Brain Shaman

 Join us in this conversation with Amir Bozorgzadeh, the co-founder and CEO of Virtuleap, a pioneering VR brain training and diagnostics company.  In this episode, we delve into the fascinating topic of how VR affects the brain - from its therapeutic and cognitive uses to its potential risks and limitations. Discover how unconscious processes can shape our mood and behavior both in VR and the "real world," and learn about the latest research on VR's impact on brain health. We explore topics such as how VR can be used to treat phobias, traumas, pain, addiction, and ADHD, and discuss ways to optimize VR experiences for the brain. 

Resources mentioned:
CHARACTERS
- Christopher Pike (Star Trek)
- Neo (The Matrix)

COMPANIES
- Akili Interactive
- AppliedVR
- Apple
- HTC
- IKONA Health
- Meta
- Unity Technologies
- Varjo
- Virtuleap

PEOPLE
- Andrew Huberman (neuroscientist and podcaster)
- Loretta Breuning (author)
- Noam Chomsky (linguist / cognitive scientist)
- Roland Dubois (Virtuleap, XR Accessibility Lead)
- Todd Maddox (AppliedVR, founder and CEO)
- Victòria Brugada-Ramentol, Ph.D. (Virtuleap, Lead Neuroscientist)

PODCASTS
- Huberman Lab
*"The Science of Vision, Eye Health & Seeing Better," June 2021 episode)

PRODUCTS
- Enhance VR
- Google Cardboard
- PICO 4
- Oculus Go
- Quest 2
- Unity
- Unreal Engine
- VR Speech Trainer

VOCABULARY
- 3 degrees of freedom
- 6 degrees of freedom
- foveated rendering
- MCI
- suprachiasmatic nucleus
- vertigo

----
Connect with Amir (on LinkedIn): /amirboz
Virtuleap website: virtuleap.com
Try Enhance VR: virtuleap.com/enhance

  Excited to have Loretta Breuning, one of my long-time favorite authors, as a special guest on the show! Loretta is an unparalleled expert on happiness, mammals, and the human brain, having authored numerous books and founded the Inner Mammal Institute. In this episode, we delve into the fascinating topics of our mammalian past and unique human cortex, exploring how to leverage this knowledge to train our brains for more happiness and fulfillment, and less pain and frustration.

  But that's not all – we cover a wide range of other topics, including common happiness myths and mistakes, the truth about our happy neurochemicals (dopamine, serotonin, oxytocin, and endorphins), animal training, rewards, childhood and adolescence, addiction, habits, pain, distraction, conformity, positive thinking, expectations, goal setting and achievement, energy optimization, connection, solitude, death, writing, work, travel, comedy, reading, relationships, and more. Join us for this exciting exploration of neuroscience and personal growth with the incredible Loretta Breuning.

  SPECIAL OFFER: Get 20% off her life-changing course by going to:
https://innermammalinstitute.org/course/?ref=michael
Use coupon code: HAPPY20

 Resources mentioned in this episode:
 BOOKS
- Status Games by Loretta Breuning
- Habits of a Happy Brain by Loretta Breuning
- 14 Days to Sustainable Happiness by Loretta Breuning
- How I Escaped Political Correctness & You Can Too by Loretta Breuning

PODCASTS
- The Happy Brain
  (including The Problem with Academic Psychology episode)

PEOPLE
- Steven Pressfield
- James Altucher
- Brandon McMillan
- Cesar Millan, "The Dog Whisperer"
- Roy Baumeister
- Robert Nozick

COURSE
- Train Your Inner Mammal to Feel Good Now
(use the link: https://innermammalinstitute.org/course/?ref=michael and enter coupon code: HAPPY20 to get 20% off)
**EXTRA BONUS: send me an email after you buy the course and get a free 40-minute call with me. Listen until the end of the episode to find my email ;)

To learn more or connect with Loretta Breuning, visit: innermammalinstitute.org

In this episode, you will learn how to begin healing yourself - from mental illness, cognitive decline, chronic disease, or basically anything. That's what today's guest, Dr. Jonah Yakel is all about - helping people save their brain, in a natural and long-lasting way. Take back control over your own health and brain. Start feeling and functioning better, all on your own (with the help of nutrition, the removal of toxins, exercise, etc.).

