The Weekend University

Intention underpins your every action and already influences every aspect of your life. Whether you dream of changing the world, escaping the rat race, earning a monthly five-figure income, living more and working less, or finding happiness, intention will play a vital role. Over the last five years, author and speaker Juliet Adams has researched the science that underpins intention. Recent resear...

Why should aspirin be expensive? Why are branded analgesics more effective? The psychologist Nicholas Humphrey argues that placebos work by prompting the body to invest more of its limited resources in recovery. He believes that human immune systems evolved for an environment much harsher than the one we are currently living in, so we have evolved capabilities to ‘trick’ our unconscious into belie...

While Carl Rogers discussed the importance of the ‘core conditions’ in counselling and therapy, clients often claim that what is also therapeutic is being seen at the point of their need rather than at the point of service availability. In this workshop, Professor Dryden will discuss the nature, principles and practice of single-session therapy that has been developed to provide a response to that...

The United Kingdom arguably represents the leading front in the globalised therapeutic culture of ‘mindfulness’. Promoted predominantly as an effective therapeutic technique for the relief of stress, depression, and anxiety, mindfulness has moved rapidly from the Buddhist monasteries of Southeast Asia and into the mainstream of Western societies. In this talk, Dr Steven Stanley, will discuss the m...

Juliet Adams is Director of ‘A Head for Work’ and a leading expert in the science and psychology of intention. She specialises in Leadership and Workplace productivity, helping individuals and their organisations thrive in times of change and uncertainty. She is a major driving force for mindfulness in the workplace internationally, recently delivering workshops and keynotes in the UK, Netherlands...

What is life for, existentially? We are born and then we die and our life task is to make something of the time in between with no way of knowing how long we have got. In living towards an unknown future we are challenged daily with the paradox that while life will always be a mystery, it is this that makes life worth living. So, what do we mean when we say that human beings develop, and what are...

Positive psychology, or the ‘science of optimal human functioning’ as it was originally termed by psychologists Dr Martin Seligman and Dr Mihalyi Cziskmihayli, emerged at the turn of this century as a focus of scientific research. Traditionally the field of psychology had predominantly studied how the mind worked and how it goes wrong i.e. the causes, cures and management of psychological dysfunct...

In this lecture, we will look at Jung’s theory of individuation, where he maps out a path of psychological personality development that, ideally, culminates in greater self-knowledge. Intricately linked to this process is a gradual unfolding of the archetypal Self, which can be understood as an ideal image that both drives and is the end goal of individuation. While this lecture seeks to provide a...

Why do we laugh? Is it really all about comedy and humour? Can we ever take laughter seriously? In this talk, Professor Sophie Scott will explore the evolutionary roles of laughter and explore its use by mammals. The lecture will establish the complex ways that humans use laughter, from social bonding to jokes, address how we learn to laugh, and how our understanding of laughter changes as we age....

Strong motivation has to be part of any formula for achieving what you want in life. In this talk, Dr Raj Persaud will reveal the surprising science at the heart of motivation that can take you across the finishing line – no matter where that might be. To be compelled by a forceful drive is vital for a life worth living. It’s the key tool you need for achieving your goals. But beyond that, above a...

This lecture surveys the parts of the brain-mind that are at the heart of psychotherapy. It begins with a brief survey of the basic emotion systems, including their anatomy and chemistry. Examples include the separation between ‘wanting’ and ‘liking’, a distinction which can be very helpful clinically. This literature also suggests that these emotion systems are ‘ancient’ (in evolutionary terms),...

We are living in an age of heightened individualism. Success is a personal responsibility. Our culture tells us that to succeed is to be slim, rich, happy, extroverted, popular – flawless. The pressure to conform to this ideal has changed who we are. We have become self-obsessed. And our expectation of perfection comes at a cost. Millions are suffering under the torture of this impossible fantasy....

Join neuroscientist and clinical psychologist Dr. Tamara Russell as she dives into this dense topic in a fun and interactive talk. Discover the phenomena of near-death experiences and how this research area continues to develop as more and more individuals share their observations following contact with “temporary” death. Learn about the neuroscientific attempts to understand these shifts in consc...

