Empowering modern behaviors for modern times
Beyond Primal offers neuroscience-based programming for educational institutions, communities, and organizations to more effectively and compassionately live and work together.
What we humans have accomplished since coming onto the evolutionary scene 300,000 years ago is truly impressive. It is hard not to think our minds are supreme and separate from the rest of life on the planet when we think about the fact that as a species we, have put rovers on Mars, are discovering the underlying structures of the universe, and extend lives through medical technology. BUT…
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Despite all that we have accomplished, we have done so with brains that evolved over millions of years ago under conditions very different from those we experience today. Modern humans first appeared in the fossil record approximately 300,000 years ago. Our brains evolved to help us survive daily existential threats, find sufficient calories, and reproduce. This evolution led us to live a hunter/gatherer lifestyle in small groups where each group member was intimately familiar with every other group member.
Even though our brains have not changed in the past 300,000 years we are now living in largely anonymous groups in the form of towns and cities where life is considerably safer than it used to be. The mental requirements of today are very different than those of our ancient forebears yet our brain specs have not changed to meet the new requirements.
The human condition is unique in that we are capable of profound sophistication on the one hand and unconscious, primal behaviors no different than our primate ancestors on the other.
What we do
Citizenship Development
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At Beyond Primal, we host carefully facilitated workshops where we:
• Develop participants’ ability to redirect the same primal psychological forces that divide us to instead build bridges across seemingly insurmountable differences.
• Equip people with the skills and resources to have a reflective civil discourse and generative dialogue about particularly difficult challenges facing society.
• Guide participants through the process of Brain-based Holistic Dialogue to begin reframing how we think about and work through thorny societal problems.
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We partner with high schools and universities to offer experiential and developmentally appropriate learning programs that:
• Help students better understand and value differing viewpoints.
• Build capacity for building bridges between different stakeholders in an effort to generate novel solutions to thorny problems.
• Develop citizens of the future who can overcome the primal behaviors that get in the way of a well functioning, democratic society.
Leadership Development
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What should we know about the services you provide? Better descriptions result in more sales.
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What should we know about the services you provide? Better descriptions result in more sales.