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.

Table of Contents

Introduction

Chapter 2

Peering beneath the skull: how the brain works
Picturing the human brain
A map of human intellect
Forging connections
More than the sum of its parts
The quantum brain

Chapter 3

Meditation and mystical experiences
The brain’s involvement in mystical experiences
The process of meditation
Important neurobiological features of meditation
Brain wave states during meditation and mystical experiences
The relaxation response

Chapter 4

Bridging science and spirituality
Shifts in perspective and belief
Neurotheology: reconciling science and spirituality
Depths and breadths of the human mind
The neuropsychology of mystical experience
The importance of myth-making
Thwarted attempts to prove or disprove the existence of God

Chapter 5

Hard-wired: a high-performance mind
Tripping into altered states of consciousness
Biofeedback: shifting the threshold of conscious behaviour
Neurofeedback and the high-performance mind

Chapter 6

Meditation and health
Health benefits of meditation
Possible unpleasant side effects of meditation
Studying the impact of meditation on health
Integrating meditation into healthcare
Summary

Chapter 7
Meditation in our everyday lives
Mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR)
Mantra meditation

Final thoughts

References
Further reading
Index