More to the Story
Get to know Summit Within through our collection of shared learnings.
Where it all began...
Feeling utter defeat I pulled into my hotel in Canmore wet, cold, and terrified of the future.
I checked into the hotel, brought all of my gear up from the motorcycle, and burst into tears. How, on earth, was I supposed to lead a workshop on limiting beliefs, imposter syndrome the life of dreams when I felt like an absolute utter failure?
But when one door closes, others open...
Our Merrell Canada sponsored Hike + Workshop in Canmore Alberta was the official launch of Summit Within!
It wasn't without difficulty. Riding in from Victoria, Kieren drove 4 days to Canmore with Asia by her side to host her favourite workshop for the first time under Summit Within.
With contracts falling through, big future changes and many closed doors Kieren quickly shifted from staring at the closed doors to seeing the ones that were opening for her.
Why Outside
“A change of scenery can help everything.” - Drew Pomeranz
Why Outside?
Our Summit Within Hike + Workshop events are truly my favourite learning experiences. Each and every one are a day full of kindred spirits, excitement, beautiful views, and (my favourite) hacking our brains.
The full day Summit Within Workshop covers the following topics:
Unconscious bias
The evolution of our brain + thinking traps
Limiting beliefs
Imposter Syndrome
Comfort zone expansion
It is an incredible experience to see everyone collaboratively working through the 4 mini activities and 4 larger exercises together. We are all journaling, standing up and moving our bodies, and partnering to share our experiences, together.
Sign up for our next in person event here!
But my favourite part of the day is not something we can see with our eyes, or learn through the workshop.
My favourite part is what's happening in our brains, without us even knowing.
Hacking Our Brains
The most incredible part of these workshops is that without even realizing it everyone is actively hacking their brain.
When we involve a hike in our workshop, we are holistically amplifying the positive results of our experience.
When we reach our summit, and are rewarded with a beautiful view - like the Three Sisters for our Canmore AB workshop or the ocean for our Victoria BC workshop - we are literally hacking our brains using one of my favourite neurotransmitters...
Dopamine!
What is Dopamine?
Dopamine is a type of neurotransmitter (interchangeably chemical and/or hormone) that your body makes, and your nervous system uses. It is used to send messages between nerve cells, which is why it's sometimes called a chemical messenger.
Dopamine plays a role in how we feel pleasure. It's the chemical in the brain that controls reward-motivated behavior, and assists in our memory and ability to think and plan. It helps us strive, focus, and find things interesting.
It's a massive part of our unique human experience, assisting with many of our executive functions.
Recent studies have shown how important dopamine is to our learning experiences. But first, I want to share how I came to learn about the importance of dopamine.
My Interest in Dopamine
As someone with ADHD I am familiar with dopamine due to my personal struggles with it. I am cautious here and say "struggles" as I do not want to engage a cognitive distortion or "thinking trap" limiting my experience. However I recognize that in comparison to someone who is neurotypical my brain's ability for specific binding of dopamine transporters is lower in regions of the dopamine reward pathway within the left side of my brain.
Brain imaging studies have shown that brains with ADHD have a disruption in dopamine neurotransmission and that these deficits may underlie core symptoms of inattention*, impulsivity, memory, and reward/motivation deficits.
*In my personal experience, inattention is not the concern, but rather scattered attention. My hyperfocus tendencies are actually the inability to remove my attention from something... even if I REALLY need to pee!
When I was diagnosed with ADHD I began researching how I can work to hack my brain to lessen my impulsivity and improve my memory, general organization and increase my overall calm. At the time I was running my own social enterprise, which later split into two entities - a nonprofit and event company. I was also leading retreats and film festivals around the world and practiced on-the-side coaching and public speaking at conferences, schools, companies, etc. It was a lot, and I was a buzz all the time. My day-to-day was full of dopamine, tons of distractions, and tasks I did not want to do (sorry to my accountant...). It was the perfect arena to practice my new brain hacks.
Though I am unbelievably interested in my constant growth and continued learning about ADHD, I am not an ADHD coach. Due to that I will stick to the non-ADHD focused topic of hacking our brains with dopamine!
As I started to learn of ways we can hack our brains, and I became pleasantly obsessed with dopamine and serotonin - those feel good hormones.
It's the learnings surrounding dopamine that I bring into our workshops. Unbeknownst to our attendees they just walked into an in-the-moment holistic brain hack!
How we use Dopamine in our Workshops
Our workshops actually utilize our natural production of dopamine to amplify the success of our learnings.
This is how it works: at the summit of our hike we see these incredible views that we just worked up a sweat to get to. As our bodies are pumping endorphins into our system, we come over the last little push, and BAM. There is a breathtaking view of the ocean. 😍
Queue the dopamine.🤯
That dopamine release changes the game for our workshops.
Studies show that by utilizing a dopamine release within the learning process we can:
Increase the pace in which we learn
Strengthen our ability to retain information
Inspire new perspectives encouraging an expansion of the mind
When our workshop students work up a sweat by hiking up to receive that view we are hijacking our learning capabilities and motivation to increase attention spans among learners and inspire further learning.
Regardless of the brain hack or not - the results are tangible. By the end of the day the encouragement, motivation and energy is palpable. We just accomplished something incredible. We are so capable!
We started as 10 strangers. Now we are close friends encouraging each other's dreams, goals and capabilities as we overcome the barriers we didn't even know existed.
There are so many ways we can hack our brains. From a healthy routine to exercise, what we eat to what we listen to - there are hundreds if not thousands of brain hacks out there. If you are interested in learning how you can hack your own brain through an easy shift of your routine or a new delicious meal - let's chat! Each new client gets one free first call that can help send you on your way to hacking your brain - with no strings attached.
If I leave you with anything, it's this:
Our life is painted by the perception of our experience.
What brush strokes do you choose?
RSVP FOR OUR NEXT HIKE + WORKSHOP!
References:
Evaluating Dopamine Reward Pathway in ADHD
The Link Between Dopamine and Learning Outcomes: What Does it Mean for Business?
The role of dopamine in learning, memory, and performance of a water escape task
Summit Within headquarters is located on the unceded territories of the Lək̓ʷəŋən People, known today as the Esquimalt and Songhees Nations. We thank them for having cared for this land, continually caring for this land, and having us as a guest within their traditional, ancestral and unceded territory.
This acknowledgment is a reminder of the discriminatory, racist, and colonial practices that have had a lasting legacy, and continue to create barriers for Indigenous peoples and communities in North America. Allyship is a verb, we encourage you to click above and learn the Lək̓ʷəŋən People's incredible history + current culture.
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