the brain.

The second major development that also has been found in the brain is that when we regularly practice this strategy,

And we're going to look at it in a moment,

What happens as well is that the amygdala reduces its activation level in general.

Not just during an exercise,

But at some point in general,

The amygdala is not going to spike as hard.

This means that the largest source of your internal interferences becomes smaller.

And this is what it means,

Unlocking your unique potential or hacking your brain.

This is exactly what it's about.

And I can already see that my friends here in the chat have already,

Of course,

Mentioned the strategy exactly.

The strategy that I'm talking about that has these powerful effects is called mindfulness meditation.

It is mindfulness meditation.

And mindfulness meditation is a fantastic strategy to reduce those internal interferences so you can have a much better access to your potential.

So let's have a look at how mindfulness and how that works in the brain.

Right?

I'd like to explain that and do an exercise as well.

And also,

Cathy,

I see you donated.

Thank you so much.

Indeed,

I also read here,

Kira writing meditation shrinks the amygdala.

This is exactly what science has found.

But you have to regularly practice,

Of course.

So how does mindfulness work in the brain and also here,

My dear friends,

I also count on you for writing in the chat.

If I use any terms here,

Sometimes it's easier to remember.

You might have noticed that in our brain,

We have a monkey.

Yeah,

This monkey or the monkey mind is this voice that is constantly chatting to us.

It's giving you an opinion.

It's telling you what to do,

What to feel,

To be distracted.

It's talking about the to do list,

About all the worries.

It has to mention everything and it's commenting on everything.

Right?

This is the monkey mind.

But in neuroscience,

These constant distractions to things that are unrelated to the present moment also has a different name.

It's called the default mode network.

Also thanks to Julie,

Maria and Leslie for donating.

I really appreciate it.

So the default mode network is a very dominant network in our brain that really likes to take over.

I mean,

During the 32 minutes that we've been together here,

We've not always been fully present.

You know,

You've also had your distractions.

You know,

You were not always thinking about what we were talking about or you were also commenting in your own mind about what it is I'm talking about.

This is your default mode network who really likes to be active.

And it also leads to thoughts.

And it's exactly these thoughts that also leads to our amygdala activation.

It is our interpretation of the world that leads to our internal interferences.

Thoughts are very important for the quality of our life.

And for mindfulness meditation,

We use in our brain a completely different network.

We use a network that is called the direct experience network.

Direct experience network.

And where does the power lie of mindfulness?

And there I'm absolutely amazed with how nature has designed my brain.

The direct experience network and the default mode network cannot be activated simultaneously.

So we have these two networks in our brain.

We have more networks,

But two are important for mindfulness.

We have the default mode network and the direct experience network.

Also Noella,

Thank you so much for the donation.

The direct experience network is a network that we constantly activate during our mindfulness practice.

It's the direct experience network in your brain that is in close connection to our senses.

And what are the senses?

These are seeing,

Hearing,

Smelling,

Tasting,

Feeling.

These are our senses.

And it is in our mindfulness practice that we bring our full awareness to one of these senses without any judgment,

Just non-judgmentally being aware of what the senses are aware of at all.

And it's with this awareness exercise that we activate the direct experience network in our brain.

So when we activate the direct experience network,

Pure as a biological consequence,

The default mode network will be deactivated.

Or in other words,

The monkey mind will go quiet.

So in our mindfulness practice,

Whether this is five minutes or 10 minutes or one hour,

In fact,

What we do in our brain is we constantly switch between the direct experience network,

Which we activate consciously.

This is bringing our awareness to the senses right here and right now.

The monkey mind goes quiet.

But you know,

The monkey loves to chat.

The monkey loves to chat and it takes about a few seconds at best,

Probably a few milliseconds and this is the moment that the monkey mind takes over again and distracts you,

Gives you a thought,

Gives you an image.

And this is important that we notice that because that's the moment we activate the direct experience network again.

Let us do that together.

Okay,

So we're going to do a small exercise together.

I will explain it for us fully and then we'll all do it together.

So this exercise consists of two parts.

