The Huberman Lab Podcast discusses neuroscience: how our brain and its connections with the organs of our body control our perceptions, our behaviors, and our health. We also discuss existing and emerging tools for measuring and changing how our nervous system works. Dr. Andrew Huberman is a tenured Professor of Neurobiology and Ophthalmology at Stanford School of Medicine. His laboratory studies neural regeneration, neuroplasticity, and brain states such as stress, focus, fear, and optimal performance. For more than 20 years, Dr. Huberman has consistently published original research findings and review articles in top-level peer-reviewed journals, including Nature, Science, Cell, Neuron, and Current Biology. He is a regular member of several National Institutes of Health review panels and a Fellow of the McKnight Foundation and the Pew Charitable Trusts. Dr. Huberman regularly consults for technology development companies, professional athletic organizations, and various units of U.S. and Canadian Special Operations.

How to Expand Your Consciousness | Dr. Christof Koch

September 15, 2025 2:11:42 22.84 MB ( -22.85 MB less) Downloads: 0

My guest is Dr. Christof Koch, PhD, a pioneering researcher on the topic of consciousness, an investigator at the Allen Institute for Brain Science and the chief scientist at the Tiny Blue Dot Foundation. We discuss the neuroscience of consciousness—how it arises in our brain, how it shapes our identity and how we can modify and expand it. Dr. Koch explains how we all experience life through a unique “perception box,” which holds our beliefs, our memories and thus our biases about reality. We discuss how human consciousness is changed by meditation, non-sleep deep rest, psychedelics, dreams and virtual reality. We also discuss neuroplasticity (rewiring the brain), flow states and the ever-changing but also persistent aspect of the “collective consciousness” of humanity.

Read the episode show notes at hubermanlab.com.

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Timestamps

(0:00) Christof Koch

(2:31) Consciousness; Self, Flow States

(8:02) NSDR, Yoga Nidra, Liminal States; State of Being, Intelligence vs Consciousness

(13:14) Sponsors: BetterHelp & Our Place

(15:53) Self, Derealization, Psychedelics; Selflessness & Flow States

(19:53) Transformative Experience, VR, Racism & Self; Perception Box, Bayesian Model

(28:29) Oliver Sacks, Empathy & Animals

(34:01) Changing Outlook on Life, Tool: Belief & Agency

(37:48) Sponsors: AGZ by AG1 & Helix Sleep

(40:23) Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) & Higher Power

(42:09) Neurobiology of Consciousness; Accidents, Covert Consciousness

(51:09) Non-Responsive State; Disability Bias, Will to Live, Resilience

(55:34) Will to Live, Akinetic Mutism, Neural Correlates of Consciousness

(57:43) Conflicting Perception Boxes, Meta Prior, Religion, AI

(1:06:47) AI, Violence, Swapping Perception Boxes, Video

(1:12:19) 5-MeO-DMT, Psychedelics, Light, Consciousness & Awe; Loss of Self

(1:20:54) Death, Mystical Experience, Ocean Analogy; Physicalism & Observer

(1:27:57) Sponsor: LMNT

(1:29:29) Meditation, Tool: Spacetime Bridging; Ball-bearing Analogy; Digital Twin

(1:36:16) Mental Health Decline, Social Media, Pandemic, Family & Play, Tool: Body-Awareness Exercises

(1:41:34) Dog Breeds; Movement, Cognitive Flexibility & Longevity

(1:47:17) Cynicism, Ketamine, Tool: Belief Effect; Heroes & Finding Flaws

(1:52:46) Cynicism vs Curiosity, Compassion; Deaths of Despair, Mental Health Crisis

(1:57:26) Jennifer Aniston, Recognition & Neurons; Grandmother Hypothesis

(2:03:20) Book Recommendation; Meaning of Life

(2:09:10) Zero-Cost Support, YouTube, Spotify & Apple Follow & Reviews, Sponsors, YouTube Feedback, Protocols Book, Social Media, Neural Network Newsletter

Disclaimer & Disclosures

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