Hi there

Sorry for being a little quiet since my last email. I've spent the previous few weeks happily buried in books, papers and pixels as I continue to construct and fine-tune my presentations for next year's Explore Pain events. I don't know about you, but there are papers I can read on a screen, and others that need to be printed before I can read and really absorb them - perhaps it's got something to do with the embodied experience of haptics, holding, and highlighting (although I'm an underliner and marginaliaist - pencil only of course - the alliteration was too tempting). Feel free to drop me a line whether you are a fellow graphite-based jotter and scribbler, or if you are digital to the core and want to argue your case.

As promised, here is some more of the very best stuff I have stashed away in my ever-growing "Explore Pain" folder (the contents of which will become the foundation of an online resource that will be available to all attendees) as well as some fresh stuff I have found in the past couple of weeks.

1. The Free Energy Principle at the Edge of Chaos

In her own words, Inês Hipólito is a Cognitive Scientist, Philosopher and Wanderer (which in my book makes her a fellow Explorer too!). While many people are starting to talk of 'predictions' and 'predictive processing', at the very heart of these concepts are the notoriously difficult (and some would say obscure), complex and not uncontroversial ideas of the Free Energy Principle, Active Inference and Markov Blankets. In this outstanding presentation, Inês provides one of the very best, and most accessible, introductions to them all. Inês discusses the origin of the FEP from the fundamentals of physics and biology and suggests how it can shape our understanding of cognition, perception and behaviour (making it, I believe, of particular interest to anyone concerned with perception, pain and people). Hit the image below to watch. The slides from the presentation have also been made available here. (Don't freak out about the equations, really, it's going to be ok, no maths was performed during the presentation)

2. Wilding the predictive brain

For those who want something to read (on paper or pixels) here is a cracking paper from some of the genuine pioneers and top thinkers in the Predictive Processing field. Another accessible introduction, this paper also explores the deep links in PP between perception, embodiment, affect and homeostasis (this word will appear repeatedly in these emails and during the course, but this is not your grandmother's homeostasis, oh no).

Download the full paper here:

Wilding the Predictive Brain
(Nave K, Deane G, Miller M and Clark A, 2020)

Will you join us to Explore Pain?

During the Explore Pain events, we'll discuss in depth why The Free Energy Principle and Predictive Processing are important (along with a whole lot more), but more than that, in what I think is a world first, you will quite literally become a Markov Blanket, a Predictive Process and a Generative Model of the world - watch Inês' presentation if these words mean nothing to you right now.

Wondering what on earth all this has got to do with pain? Check out my previous email and grab the cornerstone Embodied Predictive Processing Theory of Pain paper, or download it directly here.

In a blatant attempt to stir some friendly geographical pride, just letting you know that so far, Brisbane event numbers are winning the race followed closely by Melbourne, with Freo lagging a little behind. Let me know if you are in the West and want to help spread the word!

Keep an eye out for my next email, as Leanne has kindly allowed me to share some of her writing exploring the clinical applications of these ideas. We both hope that you can join us* to Explore Pain in Fremantle, Brisbane or Melbourne in 2023.

Questions, comments, requests? Remember to email me directly at tim@noigroup.com.

My thanks and very best,

Tim Cocks
Chief Operating Officer | Lead Instructor
Noigroup

Fremantle Explore Pain | April 21 - 23 2023

Brisbane Explore Pain | July 21 - 23 2023

Melbourne Explore Pain | October 6 - 8 2023

*For those of you all over the globe that can't make it, we do hear you, and we are looking at ways to bring this to a bigger and possibly online audience in the future. For now, we hope you can enjoy these resources and join us in learning and thinking about the future of exploring pain.

Meet your Co-Explorers

Leanne Rath

Leanne Rath (FACP) is a specialist sports and exercise physiotherapist practising at Physiosports, Brighton, Melbourne Australia. She is sought after as an educator and mentor to the profession.

Since graduating from LaTrobe University in 1990, Leanne has worked with the Australian Ballet (2006-9), the Australian Institute of Sport (1995-2005), and many of Australia’s highest performing athletes as a Sports Physiotherapist for the Australian netball, gymnastics, women’s volleyball, and swimming teams. She was a member of the Australian medical team at the Olympic Games (Sydney 2000) and the Commonwealth Games (Manchester 2002).

Tim Cocks

Tim graduated from the University of South Australia in 1998 with a Bachelor of Applied Science (Physiotherapy). He commenced work in private practice immediately after graduating and spent the next 8 years learning about life and people in the outer, industrial suburbs of Adelaide. Tim joined Noigroup full-time in 2014 and continues as the Chief Operating Officer and lead Australasian Instructor.

“Tim is such a captivating and engaging presenter, he held my full attention and focus over the span of 3 days which is rather impressive! He was able to link concepts together well, provided great practical examples and ways of integrating new knowledge into clinical practice.”

The artwork in this email has been generated by the Artificially Intelligent "artist" Midjourney using a combination of natural language text prompts.