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.

Therapeutic Applications of Neurofeedback

Recently, neurofeedback has been proposed to be a promising new therapeutic approach for the management of patients with abnormal brain wave patterns, such as those with affective disorders, such as anxiety and depression, and those with behavioural disorders, such as obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Research has revealed a significant relationship between specific EEG patterns and these psychiatric and developmental disorders, and in doing so it provides a clue to their appropriate management. In 2000, Frank Duffy, a neurologists at the Boston Children’s Hospital reviewed all of the published literature on neurofeedback. His conclusions were that all studies of EEG biofeedback therapy were consistently positive and that, as a consequence, it should be considered as an alternative therapeutic approach in many difficult-to-treat patients.

Some of the most compelling evidence for the benefit of neurofeedback can be found in studies of its use in children with attention and behavioural disorders, such as ADHD and attention deficit disorder (ADH). In the former, children are hyperactive as a result of their attentional deficit, whereas in the latter children are unresponsive and passive as a result of this deficit. Neurofeedback protocols that train the patient to increase beta waves can improve the attentional deficits seen with these disorders. In a recent review of published studies into the effects of neurofeedback on ADHD, 75% of patients responded positively to neurofeedback. The combination of neurofeedback with recent advances in video gaming technology also makes the technique more accessible to patients, particularly children.

There is also a growing body of evidence that neurofeedback may play a role in the management of patients with epilepsy. Patients with epilepsy can receive neurofeedback training that allows them to both reduce the brain wave rhythms that trigger and propagate seizures and enhance the brain wave rhythms that reduce the likelihood that these seizures occur. There is also evidence that neurofeedback can reduce the amount of medication hat patients with epilepsy need to take to manage their seizures.

Back to index