Well joining me now
is one of my really good friends.
Not only is he a Clinical Professor of Psychiatry
at the UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine
and the Executive Director of the Mindsight Institute
he's also a New York Times best selling author.
He's lectured for the King of Thailand,
Pope John Paul II and his holiness the Dalai Lama.
Now I'm proud to say he is also a member
of our Dr. Phil advisory board
His latest book Aware,
The Science and Practice of Presence
can help you make real and positive changes
to the molecules in your body
for a better life and he's here to tell us how.
So please welcome Dr. Dan Siegel.
Thank you.
(audience applauding) (audience cheering)
Okay, Robin and I find
this absolutely intriguing
and particularly me 'cause you're talking about
slowing the aging process.
Yes. And I get up
every morning and start looking
more and more like an old catcher's mitt so.
Ah tell me about this
you say this is a hands on guide to be more focused,
present, energized, emotionally resilient.
Talk about why you did this
and the general premise.
That's right the science is amazing
Dr. Phil because what we know now
is what you do with your mind
in very specific ways that are accessible
to everyone can actually literally change
many of the factors of health in your body.
You can learn how to actually focus your attention
with a practice a few minutes a day
that science has shown
actually improves your physiology
and actually grows aspects of your brain to make
your brain function in a more nimble and resilient way.
What do you mean grows your brain?
I mean literally here's the amazing thing
what you do with your mind
can get you to change both the function and the structure
of your brain.
The brain's anatomy changes with
what you can do with your mind.
So this can cause people to be able to do things
next year they couldn't do last year.
Exactly so there's a simple phrase
that I use which is where attention goes
that's how you direct your minds focus.
Right. Neuro firing flows,
which is the brain's activation,
and neuro connection grows.
That's how you change the structure of the brain.
So literally what you do with a practice
create a certain state of your mind
like focusing on something,
changes the structure of your brain.
Say that again cause I'm gonna steal
that when you're not around.
Good. (laughing)
Say that again where your attention goes
say that whole thing
Where your attention goes
neuro firing flows and nueroconnection grows.
Okay give a real world example.
Yep so if you learn
let's say to focus your attention
let say on your hearing or your sight
so I have this practice in the book
called the wheel of awareness.
The first two segments of the rim of a wheel.
You learn how to focus your attention on hearing,
on sight on things like that.
And as you do that
what you're doing is literally you're training
the muscle of the mind that involve certain circuits
to focus in, focus in, focus in.
When you get distracted you return your focus
and what research shows is it grows
areas of the brain that allow the brain
to literally create a more focused attention of course.
That's what you're practicing here,
and it strengthens the connections in the brain literally.
If you do a scan of the brain before and after
the brain has grown in helpful ways.
Yeah does that surprise y'all?
Yeah.
I mean seriously this is amazing stuff.
Mind blowing. Yeah, so
(group laughing)