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15.03.2008
Publication
date for The Blissful Brain
The Blissful Brain
is published by Gaia Thinking. For more information on how
to order your copy, please click
here.
13.05.2008
The
Blissful Brain, St Mark's Islington, London
This evening event was chaired
by Dr Shanida Nataraja, author of The Blissful Brain.
Shanida was joined by other popular speakers, including Laurence
Freeman OSB, Director of The World Community for Christian
Meditation (WCCM), and Kim Nataraja, author of Dancing
With Your Shadow, a book on the stages of meditation
and the path towards the integration of Self. For more information,
please click
here.
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About
The Blissful Brain
The Blissful Brain is a guide to
the scientific evidence supporting the role of practices such
as meditation, tai chi and yoga in our everyday lives. Our
world is a stressful place, and these practices appear to
go some way towards offering an antidote to this stress. Furthermore,
stress, and stress-related diseases, place an increasing burden
on our Western healthcare systems, and there is a clear need
for a shift in our approach to health and well-being, both
as individuals and as a society as a whole. The widespread
acceptance of meditation as a crucial component of everyday
life, as well as an essential component of effective patient
management, has, until recently, been hindered by a lack of
knowledge about the effects of meditation on the brain and
on measurable health outcomes.
However, recent research
has revealed specific brain regions and processes involved
in meditation, as well as those involved in generating religious
and mystical experiences. Furthermore, numerous studies
have explored the health benefits of meditation, from its
effects on blood pressure and cardiovascular health to its
impact on mental health disorders and coping mechanisms
in disease. Not only does this research provide a concrete
explanation of how and why meditation works, but it also
reveals both the potential benefits of long-term practice
and the possible strategies that can be used to facilitate
meditative practice.
The Blissful Brain therefore provides
the scientific explanation of meditation, and outlines the
scientific rationale for the inclusion of meditation in our
everyday lives as a means by which to optimise our brain functioning,
state of health, and well-being.
To see The Blissful Brain's table
of content, please click here.
Please click on the links below to read a short summary
of each of The Blissful Brain's chapters:
 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
The Blissful Brain forms part of
brand new series called Gaia Thinking, which draws on the
authority of experts to take a clear-eyed look at the key
environmental and health issues we face today. Filled with
practical advice, the titles outline how we can improve the
health of both ourselves and our planet. |
