What Is Neurohumanism?

Neurohumanism is an educational method that combines recent breakthroughs in neuroscience with the age-old wisdom of the humanities. Neurohumanism gives us access to our nervous system's natural plasticity through the use of techniques drawn from humanistic psychology, somatics and the arts. This makes for a powerful approach to tutoring and training.

Click here to view a brief essay on neurohumanism.

Who benefits?

Neurohumanism focuses on three distinct groups of learners:

Gifted adolescents. Although they may not show it, gifted high schoolers are often at risk. Saddled with popular misconceptions about intelligence and academic success, they often undertake this vulnerable period in their lives without a proper understanding of the interdisciplinary nature of knowledge, the importance of creativity and intuition, and a respect for the body's role in the life of the mind. I can help.

Professionals in transition. Many of us only realize in adulthood that we are to some degree casualties of the problems cited above. These deficits become particularly salient when, after academic or professional success, we find ourselves confronted with the challenge of graduate study, professional development, or a career change. I can help you take the next step.

Educators. Nobody knows the challenges of lifelong learning—and the limitations of many prevailing trends in pedagogy—like a teacher or educational administrator. I can help you develop your own teaching skills, or those of your faculty.

Why me?

I'm not a neuroscientist...but I am a neurological patient. I live with complex regional pain syndrome, a dysfunction of the sympathetic nervous system that causes constant pain in my hands as well as attendant challenges around stress management. Working with the brain and nervous system is thus a matter of personal survival for me, and I have researched many of the techniques that arise from the recent efflorescence of neuroscience. I have found that the most effective methods draw from meditation, somatics, and the arts—that is to say, the humanities. My background as an educator (M.Ed. Stanford '91) and humanities scholar (BA magna cum laude in English, Harvard '89) inspire me to realize the potential for the humanities to allow us access to the gifts of brain science, and for current interest in neuroscience to revitalize the humanities themselves.

Click here to learn more about Andrew and to see a full resume.

plants