In the first part,

We're going to activate the direct experience network through our hands.

This means that when we start in a moment,

We will be placing our hands on our lap or on the table in front of us.

And just very consciously,

We're going to bring our awareness to the sensations that we feel in our hands without any judgment.

From the moment that you have the idea,

My hands are warm,

My hands are calm,

You're not feeling your hands,

You're actually thinking about feeling your hands.

So here we're really talking about the nonjudgmental awareness right here and right now,

Just whatever you feel in your hands.

That's the first part of the exercise.

In the second part of the exercise,

We're going to activate the direct experience network through the inhale and exhale.

That means we're going to bring our awareness to the inhale and exhale.

Perhaps we feel how the air is flowing in and out.

Perhaps we are aware of the movements that are associated with our inhale and exhale without judgment,

Just here and now being aware of it.

And when the monkey comes,

There is one rule.

Don't fight with the monkey.

Have you ever fought with a monkey?

You know what they do?

They just become louder.

They just become even more present.

So whenever your monkey mind comes and tells you,

You know,

What are you doing here?

You have so many other things to do and you're here sitting with your eyes closed and minding your breath.

What are you doing?

Then you say,

Monkey,

I hurt you.

And it's absolutely okay that you say that to me.

But now I'm bringing my awareness back to the inhale and exhale.

So we're going to do the exercise in a moment.

Susi,

Thank you for donating.

And also I see the name.

They asked the question,

What's the name of my circle?

My circle is called Wisdom and Mindfulness with Caroline.

Wisdom and Mindfulness with Caroline.

You are all more than welcome.

And also this is of course all for free.

So for this short mindfulness meditation,

Which will last about three minutes,

So not that long,

Just to get the theory into practice,

I invite you to sit up straight,

Straight and have your hands on your knees in front of you or you have them on the table,

Whichever way you prefer.

And what we do together,

I invite you to close your eyes.

And the first thing that we do all together is we bring our full awareness to our hands.

And we're just simply aware of the sensations that we are aware of in our hands.

And with closed eyes,

I invite you to very slowly,

Very consciously move your awareness to your inhale and exhale.

We become aware of the air that is gently flowing in and out.

Just you're also aware of the inhale and exhale in your tummy.

The inhale and exhale is happening right here and right now.

You are here and now.

You are fully present.

And above all,

You are ready.

You are ready for whatever it is that remains of this day will come to you.

May you be happy.

May you be healthy.

And may you be at peace.

With the next exhale in your own time,

You can open your eyes again.

Welcome back into this room here.

This was a very,

Very short meditation.

I just wanted to put the theory into practice and to have the feeling you probably already are familiar with mindfulness to really get the feeling of,

OK,

How does it work with those two networks?

And why do I practice mindfulness the way I do here?

Also Monica,

Thank you so much for donating an M.

I very much appreciate it.

And this,

Of course,

Is very helpful for these live sessions.

So there are still a few things I really like to share with you.

First of all,

We have our two imaginary special guests,

Indeed,

Daria,

What did Gandhi say?

And dear Carrie,

Thank you so much for donating.

Also,

Maureen,

Thank you so much.

We have our beautiful person here,

Gandhi.

You know what Gandhi said that is so important for today?

I did mention to you that thoughts make the quality of our life.

They lead to our feelings and so on and so forth.

Well,

Gandhi was also one to notice that.

He said,

Watch your thoughts because they become your words.

Watch your words because they become your actions.

Watch your actions because they become your habits.

And watch your habits because they become your character.

And watch your character because it becomes your destiny,

Your life quality.

Your life quality starts with one single thought.

This is why I have chosen Gandhi as our first imaginary special guest.

You are all my real guests,

Special guests.

This was my imaginary special guest.

But I told you I also have a second imaginary special guest.

This is my GP.

When I go to him,

He does not ask me what's wrong with you.

He just asks,

How are you?

How are you feeling?

And I love his attitude.

I always feel fantastic.

I've always learned something new when I leave his office.

Sometimes I would even just fake a medical problem just to go see him because I believe he's fantastic.

