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Ordering
The 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.
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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 how meditation works, and outlines the scientific rationale
for including meditation in our everyday lives as a means
by which to optimise the performance of our brains and our
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. |
