The FitMind Podcast: Mental Fitness, Neuroscience & Psychology FitMind: Neuroscience, Meditation & Mental Fitness Training

How does the mind shape our reality? What happens when the conceptual mind turns off?
The answers might be found in the depths of meditation.
Doug Kraft has delved into the complexities of the mind from various perspectives: as a psychotherapist, writer, minister, meditation teacher, and through the lenses of bio-energetics and neuroscience.
In this episode, we discuss consciousness and the mind's role in constructing our reality. We explore how to train our brains to achieve lasting contentment.
FitMind Neuroscience-Based App: http://bit.ly/afitmind
Website: www.fitmind.org
SHOW NOTES
0:00 | Introduction to Doug Kraft
1:20 | Home Retreat Experience
8:15 | Dependent Origination
14:23 | What is Consciousness?
23:31 | How the Mind Constructs Reality
36:24 | The Man Who Lost $100,000
45:04 | Exercise for Glimpsing Deep Awareness
47:48 | Practice Insight - Redirecting Attention 
LINKS
Doug's website: https://easingawake.com/ Doug's retreat talks: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DutrLDZo1Yk&t=2403s 

How does the brain work at its deepest levels? And to what extent can we radically upgrade it, creating neuroplastic changes?
Ruben Laukkonen, PhD is a cognitive neuroscientist, contemplative, speaker, and poet.
His eclectic background includes competing semi-professionally in Muay Thai Kickboxing, founding two businesses (including the first online market for bitcoin in Australia), and intensive meditation training.
Dr. Laukkonen is currently a principal investigator and lecturer at Southern Cross University and holds honorary fellowships at VU Amsterdam and The University of Queensland. He uses methods such as behavior, neuroimaging, machine learning, and phenomenology to empirically investigate some of the rarest states of human consciousness.
This episode is a full tour of the mind, including a deep dive into some of those rare states of consciousness and what they reveal about achieving the highest levels of human happiness.
FitMind Neuroscience-Based App: http://bit.ly/afitmind
Website: www.fitmind.com
 
SHOW NOTES
0:00 | Introduction to Ruben Laukkonen, PhD
2:02 | Early Experience 
10:45 | How the Mind Makes Itself
22:18 | Predictive Processing & Agitation
25:30 | Why There's Always Something Wrong
31:28 | Chain of Causality in the Mind
36:00 | The Mind Rebuilding After Deepest Levels of Meditation
38:25 | Meditation for Reconditioning the Mind
52:06 | Doing Nothing Very Well
53:14 | Stages of Meditation & Predictive Processing
1:08:28 | Cessation & Awakening Research
1:17:12 | Jhanas - Stages of Deconstruction
1:24:22 | Rapid Fire Questions
 
LINKS
https://rubenlaukkonen.com https://fitmind.com/give 

Dr. Anna Abraham is a psychologist and neuroscientist who investigates creativity and how we can optimize this key trait. She’s also a leading scholar on the study of human imagination.
On this episode, we discuss the key ingredients of a creative mind, how to become more creative, and how the brain can tell the difference between real and imaginary worlds.
FitMind Neuroscience-Based App: http://bit.ly/afitmind
Website: www.fitmind.com
SHOW NOTES
0:00 | Intro to Anna Abraham, PhD
1:44 | Imagination More Important Than Knowledge?
4:45 | Imagination Defined
7:53 | How We Experience Real vs. Imaginary Worlds
17:20 | Fiction Crossing Into Reality
21:35 | Overlap of Memory & Imagination
29:28 | Ingredients of a Creative Mind
42:08 | Ways to Build Creativity
48:35 | Predictors of Creativity
58:12 | Rapid Fire Questions

Nick Littlehales has been an elite sport recovery coach for nearly a quarter-century and is the bestselling author of Sleep: The Myth of 8 Hours, the Power of Naps... and the New Plan to Recharge Your Body and Mind.
On this episode, we uncover the common myths and misunderstandings about sleep. We also discuss the circadian rhythm, chronotypes, polyphasic sleep, and treating sleep as recovery.
FitMind Neuroscience-Based App: http://bit.ly/afitmind
Website: www.fitmind.com
SHOW NOTES
0:00 | Intro to Nick Littlehales
1:42 | Sleep Tips
3:45 | Becoming a Sleep Coach
7:28 | How the Pros Optimize Sleep
9:38 | What to do Before You Sleep
19:36 | Understanding Circadian Rhythm
26:10 | Polyphasic Sleep: Importance of Naps
28:58 | 7 Key Sleep Recovery Indicators
37:27 | How to Improve Sleep
43:54 | Microrest
45:20 | Rapid Fire Questions

Donald Hoffman, PhD is a cognitive scientist and author of The Case Against Reality: Why Evolution Hid the Truth from Our Eyes.
He is currently a professor at UC Irvine, where he studies consciousness, visual perception and evolutionary psychology.
On this episode, we “take the red pill” and hear Dr. Hoffman’s theory on why reality is not what it seems. He explains this complex topic by comparing reality to a user interface.
We discuss many topics, such as his mathematical theory of consciousness, questioning beliefs, and how the mind forms new mental models.
FitMind Neuroscience-Based App: http://bit.ly/afitmind
Website: www.fitmind.com
Show Notes
0:00 | Introduction to Donald Hoffman, PhD
2:23 | Why Reality Isn’t as It Seems
7:30 | Reality as a User Interface
13:51 | Adapting to Evolving Technology
16:06 | Creating New Mental Models
18:31 | Moving Beyond Spacetime
23:06 | Consciousness is Fundamental
25:26 | Ancient Wisdom & Science of Consciousness
30:00 | Conversation with the Dalai Lama (starting at 54:40)
30:15 | Reality Transcends Concepts
36:39 | Questioning Beliefs
38:56 | A New Worldview
45:04 | Mathematical Theory of Consciousness
45:39 | Rapid Fire Questions

Andrew Holecek is an author and meditation teacher with decades of intensive practice experience, including a 3-year silent retreat in the Tibetan tradition.
Andrew’s work combines ancient wisdom with modern science.
We discuss the insights gained from his lengthy silent retreat, the 2 vectors of enlightenment, how our minds construct our realities, and much more.
FitMind Neuroscience-Based App: http://bit.ly/afitmind
Website: www.fitmind.com
SHOW NOTES
0:00 | Intro to Andrew Holecek
4:55 | In the Presence of Meditation Masters 
10:10 | 3-Year Silent Retreat Experience
18:58 | Insights Gained from 3-Year Retreat
22:50 | Unsticking the Mind
30:06 | Enlightenment Defined 
38:58 | Waking Up & Growing Up 
44:23 | How Our Minds Construct Our Realities 
54:20 | Deconstructing Mental Constructs
62:23 | Rapid Fire Questions