The FitMind Podcast: Mental Fitness, Neuroscience & Psychology

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 

Delson Armstrong is a meditation teacher and author of A Mind Without Craving.

He trained for extended periods in the Himalayas and mastered several systems of yoga, including the ten levels of samadhi (meditative states of absorption). Delson has recently collaborated with leading neuroscience research labs interested in studying his brain.

On this episode, we discuss how to conquer a craving mind, cessation and its benefits, the unique way he experiences his inner world, and the studies being done on his brain.

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

SHOW NOTES

0:00 | Intro to Delson Armstrong

1:30 | A Mind Without Craving

7:25 | Experience of “No Self”

15:40 | Awakened Mind = Supreme Happiness

20:40 | Daily Life After Awakening

26:03 | Meditation Brain Study

30:15 | Cessation - What Is It & Benefits

34:24 | Experiencing How the Mind Works

37:43 | Deconditioning a Wandering Mind

48:11 | Rapid Fire Questions

LINKS

Delson Armstrong Website: https://delsonarmstrong.info/

Dhamma Sukha Meditation Center: https://www.dhammasukha.org/

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/delson

A Mind Without Craving via Suttavada Foundation: https://www.suttavada.foundation/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/a-mind-without-craving.pdf

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