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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.
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Complementarity
The
principle of complementarity is evident in the teachings of
the early Greek philosopher Heraclitus (circa 500–600 BCE).
He taught of the existence of opposites, such as night–day
and war–peace, and proposed that opposing concepts are in
fact identical, such that everything ‘is’ and ‘is not’ at
the same time. Similarly, the Western transpersonal psychologist,
Ken Wilber, stresses all polar opposites share an implicit
identity, and illustrates this concept with the following
example. When we draw a circle, we generate a boundary line
between the space “inside” the circle and that “outside”.
The drawing of this line has, therefore, generated a pair
of polar opposites: “inside” and “outside”. Although these
opposites appear to be distinct concepts, and are often treated
as such, they share an implicit identity. In fact, the existence
of one implies the existence of the other. There can be no
concept of “inside” without the complementary concept of “outside”.
Consider the phrase “Is the glass half empty or half full?”.
This is often used to gauge someone’s approach to life, but
also makes the point that half-a-glass of water can be considered
to be both half-full and half-empty at the same time.
The
principle of complementarity is also fundamental to ancient
Chinese philosophy, playing an important role in both Taoism
and Neo-Confucianism. Similarly, in Buddhism, the term “The
Middle Way” refers to the insight of Buddha that the way to
enlightenment neither lies in extreme asceticism nor in self-indulgence,
but in striving to find a balance between the two extremes.
Orthodox Western Religions can appear to promote one opposite
over another (i.e. good over evil). However, the importance
of the reconciliation of opposites is clearly stressed in
Gospel of St Thomas:
“They said to Him: Shall we then, being as children, enter
the Kingdom? Jesus said to them: When you make the two one,
and when you make the inner as the outer, and the outer as
the inner and the above as the below, and when you make the
male and the female into a single one, then shall you enter
the Kingdom.”
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