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.

Unifying Polar Opposites

In our macroscopic world in which we live, the boundary between object–observer is one of many boundaries that we construct. In his book “No Boundary”, Wilber discusses the concept of identity. The process of establishing identity requires the drawing of a boundary line between “self” and “non-self”. According to Wilber, this boundary line can exist at a number of different levels: persona, ego, total organism, and unity consciousness However, the boundary that we are perhaps most aware of is that defined by the skin. Everything within this boundary is considered “self”, whilst everything outside this boundary is considered to be “non-self”. I consider, for example, the plant sitting on my desk to be distinct from me. This psychological construct is reinforced by the fact that the plant “appears” to be spatially distinct from me. This is the consequence of the limitations of our physical senses, and the fact that our visual system, for example, is inherently designed to detect boundaries, contrast, and change. Similarly, our navigation within the physical world depends on our ability to distinguish between our body and objects in our immediate environment.

However, these boundaries are illusionary, and they should not therefore be viewed as immovable entities. In fact, they can be redrawn both through psychotherapy and under certain environmental conditions. The latter is illustrated by the following psychological observation. Consider a person who is using a stick to orient themselves in a darkened room. If that person loosely holds the stick, it is perceived as an object in their hand. The person can feel the movement of the stick in their hand, and therefore views it as something separate from the body. If, on the other hand, the stick is held firmly, it no longer appears to be a foreign object, but an extension of the body. The site of the touch sensation is therefore shifted from the hand–stick interface to the point at which the end of the stick is probing the object under investigation.

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