An emotional component is vital for our wellbeing and personal fulfilment, but feeling anxiety, stress or fear can ruin even the best experiences. We now know that the daily and life choices we make, from what food we eat, to whom we choose to date, or what jobs we take are largely affected by our emotions – no matter how rational we think we are. Emotions carry valuable information about our inte...

Do you still need your psychiatric diagnosis? Or should we be asking not: “What is wrong with you?” but rather: “What has happened to you?” Mental distress is very real. But what we are very rarely told is that the dominant explanations for these experiences – such as that they are ‘symptoms’ of an ‘illness’ caused by a ‘chemical imbalance’ which psychiatric drugs will rectify – has never had any...

Why, without solid scientific justification, has the number of mental disorders risen from 106 in the 1960s, to around 370 today? Why has the definition of mental disorder expanded to include ever more domains of human experience? In the first part of this lecture, Dr James Davies will take us behind the scenes of how the psychiatrist’s bible, the DSM, was actually written – did science drive the...

We sleep for a third of our lives. For millennia the Tibetan Buddhists, Toltec-Mexhicas and Sufi mystics have used that lost third for waking up to their highest potential through lucid dreaming. In this talk, lucid dreaming teacher Charlie Morley will explore how this ancient art is now being studied by modern day neuroscience and how these studies have been as insightful for the mystics as they...

Your brain is constantly changing. Did you have much better memory as a child? Were you able to concentrate on reading a book for a long period of time whereas now you can barely finish a full article on the Internet? Do you tend to procrastinate and feel unable to stop no matter how hard you try? Were you once a much more optimistic person, but now you struggle to feel happy about your life? Thes...

We live in an era of political, economic and climatic crises. Any normal individual would be emotionally affected by such events. Therefore, it is not a surprise that some experts claim that we currently face the largest mental health crisis mankind has ever experienced. In fact, almost one in two people will now experience a severe mental health problem at some point during their lifetime. The fi...

The only reason you’re here, reading this, is because there is an unbroken chain leading back from you to the origin of life itself. In nature, adaptations shaped by environments to solve the problems of survival and mating: Endless forms of beautiful complexity like echolocation, courtship dances, and lactation. For millions of years we’ve had to find food, find mates and take care of our childre...

Existential Coaching Workshop with Yannick: http://bit.ly/2T02ak9 Change is the holy grail of psychology. Sometimes it’s easy. But often, we’re so caught up in our pre-existing patterns, beliefs and habits, that it seems impossible to think or do things differently. We find ourselves riddled by inner conflicts fuelled by mutually exclusive desires. We want to lose weight and also eat what we like....

The term: ‘archetype’ was coined by the Swiss psychoanalyst and psychiatrist: Carl Gustav Jung. Jung’s work has been influential not only in psychology, but also in anthropology, archaeology, literature, philosophy, and religious studies. The archetypes, Jung argued, influence the unfolding of human development, are the sources of our dreams, and are enacted in the myths and rituals of almost ever...

The effects of spiritual practices are now being investigated scientifically as never before, and many studies have shown that religious and spiritual practices generally make people happier and healthier. In this talk, Rupert Sheldrake will summarize the latest scientific research on what happens when we take part in these practices, and suggest ways you can explore some of these fields for yours...

It’s often assumed that there are two ways of interpreting the world: a rational scientific way, or an irrational religious way. In this talk, Dr. Steve Taylor offers a third alternative: a view of reality that transcends both conventional science and religion, and answers many of the riddles that neither can explain. Steve will suggest that the primary reality is not matter, but consciousness. Th...

In an out-of-body experience (OBE), people feel as though they have left their physical body and can see the world from outside it. What are these experiences, and are they spiritual? As a 19 year-old psychology student, Susan Blackmore had an extraordinarily powerful OBE that lasted for hours and culminated in a mystical experience of transformation and oneness. Her determination to understand wh...