Emerging Technology Assisting Wellbeing Conference
10th August 2019
Elwood Sailing Club, Melbourne, Australia
9.15am - 5.00pm
In the last 50 years, technology has rapidly changed our everyday lives. Instead of being ‘out there,’ it has settled into a more ‘intimate’ relationship with us. It helps us everyday, keeping us from getting lost in the streets, maintaining constant contact with our friends, families and even strangers, bringing us all the information that we want, at our fingertips, and so on.
But how has technology changed the way we do therapy and can it assist us with our psychological wellbeing? We have already accepted the rise of non-face-to-face counselling done through the internet and telephone. It then begs the speculation of what could be next? A virtual psychologist? It’s probably already in the making now.
It appears evident that our reliance on technology is growing. This growing dependency can become a detriment to us. However, are there some ways in which we can utilise technology to assist our wellbeing, where we remain in control of it and not the other way around. Technology is a tool at the end of the day, and if used wisely, it can really help us grow and improve our wellbeing.
The speakers will talk to us at this conference, introducing the use of certain technology to enhance our wellbeing. These are some of the emerging technology assisting wellbeing, which may evolve to common practice in the near future.
Using sound, voice, light and colour to release stress, and for empowerment & wellbeing\
Cy Gorman (Nurobodi)
An over exposure to rapid consumption of visual devices, images that affect our thoughts & emotions or binging on video affects our entire nervous system. You know when you've strained your ankle, but do you know when you've strained your limbic system? Media production, in particular advertising companies, use images and colour associations to neurologically entrain the brain to form addictive processing networks that can cause emotional & psychological imbalances in ways you may not be aware of. Nurobodi design thinking and processes work to stabilise, support, nurture and strengthen the limbic and nervous system relationships using brainwave entrainment techniques that can shape the way we see.
From paintings on cave walls to painting with VR tiltbrush tools, it is clear that we are dwelling more in shelters of light & sound. This has been an empowering process for the cognitive extension of our abilities to visualise & project our fears, hopes and dreams through audiovisual spectrums. However, there are emerging issues that affect our emotional, physical and psychological landscapes.
Cy will present research and practice examples of how design thinking utilizing the meta properties and data values of light and sound can redefine their presence as a single medium for communicating or establishing desired psychophysiological states or clearly defined mood spaces as well as establishing quantitative and qualitative data links between subtle differences in pitch, colour and emotions utilising biofeedback data. Socially the focus of Cy Gorman and Nurobodi’s work is on raising awareness of Posthuman/Transhuman ethics and how they affect all of our lives, specifically the lives of children entering the world.
Nurobodi's innovative harmonic design principles focus on enviro-optimised mind-body experiences for humans that can be tailored to most standard media or communication devices, smart homes, digital, physical or business environments. Insights from understanding human emotional responses to Nurobodi Spectrum Profiles pave a way forward to create meaningful data for AI (Artificial Intelligence) to learn about emotions as harmonic audiovisual spectrums and most importantly that humans are often motivated by what 'feels right' rather than conceptual meaning.
Technology to assist in accessing peak and transcendental states of consciousness.
Dr Alexander De Foe
Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) Therapy andUsing a specialised strobe light device to access a meditative and altered state.
Technologies such as Persinger's God Helmet have been used to cultivate altered states of consciousness via magnetic fields which are created around the brain. Recent devices such as the Shakti 8 Coil have been developed as a portable mechanism to facilitate peak and transcendental states of consciousness. Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) is also used as a treatment for depression and other psychiatric disorders, which uses magnetic fields to stimulate the brain
In this talk, Alex will document his experience with the Shakti 8 Coil as a mechanism to induce altered states. He will discuss how portable Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) technologies compare with other altered state induction techniques such as the Ganzfeld procedure and transcendental meditation. Implications for transpersonal work relevant to mental health practitioners will be considered.
Alex will also discuss Light strobe technologies, which have historically been applied in biofeedback studies. In the past decade, higher-intensity and more modern light-strobe technologies such as the Lucia Light (TM) and Pandora Star (TM) have emerged in the market. Such technologies purport to facilitate brainwave entrainment via high-frequency strobe patterns. Patterns and symmetrical imagery are perceived with closed eyelids via a typical 20-40 minute session, which has been asserted to produce a relaxed hypnotic state concordant with theta brainwave dominance. As light-strobe technologies become more refined in both their hardware and software flexibility, potential mental health and personal development applications will become apparent. In this presentation the use of light-strobe technologies with a sample of 11 patients is considered and implications of these technologies in clinical work and personal development are introduced.
Using Virtual Reality to treat the fear of Public Speaking and other phobias.
Marcel Takac
Marcel will be presenting the research which examines the utilisation of virtual reality within mental health, with a specific focus on social phobias, such as the fear of public speaking. His talk will include the ethics and obstacles that people have commonly reported in using Virtual Reality in therapy. He will be discussing the psychological processes that a person goes through whilst speaking in public, the stages, implications and effectiveness of using Virtual Reality to support the person in overcoming his/her fear. Marcel will also touch on the potential role of using Virtual Reality in Psychotherapy and some of the research findings to date.
Marcel has a background in exploring new methodologies in mapping anxiety and distress habituation during virtual reality exposure. He is currently assessing mental health professional’s attitudes concerning virtual reality as a psychotherapeutic approach, with a view to assisting with virtual reality uptake in clinical practice. In addition, he is examining the role of presence and psychological distance in eliciting fear-related distress during virtual reality exposure.
We are the Technology – Turning Trauma into Spiritual Emergence Awakening and the Freedom Mindset.
Dr Maree Batchelor
Maree will be talking about how ‘we are the technology,’ and the tools for our wellbeing and transformation already lies within us. She will share with us, her journey from being a 3D Medical Doctor to a Multi-dimensional Physician.
After the tragic death of her four year old son in 2008 where he was hit by a car, Maree’s whole internal and external world was turned upside down, as she experienced a deep state of grief. Years later, the trauma she experienced transformed into a state of spiritual emergence and awakening when she visited a temple in India, where a great Spiritual Teacher was buried. This led to a profound and significant unfoldment and shift into a freedom, multi-dimensional and galactic mindset. Maree learnt to support herself through deep inner work, research and information downloads from this great Spiritual Teacher.
The state of Spiritual Emergence was first termed by Dr Stanislav Grof, a Psychiatrist and his wife, Christina Grof, a Therapist and Researcher (1990s). Often, this state can be mistaken for a mental illness and if not identified and assisted through as such a state, the person may be diagnosed and treated as mentally ill and become ‘lost’ in the system, and not consolidate into their next level of development.
Maree will share about her Journey from being a 3D Medical Doctor to Multi-Dimensional Galactic Physician, what she has learnt about the Sabotaging Matrix Field we live in with its the limiting mindset, how to overcome the sabotaging programmes and technologies which enslaves us and how to how to free ourselves from the Matrix by embodying Higher Frequencies and sustaining a state of expanded peace and joy.