Rancho Mirage, CA…The Applied Neuroscience Institute, will move from Los Angeles to be headquartered in Rancho Mirage, California. The Institute will offer Certification and Licensure programs for professional and lay people in the helping professions that are a cutting edge integration of the research in neuroscience, the new emerging positive psychology, and quantum physics . Courses are also available for the general public for personal growth. Dr. William Larkin, interviewed recently about this event, noted that neuroscience has now identified the centers of happiness and joy in the brain. We know how to use neuroplasticity to grow new neuropathways. Neuropathways that cause the anxiety, fear, and doubt cycle can change, but not by focusing on them. We can raise the emotional set- point and happiness-set point we once thought was fixed. We are a culture driven by trying to change our weaknesses, when actually weaknesses change very little over a lifetime…We focus on the creation of an UpSpiral, helping individuals and organizations to find their strengths and identify their real wants and desires which springs from a scientific assessment and testing of their strengths and the development of positive “emotional muscle”. It is from this position that weaknesses either fade or are much more easily managed.” Dr. Larkin, the Director, who holds a doctorate from Harvard University, has created “The Emotional Gym” explains that “emotional muscle” is as important, if not more so, than physical muscle. “You can wear a skin-fitting tank-top, look great, be toned, and still feel lousy. This is the new gym for the new millennium”, contends Dr. Larkin. We develop strong positive emotional capacities that help keep people in an UpSpiral that creates a buffer zone against negativity that strengthens not only the immune system, but also increases problem-solving, increases the capacity to learn and be more creative, and also strengthens the immune system. This learning changes the neuroplasticity of the brain by developing new neuropathways of positive perception, feeling, and goal-setting. It is preventive health and it’s essential to well-being and “feeling good”. “The goal is feeling good”, says Dr. Larkin, but it doesn’t happen by focusing on what is wrong and trying to fix it, it happens by learning to “move on”. Beginning in February, the Institute will offer a Certification Program for mental health professionals, non-credentialed life coaches, educators, practitioners, and lay people in the helping professions, and for ministers. The program for licensure, which is more extensive than certification, is called “VisioNavigator”. It will give participants state-of-the-art training not only in the research but also the practical application of research principles. The programs are not diagnostic or therapy-based, but rather rely on mentoring, education and training. “Enough hashing and rehashing of problems that cause people to think of themselves as victims, this is about empowering people to grow their strengths, move through indecision, identify the real goals that will fulfill their lives, and to then to “go for it”. The research shows us that people who play to their strengths and develop and maintain positive emotional muscle, stay in an UpSpiral of ‘feeling good’. Dr. Donald B. Johnson, Director of Development is a professional educator, a teacher’s teacher and professional educational coach who has developed educational evaluation programs used throughout the country. Fluent in both Spanish and French, Dr. Johnson will take the live programs presented in the Coachella Valley, nationally and internationally via V-group teleconferences and internet webinars. Further information about the Applied Neuroscience Institute and the February certification program can be obtained by contacting Dr. Johnson at appliedneuroscienceinstitute@verizon.net.