The FitMind Podcast: Mental Fitness, Neuroscience & Psychology

Dr. Ash Sangoram is a neuroscientist, neonatologist, former assistant Stanford Golf coach, and the founder of GoaLoGolf, an elite performance training company.

Ash trained under two National Academy of Science neuroscientists and implemented this understanding of the brain into his golf practice to drop his handicap by 15 points while rehabilitating from a spinal cord injury.

Ash is also an experience insight meditation practitioner, and he is currently working on bringing neuroscience and meditation principles into the Stanford golf program. Ash believes that meditation and elite athletic performance are inextricably linked, with neuroscience providing the glue that grounds how to go about practicing for elite performance.

This is a wide-ranging conversation on how the mind works and how to optimize it.

FitMind Neuroscience-Based App: http://bit.ly/afitmind Website: www.fitmind.com

Mind Nuggets are mini-episodes on how the mind works and how to apply it for the best life possible. They are taken directly from the FitMind meditation training app.

Attention Economy is all about the value of attention and how to use it skillfully throughout the day.

Topics covered: • Attention engineers • Subconscious programming • Attention Deficit Disorder • Eliminating low-quality, dopamine-rich information

FitMind Neuroscience-Based App: http://bit.ly/afitmind Website: www.fitmind.com

Loch Kelly is a meditation teacher and psychotherapist who combines western science and psychology with ancient eastern methods for training the mind. He's the Founder of Open-Hearted Awareness Institute and author of Shift Into Freedom and The Way of Effortless Mindfulness.

Loch served on the New York Insight Teachers Council, studied extensively with Mingyur Rinpoche, and was invited to teach by Adyashanti, two very famous meditation teachers. Given his extensive experience meditating and decades studying with teachers in Sri Lanka, Nepal and all around the world, Loch was asked to collaborate with neuroscientists at Yale, UPenn, and NYU in the study of how meditation training can enhance the brain.

In this episode, we discuss flow states, non-duality, and how to shift out of a thought-based operating system, and Loch leads a powerful guided meditation.

FitMind Neuroscience-Based App: http://bit.ly/afitmind Website: www.fitmind.com

Mind Nuggets are mini-episodes on how the mind works and how to apply it for the best life possible. They are taken directly from the FitMind meditation training app.

Pleasure vs. Fulfillment is all about why we ought to aim for lasting happiness in an age of instant gratification.

Topics covered:

• Psychology of YOLO

• The Downstairs Brain

• Struggling for fulfillment

FitMind Neuroscience-Based App: http://bit.ly/afitmind Website: www.fitmind.com

Anne-Laure Le Cunff is the Founder of Ness Labs, a venture studio dedicated to products that help people be happier and healthier. Previously Anne-Laure worked for Google on their digital health products team, and she is currently completing a Master of Science in Applied Neuroscience at King's College London. Her work has been featured in WIRED, Forbes, The Rolling Stone. Anne-Laure is also a certified Mental Health First Aider and member of the Society for Neuroscience.

In this episode, we discuss burnout, imposter syndrome, neuromyths, the cobra effect, overcoming cognitive biases, joy triggers, FOBO, time anxiety and more.

FitMind Neuroscience-Based App: http://bit.ly/afitmind Website: www.fitmind.com

Dr. Nichols is a scientist, activist, community organizer, and author of the bestselling book Blue Mind: The Surprising Science That Shows How Being Near, In, On, or Under Water Can Make You Happier, Healthier, More Connected, and Better at What You Do.

He is a Research Associate at California Academy of Sciences and his work has been broadcast on NPR, BBC, PBS, National Geographic and Animal Planet and featured in Time, Newsweek, GQ, Scientific American and New Scientist, among others. Dr. Nichols' most recent work has been on BLUEMiND: The Mind + Ocean Initiative, merging the fields of cognitive science and ocean exploration.

In this episode of the FitMind Podcast, we discuss blue mind vs. red mind, overstimulation, the scientific effects of water on the mind, neuromarketing, float tanks, surfing as therapy, and aquatic ape hypothesis, among other topics.

FitMind Neuroscience-Based App: http://bit.ly/afitmind Website: www.fitmind.com

Neil Pasricha is the bestselling author of six books including The Book of Awesome, The Happiness Equation and most recently You are Awesome. His books are New York Times and #1 international bestsellers and have sold millions of copies across dozens of languages. He also has a 100 million-hit award-winning blog called 1000 Awesome Things, a very popular TED talk, and has spoken at places like Google and South by Southwest.

We talk about his path from Harvard Business School to working at Walmart and eventually researching and writing about happiness, why he likes hanging out with 3-year-olds, attention diets, quitting social media, untouchable days, echo chambers, resilience, and failure budgets. Neil gives some great direct takeaways for improving your mindset.

FitMind Neuroscience-Based App: http://bit.ly/afitmind Website: www.fitmind.com

Ben Pakulski, a.k.a. BPAK is the CEO of Muscle Intelligence and a former IFBB professional bodybuilder who won the Mr. Canada competition in 2008. In this episode of the FitMind Podcast, we discuss how Ben got into yoga as a 320-pound muscle man, achieving mental fitness through meditation, covert influence, the attention economy, and tips for optimizing the mind.

FitMind Neuroscience-Based App: http://bit.ly/afitmind Website: www.fitmind.com

Dr. Keely Kolmes is a psychologist with over 20 years of experience providing psychotherapy. They are also the founder of Bay Area Open Minds and consult nationally and internationally on digital ethics and technology issues for clinicians. In this episode of the FitMind Podcast, we talk about the psychological impact of the Internet and the nuances of forming genuine relationships and community in this virtual ecosystem.

FitMind Neuroscience-Based App: http://bit.ly/afitmind Website: www.fitmind.com

Dr. Frates is the Founder of Wellness Synergy, an award-winning professor at Harvard Medical School, and co-author of Life After Stroke. She graduated magna cum laude from Harvard College and then Stanford Medical School.

We discuss a family tragedy that led Dr. Frates into the wellness field, taste bud rehab, the Harvard healthy plate, the sugar cycle, how to make a healthy habit change and, overall, the importance of nutrition, exercise and sleep for achieving a healthy mind and body.

FitMind Neuroscience-Based App: http://bit.ly/afitmind Website: www.fitmind.com