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.

Upcoming talk: Yoga Ananda, Reigate, Surrey on Friday the 4th of June

Shanida Nataraja will be speaking at a seminar on The Blissful Brain on Friday, 04th June 2010 at 19:30 at Yoga Ananda Ltd. 46 Albert Road North, Reigate, Surrey, RH2 9EL. For more information, please click here.

The Blissful Brain - Dialogue between Kim and Shanida

The ego is the King/Queen of survival and has its centre in the left brain. What then are the benefits of activating the right brain more?

The right brain offers us a completely different mode of thinking. We saw that the right brain is associated with more abstract and holistic thinking; it is also credited with the ability to pull together loads of small pieces of information, generated by the left brain, synthesising them into a coherent whole in the form of an intellectual insight. The right brain also captures and stores a more realistic impression of our experiences. Memories stored in our left brain tend to be filtered, adapted versions of the real experience – how our ego has chosen to interpret and rationally explain the experience. Memories stored in our right brain, however, capture the whole, unadulterated experience, in full Technicolor. Meditation therefore not only allows us to access a different mode of thinking, but it also gives us access to these vivid memories and the insights that “remembering” can bring.

The one aspect stressed by most mystics is the importance of ‘purifying the emotions’. How do you explain this in terms of the brain?

The emotions are controlled by a series of structures scattered throughout the deepest parts of the brain called the limbic system. One of these structures, the amygdala, is essential in regulating our emotional state. Connections between the amygdala and the frontal cortex mean that, as humans, we are capable of making sensitive decisions, such as whether to call someone on their birthday or sacrifice a job offer in favour of family. When our emotions are in overdrive, however, activity in the amygdala begins to interfere with our ability to think, let alone make decisions. Ruminating thoughts, such the memory of some past wrong, can act to further enhance this wash of emotions. This vicious circle means our brains can soon become overloaded, and the only way of resetting the system, flushing out all of the redundant thoughts and the emotions associated with them, is by breaking the pattern by inserting a positive thought or a different way of looking at the situation. In this way, the frontal cortex interrupts the vicious circle and, in doing so, quietens down the amygdala and “purifies the emotions”.

A crisis or unusual experience is often the start of the spiritual path. Can that be explained in brain functions?

This is very interesting. In our everyday lives, our left brain, the source of our ego or sense of identity, dominates our existence. As you mentioned, the ego’s primary objective is survival so it fights against right brain activity. The ego tells you that you have much better things to do than meditate; jobs to be done; things to be achieved. A crisis or unusual experience undermines the power of the ego; the way we thought we were or the way we thought things were is shown to be flawed, and this weak point in the ego, leaves the individual more open to something different, and much more open to right brain activity.

A common feeling of modern men and women is a sense of isolation and fragmentation; meditation often leads to an inexplicable sense of harmony, even of ‘coming home’. Can you explain this?

This is undoubtedly the result of the shift from left to right brain activity during meditation. The left brain view of the world is very fragmented; the individual is seen to be an isolated ego in a distant and threatening world. During meditation, the switch to right brain activity causes an expansion in awareness beyond merely the ego. Practitioners become much more aware of their interconnectedness with those around them, as well as their interconnectedness with their environment, and this conveys the feeling of being part of something, part of a family, and brings home the importance of existing in harmony with that family.