HELLO.
MY NAME IS LAURIE.
I KNOW ABOUT KEEPING CALM.
KEEPING CALM
HOW TO MASTER YOUR BRAIN REWARD SYSTEM TO OPTIMISE YOUR HEALTH, WELLBEING AND PERFORMANCE.
The aim of this book is to help open your eyes to the heavy price you do end up paying if your Primate brain spends its life 2nd guessing and controlling your Mammalian brain for short term rewards, rather than allowing your Mammalian brain to blossom, keeping you in optimal neurological and physiological health deep into old age. Laurie delves into his sporting experiences from his triathlon, cycling, rugby, rock climbing days; his experiences in regaining his health after his accident and his 25 years of conducting Health Science research at UCT to delineate the neural underpinnings of Keeping Calm and provide a detailed breakdown of the principles required to master our Brain Reward Systems to optimise your health, wellbeing and performance – in sport, business and life.
SUBSCRIBE TO MY
NEWSLETTER AND RECEIVE
AN INTRO TO MY BOOK.
BOOK ME FOR A TALK.
ABOUT LAURIE.
In 1997, at the peak of his athletic career while completing a PhD in Exercise Science, Laurie was knocked off his bicycle by a container truck. He sustained severe traumatic brain injuries, a broken neck and his right leg was amputated above the knee. Laurie went on to walk (and ride) again, complete his degree, and in his subsequent Postdoctoral research went on to explore the neurobiological correlates of peak performance.
In recent years Laurie has dedicated his time to sharing his personal journey, academic findings and professional experiences to a wide range of audiences around the world that focuses on sporting experiences from his triathlon, cycling, rugby & rock climbing days; experiences in regaining his health after his accident; and 25 years of conducting Health Science research at UCT through academic and mainstream presentations, lectures and workshops.
Laurie’s particular interest lies in the Autonomic Nervous System and understanding the neural underpinnings of composure i.e. what happens inside the heart, brain and body of a person performing at their peak whether it be in the sporting, corporate, artistic or academic arena. Laurie is an adjunct lecturer at the UCT Division of Exercise Science and Sports Medicine, he also supervises PhD and Masters students and regularly presents at international conferences.
WHAT IS THE CALM FOUNDATION?
Laurie has collaborated with leading movement, rehabilitation, nutrition and business experts to give you a number of practical applications through how we move, eat and think to demonstrate how ‘Keeping Calm’ is something you can master for yourself and share with your family and your teams at work and on the field. Read more…
RECENT BLOG POSTS
The single most valuable lesson I learnt in my 18-year healing journey.
The single most valuable lesson I learnt in my 18-year healing journey. Without a doubt, this is the lesson I learnt when practicing to walk with a practice leg. After a full month of being completely paralyzed in the ICU and a further 2 months of...
Practical stress management tips from a gold medal-winning Olympian.
Practical stress management tips from a gold medal-winning Olympian.Few occasions evoke greater performance anxiety than an Olympic final. Athletes must carefully manage their bodily stress reactivity to prevent them from succumbing to a nauseating mix of...
Disengaging from the busyness of life…
Disengaging from the busyness of life.... If, like me, you struggle to take your foot off the accelerator now is the time to start slowing down and to be kinder to your heart. My favourite time of the year has always been Christmas to New Year. It is a time of...
Follow your heart, but only if you know who’s leading who – Part 4
Mastering your Sympathetic Nervous SystemBefore my life took on an entirely different trajectory post-accident I used to run/cycle in the mountains behind our home to control my excessive sympathetic nervous system (SNS) drive that ‘accumulated’ from managing the...
Follow your heart, but only if you know who’s leading who – Part 3
Bearing up under the weight of responsibilityWhen I first heard the term ‘the weight of responsibility’ it immediately struck a chord. Responsibility is indeed a crushing weight, the handling of which needs our constant attention. Like the body builder who gradually...
Follow your heart, but only if you know who’s leading who – Part 2
My heart was screaming at me to find an alternate career. . .Despite my anxieties that funders could only go according to physical outputs, I kept chipping away at my research proposal. If nothing else, I was gaining a massive amount of head knowledge. By now I had...
Follow your heart, but only if you know who’s leading who – Part 1
Finding a channel for the nervous energy in my heart After I was knocked off my bicycle by a container truck it required an extraordinary amount of energy to put my life back together again. Forced to operate way outside of my comfort zone for prolonged periods, I was...
Thought Control
Thought Control Do you take steps to control your thoughts, or do you allow your thoughts to control you? A good way to become aware of the point at which your thoughts start controlling you is by taking note of those ineffectual behavioural responses of yours, eg...
A Brief Introduction to our Centred Brain
A Brief Introduction to our Centred Brain. After I was discharged from hospital my initial elation quickly gave way to quiet desperation. Our house was not wheelchair friendly and life became a series of frustrations. I wanted my freedom back as a matter of some...
Keeping Calm in the time of Corona
Boost your immune system in the time of Corona.The one thing I learnt from all my years of Wellbeing research is to keep my vagal nerve firing to optimise my immune response. This necessitates keeping your 'heart-primate brain–vagus nerve axis' online throughout your...
Get resources, discounts, and event updates
emailed to your inbox.
Don’t worry, We won’t email you very often.
