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Nathan Wallis
Host of the documentary “All in the Mind”, and co-host of the TV Series “The Secret life of Girls”, Nathan Wallis, Aotearoa’s renowned neuroscience educator, has been captivating audiences over 250 times per year to sell out events in New Zealand, Australia & China
With a profound reputation as a lively and engaging speaker, Nathan uses humour and plain language to condense ‘25 years of neuroscience research’ into his unique ‘tell you how it is’ style. You’ll be absolutely captivated and walk away jam-packed with more than a few “ah-ha” moments.
Nathan’s talks will be of interest to anyone who is committed to understanding the workings of their own brain and improving the quality of their lives, regardless of whether they have children or not. Just because all the groovy brain stuff happens in the early years of life doesn’t mean that it’s not absolutely relevant to you now. In fact, having a conscious awareness of how your brain works and reacts will lead you towards a more enhanced, happy, content and consciously intelligent life.
25 years of research is hard to fit into an hour-and-a-half chat, so, what Nathan has done is broken things down into a series of sequential talks:
1. Understand Your Brain – The First 1000 Days
2. Engage Your Brain – 2-7-Years
3. Change Your Brain! Change Your Life!
Specialist Topics
• Teen Brain
• Play Based Learning
1. Change your Brain – Change your Life!
‘Change Your Brain – Change Your Life!’ takes a broader perspective than Nathan’s previous talks. This new discussion explores the inherent ability in everyone’s brain to be able to change the ‘wiring’ of their brain and thereby improve their level of happiness, well-being and overall quality of life.
Nathan’s message is that we are not subject to the biology dictated by the brain, but rather, it’s actually an interactive process – the biology of the brain is also dictated by our thoughts and actions. Or alternatively, our brains are voice activated and we are far more in control of our brains than we realise.
This talk will update you (in Nathan’s usual plain, direct, ‘southern-man style’ kind of way!) on Neuroplasticity – or the brains ability to change itself – and how to do this.
This is the same information Nathan shares with trauma experts and all manner of professionals across New Zealand, Australia and China. This seminar will be of interest to anyone who is committed to self-development and improving the quality of their lives. It will also be of interest to anyone working with trauma, or in roles helping other people improve the quality of their lives.
2. Engage Your Brain
This talk focuses on the social/emotional aspects of your brain development – how feeling impacts our thinking. While the times that this brain really has the steering wheel is 2-8 and again in the middle of adolescence, it is relevant to all learners that want to feel engaged, enthusiastic and passionate about what they do.
The fundamental mistake New Zealand society has made over the last few decades, is thinking that a two year-old is a little seven year-old and that the earlier we get ready to be seven, by learning numeracy and literacy, the better off we will be. That’s just not how our brain develops. A large part of intelligence is problem-solving and problem-solving is hugely dependent on creativity. Creatively largely comes online, between the ages of two and seven, in a free-play, child-lead environment. It’s development is inhibited if we focus instead on seven year old formalised literacy and numeracy.
Learning is so much easier when the learner is engaged. Come along and learn how to engage your brain.
3. Teen Brain
There are 6000-year-old hieroglyphics carved into the pyramids depicting the teenagers of the time as being self-obsessed, defiant and unmotivated – that’s sounding pretty familiar don’t you think?
During adolescence (which is a lot longer than you think by the way!) part of your teenage brain “shuts for renovations”. This is the part of the brain responsible for controlling your teenager’s moods, for understanding consequences and for thinking about the well-being of others. So whilst you can’t expect lots of those behaviours during adolescence, there are ways that you can enhance and maximise the times when they can. Understanding the changes that are taking place for your teen will help you to navigate successfully these important and formative years.
Join Nathan for an in-depth look into the teen brain.
4. Mix of all presentations above
This is the foundation talk for all of Nathan’s other talks, where you learn about the structure of your brain and how this impacts on everything you say and do. To understand how this structure comes about means re-examining your early life and the first 1000 days.
The First 1000 Days of your life will shape what kind of person you will turn into. In contrast to what your parents believed, it’s not just about your genes and it’s not about learning alphabets, numbers or colours. It’s about being in a safe, loving and interactive environment. The more love and positive interaction you experience in your first 1000 days of life, the more developed your brain will be. This will ultimately impact all of your child’s life-long outcomes (far more than secondary school ever will!). Come along and get a summary of the latest research and everything a parent, grandparent or wh?nau needs to know.