The Great Courses
Series
Great courses. Literature and language. Language learning volume course 2858
Formats
Description
In this exciting series on Italian, learn to speak about the present, the past, and the future through detailed work with verbs, nouns, and adjectives, plus you'll learn vocabulary on numerous, useful subjects. Also discover the romantic beauties of Campania, The "Marches", Il Veneto, and Tuscany, in an unforgettable immersion into Italy's splendorous language and culture.
Description
Jump-start your creativity with a selection of fun exercises, including “What-If Moments” and “The First-Line Game.” Mr. Bell cites best-selling authors such as Alice Sebold and Mickey Spillane to demonstrate the importance of creating unique elements: a twist, a character, a setting, a relationship. Find out how to create the ever-important elevator pitch.
Description
All trauma, whether caused by a single event or prolonged exposure to a traumatic pattern, affects our physical body and our mind. Trauma causes specific changes in the brain and even in the genetics of reproduction. Learn why, without help, the mind and body can get stuck in the loop of the sympathetic nervous system’s trauma response. And how, with appropriate help, the mind and body can heal.
Description
Resilience, one of the most important skills we can master, is essential to navigating life successfully and reaching our fullest potential. As we each go through our own hero’s journey, we venture through life’s trials and tribulations, but also through its beauty and rewards. Learn how to identify and evaluate your personal strengths, and how they will help you on your own hero’s journey.
Description
In this practice, you’ll learn how to find safety and peacefulness within yourself. You’ll be guided through a very deep relaxation, a safe and peaceful awareness similar to what you might experience just before sleep. This is the peace that is always available to you, no matter what’s going on around you in the outside world, a stillness you can always access.
Description
This yoga practice (whether sitting or lying down) releases your body’s tension and encourages you to connect to your physical experiences on a deeper level. You’ll learn movements and breathing techniques that can be used during an average day at a desk or in a car. You’ll learn to let the breath carry the pose and find that union between body, mind, breath, and spirit.
Description
We often think of physical resilience as our body’s physical strength and fitness (the stronger we are, the quicker we’ll bounce back). But that’s only part of it. Learn about the additional skills needed to recover well from physical stress, illness, or injury. You’ll see that building physical resilience is not just what you do, it’s also how and why you do it.
Description
Learning to work with breathing is particularly powerful, as breath is the only function of the autonomic nervous system we can control. You’ll practice the three-part yogic breath, relaxation breath, energizing breath, and alternate-nostril breathing, among others. You’ll develop a better understanding of the yogic saying: “The mind affects the breath, and the breath affects the mind.”
Description
Authentic, lasting joy is an internal experience, not dependent upon any circumstances outside of ourselves. Learn how to find authentic joy by opening up to all of life (allowing yourself to feel the full range of your feelings, including those emotions you’ve been taught to bury) and taking responsibility for your own choices in your unique journey.
Description
Our lives can feel like maelstroms of sensory input, thoughts, and emotions. But there is a way to find the stillness that permanently exists beneath it all: meditation. Validated by thousands of scientific studies, meditation has been proven to enhance almost every aspect of life. Experience the power of mindfulness meditation and learn how it can help you find peace in the present moment.
Description
Instructor Birkholm takes you through a gentle yoga practice to help build awareness of your body, feelings, and beliefs. No yoga experience is necessary. You’ll be guided by this step-by-step instruction, which is modeled both standing and sitting. At the end of the practice, you’ll experience a deep relaxation pose, resting in the stillness that is always available to you.
Description
Human beings are wired for connection to others; our initial cognitive development depends on physical touch, and our “mirror neurons” teach us how to be human based on our interactions with others. Learn how to develop quality connections with others, connections that will help you thrive and increase resilience. Your instructor shares the inspiring stories of two individuals who did just that.
Description
You'll thoroughly enjoy this enlightening conversation between your instructor and Suzi Landolphi, a well-known leader in the post-traumatic growth movement, who currently works with combat veterans as a PATHH Guide (Progressive and Alternative Training for Healing Heroes). Just as trauma can be transmitted to successive generations, so can post-traumatic growth.
Description
We often think of sleep as simply what’s left over at the end of the day. But to the contrary: Healthy sleep patterns can transform your life with improved physical and mental health, better memory, and even increased longevity. Learn how to prepare your bedroom, your body, and your mind for high-quality sleep, and the many ways in which your phone can both hinder and help you achieve that goal.
Description
Those who can process their trauma can move forward to become stronger, wiser, and more resilient. Using Harriet Beecher Stowe as a fascinating example, you’ll learn how post-traumatic growth can lead to improved personal strength, the opening of new possibilities, spiritual change, and greater appreciation for life. We can become more resilient because of, not despite, adversity.
Description
In this mindfulness practice, you’ll continue to build awareness of your physical body, emotions, and mind. You’ll learn how to witness your thoughts and emotions in the present moment as they move in and out of your mind, without labeling them “good” or “bad.” This powerful practice will open up a new way for you to relate to your own thoughts, memories, and beliefs.
Description
Humans have always experienced periods of acute stress, and we have the nervous system to prove it. Explore how the sympathetic nervous system prepares the body for the fight-flight-freeze response, and how the parasympathetic nervous system relaxes the body when the cause of stress has passed. But if the cause of stress becomes chronic, serious long-term health consequences can result.
Description
Learn how humans have nurtured a spirit of resilience for thousands of years through instinct, “deep listening,” the Golden Rule, rites of passage, and faith (whether spiritual or not). Studying these practices, scientists are now confirming and promoting some of these techniques as ways to process adverse experiences and return to harmony.
Description
In this practice, you’ll learn how to trigger your body’s parasympathetic nervous system, your relaxation response, whenever you want to calm down. You’ll use your breath to continually invite your body to relax, and then notice your body’s response without judgment. These techniques are always available to you and can be applied at any time throughout your day.
Description
This practice will guide you through the steps of preparing for sleep. You’ll learn how to focus your attention on the good things that happened during your day as you start to settle in. You’ll enjoy relaxing all parts of the body (front, back, and sides), getting rid of tension wherever you’re carrying it. The guided meditation at the end of the practice might lead you directly into sleep.