Pain Points with Max Shen Bren Veziroglu on Teaching Tasks, Not Techniques
Bren’s documentary is out! Watch here
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00:00:00 Introduction — Movement Without Reductionism 00:01:00 From Stanford Biochemistry to Movement Coaching 00:03:00 Traditional Training: Isolate, Integrate, Improvise
00:06:00 Why Transfer Fails in Traditional Models
00:09:00 Ecological Dynamics in Combat Sports
00:18:00 Constraints-Led Approach and Skill Transfer
00:21:00 Enactivism vs. Ecological Dynamics
00:26:00 The Role of Intention and Meaning in Movement
00:31:00 What is Beautiful Movement?
00:35:00 Movement and Evolutionary Mismatch
00:41:00 Nested Agency and Biological Intelligence
00:47:00 Rehabilitating Without Rest: A Proactive View on Pain
00:56:00 Changing Paradigms in BJJ and Movement Instruction
01:01:00 Teaching With Tasks, Not Moves
01:07:00 From Theory to Practice: Bringing CLA to New Disciplines
01:12:00 Workshops, Collaborations, and What’s Next
Beyond Biomechanics: The Enactive Inference Approach to Health and Movement – Shen & Frucek
Ramstead, M., et al. “A tale of two densities: Active inference is enactive inference.” Adaptive Behavior, 2019.
Varela, F., Thompson, E., & Rosch, E. The Embodied Mind. MIT Press, 2016.
Lehman, G. “Recovery Strategies.” Greg Lehman’s Website
Fighting Monkey Practice: fightingmonkey.net
Bren Veziroglu studied biochemistry at Stanford and worked in molecular imaging before pivoting to the world of movement and rehabilitation. He now teaches and practices using the constraints-led approach, integrating ecological dynamics, somatics, and martial arts to train human beings — not just athletes.
Max Shen is a former machine learning researcher turned pain and cognition scientist. After facing chronic pain in grad school, he now uses computational tools at MIT to explore pain from a systems and somatic lens.
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