Everything I learnt from a Neuroscience Masterclass

A convoluted reflection

By Mariairene Fornari

As someone born under the star sign of Taurus, I have a propensity to get myself into weird situations for the sake of curiosity. As you might recall, the cat was killed but satisfaction brought her back to life!

Hence stepping into the shoes of a Leslie Jamison fan I signed up for a free neuroscience masterclass online.

Leslie Jamison is known to be an essayist and writer. Her most famous essay collection is titled “The Empathy Exams” titled after its leading essay. (Her essay is available here and I really think you should read it!)

What I find the most fascinating about her work is the ability to make a life lesson out of the most improbable situations.

In her other essay “Devil’s Bait”, Jamison writes about her experience visiting a convention of people affected by the Morgellons disease. And, oh boy, I don’t know how she does it, but that story really teaches you something about empathy… Before becoming a writer she worked “as a baker, an office temp, an innkeeper, a tutor, a juice barista, a GAP clerk, and a medical actor”, as her website proudly states. Working with the public teaches you a lot about empathy for sure…

But (!!) I was not looking to write about empathy. I was bored and looking for a scoop! The Graduate Press didn’t commission me for this but I have a moral obligation towards our readers to bring quality writing!

So on August 12, the sun was still shining and I sat on my balcony to learn about “The Neuroscience of Reprogramming Your subconscious mind”! 

I think this is a very catchy title. The speaker really emphasises the oxymoronic idea that we are now learning the neuroscience of manifestation. 

“Manifestation is re-wiring your brain”

“Manifestation is experiencing the reality your brain is wired for”

But hey, even if from her linkedin it looks like she hasn’t finished it, during the class, she kept talking as if she had a PhD in Neuroscience, and I don’t! So, learn from the best they say!

Regardless, I have to say that the class went very much into depth (into surprising depth). Something that I particularly appreciated was how the speaker clearly explained how each part of the nervous system affects our mood and productivity. 

Which is quite common knowledge, I know, but I personally never heard someone explain how the vagus nerve affects the heart-brain coherence though the vagal tone.

Of course the sugarcoating comes right off the bat: “Your vagus nerve taps into your heart” which is why, she explains, our vagal tone has to be regulated when we are manifesting.

These thorough explanations and the oxymoron between manifestation, divine energy and neuroscience continue throughout the 2 hours of the class.

In a way, it’s not something that I had never heard or thought about… that taking care of my health and avoiding stress might be essential to stay healthy, happy and productive (even if the use of the word productive could be another article altogether). Looking back I have probably achieved a lot in very stressful periods, but in all honesty I don’t know how much that was helpful for my psychosomatic health. I don’t necessarily regret spending two hours listening to this, I guess we don’t talk about neuroscience enough at IHEID, but we definitely talk too much about Alexander Wendt, who I am sure has something to learn about IR from neuroscience too. 

But then it arrives, the most important lesson from this masterclass…

You, yes you, now that you have learnt all these things about psychosomatic health, I am sure that now you want to implement them and fix all your problems. But it is hard doing it alone so you can jump on a year long coaching journey with the speaker for only 300 DOLLARS PER MONTH. A bargain apparently according to the speaker’s expert opinion… to me? Would I call this a scam?

So gentleladies, gentlemen and gentlereaders, what I learnt is that you can really sell everything if you are good enough at it and can tap into people’s insecurities.

The beauty industry has been tapping into women’s insecurities to sell any type of weird-ass cream, so as a feminist maybe I should say it is good that now we are tapping into everyone’s insecurities! (This is a joke which punchline is very straightforward, don’t come after me please)  

Yet, I wouldn’t call this a scam… I think it is a reflection of many other sad trends.

Privatisation of health, unsustainability of academic careers, influencer branding and the power of online communities.

The speaker does an amazing work of craftswomanship at explaining neuroscience in tandem with manifestation. Perfectly in tune with the zeitgeist of our time when people believe in “divine femininity”, wellness has become a cult and access to mental health is still limited. Who needs a therapist when you can have a coach!

And, listen, I am not coming after this person for not finishing her PhD programme because profiting off her online community was easier. In a way she does a great job of scientific communication, making it very palatable to young people. And she still has a lengthy experience in neuroscience research.

So you may think this is a scam, but this is just the smokescreen of the society we live in, whether you like it or not.

Maybe the reason why we don’t talk about neuroscience enough at IHEID is because we ostensibly have bigger fish to fry. And I guess every small instance can be a reminder of this if we look into it well enough.