We talk about his story (of getting into functional medicine and healing his own body and brain). And we discuss things like:

• What is functional medicine?
• What causes cognitive decline? How can we overcome or prevent it?
• What role does inflammation play in brain function and mental health?
• What are the 4 hallmark symptoms of brain inflammation? What causes it?
• How does our metabolic state (and blood sugar) affect our brain state?
• How does food affect how you feel (mentally, physically, emotionally)?
• Why are some people more sensitive (or aware) of the way certain foods/substances affect their mind and body? Why are others less sensitive? 
• How can you increase your sensitivity (awareness) of your own mental and physical state, and the ways certain foods and substances are impacting it?
• How can you become more attuned to your body and brain's needs?
• Can toxic relationships cause chronic illness or mental health problems?
• How can removing yourself from your ordinary environment save your life?
• What role might your culture be playing on your mental and physical health?
• Why is mental illness in the U.S. increasing?
• What causes depression?
• What causes bipolar disorder?
• How do carbohydrates (or, sugar) affect the brain? What about fats?
• Are you addicted to carbohydrates?
• How can a ketogenic diet help improve your mental and physical health?
• Why do we self-sabotage our own health, lives, and happiness?

Learn more from Dr. Jonah Yakel:
-Website: https://www.drjonahyakel.com
-Podcast: The Brain Health Podcast
-TikTok: @drjonahyakel

Books mentioned in this episode:
 -Brain Energy by Christopher Palmer (2022)
-Mindset by Carol Dweck (2006)
-Grain Brain by David Perlmutter (2013)
-Drop Acid by David Perlmutter (2022)
-Wheat Belly by William Davis (2011)
-A Mind of Your Own by Kelly Brogan (2016)
-The Big Leap by Gay Hendricks (2009)

*Scribd is my absolute favorite source for audiobooks. It's a subscription service. And some of the above-listed books are on there. Try for FREE for 60 days, by using the link: https://www.scribd.com/g/94z12m. 

(note: this podcast is NOT sponsored or in any way affiliated with Scribd. Also, if you sign up for the free trial, it'll also give me 30 days of free reading. Yay! We both can boost our brains with books).

More conversation with Dan Koch, the cacao DJ from down under. 
We talk about how to rediscover who you are and create your best life, with the help of things like cacao. Some of the topics discussed:

•   Recreating yourself
•   Changing your personality, identity, and life
•   Fear
•   Money
•   Motivation
•   Quitting your job
•   Abundance
•   Love
•   Death
•   Distraction
•   Cacao ceremonies & parties
•   Remembering who you really are (from childhood ...)
•   Finding and living your purpose
•   Balance and harmony
•   Doing what you love
•   Tribal living vs. Western culture
•   The myth of property & ownership
•   Ego and separation
•   Living in harmony with nature
•   Cycles of nature and history
•   Valuing your time, yourself, and nature
•   Embracing  darkness, hardship, and challenge
•   High-frequency foods and behaviors
•   Caffeine
•   The dark side of cacao
•   Common mistakes to avoid when buying cacao

And of course you'll learn about cacao - its effects on the mind, body, and spirit.

Dan Koch is the founder of Sacred Taste, which offers pure wild-crafted ceremonial grade cacao, in 5 delicious flavors (w/ rose, matcha, mint, chili, etc.)

Connect with Dan Koch (and Sacred Taste):
Website:     https://sacredtaste.com
Instagram: @wearesacred
                         @koda.sounds

Listen to past podcast interviews (with Dan Koch):
Brain Shaman (4/10/2023)
AltMed Podcast (3/23/2023)
Be More You (1/11/2022)
The Carlo Cirillo Show (9/1/2021) 

 A musical and vibrational journey through life, happiness, energy, and lots of little things like cacao, alcohol, caffeine, connection, music, drugs, happiness, identity, and much more.

Meet Dan Koch, the founder of the cacao company, Sacred Taste. Today, we talk about cacao but also:

• music's effects on the mind and body
• drugs (alcohol, caffeine ...)
• theobromine, magnesium, and other hidden goodies of cacao
• time (past, present, and future ...)
• happiness
• identity (and how to change who you are)
• cacao parties
• redirecting your life
• energy
• nature
• moon cycles
• connection (with yourself, each other, nature, and everything)
• happy neurochemicals (dopamine, serotonin, oxytocin, endorphin...)

