Welcome to the supplementary materials webpage for my application to the TEDx Rutgers Camden event in January 2023.

 

“Adam is a wonderful performer, teacher, and advocate for creative arts. I have the highest respect for his empathy approach evident in the incredible work he showcases.”

-Marco Torres, Apple Executive Learning Leadership

 
 

Title Options

“What If Our Feelings Could Speak For Themselves?”

“How Trauma Made Me a Better Drummer”

“Resilience- Healing In Real Time”

“Drumming- The Most Profound Neural Exercise of All”

“Hello, This is Your Nervous System Speaking”

Talk Outline

(Each section would be 60-70 seconds for a 12-14 minute talk)

1. Personal Story:

My transformational healing journey from back to beyond

2. Express Problem:

  1. We privilege thought over feeling to our personal, professional, and cultural detriment

    3. Examples of Problem:

    Evidence of cognitive bias in culture, education, technology, trauma, and drumming

    4. Emerging Solutions:

    A paradigm shift away from cognitive bias toward self-assessment tools developing internal awareness

    5. Build Problem Further:

    Institutional traditionalism, political division, inequality based on gender, race, and status

    6. Personal Solutions:

    Integration of self-assessment tools in drumming, neurophysiology, education, and technology

    7. Personal Effective Tools:

    Somatic Experiencing, clinical application of Polyvagal Theory to drumming, GRACE model

    8. Need For Tools:

    Our pandemic world has incurred the imperative need for healing and embodiment education

    9. Bring It Back To Me:

    My story of transformation inspired my study of internal awareness through the lens of drumming

    10. For You It Might Not Be My Way:

    Embodiment and neural exercises elevate connection and wellness in all our lives

    11. What That Looks Like:

    Music, acting, athletics, martial arts, yoga, family, co-regulation, community engagement, self-love

    12. Conclusion:

    Invitation to create and celebrate this new world together!

 

Auxiliary Questions:

What are you best known for? What is your crowning achievement?

I am best known for being a world-class drummer in Los Angeles, but for me, my crowning achievement is that I turned my worst day into my best.

I injured my hands in 2010 and spent years struggling with debilitating psychological and physical conflict. I learned to transform this struggle into the purposeful study of Polyvagal Theory and Somatic Experiencing trauma therapy, both for my own healing and to evangelize the immeasurable impact of nervous system function on our lived experience.

My story led to the development of my pedagogy: ‘I feel therefore I drum,’ leading us toward harmony between our thoughts and feelings, intentions and actions, ourselves and others.

My worst day is foundational to the emergence of my best self today.

My Healing Story

 

What other accomplishments would you like to share?

I am the only Polyvagal Informed drum performance coach certified by Dr. Stephen Porges and the Polyvagal Institute.

Breath is a foundational component of Polyvagal Theory so I am also finishing certification as a functional breath instructor from Oxygen Advantage, founded by master breath practitioner, Patrick McKeown.

I study media production tools for digital storytelling to educate by sharing my story. The growth of my video portfolio inspires me to fulfill my potential in the years to come. I am humbled and grateful to the interdisciplinary leaders who have encouraged me to use multi-media to explore the intersection of drumming, wellness, education, and technology.

Francesca Maxime interviewing Dr. Shelly Harrell offers such a deep dive into music and trauma that I felt inspired to create the drum video soundtrack:

 
 

What hobbies, causes and activities are you passionate about aside from your work?

Studying nervous system evolution led me to explore early teaching traditions of stick technique. I found that the oldest is not actually drumming. I practice the six hundred-year-old martial art of Bojuko (the Japanese Fighting Staff) as a neural exercise and hobby.

I believe in an educational paradigm shift away from systemic external evaluation toward self-assessment. Portfolio over resume. Progressive academic strategies like metacognition, growth mindset and ungrading show empirical evidence of improvement in our learning outcomes.

Self-assessment through the lens of Polyvagal Theory:

As for activities, I like making tortillas, watching the Dodgers, and loving on my dogs!

 
 

Share an example of something you created that you consider unique. Why do you think it is groundbreaking?

I connect rhythm, body, and mind in my pioneering Polyvagal Informed drum studio. My drum lessons, based on neural exercises, teach feeling as a language. This learning model treats feeling as an “intervening variable” between intention and action by implementing groundbreaking nervous system research.

Guided by feeling to connect intention and action, I have created my drum studio lab to record and study detailed biometrics, movement, sound, rhythm, and timing of drum performances. Empirical reflection and meaningful self-assessment result from performance review referencing multiple video angles, with digital audio, in varying rates of playback.

Polyvagal Theory informs this process and builds awareness of how our physiological cues reveal predictable patterns in our stress responses (intervening variables), both on and away from the drums.

Applied embodiment is foundational to building this awareness.    

 
 

What questions should we have asked, but didn’t?  

How tall are you?

I’m 6’8”. I used to feel awkwardly tall, and now I see how my stature serves me as a speaker with a vital and prescient message that is even bigger than me! 

But I like small things, too.

 

What inspires your work that is beyond the scope of your TEDx talk?

Feminist theory narrates the through-line in my work. Patriarchy categorizes and evaluates us hierarchically, dictating our external value in conflict with our inner wisdom. Feminist theory offers an alternative to traditional gender roles that reduce and separate us from ourselves and each other through cognitive bias.

This throughline is evident in my interview on this episode of the ReRooted Podcast.

 

What are you most hoping to achieve by speaking at TEDx Rutger Camden?

I want to increase in my ability to cross barriers and design relationships among diverse industries with grace and compassion.

Thank you for your consideration!

Sincerely,

Adam Gust