Dr Laurie Rauch

Dr. Laurie Rauch van Kaapstad was goed op pad om ‘n Springbok driekamp-atleet te word toe tragedie tref.

Lizma van Zyl gesels met dié akademikus oor sy lang pad na herstel, liggaamlik en emosioneel, en die rol wat dit in sy navorsingswerk gespeel het.

Hy deel ook van sy tegnieke om te midde van groot druk, kalm te kan bly.

Meer oor Dr Laurie Rauch:

Dr Laurie Rauch

Knocked off his bicycle by a drunken container truck driver Laurie sustained a severe traumatic brain injury, a broken neck & an amputated right leg. At the time he was in the final year of a PhD in Exercise Science that focused on muscle metabolism and feedback to the brain, the same systems that were now severely disrupted.

Laurie’s subsequent research emerged from his personal struggles in regaining his own health and wellbeing. His focus changed to researching the brain-body link with a particular interest in optimising bodily stress reactivity (composure) when performing under pressure.

Nervous system training entails using correct body posture, slow conscious movements and heightened awareness to undo the mental interference which prevents our bodily systems from working harmoniously. This enables us to tap into the 3 motivated behaviours programmed in our deeply subconscious reptilian brain.

‘Motivated’ behaviours, are naturally done without thinking PLUS they release energy into the body. When these do not occur naturally (mostly due to mental interference) the release of energy is inhibited and we feel tension in the body.

Laurie is an adjunct senior lecturer in the Department of Human Biology at UCT, both at undergraduate and post-graduate level. He co-supervises MSc and PhD students in research projects ranging from relational health, weight loss, sleep and spinal cord injured persons, making use of techniques such as functional MRI, cardiovascular function, Heart Rate Variability measures, cognitive function and EEG.

In recent years Laurie has dedicated his time to sharing his personal journey and academic findings, professional experience to a wide range of audiences around the world focussed on 1) sporting experiences from his triathlon, cycling, rugby & rock climbing days; 2) experiences in regaining his health after his accident and 3) 25 years of conducting Health Science research at UCT through academic and mainstream presentations, lectures and workshops.

Laurie’s particular interest lies in the Autonomic Nervous System and a more than a decade of academic research and practice to understand the neural underpinnings of composure, i.e. what happens inside the heart, brain and body of a person performing at their peak in any arena, sporting, corporate, artistic, academic, etc.

Lees ook meer oor sy filosofie: https://www.keepingcalm.co/