Blissful Brain
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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.

Brain Entrainment

Binaural beats originate from the primitive auditory centres of the brainstem. They result from the interaction of two different auditory impulses, originating in opposite ears, which differ in frequency by up to 30 Hz. Take the following example: if a pure tone of 100 Hz is presented to the right ear, and a tone of 110 Hz presented to the left ear, the two auditory inputs interact in the brainstem to give an overall wave that has a frequency that is the average of the two frequencies, in this case 105 Hz, and an amplitude (see red square) that shifts down and up with a frequency that represents the difference in the frequency of the two waves, in this case 10 Hz. Whilst the overall frequency of the two auditory inputs can be heard, the binaural beat caused by the periodic changes in the amplitude of this signal cannot be heard in the conventional sense of the word, since its frequency lies below the lower limit of the human range of hearing.

A repetitive stimulus, such as a flashing light or sound, can tuning brain activity to a particular frequency; the frequency of the incoming stimulus. This inherent ability is harnessed in ritualistic behaviour, as well as in the widely available visual–audio entrainment technology. Patterns of light stimuli, administered through special goggles, are combined with patterns of auditory stimulus, administered through headphones, to gently re-tune (or entrain) the frequency of the brain waves (i.e. the overall activity of all the neurones in the brain) to frequencies that are more conducive to concentration, relaxation, or creativity, for example. The principle of entrainment can be illustrated by the following example.

Imagine striking a tuning fork designed to produce a frequency of 440 Hz. If this oscillating tuning force is moved near to another 440 Hz tuning fork, the second fork will also start to oscillate, and thus resonate at the same frequency. The first tuning fork is said to have entrained the second fork. Not only does this technology entrain the frequency of the brain wave to the frequency of the incoming stimuli, but the presence of a repetitive visual or auditory input also acts to focus the attention.

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