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.

References for Chapter 2

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Breasted JH. The Edwin Smith Surgical Papyrus, 2 volumes. The University of Chicago Press, 1930.

Celesia GG, Bushnell D, Toleikis SC, Brigell MG. Cortical blindness and residual vision: is the "second" visual system in humans capable of more than rudimentary visual perception? Neurology. 1991;41(6):862-9.

Corkin S, Amaral DG, Gonzalez RG, Johnson KA, Hyman BT. H. M.'s medial temporal lobe lesion: findings from magnetic resonance imaging. J Neurosci. 1997;17(10):3964-79.

D-Aquili E, Newberg AB. The Mystical Mind: Probing the Biology of Religious Experience. Theology and the Sciences. Fortress Press, Minneapolis, 1999.

Friedman-Hill SR, Robertson LC, Desimone R, Ungerleider LG. Posterior parietal cortex and the filtering of distractors. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 20031;100(7):4263-8.

Funayama ES, Grillon C, Davis M, Phelps EA. A double dissociation in the affective modulation of startle in humans: effects of unilateral temporal lobectomy. J Cogn Neurosci. 2001;13(6):721-9.

Hebb DO. The organization of behaviour. New York: Wiley, 1949.Hippocrates. On the Sacred Disease. Written 4th Century BC. Translated by Francis Adams. Available at: http://classics.mit.edu/Hippocrates/sacred.html.

James W. Principles of Psychology. New York: Holt, 1890.Kandel ER, Schwartz JH, Jessell TM. Principles of neural science. 3rd edition, Appleton & Mange, 1991.

Meyer V, Yates A. Intellectual changes following temporal lobectomy for psychomotor epilepsy. Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Psychiatry, 1955; 18: 44-52.

Morris Faltas BS. Surgery on papyrus. Student BMJ 2004;12:338-339.

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Ratey J. A user’s guide to the brain: perception, attention, and the four theatres of the brain. Abacus, 2003.

Rosenzweig MR, Leiman AL, Breedlove SM. Biological Psychology: An Introduction to Behavioural, Cognitive, and Clinical Neuroscience. Second edition. Sunauer Associates, Inc. Publishers Sunderland, Massachusetts, 1999.

Satinova J. The quantum brain: The search for freedom and the next generation of man. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. New York, 2001.

Sejnowski, T.J. & Rosenberg, C. Paralleled networks that learn to pronounce English text. Complex Systems 1: 145-68, 1987.

Sperry RW. Hemispheric specialization of mental faculties in the brain of Man. Advances in Altered States of Consciousness & Human Potentialities, Volume 1. A Psychological Dimensions, Inc. (PDI) Research Reference Work. Barber TX (Ed). PDI, 1976.

Swayze VW 2nd. Frontal leukotomy and related psychosurgical procedures in the era before antipsychotics (1935-1954): a historical overview. Am J Psychiatry. 1995;152(4):505-15.

Tong F. Primary visual cortex and visual awareness. Nat Rev Neurosci. 2003;4(3)

Williams AN, Sunderland R. Thomas Willis: the first paediatric neurologist? Arch Dis Child 2001;85:506-509.

Youngson RM, Schott I, Youngson RM. Medical Blunders. New York University Press, September, 1996.

Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6