Ruben Laukkonen, PhD - Neuroplasticity, Meditation & the Predictive Brain
Ruben Laukkonen, PhD discusses his research on the deepest states of consciousness in The FitMind Podcast episode 93.
You can also listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or any other major podcast platform. Here it is in video format if you prefer:
Episode Overview
How does the brain work at its deepest levels? And to what extent can we radically upgrade it, creating neuroplastic changes?
Ruben Laukkonen, PhD is a cognitive neuroscientist, contemplative, speaker, and poet.
His eclectic background includes competing semi-professionally in Muay Thai Kickboxing, founding two businesses (including the first online market for bitcoin in Australia), and intensive meditation training.
Dr. Laukkonen is currently a principal investigator and lecturer at Southern Cross University and holds honorary fellowships at VU Amsterdam and The University of Queensland. He uses methods such as behavior, neuroimaging, machine learning, and phenomenology to empirically investigate some of the rarest states of human consciousness.
This episode is a full tour of the mind, including a deep dive into some of those rare states of consciousness and what they reveal about achieving the highest levels of human happiness.
Hope you enjoy!
P.S. — If you’re serious about starting or deepening your meditation practice, check out the FitMind meditation app.
Ruben Laukkonen, PhD Bio
Ruben Laukkonen is currently a principal investigator and lecturer at Southern Cross University and holds honorary fellowships at VU Amsterdam and The University of Queensland. He’s competed semi-professionally in Muay Thai Kickboxing and founded two businesses, including the first online market for bitcoin in Australia.
Links
Show Notes
0:00 | Intro to Ruben Laukkonen
2:02 | Early Experience
10:45 | How the Mind Makes Itself
22:18 | Predictive Processing & Agitation
25:30 | Why There's Always Something Wrong
31:28 | Chain of Causality in the Mind
36:00 | The Mind Rebuilding After Deepest Levels of Meditation
38:25 | Meditation for Reconditioning the Mind
52:06 | Doing Nothing Very Well
53:14 | Stages of Meditation & Predictive Processing
68:28 | Cessation & Awakening Research
77:12 | Jhanas - Stages of Deconstruction
84:22 | Rapid Fire Questions