Brain Boot Camp (Teens) to Manage Stress: Amygdala Taming & Resilience Training

Over 4 weeks, learners will explore and strengthen knowledge about the brain and body along with mastering skills to encourage mental resilience for difficult moments. 

For teens who have taken, or not taken, my "Tame the wild and wonderful Amygdala" class, this is a much deeper exploration, over 4 classes, in how the amygdala gets triggered, the cascade of events that happens in the brain and body once it is triggered and how to strengthen our awareness to choose how to respond rather than react in those stressful situations. 

Practicing mindfulness, understanding of the brain/body science concepts, skills at shifting attention and regulating the nervous system, as well as becoming aware of thoughts and thought patterns which may be triggering the stress response are all areas we will be exploring. Through various techniques, we will then learn how to create new, less stressed mind habits that hopefully will continue beyond this course.

Within each class I will instruct a few minutes of varying mindfulness practices (which will be learned in the first class for those who have no prior experience with mindfulness) And we will dive into the topics below. Learners will be given instructions on how to use what we learned in class for exploration during the week until we meet again.  

Week 1: Mindfulness and Attention: What drives where our attention goes? Introduction to mindfulness and the power of being able to move our attention through 4 categories of what can be sensed. Introduction to neuroplasticity and the instinct vs the thinking brain. Introduction to the body sensations of emotions. 
Week 2: What is stress and where does it come from? Anxiety/Stress Brain science; what is the amygdala and what happens in the brain and body when it gets triggered. What does a triggered amygdala feel like in the body? What is perception?
Week 3: Does the Amygdala know the difference between a true danger or perceived danger? What is the actual threat? Can we be smarter than our amygdala, use the instinct brain sensations as passing data rather than concrete truth? How to sense safety in the present moment. How do our thoughts keep us trapped in the stress cycle and how can we break free by changing our perception? 
Week 4: Continuing with techniques to re-set the nervous system when we don’t need the Fight/Flight/Freeze response, with breathing techniques, mindfulness, and safety sensing. Challenging our "negativity bias" and creating habits of noticing the “good” in an experience, in ourselves and in others. Learning self-compassion and gratitude. Recapping what we've learned over 4 weeks, how to continue training the mind, to change the brain, for lasting beneficial habits.