Course Description

What does it mean to be intraconnected? In weaving the internal and external, the subjective and objective, this workshop will reveal how modern culture, as well as how our brain is wired, may give us a message of separation as a solo, isolated self; yet a wider perspective unveils that who we are, what a deeper reality actually is, may be something more—broader than the brain, bigger even than the body—fundamental to the social systems and the natural world in which we live. We will explore the nature of how our experience of what we often call, self, emerges across the lifespan and how this journey into identity and belonging can help weave our personal reflections with scientific discussions into how the mind, brain, and relationships shape who we are. Our body-based self—the origin of a Me— is not only connected to others but connected within our relational worlds themselves—a WE—forming the essence of how we belong and the fullness of our identity. Who we are is both within and between: Me plus We equals MWe, the reality of our intraconnected lives.

Learning Objectives

1. Participants will be able to define the neural pathways of constructing the experience of “self.”
2. Participants will be able to describe how social experience within families and societies shapes the construction of self.
3. Participants will be able to name three ways in which broadening a sense of self enhances health.

Presenter(s)

Daniel Siegel, M.D.

Daniel Siegel, M.D. is a clinical professor of psychiatry at the UCLA School of Medicine and the founding co-director of the Mindful Awareness Research Center at UCLA. He is also the Executive Director of the Mindsight Institute which focuses on the development of mindsight, teaches insight, empathy, and integration in individuals, families and communities. Dr. Siegel has published extensively for both the professional and lay audiences. His five New York Times bestsellers are: Aware: The Science and Practice of Presence , Mind: A Journey to the Heart of Being Human, Brainstorm: The Power and Purpose of the Teenage Brain, and two books with Tina Payne Bryson, Ph.D: The Whole-Brain Child, and No-Drama Discipline. His other books include: IntraConnected (coming November 2022), The Developing Mind, The Pocket Guide to Interpersonal Neurobiology, Mindsight, The Mindful Brain, The Mindful Therapist, and Becoming Aware. He has also written The Yes Brain and The Power of Showing Up with Tina Payne Bryson, Ph.D. Dr. Siegel also serves as the Founding Editor for the Norton Professional Series on Interpersonal Neurobiology which currently contains over eighty textbooks. For more information about his educational programs and resources, please visit: www.DrDanSiegel.com and www.mindsightinstitute.com