An Online Self-Guided Course with 17 Lessons & 11 Hours of Video Training PLUS Bonus Material
Co-created by Malibu Poet Laureate and Founder of The Poetry Vessel, Nathan Hassall and National Bestselling Author and World-Renowned Neuroscience Researcher, Mark Waldman.
Hear what Nathan Hassall and Mark Waldman have to say about their exciting new course that will show you how to write and speak in a way that creates genuine empathy and interest in the reader’s and listener’s brain.
Course Overview
What You’ll Learn
The new field of neurocognitive poetics gives us a better way to communicate with others and to turn emotional distress into serenity and joy.
This program is tailored for those who want to develop their poetic skills and to deepen their writing practice. The field of neurocognitive poetics is clear: If you want to experience greater meaning and happiness in life, it is essential to bring a poetic framework into every aspect of your personal life, the workplace, and especially with those you deeply care for and love.
In a digital world where even unrelated topics such as a highroller bonus are often analysed through patterns of motivation, reward and decision-making, poetic practice offers a more reflective way to understand attention, emotion and human experience.
17 Lessons and 11 Hours of Video Training PLUS Bonus Material
Online Video Course
Who is this course for?
Daily classes guide campers through acting, screenwriting, and stagecraft, with small groups that allow for plenty of individual attention. Theater-educators balance rehearsal and skill-building with improvisation and creative play, so each day feels both focused and energizing. At the end of the summer, campers present their work in a final performance on stage.
What will I get from this course?
Daily classes guide campers through acting, screenwriting, and stagecraft, with small groups that allow for plenty of individual attention. Theater-educators balance rehearsal and skill-building with improvisation and creative play, so each day feels both focused and energizing. At the end of the summer, campers present their work in a final performance on stage.
What benefits will I experience?
✔ Improve the language and communication centers in your brain
✔ Build emotional empathy using poetic speech and metaphor
✔ See your problems with greater clarity
✔ Deepen your self-knowledge
✔ Resolve fear/anxiety/depression faster than traditional therapy
✔ Learn to listen and speak in tune with your brain, through melody and rhythm
✔ Turn off negative ruminating thoughts
✔ Become less judgmental and self-critical
✔ Process grief and trauma faster
✔ Learn how to better express wordless emotions
✔ Tap into your unconscious to gain wisdom
What will I get from this course?
Daily classes guide campers through acting, screenwriting, and stagecraft, with small groups that allow for plenty of individual attention. Theater-educators balance rehearsal and skill-building with improvisation and creative play, so each day feels both focused and energizing. At the end of the summer, campers present their work in a final performance on stage.
ONLINE COURSE SYLLABUS
Course Overview
LESSON 1: How Poetic Speaking Changes Your BrainLESSON 2: The Art & Science of Poetic SpeakingLESSON 3: Where Does Poetry Come From?LESSON 4: Stream of Consciousness WritingLESSON 5: Are You a Poet?LESSON 6: Good Poems, Bad Poems & the Neuroscience of FlowLESSON 7: The Language & Speech Networks in the BrainLESSON 8: Jungian Psychology, Poetry, and Dreams for Personal GrowthLESSON 9: Turning Dreams into PoetryLESSON 10: Carl Jung’s 5 Mind-Blowing Insights on PoetryLESSON 11: Revisioning & the Art of Editing PoetryLESSON 12: Using Poetry to Heal Trauma & Emotional DistressLESSON 13: Is Grief an Urban Myth? The Neuroscience of Sadness, Loss, and TransformationLESSON 14: Overcoming Creative Self-Doubt & Writer’s BlockLESSON 15: Advice for Poets Young and OldLESSON 16: Bring Strangeness into Your WritingLESSON 17: Building Empathy with Poetic Speaking & the Neuroscience of Effective CommunicationWhat People Are Saying…
THE CREATORS BEHIND THE COURSE
Meet Your Instructors
Nathan Hassall, M.A.
MALIBU POET LAUREATE EMERITUS & FOUNDER OF THE POETRY VESSELNathan Hassall is the 5th Poet Laureate of Malibu, California, and the Founder of The Poetry Vessel. As a poet, educator, and editor, he brings a deep commitment to the transformative power of language.
Originally from Horsham, England, Hassall earned his Master’s in Creative Writing – Poetry in 2018. His chapbook of haiku, dregsongs from blab cartilage, was published by Bones: A Journal of Haiku and featured as The Haiku Foundation’s Book of the Week. His poetry has also appeared widely across international literary journals.
Through The Poetry Vessel, Hassall offers global poetry education and hosts a multidisciplinary podcast. The podcast features a diverse range of guests, including neuroscientists, musicians, poets, and therapists, all exploring the poetic in its many forms. As a sought-after freelance editor, he collaborates with poets, writers, and entrepreneurs, helping them articulate their voices with clarity and depth—skills he brings directly to this course.
Mark Waldman
BEST-SElLING AUTHOR & NEUROSCIENCE RESEARCHERMark Waldman began his coaching career 1987, under the psychoanalytic supervision of Bruno Bettelheim and the Southern California Psychoanalytic Institute. He was actively involved with the Association for Transpersonal Psychology and was the founding editor of the Transpersonal Review. As an Associate Fellow at the University of Pennsylvania’s Center for Spirituality and the Mind, Mark and Andrew Newberg used their brain-scan research to develop new ways to improve cognitive and emotional performance. Their national bestseller, How God Changes Your Brain, was chosen by Oprah as one of the “Must Read” books for 2012.
The author of 14 books, Mark’s in-depth research has been published in neuroscience and psychology journals throughout the world and his work has been featured in Time Magazine, the Washington Post, the New York Times, Forbes, Entrepreneur, and many others. He has appeared on hundreds of radio and television programs, including PBS and NPR, and his TEDx Talk has been viewed by more than 100,000 people.
He created the world’s first NeuroLeadership course that he taught for the Executive MBA program at Loyola Marymount University, and he has traveled throughout the world introducing new brain-enhancing strategies to schools and professional organizations throughout the world including the Los Angeles County Psychological Association, the UCLA Center for Neurobiology of Stress, the Texas Council of Community Centers, Pepperdine School of Psychology, Southern Louisiana University, University of California Irvine, Centers for Spiritual Living and many religious/spiritual groups.