Showing posts with label sexuality. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sexuality. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 18
Talk to Me First - Deborah Ruffman on Sex and Teens
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Thursday, January 30
Dan Spiegel author of Brainstorm- Notes from his talk at Spirit Rock
Optimizing the Essence of Adolescence
I caught Dr Siegal speaking at the Spirit Rock Meditation Center this weekend and while I was only able to stay for the first half of the talk I took away some inspiring ideas as related to Discovering the Hidden Power & Purpose of the Adolescent Mind.
While a child’s brain operates like a sponge soaking up the world around, the adolescent brain has at it’s central pursuit a process Siegel compares to remodeling a house. And like most remodeling projects, this one can be kind of messy. “Pruning” and “Myelination” are two of the central activities going on as the adolescent brain rewires it's in “use-it-or-lose-it” brain changing process. Pruning refers to the loss of synaptic connections and Myelination is the strengthening of others allowing nerve cells are able to more quickly transmit information allowing for more complex brain processes. The teen brain goes through this intense remodeling and rewiring for the necessary purpose of preparing to leave home.
During the tween and teen years, myelination occurs in the frontal lobe of the brain and impacts cognitive development. Improved "executive functioning," planning, reasoning and decision-making skills result.1
If you want to learn more about the myelination process as it relates to specialization and abilities, The Talent Code website has some nice visual models of the process as well as ideas for supporting the myelination process.
It's not all upside. It's true that...
Risk-taking and Novelty Seeking are Responses of the Developing Teen Brain
Part of the developing teen brain is the orientation towards seeking novelty and risk, which are a vital part of the process of becoming adults. Teens have to go through this stage in order to learn how to take risks and to navigate the world outside of the safety of home. The risk of the teen years according to Siegel has less to do with sex hormones as the cultural myth suggests and more to do with changes in the structure and functioning of our brain’s dopamine reward system. Teens tend to be intellectually aware of risks but they put more weight on the exciting potential outcomes. And because baseline dopamine levels are lower in adolescence while dopamine release amounts are higher adolescents seek experiences that secrete dopamine.2,4
Three dangers the teen brain is more susceptible to are impulsiveness, vulnerability to addiction and hyperrationality. If we are aware of the inclinations we can help protect adolescents and provide appropriate opportunities for risk-taking and novelty seeking that are have very positive applications. Impulsiveness mitigated by self-awareness and reflection, or “cognitive control”.
Addiction
Because teens are 1) impacted by peer pressure 2) more likely to experiment with new experiences AND 3) more prone to respond with a strong dopamine release which can become part of an addictive cycle the adolescent stage of life 3,4
The reward systems and other areas of the subcortex such as those parts that process emotions, reach maturity relatively early (when people are in their early teens)6
Hyperrationality: Thinking in literal concrete terms. examining just the fact of a situation and missing the big picture. Creates the positive bias that is dominant during the teen years.
My husband suggests that the evolutionary motivation for rewiring with a strong response for dopamine rewards is related to increasing motivation to propogate.
Hyperrationalism
Another one is what I call hyper-rational thinking, and this is where, it’s not the reward circuit, but what are called the appraisal circuits that change. And these appraisal circuits, basically, are weighing the pros and cons of the decision. So this would be relevant for drug use in that you may have people who are making choices about things where it isn’t in their best interest. The appraisal system, the upside is that it says, these are the exciting things going on, and this is why I want to do this, this will be really fun. It over-emphasizes the positive aspects of a choice, and it de-emphasizes the negative aspects of a choice. The overall result is you kind of rationalize it, and that’s why I call it hyper-rational.4
Pruning process reveals vulnerability plus stress increases pruning plus lack of sleep. Give practices to grow integrated fibres to strengthen brain and protect from the danger of risks like mental breaks, depression, schizophrenia.
Preventable accidents
-appraisal system weighs pros and cons and in teen brain this evaluation is skewed. Why? To create rites of passage which is needed for the larger process of preparing them to get out of the house.
-pushing against the adult world...creating a whole new world.
-(childhood is sponging up the world of adults)
-major innovations in art science music come from adolescents. Let's rethink this and capitalize on the courage and creativity of youth. Instead tell them the truth. Ue companies are motivated to get you addicted for their own benefit
-help adolescent to create an internal compass (my gut says don't do it)...empower teens with resource of deep internal compass
What Can Be Done
internal education, the kind of internal sense of yourself, the likelier you are to be able to regulate, for example, your emotions and clarify your thinking.
Essence of changes of remodeling
E Emotional spark (irritable and life has more vitality..optimize spark)
SE Social engagement (vulnerable and gets you ready to leave home with alternative influences)
Novelty (dangerous, can't just do same old thing
CE Creative Exploration (new, all innovation comes from adolescence but can feel disoriented and identity confusion)
Top 4 things to keep brain young are the same four things
Cultural change means accepting this for adolescents and ourselves!
