Blissful Brain

The Blissful Brain is published by Gaia Thinking. For more information on how to order your copy, please click here.

Guardian G2: Mind over matter by Andy Darling

"Neuroscientist Shanida Nataraja has proven meditation does more than clear your head, it can put both halves of your brain to work, improving your concentration, memory, and decision-making...". To read more, please click here.

The Times: Calm down dear by Angela Pertusini

"Claims by the neuroscientist Shanida Nataraja regarding the benefits of meditation have been backed up by rigourous scientific research and are explained in her acclaimed book The Blissful Brain: Neuroscience and Proof of the Power of Meditation". To read more, please click here.

Just this Day event: A Day of Silence and Stillness at St Martin's in the Field on 23rd of November 2011

Shanida Nataraja will be participating in this exciting event that aims to explore the power of silience and stillness in our busy world. For more information, please click here or visit the Just This Day website.

Mindfulness in the Workplace: Brain based approaches to improving employee resilience and productivity at Robinson College, Cambridge on 10 February 2012

Shanida Nataraja will be speaking at this day event that brings together leading experts in mindfulness to discuss how it could help organisations improve productivity & resiliance. Speakers include Professor Mark Williams, Michael Chaskalson, Ruby Wax, Margaret Chapman, and more (for more information, please see click here.

Chapter 5 – Hard-wired: a High-Performance Mind

Chapter 5 presents possible ways of raising awareness of unconscious behaviour, facilitating meditation, and optimising the performance of our brains. An understanding of the neural processes underlying altered or higher states of consciousness can provide scientific clues that facilitate our attainment of these states. Meditation often involves many years of trial and error as the practitioner slowly fine-tunes their technique. Any strategy that could potentially facilitate meditation, and enhance the performance of the human brain, is therefore welcome. Chapter 5 provides an overview of different strategies that have been tested, including pyschoactive substances, biofeedback and neurofeedback. This evidence suggests that the integration of spiritual practice and technology can further accelerate personal and spiritual development.

Please click here to read the summary for the next chapter.

Chapter 1: Meditation: what is it and why do we need it?
Chapter 2: Peering beneath the skull: how the brain works?
Chapter 3: Meditation and mystical experiences
Chapter 4: Bridging science and spirituality
Chapter 5: Hard-wired: a high performance mind
Chapter 6: Meditation and health
Chapter 7: Meditation and our everyday lives