Train Your Brain, Change Your Life

Learning Effortless Mindfulness

In recent decades, mindfulness has been widely researched and recognized as a powerful means of developing greater calm, ease, compassion, joy and effectiveness in virtually all aspects of our lives.  

Unfortunately, it’s often taught in a way that leads to using a narrow, tense kind of attention which makes it unpleasant to do and less effective.   

However, you can learn how to train your brain to pay attention in a radically different way that is almost effortless, and which makes mindfulness both far more enjoyable and far more effective.

Our course, “Train Your Brain, Change Your Life,’ guides you step-by-step through learning this effortless approach to mindfulness.

This first video (below) explains what we mean by effortlessness, and how it relates to brain training. If you scroll down to the Frequently Asked Questions section, there is a second video which explains the difference between brain games and the kind of brain training we teach.

How Will This Course Change My Life?

Research over several decades has established that there are many benefits to the practice of mindfulness. There is also research showing that these benefits are enhanced by the effortless approach you’ll learn in this course. Here are a few of those benefits:

• The capacity for empathy, compassion, and connection increases; emotional reactivity decreases

• Happiness increases; negative emotions arise less often and are less intense

• Physical health and well-being are enhanced

• The mind becomes more focused, with a greater ability to think clearly

• Learning becomes easier, more effective, and more enjoyable

• A sense of deep contentment increases; cravings of all kinds decrease

• Old, unwanted habits become easier to replace with new constructive behaviors

The Physical Benefits of the Practices You’ll Learn

Here is a more detailed list of the physical benefits of effortless mindfulness:

• improves sleep

• enhances immune function (making you less susceptible to colds and flu viruses

• helps with weight loss

• increases growth in the hippocampus (a part of the brain related to memory)

• decreases cardiovascular risk factors

• reduces cortisol levels (high cortisol levels are associated with stress)

• helps to relieve gastro-intestinal difficulties

• reducers inflammation

• increases activity in the left frontal area of the brain (associated with the ability to handle challenge experiences)

The Psychological Benefits of These Practices

And here’s a more detailed list of the psychological benefits of effortless mindfulness:

• reduces mental and emotional suffering related to physical pain

• reduces negative and obsessive thinking

• reduces symptoms of depression, anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, bipolar disorder, personality disorders, and schizophrenia

• improves sleep

• helps with weight loss

• improves the quality of relationships and relationship satisfaction

• reduces emotional reactivity

• strengthens the prefrontal cortex which increases your capacity for steady attention, decision-making, planning, self-awareness and self-regulation (e.g. controlling habits related to eating, exercise, substance abuse, etc.)

• increases empathy and compassion

• improves working memory and processing speed (crucial for school and work, as well as life in general)

Bonuses Included with the Course

In addition to a variety of practices for effortless mindfulness, and simple, down-to-earth information about how your brain functions, you'll also get the following free bonus materials:

• a PDF on how to make the practices a regular part of your life

• an audio at the end of each section of the course that guides you through the practices you’ve learned

• a guided audio at the end of the course that integrates all the practices you’ve learned

• a mini course on how to use mindful, heartful, cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for all the challenges of your life

• a series of infographics that illustrate

  • how your brain functions

  • an overview of all the practices

  • how the practices change your brain

  • how to apply what you’re learning about the brain to developing new healthy habits

  • how to use what you’re learning to bring greater ease, contentment, and mindfulness into all areas of your life

Frequently Asked Questions

What will happen after I’ve purchased the course?

You’ll be directed to the login which will take you to your Student Dashboard. When you’re at your Dashboard, click on the “Course Card” for the course you just purchased. That will take you to the “Course Player” where you’ll see the Chapters and Lessons for the course.

The very first video in the course player shows you how to go navigate your way through the lessons. In the upper left-hand corner, there’ll be a link to our “Effortless Living” online support community where you can ask questions and explore your experience of the course with fellow “effortless” brain trainers.

How much time will it take?

Reading the text lessons may take you from 10 to 15 minutes per lesson. The videos range in length from 5 to 7 minutes. Apart from reading the text and watching the videos, you can start the practices by spending as little as 1 minute in the evening before you go to sleep, in the morning when you wake up, or anytime during the day that works for you. You can very gradually extend this time to 5 minutes or more as your time and commitment allows.

What if I’ve tried mindfulness before and didn’t get much out of it?

The way mindfulness is often taught or practiced tends to lend itself to a tense way of paying attention. In the course, you’ll learn that there are different ways the brain can pay attention, and that it’s possible to experience an almost effortless, easeful way of being mindful. In addition, the music and videos included in the course help to make the practices more enjoyable and easier to stay with.

