Retired neurologist behind new musical project on healing
A neurologist who spent 25 years reading thousands of studies has distilled his life's work into a new musical project. Now based in Weston-super-Mare, Dr Andrew Curran, 67, has combined his two "great loves" - neurobiology and music - to create a "part concert, part brain masterclass, part emotional awakening". Following the style of his bestseller, The Little Book of Big Stuff About the Brain, the new show focuses on how we can heal from the experiences that shape us. "I found the application of neurobiology so incredibly helpful in my own personal growth and unlearning of emotional damage - I absolutely have a desire to bring that to a much broader audience," he said.
Dr Curran, who retired from his clinical work as a paediatric neurologist five years ago, told the BBC that working through more than 5,500 scientific papers over the decades he set out to work out both why he was "really not happy at all", and how he could help others to overcome the emotions that ruled their lives. "If you understand the neurobiology it takes all the magic and mystery out of psycho-emotional learning and unlearning," he said. "Because it actually just comes down to nerve cells and their connections."
Growing up in a highly musical family, Dr Curran has spent decades playing and writing music alongside his medical career, as well training thousands of teachers to understand how neurobiology applies to their pupils. Working with South West folk musicians and supported by local organisations such as Front Room in Weston-super-Mare, he and his band The Promise are now putting the finishing touches on a show they hope to tour around the UK.
"I've combined songs, some of which [...] are designed to carry you somewhere where you just experience aliveness, with the neurobiology I've discovered," he said. "The feedback we've got from audiences so far is that it's an incredibly powerful way of helping each and every person."
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