Approach world challenges in a way that engages those four things and creativity snd courage of adolescents tge opportunity to find solutions to the biggest problems is there. How can you participate in taking this possibility and changing the cultural conversation to make this change.
The Essential Take-Away
I would what I took away from the first half of the talk as follows:
Our cultural tells an inaccurate story about teens which has us, and our teens, think of the time period of adolescence (roughly defined as 12-24) as something to get through; a period of ranging hormones and impulsiveness. If we change our perspective and understand that the brain during those years is in a complex process of remodeling for the explicit purpose of leaving home and becoming autonomous we could better support the process; mitigate the risks that also come with the territory; and take advantage of the courage and creativity that are the gifts of that stage of life. Further, if we as adults use some of the same techniques for developing and enhancing the implicit benefits in our own brains, we’d would have that much more to contribute and be more in line with and synergistic with our teens ability to challenge and innovate and solve big problems. Adolescence is not a stage to get over, it is stage to cultivate well in order to enhance the vitally important developmental changes which are crucial for the individual and our collective.
Friday, August 16
Sexual Enlightenment: A One-Man Show at our house in Belmont
Sexual Enlightenment: A One-Man Show
 Entertaining, Humorous, Bold, Enlightening!Sat, October 26th, 2013 7:00pm – 8:30pm Tickets: $20 ($30 per couple, $45 family) Ticket Booking Link: -- HERE -- (click on Belmont show for 1 person, couple or family) You will receive directions to our house closer to the date, if you don't already have them. (Please note that ALL $ goes to the performer) I will have some simple food to share after the show. |
About the Show:
In his Sexual Enlightenment one-man show Freddy Zental takes the audience on a truly entertaining and often hilarious journey to sexual enlightenment through his life experiences concerning love, sex and intimacy. The play is packed with story telling, drumming, singing and movement in this tantric theater performance. All are used in service of demystifying those intimate, personally impacting moments that so often go unexamined or trivialized, like your first exposure to sexual energy, your first orgasm or your first true love. This opens the possibility for realizing one’s connection to sacred intimacy and love.
Please go here for Sexual Enlightenment Show – Press Kit
As Zental’s personal story unfolds the audience is reminded, “As you listen to my story think about your own.” The play therefore is a playful invitation for us all to reflect on old feelings and fixed ways of being to make room for getting in touch with our dreams, passions and sacred intimate Self. Zental has been touring the United States performing at community playhouses, conferences, performing arts centers, festivals and private events. Zental intentionally created the play as an introduction to sexual enlightenment that he developed through his extensive study and practice of Tantra, an East Indian tradition conceived over 5000 years ago.
TantraNova is a new (though spiritually quite ancient) approach to connecting and manifesting creativity and joy in our work, play, relationships and life.
For many the concept of Sexual Enlightenment is completely new. The word Tantra itself is misunderstood as a hedonistic practice in the West unfortunately relating only to the sex act or Tantric Sex. Yet TantraNova and its depiction through the Sexual Enlightenment Show is much more encompassing and understands sexual energy as life force energy. They are one and the same – we wouldn’t exist without it! Given this background, sexual enlightenment is considered an awareness that allows for conscious cultivation of this creative life force energy.
Freddy Zental conveys that it is only when we have come to terms fully with our sexual selves and learn practices of consciousness and focus that we are able to come to sexual enlightenment and reach our full human potential.
Through the drama of storytelling, song and rhythm Freddy Zental’s audiences are guided to a deeper appreciation of connecting with this creative life force energy. The use of multi-media and audience participation generates an experience of tapping into a greater consciousness beyond what’s available in the daily routines of life via the linear left brain.
“Two thumbs up! Five stars! In his one-person play, Zental publicly celebrates sexuality with simpleness, gentleness, compassion, and profoundness. His journey becomes a reflection for our own. The play is theater, comedy, and wisdom teaching all in one. TantraNova Man rocks . . . our soul.”
- Kenneth Ray Stubbs, Ph.D., Author “The Essential Tantra”
Mr. Freddy Zental Weaver is a performing artist, accomplished percussionist, stand-up comedian and story teller with a one-man show touring the United States. He is known for taking his audiences on a truly entertaining and often hilarious journey through his life experiences as he learns about intimacy, tantric sex and love.
Freddy Zental is the co-founder and director of the TantraNova Institute in Chicago, a second-generation tantric practitioner and a seasoned Tantra teacher and workshop leader of the transformational TantraNova seminars and theater workshops. He co-produced the best-selling DVD series “Creating Intimacy & Love” and was featured on Showtime’s documentary series “Sexual Healing”, on NBC’s”Starting Over”, in the Chicago Sun-times, and other local and national talk shows and publications. As an accomplished percussionist and a corporate comedy sales trainer he uses humor, music and movement in his presentation and teaching. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in political science and is a Certified Body Worker.
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