How the Attention Economy Hijacks Your Nervous System (And How to Reclaim It)

How the Attention Economy Hijacks Your Nervous System (And How to Reclaim It)

Author: Serge Prengel July 8, 2026 Duration: 18:26

Screen addiction is only part of the story. Human attention evolved for survival, not for a trillion-dollar economy engineered to capture it. In this episode, we explore how the digital environment recruits our nervous system, shifting our center of gravity from the inside out to the outside in. Learn why embodied, experiential mindfulness is no longer a luxury—it is a proactive necessity for reclaiming agency, self-regulation, and presence in everyday life and therapy.
Key Topics:
The Attention Economy & Evolution
Experiential & Embodied Therapy
Reclaiming Presence From the Inside Out
Resource: ProactiveMindfulness.com


Serge Prengel hosts Proactive Mindfulness, a space where the concept of personal growth is examined not as a distant goal but as something woven into the fabric of daily life. This podcast moves beyond passive theory, focusing instead on change as an active and mindful practice. Each episode features dialogues with experienced therapists, coaches, and mindfulness practitioners, turning abstract ideas into tangible, relatable conversations. You’ll hear real-world examples of how awareness can be applied to moments of stress, decision-making, and personal challenge, making the principles discussed immediately relevant. The discussions are thoughtful and often meandering, allowing for depth and nuance rather than quick fixes. It’s for anyone who finds that standard self-improvement advice feels disconnected from the messy reality of being human. Through these talks, the podcast builds a practical philosophy-one where mindfulness is a dynamic tool for navigating life’s complexities, not an escape from them. Tune in for a perspective that is both grounding and invigorating, reminding us that growth happens in the process of engaging with our present experience, exactly as it is.
Author: Language: en-us Episodes: 50

Proactive Mindfulness
Podcast Episodes
What is Polyvagal-informed Mindfulness? [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 52:07
How does the Polyvagal Theory affect our understanding of mindfulness? Blake O'Connor, Education Director of the Polyvagal Institute, interviews Serge Prengel.
Elizabeth English: Gentle mindfulness [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 24:15
We talk about freeing meditation from pressures and welcoming every aspect of our inner experience.
Noga Arikha: The embodied mind [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 46:58
Antonio Damasio described Nora Arikha as a poet and a painter with the soul of a scientist.
Ken Benau: Shame, Pride, and Relational Trauma [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 57:07
This conversation with Ken Benau serves as an introduction to shame and pride-informed psychotherapy with adult survivors of relational trauma
Lawrence Berger: A quest for meaning [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 43:04
We start this conversation from the perspective that human beings are self-interpreting animals, and go on to explore what gives us a sense of meaning.
Jacqui Lewis: Fierce Love [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 24:50
Jacqui Lewis & Serge Prengel talk about bringing a quality of fierce love to our life, as a person and as an agent of change.