SOLD OUT - The Mogul: Russell Simmons + cognitive neuroscientist David Vago

Russell Simmons wants you to be happy. He wants you to be successful. He wants you to be compassionate.

Russell Simmons, the entrepreneur and co-founder of Def Jam Recordings and Def Comedy Jam, claims meditation can help you live a calmer, healthier, more mindful, spiritual and successful life. To what extent is this claim supported by science? Come and find out in his on-stage conversation withcognitive neuroscientist David Vago. Russell Simmons will sign copies of his new book Success Through Stillness: Meditation Made Simple after the program.
First explaining how Transcendental Meditation can help readers live a calmer, healthier, more mindful, spiritual and successful life, then explaining exactly how to meditate, including giving a mantra, Russell’s new book, Success Through Stillness: Meditation Made Simple keeps all of the clutter at bay: Russell cuts to the chase and gives aspiring meditators only the information needed to get started. Russell Simmons is also the author of Do You! and Super Rich.

About the Speakers

David Vago is an instructor of psychology in the Functional Neuroimaging Laboratory (FNL), Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School. He has completed a post-doctoral fellowship in the department of Psychiatry at BWH, the Stuart T. Hauser Research Training Program in Biological and Social Psychiatry, and at the Utah Center for Mind-Body Interactions within the University of Utah Medical School. David has held the position of Senior Research Coordinator for the Mind & Life Institute, a non-for-profit organization dedicated to fostering dialogue and research at the highest possible level between modern science and the great living contemplative traditions. He currently is a Mind and Life Fellow. In 2005, David received his Ph.D. in Cognitive and Neural Sciences with a specialization in learning and memory from the department of Psychology, University of Utah. David has been investigating functional-anatomical brain networks supporting cultivated forms of awareness developed through mindfulness meditation training in order to clarify adaptive mind-brain-body interactions and their therapeutic relevance in psychiatric disorders. By revealing the neural circuitry and further identifying endophenotypes for pathophysiology, David hopes to better predict outcomes and potential targets for the development of biologically-based diagnostic and therapeutic strategies for those suffering with mental illness. David is involved in designing multiple real-time functional neuroimaging studies that aim to use direct neurofeedback as a form of self-regulation to improve outcomes of anhedonia, dysthymia, depression, and addiction. David is an avid Vipassana, Dzogchen meditation and Hatha Yoga practitioner, and enjoys recreating in the outdoors.