The Brain Coach
A regular exploration into the science of mental health by a recovered anxious worrywart. This podcast focuses on the psychology and neuroscience of anxiety, stress and worry, and links them to tools and practices to enable positive change.
Episodes
32 episodes
An Introduction Into Uncovering Implicit "Limiting Beliefs"
More on how "emotional learnings" are created and how they inform our thoughts, feelings and behaviour. Also includes some discovery techniques that will allow us to uncover these schema so that we might update them in future, which will help r...
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Season 2
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Episode 12
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42:08
An Introduction into The Neuroscience of Enduring Change
This episode explores how our memories inform our beliefs and schema from the perspective of science. It includes aspects of memories and how we develop them as we mature from babyhood onwards, why it is difficult (but possible) to update our b...
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Season 2
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Episode 11
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47:34
An Introduction Into Trauma: How Emotional Learnings Shape Who We Are
What do we mean when we say emotional trauma, and why does it matter to us as adults? A huge part of finding inner-peace is understanding where the inner disharmony comes from. Many of the beliefs we have about ourselves that create di...
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Season 2
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Episode 10
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52:31
Self Esteem II: Mastery and Growth
Once we have built a foundation of self-worth, the other aspect of self-esteem is personal growth or "mastery". But is it really that important, and how do we find a sense of purpose?
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Season 2
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Episode 9
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40:31
Self-Worth: The Foundation For Positive Self-Esteem
How can we start feeling good about ourselves? What's the difference between people with authentically high levels of self-esteem, narcissists and those with low levels of self-worth? How can we work towards feelings of self-compassion, respect...
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Season 2
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Episode 8
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37:26
The Journey Into Self-Realisation: Models Of Change
How do we fill the sense of emptiness when we have met our needs but still feel like there's something missing? Why do people get stuck on the hedonic treadmill, which keeps them unfulfilled? How can we reassess our lives and start moving towar...
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Season 2
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Episode 7
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38:37
Overcoming Rumination: Forgiveness, Self-Compassion and Positive Visualisation
How can we let go of this tendency to berate ourselves for things we've done in the past? How can we forgive ourselves and others, so we can get on with living? How can we detach ourselves from the sticky default mode network, which is responsi...
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Season 2
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Episode 6
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43:55
Depression II: Hopelessness and Aversion to Happiness
Are you afraid of being happy? As odd as that sounds, its true for many of us on a deep, implicit level. Uncovering why we might close ourselves to happiness can allow us to let it in.
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Season 2
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Episode 5
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45:02
Depression I: An Introduction Into The Biological Model Of Depression
For those who love the neuroscience and biological aspect of mental health. A brief look into the murky world of biology and depression. If we can see depression as an adaptive response instead of a pathological state it allows us a window into...
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Season 2
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Episode 4
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47:37
The Importance of Human Connection II: Helping others helps you
How do we protect ourselves from emotional contagion? How do we get the best out of human connection whether we're extroverts or introverts? Why do we need to let go of the distractions that keep us stuck in isolation, so we can spend more time...
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Season 2
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Episode 3
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44:07
The Importance of Human Connection I: Oxytocin
An introduction into the science of human connection. How did we get here? Why do we feel better when we have the support of people we care about? Why does it matter who we spend our time with?
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Season 2
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Episode 2
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37:43
Body Feedback II: Stimulating the Vagus Nerve
An introduction into autonomic nervous system and how to shift the balance from "fight/flight" to "rest/digest" by deliberately stimulating the vagus nerve.
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Season 2
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Episode 1
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29:48
Overcoming Avoidance Part 3 - Reconnecting With Your Capability and Sitting With Your Demons
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49:27
Overcoming Avoidance Part 1 - Openness, Curiosity and Breaking the Habit
This episode starts by describing how we can begin to step into a toward state of mind by staying open and nurturing a sense of curiosity. It then explores the basic neuroscience of avoidance and the balance between order and chaos, so we can t...
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39:45
Serenity: How To Accept What You Can't Change And Have The Courage To Change What You Can
Reinhold Niebuhr's Serenity Prayer states "God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference." This episode continues the theme of reducing stress and over...
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42:37
Overwhelm - How To Navigate This Ubiquitous Stressor (Plus The Ultimate Happiness Hack)
Much of the time the biggest stressor of modern life is overwhelm, which triggers the threat circuitry for repression, or a lack of perceived control. Slowing down, getting organised, freeing up time, losing distractions and reinst...
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Season 1
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Episode 15
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42:36
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13 Worry Hacks To Help You Achieve Peace
13 worry hacks for a peaceful brain:1. Use your focused/task based attentional networks instead. Worry is chiefly the result of the activation of the daydreaming default mode network (where we go when we ...
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Season 1
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Episode 14
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38:39
Introducing Emotional Duality - Overcome Social Anxiety
This episode introduces the idea of "emotional duality", which was an essential step towards my recovery from the default discomfort of anxiety, and gave me the freedom to be myself without the guarded feelings I always carried around. If you h...
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Season 1
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Episode 13
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38:08
Two Traps - Freedom From Anger and Victimhood
This episode starts by briefly covering how we can use mindfulness to press pause, allowing us to veto emotional reactions such as anger. Next, we talk about two common traps that most of us fall into at some point - anger and victi...
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Season 1
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46:03
Meditation - What’s The Big Deal?
This episode briefly revisits neural competition and neuroplasticity, allowing us to see why meditation can have a profound impact on our mental wellbeing. It then explores four staples of formal meditation: Loving Kindness (Metta), Gratitude, ...
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40:28
Mindfulness - The Antidote To Overthinking and Emotional Volatility
This is a deep dive into a practice that is notoriously difficult to explain. Years of study into mindfulness, neuroscience and psychology have allowed to me to connect all the dots, enabling the realisation of a model which can finally give so...
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Season 1
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Episode 9
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38:41
The Most Powerful Way to Combat Depression and Anxiety - Balancing the System
This episode covers the physical foundations of achieving a balanced mental state. The brain is part of the body. Balancing the system through changes to diet, removal of toxins and increased levels of exercise, will result in a vast i...
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Season 1
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Episode 8
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34:46