Can you tell me a little more about the course?

The video above gives an overview of what the course contains: a unique form of effortless mindfulness practices, a wide variety of relaxation and breathing practices, and some very practical, down-to-earth information about how your brain works and how the practices you’re learning bring about positive changes in your brain.

What makes this course different from other courses on mindfulness and the brain is its emphasis on learning and doing the practices without the kind of effortful trying that so often makes them ineffective and unpleasant to do.

Once you purchase the course, you’ll have access to our online support community where you can get answers to and support for your individual questions.

Why not just use an app?

Apps like Insight Timer, Headspace, or Calm provide thousands of meditations for almost every conceivable situation. And many people find them very helpful. But they don’t necessarily get to the root of what makes a situation difficult, or help you deal with the difficulty while it’s happening.

In both our courses, you’ll learn to observe your experience and to identify and let go of the stories, thoughts, and beliefs that underlie whatever tension or difficulty you’re having. You’ll learn to cultivate a different mode of attention that helps you to see more clearly and respond more effectively to whatever circumstance you find yourself in.

With practice, as you develop these skills, you’ll be able to apply them in real time wherever you are, without the help of an app or someone to guide you.

I’ve heard that skills you learn with brain training games don’t really transfer to other things in your life. How is your course different?

Brain training games are fun, but you’re right, they don’t transfer to other areas of life. The brain training we offer in this course is based on practices that have been researched and shown to have a positive impact on all areas of life.

You can learn more about the difference between brain training games and the brain training we offer by watching the video below:

Testimonials

I’ve been practicing meditation for over 40 years and have found that with your “Train Your Brain” course I am better able to access that place of calm within, and that I have more fluidity and ability to change. The understanding of neural pathways has helped motivate me to be less obsessive, more able to let go of habitual ways of reacting and doing things. Understanding how the instinctive, emotional and mental programming affect my personality also helps me be more conscious and in control of my thoughts and feelings, and how I express myself.

Several years ago I had an injury that was very debilitating, and I realized that before then, I had never really lived in the present moment. Initially after the injury, most moments of my life were so difficult that when a good moment occurred, a moment of relief, I really lived in it fully and ate it up! Your course has definitely encouraged me to sense the present moment on a more regular and happier basis – and not just as a relief from difficult ones.

The whole presentation of open-hearted awareness has been greatly healing for me, in teaching me to access it directly even in the midst of the most challenging resistance or turmoil.  I have found a way of doing Ocean Breathing that is very calming for me and I certainly am remembering to breathe a lot more.

- Liz I., Dancer and Massage Therapist

The music and videos are works of art, enjoyment, and instruction.  The course clarified much of what has been unclear to me about mindfulness – and gave me a much deeper understanding of what "non-judgement" means experientially.  I have also learned to distance myself from my thoughts to have a much healthier relationship with them.  

I noticed some changes in how I live my life. The brain plasticity theme and details were very helpful to not only give me a better understanding of what I am doing, but to help motivate me during each section of the course. Yes, at age 73 I am modifying and improving my brain functions.

This is the best psychotherapy I have ever had.  And I had lots of different kinds over my long life. You’re also in for a treat - the music and videos are works of art, enjoyment, and instruction. 

- Paul S.

I found the instructions and practices were easy to understand, fun to do, and very effective for opening my heart and deepening my general appreciation for day-to-day life.  And I loved the soothing voices and music in the instructional audios.
 
I also really appreciated all the choices and supplementary material Don and Jan provided for learning about the brain. I found them fascinating and very supportive of the practices.    

- Dr. Shelley Thomas, Director, Center for Accelerated Language Acquisition, Middle Tennessee State University

Back in early 2017, Don and Jan participated in the planning meetings for the expansion of the Haw Creek Commons, an initiative to strengthen community bonds among the approximately 7,000 residents of the Haw Creek neighborhood of East Asheville.  

They offered to help bring a unique contemplative element to the project through a series of contemplative workshops that were based in neuroscience, and geared to people of all faiths, including those who do not subscribe to any particular tradition.

As part of these contemplative evenings at Haw Creek, they shared illuminating wisdom, evoked a sense of deep peace and contentment, and inspired much joy through their music and meditative movement. It was special to spend time with them as they bring their whole selves to each moment of teaching.

- Reverend Karen Doucette, Community Pastor for Haw Creek Commons in Asheville, NC

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”Train Your Brain, Change Your Life”

NOTE: We’re in the process of moving our courses from Thinkific to a much better platform, Mighty Networks.

Please stay tuned for the “official” launch date.