Customer Reviews

The Blissful Brain: Neuroscience and Proof of the Power of Meditation (Gaia Thinking)

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Regular meditators are well aware of the benefits of the practice. Apart from the subjective reports of greater tranquility, improvements in self-regulation and insight, there is an impressive body of empirical research to support them. Regular meditation has been shown to be associated with an improvement of a number of metabolic and physiological indices, and even changes in the structure and function of specific regions of the brain. In addition, hypertension, depression and attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder are just a few examples of clinical conditions that may be improved with different forms of meditation.

One of the most popular forms with laboratory-based researchers is Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) that was defined by Jon Kabat-Zinn as an "awareness that arises through paying attention on purpose, in the present moment and non-judgmentally, to the unfolding of the experience moment by moment."

This book describes laboratory research on meditation and most particularly of MBSR. Dr. Shanida Nataraja takes us through a brief but comprehensive survey of brain function and then proceeds to a summary of the meditation research and its association with mystical states. From data derived from brain wave recordings Dr. Nataraja comes to the conclusion that continuing and rigorous meditation is associated with five deepening levels of consciousness.

The most profound is a state of lucid awareness in which the incidence of alpha and theta rhythms, while remaining at peak incidence, is supplemented by the reappearance of the beta rhythms associated with non-meditative cognitive functioning and absent from the previous levels. This suggests that at this fifth level the brain is capable of simultaneously maintaining both the continuous inner self-awareness present in deep meditation and the continuous outer awareness present in daily life. There also seems to be an unusual degree of balance between the functioning of the two sides of the brain.

This is very similar to the conclusions reached Maxwell Cade and Nona Coxhead in the 1970s and 1980s.

Dr. Nataraja appears to be writing for a popular audience and for them she has done a valuable service in collecting a fair body of data in one place. Though I am sure that she would be the first to acknowledge that the research that she cites is only the tip of the iceberg and is therefore of less value to people who know the field.

There are also two other keys questions. The first is the validity of a stage model of meditation. Stage models have been very popular in recent years, but many experienced meditation teachers and neuroscientists have questioned their validity: does everyone who meditates regularly really go through the same five stages? And do the same five stages occur in people practicing Vipassana meditation or Christian contemplative practices? Are there not plenty of examples of people who have had the most profound spontaneous spiritual and mystical experiences without going through stages 1-4?

The second question is one that runs through all of the recent attempts to correlate changes in the brain with psychological, mystical and spiritual experiences. They help us to define the neurological processes associated with the form but not the content of the experiences. Brain processes and spiritual experiences are different categories, and cannot be reduced to each other.

With those caveats, this is a most informative book with useful chapters on meditation and health and on meditation in daily life.



Highly recommended.


Richard G. Petty, MD, author of Healing, Meaning and Purpose: The Magical Power of the Emerging Laws of Life

I'm 100 pages into this book and felt I should post a review immediately. This is a very insightful and interesting read. It offers new perspectives on meditators brains and a valid argument for the practice of meditation and other energy exercises (tai chi, chi kung etc). My favorite part of the book are the descriptions of the meditators experience followed by a nueroscientist's description of the same experience. This was just the book I was looking for!