The hidden brain in your skin | Claudia Aguirre | TEDxUCLA

We have all heard of the phrase “beauty is skin deep”, suggesting skin has a rather superficial role in who we are. But what if that is not true? Claudia Aguirre tells us about the "hidden brain" in our skin and the surprising things it reveals about our mental health.

Claudia Aguirre is a Neuroscientist, Skincare Expert, Spokesperson and Lecturer, UCLA Alumni, and TEDMED contributor.

[shannonsteiner]

Many years ago I read a book that had this phrase “Your mind is in every single cell in your body.”. Neale Donald Walsh, Conversations with God.

[grupoyawarete]

CONGRATULATIONS FOR YOUR EXCELLENT EXPLANATION !!! HUGS FROM BRASIL !!!

[GabiZuniga]

I find it fascinating how the body works together and how the skin gives us signs that something is wrong.

[okdragonfly]

Almost 20 years ago I was taught in my massage course that pimples, warts, cysts, "birth" marks, and more, are all trying to get your attention. The skin is the largest organ of the body. It is serving us grandly by telling us where the issues are. Look at meridians. Do the regressions and hypnotherapy. Consider reflex areas and points. Our body doesn't lie. Love this talk.

[TinaHuangPhD]

I'm a Neuroscientist turned healer. Whenever clients come to me with skin issues, the vast majority are due to accumulative stress/trauma and inherited stress/trauma. Releasing it makes the skin issues go away.

But skin is NOT unique. The vast majority of physical issues I've worked on has at its roots unresolved trauma. Whether its difficulty recovering from pain, illness, chronic disease, or any symptom.

It's the concept of the allostatic load. Anything that stresses the body increases our vulnerability to disease, illness, pain, mental, psychiatric and cognitive issues.

Her talk is intriguing, but I didn't feel like she did a good job of convincing me that the skin has its own nervous system. Whether its touch, something we see, smell or hear, we have receptors that eventually connect to the brain . To imply that it is has its own nervous system suggests to me that skin can think independently of the rest of the body. And she hasn't shown me evidence of that yet. Or is this just a hypothesis?

Western medicine thinks emotions are in the brain. Eastern medicine says they emirate from the organs. Candice Pert says they are in the peptides (which could be anywhere). Heart Math says they are represented by frequencies.

Regardless, our mental health has a far greater impact on our health than Western medicine currently appreciates. So this talk is a step in the right direction.

[vivianoosthuizen]

When I was a child about 8 I had a wart on my hand which my grandma told me I should blow to the moon. That night I did the blowing over the wart 3 times just as she showed me to do. Needless to say the wart was gone after a few days. This powerful event cemented my ability to use my mind or faith you can call it for life I knew the power of my mind and belief. God bless my grandma

[maximo]

I never wanted this talk to end. Soothing.

[sebastianricardez]

I really liked how multiple examples were used to show how stress can affect diagnosed conditions such as the 10 year old's excema and new conditions such as the teenage women's wart ont the bottom of her foot. it really put into perspective how our outside stress can affect our skins apperiance and health. The fact that their conditions were alleviated through aknowledging and working on their stress or trauma really shows that our skin has a brain. This really put into perspective that our skin is not just our outerlayer but that its complex organ that truly does have its own brain that isn't just affected by your health but also our stress levels and even trauma. Her last statement that we need to listen to our skin is so simple but profound because it is true. It is our first line of defense from the outside world and we need to protect it just as it does for all our other interal organs.

[carinaberinguilho]

The heart also has a mind of its own. Everything is much more interconnected than institutionalized science knows or teaches about at the moment.

[treesagreen]

It's not that our skin has a brain of its own, it's that our body is a whole community of organisms that cooperate and listen to one another, then react in an appropriate way.

[SantosC-no]

Its really interesting to hear about how traditional medication could not solve their issues but that psychology, understanding the source of their emotional distress really did in fact help improve their conditions.

I never once considered that problems in our skin like that could be an indicator of such a thing, i just always wrote it off as natural results from aging.
Fantastic video, I wish it was longer :[

[lorenzogumier]

I often feel goosebumps when I listen to a particularly emotional, gripping piece of music. I think that most people has already experienced that form of interconnection between hearing and touch at least once.

[wolfysays]

My takeaway is we need to touch our children gently more often, hug and show love. :)

[maheshkund]

It was written that the Skin is the seat of Mind in Charaka Samhita an Ancient Indian text related to Ayurveda Almost 3500 years ago

[monaabdelbaset]

Well, this explains reflexology, acupressure and acupuncture really well..
Brain very accurately represented on skin.

[rabbitroyale]

Awesome presentation! If you study the physics of sound, sound is a pressure wave. Based upon this, our skin has the ability to "hear" as well!

[LucidWildWellness]

Nice to see that science is catching up to intuition and nature 💖

[TravelNP]

Quit a very "good and stable" job which has all the benefits and bells and whistles... stable... because I developed many physical ailments due to the stress. My skin has now cleared up MOSTLY after being away only 1 year from that job. I have also been able to lose nearly 20lbs. I believe in this so much

[michelleheegaard]

This made me think of the rashes I would have as kid on various parts of my body. I received different creams for it and light therapy and it soothed but it never fully healed. I just so happened to have a bad childhood as well and as I got older and was able to take more control over my life, the rashes went away by themselves. Food for thought.

[IsisColby]

What an amazing presentation. I was on the edge of my seat listening to this ground-breaking talk by Claudia Aguirre. Great great great!