EP21 Workshop 12 - We are Intraconnected: Living into the Wholeness of Life - Daniel Siegel, MD

What does it mean to be intraconnected? In weaving the internal and external, the subjective and objective, this workshop will reveal how modern culture, as well as how our brain is wired, may give us a message of separation as a solo, isolated self; yet a wider perspective unveils that who we are, what a deeper reality actually is, may be something more—broader than the brain, bigger even than the body—fundamental to the social systems and the natural world in which we live. We will explore the nature of how our experience of what we often call, self, emerges across the lifespan and how this journey into identity and belonging can help weave our personal reflections with scientific discussions into how the mind, brain, and relationships shape who we are. Our body-based self—the origin of a Me— is not only connected to others but connected within our relational worlds themselves—a WE—forming the essence of how we belong and the fullness of our identity. Who we are is both within and between: Me plus We equals MWe, the reality of our intraconnected lives.

Learning Objectives

1. Define the neural pathways of constructing the experience of “self.”
2. Describe how social experience within families and societies shapes the construction of self.
3. Name three ways in which broadening a sense of self enhances health.