TEDMED Day 1 – Challenging the Dominant Paradigms

My week through the looking glass at the 2013 TED MED conference was incredible. As I reflect back on my week, it seems impossible to relay all that I learned, experienced, and discovered. There isn’t a word, or a picture, or a song I could sing that captures it all. Interestingly, TED was full of all those things: from the lyrical words of Sekou Andrews, to the captivating songs of Charity Tillemann-Dick & Afro Blue, and the stunning pictures of the dynamic doodlers & portraiture of the speakers.

So instead of an exercise in futility: I will give you a few nuggets, a taste of each day. I hope that these sips will inspire you to explore and connect. For me, I am still digesting it all, but one thing I do know: over the last 5 days my mind, body, and spirit have never been so well fed.

TUESDAY – Challenge the Dominant Paradigms

In the first paragraph, I spoke about an awful lot of artists who performed on the TED MED stage…and those aren’t even all of them.

“What?!” You might ask, “is all of this art doing at a health conference?” –> simply, art inspires and challenges the mind to think dynamically, to look at the world from a different point of view, and forces us to be present. What could be more crucial than a fluid mind when hoping to affect change?

On Tuesday, we were called to “Challenge The Dominant Paradigms” by enigmatic speaker America Bracho. She is the director of Latino Health Access in Santa Ana, California. They faciliate mechanism of empowerment for the Latino community and engages PEOPLE (not just health care professionals) to work as leaders of wellness and change.

She says we must “Recruit the heart and train the brain,”

“The other way doesn’t work.”