There's lots of awesome 100% raw cacao sold on Amazon and iHerb.

However, if you'd like to give extra love to Dan, the Ashaninka tribe, the Amazon rainforest (not the website), your body, heart, spirit, mind, or also just wanna spice things up with a mix of roses, matcha, chili peppers, and other superfoods, you could try some of that Sacred Taste cacao.

First order is 10% off.

RECOMMENDED: drink cacao before or while listening :) 

This conversation with Dan Koch is a journey that you don't want to miss.

To be continued.... (in episode 18).

Connect with Dan Koch (and Sacred Taste):
Website: https://sacredtaste.com
Instagram: @wearesacred
                         @koda.sounds

Listen to past podcast interviews (with Dan Koch):
AltMed Podcast (3/23/2023)
Be More You (1/11/2022)
The Carlo Cirillo Show (9/1/2021)

An episode about dopamine, happiness, distraction, action, goals, and how to live a more authentic and meaningful life. With some fun and wackiness thrown in. 

This is an interview with Justin Sunseri. He is a polyvagal-obsessed trauma therapist and coach (works with teenagers, couples, and families) and is the host of the Stuck Not Broken podcast. In today's conversation, some of the things we talk about are:

• Polyvagal theory
• trauma
• connection
• safety
• danger
• experience of reality 
• parenting
• pets 
• nutrition
• solitude
• introversion & extroversion
• schools
• rules & consequences
• technology
• play
• self-judgment 
• morality  
• mind-body split
• culture 
• evolution
• civilization
• power
• perception 
• stillness 
• awe
• nature
• work
• empathy  
• motivation
• challenge
• competitiveness
• success
• being in the present

Resources:
Justin Sunseri's main hub: www.justinlmft.com
Stuck Not Broken podcast: www.justinlmft.com/podcast
(available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts...)

Play around with these ten ideas (based on Feng Shui, Vastu Shastra, biology, and Michael's recent experience), ways to reposition your bed, to help you get a better night's sleep. 

The underlying premise behind all of these things is: the human animal must feel safe when it goes to bed. If you do not feel physically (and psychologically) safe, it will be much harder to fall asleep, stay asleep, and get quality sleep.

Here are the ten tips:

1. Don't sleep with a window (or any opening) behind you.
2. Keep all the scary / dangerous / noisy things closer to your dominant hand.
3. Move your bed to a place where you can see your door.
4. Don't sleep with things (e.g. shelves) above you.
5. Keep only safe, soft, and positive things under the bed.
6. Keep exciting or stimulating things away from your bed.
7. Don't sleep with your feet to the door (aka in the "coffin position").
8. Sleep with your head pointed north or east.
9. Sleep with your head against a solid wall (or get a headboard).
10. Sleep in a way that reminds you of your safe happy childhood.

What do you fear? What trauma do you die to overcome? Who do you want to be? How do you need to grow?

Michael trembles as he pops out of his shell and does his first unscripted episode. 
Wow, what a big boy! Finally, he musters up the courage to talk like a human and not hide behind walls of carefully-crafted words.

In this episode, he talks about some of his past traumas and about his future plans with this podcast (hint: more unscripted episodes, as well as continuing to do scripted ones (because he's addicted to those), AND whoa! - interviews - coming soon). 

And he releases his e-mail address to the interwebs, and it's not [email protected].

Learn about how to enter the deep unconscious restorative world of delta brain waves and GABA. This a place full of sleeping babies, meditating monks, and whales calling from the deep. 

You'll learn how to drop it real low, in the 0-4 Hz brain range, through:

• deep sleep
• meditation
• chanting and humming
• light exposure (the sun, light boxes, etc.)
• sounds (animal sounds, music, etc.)
• nutrition
• supplements
• drugs (alcohol, etc.)
• pharmaceuticals
• technologies

Discover extra hidden benefits of putting your brain in a low-energy state.
And some wacky treats sprinkled throughout the episode.

*Special guest appearance by DJ Delta