So what did he say?

And then I will read out Gandhi's words again,

Richard.

But what did my GP said when I told him that I was busy with mindfulness?

He said,

Listen,

I want to share something with you.

And you might have heard this already.

Yesterday is history.

Tomorrow is a mystery.

Today is a gift.

This is why we call it the present.

I had heard this before,

But he reminded me and he said,

You know,

You go out there,

Karoline,

Go out.

And each day is like a big gigantic gift and you can unwrap it.

And this only happens in the present moment.

And I love him for that,

That he said that.

And he made my day by saying that.

And I'm happy to share that with you.

So let me just remind you with the words of Gandhi.

I will hold it up again,

Just to repeat.

Watch your thoughts.

They become your words.

Watch your words because they become your actions.

Watch your actions because they become your habits.

Watch your habits.

They become your character and watch your character because it becomes your destiny or your life quality.

So my dear friends,

I would like to make the bridge to the advice of my mother.

My mother told me when I left home,

She said,

You have unique potential.

Keep in the back of your mind that what you want is to use your unique potential so you can become the best version of yourself.

And you know,

It took me a long trip,

But what I've come to learn,

Not just as a scientist,

But also as a human is that mindfulness meditation can so much contribute to developing the best version of ourselves.

And this,

My dear friends,

This is something that you can do for yourself.

This is something that we can do as a group,

As a family,

As a team,

As an inside timer community.

And if you think big,

This is something that we can do as a humankind because with mindfulness meditation,

We can create a better version of humankind.

And this,

I believe,

Is an idea worth sharing with you.

You know,

It's a talk only lasts 18 minutes,

But I'm so grateful that I was able to take the time to give a bit more information and also especially to also look at the comments.

I was not able,

Of course,

To respond to all of that,

But my eye was on it as well.

So keep in the back of your mind yesterday's history.

Tomorrow is a mystery.

Today is a gift.

This is why we call it the present.

And every day again,

My dear friends,

You can wake up and there you have it in front of you,

This gigantic gift and just unwrap it.

You know,

It's like in the unwrapping the gift where we have fun,

Right?

And we can only unwrap the gift in the here and now.

All the best to you.

Have a nice weekend and hopefully we see each other soon.

Bye bye.

Reviews

Lovely and informative! My amygdala even chilled a bit! Thank you 🙏🦋❤️

You have the gift of understanding ánd most of all explaining in a way that sticks in my mind and in my heart. Een enorme "dank je"!!

Muita clareza, fantástica a fala da Karoline. Obrigada!

Thank you so much! I felt like I was in a classroom and listened, as the teacher explained why meditation is a worthwhile endeavor. The way you broke it down and explained the activities of the amygdala and the prefrontal cortex helped me see them separately and I now better understand the monkey mind vs the present moment. Thank you so much. I will absolutely begin a meditation practice! I am finally motivated.

This talk is a great explanation of how meditation works in our brains, how we do it, and what we hope to gain from it, both short term and for life. Thank you.

Thank you for this invaluable talk. It was very informative and insightful and I learned a few interesting facts about the brain.

24.3.22
Karolien -
Brilliant, very very useful and efficient lecture.
Thank you.
🌀🗝🌀

Very positive and uplifting. It gave me confidence in myself and in my mindfulness journey.

As always, this is a wonderful presentation which I will be sharing with others and and opening to discussion. I worked alongside Neuro therapists and find all of it fascinating and the Neuro biofeedback very helpful. Thank you for your wonderful contributions to this field. 🙏

So amazing to learn the science of how the brain works and how meditation affects the brain, thank you!!! 💜🌷💜✅

Wonderful thank you 🙏🏼

🤲🏻🙏🏻💗

Brilliant. Deeply insightful and so full of practical knowledge and advise. Thank you so much Karolien! 🤗💚😍

Wonderful ❣️Thank you 🙏🏻💞

Thank you!! ❤️

Excellent thanks 🙏

Love this. Makes so much sense when you see it from a neuroscience perspective. Thank you Karolien. You are so motivating. 😊