Bliss Brain: The Neuroscience of Remodeling Your Brain for Resilience, Creativity, and Joy Kindle Edition

The book delves deeply into brain physiology, and from what areas of the brain, various emotional reactions, emanate. The brain scans that show calming after eco-meditation are very interesting. The extended resources which include guided meditations are very worthwhile.

Developing a meditation practice has been one of the joys and challenges of my life. I’ve read for years how beneficial it is, and after reading in Tools of Titans by Tim Ferriss that the majority of successful people meditate, I gave it a try.I meditated ten minutes a day for about nine months, with very few missed days. I had read how difficult it was, and that it was very much a skill to learn, so I was prepared for it to take time to really see any benefit. After nine months, though, I really didn’t feel I’d made any progress, and I quit.What I’ve learned since then is that, number one, ten minutes a day really isn’t enough when you’re learning, especially if you’re using conventional meditation techniques. Number two, it can take years to feel like you are significantly successful. I didn’t accept at the time that the 10 seconds or so I would actually get into the groove was about all I could expect at that point. The key is to keep doing it and keep building the “muscle” of meditation. The practice is the practice, as the saying goes.Luckily, I found a shortcut to a higher “success rate” -Bliss Brain by Dawson Church. He and his team studied high-level meditators and studies about meditation, and developed a technique called Ecomeditation. With it, I have been able to enter a fully immersed meditative state almost every day, after only one week of trying!The book gives a lot of information regarding meditation and the neuroscience behind it, as well as how Dawson uses Ecomeditation. He gives weekly exercises at the end of each chapter, along with bonus resources you can access on the book’s webpage. It’s been a fascinating read, but it’s the bonus materials that have really made the difference for me: Dawson gives a guided meditation to go with each chapter.Those meditations are what has allowed me to progress so quickly. They are under twenty minutes long (most are 15-16 minutes) and easy to download and use. He offers with and without background music for each one - I prefer the ones with music. Full disclosure: it took me a few days to adjust to Dawson’s voice. He has a very unique tone and cadence, and his word pronunciation is occasionally distracting for me. Now that I’m used to it, though, I find it very soothing.After more than a month of practice, the effects are profound. I find myself to be calmer. I am better able to step back and view others’ actions through a compassionate lens before I react, instead of after. I’m able to focus better, and I feel more in control of my emotional state. I’m also seeing an increase in my creativity.My favorite part of the meditation itself is that, when I open my eyes at the end, I find myself smiling reflexively. Starting the day with a deep feeling of joy and gratitude is amazing.This book (and its meditations) have been an immeasurable gift. I would recommend it to absolutely anyone looking for greater focus, clarity, and peace in their lives.

This book and meditations.... I love it a lotI'm much happier now

A phenomenal book. I went to the website, and the first time I tried the meditation, I got there, to Bliss! This will be part of everyday. I’m so grateful!

Loved this book. It has changed my life for the better, I am calmer, my sleep is more restful, I am happier. This book explains through science how meditation affects the brain in completely understandable terms. I would recommend this book for everyone who has found meditation difficult. The author’s formula worked for me when others failed.

In Mind to matter you learn how we affect our environment with meditation and a state of bliss. In this book you go in deep how you change your brain and inner self.All the benefits that comes with one habit, a daily true meditation.If that is what you look for, this book is a must read.

Dawson Church's books are all good, and this book is outstanding. It's a layman's level book that lays out the latest brain research showing that the human body is wired for bliss, there are literally blissful substances shown by science to be emitted by glands in the body which produce a feeling of being "high on life". This can be achieved in deep meditation, and we don't have to go to India and live in an ashram to achieve this, we can get there using easy-to-learn principles of meditation, which are taught in this book. To make it easier, there are prerecorded versions out on the web you can listen to, and links to them in the book. I am using this information in my meditation training classes for medical and mental health professionals, as the science is documented here.

I love that Dawson combines all the things I have been studying and using in my recovery from addiction. After 35 years he’s helped me put the pieces together and realize a quicker path to compassion, joy and love for myself and others. His honesty about his own journey makes this book even more engaging and accessible. Thanks for another way to step up my spiritual game! I recommend this for everyone who wants to access the places they haven’t been able to touch inside that will enable them to live a better life in all ways.

The best parts of this book are those which detail the workings of the brain in meditation (or mindfulness to give it the new trendy title). Unfortunately, you have to wade through quite a bit of Dawson Church eco-friendly, stay positive, new age sentiment on the way.It is worth the read for the references and research data on the brain but I find most of the exercises given at the end of the chapters to be a real turn-off with their West Coast hippy sweetness.Here is an example:"Replacing Annoyance with Empathy: Notice when you’re feeling annoyed by someone. Visualize what form the annoyance takes in your body. Where in your body is it located? What color is it? What shape is it? Imagine pulling it out of your body and setting it down nearby".

This review is almost identical to my other EFT favourite, the Tapping Manual by the same author. In all my reading on EFT, this is one of the few recent books which references the importance of the 9 Gamut treatment for dispelling emotional blockages. (Although Gary Craig and Carol Look acknowledge this in their writing.) Read this book together with Dawson Church’s Tapping Manual, and you will be able to change any limiting beliefs, decisions and intense negative emotions that are holding you or others back. This approach and treatment of EFT have to be the most critical practical techniques of EFT information I have discovered for the last 10-20 years. Dawson has extensive research available on this website. This book also has enormous additional resources that you can access including videos, audiotapes and meditations. I think many other EFT'ers will realise that he has opened the EFT box and given it all away in this one text. First-class work, Dawson.

This book is such an interesting read. It's full of detailed science, explained so simply that even I understand it...includes amazing meditations that really work for me. Already! I'm only on chapter 5 so far, trying to take it in slowly, at the same time can't wait to read further!

Dawson Church has done a great job in providing accessible info on this complex subject and he gives us hope that it's never too late to improve brain health, brain function and improve our resilience - and that it needn't take 30 years of meditation practice either.His personal story of how meditating and using the techniques in this book helped him not just to survive but to thrive during a recent traumatic period his own life is inspiring and his optimistic take on how we can re-model our brains for the good of our planet and global society filled me with renewed enthusiasm for maintaining perstistence in my own meditation practice - in the face of some personal brain health challenges.In addition, the extra resources available to download for free at the end of each chapter mean that there really is no excuse for not engaging with and practicing these simple techniques for generating the Bliss Brain Cocktail - 'the 7 neurochemicals of ecstacy' - which generates a self-induced high. If enough people engage with it dodgy street-drug dealers will be out of business!

This book is scientific but also accessible. If you're not very scientific don't try to get your head around the explanations or feel you should memorise them; concentrate instead on the 'what it means to me as a human being' end of the spectrum.It's MUCH more than a book ... it's a training course complete with end-of-chapter resources (mostly free) that will enable you to take your practice further if you wish ... and you probably will.I'm only on Chapter 5 and so far my erratic long-time meditation efforts have improved hugely. Each chapter has given me more ways to expand my knowledge and ease of meditation. It seem to me that when I question my abilities the answer pops up soon afterwards.If you are interested in how you can improve your brain, your spirituality and your life, it's certainly worth your time and money.