First published in the Australian & New Zealand Journal of Family Therapy, March 2026 Issue ABSTRACT This article introduces the mnemonic, CAT‐FAWN. CAT stands for Concentration‐Activated Transformation as a tool for family therapy that emphasises trance‐based learning and self‐hypnosis mastery. FAWN refers to contrasting understandings of pre‐colonial and dominant worldview precepts that relate to Fear, […]
By Cameron Sprague and Daniel Burton This document introduces the philosophy, origins, and transformative purpose of the ‘Nested Nursery’ Award, a progressive, tiered framework designed to elevate Early Years settings into true partners for optimal child development. The ‘Nested Nursery’ Award emerged directly from the success of the beta run of the Nested World Initiative’s Nesting […]
Introduction In nursing mothers, breast milk becomes available for feeding the baby through a physiological process called the let-down reflex, mediated by the hormone oxytocin, which is produced in the pituitary gland. As the let-down occurs, many women experience a tingling sensation in their breasts, and often the nipples begin to leak. This reflex takes […]
As noted in multiple earlier posts, we’ve been somewhat blindly undernurturing half our brains, leading to a diminished understanding of intelligence. Specifically, we neglect to provide the evolved nest care needed to nourish the right hemisphere (RH) which is scheduled to grow more rapidly in the first years of life. As a result, the RH […]
Most children are required to attend school, but if you haven’t noticed, it historically moves against species-normal evolved nest principles. There is: Minimal welcoming of students’ unique interests. A lack of self-directed freedom to learn and play through whole-body experiential learning. Absence of welcomed affection, multi-age peer groups, and a village of trusted mentors. Thus, […]
The challenges we see in classrooms today may begin long before children arrive at school, shaped by early development, caregiving, and the conditions of modern life. By Dan Warren, Ph.D and Amy Warren, Ph.D. When a recent New York Times Magazine article (“America’s Children are Unwell. Are Schools Part of the Problem?”) examined the growing […]
Does AI mimic human intelligence? Only if you are half-brained. If you have any sense of embodied wisdom, experiences of oceanic feeling of oneness with All, any deep social and emotional intelligence understanding the complexity of face-to-face responsive human relationships, or any working creative artistic bones—all of which means your right hemisphere is working at […]
World renown anthropologist, Richard Lee (1979), recounted his experiences living with the !Kung, a San Bushmen hunter-gatherer group in the Kalahari whose culture has been around for at least 150,000 years. They are fiercely egalitarian with several tools to maintain it. One tool is ‘rough leveling’ or teasing. Hunters use relentless teasing against a successful […]
How do we welcome babies to enhance their wellbeing? Mbuti mothers of the Congo invent a unique song for their womb-child, singing about the maternal generosity of the forest. Sperm Whale mothers too invent a [clicking] song for their child and when they sing it, the rest of the pod stays silent so the baby […]
With deep nestedness, one feels part of the Whole, senses oneness with others, human and non-human. It starts in the womb, feeling part of Mother, an oceanic feeling of oneness. Birth of course breaks that feeling but with communal evolved nested care, it is restored. After birth, the child needs to be wooed back to […]